Chapter 8

Crossing the Six-Leaf Grassland, only the final patch of grass to explore remained before him.

It might not be accurate to call it a grassland, as there were trees scattered sparsely across the vast expanse, each standing alone within a hundred acres.

These trees had broad leaves, standing about ten meters tall, and should belong to the shrub family.

Several large red flowers bloomed on the trees, resembling kapok flowers. The white and red blossoms had slender, graceful stamens, displaying a variety of postures.

Let's call these trees kapok trees, even though they differ somewhat from the kapok trees on Earth. Tianming, with limited knowledge, couldn't think of a better name and just chose one that seemed appropriate.

The grass on the ground was entirely different from the common two-leaf grass, sleep grass, and six-leaf grass. The leaves were very fine, with speckles of silver on their surfaces. The stems were about 20 cm tall, standing gracefully and looking very beautiful. Pulling one up and bringing it to his nose, a faint grassy fragrance entered his mind, invigorating and refreshing.

Let's call this grass star grass.

For some reason, the kapok trees and star grass grew in the same area. Just like animals competing for territory, plants also take exclusionary measures to drive away other species to compete for sunlight, water, and nutrients.

In the Huangzao forest, even with plenty of sunlight reaching the ground, there weren't many grasses. Similarly, in the Six-Leaf Grassland, he didn't find any large trees.

Even at the boundary between the Six-Leaf Grassland and the Star Grassland, Tianming observed a peculiar plant competition.

Here, the six-leaf grass had leaves as sharp as files, growing aggressively toward the roots of the star grass. They intertwined with other six-leaf grass, cutting the star grass at the waist.

The star grass, not to be outdone, grew sharp leaves at the top like tentacles, inserting thorns into the main body of the six-leaf grass, extracting nutrients that didn't belong to it.

Back and forth, the two grasslands reached a dynamic equilibrium.

The kapok trees growing in the star grass territory must have a special symbiotic relationship with the star grass to survive.

Tianming wasn't interested in the survival relationship between the two different plants. He had only watched a few episodes of Mr. Zhao's "Man and Nature" and compared them to the current ecological situation. He drew some simple conclusions. As for the internal relationship between the kapok trees and the star grass, Tianming had no interest in conducting in-depth research. Plants, after all, grow as they please; what does it have to do with him?

Tianming wasn't a biologist, just a homebody. If a biologist knew about Tianming's attitude, they might want to tear him to pieces, questioning him, "Do you know the significance and value of each species? Do you know which step in evolution is crucial? Do you know the relationship between population size and species survival duration...?"

To this, Tianming could only admit that he knew nothing.

...

The familiar landing mountain was right before him.

The small red flag on the mountaintop was placed there before he set out.

Standing next to the flag, Tianming roared to the surroundings, "I, Hu Hansan, am back!"

After saying that, he took out his CoolCat phone, stood next to the red flag, made a victory sign, and flashed a sunny smile, pressing the self-timer button.

After the excitement, Tianming took out his map and reviewed his journey.

Except for the shadowy area near the chaotic rock mountain, which was too dark due to the lack of sunlight, he hadn't dared to enter. He had roughly explored all the other places he could go, and the map in his hand basically recorded most of the geographical information of the small space.

The Huangzao forest, chaotic rock mountain, crystal valley, crystal river, strange fish lake, giant redwood forest, Six-Leaf Grassland, Star Grassland, and finally the landing mountain. The 98 square kilometers of the small space were marked with Tianming's traces everywhere.

Perhaps there were some corners he hadn't explored, but the areas he had explored could already bring him endless benefits.

The colorful crystal gems and the golden sand in the golden pool. Just these were enough for Tianming to live a carefree life for the rest of his days.

Out of a low profile, Tianming just hadn't announced that he would become a tycoon.

As a cultured, idealistic, and ambitious young man of the new era, Tianming didn't care about material things. He pursued spiritual pleasure and satisfaction! Talking about money was too vulgar, though he didn't mind having more.

Therefore, Tianming's current plan wasn't to immediately return to the outside world to sell the small space's resources but to make a small plan.

The air here was fresh, the water quality excellent, and there were fruit trees to eat from. There was no noise from the outside world, no disturbances from the mundane. He might consider living here long-term.

Building a villa, cultivating a few acres of vegetable fields, digging a swimming pool—this life would be enjoyable even without money...

He looked at his timer.

190:35:47

The original 10-day, 240-hour exploration plan still had a long time left.

Seeing that the mission was almost complete, Tianming didn't plan to stay any longer. He took a deep breath of the small space's air and left with some reluctance.

Although Tianming liked staying in the small space, after sleeping in a tent for 7-8 days, anyone would miss their soft bed at home.

Moreover, for a homebody, going without the internet for a long time was unimaginable.

The novels he was following should have been updated, right?

...

Back in the outside world, Tianming first checked his phone's system time.

November 23, 2015, 18:40 PM.

After staying in the small world for 8-9 days, only about 3 days had passed in the real world.

This time really passed slowly!

Since this was the first time Tianming had stayed in the small space for more than 72 hours, the time discrepancy between the small space and the real world gave him a strong sense of disorientation. Why, after waiting 8-9 days, had the few books he was following only updated 5 chapters in total? Why hadn't anyone mentioned him in the group chat for a long time? Why were the international news still the same as a few days ago...

What Tianming found most unbearable was that when he opened his computer to check if his favorite anime, "Chasing the Wind," had updated, he realized it was Monday, and the fixed update time was every Thursday, three days away.

I've come so far, why do I have to wait for you to slowly finish your work?

What a pain! It would have been better to stay in the small space for a hundred or eighty days.

It seemed that for Tianming, a homebody who didn't know how to grow vegetables, the extra 2x time in the small space didn't show its true advantage.

Perhaps writing novels might be a good idea.

A flash of inspiration struck Tianming!

Imagine other writers working hard every day, writing about 10,000 words, and some lagging behind, managing only 3,000 words a day.

For Tianming, who had written two novels before, if he wrote 2,000 words every 24 hours in the small space, with a 3x multiplier, it would be 6,000 words a day in the outside world! A book that would take two years to complete could now be finished in just over half a year. What kind of monstrous effect would this have on other top-tier writers?

Writing novels was a nearly forgotten past for Tianming, who hadn't written for a long time.

Back then, as a college student, Tianming had read many web novels and found himself in a book famine, with nothing new to read.

So, to pass the boring college free time, he tried writing a novel called "Superman in the City," about an ordinary person gaining superpowers and fighting crime and promoting justice in a metropolis. The content and plot were heavily borrowed from American TV shows, with only slight modifications, making it quite cliché. Even so, this novel ranked third on the new book list of a major novel website, Sky Chinese.

Later, due to his good writing style and engaging content, it received a recommendation from Wenjiang Pavilion, a list that was hard to reach without substantial talent.

Tianming, a newcomer, managed to get on the list.

Tianming's stories might not be as exciting as others, and his updates weren't fast enough, but his writing style was undeniably admired by many.

Writing style was a writer's talent. Tianming, with a science background, had this talent, which he hadn't expected. He never thought that someone who had only written a few perfect essays in elementary and middle school and read hundreds of novels in high school would have a talent for writing novels.

Unfortunately, he didn't finish what he started. With the arrival of the internship period, his passion for writing cooled down by his senior year. The pressure of work and life made him reduce his updates from daily to every 2-3 days, and finally to once a week. It took him two years to finish his first 1.6 million-word novel.

The biggest gain for Tianming was making over 100 book fans and earning 40,000 yuan.

After graduation, the immense pressure of life and work made Tianming consider quitting his job to write, but he eventually gave up.

Although he had made some income from writing, it wasn't enough to achieve a comfortable life or become wealthy.

First, there were many writers better than Tianming. He was at best a niche author, and he couldn't support himself with just a hundred or so loyal fans.

Of course, writing was a hobby for many people, including Tianming. He enjoyed the process of turning his happy thoughts into stories. After working for two years and becoming more adept at his job, he found some free time and started his second novel, "The Homebody Magician."

It was about an urban homebody who gained magical powers. It was moderately wish-fulfilling, light-hearted, and humorous, with an original and engaging story.

Combined with his consistently fresh writing style, "The Homebody" was even more popular than "Superman in the City." The subscription income in the first month after it went on sale was even higher than his salary.

Unfortunately, after six months of serializing "The Homebody Magician," a change in his job caused a small turning point in the book's fate.

His boss promoted him to project manager, and his salary increased significantly.

Being a manager didn't mean Tianming had more free time. He had to take on various tasks he didn't need to handle before. He almost worked overtime every day, going to bed immediately after returning home at 10 PM, leaving no time to write.

Daily updates turned into weekly updates, then monthly updates.

After four years, "The Homebody Magician" had only reached 1.6 million words, far from the planned 2.2 million words.

Many fans who had been following the book lost confidence and left. The once lively fan group was now very quiet.

The last update seemed to have been half a year ago.

Recalling the eager anticipation of a few fans, Tianming shook his head and decided to make up for this regret.