Chapter 554 - 259: Searching for Qin Hu, the Marker, and the Five-Clawed Footprint

Chapter 554: Chapter 259: Searching for Qin Hu, the Marker, and the Five-Clawed Footprint

"They usually spawn on the edges, but at least not at our initial arrival point."

"The space there is unstable, and the influence of the Land of the End’s Law is at its weakest. Respawning generally requires a stable energy environment to provide the conditions for coalescence."

Lin Feng frowned. This made it genuinely difficult to pinpoint where Qin Hu might have appeared.

The Slaughter aura here was hundreds of times stronger than the Slaughter Realm Shen Jie had formed on his own. Even if Qin Hu could resist for a little while, he would inevitably be assimilated by the Slaughter Realm until he lost all reason.

’Faced with this vast and perilous Land of the End, how are we supposed to find any trace of Qin Hu...’

After Ling Yi vetoed Lin Feng’s suggestion, the group fell into a long, deep silence.

Finally, one of the members from Qin Hu’s team seemed to remember something and spoke up.

"General Qin has extremely strong Willpower. Even after entering the Land of the End, it’s unlikely he’d be affected by this Slaughter Realm to the point of instantly losing his mind."

"Before he became disoriented and lost himself, while he was still lucid, he would have definitely realized he needed to leave some kind of trail to guide the next Trial Taker to be reborn here from the Trial World."

"To guide us to him! So we can regroup!"

After hearing the warrior’s words, everyone’s eyes lit up. It was clear they all thought he had a point.

Lin Feng immediately nodded and said,

"That’s right! Before the apocalypse, Qin Hu was a highly professional special forces soldier. The reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance skills he honed over years of training are deeply ingrained. It’s impossible that he wouldn’t have thought to leave clues for anyone resurrected after him."

"Though he probably didn’t expect all of us to come looking for him."

Ling Yi hummed in agreement and added,

"Alright, then. Let’s go back and check near the resurrection point, and we’ll operate in that area. I don’t think Qin Hu would have gone far, even after respawning. He’d be too cautious."

"After all, the resurrection point with its Shattering space seems much safer than the foot of a volcano swarming with Spine Zergs."

"He’s alone. If he’s still alive and hasn’t run into any trouble, he must be nearby!"

And so, after coming to a decision, the group followed Lin Feng and Ling Yi out of the central area covered by the Slaughter Realm, taking a different path back to the resurrection point.

On the way back, they didn’t walk in single file. Instead, they fanned out in a line, scanning the terrain near and far, making sure not to miss a single detail or corner.

Finally, near the area of Shattering space that had been invaded by the crimson Slaughter, close to the original resurrection point, a sharp-eyed member found a perfectly shaped triangular saw-tooth on the ground.

The palm-sized saw-tooth was crafted from the material of a Tiger Spine Zerg Giant Mandible, and its shape and form matched the Tiger-toothed Chainsaw Swords they were all holding.

The Genetic Warriors under Qin Hu were also equipped with the Tiger-toothed Chainsaw Swords developed by Ding Chenghai; they just weren’t as powerful as the one Lin Feng had synthesized in terms of Attributes.

In truth, the manufacturing process for the Tiger-toothed Chainsaw Sword wasn’t particularly complex or advanced. It was only because Jin City Base had relocated most of its basic industries to the rear that the Salvation Army’s production of Chainsaw Swords had always been low.

During the defense of the Capital in the North, the Four-direction Corps could mass-produce Tiger-toothed Chainsaw Swords simply by collecting enough Tiger Spine Zerg corpses.

Although they couldn’t equip every single Tier Two Awakener, they could still outfit hundreds of their elite Tier Two Middle-Late Stage melee specialists with this incredibly powerful Close Combat Weapon.

So, when they entered the Mental Realm World to undergo the trial, the Tiger-toothed Chainsaw Swords wielded by Qin Hu and his thirty-six Genetic Warriors were brought in with them after the Spiritual Scan.

Afterwards, in the Trial World, Lin Feng had upgraded their swords, which had evolved into Lv. 29 Tiger-toothed Chainsaw Swords.

With the subsequent Attribute buffs, they could easily slice through the Armor of a Tier Two Peak Tiger Spine Zerg.

But the saw-tooth the team member had just found clearly lacked the sharpness of a Level 29 blade. After taking it, Lin Feng also noted that its quality suggested it came from a Tier Two Middle Stage Tiger Spine Zerg at best.

But its shape was too regular; it was definitely not something these frenzied Spine Zergs, who knew only how to kill, could have forged.

After checking it several times, they finally confirmed it: the saw-tooth in the corner had been left by Qin Hu!

Other than his large-caliber Hand Cannon, it was the only thing he had that could be used to leave such a distinct mark.

Lin Feng put away the saw-tooth, looked around, and said,

"Keep looking. Spine Zergs rarely come to this area. There should be other markers nearby."

Everyone scattered and began to search.

Just then, Lin Feng looked at the blood-red earth, stained by the crimson Slaughter. It was covered by a layer of blackish-red ash-snow from the volcanic ash drifting down from the sky, resembling a decaying ruin...

He suddenly remembered something and asked Ling Yi, who was beside him,

"Wait, you said before that the time flow in the Trial World is a thousand times faster than the outside world..."

"Then what about this Land of the End, which is much larger and has a more tangible Law..."

Ling Yi also realized what he was getting at and immediately replied,

"Since the Land of the End is ten percent the size of the Divine Realm, then logically, compared to the Trial World which is one-thousandth the size, there should be a hundredfold difference. So the time flow rate here is one hundred times faster than the Trial World’s."

"We were delayed in the Trial World for a little over an hour..."

"Which means a full four days have passed here in the Land of the End!"

"So this was left here four days ago?!"

Lin Feng nodded. He looked down at the saw-tooth in his hand, half of which was corroded by Slaughter Energy, and murmured with a troubled expression,