Chapter 553 - 259: Searching for Qin Hu, Marker, Five-Claw Footprint

Chapter 553: Chapter 259: Searching for Qin Hu, Marker, Five-Claw Footprint

"This place is almost identical to the Real World..."

"It’s even more realistic than the AR games I used to play."

A young Vice Commander of the Battle Group walking at the rear couldn’t help but speak as he gazed at the hellish world before them.

Lin Feng glanced back at him. The guy was even younger than himself, a classmate of Shen Jie’s, only seventeen or eighteen years old, and a hardcore gamer.

Thanks to his obsession with grinding monsters and leveling up, the guy’s promotion speed wasn’t slow. He was one of the first ten warriors to reach Tier Two Late Stage Perfection and was quickly promoted to Vice Commander of the Genetic Combat Team.

However, Lin Feng was equally stunned by the hyper-realistic Land of the End, so he replied:

"This is a hundred times more real than the Trial World. The level of detail is, of course, impeccable."

"It’s like the difference between a small instance in a regular online game and a triple-A single-player title. One is just a quick run-through for grinding experience and gear, while the other aims to build an immersive experience that feels like a real world..."

As he spoke, Lin Feng was suddenly reminded of Qin Hu’s death, and his tone grew somber.

"So, with such a realistic sense of touch, where even breathing feels completely immersive..."

"If an accident happens, the pain from any Damage you take will be far more intense and real than in the Mental Realm World before—a hundred times more amplified!"

Hearing Lin Feng reveal the other side of the coin, the people behind him remembered the state of Qin Hu’s death, and a shiver ran down their spines.

As for the Vice Commander of the Battle Group who had just spoken, his face went deathly pale in an instant. He quickly suppressed his awe and became cautious and vigilant.

At that moment, Ling Yi, who was walking ahead of the group, overheard their conversation and turned back to twist the knife.

"You should be more worried about something else."

Lin Feng frowned slightly, a little confused.

Ling Yi’s gaze deepened as he looked into the distance.

"Because the Land of the End has a higher degree of reality, everything here is stronger than in the previous Trial World—whether it’s the Spine Zergs condensed from the Mental Realm or the Tier Two Peak Tiger Spine Zergs entering to participate in the trial!"

"Never mind the King Spine Zerg in the volcano. Because the Land of the End can bear more, the Peak Tiger Spine Zergs that enter the trial can retain about seventy to eighty percent of their original strength after being scanned."

"But you all can only retain about half. And that is the real challenge..."

"They will see us as invaders and competitors, and they will try to kill us all here."

"It won’t be like before, where everyone worked together and helped each other. Here, the law of the jungle—the survival of the fittest—is absolute. Don’t let your guard down, not even against an ordinary Tier One Black Spine Zerg."

"Lin Feng and I entered at Tier Two Peak strength. Here in the Land of the End, we can barely handle a single Tier Two Peak Tiger Spine Zerg that’s here for the trial..."

"If we run into two or more at the same time, our only option is a fighting retreat back to the Trial World."

"Although it’s unlikely to encounter multiple Peak Tiger Spine Zergs in a row in this land shrouded by the Slaughter Realm, you must all be prepared to scatter and flee, to face death at any moment."

Hearing Ling Yi’s words, everyone immediately understood. They came from a lower-level Trial World, so their power level was inherently much weaker than what the Land of the End demanded.

Here, any single Peak Tiger Spine Zerg could slaughter them and cause immense losses.

Realizing this, the group became even more cautious, constantly scanning their surroundings to guard against any Tiger Spine Zerg attacks.

Soon, the group followed Ling Yi to the middle of the scarlet, slaughter-filled zone. They were now less than ten kilometers from the Blood-colored Volcano, which towered over four thousand meters high.

The nearby Slaughter Energy was so dense that it seeped into the ink-black Obsidian on the ground, staining the once-opaque black glass crystals into translucent, blood-red Red Crystals.

Reflecting the fiery clouds in the sky, the sight was exceptionally sinister and bizarre.

In the distance, the Slaughter Volcano was already erupting. At the edge of the crater, searing, bright-yellow lava slowly flowed down through a breach.

As it moved down the mountainside, it gradually cooled into a dark red.

To deal with the King Spine Zerg, they would first have to endure the volcano’s temperatures of several hundred degrees, as well as watch out for the scorching lava that flowed everywhere like water.

Just as the group was taking in the shocking scenery, a Tiger Spine Zerg Swarm, each creature twenty to thirty meters in size, suddenly crawled out of a crater up ahead.

Their strength Level was around the Tier Two Middle and Early Stages, so they weren’t particularly powerful. They were Mental Realm Spine Zergs that had spawned in this area.

To avoid revealing their position, Ling Yi cautiously led the group to hide in a fissure several meters deep and used his Spiritual Energy to conceal their presence.

He then turned back and spoke to the group in a low voice:

"The Slaughter Realm covers several hundred square kilometers. If we keep on like this, constantly dodging Tiger Spine Zerg Swarms and searching everywhere for any sign of Qin Hu..."

"...we might not find a single trace of him even after ten days or more."

"Do any of you have another plan?"

The others looked at each other, falling into deep thought.

Lin Feng looked back at the path they had taken.

"If Qin Hu died here in the Land of the End, would he respawn at the starting point? The edge of the Mental Realm we arrived at right after passing through the spiritual tunnel..."

"If that’s the case, we just need to wait here a while longer. We might run into a newly respawned Qin Hu."

Hearing Lin Feng’s theory, Ling Yi shook his head.

"Unlikely. If he was already corrupted by the Power of Law here before he died for the second time—meaning, if he was eroded by this Slaughter Realm until he completely turned into a mindless Spine Zerg—then after death, he will randomly respawn somewhere within the area covered by the Slaughter Realm."