diff --git a/src/database/chunks.rs b/src/database/chunks.rs
index 1ba44fbc..c39960aa 100644
--- a/src/database/chunks.rs
+++ b/src/database/chunks.rs
@@ -21,29 +21,45 @@ impl Database {
     }
 
     /// Fetch chunk from database
-    fn get_chunk_from_database(db: &Env, key: &u64) -> Result<Option<Chunk>, heed::Error> {
-        // Initialize read transaction and open chunks table
-        let ro_tx = db.read_txn()?;
-        let database = db
-            .open_database::<U64<LE>, Bytes>(&ro_tx, Some("chunks"))?
-            .expect("No table \"chunks\" found. The database should have been initialized");
+    async fn get_chunk_from_database(db: &Env, key: &u64) -> Result<Option<Chunk>, heed::Error> {
+        let data = {
+            // Initialize read transaction and open chunks table
+            let ro_tx = db.read_txn()?;
+            let database = db
+                .open_database::<U64<LE>, Bytes>(&ro_tx, Some("chunks"))?
+                .expect("No table \"chunks\" found. The database should have been initialized");
+
+            // Attempt to fetch chunk from table
+            let data = database.get(&ro_tx, key)?;
+
+
+            data.map(|data| data.to_vec())
+        };
+
+        // Now, proceed with the async operation without holding `ro_tx`
+        if let Some(data) = data {
+            let chunk = ZstdCodec::decompress_data::<Chunk>(data).await.expect("Failed to decompress chunk");
+            Ok(Some(chunk))
+        } else {
+            Ok(None)
+        }
+
+
+       /*
+
+        drop(ro_tx);
 
-        // Attempt to fetch chunk from table
-        let data = database.get(&ro_tx, key)?;
         let chunk = match data {
             Some(data) => {
-                // let chunk = ZstdCodec::decompress_data::<Chunk>(data.to_vec()).expect("Failed to decompress chunk");
-                let chunk = Handle::current().block_on(async {
-                    ZstdCodec::decompress_data::<Chunk>(data.to_vec())
-                        .await
-                        .expect("Failed to decompress chunk")
-                });
+                let chunk = ZstdCodec::decompress_data::<Chunk>(data)
+                    .await
+                    .expect("Failed to decompress chunk");
                 Some(chunk)
             }
             None => None,
         };
 
-        Ok(chunk)
+        Ok(chunk)*/
     }
 
     /// Insert a single chunk into database
@@ -106,18 +122,20 @@ impl Database {
         cache: Arc<Cache<u64, Chunk>>,
         key: u64,
     ) -> Result<(), Error> {
-        let tsk_db = db.clone();
+        // let tsk_db = db.clone();
 
+        let db = db.clone();
         tokio::task::spawn(async move {
+
             // Check cache
             if cache.contains_key(&key) {
                 trace!("Chunk already exists in cache: {:X}", key);
             }
             // If not in cache then search in database
-            else if let Ok(chunk) =
-                spawn_blocking_db(tsk_db, move || Self::get_chunk_from_database(&db, &key))
+            else if let Ok(chunk) = Self::get_chunk_from_database(&db, &key).await
+                /*spawn_blocking_db(tsk_db, move || Self::get_chunk_from_database(&db, &key))
                     .await
-                    .unwrap()
+                    .unwrap()*/
             {
                 if let Some(chunk) = chunk {
                     cache.insert(key, chunk).await;
@@ -202,7 +220,6 @@ impl Database {
     ) -> Result<Option<Chunk>, Error> {
         // Calculate key of this chunk and clone database pointer
         let key = hash((dimension, x, z));
-        let tsk_db = self.db.clone();
         let db = self.db.clone();
 
         // First check cache
@@ -210,10 +227,11 @@ impl Database {
             Ok(self.cache.get(&key).await)
         }
         // Attempt to get chunk from persistent database
-        else if let Some(chunk) =
+        else if let Some(chunk) = Self::get_chunk_from_database(&db, &key).await?
+            /*
             spawn_blocking_db(tsk_db, move || Self::get_chunk_from_database(&db, &key))
                 .await
-                .unwrap()?
+                .unwrap()?*/
         {
             self.cache.insert(key, chunk.clone()).await;
             Ok(Some(chunk))
@@ -245,7 +263,6 @@ impl Database {
     pub async fn chunk_exists(&self, x: i32, z: i32, dimension: String) -> Result<bool, Error> {
         // Calculate key and copy database pointer
         let key = hash((dimension, x, z));
-        let tsk_db = self.db.clone();
         let db = self.db.clone();
 
         // Check first cache
@@ -253,13 +270,21 @@ impl Database {
             Ok(true)
         // Else check persistent database and load it into cache
         } else {
-            let res = spawn_blocking_db(tsk_db, move || Self::get_chunk_from_database(&db, &key))
+            /*let res = spawn_blocking_db(tsk_db, move || Self::get_chunk_from_database(&db, &key))
                 .await
-                .unwrap();
+                .unwrap();*/
+            let Some(res) = Self::get_chunk_from_database(&db, &key).await? else {
+                return Ok(false);
+            };
 
             // WARNING: The previous logic was to order the chunk to be loaded into cache whether it existed or not.
             // This has been replaced by directly loading the queried chunk into cache
-            match res {
+
+            // Load chunk into cache
+            self.cache.insert(key, res.clone()).await;
+            Ok(true)
+
+           /* match res {
                 Ok(opt) => {
                     let exist = opt.is_some();
                     if let Some(chunk) = opt {
@@ -268,7 +293,7 @@ impl Database {
                     Ok(exist)
                 }
                 Err(err) => Err(Error::LmdbError(err)),
-            }
+            }*/
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/database/encoding.rs b/src/database/encoding.rs
index fe718511..3ddf3dc7 100644
--- a/src/database/encoding.rs
+++ b/src/database/encoding.rs
@@ -41,8 +41,10 @@ impl ZstdCodec {
     }
     pub async fn decompress_data<T: Decode + Send + 'static>(data: Vec<u8>) -> crate::Result<T> {
         tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
-            let decoded = bincode::decode_from_slice(data.as_slice(), standard())?;
-            Ok(decoded.0)
+            let mut decoder = zstd::Decoder::new(data.as_slice())?;
+            // let decoded = bincode::decode_from_slice(data.as_slice(), standard())?;
+            let decoded = bincode::decode_from_std_read(&mut decoder, standard())?;
+            Ok(decoded)
         })
         .await?
     }