Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

On the other hand, Leng Ruolan was quite pleased.

"Captain Leng, what's the situation with Boss Ou?"

"Yeah, how could the signal from this spirit stone be cut off?"

"Should we set off to help them?"

Dragon Kingdom Camp.

With the guaranteed safety of the Abyss Furnace, the precise support of our fellow humans, and the powerful deployment of the local inhabitants, the Dragon Kingdom camp has begun to take on a modern appearance.

The complaints in the Dragon Kingdom's live stream room never stopped:

"Hilarious! So the forbidden area just gave us a furnace because they were too lazy to give them out one by one themselves?"

"Forbidden Zone: Refine whatever you want!"

"Damn, now we have to believe that President Ou was sent by God to save us."

"It's not that ordinary."

At this moment, Leng Ruolan was nestled in the house on a brand-new electric recliner with a bowl of fruit shaved ice in her hands—Chen Hao's latest development version, which comes with a rotating and rocking function. Although she didn't know what it was for, it was electric anyway.

She was holding the spirit stone in her other hand.

Her expression was somewhat serious; she hadn't even noticed that her favorite watermelon, strawberry, blueberry, and mint shaved ice had melted.

This thing went off once about half an hour ago. Ou Yun's voice came through intermittently, hoarsely, making all this noise sound like a haunted radio—

But even now, after calling back dozens of times, the other end has never answered.

This is a bit serious.

Leng Ruolan couldn't help but sigh, how could something happen to these two after she had only been gone for a day!

The people from Xiong Guo and Ba Tie Guo were also worried and took turns suggesting that they go and see what was going on.

After a moment's thought, Leng Ruolan politely declined both offers.

"It's alright, I'll go check it myself. You guys can keep an eye on the camp for me."

After all... if they could help, those guys would have solved the problem on the spot.

If even her eldest brother has to call her to discuss it, then there's no point in the rest of them going...

And so, Leng Ruolan rode her horse Nanbei, packed her gear, and set off in a flurry of activity.

*

Meanwhile, on the other side...

Ou Yun gripped his longsword tightly, staring at the billowing, thick fog—

"Brother Chen, what do you think might be in there?"

"Uh...it can't be the forest lord, can it? Hahaha..."

"What does the lord of the forest look like?"

"...I was just talking nonsense!"

"Given the nature of forbidden areas, it definitely won't be any cute little animals."

"What if it's a giant sloth?"

"Oh...then we can have a contest to see who moves slower, maybe we can stall until Team Cold arrives."

"Great idea—hey, Captain Leng's here?!"

At the edge of their field of vision, a silvery-white shadow was flying toward them at an astonishing speed.

Leng Ruolan rode Nanbei—or more accurately, was carried by Nanbei.

Lynxes are naturally fast runners on the grasslands, and with their mutated body shape from the North and South, their four legs move like wheels of fire, leaving a long trail of dust behind them.

Less than two minutes later, Nanbei rushed out of the woods on the other side of the river and slammed on the brakes.

Ou Yun was quite surprised, "Captain Leng, you actually arrived so quickly this time?"

Leng Ruolan herself was quite surprised, "Yes, I didn't expect you to be so close."

Encountering an insurmountable danger so close to home, I can only say, as expected of the eldest brother!

Leng Ruolan leaped down from Nanbei's back and immediately spotted the three rather wary giant beasts. She instantly guessed the situation: "Big brother, I'll just ask you one question. Did you pull something you shouldn't have?"

Ou Yun guiltily shifted his gaze to the side: "Uh... strictly speaking, I did pull one out."

How big?

"Half a meter high."

"...What about the diameter?"

"Well……"

"to be honest."

"That's a fist that big?"

"European luck".

"Okay, it might be as thick as a bucket—but I really didn't know pulling it out would cause such a big problem, hehe..."

You even had sex with him.

Leng Ruolan closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Then she opened her eyes and said in a weary tone that said, "I should have known," "Never mind. There's no point in talking about it now. What level is the other party? A lord?"

Chen Hao muttered quietly from the side, "Probably."

These three burly men got nervous; they're probably around lord level by now.

Only then did Leng Ruolan glance at the giant tortoise that had retreated into its shell: "What's up with this tortoise? A newly acquired follower?"

"Uh... was it an unexpected bonus? It seems to be interested in the icebird."

Which ice bird?

"Frost Giant Roc".

Leng Ruolan gave a look of surprise: "...So this is a love triangle involving ice birds?"

"That's roughly how it can be understood."

"..."

She suddenly understood why so many mutated beasts had suddenly appeared in the forbidden area.

It's all because of these seven types of love affairs!

Never mind... business is more important.

Leng Ruolan closed her eyes again and took another deep breath.

She drew her knife and gun and stood beside Ou Yun.

"So what's the situation now?"

"I don't know. The fog is getting thicker, but we still haven't seen the main body."

"Have you opened the golden supply crate yet?"

"Not yet. I'll wait until I see the real thing before I say anything."

"OK."

Soon, a buzzing sound suddenly rose considerably from within the thick fog.

All the creatures present turned their gazes toward it, finally able to make out the outline that was slowly emerging from the mist.

It was an extremely large, human-shaped shadow.

But it is not made of flesh and blood.

The shadow's surface was covered with cracks like tree bark, and a pair of curved wooden horns grew on its head, with glowing moss and vines hanging from the forks of the horns.

The most bizarre thing is its face; it has no facial features, only several crisscrossing cracks, from which purple light flickers on and off, like a breathing light.

The lord slowly lowered his head, looking with his featureless face at the two two-legged beasts behind the ice wall—

Then it opened.

The sound didn't come from the mouth—it didn't have a mouth at all. The sound still emanated from the depths of the mind, like a forbidden announcement. Hoarse and low, like the rustling of withered leaves.

"Who... disturbed my slumber...?"

Ou Yun subconsciously shrank half a step behind Leng Ruolan, then noticed that Captain Leng had also moved half a step to the side—the two exchanged a glance and simultaneously pushed Chen Hao to the front.

Chen Hao: ? ? ?

No, buddy!!!

Chen Hao immediately turned around and looked at Black Hawk and his gang of beasts.

"..."

However, Black Hawk, who was usually arrogant and even had just been enjoying his fight with the giant tortoise, seemed to have been weakened to an epic degree, shrinking his neck and becoming timid and submissive.

The giant tortoise even transformed into a turtle that had its head tucked away.

Even the aloof Frost Roc subconsciously moved closer to the Black Hawk.

"Well……"

Chen Hao was at a loss.

But it's alright.

Although this lord looked terrifying and spoke in a terrifying tone, his words were not terrifying—

"That crystal pillar..."

The lord's voice was filled with a sense of decay.

"It is one of my sealing posts. By removing it, you have unlocked my first shackle."