Meanwhile, William Clark, who was on the second floor of the building, once again wanted to leave due to hunger and thirst. However, such a straightforward departure was fraught with danger. His rational mind told him he needed a longer-term plan, so at this moment, William Clark was caught in a tangle of anxiety and restlessness.

Just then, he was startled to discover some light particles appearing out of thin air. At first, there was only one, then more and more, until finally, a total of eleven light particles floated around him.

William Clark was instantly overjoyed and reached out to grab these light particles, but he forcibly suppressed this instinct. After all, this was the afterlife—what if some ghostly curse appeared in the form of light particles?

Moreover, upon careful observation, William Clark noticed that these light particles were colorless, merely giving off a sense of light. They were about the size of a pinky nail, colorless and semi-transparent, completely different from the white light particles that had appeared after killing monsters before. This was a difference that could be seen at a glance.

“So… what exactly are these?”

William Clark didn’t dare touch them lightly. He carefully avoided the light particles and began to move, but as he moved, the light particles moved with him, floating within about half a meter around him—neither getting closer nor farther away.

After observing and waiting for more than ten minutes, William Clark confirmed that these light particles were neither ghosts nor curses and didn’t seem to pose any harm to him. Only then did he cautiously bring his finger close to a light particle,

and slowly touched it.

There was no pain or corrosion. As his finger made contact, William Clark felt a sensation similar to touching a bubble or a plastic film. The colorless light particle did not break; it simply let his finger touch it, and then he picked it up in his palm.

William Clark carefully fiddled with and examined the light particle. After a while, he still couldn’t figure out what it was. He even put it in his mouth and chewed it, but the light particle remained unchanged. It looked fragile,

yet was incredibly resilient. This was definitely not the white light particle that appeared after killing monsters!

After playing with it for a long time, William Clark could only give up. He was thirsty and hungry, and didn’t have much energy to investigate this suddenly appearing thing.

“So thirsty… I wish I could have a big bowl of盖茶, or even a huge bucket of mineral water.”

William Clark played with the colorless light particle in his hand. At this moment, he lay down on the ground, silently waiting for the seventy-two hours to pass. He decided to leave the building and explore only after he could cross over, even though this meant he would have to continue enduring hunger and thirst. So he muttered to himself, thinking about all the food and drink he’d had in the past.

Then, suddenly, his hand felt a heavy weight, and there was a burning pain as if he’d been scalded. Startled, he immediately flung his hand, rolling away a meter or two in fright.

He thought the colorless light particle had finally hurt him, but when he looked back at the spot, he was stunned.

Right where he had just been lying, there was a large bucket of bottled mineral water and a big bowl of盖茶 on the ground. The bowl of盖茶 had already spilled, with both tea leaves and scalding hot water on the floor. It was the hot water that had just burned him.

“?”

William Clark was full of questions. He looked all around, then focused his gaze on those colorless light particles.

One, two, three… ten. There were ten colorless light particles left—one less than before, the very one William Clark had just been playing with!

A suspicion arose in William Clark’s mind. He hurried over to the big bucket of mineral water, first carefully examining the color and texture of the water. He shook it, opened the lid to smell it, then dipped his finger in to taste it. Yes, the color, the smell, the taste—it really was water…

At that moment, William Clark couldn’t be bothered to investigate further. He gulped down the mineral water, drinking until his belly was swollen, then lay back beside the bucket, sighing with happiness.

After two or three minutes, William Clark carefully pinched off another colorless light particle, pressed it to the floor, and thought about white rice, spicy diced chicken, hotpot, sweet and sour ribs, braised pork, chopped chili fish head… all sorts of delicious food.

Sure enough, as if by magic, a big bowl of white rice appeared on the floor, along with a pot of hotpot with both meat and vegetables, a plate of sweet and sour ribs, half a plate of braised pork… half a plate?

William Clark immediately started eating, pondering the half plate of braised pork as he did.

“One colorless light particle can materialize whatever I think of, but this materialization isn’t unlimited. It’s not like you can get as much as you want—there’s some kind of equivalent exchange at work here. The exact formula still needs testing, and the origin of these colorless light particles is also a mystery. They seem to appear out of nowhere, but they’re circling around me, so they must have something to do with me. But I haven’t done anything…”

William Clark pondered all this carefully. He could confirm that these colorless light particles had appeared for no reason at all. During this time, he hadn’t done anything, hadn’t killed any monsters, hadn’t made any changes.