Stellar Colony 7, Quarters 12A
In the shared quarters where Aric lived, there were four bunks, one of which was empty. He only had two roommates: Rian Grayson and Dax Mitchell.
Both of them were low-ranking technicians like Aric. The relationship between Rian and Aric was a bit strained, while Dax was a quiet and somewhat introverted person who preferred to spend his free time in the station's virtual reality lounges.
Although Dax spent most of his off hours in the VR lounges, he never slept there and would always return late to the quarters.
He was a local station inhabitant and had a neutral relationship with Aric.
Aric glanced at his empty virtual farm, then at his two sleeping roommates, and frowned. Both of them were suspicious, but he wasn't sure who was more likely to have tampered with his sim.
This was the unpleasant reality of living among the lower ranks of station personnel.
Everyone was looking out for themselves and trying to survive.
Aric sighed, realizing there wasn't much he could do about it. He hadn't set a passcode on his comm device screen after all.
The next moment, an idea dawned on him. Since it was exhausting to harvest the crystals manually in the sim, perhaps he could do it more efficiently from outside the sim.
It was only now that he remembered he could easily harvest the crystals by tapping a button with his right finger on the screen.
This realization didn't dampen his good mood, and he left his quarters to grab a large breakfast. He didn't stop eating until his stomach was fully satisfied.
Learning the rules of the sim through trial and error hadn't been easy.
Aric ignored the surprised expression on the mess hall attendant's face and bought an extra serving for Officer Kane before heading to his post.
He hadn't been at the diagnostics station last night, but the area he was responsible for was relatively clean now. Officer Kane hadn't arrived yet, so he headed to the staff locker room.
Jonas Fairchild was already there. When he saw Aric walk in, he was visibly annoyed. After a moment, he asked with an irritated expression, "Did you mess with my charger?"
Aric rolled his eyes at him and ignored the question. Instead, he started fiddling with his comm device.
Jonas was frustrated but didn't push further. He could only mutter under his breath, "What a stuck-up tech! Don't think you deserve special treatment."
He was trying to hint at Aric's relationship with Commander Hale but didn't mention any names. Besides, Aric wasn't particularly attractive, and Jonas probably called him stuck-up because of his education.
Aric didn't care, and he casually laid his left hand on the table. His fingers tapped on the surface occasionally, and he couldn't resist touching the blank space on the screen of his old comm device.
He knew he shouldn't tap the holo-sim icon with his left hand, nor any other icons, but he figured it was fine if he just touched the blank space.
He was so bored that he couldn't help stirring up some trouble!
In a split second, Aric unexpectedly found himself transported into a strange dimension.
It was a barren wasteland, littered with gravel. It felt like he had been dropped into some desolate, alien environment.
He looked up and saw a sun in the sky, but it was unusually large, more than twice the size of the sun he was familiar with. Looking further into the distance, he could see mountains and faint patches of green.
However, the area he was in was completely desolate. There were no plants, no animals, not even insects. All he could see was endless gravel and the occasional gusts of cold wind.
Aric was stunned for a long moment before he murmured, "Damn, I really need to control my hands."
If he wanted to leave this dimension, he could probably do so easily, but since he was already here, he decided to explore and see what was going on.
As for the fact that he had entered the sim while Jonas was present, it didn't matter. It was too late to worry about that now. Anyway, once he entered this space, time outside should have come to a halt.
He looked around again and noticed the distant mountains and faint greenery to the east. When he squinted into the distance, he thought he saw what appeared to be organized structures.
He decided to investigate. Aric started walking eastward. He had eaten a big breakfast, so he didn't need to worry about physical fatigue for the time being.
The mountains were indeed far away. He walked for almost three hours before getting any closer. By now, he could vaguely make out the rows of structures that resembled buildings.
Could there be inhabitants in those buildings? Aric frowned.
According to the sci-fi stories he had read, he should be cautious and keep an eye out for potential dangers near the structures.
He looked up at the oversized sun. It was already moving westward, and both the light and heat were fading. The temperature in this alien desert was dropping, and the wind was growing stronger. As soon as he stopped walking, he felt the chill.
He raised his collar to shield himself from the cold wind.
The next moment, he suddenly jumped with excitement. "Did I bring my clothes with me?"
This discovery thrilled him. Outside in the real world, Stellar Colony 7 was experiencing early autumn, so Aric was wearing a long-sleeved uniform, which was standard issue for the station.
He reached into his trouser pocket and, as expected, found his ration packs and utility knife.
The lighter in his pocket wasn't windproof, so it took him some effort to ignite a ration pack's heating element. After taking a few bites, he felt quite satisfied. He couldn't help but grin. "This is incredible! I can actually make use of this space."
With such a storage dimension, he had achieved all his expectations for this anomaly.
After thinking it over, he decided to approach the structures quietly. It took a lot of energy to access the sim, so he had to make the most of every opportunity.
Another two hours later, he was finally within a mile of the structures.
By now, the sun was dipping lower, and the wind was howling.
Aric was dumbfounded as he stared at the structures. "They're just ruins?"
It was clearly a settlement with seventy to eighty buildings. All the roofs were completely destroyed, and the walls were mostly crumbled. Only ruins remained.
The settlement had been well-planned, which was why it looked like organized structures from a distance.
To the west of the village, there was even a large open area with what appeared to be an old machinery platform.
The platform's base was still intact, but the machinery itself was long gone, emphasizing the desolation of the entire settlement.
Aric frowned, wondering if there were any potential threats in this deserted village.
He had a strong feeling that no one had lived here for a very long time, but he knew he had to be cautious in case of scavengers or looters.
He didn't want his anomaly to be discovered or taken advantage of.
However, if he left now, he didn't know when he'd have enough energy to enter the dimension again.
Aric hesitated for a long time. Then, deciding it wasn't worth the risk, he opted to leave. After all, he could always gather more power later.
Most importantly, it was getting too cold, and he didn't want to risk it any longer.
The next moment, he found himself back in the staff locker room.
Immediately afterward, he heard a loud sound nearby as Jonas Fairchild slammed his locker door shut.
He didn't notice what I was doing just then! Aric relaxed, but then he raised his hand and smacked his thigh in frustration. I'm an idiot!
He hadn't realized that time had stopped outside the moment he entered the sim. Regardless of how his physical body appeared, it was only for a split second.
Even if his body had entered the sim, no one would have noticed because time had frozen in that moment.
In that case, there was no need for him to borrow another comm device.
He put away his old device, locked his gear in a locker, and headed for the shower.
Turning the hot water to full, feeling it warm his cold skin, he let out a sigh of relief. The chill from the strange dimension had nearly frozen him.
A while later, he found himself staring at the mark on his arm again. Its color was so faint that he could only access the sim one more time.
After getting dressed and leaving the locker room, Aric noticed that Officer Kane had already arrived. Not only had she finished her breakfast, but she was also enthusiastically explaining something to two young engineers.
Aric thought for a moment and decided there was no need to borrow a comm device. No one would notice what was happening when time stood still.
What he needed to do now was prepare for another trip to the strange dimension, explore its storage capabilities, and figure out what had happened there.
He had to carefully plan his next steps to avoid wasting energy.
The rest of the morning passed uneventfully. At noon, he still didn't go to the station's cafeteria but returned to the small mess hall he had visited three times in the past three days.
He didn't eat as much this time as before, and the attendant didn't seem to mind. The attendant only suddenly asked him when he went to pay the bill, "Did you get taller recently?"
"What? Oh, maybe, ha-ha." Aric glanced at him and nodded with a smile.
In fact, he did feel like he was slightly taller.
"I'm sure you've gotten taller." The attendant nodded with certainty. "You were about my height before, but now you're a bit taller than me."
People of similar build could easily notice changes in each other's height.
"Really?" Aric was excited to hear that. He was about 1.73 meters tall, which wasn't considered short among the crew.
However, in recent years, being taller had become more desirable, and Wang Haifeng had even joked that 1.75 meters was considered a disability just two days ago.
Wang Haifeng was 1.81 meters tall, so he firmly believed in that idea.