196: Chapter 192 The Essence of the Farming World

White light surged over him once again.

When Zhou Liang sprang up from his bed, the wrinkles on the sheets hadn't even had time to smooth out yet.

His heart rate was still over 120, and his palms were slick with sweat—he had missed his patrol by over an hour!

He grabbed the Bronze Grade light armor stuffed in the corner of the Houseboat, threw it on in a few quick motions, and rushed out without even fastening the buckles.

On the deck, the sea wind poured into his collar. He jumped over the first mooring line and landed on the deck of the adjacent Houseboat.

Then he jumped over the second, and the third.

The Houseboats of their small mutual aid group of dozens were connected by ropes into a simple, arc-shaped passage. He leaped all the way from his own boat on the far east end to the sentry post on the far west end, the metal plates of his Bronze Grade light armor clattering in the night wind.

By the time he finally reached the sentry post, he couldn't even catch his breath.

Standing at the post was a man wearing a dark short robe, holding a Rotten Wood Class spear in his hand, gazing at the distant Magic Sea with boredom.

Zhou Liang bent over, resting his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

"Old—Old Chen—" he gasped, out of breath, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I—I really didn't mean to. I lost track of time while farming on the Fate Platform and made you stand guard for so long—"

The man called Old Chen turned around and looked at him with a confused expression.

"What's wrong? Did something big happen? You're in such a rush—"

"No, no, no, nothing big." Zhou Liang waved his hand and bent down to catch his breath again, "It's just that I didn't pay attention to the time while on the Fate Platform and made you stand guard for over an hour in my place. I'm truly sorry; I'll make up the time for you later."

Old Chen's expression shifted from confused to even more confused.

He scratched the back of his head: "Zhou Liang, did you sleep until you got confused?"

"Huh?"

"I've only been on guard duty for less than an hour," Old Chen frowned. "Isn't your shift at nine-thirty? It's not even eight-thirty yet; you still have over an hour before you take over."

Zhou Liang froze.

"Impossible."

He subconsciously denied it, and then saw Old Chen turn the life ring interface over to show him—

20:15.

The twenty-fifth day of the Magic Sea Calendar, 20:15.

He had entered the Farm Realm at 7:30. When he came out, the System showed it was before 8:00—he had assumed he'd spent over four hours inside because that was roughly the time displayed on the life ring when he checked. But now Old Chen was telling him that only forty-some minutes had passed outside in total?

Zhou Liang stared blankly at those numbers, his mind buzzing.

"Are… are you sure the time on the life ring isn't malfunctioning?"

Old Chen rolled his eyes: "The life ring was created by the Fate Master. How could it malfunction? If you're really that unsure, why don't you just take a look at the Fate Platform?"

Zhou Liang opened his mouth, but no words came out.

He apologized to Old Chen and turned to walk back.

He walked very slowly.

As he walked, he recalled every action he had taken in the Farm Realm—sowing seeds, watering, building a chicken coop, chopping wood, reinforcing the fence… He remembered every detail clearly, including the sensation of mud on his hands, the creaking sound of the well handle, and the sneeze triggered by grass clippings flying into his nose when he took apart and relaid the straw mat.

That was definitely not work that could be finished in forty-some minutes.

At least an hour. Or even longer.

Returning to his cabin, Zhou Liang sat on the sheets, wondering if this Farm Realm game newly launched by the Fate Master just had a false time display.

Indeed, that would be logical; otherwise, with the dangers lurking on this Magic Sea, it would be hard to say if one would even still be alive after taking the time to grow vegetables or raise chickens.

Feeling that he had found the answer, Zhou Liang thought that since it was still early.

Zhou Liang's gaze landed on the sprout icon on the life ring that almost blended into the background.

He had only experienced the joy of construction just now.

But what was the core pleasure of a farm game?

Stealing crops.

A surge of restlessness rose from the bottom of his heart.

Zhou Liang quickly calculated: there was still an hour and a half until guard duty.

Stealing crops wasn't like farming or chopping wood—find a target, teleport over, take action, run away. It would take a few minutes at most. According to the time pattern from earlier, even if he spent ten-some minutes inside, only a minute or two would have passed outside.

Safe.

He clicked on the sprout icon. White light swallowed his vision, and the next second, he was standing in his own small thatched courtyard.

The familiar scent of grass. Blue sky and white clouds overhead. The green grassland in the distance surged in the wind.

Zhou Liang took a deep breath, quickly summoned his personal panel, and clicked into the map interface.

There were only two light dots on the map.

One was his own Level 1 farm—labeled with his name and Rank, shining quietly in the corner of the map.

The other—

On the other side of the map, it was shining all alone.

Level 2.

Level 2 farm.

There were only these two farms on the entire map.

He had no choice.

Zhou Liang first pouted in regret—he had originally wanted to browse a few more to pick and choose. Immediately after, a more intense sense of excitement welled up.

There were only two people in the entire Farm Realm!

He was among the first batch to discover this hidden feature!

"The Fate Master is really crafty," Zhou Liang muttered, the corners of his mouth curling up involuntarily. "He quietly launched such a good thing without an announcement, and hid it so deep."

As for who the owner of that Level 2 farm was, Zhou Liang didn't even consider the Fate Master.

In the cognition he had formed since his Transmigration, the functions of the Fate Platform were for the Survivors to use.

The Fate Master was the person who created the functions, not the person who played with them. Furthermore, this kind of mini-game for stealing crops, where ordinary people sneakily steal from each other—how could that existence possibly play it?

It must be some Survivor of Silver Grade or higher who was as lucky as him, or perhaps even had a better eye for things, who had fast hand speed, was agile, and had spent karma points to accelerate their upgrade.

Zhou Liang selected "Invade Farm."

White light flashed.

He landed on a patch of grassland, looked up, and—

"Hiss—"

The farm before him was a completely different world compared to his own shabby thatched courtyard.

It was also built on grassland, but the scale was more than three times larger.

The main house was a two-story building made entirely of wood. The natural wood-colored walls were polished smooth and neat, and the roof was covered with thick thatch, packed densely and tightly.

In front of the house was an open courtyard. The fence was a full two meters high, made of thick logs arranged tightly, with gaps so small that even an arm couldn't reach through.

Inside the fence, large patches of lush green vegetables were arranged neatly. The cabbages looked succulent, the radish leaves were spreading vigorously, pumpkin vines were spreading along the base of the fence, and several tender yellow little pumpkins were hanging on the vines. In the corner, there were several rows of wooden racks set up, covered with some kind of slender bean pods.

Zhou Liang sneaked around half a circle and saw the chicken coop and the cow pen.

In the chicken coop, seven or eight fat hens were clucking and scratching the soil for food. In the cow pen, a calf was quietly ruminating.

He swallowed hard.

But what to steal required strategy.

His gaze swept across the layout of the entire courtyard and finally locked onto a key factor—

In the very center of the courtyard, an adult yellow dog was lying on the ground, dozing.

A guard dog.

The System stated clearly that a farm equipped with a guard dog could automatically identify crop thieves. The yellow dog was the security System of this farm.

The vegetables were in the front half of the courtyard, directly facing the yellow dog's line of sight. Stealing crops there would be like handing his face over to be slapped.

But the chicken coop—was directly behind the yellow dog.

A blind spot in its vision.

Moreover, the chicken coop was right against the back wall fence, so after succeeding, he could climb over the wall and run; it was the shortest path.

Zhou Liang crouched in the grass outside the fence, staring at the yellow dog for over ten seconds, confirming that its breathing was even, its eyelids were drooping, and it was sleeping soundly.

He took off his shoes.

Barefoot on the grass, he made no sound. Then he took off his jacket and wrapped his hands and feet with it in several layers—to prevent making noise while climbing the fence.

He circled around to the wall with the chicken coop.

He took a deep breath.

His hands gripped the top of the fence, his feet stepped into the gaps between the logs, and he climbed up bit by bit. His hands, wrapped in the clothes, muffled the sound of the wood rubbing; by the time he was lying on top of the fence looking down, seven or eight hens were pecking at the ground with their heads down, and none of them noticed the extra person above their heads.

Zhou Liang's gaze quickly swept over the flock of chickens.

He locked onto his target—the one closest to the fence, the largest in size, with the brightest feathers; it looked like the main egg producer.

He didn't hesitate.

He let go and dropped down.

Thud—

He pounced on the hen, his hands gripping its wings and body tightly.

"Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck—!!!"

The hen went ballistic.

The sharp, ear-piercing squawking tore through the tranquility of the entire farm. Along with it, the other seven hens all went into a panic, flapping their wings and scurrying around, with chicken feathers flying everywhere.

Not far away—

"Woof!! Woof, woof, woof, woof!!!"

The yellow dog woke up in alarm.

Zhou Liang heard the sound of claws scraping the ground approaching rapidly from the center of the courtyard. Holding the desperately struggling hen, he stepped on the chicken coop fence, grabbed the outer fence with one hand, and vaulted over—

The sound of wind behind him drew closer.

The hot breath of the dog sprayed against his lower back.

Zhou Liang exerted force he had never used in his life, pushed with both arms, and vaulted over the two-meter-high fence, hen and all—

"Ow!"

A piece of fabric from the back pocket of his pants was bitten off, and his pale white butt popped right out.