Chapter 1 The Words of Qing Xingdeng

Qing Xingdeng's words certainly had the effect she wanted.

The four girls' expressions changed drastically, and a wave of killing intent emanated from them simultaneously.

The familiar feeling of being enveloped in hostility reappeared, Qing Xingdeng's sharp fingernails digging into her flesh, a circle of goosebumps rising around the small wounds.

"Heh, don't misunderstand."

Qing Xingdeng had a delighted smile on her face. "I didn't say I killed him.

After all, in this Lost World, belts can't be stored in the backpack,

and we don't have any extra belts on us."

Qin stepped forward, a chainsaw appearing in her hand. "What exactly do you mean?" she said coldly.

"I'm just saying,"

Qing Xingdeng spread her hands, casually saying, "We encountered your little boyfriend and his companions at the elevator between the 42nd and 41st floors.

That was about half an hour ago.

But we were both being chased by a horde of mech-beasts at the time, and we were in different elevators, so I don't know where they are now."

"What?"

Qin's pupils constricted, but she was interrupted by Eva before she could question her. "There's an elevator between the 42nd and 41st floors?"

"There always has been."

Qing Xingdeng spread her hands and said, "Didn't you know? There are many passages between the floors in the Lost World.

Some passages were created by the builders. Some were formed when the builders damaged the ground during construction, such as broken pipes and cracked ceilings.

And some were originally reserved in the building, such as giant stairwells, elevators, and even elevator shafts.

Some large elevators near the edge walls of the Lost World are still usable."

As if to prove her words, Qing Xingdeng glanced at the Haifangzhu (Sea Monk) beside her. The latter nodded, took a black button from his backpack, pressed the button on the back, and the button immediately emitted light, projecting the image onto the wall.

The picture seemed to be from the perspective of the recorder worn by the Haifangzhu.

The Haifangzhu and the other two were chased by a large group of mech-beasts, fleeing on the 42nd floor of the Lost World, and finally escaped into a large building.

The building was made of dark metal, the walls were decorated with hollowed-out patterns, the ground was circular, and the dome was spherical, resembling a birdcage.

It was over a hundred meters high, covering an area comparable to a football field. On the inner wall of the building, there was a row of button the size of washbasins, each with foreign characters printed on it.

This was a super-giant elevator comparable to a skyscraper.

After the Haifangzhu and others pressed the button, the elevator first lowered a heavy elevator door, blocking the swarm of mech-beasts outside,

then emitted bursts of roaring sounds, and the entire elevator car slid down a winding track.

During the slide, the Haifangzhu and others saw another elevator on another track, with several figures faintly visible inside.

"Stop!"

Eva whispered. The Haifangzhu pressed the button and paused the projection.

"Nina."

Eva turned to look at her companion, who nodded, took out a digital camera-like device, pointed the lens at the picture on the wall, zoomed in on the corners, improved the picture quality, and analyzed it.

The other three members of the Zephyr Chaser Seventh Team gathered around. On the screen of the digital camera, Ju Tianfu's figure was clearly visible.

With him at the bottom of the other elevator, there were several other people.

A man with wild hair and beard, tall and muscular, with a calm expression revealing the aura of a tyrant.

A refined young man wearing a suit and gold-rimmed glasses,

a burly man with a crew cut wearing a black vest,

and a thin, middle-aged man with a goatee wearing a bamboo hat.

The four members of the Zephyr Chaser team had read the profiles of the top 300 players and instantly recognized that these were the president of the Burning Wind Guild, the 49th-ranked player on the individual combat strength list, 【Qimian Xuantian (Strange Mask Revolving Sky】,

Bai Haozheng, an intelligence analyst from the Special Affairs Bureau,

Long Xiangbao Bian (Dragon Soar Leopard Transformation) from the Special Affairs Bureau,

and the president of the Machinery Guild, the 37th-ranked player on the individual combat strength list, 【Ju Zi (Master Craftsman)】.

The four people in the picture also seemed to notice the Haifangzhu and others in the adjacent elevator, and turned to look over.

But the next second, the winding tracks of the two elevators brushed past each other, leading to different locations, separated by heavy walls.

*Beep*

The Haifangzhu pressed the button, and the picture stopped there.

Qing Xingdeng looked at the four Zephyr Chaser members and smiled, "As for what happened next, we were chased by the mech-beast swarm and escaped all the way here.

See, I didn't lie to you."

Eva did not answer. The four girls gathered together and discussed in low voices. Nina, who was the best at IT technology, used the instrument to repeatedly confirm that the video was not faked.

Moreover, the analysis of the "rumbling" sound in the background showed that it did indeed happen nearly two hours ago, consistent with the rumbling sound they had heard at the time.

After the four girls discussed it, Qin looked up at Qing Xingdeng and said in a deep voice, "Why are you telling us this?

You don't have to help us, do you?"

"Can't I be a helpful person?"

Qing Xingdeng smiled, "Your ultimate goal is to reunite with your companions and try to last as long as as possible in the script mission, right?

From the elevator tracks in the picture, you can see that the elevator your little lover Ju Tianfu took is on the other side of the 41st floor.

With him are two powerful players from the Special Affairs Bureau,

and two guild leaders from the pro-Special Affairs Bureau faction, all of whom are masters and big favorites to advance to the next stage.

Joining them will greatly increase your chances of survival..."

"What's in it for you?"

Eva interrupted, "Isn't the Sunken Island Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs closer to America?

Your relationship with the Special Affairs Bureau can only be described as average, not good enough to put aside disputes and work together in the face of huge benefits, right?"

Eva's subtext was, "Aren't you afraid that after we join up with Ju Tianfu, we will come back and cause trouble for you?"

Hearing the other party's question, Qing Xingdeng smiled slightly and said casually, "Just consider it making a good connection."

The important reason why Qing Xingdeng wanted to send them away was because her candle prop, which could shield mech-beast and security guard detection, would automatically increase its shielding effect based on the number of people within the candlelight range.

The more people there were, the shorter the candle's duration would be.

If Eva and others could leave earlier, Qing Xingdeng and her team would have more time to rest and recover.

As for whether Eva and others would come back after finding Ju Tianfu...

The distance from here to the location where the other elevator landed would take at least an hour and a half, even if they were to take a high-speed vehicle.

By the time they made a round trip, they would probably have already left.

"How about it?"

Qing Xingdeng said with a smile, "Although the players with Ju Tianfu are ranked higher and have good strength, judging from their state in the picture, they don't seem to be in very good shape. They must have experienced a hard fight.

Now all the mech-beasts above and below the 41st floor have gone crazy. Even they may not be able to hold on for long.

If you go now, you might still make it..."

Before she finished speaking, Nina's watch vibrated. Her expression changed drastically. She quickly pressed a few times on the screen of her watch and said a few words to Eva in some obscure language (possibly Hindi from India).

Qing Xingdeng narrowed her eyes and glanced at Yuyi Xinzhi beside her.

Yuyi Xinzhi, who had mastered the 【Language Comprehension: Beginner】 skill, nodded and said in a low voice, "They have discovered a special electromagnetic frequency, which is likely to be the Zephyr Chaser Seventh Team's dedicated communicator carried by Ju Tianfu.

The distance is within 2.5km."

What?

Qing Xingdeng's pupils constricted. It was one thing to trick the Seventh Team into leaving, but it was another thing for Ju Zi, Qimian Xuantian, Bai Haozheng and others to approach.

Although the security guards nearby had collectively gone crazy and would attack players regardless of whether they were wearing belts,

the players had one less reason to fight each other,

but who knew, Bai Haozheng and others might take advantage of their numerical superiority to attack Qing Xingdeng and others in order to reduce potential competitors.

Should they kill these four little girls here?

So as to prevent them from defecting and exposing their location?

But there were mech-beast swarms upstairs, and Qing Xingdeng and others' power systems were not good at hidden assassinations. If they really fought, it would definitely make a noise, damage the structure of the basement, and cause the candle to go out,

attracting a siege from the mech-beasts, and possibly causing Bai Haozheng and others to discover the anomaly and rush over directly...

Just as Qing Xingdeng's mind was racing, Yuyi Xinzhi translated again: "...But the communicators were only connected for a short moment, and soon the distance between them exceeded 2.5km again, and contact was lost again.

They are now discussing whether to send a drone to investigate."

After a brief discussion, the four finally decided to send a drone to the location of the communicator to check the situation. After thinking about it, Qing Xingdeng did not stop them—Nina took out two props called 【Long Teng Type Support Drone (Dragon Ascension Type Support Drone)】.

These two drones were highly modular, with ultra-long endurance, efficient charging, stealthy and fast flight, and could be equipped with multiple modular components, including freezing beams, laser strikes, micro-missiles, and stealth modules.

When equipped with stealth modules, even the mad mech-beasts and security guards would not be able to detect them.

Qing Xingdeng also wanted to know what the specific situation was outside, so she slightly increased the effect of the candle, and asked the Haifangzhu to open the trapdoor of the basement and release the 【Long Teng Type Support Drone】.

*Buzz*

The two drones activated their stealth functions, turning into two blurry shadows, flying slowly close to the dome of the 41st floor.

The drone's lens looked down, clearly seeing that the vast majority of mech-beasts were running in one direction,

and every few hundred meters, they could see security guards with different appearances attacking the mech-beasts, threatening them not to flee in all directions, as if driving donkeys and horses.

"What's wrong with them..."

Nina took a deep breath. Under the gaze of everyone in the basement, she controlled the drone, followed the direction in which the mech-beasts were running, gradually accelerated, and flew to the location where the communication device had appeared.

The 【Long Teng Type Support Drone】 flew at a very fast speed, traveling at high speed close to the dome,

but soon, Nina took the initiative to slow down.

Ahead, there was a dense and loud noise.

Bombing sounds,

metal shattering sounds,

biological roars,

building collapse sounds,

ground shaking sounds...

Thousands of sounds mixed together, not forming a regular and pleasant symphony, but weaving a broken, chaotic, and disordered heavy sound.

Continuous, stable, with occasional pauses, but never stopping.

Nina's scalp was tingling. She stared at the ultra-clear picture on the control panel, moved the joystick, and controlled the two Long Teng Type Support Drones to lower their altitude,

avoiding a broken pipe hanging down from the dome,

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passing a corner.

The view suddenly opened up, and she saw it.

This was a battlefield.

The urban ruins, with only the remains of tall buildings, were like the skeleton of a dead giant.

The wilderness outside the city was covered with dense, chimney-like black plumes of smoke.

Since most of the ventilation systems inside the walls of the Lost World had failed, these black plumes of smoke could extend and grow upwards without interference,

until they touched the dome, like thin pillars supporting the sky.

Completely covering the metal and concrete dome with a layer of dense black.

And the ground was a silver world.

Large swaths of dense mech-beasts, like a vast flood, charged towards the urban ruins.

They came in different models, resembling donkeys, horses, elephants, lions, and rats. Some were even difficult to describe in terms of their specific shapes. It was as if their creators, after a drunken frenzy, picked up a brush while in a state of unclear consciousness and sketched out bizarre patterns on paper that even a sober version of themselves could not recognize.

Tens of thousands?

Hundreds of thousands?

Millions?

Even with its high-performance processor and intelligent programs, the Long Teng Type Support Drone found it difficult to distinguish the exact number of various mech-beasts in a short period of time.

Only one thing was certain:

all the mech-beasts that covered the wilderness were ruthless killing machines.

The forgotten and abandoned Lost World, like a self-aware, bloodthirsty furnace, had taken away most of the traces of the creators' civilization in the long past,

and devoured all the mech-beasts—those mech-beast species that were not good at killing and had dull claws had long been completely eliminated in the fierce competition of involution.

All the mech-beast species that still existed had evolved to the extreme within the confines of their bodies.

Their teeth could easily bite through steel bars, their claws could easily tear apart steel, they did not need to drink or eat, they did not need to be mobilized or encouraged, they had no fear, no dread.

When a mech-beast fell, every part of its body,

from limbs and joints to processors and energy engines, would become "supplies" for other companions.

Some mech-beast species could even use the wreckage on the battlefield to reassemble and create new mech-beasts.

Usually, even top-twenty-ranked players would choose to repel and retreat when encountering a large number of mech-beasts.

The result of staying in place and fighting to the death would be to defeat one group of mech-beasts, then attract more, until they were submerged by the endless mechanical beasts.

Cold, efficient.

This was the synonym for mech-beasts.

But now, they were the ones being slaughtered.