Trembling At A High Altitude

Midnight.

The horror movie watching time had ended.

All actors woke up from their beds in their own bedrooms.

Apart from Li Teng, the man of steel, the others had not yet collapsed or gone mad, not because their willpower was exceptionally strong or their nervous systems were particularly resilient.

Rather, a powerful script had repaired all their mental and physical injuries, making it impossible for them to break down or become deranged.

This was what truly made the Time Prison horrific and perverse.

After waking up from bed, Li Teng immediately rushed to the kitchen.

No matter what damage midday had inflicted on everything inside the house, everything would be restored at midnight, back to the condition it was in before the damage.

Thus, his pot of pork rib soup and marinated dishes were still there.

While heating up the pork rib soup, Li Teng found a plastic bag and packed a big bag of marinated dishes.

After quickly finishing a big bowl of pork ribs and lotus roots and drinking a large bowl of soup, Li Teng put on his arm and leg guards, picked up the Alloy Spiked Hammer, and took off with that big bag of marinated dishes.

There had been no sound from Liu Yin's room, and Li Teng didn't go to check on her.

She couldn't die anyway.

After leaving the house, Li Teng headed straight for the white fog sphere.

Upon reaching the running corridor, Li Teng removed his leg and arm guards, along with the Alloy Spiked Hammer and his stock of food, placing them on a platform behind him, and then he started today's extreme running.

He failed time and again.

He came close to his target time and again.

The farther he advanced, the more difficult it became.

However, the duration of his extreme running had been extending, from five minutes to five minutes and ten seconds, fifteen seconds, eighteen seconds, nineteen seconds, twenty seconds...

The closest distance to his target also kept getting shorter, from two and a half meters to 2.45 meters, 2.42 meters, 2.4 meters, 2.39 meters...

Li Teng kept pushing his body's extreme potential.

Energy Drinks saved him a great deal of time, allowing him to recover from the exhaustion of extreme running without having to rest.

Finally, just as his Time Index was about to be depleted, by quickening his running pace, the Time Index he earned from running for over five minutes had just surpassed 1000 points.

The acquisition and consumption of his Time Index reached a dynamic balance, sparing Li Teng from having to waste time going back to hunt Giant Rats for replenishment, allowing him to keep running continuously.

Eventually, after each run, even after accounting for the consumption of Energy Drinks, he still had a surplus.

The amount of surplus also kept increasing from a dozen to dozens, to over a hundred, and then over two hundred...

When midday came and Li Teng was forcefully teleported back by the white fog sphere, he had managed to extend his extreme running duration to six minutes, and had reduced the shortest distance to the target to just two meters.

The potential of the human body was indeed far stronger than humanity had recognized, only it had not been pushed to such limits before.

At half-past eleven, Li Teng voluntarily returned from the platform's transport fog sphere to the large house, quickly skinned and subdivided the Bear Rhinoceros, and cooked it.

Liu Yin had become very quiet, hardly speaking to Li Teng at all.

Li Teng didn't have the time to talk to her either. He was too busy, wishing he could use every second as if it were two.

...

At midday, a new round of torment began.

This time, it was an all-enveloping swarm of bugs.

They were everywhere, inescapable, indestructible, leaving no refuge for the actors. These bugs bit their skin, burrowed into their bodies, traveled within them, even biting through the bone to invade their bone marrow, bringing them an extraordinary agony and itch.

Compared to them, mosquitoes, bedbugs, lice, and ticks in the real world are child's play, hardly worth mentioning.

...

At midnight, Li Teng left the house with weapons, equipment, and food, and continued to run.

The duration of sprinting had grown longer, the distance to the target was getting closer, and the surplus of the Time Index generated by sprinting was increasing. Li Teng felt his leg muscles becoming more developed, his stamina growing more enduring, and his whole body filled with inexhaustible energy.

When he walked through the fog, he didn't even need to look at his watch anymore. If a Giant Rat dared to ambush him, it would be hammered into oblivion the moment it appeared.

At twelve noon, a new round of torment began.

The patterns were renewed, varying every day.

But, fundamentally, they were all the same.

For Li Teng, it was pain all over again, fundamentally no different from before.

As for the accompanying mental damage, he had become completely immune.

His mind was now wholly focused on running. Noon, afternoon, and evening were his times to sleep.

Each bout of intense pain would wake him, but as long as there were intervals between, he could manage to sleep during those breaks.

He had even grown to like it here.

Unlike the monotonous waiting on the stone pillar every day, here he was busy, had goals and pursuits, and could see himself growing stronger, though he still wasn't sure what good this strength would do him. But he knew that getting stronger was always a good thing.

Liu Yin seemed to have turned into a walking corpse, no longer speaking to Li Teng, nor he to her. Initially, she ran on a treadmill in the room. Later, she left the room on her own.

Latter, Li Teng noticed she had bought a set of leg and arm guards, as well as an Alloy Spiked Hammer. There were also bodies of Giant Rats on the kitchen floor.

When Li Teng returned from the fog sphere, she had already cooked the giant rat meat with vegetables she acquired, and placed it on the dining table along with beer for Li Teng to help himself.

Li Teng was comforted; she seemed to have found a purpose in life.

Although everything was forced, it ultimately led her to take this step.

...

Several days later.

Li Teng drank another Energy Drink.

He started a new round of running.

The last time he ran, he had extended his sprinting time to ten minutes, and the distance between him and the platform where the treasure chest was, had been reduced to just one centimeter.

He had been stuck at this last centimeter for a whole day now.

But now, he had a strong premonition.

He felt that this time, he would definitely cross that final centimeter and reach the shores of success.

Actually, he wasn't so eager about what treasure might be inside the treasure chest anymore.

Because the most significant gain from the past several days was his running ability and his bulgingly developed leg muscles.

If he could return to the real world, Li Teng felt he could even attempt to arm wrestle with Bolt in sprinting events, and he was very confident about winning the Olympic marathon.

Li Teng's premonition was not wrong.

This time, he indeed crossed the final centimeter and successfully leaped onto the platform, standing in front of the glowing treasure chest.

On the platform, there was a tunnel leading further down.

But what Li Teng wanted to figure out more was...

What treasure was actually inside the treasure chest?