Days in the Infinite

No, I get it. You people from the Celestial Realm are constantly embroiled in war, so it's understandable that you snore while sleeping. War zones and poor rest—I can accept that. Plus, there was beer involved. But why…

Li Ke's gaze shifted to Tsunade, who was sprawled on a blanket nearby. Her legs were splayed wide, arms thrown out carelessly, her impressive chest entirely unrestrained.

Why is a ninja—someone who's supposed to specialize in covert operations—snoring?

He couldn't take it anymore. Watching Tsunade sleeping so brazenly, Li Ke covered his ears in frustration.

Bathed in moonlight, the two freshly bathed women were undeniably beautiful. Especially while lying on the ground, their natural postures were captivating. Yet, the cacophony of their snoring ensured that no matter how much Li Ke tried, sleep eluded him.

What was worse, just as he was finally drifting off…

"Hey, it's morning. Time to get to work."

A sharp smack landed on his backside, jolting him awake.

"Huh?"

Li Ke stared groggily at Lady Kiri, then blankly at the sky, before silently making a decision.

We're sleeping in separate rooms tonight.

"Alright, fine. You two sell off the surplus ammo. I'll make breakfast, and after we eat, we'll start digging out the fortress."

Barely managing to sit up, Li Ke began his tasks with a dazed expression, his head nodding as he struggled to stay awake.

Lady Kiri and Tsunade didn't pay him any mind. They went off to freshen up, then headed to the merchant to sell the excess robot turret ammunition. By the time they returned, Li Ke had prepared breakfast: a simple meat porridge.

As usual, it was made of peas and small chunks of meat. Nothing fancy—just some salt he'd managed to scavenge. Still, the meal was good enough that none of them complained about the taste.

"Alright, time to get to work."

Li Ke slapped his cheeks to wake himself up. He had eight skill points to spend—four earned from missions and four from leveling up. His plan was to use them all at once and unleash their potential immediately.

This was why he had sent Lady Kiri and Tsunade to the merchant earlier—to buy himself some time.

"Sure, sure, go do your thing. We'll dig according to the plan," Lady Kiri replied, waving dismissively.

They had already discussed their strategy: digging a large pit around the merchant's shop to trap any zombies that approached, and building a suspended house above it.

The plan also included leaving plenty of dirt and stone as defenses.

Specifically, they would construct ladders for emergency escape routes—one leading from the suspended house to an underground passage, and another to a cliffside bunker where they could retreat if needed.

Of course, the "suspended house" wouldn't literally be floating. They would leave a substantial amount of earth beneath it, reinforced with system blocks. Hidden within would be a tunnel connecting to an underground chamber. With system resources, it wasn't a difficult task.

If the suspended house held up against the zombie attacks, they could stay there. If it didn't, they would retreat to the cliffside bunker.

Building the ladders was simple—they could make them out of wood. Digging out the area around the merchant's shop wasn't a challenge either. For someone like Tsunade, who could swing a pickaxe and shovel all day without tiring, it was practically a one-day job.

The underground chambers weren't an issue either. They just needed to be deep enough and equipped with ladders for access. With the system blocks in play, setting up zombie defenses would be straightforward.

In fact, if Tsunade handled the digging while Li Ke and Lady Kiri dealt with any zombies, they could easily block off a horde with just a small tunnel.

After a brief discussion, the three agreed on the plan.

Li Ke didn't say much, slowing his eating to ensure that Tsunade and Lady Kiri left for the excavation first. As soon as they were gone, he bolted toward the merchant's shop.

Hurrying along, he didn't notice the knowing looks the two women exchanged as they watched his retreating figure. While they chuckled at his obvious eagerness to allocate his skill points, they had no interest in hovering over him. Instead, they got straight to work on the excavation.

Li Ke shut the door behind him and secured the area, double-checking all the defenses. Only then did he open his skill menu and begin allocating points.

As Li Ke allocated skill points into stamina, he immediately felt his body growing stronger and more energized. Not only that, but his fatigue and drowsiness vanished entirely, leaving him invigorated and full of life.

However, he quickly noticed a problem. When he increased his stamina to six points, raising it to seven required two skill points instead of one. He frowned, hesitating for a moment. After glancing at his remaining skill points, he gritted his teeth and committed to the upgrade.

The next moment, an overwhelming sensation of comfort coursed through him—more intense than anything he'd felt before. Gasping, he instinctively grabbed onto the female merchant, struggling to steady himself as he breathed heavily.

He had never felt so at ease in his own body.

But therein lay the issue. Now, he felt almost too energized, as if he needed to sprint tens of thousands of meters just to do justice to his newfound vitality.

No—more than that. He didn't feel human anymore.

When he moved his arms and legs, he barely felt any strain. Even after exerting himself five or six times in a row—leaving the female merchant with a slightly rounded belly—he felt no discomfort, not even the sensation of physical effort.

"This... this is a qualitative transformation," he muttered, taking a deep breath. Yet, as he observed his still-boundless energy, he decided not to spend the rest of his skill points on stamina just yet.

He had already spent nearly an hour in the shop. If he could justify the earlier delay as organizing the forge, now it was far beyond excusable.

"Damn it…"

With a frustrated sigh, Li Ke purchased a roll of duct tape from the merchant's shop. He used it to bind certain parts of his body to his right leg, ensuring they wouldn't get injured during movement.

Then, he dashed out of the shop, diving straight into his mission.

This time, he discovered that his running speed had drastically improved. Previously, he had been the kind of person who could only manage a 15-second 100-meter sprint. Now, he rivaled a zombie Usain Bolt. In fact, he could clearly feel that if it weren't for the taped object hindering his movements, he could run even faster.

"What's gotten into him? Did someone set his pants on fire?"

Lady Kiri watched Li Ke's frantic pace with a bewildered expression. Then her gaze fell on the strange, rod-like object taped to his leg. Her eyes narrowed, becoming sharp.

"This guy…"

Though Lady Kiri hadn't participated in her comrades' rowdy parties or bizarre dates, she had seen her fair share of things in taverns. While she'd encountered more "impressive" examples before, this was the first time she'd seen someone remain so active under such circumstances.

With a derisive snort, she muttered, "Hey, Tsunade, we should probably make a bed and set up separate rooms. Otherwise, who knows when this guy might decide to sneak into our space at night. And I'd rather not wake up to something weird."

"Alright," Tsunade replied tersely, as indifferent as ever. To her, it didn't make much of a difference.

Li Ke's first three missions went smoothly. The slow-moving zombies posed no threat to him in his energized state. If it weren't for his reluctance to accidentally hurt his allies, he would have eagerly hacked away at the zombies with his axe, just to burn off some of his excess energy.

But the real challenge came with the final mission.

"…"

Standing at the edge of a massive pit, Li Ke stared at the question mark hovering in the center. Thanks to Tsunade and Lady Kiri's hard work, the pit was now 40 meters deep and 50 meters wide on all sides.

The question mark hung precariously in the air above the pit, leaving Li Ke scratching his head.

How am I supposed to activate this mission?

After some deliberation, Li Ke descended the pre-installed ladder into the pit. Using three wooden frames, he climbed up to reach the floating question mark. He pressed the interaction key.

In an instant, a two-story wooden house materialized in front of him—only to plummet straight down into the pit.

Li Ke watched helplessly as the house shattered on impact, splintering into pieces. The system notified him of the mission's failure. Scattered furniture and items littered the pit floor, while another question mark appeared in the air.

He tried interacting with it again.

The question mark disappeared, only for an identical wooden house to spawn in its place—and once again, it fell and shattered.

The question mark reappeared.

"…"

Is this a bug?