Chapter 470 - 467: The Clearing

Chapter 470: Chapter 467: The Clearing

"It’s getting late. I remember a clearing up ahead. Let’s rest there."

"Okay."

The setting sun painted the thin clouds above the Sky Island red. Its dimming light could no longer pierce the forest, leaving the path ahead in darkness.

Fortunately, they found the clearing Zhou Dynasty had mentioned just before the sun completely set.

Several massive stones sat in the middle of the clearing. The green grass swayed gently in the evening wind, looking very calm.

"Phew..." Seeing the clearing, Zhou Dynasty breathed a sigh of relief.

"Looks like the activated contamination isn’t too severe here."

He walked cautiously to the center of the clearing and poked the dirt with a branch.

The soil here wasn’t activated.

"We’ll take turns on watch. We’ll set out again when the sun rises. The nights here are dangerous. Some activated beings only come out at night."

Li Luo nodded in agreement, then pulled a compressed sleeping bag from her pack and slid right in.

Zhou Dynasty hadn’t expected Li Luo to be so decisive. After a moment’s hesitation, he climbed onto a nearby stone and sat down.

The sun had completely set. Moonlight slowly illuminated the clearing, but the surrounding forest remained pitch-black, and strange sounds occasionally echoed from within it.

Zhou Dynasty watched his surroundings vigilantly, feeling no trace of fatigue.

In the moonlight, he once again pulled out the dog tag he kept close, letting the lunar glow fall across the characters inscribed on it.

"Deserter..."

He muttered to himself, then gripped the dog tag tightly.

He only stuffed the dog tag away when another strange sound emerged from the darkness.

’Behind me?’

He quickly turned his head and saw a Block had appeared behind him.

"I’m a little jumpy," Zhou Dynasty chuckled self-deprecatingly.

He waved at the Block, but to his surprise, it actually flew toward him.

Seeing this, he quickly pulled his hand back.

Having made it to the fourth level of the Abyss, he knew better than to casually touch someone else’s relic. It would be bad if he accidentally triggered one of its abilities.

With that in mind, he waved his hand at the Block again.

"Go on and rest. I’ve got this."

The moment the words left his mouth, Zhou Dynasty froze.

’Why am I talking to a relic?’

But the Block, as if it hadn’t heard him, flew straight over and stopped only when it was hovering above his head.

’What’s it doing?’ Zhou Dynasty tilted his head back, looking at the Block in confusion.

CLINK!

Just as he was wondering, a crisp sound suddenly rang out next to his hand.

He quickly looked over and saw that a can of cola had appeared out of thin air on the stone.

Zhou Dynasty looked at the cola, then back at the Block, confused.

"Thanks," he said awkwardly to the Block, then picked up the can.

"I haven’t had one of these in so long." He opened the can somewhat clumsily, and a thick froth of bubbles immediately gushed out.

Zhou Dynasty quickly removed his protective mask and brought his mouth to the opening.

Beneath the mask was a pale face. The pressure from the mask had drained the color from his skin, leaving deep indentations all over his face. Still, it was clear that his was a young face, not much older than Li Luo’s.

Zhou Dynasty drank the cola clumsily; it seemed he hadn’t tasted anything like it in a very long time.

He quickly downed the entire can. Then he turned it upside down, tapping the bottom repeatedly to get the very last drop into his mouth.

"So good."

He was so emotional that his words came out haltingly.

Only when the can was completely empty did he reluctantly hook it onto his belt.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he looked up at the Block.

"What’s the price?"

However, the Block paid him no mind and simply flew away.

"Huh? There’s no price?" Zhou Dynasty stared blankly at the departing Block, somewhat baffled.

"When Li Luo wakes up, I need to ask her about the Block’s price..." he muttered, scratching his head.

...

In the middle of the night, Li Luo slowly woke up in her sleeping bag.

She opened her drowsy eyes and searched the area for the Block. She only relaxed when she saw it floating above the stone.

After quickly packing her things, Li Luo climbed onto the stone.

"I’m rested. It’s your turn."

"So soon?" Zhou Dynasty was still a bit dazed. "Be careful. Wake me immediately if there’s any danger."

"Got it."

After the handover, Zhou Dynasty jumped down into a crevice between the stones and lay down at an angle.

The clearing fell silent once more. The strange sounds from the forest became more distinct—it sounded like something was rustling the leaves, accompanied by gusts of wind that rose and fell.

These odd noises would appear and then vanish just as quickly, only to pop up again from a different direction moments later.

The clearing itself, however, remained safe.

’Are you the one protecting us?’

Li Luo wasn’t as naive as Zhou Dynasty. She looked at the Block on the stone.

The Block remained motionless, as if it had nothing to do with anything. But Li Luo’s instincts told her this night was far too peaceful. In this activated forest, overrun with contamination, the night should have been much more terrifying.

Li Luo’s suspicion was correct. At that very moment, Mo Ling was busy dealing with the activated beings in the forest.

...

’These activated trees seem to be more active at night,’ Mo Ling thought, as he teleported another activated tree that was approaching the clearing.

He’d lost count of how many he had killed. Ever since night fell, the forest itself seemed to have come alive, with massive trees striding heavily toward the clearing.

’They seem to be pursuing something...’

’Is there something in this clearing?’

Mo Ling found it strange. Why were all these trees heading for the clearing?

If it was just for the two humans, Li Luo and Zhou Dynasty, it seemed like too much of a mobilization. The forest at night was full of active beings; they should have been fighting among themselves.

’So why come to an empty clearing?’

Mo Ling had carefully scanned the clearing. There were no treasures underground, and the huge stones were just ordinary rocks. He had no idea what the activated beings were after.

It wasn’t until the latter half of the night that Mo Ling noticed something strange about the trees.

’Their bark... it’s turning black.’

Because the trees were always in the dark forest, Mo Ling hadn’t noticed the changes to their bodies before.

It was only when he compared the trees he had teleported into the Block that he discovered these strange black spots on their bark.

’The later it gets, the worse the black spots become.’

The trees that appeared right after nightfall didn’t have these spots. But by the latter half of the night, the black spots had begun to cover the trees entirely, like some kind of fungus, slowly corroding them.

Mo Ling looked at the blackened leaves, and suddenly, he had a flash of insight.

’Could it be... they’re not pursuing something... but fleeing from it?’