Before long, the streetlights along the road all lit up.
These lights were illuminated by "brown oil" fuel, which is produced from the perennial tree called the Stonefruit Tree.
When this tree reaches the age of twelve, it bears stonefruits. The skin of the fruit is as hard as a rock, and it contains sticky, high-calorie oil called "stonefruit gum."
After refining, this substance can be obtained as brown oil. The residue from the refining process, mixed with sawdust, can be compressed into honeycomb fuel. Brown oil mixed with resin can also be made into candles.
In short, it has many uses.
Cheng Han felt that stonefruit gum was somewhat similar to petroleum from his previous life.
The difference is that the latter is extracted from underground, while the former grows on trees.
Ten minutes later.
Cheng Han arrived at the main gate of Shanyi Lane on his bicycle.
The so-called "Shanyi Lane" is an officially built welfare community where the residents are all low-income families. There are over 160 households in total, and there aren't many orphans like him.
Cheng Han got off his bicycle and pushed it towards the gate.
"Woof! Woof!"
Loud barking came from the entrance.
Two majestic large dogs, as tall as adult men's waists, ran over from the left and right.
They were spirit mastiffs, with intelligence comparable to fifteen-year-old teenagers and the ability to understand human language.
Spirit mastiffs are working dogs with "formations" and are under the jurisdiction of the Inspection Bureau. Each residential area is assigned several spirit mastiffs to serve as security.
Cheng Han immediately shouted, "Taozi, Lizi, it's me!"
The two spirit mastiffs wagged their tails in a friendly manner.
The spirit mastiff named "Taozi" circled around Cheng Han and even sniffed his backpack carefully several times.
This was a routine inspection.
In this world, there are many hazardous items related to the alien gods. One of the responsibilities of the spirit mastiffs is to identify these items and prevent them from being brought into the community.
"Woof!"
Taozi barked and nodded towards the gate, as if saying, "Go in."
Their behavior was truly extraordinary.
Cheng Han waved at them and walked through the community gate.
"Woof! Woof!"
The two spirit mastiffs responded with a bark each and watched him enter the community.
Cheng Han's small apartment had one bedroom, one living room, one kitchen, and one bathroom, with a total area of over 30 square meters.
Until he turned sixteen, he didn't need to pay any rent, and he could receive 20 kilograms of rice, 10 kilograms of flour, and 450 copper coins every month.
In contrast, in his previous life, his shabby single room was only 10 square meters, but the rent was as high as 1,500 yuan, which took away one-third of his salary. After deducting expenses for food, transportation, clothing, and other costs, there was very little left at the end of each month.
Although this world didn't have various household appliances, making life less convenient, the pressure was much lower than in his previous life.
Cheng Han put down his backpack and started cooking dinner.
He poured a little brown oil into the stove, ignited it, and then added a piece of honeycomb fuel. Soon, a blazing flame emerged.
He quickly rinsed the rice and placed it on the stove. He washed a handful of white umbrella mushrooms twice and stir-fried them with a few pieces of salted pork in an iron pot. A dinner was ready.
Cheng Han tasted a bite of the white umbrella mushroom and nodded slightly, "The taste is not bad!"
White umbrella mushrooms contain various amino acids, and the oil brings out the full flavor. The deliciousness is not inferior to truffles in his previous life.
He deeply felt that the people in this world were far more advanced in the development and utilization of plants compared to the other timeline.
The Stonefruit Tree is a typical example, and fungi are another.
Since crossing over, Cheng Han has seen at least five hundred types of mushrooms in the market.
After finishing dinner, he entered the bedroom and lay on the bed, and his breathing gradually became long and slow.
In the meditation class at school, he was taught a technique called the "Fushan Breathing Method." According to Qiu Yuan, if one masters this breathing method, they can enter a deep sleep state in three minutes.
This method requires extremely high talent, and only one person in the whole class barely grasped it. Out of ten attempts, they could achieve rapid deep sleep only once or twice.
Even within the entire school, the number of people who have mastered it does not exceed fifteen.
Naturally, his previous self was not among them.
After crossing over, Cheng Han had a sudden idea and used his skills to deduce the breathing method. Surprisingly, he received feedback. By adjusting a certain detail, it helped him grasp the breathing method.
He tried it and found that his sleep quality had slightly improved.
In his excitement, Cheng Han decided to completely improve the breathing method. After half a year of deduction, he finally developed a completely new breathing method—the Cheng Breathing Method.
More importantly, this is a perfect fit for oneself.
Not only is it foolproof, but the effect is surprisingly good.
It only takes two minutes to enter a deep sleep state, which is much stronger than the Fushan breathing technique.
*
One hour later.
Cheng Han woke up.
At this time, he felt energetic, with no dizziness in his head.
Checking his attributes, he saw that his mental value had reached 7.2/13.2.
Compared to before, his mental value had recovered by 6.6 points.
This is the benefit of deep sleep.
Cheng Han imagined the image of the black cat and silently said, "Based on the clues from the black cat I encountered earlier, deduce its experiences in the next few days."
His scalp immediately felt a cool sensation.
But he didn't receive any information.
The deduction failed.
His mental value decreased by 0.3 points.
Cheng Han took a few deep breaths and silently said for the second time, "Deduction."
The cool sensation reappeared.
But still no feedback.
Another failure.
This is actually a normal phenomenon.
Based on past experience, the failure rate of using the All-Knowing Eye is about 85%, and success is the minority.
Cheng Han tried five times in a row until the sixth deduction, finally receiving feedback.
His vision blurred, and a somewhat fuzzy illusion appeared before him:
The black cat leaped down from the wall, landing lightly on the ground. It let out a sharp cry and ran towards a nearby place.
A second later, a sudden change occurred.
A dark and ink-like shadow suddenly appeared on the ground, and a black ghostly claw flashed out from it, swiftly grabbing towards the black cat.
The black cat seemed to sense something and jumped up just in time.
The ghostly claw immediately changed direction and touched the black cat's body like lightning, then turned into a wisp of blue smoke and dissipated.
An unbelievable thing happened.
The black cat's body seemed to deflate like a deflated balloon.
"Snap!"
A complete cat skin fell from mid-air with a light sound.
Its flesh and blood mysteriously disappeared.
The scene froze for a moment, then disappeared.
A message flashed: "Proficiency +4, current proficiency is 20/1000, mental value is 2.4/13.2."
Cheng Han felt a chill: "My previous intuition was correct. The black cat does have a problem. Could that ghost claw be the power of an evil god?"
He never expected that a chance encounter on his way home would involve a terrifying evil god.
Cheng Han calmed down and began to analyze: "In the scene of the illusion, there was light rain in the sky, indicating that the ghostly claw will appear on a rainy day.
"From the black cat's actions, it most likely encountered something terrifying inside the wall and fled in panic, but couldn't escape its fate."
He couldn't sit still: "Inside the wall is a textile factory. I'm afraid something big is going to happen there."
The Ghost claw can instantly drain the black cat and killing people naturally wouldn't be difficult. The factory is a densely populated area, so if something really happens, many people will die.
Cheng Han used the Eye of Omniscience again: "Deduce when it will rain."
The result came out quickly - there will be light rain three days later in the morning.
This also means that the disaster will happen in three days.
Cheng Han pondered for a long time and made a decision: "Although I currently don't have the ability to stop the disaster, I can at least quietly report it to the police.
"Here's the plan: first find detailed evidence, then find a way to inform the authorities.
"The black cat is the victim in the prophecy, closely related to the ghostly hand. It is naturally the best connecting object and can greatly increase the success rate of deductions to obtain more information.
"Tomorrow, I'll take a day off and try to catch the black cat, then use the Eye of Omniscience for further deductions."