I created a safe zone in the nightmare world.

The northern part of the Whispering Forest has a strange and unpredictable terrain.

This is the only way to Tiannan City, but due to the ever-changing environment, even the countermeasures bureaus of Baijiang and Lindong do not have a reliable route map.

Finding a suitable area to build a watchtower transit camp is even more difficult.

Little K had taken on a scouting mission and had been on his way for over ten days. After many bumps and stumbles, he had finally arrived at this complex area in the northern part of the forest.

Having arrived here, he was already very far from Baijiang City, the "anchor point of the present world." Even without wearing the Dreamfall Pearl, he would not return to the present world. "It is said that the watchtowers of our safe zone have been laid to this area, and it is only a few days' journey from here." Little K spread out a map, a simplified map he had drawn by hand.

He drew a circle around one of the areas above.

"We need to speed things up, otherwise it will delay the progress of the watchtower project."

He said this to the other three on the same team.

At this moment, although Little K's face still looked somewhat immature and young, a stranger who saw him would never guess that he was just a high school student. There was a sharpness and a sense of authority between his brows, as well as a composure that had settled down after experiencing battles and disasters.

Although Xiao K is younger than the other three team members, the team members all have great faith in him.

Now, Xiao K is not only the captain of this self-made team, but also the deputy captain of the 16th team of the Countermeasures Bureau. He is a third-level expert who commands dozens of Dream Fallers and is a well-known figure in the entire Baijiang City.

Logically, as the deputy captain of the Countermeasures Bureau, his official duties should be extremely busy, making it impossible for him to have time for such long-term missions in the safe zone. However, the situation has changed, and Little K has once again benefited from the new situation.

Thanks to Baijiang City's current strong fighting force and the emergence of numerous powerful individuals among its civilians, the Countermeasures Bureau's action teams have expanded to twenty, giving him ample time off. He can fulfill his duties at the Countermeasures Bureau while also carrying out missions within the safe zone, managing to do both without neglecting either.

The group of four continued northward. Further ahead, two magical flying eyes buzzed rapidly, surveying the area ahead. "That area has more than twenty strange creatures, I estimate. We need to avoid it."

"That area to the west looks ominous. Shall we investigate?"

"Hmm, let's investigate."

The maximum control distance of the Witcher Eye is ten kilometers, which is more than enough in the Nightmare World.

The team's "manipulator" quickly controlled Flyeye, venturing deeper into the area thick with gray fog.

Not long after,

"Bang!"

"Pyr"

The screen disappeared, leaving only static, and the operator broke out in a cold sweat.

"As expected, there's something supernatural here!" Little K circled it on the map and marked it "dangerous area."

"This area definitely needs to be avoided. I reckon there's more than one extraordinary and bizarre entity inside."

"Let's continue."

He said.

The controller then took out another magic eye from the backpack he was carrying.

They had just lost one member, but for their team, all of whom were at the second or third level of the Refinement Realm, the loss of one Magic Eye was insignificant. On the contrary, exchanging one Magic Eye for an early warning of a high-risk area was well worth it.

The group kept taking detours, making several turns.

During this time, they also returned to the safe zone to rest for a while before fighting again.

Teaming up with other members in the safe zone has one advantage over going it alone: ​​each member can only activate their membership card once a day to open the portal to the space. Once the portal is open, non-members cannot see or enter it, but other members can still enter and exit the safe zone through this portal.

Even if danger is encountered during subsequent exploration, other members of the team can still activate their membership cards to open the nearest emergency access point.

The exploration process was tedious and unproductive, and required constant vigilance.

The four members of the team had already gotten used to it.

At that moment, the operator whispered, "Captain, we've discovered another special area."

The camera zooms out.

The gray fog in the distance had thickened considerably, but it was still visible to the naked eye. Within the fog, there were even taller, more lush trees rooted in the ground. Faintly, one could also see a glittering stream of light on the treetops.

"Captain, should we enter this area?"

"……Enter!"

After considering for a moment, K said, "Be careful, everyone. This area looks a bit special. Even if it might be more dangerous, it's worth going in to find out." The area was large and seemed to be under some kind of interference, which compressed the maximum control distance of the Wizard Eye.

K and his three companions arrived at the outer edge of this "giant tree area" and climbed to the top of the canopy of the first giant tree discovered by the sorcerer's clairvoyance. "Found it!"

The expert spoke, a look of delight on his face, "This seems to be the rare and precious medicine 'Ten-Year Tree Heart'?"

He held a pale green ball of light, inside which was a fist-sized, translucent fruit that resembled a heart beating slightly, with pale green liquid swirling within.

K identified it: "It is indeed a ten-year-old tree heart. It is said that this precious medicine can enhance vitality and spell power. Its market price is between 60 and 80 dream crystals." The Countermeasures Bureau has some, but not many.

Because this precious medicine is available to everyone, and everyone wants it. Once the Ten-Year Tree Heart is on the exchange list, it won't be long before it's redeemed by extraordinary individuals or team leaders.

This heartwood is quite precious to them.

the most important is……

The operator gazed into the distance, swallowing hard. "We're only on the outer edge of the giant tree region. If... if there are many more giant trees deeper within that can also produce tree heart treasures, then..."

That would be an enormous fortune!

There might even be more precious century-old tree heartwood inside, each worth seven or eight hundred dream crystals, far exceeding all their current wealth. If they could find even more tree heartwood…

Thinking of this, their breathing gradually became rapid.

However, after taking a few deep breaths, they regained their senses.

Little K said, "Stay calm. Opportunities and risks go hand in hand."

Most importantly, these were all promising Dreamers. While the treasure was valuable, they weren't about to risk their lives for it. They continued deeper into the cave, at a slow pace, their primary method of exploration remaining the sorcery-based teleportation.

Using their keen eyesight, they have discovered some dangers deep within the area.

"The main strange creatures roaming here are the withered tree spirits, and there are quite a few of them, including elite and leader-level ones."

"and……"

K's expression was serious as he stared at the image transmitted back by the flying eye.

Among them, there is no need to worry about the wandering dead tree demons, even the leaders, but there are some dead tree demons that blend into the surrounding environment like inanimate objects.

"Look at this place, doesn't it look like a withered tree spirit?"

The others hissed.

One can imagine that if they hadn't noticed anything amiss as they passed by, and the withered tree spirit had suddenly launched a sneak attack... they could have been instantly severely injured or even killed. "Indeed, the nightmare world is fraught with danger."

"There's no other way. You can't be careless when you're in the Nightmare World. If you're careless, not to mention us, even extraordinary experts could die on the spot. Fortunately, they have a safe zone as a backup, and they have many exploration tools such as the Witchcraft Eye and the Curse Power Detector, so they are much more relaxed than their predecessors." At this moment, Little K's gaze sharpened, and he looked back sharply.

A few figures emerged from the sparse bushes in the distance, pushing aside obstacles and turning their gaze towards them.

Clearly, the newcomers had also spotted them.

"They don't seem to be from our safe zone."

Little K observed and remained on guard.

There were six people on the other side. Judging from their attire, they should be Dreamers from the Nightmare Camp.

The leader wore leather armor made of some strange fur and wielded an enormous, exaggerated cleaver; his entire being exuded a murderous aura. "Peak of the Third Refinement Realm."

"The others are probably all at the Refinement stage as well."

opposite.

Several Dreamers from Nest Tree Camp also squinted.

"They look like just a bunch of kids, boss, should we...?"

A skinny, monkey-like dreamer whispered.

The leader, nicknamed "Blood Blade," snorted, "Those guys are indeed young, but if they were really kids, ha, would they even be able to get to this place?"

"That young man in the black trench coat is probably not much weaker than me. The other side is likely a scout from some faction, but I don't know which faction he's from..."

All the faces were unfamiliar and the clothes were things I had never seen before.

However, in the Nightmare World, communication between various forces is difficult, and he has not seen many powerful figures from other forces, so it is normal that he does not recognize them.

Seeing the enemy on guard, Blood Blade said, "Ignore them. First, scout out the situation in this area and bring the information back. What to do next is up to the leader and elders."

"And we need to be quick."

The group bypassed Little K and his group and quickly ventured deeper into the area of ​​the giant tree.

Little K and his group maintained their own pace, but their exploration speed was not slow; they were manipulating the Tri-Witchcraft Flying Eye to delve deeper. "Bang!!"

Suddenly, a loud noise was heard.

In the images transmitted by the sorcerer's telepathic eye, the distant mountains and forests were overturned, the giant trees seemed to come alive, and even the ground was like waves constantly surging up and down.

In the distant dense forest,

Blood Blade and his companions, whom I had met once before, were running out in a disheveled state.

However, only four people remained in their group.

One vine after another followed closely behind, spreading out in the darkness and suddenly piercing out.

"Pfft"

The four members of Blood Blade kept dodging, but one of them was too slow and was pricked by a vine. He was then grabbed by the remaining vines and dragged into the darkness. A chilling sound seemed to emanate from the darkness.

"Run!"

Little K suddenly realized.

He quickly activated his membership card and ran towards the edge of the giant tree area.

The magical visions they unleashed, one after another, went dark. A deafening roar emanating from the core of the region was approaching, and the ground beneath their feet began to tremble.

Little K looked back and saw the giant trees parting one by one, their vines, like snakes and pythons, spreading continuously from the darkness and the gray mist.

He dared not look again, and the four of them ran as fast as they could.

Finally, they ran out of the giant tree area, and the safe zone shops were just a few hundred meters away.

"The vines don't seem to be chasing us."

"I wonder how those dream-fallen ones are doing?"

"We can't worry about others now, let's report the intelligence first."

They returned to the safe zone, still shaken, and went to the mission lobby. They selected one of the exploration missions and submitted it. A giant tree, a tree heart, and something eerie and seemingly supernatural.

This information quickly caught Yang Linna's attention.

"Isn't this exactly the high-risk area the store manager wanted?"

She quickly notified the store manager.

Shi An became interested after hearing about it.

"Ten-year-old tree heartwood? A hundred-year-old tree heartwood? They are indeed excellent treasures."

The latter, in particular, provides significant assistance to extraordinary cultivation.

The value of a century-old tree heart is similar to that of a blood-regenerating and rebirth potion, but the advantage of the blood-regenerating potion is that it eradicates hidden injuries and enhances physical strength... However, enhancing physical strength cannot accelerate cultivation, and its effect on combat power is also relatively limited.

Physical strength can only be transformed into combat power through incantations.

For example, a spell like "Instant Sword Strike" requires the user to have a sufficiently strong physique in order to reach a state of unparalleled mastery.

The heartwood of a century-old tree can directly increase the upper limit of spell power, which is exactly what I need.

"Of course, there are definitely not many of these rare medicinal herbs. If I just pick them up, the improvement I can get will still be limited, and the effect on the entire safe zone will be negligible."

What Shi An wants is not the precious medicine, but the architectural blueprints that may be produced in this area!

He immediately issued the task.

Core mission: Investigation and strategy of the Giant Tree area.

Mission requirements: Transcendent Realm.

Core-level mission, extraordinary realm requirements!

The commission caused a huge uproar in the hall as soon as it appeared.

"A mission that only extraordinary beings can receive? My goodness!"

"Is our safe zone going to hunt down some extraordinary anomaly?"

"I've heard that supernatural beings are extremely difficult to deal with, and once a war among them breaks out, it could easily attract other supernatural beings!"

"That being said, there are many strong individuals in our safe zone, so I don't think there will be much of a problem. I'd even like to go and watch the battle, but I'm afraid of getting caught in the crossfire." Many people present have experienced how terrifying the battle of the extraordinary is.

Even the aftershocks can be deadly.

Inside the hall, Little K received a task related to leading the way, then sat down to rest and await further orders.

He had already received the reward from his previous mission, which was very generous, and the four of them made a fortune.

Previously, Yang Lina asked, "Manager, there aren't many exceptional members yet. Should I step in?"

After advancing to the extraordinary realm and gaining power, she was actually quite eager to try it out.

Besides, the rewards for this task are generous.

Of course, as a shop employee, it was her duty to help and she couldn't directly accept tasks, but given the shop manager's generosity, she was sure to reap considerable benefits. Shi An pondered, "The situation is still unclear, but that extraordinary being inside is strange; I'm afraid it's not an ordinary extraordinary being."

Therefore, he was indeed prepared to use a gang-up tactic.

At this moment, the four Spades arrived, having heard the news.

Spade said, "Manager, our security personnel have an unshirkable duty to perform these kinds of field missions."

Shi An agreed.

Xi Xue and Xuan Jian, who had recently advanced to the extraordinary realm, also rushed over upon hearing the news and managed to secure the mission.

The staff is almost ready.

Shi An has closed the task claiming channel.

The task is full.

Long Niu, who rushed over: "…...." I haven't even gotten on the bus yet.

This mission was supposed to be available only to those of extraordinary ability, so why did it disappear so quickly?