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

Lynx: "So what if you lost? The Forbidden Zone only cares whether you participated in the battle or not, regardless of whether you won or lost. If you win, you get double the resources; if you lose, you're out of luck."

"Are you still participating in the battle?"

The lynx paused for a moment.

"You have already fought us head-on, lost your teammates, and been captured."

Ou Yun squatted down to be at eye level with him.

"From the Forbidden Zone's perspective, this battle is over for you; you've lost. According to the rules, we could kill you at any time and take double the resources—but we didn't, and you're still alive. If you're still alive, wouldn't the Forbidden Zone consider the battle not over?"

The lynx's eyes widened slightly.

He had never thought about this question.

Because none of their previous opponents left any survivors.

There is only one outcome in a battle—one side dies and the other lives.

But he is still alive.

From the perspective of the forbidden area, is this battle truly over?

"You can give it a try."

Leng Ruolan's voice came from the side.

She was wiping the blood off her hands with a cloth.

"We can let you go."

Leng Ruolan exchanged a glance with Ou Yun as she spoke.

"Head east; there's an unexplored coniferous forest there. If you survive the forbidden area, it means the battle can indeed end with defeat but not death. If the forbidden area punishes you—"

"Then we'll come back...?"

Lynx tentatively picked up where she left off.

Leng Ruolan smiled without saying a word.

*

Three minutes later, Lynx, Afei, and six other Sava athletes stood at the camp gate.

Their weapons were confiscated, but they were given basic survival gear—a knife, a water bottle, and half a day's rations.

"There is the ruins of an old camp in that coniferous forest to the east."

Chen Hao adjusted his glasses and handed them a simple hand-drawn map. "You can go there to rest first. If you survive, we can talk again then."

Lynx took the map, looking at the routes and markings made of charcoal, his expression complex.

"Why are you helping us?" he asked.

"Because we need intelligence."

Chen Hao revealed the same kind of benevolent smile as President Ou, "You've been active in the forest for over a month. Telling us about your experiences is much more worthwhile than killing you and taking double the resources."

Well, Captain Leng said that getting the intelligence first and then killing is the same thing!

"You Chinese really know how to do business."

"Thank you for the compliment."

Lynx tucked the map into his pocket and turned to walk east.

After walking a few steps, he stopped again and looked back at the leisurely figure holding a glass of fruit juice on the watchtower.

"Good luck in Europe!"

Ou Yun looked down at him.

"There is a canyon on the west side of the forest, at the end of which is a basin, and in the basin is a pillar—"

"We've already been there."

"Then you should also know that that pillar is transmitting energy westward?"

"Know."

"Do you know what's to the west?"

Ou Yun paused for a moment.

"The boundary of the forest area, and another area."

The lynx shook its head.

"It's not just another area."

His expression turned serious, as if he were recalling some extremely unpleasant experience.

"When we were scouting on the high ground, we saw a 'city' on that plateau to the west."

Europe is in a hurry.

Chen Hao suddenly raised his head, and Leng Ruolan stopped wiping her knife.

City?

Are there cities inside forbidden areas?

"Not the kind of city on Earth."

Lynx added, his voice trembling slightly, though he himself wasn't aware of it.

"It was a different kind of city. The kind with black buildings and lights. We only saw it once, and then we could never find it again—but I think you should know about it, as a way of repaying your kindness in sparing our lives."

After saying this, he turned and walked into the dense forest, disappearing into the darkness with his teammates.

The camp was completely silent.

The campfire burned all night, and no one slept.

It wasn't just because they had just finished a defensive battle, but more importantly because of the words the Bobcats left behind before they left—"There is a city in the forbidden land."

It's not a city on Earth.

Black buildings, the kind that are illuminated.

Ou Yun sat in the hammock, repeatedly pondering these words in his mind.

What kind of buildings are black?

Abyssal crystals are dark purple in color, and anything infected by abyssal energy will turn black or purple.

If this city is related to abyssal energy, then it means that the forbidden area not only contains roaming monsters and mutually devouring Gu jars, but also a complete, well-organized abyssal civilization.

"Is it possible that it's just a mirage or an illusion? We've encountered hallucinations in forbidden areas before."

"I'm inclined to think they're talking nonsense."

Leng Ruolan's expression remained unchanged. "They'll say anything to survive."

Chen Hao thought for a moment, then spread his notebook out on the table. It was covered with hastily drawn analytical diagrams.

"The Lynx said they only saw it once, and then never saw it again. Mirages are certainly possible, but the question is—where would a mirage come from in a forbidden area? The weather conditions here don't support such an optical phenomenon at all."

Leng Ruolan's expression became even more disdainful. "Doesn't that just prove they're talking nonsense?"

"Or, is that 'city' mobile?" Ou Yun suddenly asked.

As soon as he said that, everyone turned to look at him.

"Think about it, those seven lords in the forbidden area. If they really are lord-level creatures, they must have a place to live, right? That giant beast with the halo said that each area has a lord, and you can only enter other areas by defeating the lord. So where do the lords live?"

He took a sip of his drink. "Living in trees? Living in caves? Or perhaps a top predator that has lived for countless years, without even a proper lair?"

"You see 'cities' as the lord's lair?"

"It's not just one lord's lair; it feels like it's the lair of all lords."

Ou Yun was unusually serious. "Think about it, if that pillar is transmitting energy to the west, and a deep-sea 'city' happens to appear in the west, where will this 'city' get its energy supply? It will come from the forest!"

"From the ring-shaped valley, from those abyssal veins, from that pillar that absorbs monster corpses—all the energy is converging westward. Converging where? Converging to that 'city'!"

The campfire crackled, and sparks were swept into the air by the night wind.

Chen Hao pushed up his glasses, his expression somewhat complicated.

"If this hypothesis is correct, then the abyssal energy network of the entire forest region is not independent... it is part of a larger energy network. And the level of this 'city' is far higher than that of the Forest Lord himself."

Alexander scratched his head in disbelief. "So our goal isn't to defeat the Forest Lord, but to find that city?"

"Of course, we should defeat the Forest Lord first."

Leng Ruolan stood up, walked to the tactical board, and drew a large question mark on the west side of the forest area with charcoal.

"However, Lynx's intelligence did give us a direction—if what he said is true. Since there's something to the west, we'll advance westward."

"First, explore the entire map of the forest area, find the forest lord's lair, and take it down—then head west to that plateau."