Chapter 75

The intense pain started from his head, instantly taking over his entire nervous system. Lin Xiao clutched his head with both hands and began to roll on the bed. It felt as if his pain receptors were being directly attacked, causing the pain to radiate from the inside out.

The pain continued, and even though Lin Xiao had undergone two marrow washes, this time the pain was even stronger than the sum of the previous two. Lin Xiao had long lost his composure, his facial features contorted in agony.

It felt as if millions of ants had burrowed into his brain, wreaking havoc. These ants seemed to be settling in, creating pathways and biting Lin Xiao to the point of near death.

No matter how many words he could think of, they all boiled down to one: pain. From the initial intense pain to the numbing ache that followed, in just half an hour, Lin Xiao felt as if he had endured the cruelest torture in the world.

After half an hour, all the pain suddenly vanished, as if it had never existed. If not for his sweat-soaked clothes, he would have thought it was all a dream.

"It seems everything was caused by that fragment. What exactly is that fragment?" Lin Xiao sat up on the bed, breathing heavily, and pondered to himself.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't come up with any clues. Seeing his clothes drenched in sweat, Lin Xiao took them off and went to take a cold shower.

With no clean clothes around, Lin Xiao subconsciously entered the space to get a set of clothes to change into.

"What's going on?" As soon as Lin Xiao entered the space, he felt something was off. The space had expanded, growing from a few hundred square meters to over a thousand. Most shockingly, the spring in the center had turned into a small stream, circling the land.

Although still surrounded by a gray mist, the space had at least doubled in size. Thinking about the pain he had just experienced and the black fragment, Lin Xiao had a rough idea. The fragment was likely a spatial fragment that had been separated from a spacetime black hole, causing him to feel a sense of attraction. In reality, it might have been the space itself emitting an influence.

The intense pain was a side effect of the fusion process. However, he didn't know what changes the space would undergo after the upgrade, so he began to carefully observe.

First, he checked the exotic flowers and plants, which were the same as before, unchanged in the Xirang soil. "That's good," Lin Xiao thought, fearing that the space upgrade might have killed the exotic plants in the Xirang soil. Seeing that they were fine, he felt a slight relief.

Next, he saw that the purple golden mastiff and the raccoon were both in deep sleep. It seemed that all the creatures in the space automatically fell asleep during the upgrade. Lin Xiao didn't plan to wake them up, to avoid them clinging to him.

After confirming that the plants and animals were fine, Lin Xiao began to truly observe the changes in the space after the upgrade.

He walked to the edge of the space and checked the spatial stone tablet to see if it had recorded any new information after the upgrade. However, the stone tablet remained unchanged.

Disappointed, Lin Xiao returned, realizing he would have to discover and explore the changes himself. The stone tablet was no help.

Excitedly, he ran to the spring that had turned into a stream, cupped his hands to scoop up some water, and brought it to his mouth. "Whoosh," the water in his palms instantly entered his mouth.

"It's still the same, no changes," Lin Xiao commented after drinking the spatial water. So, the spatial water had evolved from a spring to a stream, but nothing else had changed.

Finally, Lin Xiao walked around the edge of the space several times. Now the space was circular, like a bowl turned upside down.

Lin Xiao sighed in disappointment. The space had only grown larger, with no other changes. He had gone there with high hopes but returned with disappointment.

Then he thought, any change is good. He had been too hopeful. Now that the space had grown larger, it was still a positive change, and it was worth the half-hour of pain.

After finishing his observation, Lin Xiao ran to his pile of miscellaneous items, found a set of clothes, put them on, and took one last look at the space before leaving.

The next morning, Lin Xiao checked out of his room. His purpose for this trip had been achieved, and the unexpected upgrade of the space was a pleasant surprise.

The return journey was calm. He took a bus back to Chengdu and then booked a flight, returning to H City a few hours later. Back in his familiar surroundings, Lin Xiao took a deep breath, savoring the taste of home.

He hailed a taxi and set off for home. However, just as the car entered the city, the worst torture came: traffic congestion.

With the widespread use of vehicles, the probability of traffic jams in most cities was increasing, especially in medium and large cities. Lin Xiao had encountered one.

Seeing the endless line of vehicles ahead, Lin Xiao felt like dying. The cars moved slower than walking, and the traffic police were frantically trying to manage the flow, but with little effect. Lin Xiao turned to look behind him; in just a few minutes, the cars had formed a long line.

"Sir, don't worry. We taxi drivers encounter this several times a day. There's nothing we can do about it," the driver said, seeing Lin Xiao's anxious look.

"Is the traffic always this bad? Isn't it even worse during rush hour?" Lin Xiao asked.

"Yes, so we usually go to eat or take smaller roads during rush hour. Otherwise, we'd be stuck in traffic, and for us, time is money. The time spent in traffic could have been used to pick up several more passengers," the driver sighed.

"It's not rush hour now, so why is it so congested?" Lin Xiao asked, puzzled.

"Maybe there was an accident ahead. Traffic jams usually only involve a few traffic police, but you can see police cars up there. It's either an accident or some other incident. I've driven this road many times, and it's never been this congested before," the driver leaned forward to look and then answered Lin Xiao.

Time passed slowly, and the traffic inched forward. As the driver had said, there had been an accident ahead, with several police cars and ambulances on the scene. After passing the accident site, the road ahead was clear, and he smoothly returned home.

Opening the door, Lin Xiao ended his few days of travel. "Finally home, it feels so good," he stretched and thought to himself.

He entered the space and woke up the purple golden mastiff and the raccoon, telling them not to sleep like pigs anymore. After a few days, the raccoon had finally absorbed all the power of the Broken Star Grass, increasing its speed by another level. It demanded to fight Lin Xiao again.

The result was predictable. No matter how fast the raccoon moved, it couldn't even scratch Lin Xiao, who dodged all its attacks. The raccoon panted and looked at Lin Xiao helplessly.

The purple golden mastiff watched the spectacle with great interest, but it was unclear who it was mocking.