Chapter 3

Throwing away the oxygen mask in his hand, Tianming took a deep breath of the air in the small space after adapting to the environment. It felt as if his lungs were being irrigated with clear water, extremely refreshing.

Standing at the highest point of the hill, Tianming looked around and said happily, "To commemorate this historic moment, let's call this mountain 'Landing Mountain' from now on."

Greedily breathing in the air here, Tianming lay on the emerald green grass. He had never seen this kind of grass before. The leaves were large and soft, like lying on a carpet. The grass grew thick and evenly, making it feel more comfortable than the big bed at home. Tianming felt an urge to sleep for three days on it.

Tianming gave this unknown grass a simple name: "Sleep Grass," meaning that you could fall asleep quickly when lying on it.

Originally, he planned to stay in the small space for a longer time, but his less than one cubic meter of ability space was filled with tools, a few packs of cookies, and two bottles of drinks.

After more than ten hours, Tianming wandered around the vicinity of Landing Mountain, familiarizing himself with the terrain, but didn't walk far.

In fact, Tianming had estimated that the land area inside the small space was not very large.

The small space was 12 kilometers long, wide, and high, enclosed in a cubic boundary.

This boundary, according to popular theory, could also be called a "space barrier." Under the isolation of the space barrier, the small space's landmass was composed of an 8-kilometer-thick crust and a 4-kilometer-thick atmosphere, forming a closed ecosystem.

The 144 square kilometers of land area was not entirely useful. Tianming also discovered a large shadowy area.

The existence of the shadowy area required an explanation of the characteristics of the small space.

First, the small space existed on the surface of a giant Earth-like planet but was independent of this planet.

The theory of parallel space proved that the existence of overlapping spaces was possible. Tianming speculated that the small space was a result of the collision and overlap between the Earth plane and a mysterious plane. It could adapt to the rules of both planes and isolate the matter of both spaces, thus cutting out a huge, smooth cliff face on this Earth-like planet.

The height of the cliff exceeded 20,000 meters. Due to a nearly 30-degree angle of incidence, the light from the orange-red star at the center of this star system was blocked by one-third by this cliff. In other words, one-third of the small space, 46 square kilometers, was shrouded in permanent darkness by the cliff's shadow.

Fortunately, this planet had no rotation. The other two-thirds of the area could enjoy permanent daylight and sunlight.

However, this conclusion might not be entirely correct. The small space had nights. A huge gray-white asteroid belt surrounded the planet, and it passed over the small space at regular intervals, blocking the light from the star.

After finishing all the cookies and drinks, Tianming observed the small space for nearly 30 hours and finally had a clear understanding of the day and night cycle: the day lasted about 22 hours, and the night 4 hours.

The night here was the result of a solar eclipse.

The light intensity in the small space was approximately 4500 lux, about half of Earth's daytime. This was due to the space barrier blocking most of the light. Otherwise, based on the planet's proximity to the star, the surface light intensity would exceed 1,000,000 lux, and the surface temperature would be at least 280°C, with red-hot rocks everywhere.

...

Rumble, a strong sense of hunger hit him. Tianming rubbed his stomach. Although he didn't want to leave this comfortable place so soon, he was really hungry.

Exiting the space channel and returning to his bedroom, he saw that it was quite dark outside. Tianming turned on his computer and checked the time.

18:33 in the afternoon.

That's not right. When I entered the small space, it was 8:00 in the morning, and I stayed there for nearly 30 hours. It should be 4:00 in the afternoon of the second day. Why is it so dark already?

Shaking his head, he thought he might have been too engrossed and forgot to pay attention to the time.

To comfort his stomach, Tianming went to a nearby street of small eateries and entered a restaurant called "Xiangxi Cuisine," ordering his favorite "Farmer's Grilled Fish" and a plate of "Sauced Beef."

"Good evening, dear viewers. Welcome to the news broadcast. It is now 7:00 PM on November 15, 2015, the fourth day of the tenth lunar month, Sunday. We are here on time with you. Today's main content is..."

November 15th? Shouldn't it be November 16th now? What's going on?

Tianming was puzzled. He had specifically checked the time on November 15th at 8:00 in the morning before entering the small space, so why was it still November 15th?

However, the clock in the lower left corner of the news channel clearly showed the date as November 15th.

Eating the spicy and refreshing grilled fish, Tianming fell into deep confusion.

"Boss, I'll pay the bill."

After finishing his meal, Tianming hurried back to his rented apartment and quickly picked up his phone, which was charging on the table.

"After entering the small space, I took many photos with my phone and brought an extra battery. I used it for over 20 hours, and the photos generally include the time they were taken."

The phone turned on successfully, and the current time was 19:28 on November 15, 2015.

"Probably due to system correction, the time was reset." Tianming quickly opened the phone's photo album and found the hundreds of photos taken in the small space.

The first photo was of a grassy area, taken at 08:38 on November 15, 2015.

Then, a photo of the star, taken at 23:38 on November 15, 2015.

A photo of the asteroid belt and the dark sky, taken at 06:38 on November 16, 2015.

The last photo taken before the phone ran out of power, a picture of Little Gray eating grass, taken at 16:38 on November 16, 2015.

Tianming shivered as he put down the phone, muttering, "From these photos, it can be seen that during the 30 hours I spent in the small space, only a little over 10 hours passed outside. This is a significant time difference. I have several times more time than others in the same period. I don't know if this is good or bad."

The good side is that he could do much more in the same amount of time.

The bad side is that if his lifespan is the same, staying in the small space for a long time might make him live shorter in the real world.

Of course, this wasn't something to worry about now. Tianming shook off the negative thought. He was still young, and there was plenty of time ahead.

The next day, Tianming set the timer and entered the small space, staying for about an hour before quickly returning to the real world.

64 to 21.

In the small space, 64 minutes passed, while only 21 minutes passed outside, a 3:1 time flow ratio. Even with mental preparation, Tianming was still surprised.

...

It was time.

Tianming prepared to conduct a comprehensive exploration of the small space and formulated a 10-day, 240-hour plan to circumnavigate the small space.

The specific plan was to create a route around the small space, about 50 kilometers in circumference, to walk through all areas and create a relatively accurate and simple map.

Before this, Tianming bought a set of outdoor cooking utensils and a stainless steel spatula. He also bought two 10-kilogram bags of rice, oil, salt, and other seasonings, all prepared.

Adding some mineral water, meat, pickles, and preserved foods, the one cubic meter of ability space was packed to the brim.

For some reason, Tianming found that the longer he stayed in the small space, the more noticeable the changes in the ability space became, with the volume increasing slightly. He often found that he could fit an extra bottle of water or a few items.

Perhaps the laws of space were more evident in the small space, allowing him to understand more of the laws of nature. Therefore, Tianming thought he should spend more time in the small space.

"Ready, go!" Tianming dove into the small space.

...

At the top of Landing Mountain in the small space, Tianming took a deep breath.

"The air quality here is much better. Oh, I forgot to close the space channel."

Due to the siphon effect, every time the space channel was opened, a noticeable hissing sound could be heard from the channel's entrance. The larger the channel, the more noticeable the sound.

Even if there were few nearby residents, it was still possible to be noticed.

Moreover, the air from Earth would obviously pollute the pure environment inside. To solve this problem, after entering the small space, Tianming used his mental control to compress the space channel to a very small diameter, leaving only a pencil-thick opening. He threaded a 5mm nylon rope through it as a return aid.

"Little Gray, come here, come to your master!" Tianming happily discovered that the long-eared rabbit, Little Gray, was nearby, eating the Sleep Grass on the grass, seemingly enjoying it.

Naturally, Little Gray's reaction to his often brutal master was to run away.

Tianming quickly chased after him, "You little thing, you dare to run? Come back quickly!"

Soon, the rabbit, less than two months old, was caught by the evil human, even though it didn't slack off in the race.

"Let you run, even abandoning your master, huh!" Tianming, out of breath, roughly rubbed Little Gray's head.

Little Gray struggled in vain.

Tianming took out a 3-meter-long thin rope, tied it to Little Gray's hind legs, and made a knot. He tied the other end to his large backpack.

Although the ability space could hold many things, some items still needed to be placed in his backpack.

Thus, one person and one rabbit began their first exploration of the small space.

...

At the top of Landing Mountain in the small space, Tianming took a deep breath.

"The air quality here is much better. Oh, I forgot to close the space channel."

Due to the siphon effect, every time the space channel was opened, a noticeable hissing sound could be heard from the channel's entrance. The larger the channel, the more noticeable the sound.

Even if there were few nearby residents, it was still possible to be noticed.

Moreover, the air from Earth would obviously pollute the pure environment inside. To solve this problem, after entering the small space, Tianming used his mental control to compress the space channel to a very small diameter, leaving only a pencil-thick opening. He threaded a 5mm nylon rope through it as a return aid.

"Little Gray, come here, come to your master!" Tianming happily discovered that the long-eared rabbit, Little Gray, was nearby, eating the Sleep Grass on the grass, seemingly enjoying it.

Naturally, Little Gray's reaction to his often brutal master was to run away.

Tianming quickly chased after him, "You little thing, you dare to run? Come back quickly!"

Soon, the rabbit, less than two months old, was caught by the evil human, even though it didn't slack off in the race.

"Let you run, even abandoning your master, huh!" Tianming, out of breath, roughly rubbed Little Gray's head.

Little Gray struggled in vain.

Tianming took out a 3-meter-long thin rope, tied it to Little Gray's hind legs, and made a knot. He tied the other end to his large backpack.

Although the ability space could hold many things, some items still needed to be placed in his backpack.

Thus, one person and one rabbit began their first exploration of the small space.