Although the speed of his cultivation had increased, and Yun Yi estimated that he might reach the seventh level in less than half a year, the lack of response from the communicator weighed heavily on his heart.

Life seemed to have fallen into a monotonous routine. After several days of observation, Yun Yi easily noticed that the monsters followed a certain pattern in their daily movements. In other words, they wouldn’t randomly come to the wreckage of the Thunderclap to cause trouble.

Occasionally, one or two monsters would curiously come to take a look, but they were merely curious and didn’t cause any further damage to the already battered ship. As for the remaining corpse of the monster, it seemed to hold no attraction for them either. They would pass by it as if it were invisible.

Without his mecha, Yun Yi didn’t dare to challenge the monsters. Now that he had enough food, all he could do was wait for the communicator to establish contact with the Resistance base one day and leave this godforsaken place.

His daily life consisted of eating, checking the communicator, and practicing his martial arts.

With no one to disturb him, Yun Yi’s martial arts progress was rapid. Of course, this was also due to the accelerated flow of his internal energy. After the initial few days, Yun Yi had grown accustomed to this faster energy flow. Without realizing it, he also noticed that his physical strength had improved significantly compared to before. Other attributes such as speed, agility, flexibility, and resistance to damage had also seen considerable enhancement.

This discovery shocked him.

After all, while practicing martial arts naturally improved these attributes to some extent, the improvement had never been so dramatic. The gains he had made in the past month were equivalent to the overall improvement he had experienced after breaking through to the sixth level.

In addition to the physical changes, the changes in his mental abilities were even more pronounced. The first thing he noticed was his memory. A few days ago, while waiting for the communicator out of boredom, Yun Yi had dismantled a relatively intact computer from a mecha wreckage, intending to study the structure of mechas and see if he could assemble a functional mecha from the scraps. To his surprise, he found that the knowledge, which had once seemed profound and difficult to him, was now easily memorized after just two or three readings.

This discovery filled Yun Yi with joy.

Yun Yi had never been particularly intelligent. Back at the base, he had struggled with various subjects, often spending days memorizing information only to forget it soon after. As a result, he hadn’t been very interested in academic knowledge. For him, achieving success in martial arts had been his sole dream.

But now, with his memory significantly improved, his mindset had subtly changed. The vast and complex knowledge about mechas, including materials science, dynamics, and physics, was now absorbed into his mind like a sponge.

As he delved deeper into his studies, he was surprised to find that not only had his memory improved, but his analytical and comprehension skills had also changed. What had once seemed like an impenetrable maze of knowledge now felt as simple as one plus one equals two.

How could Yun Yi not be delighted?

Now, Yun Yi had shifted half of his martial arts practice time to studying these subjects.

What had once been a headache was now effortless. Yun Yi felt like a massive sponge, greedily absorbing knowledge from the ocean of information. In less than a month, he had mastered what would normally take an average person half a year to learn about mechas.

Just as he was enthusiastically preparing to continue his studies, an unexpected problem arose.

“How could this happen!”

Yun Yi stopped the flow of his internal energy and sat there in a daze.

“Why has the accelerated flow gradually returned to its previous speed?” Yun Yi felt the flow of energy within him, utterly puzzled. He immediately regretted not focusing more on martial arts during that month of rapid progress.

After several attempts, Yun Yi finally gave up in frustration.

“Could it be that the monster meat has lost its effect?” Yun Yi speculated. In this state, he had no motivation to practice. Without the feeling of rapid progress, every session felt uncomfortable.

Putting aside his cultivation, Yun Yi went to the command room where the communicator was installed. The communicator remained silent as usual. He casually turned on the computer and pulled up a document on mecha construction, studying it carefully.

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But before long, he was horrified to find that his memory and analytical abilities, while not reduced to their previous levels, were nowhere near as sharp as they had been a few days ago.

This discovery nearly crushed his spirit. He quickly checked his body. Fortunately, his worst fear didn’t come true. His martial arts hadn’t regressed, and the physical improvements he had gained—strength, endurance, speed—though growing at their previous rate, hadn’t diminished.

After sitting in silence for a while, Yun Yi suddenly laughed at himself.

“I was never particularly talented to begin with. Being able to experience a month of rapid progress was already a tremendous blessing from the heavens. In that month, I saved several months of martial arts training, improved my physical condition beyond normal training, and even learned about mechas. What more could I ask for?”

Yun Yi muttered to himself, “My talent was never great. Now I’m just back to where I was before, not worse off. There’s no need to regret anything. I just need to keep working hard. Besides, whether I can even leave this place is still uncertain. Why worry so much?”

In that moment, Yun Yi resolved his inner turmoil. His heart felt lighter, and he laughed heartily before heading back to his room.

As he took off his clothes, preparing to take a refreshing shower before resuming his practice, he noticed something strange. The ancestral necklace around his chest, which had once emitted a multicolored glow, had returned to its original faint blue light.

Thinking back to the changes in his body, Yun Yi suddenly understood.

“This necklace must be the key!”

Yun Yi held the necklace, examining it closely, but couldn’t figure out why it had turned multicolored over a month ago. After a moment of thought, he gave up and decided to take a shower. His mind still preoccupied with the necklace, he didn’t practice. Instead, he wandered outside. It was still twilight, and no monsters were around, making it relatively safe.

Looking out at the endless yellow sand, Yun Yi touched the necklace and sighed softly.

If he couldn’t leave this place, what would become of him?

How much longer could he endure this loneliness?

Before, he had filled his days with intense martial arts practice and voracious learning. But now, Yun Yi feared that one day the overwhelming loneliness would drive him to throw himself into a horde of monsters and end it all.

Turning his head, his gaze fell on the five-meter-long alloy longsword lying on the ground. The sword seemed to mock him, laughing at his weakness, his inability to face the loneliness and pain of life.

He touched the longsword, then the necklace around his chest.

“If my parents were watching me from the heavens, what would they say? Would they encourage me to live bravely? Or would they hope for me to join them soon?”

Holding the necklace, Yun Yi closed his eyes gently.

“Big brother is mean… sob…”

“Yun Yi, you can’t scare your sister with caterpillars…”

“Yun Yi, Xiao Luo, study hard, and I’ll take you out on Sunday…”

Dad… Mom… Little sister…

He had to live not just for himself, but to avenge his family. His enemies were still alive. How could he die? Looking up at the sky, Yun Yi shouted, “Dad, Mom, Little Sister! Watch me! I will live bravely, and I will avenge you!”

After shouting, Yun Yi felt his body go weak, and tears streamed down his face.

No matter how strong or brave he was, at this moment, he was just a sixteen-year-old boy. Enduring the torment of loneliness and despair for over a month had already been an immense struggle.

There was no one to talk to, no one to share his life with.

All he had was the cold computer and the endless sea of knowledge.

In his heart, Yun Yi had come to regard the alloy longsword as a friend, a brother. Every morning when he woke up and every night before bed, he would visit the sword, sharing his thoughts and telling it about what he had learned.

Perhaps only in this way could he withstand the torment of loneliness.

Once again, his gaze fell on the alloy longsword, and he seemed to realize something.

Suddenly, he turned around and looked at something he had barely noticed recently.

“That’s it! It must be this!”

Yun Yi shouted excitedly and dashed forward. In front of him was the head of the alien monster he had killed over a month ago. For some reason, after all this time, the head hadn’t decayed. It still looked as grotesque as ever, lying quietly where it had been discarded.

Holding the necklace, Yun Yi stared at the monstrous head, a surge of fervor rising in his heart.

Yes, he had figured it out. The necklace had changed after he had entered the monster’s head and been covered in the green liquid and white brain matter.

Could it be one of these two substances?

Yun Yi’s heart raced with anticipation. He quickly tied a steel cable around himself and climbed onto the broken eye socket. He didn’t want to slip into the monster’s head again like last time.

This time, Yun Yi brought two small bottles. Near the eye socket, he easily collected a bottle of the green liquid. Then, ignoring the disgust, he tugged on the steel cable and crawled into the eye socket with the other bottle.

The foul stench hit him immediately. Yun Yi held his breath, afraid he might faint from the smell. With his level six physique, he could hold his breath for about ten minutes—enough time to collect a bottle of brain matter.

But things didn’t go as smoothly as he had hoped.

When the monster had just been killed, its head had been filled with white brain matter. But after over a month, most of it had disappeared.

Had it evaporated? Had something eaten it? Or had the corpse absorbed it?

Yun Yi didn’t have time to ponder this. After a careful search, he finally found enough brain matter to fill half the bottle in the deepest part of the monster’s brain. After collecting it, he looked around but found nothing else.

Back in his room, Yun Yi washed off the filth and then took out the two bottles.

If he wasn’t mistaken, it must have been one of these two liquids that had reacted with the mysterious stone on the necklace, leading to his rapid progress.

Though he was confident in his guess, Yun Yi was still nervous, afraid he might be wrong.

Carefully, he picked up the bottle of green liquid and tilted it slightly. A foul-smelling green liquid flowed out and landed on the necklace.

One second… two seconds… ten seconds… one minute… ten minutes…

Half an hour passed, and the stone showed no change.

It seemed he had failed.

Yun Yi’s heart sank. He cleaned the stone and turned his attention to the bottle containing the brain matter, silently praying that this time it would work.

The bottle held less than a third of the brain matter. Would this small amount be enough?

Taking a deep breath, Yun Yi carefully tilted the bottle. The soft white brain matter slowly slid out and covered the stone…