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

Mike instinctively pulled out his communicator and took a picture of the claw marks.

This used to be something he did every day—

But after taking the photos, he realized that no one needed this information anymore.

His finger hovered over the send button for a second, then he silently turned off the screen.

He gripped his military knife in his hand, moved very lightly, and slowly moved into the canyon, hugging the shadow of the rock wall.

The fog grew thicker and thicker, and visibility dropped from ten meters to five meters, and then from five meters to three meters.

A strange, sweet, fishy smell filled the air, mixed with a putrid, sour stench that Mike had to cover his mouth and nose with his sleeve before continuing forward.

After walking about two hundred meters, the fog suddenly dissipated—not gradually thinning, but as if it had been cut off by an invisible dividing line.

Within a step, the dense fog obscures the path ahead; beyond a step, the view opens up dramatically.

Mike stood on the dividing line, staring at the scene before him, completely frozen in place.

At the end of the canyon lies a huge circular basin.

The basin is at least two kilometers in diameter, and the ground is scorched black, barren of all vegetation.

In the very center of the basin stood a colossal stone pillar—a giant pillar made of countless bones, armor plates, ores, and various other materials he couldn't name.

The surface of the pillar was covered with dense patterns, within which flowed a dark purple light, exactly the same as the reaction of the abyss crystals he had seen in the Dragon Kingdom camp.

The top of the pillar was cracked in a ring, from which thick purple mist continuously poured out.

The mist flowed slowly down the pillar, gathering at the bottom of the basin to form a surging purple sea of ​​mist.

And in that sea of ​​fog, something was moving.

They were densely packed, like countless insects wriggling and tearing at each other in the sea of ​​fog.

With each bite, one more animal is devoured, and the devourer grows larger.

They seem to be devouring each other and evolving rapidly.

Mike's pupils dilated in shock, his knees buckled, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

What exactly are these things?

Is this a forbidden area where they're raising venomous insects?

Or did he stumble into some creature's cafeteria?

Why are there so many bugs here?!

Mike felt his stomach churning violently, his throat burning, and he vomited.

Clearly, what he was seeing had completely shattered his understanding of the world.

Mike tried to back away, but his foot suddenly stepped on a loose pebble—

The sound of rubble rolling down was particularly jarring in the still, stagnant environment.

Instantly, all the shadowy pupae in the sea of ​​fog stopped moving.

Countless pairs of eyes, varying in size and color but all equally cold, turned in his direction.

"..."

Mike's breath caught in his throat for a moment.

"Boom!"

All the shadows in the fog rushed towards him like a monstrous wave.

In his terror, Mike vaguely made out the general outlines of those shadows—some looked like giant wolves but had six legs, and others looked like mantises but had bony scythes forelimbs.

Some were so unrecognizable that they were simply writhing lumps of flesh with seven or eight eyeballs embedded in them.

"Fuck!!!"

Mike's adrenaline surged on the spot, and he turned and ran.

The wound on his right leg ripped open again while he was running, but he could no longer feel any pain.

He had never run so fast in his life—the dense rustling sounds behind him grew closer and closer.

He made a sharp turn at a rocky bend.

He dared not look back, he could only run, run as fast as he could.

His mind raced through all the survival skills he'd learned in the Marine Corps, the experiences he'd had crawling through restricted areas, and Sarah's words—

Faced with an absolute disparity in strength, all techniques are futile.

Mike had already run out of the canyon and rushed into the gravel beach by the river. He lost his footing and fell into the pile of rocks.

The trekking pole flew off and fell into the river, where it was instantly swept away by the current.

He immediately turned over and looked towards the canyon—

However, although the shadows had already reached the mouth of the canyon, they stopped there, as if hesitating about something.

Then, they began to slowly retreat.

It seems like it's afraid of something?

Mike gasped for breath before propping himself up and looking around.

He fell onto a pebble beach, next to a crooked old tree, and several large, smooth rocks by the river.

He recognized this place; it was a river bend at the foot of the mountain in the Dragon Kingdom camp.

An idea popped into Mike's head for no apparent reason.

Could it be because those terrifying creatures are afraid of that giant tortoise?

No, in his opinion, those shadows that were so indistinct that they couldn't even be seen were more terrifying than the giant tortoise. After all, the giant tortoise at least had a normal appearance that a person could accept, while those shadows looked like the result of a group of already mutated creatures being thrown together and hybridized!

Surely it can't be those shady characters who're afraid of the Chinese players! Haha...! Ha...

"..."

*

As the morning mist gradually dissipated, the waterwheel in the mill began to turn slowly again.

Sunlight streamed down from the mountain ridge, bathing the entire valley in a warm golden hue.

A new day has begun!

The countdown to the third phase of the forbidden area has only 24 hours left.

Everyone in the Dragon Kingdom camp has been placed on high alert.

The low wall was raised to two and a half meters high, and the top was completely wrapped with barbed wire.

The warning line covers all mountain roads, animal trails and paths around the camp, and all triggering devices have been tested.

Nanbei led his lynx herd to patrol within a five-kilometer radius of the camp, changing shifts every two hours.

Each lynx has a specially made small iron whistle tied to its collar—it bites the whistle as soon as it detects anything unusual, and the sound can travel a long way through the valley, allowing the people on the watchtower to immediately determine which direction the problem is.

As for Ou Yun, he took out all the gold supply crates and lined them up on the table.

There are three in total, all gleaming with gold.

Leng Ruolan said, "Finally, you've let go?"

Mr. Ou, however, gave an irrelevant answer: "I'm thinking about a question."

"What's the problem?"

"Do you think the third phase of the Forbidden Zone might also have hidden rules, like the second phase?"

"What's wrong?"

"Look, the second phase of the reckoning, on the surface, is about letting the players attack each other, but the real threat is those things like the Abyss Bone Demon."

Ou Yun had discussed this issue with her before. In fact, it was an open secret in the Forbidden Zone that players attacked each other. It's just that it's out in the open now. But the Forbidden Zone has never mentioned bizarre things like the Abyss Bone Demon.

He suspected that this was actually the real potential threat.

The real danger lies in what isn't mentioned in the rules.

Upon hearing this, Leng Ruolan also remembered, "You mean the giant beast last night and the new footprints found in the north and south this morning?"