Volume Two Expedition! Chapter Seventy-Four A Visit

"Is this Devil’s Forest really that terrifying?"

"Mr. Zhao, do you know why there are so few monsters near our safe zone? It’s because they’ve all been devoured by the Devil’s Forest. We’ve observed several times: whether it’s ordinary mutant zombies or higher-level mutated creatures, none have ever come out alive after entering the Devil’s Forest. We once sent a police dog equipped with a camera in to investigate, but as soon as it entered, we lost all signal, and the dog never returned."

"So powerful? Looks like we’d better stay far away from there!" Zhao Tian forced a laugh. He was already thinking about retreating—any more pretending and he’d give himself away. Now he was truly anxious.

Masao Nakamura added, "Not just that. We personally witnessed a T3-level mutant creature standing just at the edge of the forest. Suddenly, dozens of black vines shot out, dragged it in, and we never saw it again."

T3!

Zhao Tian’s discomfort grew. He clearly remembered the first T3 incident in Huaxia, the White Serpent Event at Safe Zone 16—the image of that hundred-meter-long giant serpent rising up and roaring at the sky was still vivid in his mind.

"Mr. Zhao, for Sword Immortal to leave that place safely—what an incredible feat!" Masao Nakamura raised his thumb in admiration.

Zhao Tian could hardly wait to return and report to his commander. "Haha, of course! That man could cut even a T4 creature in half with a single strike! Mr. Nakamura, let’s end here for today. We’ll discuss and get back to you with a decision soon."

Masao Nakamura smiled and saw Zhao Tian and his group off. Turning back, he saw his confidants looking troubled, and he laughed, "The plan has been submitted. Once Huaxia gives us their answer, we’ll be able to evacuate. What are you all still worried about?"

"Sir, I think that Huaxia officer was deliberately probing you about the Devil’s Forest. I noticed his expression during the meeting—every time you mentioned Sword Immortal, Zhao’s face became unnatural."

"I noticed it too. It was odd, but after he asked about the Devil’s Forest, I understood why."

"Exactly, something’s not right. Normally, when we boast about Sword Immortal, Zhao is always proud. But today his reaction was strange, and then he immediately asked about the forest. That seems even more suspicious."

The subordinates all began discussing at once. Masao Nakamura listened in silence, his face growing darker. "So you’re saying it’s true the Sword Immortal went into the Devil’s Forest, but he didn’t make it out? Zhao Tian has probably lost contact with him and came to us fishing for information?"

They said nothing, but their faces said it all.

Masao Nakamura’s expression was grim. "Every one of our evacuation plans depends on that Sword Immortal. If something really happened to him in the Devil’s Forest, are we just supposed to sit here and wait to die?"

He swept his fierce gaze across the Japanese officers, who all lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.

"Speak! Isn’t that exactly what you’re all thinking? That Sword Immortal is probably in trouble, and now we’re just sitting ducks?!"

One confidant, sweating, spoke cautiously, "Sir, even without the Sword Immortal, we could try our Plan Three: detain those Huaxia soldiers and use their four transport planes to get out of here."

"Fool!" Masao Nakamura shot him a cold glare. "There’s no runway here—how do you expect to get the planes off the ground?"

The confidant looked puzzled. "Don’t the planes use Huaxia’s new technology? They can land vertically, so can’t they take off vertically too?"

"I sent someone to check those planes last night—they’re just ordinary aircraft. That vertical landing was likely only possible because the Sword Immortal was present. If he’s really in trouble, we have no way out but to wait for death!" Masao Nakamura raised his voice. "All of you, shut up and stop these foolish ideas. We’ll wait until the matter is settled before making any decisions. If anyone dares to leak any of this, I’ll execute them myself!"

Back at the camp, Zhao Tian hurriedly dragged Yin Peng into his room. His nervous urgency left the accompanying soldiers stunned.

"Does our captain have some special preferences…?"

"......"

Once connected to Li Yu, Zhao Tian reported the coordinates he’d obtained before Liu Cong’s disappearance. He didn’t dare look up at Li Yu’s face on the video—he could imagine how grim it must be.

Li Yu’s face was indeed grim. Liu Cong had been out of contact for more than five hours—time enough to fly back and forth between Japan and Huaxia several times. There was no way he’d be unable to escape the Devil’s Forest unless he’d encountered danger there.

"If we can’t reach him by daybreak, mobilize the surveillance satellites and thoroughly inspect these coordinates. I want to see exactly what this Devil’s Forest is!" Li Yu barked and turned to leave the communications center.

Yin Peng closed his laptop and looked at Zhao Tian. "Captain, do you think the War God might be in real danger and can’t come back?"

Zhao Tian shot him a glare. "Don’t talk nonsense. He’s the kind of man who can split a T4 creature in two with a single sword. Maybe he was just tired, took a nap in a tree, and didn’t realize we were trying to contact him. Besides, he never said when he would return!"

Yin Peng was half-convinced. "But those Japanese made it sound so terrifying. Who in their right mind would sleep in a man-eating forest?"

"That’s exactly why you’re just an ordinary man—and he’s a Sword Immortal!"

"True enough!" Yin Peng scratched his head.

"Alright, go get some sleep. Who knows, maybe he’ll be back by the time you wake up. And don’t say a word to the others! No matter what they ask, just say I needed to speak to you privately."

"Oh, got it."

If Yin Peng had known that saying this would confirm all the rumors about him and Zhao Tian among the others, he’d have rather died than use that excuse.

That night, some were destined to be sleepless.

At dawn, Li Yu, who hadn’t slept a wink, arrived at the communications center, urging them to activate the satellite as soon as the sky began to lighten.

Through the satellite, Li Yu finally saw the true appearance of the Devil’s Forest. On the screen, it looked less like a forest and more like a vast black shroud draped across the earth.

All he could see was blackness; it was nearly impossible to distinguish the gaps between the trees, as if it were a single entity, not a forest made up of individual trees.

The Devil’s Forest was deathly silent at dawn. The satellite couldn’t penetrate the dense foliage to see what lay beneath, and thus couldn’t reveal what was at the summit in the center of the forest: a gigantic black sphere formed from countless twisting vines. From every direction within the forest, innumerable vines stretched toward it, forming something like a colossal three-dimensional spiderweb, or the structure of a sponge, tightly wrapping the black sphere.

The sphere pulsed and contracted at intervals. With every contraction, more vines wound themselves around it. At the very heart of this vine-ball was Liu Cong, his limbs bound fast by the black vines. Within the hollow sphere, black flames surged from Liu Cong’s body.

His eyes were shut tight, all his focus on circulating his inner energy at full speed—releasing black fire to resist the carnivorous vines while savoring the constant rush of energy strengthening his body. The searing black flames had burned away every last trace of oxygen within the sphere; only his own energy kept him alive. He was forced to devote himself wholly to survival.

Fortunately, his cells could absorb the energy of the Celestial Sword and nourish themselves, so he was spared from dying of hypoxia, and was even slowly becoming stronger. But for now, all he could do was protect himself and grow stronger as quickly as possible.

Zhao Tian, too, had stayed awake all night. Near dawn, he finally drifted into a fitful sleep, only to be jolted awake moments later by a loud pounding at his door.

Groggy and half-blind, he opened the door. But when he saw who was standing outside, his drowsiness vanished in an instant—his eyes flew wide open.