Chapter 2564
The sound, as deafening as a chime, isn’t the true sound of a bell. If you listen closely, you’ll discern the crispness unique to the mechanical turning. It’s not the sound of a bell; it’s the special tune of the clock’s hands moving.
And when this sound of the hands moving three times rang out, the square erupted in enthusiastic applause and cheers. The adults shouted, "A new day has begun," while the children jumped around wanting breakfast. The clock sound, the same every day, might not have any special meaning but everyone in the square rejoiced for this moment.
Xu Huo followed the crowd to the back of some people standing on the edge of the square, adjusting the clocks facing the Time Tower.
Calibrating time is not done by hand, but first using the calibration instruments to select the clock on the Time Tower. Then the calibration instruments will begin to work, adjusting the new clock according to the time on the tower’s clock, until there’s no discrepancy at all.
Not every family’s time is inaccurate, of course. Some are just here for routine checks. They carry two clocks, one for adjustment, the other as a reference—the slight differences in time also need to be recorded as important data.
"What a coincidence!" Shi Potian came over following the Girl in the painting who had bought breakfast. The two of them were alike, with their arms full of food bags and their hands busy, eating while walking.
The Girl in the painting couldn’t spare a hand to type now, so she took a bite of bread and then took down the things on her arms, pushing them to Xu Huo, motioning him to eat.
Xu Huo glanced at the bags of food, most of which had been bitten, "You’ve tasted all these?"
The Girl in the painting nodded, indicating they were all delicious and she didn’t want the ones that weren’t.
"The bad ones are all with me." Shi Potian raised his hand, indicating he also held a bunch she had bitten into, and volunteered, "Don’t worry, none of these will be wasted. I’ll eat them all later."
Xu Huo was momentarily speechless.
Shi Potian didn’t mind in the slightest, "I used to often eat leftovers from my sister, this younger sister likes fussing around, I don’t."
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Xu Huo searched for related information on the bounty platform. The greatest benefit of the Primeval Stone is that it can cause a qualitative change in the surrounding ores. Both Primeval Stones and Secondary Stones are extremely valuable prop materials, and using Primeval Stones to affect other ores is evidently more cost-effective. Therefore, once discovered during mining, they are mostly secretly kept, and the game channels definitely have limited information.
However, since there’s a number assigned, the Primeval Stone must be recorded in the list, although there was no related list on the bounty platform, and even the specific types of Primeval Stones hadn’t been statistically categorized.
Even if it’s not a "Time Origin," the value of a Primeval Stone remains. Once obtained, one will definitely find all means to hide it, why would the information be made public?
Beneath the Dimension, some information of unknown authenticity was found, even including photos and materials of Primeval Stones, but they were often followed by a price, likely not genuine.
Regular players are unaware of these data, but members of some player families should know a bit.
"I’ll inquire from others later." Xu Huo said.
The Girl in the painting nodded happily, meaning she wanted him to buy more.
Another two days passed, and the train finally arrived at Zone C9-001, a game subdivision claimed to possess the most accurate Time Tower.
The time in the game system is set according to the time at A1 Wormhole Point, reportedly based on the time of a certain star, considered one of the foundations of the game world.
Time at other wormhole points and sub-districts will vary slightly from that at A1 Wormhole Point, so each time players enter different sub-districts, they need calibration. Players can use timing props to estimate time, but calibration is required for these as well.
Therefore, it is rumored in the game that Zone C9-001 has the most time zones; they not only calibrate the time of wormhole point sub-districts but also calibrate other wormhole points together. Reports say that District 001 has a Time Square with clocks that correspond to every game district’s time.
People from other districts often come to District 001 to calibrate their sub-district’s time by checking the clocks in the Time Square.
The constant need to calibrate a district’s time is, according to rumors, because the district continually evolves, requiring the original timing method to be constantly adjusted, and some districts lack the ability for accurate time measurements, so they need to adjust based on the Time Square in Zone C9 to ensure no major discrepancies in the conversion between district time and game system time.
Xu Huo and the Girl in the painting arrived at a station called Little Full Moon, where the entire floor of the station was made of transparent material, and beneath it was a giant clock with six hands corresponding respectively to hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and nanoseconds, all in operation, representing Zone C9-001’s time.
Many districts in the game have their own timing units, but most follow mainly 24, 36, or 48 hours. Due to issues with time flow rates, even though they are 24, 36, or 48, it doesn’t mean 36 refers to Zone 014’s 24 as a reference. Zone C9-001 operates on a 36-hour system, yet time conversion shows that one day there is roughly akin to two days in Zone 014.
But, while in Zone C9-001, it’s hard to really feel the changes in time length; players seem to easily adapt to local customs.
"Such a big clock." The Girl in the painting crouched on the ground, watching the hands turning beneath her, "Will it always turn like this? Won’t it break?"
"It should." Xu Huo paused, "If it breaks, it can just be repaired."
"Once repaired, can time be reconnected?" The Girl in the painting asked again.
"It’s the clock that breaks, not the time. Why wouldn’t it reconnect?" Xu Huo signaled her to get up; the station’s passenger flow was quite large, and another batch of players arrived.
The two went directly through the station’s teleportation point to the Time Square.
Time Square is a famous spot in District 001. No one visiting from an Outer Zone misses it. Xu Huo and the Girl in the painting lined up at the teleportation point and found the square already packed when they exited into Time Square.
This time was merely morning in District 001, too early even for breakfast, yet the sky was already bright enough.
Smelling the enticing aroma of food, the Girl in the painting squeezed through the crowd to find something to eat, while Xu Huo followed the throng, gazing up at the enormous Time Tower.
Time Square and the Time Tower are essentially separate; the Time Tower is comprised of tens of thousands of diverse-shaped clocks, fitting together like gears to form a giant tower, which detaches from the ground, floating continually above the square. The light cast from beneath the tower shows its parts aren’t tightly fused; many parts appear attached to the tower body but are actually sustaining a hovering state, leaning against the tower body.
When the largest rectangular clock on the tower stopped all its six hands on the number 36, a sound echoed inside the tower:
"Dong!"
"Dong!"
"Dong!"