Chapter 23: Forbidden Zone’s Taboo (2)

Translator: Lordbluefire

Xu Qing was also done. When he got up, Cross, who walked past him, despite doubting whether it was a good decision for Xu Qing to tag along with them earlier, still chose to speak out albeit with an indifferent expression.

“Pay more attention to your mutation points. The density of anomalous substances in the forbidden zone is very dense, so you must pay constant attention to it. Once the mutation goes over the limit, no one can save you.”

Xu Qing nodded. He had noticed this point long ago.

He could sense that the density of anomalous substances in this forbidden zone was extremely high, but it was a lot weaker when compared to the peak in the city ruins.

However, he had now accumulated quite a lot of anomalous substances in his body, so even though he wasn’t cultivating now, the mutation point on his arm was starting to give him a faint piercing pain just from him breathing.

Therefore, he took out a white pill and put it in his mouth. He didn’t swallow it but kept it in his mouth to let it slowly melt.

Very soon, everyone was done covering themselves with the silt. They checked out each other and then continued on their way.

However, things were a little different from before. Their travel speed became even slower, and everyone had their weapons drawn.

Xu Qing glanced at their weapons.

Barbaric Ghost’s weapons were a finesteel shield and a mace, Captain Lei’s weapons were a pair of boxing gloves, Cross’s was a longbow, and Luan Tooth took out a serrated dagger that shone with a cold gleam.

When Xu Qing had gone out a few days ago to tail Fat Mountain, he had other gains too.

Due to his sharp hearing, he had heard a lot of conversations between scavengers and learned a lot of information he didn’t know of in the past.

For example, he already knew that weapons were classified into magic treasures, runic treasures, and ordinary treasures.

Amongst them, magic treasures were considered legendary and extremely rare.

Rumor had it that each magic treasure had a different degree of anomalous substances within, and the amount of anomalous substances would increase with usage, being extremely hard to eliminate. Therefore, they were practically non-renewable resources. In addition, their might was exceptional, and thus they were considered extraordinarily precious.

This led to the birth of unique existences like treasure-nurturers. They tended to be kept from a young age, using their bodies to dilute the magic treasures’ anomalous substances.

Captain Lei had mentioned this in the past.

Apart from magic treasures, there were also runic treasures and ordinary treasures.

Although runic treasures were also rare, they were more attainable compared to magic treasures. Last but not least, ordinary treasures were commonly seen.

They tended to be weapons that were forged from unique materials and could be used by ordinary people as well.

Xu Qing felt that his iron stick might be an ordinary treasure, and what these people were using was clearly of the same category.

Time passed by slowly and Xu Qing followed the Thunder Team, entering deeper and deeper into the forbidden zone.

They did encounter some troubles on their way, but the troubles were nothing major. Barbaric Ghost was enough to deal with them by himself.

When they occasionally encountered some stronger ferocious beasts, Cross’s bow would fire intensely.

As for Luan Tooth, her attacks were mainly spells. She seemed to be able to perform some intimidating skills that caused the ferocious beasts to pause in their movements and become less agile.

There was also once when Xu Qing attacked. He grabbed a venomous snake that shot out from behind them and crushed it.

After Xu Qing had done this, Cross also noticed during their journey that Xu Qing was able to keep up with them without making any newbie mistakes. Hence, there was less judgment in his gaze when looking at Xu Qing. He also imparted to him some of his experience.

“Kid, this forbidden zone might seem dangerous, but to us people who are veterans here, as long as we don’t encounter three types of situations, we’re basically safe.

“You must remember these three situations.

“The first one is the encounter of unfamiliar mutated beasts from the depths of the forbidden zone heading to the outer area. Such situations aren’t common and our activity areas are basically on the outer edges.

“However, the moment we encounter one, it’ll be extremely dangerous. It’s because we only understand the habits and abilities of the mutated beasts on the outer edges. Moreover, the forbidden zone is too big and there are various mutated beasts in it with different abilities. If we aren’t careful, we’ll die.

“The second type is singing voice.” At the mention of this, Cross revealed a wary expression.

“There’s a saying that a singing voice appears in this place, and not a single person out of a hundred who heard the voice can survive. However, I have never heard it before. Among us, the only one in our team who has heard it is Captain Lei.”

Xu Qing looked toward Captain Lei.

Captain Lei didn’t say anything but looked into the depths of the forbidden zone with a hint of complication in his eyes.

“Let me talk about the third one.” Luan Tooth, who was at the side, smiled and said. She took a look at Xu Qing.

“Kid, the third type of danger here is very commonly seen. It’s labyrinth fog.”

“When labyrinth fog appears, it’s like one is blinded and loses their way. Moreover, the labyrinth fog usually exists for a very long time. Once a person loses their way in here and can’t find their way out, the anomalous substances in the fog will corrode them, causing the anomalous substances in their body to gradually rise. This also tends to represent that death is coming.

“However, there are two ways to deal with this. One is fire, while the other is coming from people who were either born with or cultivated to gain strong mental energy.

“The former doesn’t tackle the problem from the roots. Although fire can drive the labyrinth fog away within a small range, allowing one to regain vision, the labyrinth fog is mysterious and it’s hard for fire to sustain for long. As for the latter, they are very rare and there might only be one in the campsite in a few decades. People like these tend to leave very quickly as they have better room for growth elsewhere.”

“There’s a fourth type of danger, and that is encountering malicious sneak attacks from hostile enemies.” Barbaric Ghost, who was leading the group, said gloomily.

Luan Tooth was about to say something. However, Captain Lei, who was looking far away, suddenly changed his expression and let out a low bellow.

“Quiet!”

At the next instant, Cross drew his bow, Luan Tooth’s eyes revealed a cold gleam, and Barbaric Ghost’s muscles tensed up. Xu Qing’s hair instantly stood up. A strong sense of danger suddenly emitted out from the pitch-black jungle in the far distance.

Very soon, streams of cold light appeared in the darkness. They were many pairs of eyes, which looked at them with indifference and coldness.

There were exceptionally a lot of eyes.

With the appearance of these eyes, many huge wolves with the size of water buffalos and black scales growing all over their bodies walked out slowly.

There were at least several dozen of them. Moreover, there seemed to be even more of them in the far distance, and the numbers might be in the hundreds.

Upon sensing that each wolf emitted the energy around the second level, Barbaric Ghost and the others’ countenances changed.

“Black-scaled wolf pack!”

“They usually only live near the boundaries between the depths and the outer edges of the forbidden zone. Why did they come here?!”

Cross’s pupils contracted and Luan Tooth’s face also turned a little pale.

They were very clear that although one black-scaled wolf might not be much, wolves in such large numbers would be a harsh trial for them.

Most importantly, the density of anomalous substances in the forbidden zone was very strong. If one were to deplete too much spirit energy in their bodies, they could only absorb spirit energy from the surroundings for replenishment. During the battle, they wouldn’t be able to separate the anomalous substances. If that was the case, the anomalous substances in their bodies would accumulate extremely quickly and the risk of mutation would be magnified.

Xu Qing’s breathing also hastened slightly. The pressure coming from the wolf pack was tremendous.

“You guys, retreat first. I’ll stay here and obstruct them.”

Amidst everyone’s shaken state, Captain Lei spoke up in a deep voice and walked out slowly.

At this moment, a spirit energy wave that surpassed Cross’s by at least a fold erupted as Captain Lei stepped forward.

The wolf pack also paused in their footsteps, all of them staring at Captain Lei.