New World

If she pushed her finger any deeper, she'd drag that thin layer of water along with it, like a transparent membrane with tremendous elasticity that wouldn't give—until it reached a knuckle deep, then couldn't go further.

Li Rui poked it the same way Tu Ran had, and the water rippled, bouncing her finger back out.

"Hurry up, I can't hold it much longer," Xiang Sheng said, sweat beading on her forehead. Just maintaining the boundary drained her energy.

Tu Ran picked up the dagger from the ground, unsheathed it, and thrust it straight at the boundary. It didn't puncture; the boundary held, deflecting the blade, and Tu Ran stumbled back a few steps before catching herself.

She hadn't used her "Super Strength"—just a normal person's force—which showed the boundary had some resistance.

Li Rui grabbed the curved blade and followed Tu Ran's example, slashing at the boundary. It rippled but held.

"Impressive," Li Rui couldn't help but marvel, then swapped for the spiked club.

Tu Ran, meanwhile, zapped it a few times with the electric baton—still no reaction.

The spiked club didn't break it either.

Song Bai, standing nearby, watched Tu Ran and Li Rui trade blows against the transparent barrier, and couldn't help but laugh.

Tu Ran switched to a pistol.

Aiming at the boundary, she pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

A bullet shot out at high speed. When it hit the boundary, it didn't stop but pushed deeper, stretching the boundary into a distinct curve before being pushed back out.

Xiang Sheng's forehead veins bulged; the strands of hair in front were soaked with sweat and stuck to her face. She was concentrating all her power into a battle with the bullet.

Ten seconds later, the boundary broke, and the bullet pierced into the tree trunk.

Xiang Sheng couldn't hold on and dropped to one knee, blood sliding from her nose, splattering on the ground and the edge of her shoe.

"Sheng Sheng! You're bleeding!" Li Rui rushed over, worried.

Xiang Sheng wiped her nose, exhausted, "It's fine."

Tu Ran watched the scene, then looked at Song Bai, who was standing frozen, and urged, "Hurry and try your ability; the bleeding will stop soon."

"Huh? Oh!"

Song Bai snapped out of it and quickly grabbed Xiang Sheng's hand, pressing their palms together, and closed her eyes.

A faint white light rose from their clasped hands.

Xiang Sheng felt a warm current flow into her palm, spreading through her limbs, replenishing what she'd lost, and the near-exhausted fatigue swept away.

"I think... I'm fine," Xiang Sheng said uncertainly, touching her nose—the blood had stopped. "Xiao Bai, you're amazing."

Tu Ran gathered her weapons and put them back into her space, keeping only a dagger and a laser gun at her side.

Looking at the three of them holding each other and praising each other, she shook her head helplessly. "Pack up, we're moving on."

Xiang Sheng, Li Rui, and Song Bai—there were only three of them, but they had already become a small, well-coordinated team.

Xiang Sheng was calm, sharp, and clear in her analysis of situations; she could command. With the "Boundary" and "Super Bounce," and Tu Ran having taught her how to use the pistol, the laser gun, and some basic dagger techniques, she could both attack and defend, effectively serving as the main attacker.

Li Rui, with "Swift Dash" and quick reactions, had been taught some basic skills and bomb usage by Tu Ran. She could support Xiang Sheng, act as an assistant, and, if necessary, escape with Song Bai.

Song Bai had "Healing" and "Judgment," serving as both self-rescuer and co-healer, and also the strategist.

Though simple and patched together, it was still a team that could function.

To help them grow faster, Tu Ran stopped accompanying them all the time.

During the day, she would part ways with them, pointing them in the day's direction, and before dark, she'd use "Sense of Direction" to find them and spend the night together.

She did this for five consecutive days.

Each day after parting, Tu Ran would activate her "Instant Movement" to go to other mountains and sense the positions of exotic creatures.

She wouldn't approach directly but would check from afar. If she didn't see a panel prompt, she'd move on to the next spot. If there was a prompt, she'd rush in and fight head-on.

In just five days, she collected ten inner cores.

Four intermediate, six beginner.

Among the intermediate ones, the only useful one was [Amphibious], which allowed her to breathe underwater.

Tu Ran hesitated whether to discard it, because she had already gathered six abilities that weren't very useful. With one more, she could do an eight-to-one upgrade.

In the end, Tu Ran decided to set it aside for now.

When she actually needed the advanced [Illusory Realm], she could discard it then.

Then she pulled up the beginner ability panel. For a beginner six-to-one, she now had ten useless beginner abilities, so Tu Ran decisively discarded them and upgraded [Flowers in Full Bloom] and [Mountains Split in Two].

Now her beginner abilities were only [Absolute Hit] and [Dreamless Sleep].

Tu Ran hadn't used [Dreamless Sleep] yet, and it was added to the discard list.

Tu Ran really liked Xiang Sheng's "Boundary" and hoped to find a similar ability.

Her own "Annihilation" had a similar function, but its consumption was much greater than the "Boundary's," not by a small margin. She needed a substitute to enhance her defense.

Unfortunately, she hadn't found it yet, and there was no time to keep searching.

On the nineteenth day after Tu Ran entered the Threshold, she felt the "door."

The energy fluctuation was intense, shocking her awake from sleep.

At that moment, the sky was just beginning to lighten. The three people under the tree were still asleep. Tu Ran climbed down and woke them, and the group headed toward the strongest energy fluctuation.

Until they reached a pit two meters in diameter and half a meter high.

From the outside, this pit looked like it was made by a large exotic creature stepping there. Around it were broken trees, and further ahead, there was a row of such pits.

Li Rui crouched down, craning her neck to look at the bottom, "It really looks like it's filled with water. Is this the door?"

She reached out to touch it, but Xiang Sheng slapped her hand away.

"Just look, don't touch randomly."

"Sheng Sheng, you hit me~"

"..."

Tu Ran interrupted them, "Ready?"

"Are we jumping now?" Li Rui shrank back. "Should we discuss it a bit more?"

"What's there to discuss?" Xiang Sheng shot her a glance. "Go back to the first world, go to the second world, go to other worlds, or scatter across the worlds—we've gone over all the possibilities these past few days. There's nothing to discuss. Jump now, and we'll each take our chances."

Li Rui pouted. "Fine. But let's hold hands and jump together; maybe the odds of ending up in the same world are higher."

"Okay," Song Bai agreed.

Tu Ran didn't object.

The three put Tu Ran in the middle. Tu Ran held Song Bai's hand with one hand and Li Rui's with the other; Xiang Sheng stood at the edge, holding Li Rui's hand.

"Three, two, one, jump!"

...

Tu Ran's vision went black first, then burst into brightness.

Before she could fully adjust, she heard the noisy whispers around her.

"Suddenly appeared..."

"A deserter, right..."

"I thought the beast horde was attacking again... scared me to death..."

"The capture team will be here soon..."

Hearing these unfamiliar words, Tu Ran realized she had arrived in a new world.