Space Chasm

"Alright, I've replaced your internal organs with a more powerful set. This should fundamentally solve the issues within your body. Next." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Lin Ye used Molding runes to close the wound, then called for the next adventurer waiting in line outside.

He had set up a simple operating room in the back of the general store, and many adventurers came to him to replace body parts.

The removed mutation organs wouldn't go to waste either; Lin Ye would craft them into spiritual energy items.

This way, Lin Ye not only earned a surgery fee and Labor Income, but also stocked the store shelves with goods.

It was truly killing three birds with one stone.

Unfortunately, the space chasm only lasted less than forty minutes before it began to collapse. Lin Ye could only stand outside the store door and wave goodbye to those adventurers.

If every night's customers were like this, Lin Ye would be extremely happy.

After these customers left, a large amount of system information flashed before Lin Ye's eyes, all of it Labor Income earned from the completed trades.

Since these adventurers all used spiritual energy materials instead of trade points, the Labor Income also came as various spiritual energy materials.

These spiritual energy materials neatly appeared inside the loot space. Their types were similar to what the previous customers had given, but they looked to be of slightly better quality.

With the space chasm closed, Lin Ye returned to the general store and used the newly acquired spiritual energy materials to craft new spiritual energy cards and spiritual energy items. He wanted to earn enough trade points here to go shopping in the advanced trading area.

This time, only a little over ten minutes passed before Lin Ye sensed spatial fluctuations outside the store.

He originally intended to sit inside the store waiting for customers to enter, but he realized he couldn't sense any customers outside at all.

'...Where are the people?'

Lin Ye walked outside the store, and a space chasm appeared not far from the shop door. On the other side of the chasm was a vast, seemingly endless expanse of transparent ice.

Beneath the ice was deep blue, nearly black seawater. A figure bundled in a heavy coat lay collapsed on the other side of the chasm, looking like a frozen corpse.

Standing in the desert, Lin Ye looked at the glacier on the other side of the chasm; the feeling was quite surreal.

"Better wake the customer up first."

Lin Ye used spiritual energy to pull the person across the chasm, then checked their internal condition.

"Huh? This is..."

Lin Ye discovered that the vast majority of the structures inside the person's body were completely frozen. This freezing wasn't the kind you get from putting meat in a freezer, but a more thorough, fundamental kind of freezing.

Generally, the change in frozen meat is mainly the formation of ice crystals from the moisture inside the meat block, which damages the cells.

But what was frozen inside this person wasn't the moisture in their body; it was that the cells themselves had undergone some property change similar to freezing.

"This is troublesome..."

Lin Ye couldn't handle this situation either. He couldn't possibly replace every single one of the person's cells.

"But even in this state, she's still not dead. This means her body has some resistance to this kind of freezing... Hope I don't end up at a loss."

Lin Ye used the Instinctive State Rule Fragment to create a Rule Crystal, then used this Rule Crystal to cast the blessing secret art on the person.

Instinct was a very mysterious power. Driven by instinct, humans could even accomplish things they normally couldn't.

Lin Ye didn't know if this would work. Whether the other person could survive was no longer something he could decide.

While waiting for the customer to wake up, Lin Ye wasn't idle. He used a compressed spiritual energy piercing attack to penetrate a section of ice over ten meters thick, then cast the Dragon Fishing Rod's fishing line into the hole, attempting to fish out some unique marine life from inside.

The catch beneath the ice layer was very plentiful. Before long, Lin Ye had forcibly hooked up a batch of marine creatures with the fishhook.

These marine creatures were all low-tier spiritual energy beings. That freezing phenomenon hadn't occurred inside their bodies.

Lin Ye took out a small pot from his spatial item, then cleaned the freshly caught marine creatures and put them in the pot to boil.

Since he had spent too much time in the morning, Lin Ye hadn't eaten dinner at night. Now was just the right time for a midnight snack.

The pot contained not only fish, but also some spiritual energy beings similar to shrimp, crabs, and sea snails.

Lin Ye planned to cook some noodles in the fish broth later; it just so happened it was a bit cold near the chasm.

Soon, the seafood in the pot was cooked. Lin Ye prepared a dipping sauce, then started eating seafood while continuing to fish.

"This is the life a Laborer should have."

Lin Ye hooked back a canned cola he had placed on the other side of the chasm, pulled the tab, and took a sip.

"...Where is this?"

Just as Lin Ye was enjoying life, the customer who had been lying like a corpse behind him finally regained consciousness.

"You're outside the system's general store. I'm the store clerk. To save you, I spent a product worth 800 trade points."

Lin Ye ladled a bowl of fish broth noodles and placed it beside the other person. He really didn't want them to die before paying up.

"Thank you... but I have nothing left on me. Can I stay here and work?"

Yiven said somewhat awkwardly.

"Setting aside whether you're worth that price, this space chasm isn't stable. It will close soon. Do you intend to stay on this side forever?"

Lin Ye actually didn't care too much about one Rule Crystal. If the other person really couldn't pay, he wouldn't make things difficult for them.

After all, saving the person was his own initiative. The other party hadn't promised anything. It was equivalent to a failed investment; you win some, you lose some.

"If you don't mind."

Yiven showed a somewhat ingratiating smile.

"This side might not be any safer than your side. And I'll be leaving this place tomorrow morning. Do you want to stay alone in a place like this?"

Lin Ye looked at the frail, pale-faced woman before him. The feeling she gave was like a gambler already pushed to the brink, now wanting to make one last desperate gamble.

"If I go back, I will definitely die over there. Over here, I at least have a sliver of hope."

Yiven took a sip of the fish broth. She showed a pleasantly surprised expression; the warm broth gave her a long-lost sense of warmth.

"Then, have you learned any valuable knowledge? Just laboring isn't worth 800 trade points."

Lin Ye didn't ask further; he wasn't interested in other people's predicaments.

"Hmm~ I know some combat techniques, but such knowledge probably isn't very useful to a powerful person like you, right?"

Yiven's perception was very sharp. Just by looking at Lin Ye, she felt a slight chill. This wasn't a change in temperature, but the most primitive instinct of a living being.

"It's fine. I really enjoy learning knowledge. You can give me some valuable knowledge, and I'll price that knowledge."

Different Planes would give rise to different combat systems. Although they weren't fundamentally very different, there would always be some unique aspects within them.

Lin Ye liked to find some valuable techniques from them.

"Okay... then can I stay on this side?"

Yiven asked softly.