Lunchti.
The Parent Association mbers returned to the table, each sared with black ointnt, bandaged up, looking absolutely miserable.
So even had both hands fractured, arms in plaster, being fed by others...
Yet this guy was wolfing down his food while saying, "Don’t look at my broken hands, the orc warrior I fought is worse off than . I think these orc warriors are all show; mainly, Seventh Brother wouldn’t let duel it, or else I’d show you all how I’d deal with him."
Everyone burst into laughter: "Look at you, wrecked like this, and still not settling down. He casually swung a steel cable and broke both your hands..."
"Wait till you need to go to the bathroom, let’s see if you still talk tough. Nobody’s going to help you then!"
This guy, thinking about needing help to pee, fell silent instantly.
Just then, Qing Chen and Yang Yang walked hand-in-hand into the dining hall.
The family imdiately stopped conversing: "Wow!"
Qing Chen, half laughing, half crying, said, "Eat your al... Xiao Qi, how are the casualties?"
Xiao Qi, hobbling, stood up and replied, "Parent, only injuries, no fatalities."
"Is everyone okay?" Qing Chen asked.
"We’re fine, we can hold on!" Xiao Qi grinned.
At this point, Yang Yang said, "You should worry about yourself. Your injuries aren’t much better; co on, let treat your wounds before you eat."
With that, Yang Yang dragged Qing Chen back to his room.
The family: "Wow!"
In the room, Yang Yang helped Qing Chen take off his coat. Looking at his bruised and wounded body, she remained silent.
After a long ti, she finally said, "If you hadn’t eaten Dragon Fish, who knows how many tis your bones would have broken. You’ll have aftereffects when you grow old. You’ll be immobile then, sitting in a wheelchair, and I’ll push you out to watch dance."
Qing Chen smiled, "I probably won’t get old."
"I know the Knights have long life spans," Yang Yang pouted, "but it’s good if you live longer, so you die after ."
But upon saying this, she suddenly felt a bit despondent: "I can only live to over 100, probably die at 120. Then you’d have to endure 131 years without . What will you do? Who will apply dicine for you and watch over you in the skies?"
Qing Chen was silent for a mont: "I used to think the long life of Knights was great, envied by the Jindai and Black Knights battalion. But suddenly, I think living so long isn’t actually good."
Such a long life can cause two people’s lives to beco misaligned.
As one grows old, the other still flourishes.
Yang Yang stood before Qing Chen, holding his cheeks with both hands, and smiled: "Cherish the present."
In the evening, the two sat at the edge of the training base rooftop, next to them was coffee made by Alice. They chatted about random topics, like many female celebrities pursuing Luo Wanya lately, like Xiao Qi also invited to socialite parties, like so scandalous secrets in the mories of the third Black Knight.
Nothing was serious.
The arrival of Yang Yang suddenly relaxed Qing Chen’s life for a mont, making him no longer as tense as a taut string, never stopping like a pendulum.
Qing Chen lay on the rooftop, resting his head on Yang Yang’s lap for a nap until she woke him up 10 minutes before the crossing.
Like a wife, the girl tidied his hair: "I know you have a sense of crisis inside, and I know how formidable the Roosevelt Kingdom is, but you are soone who can create miracles, we believe in you, you should believe in yourself too."
Countdown to zero.
Crossing.
...
...
When the world lit up again.
Qing Chen wore a wilderness man’s outfit, carried a shabby backpack, and trekked through the wilderness.
His face was all muddy, his posture no longer upright, as if life had beaten him down.
From any angle, he was a genuine wilderness man.
From afar ca the sound of hamring, and flickers of fire.
Qing Chen looked up, further away was a canopy of trees stretching endlessly, like a "blanket" — that was the ink-black as midnight 001 Taboo Land.
Outside the Taboo Land, there was a small town that appeared a bit desolate in the night.
Or perhaps not desolate... but eerie.
As if cold air was wafting out from there.
From the mountain, the town looked pitch black, with only two tritium lamps hanging at the wooden arch entrance, swinging in the wind as if two heads hanging by their hair.
Town No. 1, a very rudintary town.
Initially, there was no town here, but so ’prospectors’ started picking plants and catching small wild animals at the edge of 001 Taboo Land.
Gradually, prospectors set up camp outside the Taboo Land, forming a small town.
Occasionally in the Federation, there’d be news of a ’prospector’ striking it rich overnight by picking up peculiar treasures from the Taboo Land, soone found a dead tree vine and sold it for three million.
Soone found a strange stone, sold it for half a million outside.
Soone found a Taboo object left behind by a Transcendent who died in there, and sold it for a billion.
Qing Chen slowly approached, seeing several n guarding the town entrance, playing poker.
Seeing Qing Chen’s dirty appearance, they laughed and shouted to the inside, "Another prospector’s here, soone co out and greet him!"
Standing outside the town, Qing Chen hesitantly asked, "Is anyone paid a salary here?"
The n laughed heartily: "You really know nothing, in the town you mine gold, set out with the team, whatever you find in the Taboo Land is yours alone, just need to give the town a 50% commission upon selling. No salary."
Qing Chen cautiously asked, "Why give 50%? That’s too much."
The man chuckled, spat on the ground: "Ever been inside 001 Taboo Land? The path was carved out by risking our lives, lets you co back alive. That’s why we take a 50% commission."
Qing Chen seed relieved: "Can we co out alive?"
"Don’t worry," the man replied.
At this mont, a staggering old man walked out of the small town, and when the n saw him, they imdiately put down their playing cards: "Why did you co personally, where’s Gou Wa."
The old man waved his hand and said, "There’s trouble with ghosts inside again; Gou Wa is cleaning up."
Qing Chen was stunned: "Ghost trouble?"
"Not real ghosts, you’ll understand when you go in," the old man scrutinized Qing Chen: "Why co here?"
"I want to get married, can’t afford a house in the fifth district," Qing Chen replied: "My brother needs money for dical treatnt, I need money."
The old man snorted: "Who here doesn’t need money? Rember, once you enter here, don’t regard your life as a life. Those few people said they could take you out alive, but I can’t guarantee that."
"Can I make money?" Qing Chen asked urgently.
"Make money? Depends on your luck, how much is your life worth?" The old man glanced at him: "They told you the rules, right."
"Yes, pay 50% commission."
"Good to know, search him, don’t let Hope dia’s investigative reporters sneak in again."
A few n searched Qing Chen, then shook their heads: "Just a phone, no cara equipnt."
"We’ll hold onto the phone; you get it when you leave."
Qing Chen asked: "Did reporters sneak in before? But I haven’t seen Hope dia report on this place."
One man grinned, showing his yellow teeth, and said: "Killed... You’re not a reporter, are you?"
Qing Chen fearfully shrugged his shoulders: "I’m not."
"Doesn’t look like one," the old man hunched his back and walked inside; the small town was muddy everywhere, and beside the road were shabby shacks where emaciated people lived, both n and won.
The whole town lacked sewage pipes and basic living facilities, and the trash accumulation outside was mountainous, the stench overwhelming.
There was also a hint of... a bloody sll.
The bloody sll floated from the old man ahead.
Yet, from inside a shack, soone muttered to themselves: "Where did everyone go? Where did they go? All dead!"
Qing Chen’s heart tightened; this person’s ntal state was clearly disordered, even showing obvious symptoms.
Thinking deeply, Qing Chen saw soone burst out of a distant shack wielding a knife: "Co and kill if you dare, I’m right here, kill !"
The next mont, this man turned his head, glaring at the old man and Qing Chen, and aggressively charged at them with a rusty machete.
The old man took out a walkie-talkie from his pocket and casually said: "Another one gone mad, co take him away, lock him up."
Footsteps echoed in the darkness as several shirtless n ran out carrying tritium lamps; they pinned the man threatening to stab onto the muddy ground, tied his hands with hemp rope, and dragged him back into the darkness.
The old man turned back, glanced at the trembling Qing Chen: "Don’t be afraid, be obedient and you won’t end up like him."
"What’s wrong with him?" Qing Chen asked: "Did you make him like this?"
The old man said: "We didn’t harm him; not following the Taboo Land rules turns you into this... This is ghost trouble, like being possessed."
Continuing forward for hundreds of ters, Qing Chen heard heavy breathing from n and won inside the shacks and countless murmurs.
The only constant was the sound of iron forging, ding ding ding, relentlessly hamring from sowhere unknown.
But Qing Chen watched for a long ti, yet couldn’t find where the blacksmith’s shop was.
Suddenly realizing, Qing Chen noticed most people here seed to have so ntal issues.
If there were only one or two, they might have been driven crazy, but if it’s widespread, then it’s clearly a problem with Taboo Land No. 001.
However, his master hadn’t ntioned this situation before... Did the master not know, or is there so special reason?
"Alright, you’ll stay in this shack," the old man pointed: "We’ll set out the morning after tomorrow; without my permission, you can’t leave town, nor enter the Taboo Land alone."
Qing Chen acknowledged: "Does this shack have an owner?"
The old man smiled revealing a mouthful of black teeth: "Died."
Qing Chen fearfully stepped back two steps; the old man was quite satisfied with his reaction: "You can call Boss Wang from now on, go sleep."
Qing Chen bent down and entered the shack, inside soone had gathered branches and dry grass to make a small bed, beside it lay a palm-sized makeup mirror... The forr owner of this shack might have been a woman.
He examined the surroundings and suddenly froze.
Only to see on the wooden pillar inside the shack, soone had carved lines of small words with a knife; beside the pillar lay a broken eyebrow trimming knife, its blade with dried blackened blood.
"When soone calls you from behind, don’t answer!"
"Don’t drink the sap from tree trunks!" This sentence was crossed out, soone added: "Not a tree, trees don’t cry."
"Don’t give your tag to others!"
"Rember your na!"
"Don’t eat fruit from red trees!"
"Fruit from white trees can be eaten!"
"Walk backward when leaving!"
Below these lines, clumsily carved was one word: "Escape!"
Qing Chen furrowed his brows; the person who carved these words was clearly ntally disordered. He could be sure these notes might not all be helpful and this chaotic logic might even mislead him.
He must see the truth through that chaotic ntality.
This Taboo Land is unlike any other Taboo Land he has visited.
...
There will be another Chapter before 12 tonight.
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