On the other side, Wu Wang led the Reincarnation Ghost team as they explored the Twilight Sands. Soon, they made a discovery.

When they were still some distance away, one Reincarnation Ghost suddenly exclaimed:

“Damn! There’s actually a space in the Twilight Sands emitting a chilling cold?!”

That exclamation naturally drew the attention of the other ghosts, who quickly activated their abilities and hurried toward that space.

Some speculated, “Could this be an unexplored secret realm entrance? Or maybe the work of some powerful figure?”

Others quickly refuted, “A powerful figure? Creating such a large special space in this desert? That seems impossible.”

“The key is, that space isn’t just cold! Even from this far away, I can sense the chill mixed with yin energy!”

“So that area might be an extremely yin place, whether formed naturally or artificially!”

The Reincarnation Ghost who spoke the words “extremely yin place” was especially excited.

Because of those four words, the entire team’s mood instantly surged.

After all, for ghost creatures, an extremely yin place is almost the same as an extremely dark environment.

Just staying in such a space would significantly boost their vigor, spirit, and overall condition beyond normal levels.

Not to mention, such places are more likely to contain materials or items greatly beneficial to ghost creatures.

Of course, excitement aside, these Reincarnation Ghosts were not fools.

They knew very well that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Behind great temptations often lurked great dangers.

Therefore, upon quickly reaching the boundary of this special space, none of these Reincarnation Ghosts acted rashly.

Instead, they all cast requesting glances toward Wu Wang.

One of them asked proactively, “Boss? About this extremely yin place… should we explore it or not?”

Wu Wang’s eyes darkened as he stared at the extremely yin space shrouded in darkness. He did not answer immediately but appeared to be deep in thought.

If Jiang Ye were to enter the heart demon’s lair within Wu Wang at this moment, he would discover that the so-called “extremely yin place” attracting these Reincarnation Ghosts was actually…

The “Black Ice Domain” that Lin Ling had opened during the Defender gathering!

However, back then, the Black Ice Domain was in an “open” state.

When many Defender players arrived, they could directly see the interior of the Black Ice Domain from outside the domain.

They could enter it without any hindrance.

But now, the Black Ice Domain seemed to be isolated by a barrier.

From outside the domain, one could only see utter darkness, with no way to scout what was inside.

On the other side…

More precisely, at the southern boundary of this Black Ice Domain.

Another group happened to discover this special space as well.

Coincidentally, this other group consisted of Jiang Ye’s old classmates who had been sent to the 0000 Apartment!

The eighteen people taken by Gao Chang had all gathered at the southern boundary of the Black Ice Domain without exception.

Besides these eighteen, three more people had joined the team.

These three were also familiar faces—

Lu Fang, Lu Shen, and He Yuliang.

Lu Shen and Gao Chang’s group were classmates. Since they were not in urgent need of survival points at the time, they naturally refrained from recklessly killing classmates.

As for He Yuliang…

He was among the players who had blocked the Light faction near the Void Mirror Palace’s outskirts.

Because they had jointly besieged the Light faction players and had their survival points robbed by Jiang Ye, He Yuliang had some contact with Lu Fang and Lu Shen.

New players exploring the 0000 Apartment faced many difficulties, so he traveled with Lu Fang.

Originally, when the three—He Yuliang and the two Lu brothers—acted together, He Yuliang’s presence somewhat overshadowed Lu Fang.

But later, when Lu Shen’s eighteen classmates joined the team, the situation changed.

Although those eighteen were weak, as the saying goes, strength lies in numbers, and together they formed a considerable force.

They only knew Lu Shen as a classmate, but did not know He Yuliang.

Therefore, this eighteen-person force naturally aligned with Lu Fang’s faction.

This caused the influence and voice between He Yuliang and Lu Fang to start tilting toward Lu Fang.

At this moment, the group of twenty-one discovered the unusual extremely yin space. Like Wu Wang’s team, they hesitated about whether to enter and explore.

He Yuliang’s main ability was the “Void Stomach” skill, which swallowed things to increase attributes, making him quite powerful in combat, but his support abilities were inferior to Lu Fang’s.

So he also cast a requesting glance toward Lu Fang.

Lu Fang struck a strong pose and took out a talisman paper with his bare hand, then shot it toward the direction of the Black Ice Domain.

However, as soon as the talisman approached the boundary of the Black Ice Domain, it immediately burned to ashes.

An embarrassed expression flashed across his face, but he quickly forced himself to remain calm, took out another talisman, and launched it even more determinedly.

Yet the result was the same…

It turned to ashes before entering the Black Ice Domain.

“…”

Lu Fang felt even more awkward but pretended to be solemn as he said, “This special space is probably quite dangerous.”

He then seemed to make a forced effort to save face, stepping forward slightly, getting a bit closer to the Black Ice Domain.

Then he flipped his hand and pulled out a snake-shaped talisman brush.

Gripping the brush, the snake’s head end traced strokes in the air as if writing something in midair.

His movements were quite smooth. At the last stroke, the brush tip pushed forward fiercely.

A soil-yellow pattern shot out from the snake’s mouth, flying straight toward the Black Ice Domain.

This time, the soil-yellow pattern finally hit the domain’s barrier.

However, it only left a ripple on the barrier before quickly disappearing.

Seeing the ripple flash briefly on the barrier, Lu Fang suddenly exclaimed, “Huh?” and widened his eyes in surprise.

He Yuliang, unsure whether Lu Fang had truly found something or was just pretending, casually asked, “Did you discover something this time?”

Lu Fang’s eyes quickly changed from shock to joy, and his gaze toward the Black Ice Domain burned hot.

Without thinking, he blurted out:

“I feel this damned place might contain a talisman path opportunity meant for me!”

“There was just a talisman pattern flickering on that barrier!”

He was excited.

However, the expressions of the others present immediately became complicated.

Although they were traveling together, they were not a united family.

If the Black Ice Domain really contained talisman path opportunities, then without a doubt, the chance would most likely belong to Lu Fang.

The others might gain nothing.

If they went in to explore, wouldn’t they just be doing the work to benefit Lu Fang?

At this point, Gao Chang’s classmates and the “outsider” He Yuliang no longer wished to explore the Black Ice Domain.

Lu Fang sensed the awkward atmosphere and quickly realized he had celebrated too early.

So he hurriedly reined in his excitement and forced himself to backtrack:

“Actually, it may not necessarily be a talisman path opportunity…”

“This place could have been arranged by some big shot with the [Rune Mastery] innate talent, like me, who set up a talisman barrier.”

“And the things inside the space might not even be related to talisman patterns…”

Unfortunately, it was somewhat too late to say this now.

He Yuliang frowned and said, “But you also said when your two talisman patterns were destroyed just now—that this special space is probably very dangerous!”

“Besides, right now in the entire 0000 Apartment, not only are many powerful new players constantly entering, but even stronger old players are arriving!”

“We’re taking huge risks exploring here!”

“If this special space was indeed set by some veteran player skilled in talisman patterns, then if we intrude, we probably won’t end well!”

“In my opinion, forget it. We’d better try another direction to find the red-lit elevator!”

What He Yuliang said struck a chord with Gao Chang and the others.

However, Gao Chang and the rest were only in this team because of their relationship with Lu Shen.

They lacked strength and dared not openly oppose Lu Fang like He Yuliang did.

So they pinned their hopes on Lu Shen.

If even Lu Shen advised against exploring, then Lu Fang probably couldn’t insist on it alone.

The pressure thus shifted onto Lu Shen.

On one side were classmates unwilling to explore, on the other was a cousin eager to explore.

Lu Shen naturally did not want to explore either.

But to be honest, his cousin had been very generous to him.

When Jiang Ye robbed survival points earlier, Lu Fang gave him six points in one go.

At that time, Lu Shen’s survival points were paid for by Lu Fang.

Their familial relationship was such that Lu Fang could bring Lu Shen along and pay his survival points, which was already very considerate.

If he now stood against Lu Fang, then next time if he had trouble, Lu Fang might not cover for him as before.

Thinking this way, Lu Shen’s heart naturally leaned toward Lu Fang.

More importantly—

No one among Gao Chang’s classmates could likely grow to Lu Fang’s level.

So…

There was no need to hesitate about what to choose.

Just as Lu Shen was about to state his position and support his cousin, suddenly one voice rose among the classmates:

“If I’m not mistaken, the person who opened this special space is very likely the big shot who took Lingling away.”

The speaker was Yang Xiaoman.

Instantly, all eyes fell on her.

He Yuliang and Lu Fang did not know Wang Lingling.

Lu Shen did, but he did not know which big shot took Wang Lingling away.

He furrowed his brows and asked Yang Xiaoman, “What do you mean? Did you find something?”

Yang Xiaoman raised her left hand and hooked her pinky finger.

The next second, a hair appeared on her pinky.

That hair trembled slightly, pointing toward the Black Ice Domain.

Yang Xiaoman explained, “This is a special connection between Wang Lingling and me.”

“In other words, Lingling, who was taken away by the big shot, is currently inside this space!”

Lu Shen then asked who exactly took Wang Lingling and for what reason.

Yang Xiaoman and the other classmates took turns informing the three unaware ones—He Yuliang, Lu Fang, and Lu Shen—that Wang Lingling had offended a female madwoman, was forcibly infected with Lightburn by her, then restrained by ribbons to control the Lightburn, and finally forcibly taken away by that madwoman.

Upon hearing this, even Lu Fang hesitated.

If the owner of this special space was truly powerful enough to imprison even Light faction players as playthings…

Wouldn’t these small-time Calamities be courting death by offending such a big shot?

However…

Lu Shen’s sharp mind immediately pointed out a very unreasonable point:

“According to you, that madwoman even managed to capture Huang Bo alive!”

“But if she really captured Huang Bo alive, why didn’t she kill him directly to claim the bounty on the bounty hunt order?”

“Don’t tell me she doesn’t care about such a rich reward?”

This doubt triggered a chorus from the eighteen classmates, all insisting they were not lying.

But none could explain why that big shot hadn’t killed Huang Bo.

Just as the classmates were noisily debating and the scene grew chaotic,

Yang Xiaoman suddenly spoke to Lu Shen:

“Actually, I’m not saying this to stop you from exploring this special space.”

“On the contrary, I think we should go in and take a look.”

Her words quieted the noisy classmates.

Lu Shen’s expression showed some surprise.

Before he could ask, Yang Xiaoman turned to Gao Chang and the others:

“Chang, do you remember how we felt leaving the 4444 Apartment?”

“We eighteen were very weak, probably the lowest bottom in the entire 0000 Apartment.”

“How likely do you think we are to survive exploring other secret realms or other floors?”

“…” Gao Chang did not answer but looked serious.

Yang Xiaoman continued, “This special space is definitely dangerous, but we have some information.”

“Compared to stumbling blindly into more dangerous, more unknown places…”

“I think exploring here might actually give us a sliver of hope and unexpected gains.”

“After all, that big shot seems formidable, but she didn’t kill Wang Lingling or Huang Bo…”

“So maybe she won’t kill us either?”

Her words truly moved Gao Chang.

After all, when leaving the 4444 Apartment, Gao Chang had almost a do-or-die mentality.

He thought in his heart—either die in the 0000 Apartment or make a name for himself!

But if they kept shrinking back, afraid to venture here or there…

He might survive longer but would never make a name!

Without strength, death was inevitable.

Even while alive, there would be no dignity, only struggling to survive!

Therefore…

Gao Chang took a deep breath but did not answer, instead looking at Lu Shen and saying, “We’re classmates, and we joined this team because of your help. So we’ll listen to you.”

After exchanging glances with Lu Fang, Lu Shen thought for a moment and said solemnly:

“Since we’re classmates, even if it’s just to rescue Wang Lingling, we should go in and try.”

Whether others believed it or not was uncertain, but He Yuliang was completely skeptical!

However…

He had already planned that if these people insisted on exploring, he would just go solo and leave the team.

But Yang Xiaoman’s attitude when talking to Gao Chang strangely moved him.

This group of weaker Calamities dared to fight and take risks…

Would he really go solo now?

The key was, he could tell the eighteen people were not lying.

That madwoman really hadn’t killed Huang Bo to claim the bounty…

Nor had she killed Wang Lingling.

Could it be that, like administrators, she was restricted from killing at will?

If that was true, maybe this special space was worth exploring…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep