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

European Express: ?

"Awesome."

"Not at all, I'm still far inferior to you, brother."

What else is there to say?

Ou Yun said, "Then let's just fly back."

Leng Ruolan said, "What else?"

*

What was that noise just now?

"Why haven't I seen my older brother and the others come back yet?"

"Something happened?"

"Brother, every time you ask them if something happened, it's actually other creatures that are in trouble."

"Shh, don't say it!"

"..."

Camp, watchtower.

Chen Hao, atop the watchtower, held up his binoculars and scanned the area like a human radar.

The nation's fate is rather tumultuous today.

The two Xiong Kingdom members calmly and skillfully set up their flags below the watchtower.

Chen Hao, of course, heard it too, and he was just about to make a comment—

Just then, a very rhythmic "da da da da" sound slowly approached from not far overhead.

All three people looked up at the same time.

Then we saw a majestic helicopter heading this way.

As they passed the watchtower, Ou Yun's smug face was practically right up against Chen Hao's binoculars.

"Hey bro, what are you looking at?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

*

I thought everyone would be surprised—but they weren't.

"Brother, is this just an attack helicopter?"

"Of course!"

"Oh, I thought this was a super ultimate invincible doomsday armor flying fortress-style helicopter like the Transformers."

"Oh, this isn't mine, it's Leng's."

"I see."

Leng Ruolan: ...

There's nothing else I can do.

*

But it doesn't matter, there's still the invincible big cleaver—although it's a bit ugly.

When Ou Yun showed off this knife during the meeting that evening, everyone thought that his older brother had gone to the two-dollar store near the elementary school.

"This is a real knife!"

"Hmm...the color scheme is so gorgeous!"

"If I ever get back to the real world, I'll definitely buy the same one for my nephew who just started elementary school!"

It wasn't until Leng Ruolan carefully read through the knife's instruction manual that everyone was shocked.

Wow! You really can't judge a book by its cover!

Chen Hao, who was wiping his glasses, almost had them fly off when he heard Leng Ruolan say that the knife had a damage of 9999999999.

"Such high damage?!"

Damn, doesn't that also mean there are beings in the forbidden area with even higher HP than 9999999999?!

Chen Hao felt both happy and sad.

I thought that knowing the main quest meant I was close to going home.

Looking at it this way, those so-called lord monsters are really not to be trifled with!

However, there's no use in being anxious now.

Their immediate priority is to complete the three stages and clear the forest area before quickly clearing the other sections.

*

Everything seemed to have returned to its former peace and tranquility.

But both of them knew in their hearts that something was beginning to stir beneath the calm surface.

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

Chen Hao squatted by the experimental field, frantically taking notes in his notebook, muttering to himself—

"It's grown a little...it really has grown a little..."

"But we need to observe further to determine which specific nutrient is at work... If we extrapolate at this rate, it will probably take another—"

Ou Yun and Leng Ruolan came over from behind to check on the mutated plants.

"Brother Chen, aren't your legs numb?"

Chen Hao looked up and saw the two walking over. He immediately stood up—and sure enough, his legs went numb, so he jumped up and down several times.

"You've arrived! I was just about to look for you—the mutated plant is making a move!"

"What's that noise?"

"It's grown!"

Chen Hao pointed to the small, tender seedling in the experimental field.

It used to be just a pitiful green sprout, but now it has grown to be almost as tall as two fingers, and two new leaves have sprouted on the side of the stem.

The leaves are light purple with serrated edges and a layer of fine hairs on the surface.

"I buried the body down there using the method Captain Leng described—and it actually worked!"

Following his gaze, Ou Yun indeed saw the two headless corpses in the experimental field—or rather, corpses with half their bodies buried in the soil.

European Express: ?

Dig!

"...This works?"

"Sure!"

Chen Hao pushed up his glasses, his face beaming with excitement, "Ordinary fertilizers have absolutely no effect on its growth, but following Captain Leng's advice..."

"After burying those two American corpses—look! It grew this much in just one night! And look at the color of the leaves, purple! That's the characteristic color of abyssal energy! It means it absorbed not only nutrients, but also the residual energy from the corpses—"

"This kind of athlete must have some enhanced physical attributes; they're more nutritious than an ordinary person's corpse!"

Leng Ruolan immediately let out a smug snort from the side.

"I've already sent Nanbei to specifically collect the athletes' bodies. With so many people dying around here these past few days, collect as many as you can—"

"..."

Looking at the two of them, their eyes shining with excitement, Ou Yun then glanced at the little purple seedling thriving in the experimental field, nourished by the corpse—

Haha...

"Now, if it wasn't a man-eating flower, it'll probably turn into one..."

Europe is helpless.

Oh well, it's fine if it grows into a man-eating plant. It'll be perfect for planting at the camp entrance as a security guard.

He took out a small cloth bag from his spatial ring. "By the way, Brother Chen, why don't you take a look at these purple particles?"

Chen Hao was curious and asked what it was.

Leng Ruolan explained from the side, "This is from the ashes that Mike turned into after he died. Be careful, wear gloves, and don't get infected."

"This thing can be infectious?"

Chen Hao took the cloth bag, his expression slightly composed.

He carefully opened the bag a crack and peeked inside.

The purple particles had faded in the sunlight, but their original color was still visible.

Chen Hao happened to be wearing gloves, so he took the smallest one and placed it in his palm to examine it with a magnifying glass.

"This structure... is very similar to abyssal crystals, but the crystallinity is much lower. It's more like a byproduct of abyssal crystals."

"A byproduct? Looks like Mike really got infected by this stuff."

"Oh?"

Chen Hao narrowed his eyes.

"That means this byproduct can lie dormant in the human body and be activated after the host dies—"

"And then, just like when the Abyss Bone Demon died, it turned to ash, leaving behind crystals?"

"Pretty much. I almost got infected myself, it was awful..."

"So that means Mike has some kind of infection mechanism from the Abyss Bone Demon—no, more accurately, some kind of Abyss energy—within his body?"

Chen Hao's tone gradually became serious.

"This energy can silently lurk within the host's body, be activated under certain conditions, and then—wait, you just said this thing almost infected you??"