Chapter 63: Moving In

After this interlude, the hearts of the few grew a bit heavier.

Could they really survive tonight safely?

Harboring this thought, aside from Gu Zixu, who could still maintain her composure, Zhang Yunfan and Ding Mo, having both awakened, wore expressions of varying moods.

"Alright." Just as the two had not yet regained their focus, Gu Zixu had another gain in the Security Booth.

Clatter~

Those were brass objects about 5.8 centimeters long, with circular, perforated handles, four sets of asymmetrical tooth grooves, and serial numbers engraved at the base of the neck.

Looking at the large bunch of keys she held up, Ding Mo suddenly felt that the situation was not yet that bad.

Beside them was Xiao Yu—when the group was hiding just now, she had also obediently not made any sound.

At least, these guys were still somewhat reliable... maybe.

"Next, let's pick a building to move into." She pointed to the various apartment buildings hidden within the Residential Complex.

After comparing the key numbers, a moment later, in the increasingly pitch-black sky, they finally found a room.

However, what was strange was that they hadn't even seen a shadow of the "security guards" mentioned in the rules.

... Click!

Closing the door,

sealing out the Mist that even showed signs of seeping into the hallway, Ding Mo turned around and looked into the room.

The house was neither big nor small; the living room alone was several dozen square meters, and the entire unit was likely around 100 to 200 square meters.

Walking into the room, the first thing was a kitchen, where Zhang Yunfan had already started rummaging for food, as if the influence of the "aroma" from earlier still lingered.

As for Gu Zixu, she had come to the living room, and after settling Xiao Yu down, she began to look around.

It seemed she wanted to confirm the safety of the entire house.

In the living room, seeing there was nothing to do, Ding Mo went to the balcony.

Placing his hands on the railing, he looked out.

The thick Mist seemed to have emerged from another dimension, continuous, without the slightest sign of dissipating.

In the distance, the dim lights in the Mist flickered in and out of view.

The entire world seemed to have fallen into some kind of dream, everything hazy and unclear.

The room here was around the 20th floor, and the apartment was near the road, but now the street below could no longer be seen.

Ding Mo did not know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

The good thing was that since the street couldn't be seen, they wouldn't encounter dangers similar to the snack stall from earlier.

The bad thing was, if the Mist didn't clear by tomorrow, how were they supposed to get out?

After watching for a while, Ding Mo sighed, pulled the curtains and the balcony door shut, and returned to the living room.

On the living room sofa, Xiao Yu was playing with the teddy bear doll on his backpack, appearing quite spirited.

Ding Mo sat on the sofa opposite her, watched for a while, but suddenly felt a bit strange.

This child, having been brought here by them all the way, seemed to have not eaten for 6 or 7 hours?

Except for that ice cream she bought on the street herself, that didn't count as a proper meal.

But at this moment, she still didn't look the least bit hungry?

Come to think of it, the time she bought the ice cream on the street was also extremely eerie...

Just as Ding Mo felt something was wrong with her physical condition, Xiao Yu suddenly paused her movements, put down the teddy bear, and began to cry softly.

"Wuu wuu wuu..."

"Eh? What's wrong?" Ding Mo asked in confusion.

He walked closer to Xiao Yu and inquired.

Xiao Yu cried: "I'm sorry, Xiao Yu doesn't want to cause trouble, but, but Xiao Yu is so hungry!"

"Mom and Dad said, when you're hungry, just play with the teddy bear, then you won't be hungry anymore."

"But Xiao Yu just played with the teddy bear for a while, and I'm still hungry! Wuu wuu..."

Alright, it seemed she still got hungry... Ding Mo thought and was just about to go to the kitchen to find her something to eat, when he discovered Zhang Yunfan walking out from inside.

"Look what I found!" Zhang Yunfan revealed a smile.

In his hands, he carried half a bag of rice and a bag of Six Walnuts.

Ding Mo was first surprised, then asked:

"Is it really okay to eat the things here?"

"We only brought one day's worth of dry rations, and they're almost finished." Zhang Yunfan's expression stalled upon hearing this, then he added:

"I've checked all this food, everything is normal, I think it's worth a try."

At this time, Gu Zixu also walked out from the bedroom to the side: "No abnormalities."

The few looked at each other.

Naturally, there was nothing more to say; after a day of danger and tension, everyone was hungry.

Setting up a pot to boil water, before long, steaming hot white porridge was freshly made. The three of them each had two walnuts and began to eat.

Only while eating the porridge, Ding Mo noticed that Zhang Yunfan's gaze was always drifting toward him.

"Hoo—!"

Amidst the sound of Xiao Yu blowing on her porridge beside him, Ding Mo couldn't help but say to Zhang Yunfan:

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

"... Oh! I just think," Zhang Yunfan suddenly put down his chopsticks,

"thanks to you today, I haven't had a chance to properly say thank you."

Zhang Yunfan understood that if it weren't for Ding Mo's rescue today, he would have undoubtedly died.

Ding Mo nodded indifferently upon hearing this:

"It's nothing; I saved you to better ensure my own survival, and you did indeed help out."

"Otherwise, if I had tried to escape that Shopping Mall by myself, I fear it would have been difficult."

Was it really just difficult? Zhang Yunfan was secretly shocked to hear this.

Although today in the Shopping Mall, Ding Mo had not displayed any other abilities besides extreme intelligence and quick adaptability.

But these two points alone were things most people did not possess; at least among the people Zhang Yunfan had met, Ding Mo was in a league of his own.

Ding Mo noticed the slight change in Zhang Yunfan's expression, but he did not pay it much mind.

Was he really that impressive?

Not necessarily; he just had extra time to think within the "Curtain."

Crack! Ding Mo smashed the walnut in his hand and ate the kernel inside.

In other words, when others only had a few seconds to think and react, he had up to three minutes.

There is a saying: the difference in intelligence between people (normal people) in the world is at most 5 minutes.

For example:

There are two people, a top-tier genius and an ordinary person.

Given that they can both solve a math problem, the top-tier genius only needs 2 seconds of thought to solve the entire process, including calculating the answer;

While the ordinary person might need to spend 5 minutes to achieve the same result.

In the same amount of time, the top-tier genius could have done over 100 math problems!

But, from a realistic perspective, it actually only amounts to a 5-minute difference.

The Time Stop of Ding Mo's "Curtain" actually serves to narrow the gap between the two.

If his previous level of intelligence was 3-4 minutes behind a genius, then with the addition of the "Curtain,"

even if it is only 9 minutes per hour, he can temporarily possess a thinking speed comparable to a top-tier genius!

Of course, there may still be deficiencies in terms of knowledge accumulation and ability; it is impossible to say that having a similar thinking speed equates to having the same level of wisdom and capability.

Otherwise, wouldn't Ding Mo be able to become a great scientist like "Einstein" right now?

This is clearly impossible.