48 Hours a Day

Panda Novel

With that, Zhang Heng tasked Carina with finding the mole. Ever since the Jackdaw returned to Nassau, Zhang Heng hadn’t managed to get any sleep. As promised, he made the announcement to Nassau’s residents that he would defend the fortress with Honegg. When that was done, he retreated home to get some well-deserved rest.

It was late in the evening when he opened his eyes. Zhang Heng took a look at Anne, who was sleeping next to him. She had a questionable sleeping position, with an arm and a leg placed on Zhang Heng’s body. She was drooling like a baby as well. The most ironic part was that Anne had her leg placed on Zhang Heng’s chest while her hand was on his thigh.

Zhang Heng had no idea how she managed to turn herself upside down while she was sleeping. The reason why he suddenly woke up suddenly because Anne kicked his chin accidentally. Trying his best not to wake her up, he spent quite a bit of effort to remove her contorted limbs from his body. However, it seemed like he overthought it. Once Anne was asleep, waking her up was a challenge, to say the least.

On the flip side, she had this feral instinct when it came to threats. Even when she was in a deep sleep, she would automatically wake up if something dangerous happened around her. Zhang Heng had no idea how to explain a phenomenon like this. He guessed that it had everything to do with her personality, a beast-like nature that automatically allowed her to detect any incoming threat.

What she told him that night reminded him of the little fox of Little Prince. Due to the little fox taking a liking toward Little Prince and it knew that goodbye was coming, it was willing to be domesticated. The little fox did that because it wanted to remember the color of Little Prince’s hair when it gazed upon the wheat field.

Zhang Heng took a jacket from a nearby chair and covered Anne with it. He went proceeded downstairs to his little farm, where he plucked the vegetables that were ripe and dug up a few potatoes. While he was tending to his garden, he saw the little girl living next to him and gave her a barbary fig. Before entering the game, Zhang Heng had never tried Barbary figs before.

It was the fruit of a cactus and was native to the north and south of America. It could typically be found above the cactus plant. Like the main tree, the fruit was also covered in thorns. One had to cut off its tail and remove its skin before it could be eaten. It was essential that the octagonal thorn within the fruit was picked out as well. As for its taste, there was a tinge of sweetness coupled with sour parts. Zhang Heng was weirded out when he first ate this fruit. He had once heard that Indians favored the fruit a lot, regularly using it as medicine.

As usual, the little girl ran away the moment Zhang Heng approached her. He wasn’t too bothered by this, knowing that the parents of kids her age would usually advise them to steer clear of strangers. When he was done with the harvest, he brought the Barbary figs and vegetables back in. Instead of eating the fruit just like that, Zhang Heng preferred to scoop out its flesh and add a little honey with it.

When Anne finally woke from her slumber, Zhang Heng was already done preparing dinner for the two of them. He sprinkled some salt on the fishes that he’d just grilled over a flame. The 18th century wasn’t as exciting as the modern world where there were no cellphones or computers. Even books were a rarity. Each time they returned from a voyage, they would be distraught from the harsh life out at sea. Hence, different people had different ways to relieve their stress.

For Anne, she preferred picking fights as a stress relief method. As for Billy, he preferred to spend his time with his family. Zhang Heng, on the other hand, liked to cook and tend to his little farm. It helped him to take his mind off things when he wasn’t on the raging oceans. Farming was a hobby he acquired when he entered his very first quest. When he was on the island alone, he needed to survive. Thus, he looked for something to do to keep him going. Not only did farming bring him game points, but it also provided him with satisfaction and joy.

To see the seeds he sowed finally bear fruit was a great healing process. Cooking had the same effects as well. Unfortunately, the pace of life in modern society had gotten a lot faster, and a good amount of devotion would be needed for these things to succeed. It was possible to reap happiness if the person involved managed to calm their heart down. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer individuals from the modern world chose to embark and commit to these kinds of activities.

After becoming a pirate of the Caribbean, Zhang Heng realized that he had more time for activities like this. Now, he was required to stay in the game for an unprecedented amount of time. After reaching LV2 on his saber and sailing skills, Zhang Heng was thinking of learning other skillsets. Learning other languages had become a priority. After completing a few rounds of the game, Zhang Heng realized that it was vital for him to speak various languages. After all, communication was the most important skill a human could master. During the Mannerheim Line quest, many people took advantage of him as he didn’t know how to speak their language.

Though he now spoke two foreign languages (plus a couple of Finnish words), he was better than most around him. However, every quest was unpredictable, and knowing only two languages wasn’t quite enough. Zhang Heng quickly realized the advantage of the formation of teams, where each member could choose to learn a different language. If there were six people in a team, they would be able to communicate in six languages.

However, a single-player like Zhang Heng could only rely on himself. Fortunately, he had ample time to learn other languages. Now, he planned to learn French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Latin throughout the ten-year tenure in this game. He wanted to be able to understand basic speech at the very least.

If his memory served him right, Zhang Heng remembered that Latin was only used up until the early 18th century. As the official language of Rome, Latin was widely spoken throughout Europe during the 1st century BC. French, Italian, and Spanish were considered as local dialects. Along with the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Renaissance Era, Latin started to lose its place as the essential language of Europe. In the end, the Vatican was the only country that remained using Latin in their day-to-day business. Although languages of this era and languages of the modern world varied slightly, Zhang Heng figured it shouldn’t be a problem for him to master some simple ways of communication.

………..

Zhang Heng was still waiting for Black Prince Sam to vouch for him so he could join the meeting that was to be on this island. The next morning, he received an unexpected notification telling him that his main quest of the game had been completed. After eliminating a few possibilities, Zhang Heng figured that Billy must have recruited a new batch of pirates. There were at least 70 pirates on the Jackdaw right now. Thus, when the game instructed him to build his own force, it meant that he had to recruit a certain number of people to work under him.

It seemed that his quest was complete. After living in this world for one year, it was only logical that his main quest was completed. Zhang Heng had no intention to give up on anything after achieving so much in this game. After all, he had to stay here for another ten years. Everything that he did right now was preparation for a bigger goal. Be it joining the meeting, helping Carina fight the black-market alliance, becoming Honneg’s ally, or helping Laeli, Zhang Heng was building a strong foundation for himself.