"Forget it, maybe we'll be family later, so let him show off for a bit."
Li Chonglou shook his head, ignored the others, and walked back into the bell tower.
The old man was waiting for him not far from the entrance. When Li Chonglou came in, the old man winked and then led him further inside the bell tower.
Upon reaching a small room, the old man finally said, "I say, kid, how did you get into so much trouble?"
"To be clear, this has nothing to do with me. That guy is framing me, and there's nothing I can do."
Li Chonglou spread his hands helplessly. If the old man hadn't appeared suddenly, he would have already resorted to violence.
Everything Yi Long said was based on the assumption that their strength far surpassed Li Chonglou's. Although the thermal weapons at the outpost looked intimidating, Li Chonglou didn't pay much attention to their strength in terms of specialized units.
In short, if Li Chonglou wanted to leave, he could leave at any time. Tie Lin did not stipulate that participants who joined a combat team could not leave; on the contrary, participants always had the right to leave at any time.
It was just that if they left the hunting team, participants would lose the freeze spray, and the kilogram bombs on their bodies would detonate at any moment.
However, if death was inevitable anyway, Li Chonglou would definitely choose the latter, as leaving the hunting team only meant a possibility of death.
The old man frowned upon hearing Li Chonglou's words: "But no matter what, they are now using the rules to suppress you."
This was almost the same as what Yi Long had said. Li Chonglou shrugged and stopped speaking.
Since the old man could bring him in, he must have a solution, so Li Chonglou was not in a hurry at all.
As expected, the next second the old man said directly, "But with me here, you can rest assured. At least your life can be saved. For now, let's put this matter aside and talk about the assessment."
Li Chonglou nodded, waiting for his next words.
"What I said earlier about preparing was to check the situation of the forbidden area. It's also your luck that the forbidden area is currently open."
"And what you need to do now is to enter the beast's nest and bring something out for me."
As the old man spoke, he patted Li Chonglou's shoulder as if to encourage him. Li Chonglou had heard the word "beast's nest" for the second time, so he asked directly.
"What exactly is this beast's nest? Captain Yi Long also asked me to stay inside for a day. Is this the forbidden area of the special forces?"
The old man's expression suddenly froze: "Their punishment is to send you into the beast's nest?"
Li Chonglou slowly nodded.
"Damn, your luck is truly incredible. You've killed two birds with one stone this time."
"Uh, stop showing off your knowledge of idioms and tell me about the beast's nest."
The old man rolled his eyes and then slowly explained, "This beast's nest is not a forbidden area of the special forces, but one of Tie Lin's forbidden areas. The organizers, in order to train and create super soldiers, conducted many inhumane forbidden experiments, creating many monsters."
"Later, there was an accident, and those monsters broke free from control, occupying a certain underground space as their lair, where they bred and survived."
"This is the beast's nest."
Li Chonglou was instantly speechless. This old man's way of speaking was too simplistic, revealing almost no important information, just explaining what a beast's nest was to him.
As if noticing the disdain in Li Chonglou's eyes, the old man added, "Nuclear biological organisms, with extremely fast reproduction rates."
Li Chonglou's eyes narrowed instantly. With these few words, he immediately understood the danger of the beast's nest.
"If what you say is true, can anyone really go in and come out alive?"
Li Chonglou frowned. The term "nuclear biological organisms" was inherently dangerous, and coupled with the extremely fast reproduction rate, even the strongest person would be exhausted to death.
The old man shook his head and said, "No, no matter who it is, once deeply trapped, it's impossible to come out alive."
...
This time, Li Chonglou was completely silent. He suddenly realized that communicating with the old man was truly tiring, so he walked to the side and sat down, staring fixedly at the old man.
If you're going to say it, say it thoroughly; otherwise, don't say it. I won't ask anymore anyway.
"Ahem."
The old man coughed lightly, as if to cover up the awkward atmosphere.
"I'm sorry, I'm old, and I can't get to the point when I speak. I'll start from the beginning."
The old man also found a chair and sat down, then began to explain the entire origin and whereabouts of the beast's nest in detail.
However, there was still a lot of unnecessary information. After about ten minutes, Li Chonglou managed to extract three key points from his words.
First, the location of the beast's nest. It was actually under the base in the central area. According to the old man, there was a vast underground space below, possibly larger than the entire Tie Lin, and it was divided into three layers.
What he had mentioned earlier about being deeply trapped referred to the third layer, which not only had extremely strong nuclear radiation but also incredibly powerful artificial monsters. Even he had almost failed to get out after entering once.
What he needed Li Chonglou to find was in the second layer. Although still dangerous, the old man said that as long as Li Chonglou dealt with it cautiously, it should not be difficult for him.
Of course, this was just the old man's opinion.
Secondly, the situation inside the beast's nest. According to the old man, every hunting team in the first layer entered it for training regularly, so the danger was not great. The real danger started from the second layer.
Here, the number of monsters would increase exponentially. If one accidentally fell into a swarm of beasts, they would be drowned to death, and there was also a unique artificial monster called the "King Ant."
When mentioning this, the old man specifically reminded, "This is a mutated ant larger than a rabbit. Although an individual is not strong, you might be able to crush it with one foot, but you must not be surrounded by them, otherwise, even with nine lives, it won't be enough for you to survive!"
As for the third layer, the old man gave a very concise example. He used his pet, Xiaobai, as an example. The Death Claw was also one of the artificial monsters in the third layer, but its strength was not the strongest. The reason it became a sacred beast and was recognized by all hunting teams was that it was controllable.
Regarding this, the old man's summary was: "The Death Claw isn't even considered upper-middle strength within the third layer."
The final summary included some irrelevant remarks, such as the exaggerated weapon equipment outside the outpost was actually to defend against the annual beast tide outbreak.