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

At that moment, he remembered what Sarah had mentioned during the simulation—the strongest fighter on the opposing side should be the one named Ou Yun.

Mike just wanted to go back and shake Sarah's head hard while yelling at her while grabbing her ear—was the strongest one that was Olympia?

Are you kidding me!

Every single creature here looks like the strongest of all!

He muttered to himself.

The known combat strength of the Dragon Kingdom camp currently consists of three unfathomable humans.

Two lynxes.

Three S-class mutated behemoths.

A group of monkeys.

A bull that can overturn a tank.

Conclusion: Do not attempt a direct breakthrough, do not attempt a sneak attack, and do not act rashly.

It's best not to even think about it.

*

Finally, night fell.

With the opening time of the third phase of the Forbidden Zone drawing ever closer, Mike was getting anxious, thinking he needed to quickly reveal all the information about the Dragon Kingdom camp to his teammates.

He had never imagined that there were so many amazing species in the Dragon Kingdom camp!

So much so that whenever he made a move, those magical creatures would suddenly appear next to him like randomly spawned NPCs!

There's simply no chance to communicate with my teammates!

It's nighttime now, the magical creatures won't respawn so quickly, so let's take advantage of this time—

Just as he was about to make a secret contact, a familiar voice, chilling him to the bone, came from outside the door.

"Mike, are you asleep?"

It's Europe.

Mike's hand trembled, and the secret communicator he had opened in the golden box, which was more valuable than himself, almost fell to the ground.

He quickly shoved the communicator back under his pillow and cleared his throat: "N-no, I wasn't asleep. What's wrong?"

"Let's go out for a drink."

Mike paused for a moment.

drink wine?

He opened the door and saw Ou Yun standing there, holding two bottles of vodka—of course, they were the stock contributed by the Xiong Guo people, chilled in the ice cellar, with a layer of fine water droplets still clinging to the bottles.

"The weather's nice today, let's enjoy the moon and have a couple of drinks."

Ou Yun handed over a bottle with a smile, "Let's go to the watchtower."

Mike took the bottle, unsure of what to say next.

Is the weather nice?

Moon gazing?

In the forbidden area?

He subconsciously looked up at the sky—indeed, the night sky was exceptionally clear, the Milky Way stretched across the sky, stars were densely packed, and a full moon hung over the mountaintop, casting a cool, silvery light.

Wow, he'd never really observed the moon so closely since arriving in the forbidden area—because all his attention was focused on the environment in case something suddenly jumped out from the surroundings to launch a sneak attack.

"Let's go, stop dawdling."

Ou Yun had already turned and walked towards the watchtower, humming an unknown tune.

Mike watched his retreating figure, alarm bells ringing in his mind.

Is this a trap?

It's a trap!

But the question is... why would he set a trap?

He could have just taken action directly.

With so many people, so many weapons, and so many mutated behemoths, killing him would be a piece of cake.

Why bother inviting him for drinks?

unless……

Mike's heart sank.

Unless he already knows something.

Mike gripped the bottle, his knuckles turning slightly white.

But he knew that refusing now would be even more suspicious, practically a werewolf self-destructing.

So he gritted his teeth, grabbed his hiking stick, and followed.

The wind was stronger on the watchtower than on the ground, making Ou Yun's hair all messy, but he looked kind of handsome.

He sat cross-legged on the edge of the watchtower and patted the spot next to him: "Mike, sit down."

Mike sat down, his movements as stiff as a corpse.

Ou Yun unscrewed the bottle cap and raised the bottle to Mike: "Here, have a sip."

"..."

Mike hesitated for a moment, then unscrewed the cap and took a sip.

The spicy liquid of vodka slid down my throat, warming my stomach.

This wine is good—the Xiong Kingdom's stockpiles are indeed good stuff.

Ou Yun also took a big gulp, then smacked his lips: "Your leg injury is healing pretty fast."

"Your medicine is indeed effective."

"That's right, Brother Chen's prescription is even more effective than regular medicine." Ou Yun's tone was casual, as if he were just chatting about everyday things.

Everyone fell silent for a while.

Ou Yun looked up at the moon and suddenly blurted out, "Just how big is this forbidden area?"

"...Very big?" Mike didn't know how to respond, so he just went along with it.

"Seven districts, one lord in each district. You can only go home after you've defeated them all."

Ou Yun shook the bottle. "To be honest, sometimes it's quite tiring to think about."

"...!"

Mike was immediately startled.

Is this even possible?

He knew that there were many forbidden areas—the country had already compiled information on all the publicly known forbidden areas before he even entered them.

But there are still seven lords?

Do we have to finish fighting before we can go back?

Are these the conditions for passing through the forbidden area?

Mike grew increasingly disheartened. Forget about the seven lords, they couldn't even defeat one of them—let alone the lords, he couldn't even beat a single Hakimi in this godforsaken place!

Seriously, this person just told him such important information like that?

The ominous feeling in Mike's mind was about to overwhelm his reason.

He could only take deep breaths and exhale, "You already have a clear goal, at least... you're not lost."

This is true.

Mike certainly knew about the relationship between China and the United States—so his situation was both dangerous and awkward…fuck.

"That's true."

Ou Yun smiled and took another sip of wine. "Speaking of which, what was the real world like before you came in? I'm quite curious about that—after staying in the Forbidden Zone for so long, it feels like the real world is getting further and further away from us."

Upon hearing this, Mike immediately became extremely wary.

Here it comes, this is the real problem—bro, you really are trying to trick me into talking!

But what Ou Yun said next made him relax a little:

"I'm asking about the real world, not your country's secrets. I just want to know what life is like outside."

Ou Yun looked at him honestly, "Have prices gone up? Has any new war broken out? Has the village got internet access?"

"..."

Mike had to stare at the European team for a few more seconds.

The firelight danced on Ou Yun's face, casting his face in shifting light and shadow, creating a very photogenic effect.

But Bro's expression really did seem like he was just chatting casually—there was no probing sharpness, no oppressive feeling of interrogation, just someone who had been in the forbidden area for too long wanting to hear what the outside world was like.

Mike let out a long sigh—

As long as bro doesn't kill him right now, it's fine.

Mike slowly relaxed.

Hmm...that's true.

Bro spent nearly a hundred days struggling in the forbidden area, facing life-or-death tests every day.

When things quiet down occasionally, even a god will think about the ordinary daily life outside, and those mundane moments of life!

"The real world..."

Mike took a sip of his drink. "He's changed a lot."

"How so?"

Mike paused for a few seconds, as if organizing his thoughts—

To put it bluntly, in this dangerous forbidden land, just being alive is a luxury. Who would care about the real world? Maybe at first they would care, since that's what everyone was thrown here for, but who would care later?

—There are actually people who care.

Mike slowly said, "The Dragon Kingdom..."

"The Dragon Kingdom?"

Mike turned his head and looked at Ou Yun.

His eyes were complex—there was awe, envy, and a hint of bitterness that was hard to describe.

"Do you know how many tens of thousands of times more supplies the Dragon Kingdom can get from the forbidden area every day?" he asked.

"Um?"

Ou Yun paused for a moment, his expression genuine—he really hadn't calculated it.

Because... it's simply impossible to calculate.