Zhao Guang stared at the scene before him, his face full of disbelief.
Hadn't he just been in the bathroom? How did he blink and suddenly appear here? Before him was a rocky beach, the ground covered with small stones, and some large boulders scattered around in different places.
Huge trees grew among them, towering and yet sparse overall.
The vegetation on the ground wasn't very lush, clumped in patches, with many areas covered by rocks where no plants grew.
As far as the eye could see, there were no borders; his bathroom surely didn't have this feature.
Zhao Guang touched a large stone beside him; the sensation was unmistakable. A breeze passed, and Zhao Guang felt a certain melancholy in his nether regions, a chilly wind on his privates.
"Damn it, where are my clothes?" Zhao Guang cried out instinctively.
He finally remembered he had been taking a bath, wearing nothing but a towel.
Without a second thought, Zhao Guang turned to head back. As he turned, he saw a black vortex spinning on a stone behind him; this must have been how he arrived here.
"Fantastic, I can go back!" Zhao Guang laughed loudly and lunged forward.
Then, with a "thud," Zhao Guang clasped his head.
"Why's it gone? It was just here." As Zhao Guang had lunged, the vortex had disappeared, and his head had made close contact with the stone.
If his head hadn't been so hard, he might have been bleeding by now.
And so, his head now sported a large bump, which would take days to heal.
Dizzily, Zhao Guang wrapped the towel around himself and groped the stone. Just as his hand touched the rock, Zhao Guang suddenly saw a countdown, 0:09:59.
"Ten minutes? What does that mean? Can I go back by touching this for ten minutes?"
Zhao Guang removed his hand, and the countdown disappeared. He placed his hand back on the rock, and the countdown reappeared, starting over.
"Looks like I'm not hallucinating, not just because I hit my head," Zhao Guang muttered to himself, deciding to just wait and see what would happen as the time slowly ticked away.
Although his name was Zhao Guang, it doesn't mean he liked being bare.
In such wild and desolate places, he didn't have the survival skills to fast for three days like some storied heroes.
"Gurgle, gurgle..."
"What's going to happen? Will I just go back when the time ends, or will that vortex appear and let me pass through?"
"Gurgle, gurgle..."
"If I really could move freely between here and home, then I'd be set. I haven't even found a good job after graduation. If this works, why would I need a job?" Zhao Guang continued muttering to himself.
"Gurgle..."
"Stop that noise, can't you see I'm busy here?" Zhao Guang waved his other hand impatiently. There was no helping it, his right hand was still on the stone, and taking it off would mean starting over.
"Damn it, what the hell is that?"
Before Zhao Guang could finish grumbling, a sharp pain erupted in his buttocks, making him nearly jump up in pain.
The hand that had been on the stone now came down to his buttocks to feel the stinging area. It was on fire, and he was bleeding. Angrily, Zhao Guang turned around to see what had caused it.
What he saw was a creature over a meter tall covered in spikes constantly making a "gurgle" sound at him. It looked like a giant porcupine. He remembered this creature was probably called a hedgehog.
How were there still animals in such desolate, mountainous regions? Zhao Guang was somewhat at a loss when he suddenly saw a wild animal.
But the porcupine didn't care about that and charged straight at Zhao Guang.
"Wait, wait, this is all a misunderstanding," Zhao Guang dodged in a panic, but the porcupine had set its sights on Zhao Guang's butt and charged stubbornly at that spot.
Zhao Guang had no choice but to run. With his weak physique, incapable of even defeating a goose, there really was no way to handle this situation.
Zhao Guang screamed while running haphazardly to escape.
Behind him, the porcupine chased after Zhao Guang like crazy, but no matter how he ran, it was futile, and the pursuit seemed even excited.
Was it really worth it just for a butt? As Zhao Guang was running, he suddenly felt a chill on his body.
"Crap, my towel." It turned out that the only piece of cloth on him was now gone, hanging on the porcupine, fluttering in the wind. As the porcupine charged, the towel was wrapped around its eyes.
Unable to see, the porcupine crashed wildly in random directions.
Seizing the chance, Zhao Guang finally managed to escape the porcupine's fondness for his butt.
But as he watched his towel about to part from him, Zhao Guang's eyes were filled with reluctance. He opened his mouth at the porcupine, stretched out a finger, and silently and deeply stared at the departing porcupine.
"Do I really deserve this, where the heck am I?"
After the crisis had passed, Zhao Guang finally realized that something was seriously off about his situation.
Surrounding him were rocks shaped all alike, and he wondered from where he had come. Better head back and check, or if he couldn't find his way back, he was doomed.
As he moved, Zhao Guang felt pain.
The worst pain wasn't in his butt but in his feet. Running all the way here, the rocks had scraped off quite a bit of skin.
Walking back would be torture. Zhao Guang didn't think he could run all the way back; better look around and see if there was something to make a pair of shoes from, even wrapping some leaves might help.
If all else failed, he had to try climbing a tree for leaves.
"Who goes there, stop, don't move!"
Just as Zhao Guang was about to act, a loud shout came from behind a rock. Zhao Guang turned and saw two people in leather armor holding weapons appear, their swords pointed at him.
Correct, cold weapons. Another person was taking a bow and arrows from their body.
The sudden appearance of Zhao Guang surprised these two as well.
"Wait, I'm a human, I mean, I have no ill intentions." Zhao Guang raised his hands but suddenly felt something was wrong and quickly lowered them, shielding his groin.
"Raise your hands, don't try any tricks." The razor-sharp arrow was pointed at Zhao Guang.
Zhao Guang raised his right hand while shielding with his left, his face full of embarrassment.
"Raise your left hand."
Hearing this, Zhao Guang raised his left hand, then put his right hand down again.
"Both hands up, and don't try any tricks again, or don't blame us for being rude.
"Guys, do I look like someone who could hide anything?" Zhao Guang said, his face full of humiliation and distress as he raised both hands. His legs twisted around, but he couldn't cover everything, his appearance looking particularly innocent.