Chapter 1739: Chapter 914: Taboo Land 001, Small Town

Lunchtime.

The Parent Association members returned to the table, each smeared with black ointment, bandaged up, looking absolutely miserable.

Some even had both hands fractured, arms in plaster, being fed by others...

Yet this guy was wolfing down his food while saying, "Don’t look at my broken hands, the orc warrior I fought is worse off than me. I think these orc warriors are all show; mainly, Seventh Brother wouldn’t let me duel it, or else I’d show you all how I’d deal with him."

Everyone burst into laughter: "Look at you, wrecked like this, and still not settling down. He casually swung a steel cable and broke both your hands..."

"Wait till you need to go to the bathroom, let’s see if you still talk tough. Nobody’s going to help you then!"

This guy, thinking about needing help to pee, fell silent instantly.

Just then, Qing Chen and Yang Yang walked hand-in-hand into the dining hall.

The family immediately stopped conversing: "Wow!"

Qing Chen, half laughing, half crying, said, "Eat your meal... Xiao Qi, how are the casualties?"

Xiao Qi, hobbling, stood up and replied, "Parent, only injuries, no fatalities."

"Is everyone okay?" Qing Chen asked.

"We’re fine, we can hold on!" Xiao Qi grinned.

At this point, Yang Yang said, "You should worry about yourself. Your injuries aren’t much better; come on, let me treat your wounds before you eat."

With that, Yang Yang dragged Qing Chen back to his room.

The family: "Wow!"

In the room, Yang Yang helped Qing Chen take off his coat. Looking at his bruised and wounded body, she remained silent.

After a long time, she finally said, "If you hadn’t eaten Dragon Fish, who knows how many times your bones would have broken. You’ll have aftereffects when you grow old. You’ll be immobile then, sitting in a wheelchair, and I’ll push you out to watch me dance."

Qing Chen smiled, "I probably won’t get old."

"I know the Knights have long life spans," Yang Yang pouted, "but it’s good if you live longer, so you die after me."

But upon saying this, she suddenly felt a bit despondent: "I can only live to over 100, probably die at 120. Then you’d have to endure 131 years without me. What will you do? Who will apply medicine for you and watch over you in the skies?"

Qing Chen was silent for a moment: "I used to think the long life of Knights was great, envied by the Jindai and Black Knights battalion. But suddenly, I think living so long isn’t actually good."

Such a long life can cause two people’s lives to become misaligned.

As one grows old, the other still flourishes.

Yang Yang stood before Qing Chen, holding his cheeks with both hands, and smiled: "Cherish the present."

In the evening, the two sat at the edge of the training base rooftop, next to them was coffee made by Alice. They chatted about random topics, like many female celebrities pursuing Luo Wanya lately, like Xiao Qi also invited to socialite parties, like some scandalous secrets in the memories of the third Black Knight.

Nothing was serious.

The arrival of Yang Yang suddenly relaxed Qing Chen’s life for a moment, making him no longer as tense as a taut string, never stopping like a pendulum.

Qing Chen lay on the rooftop, resting his head on Yang Yang’s lap for a nap until she woke him up 10 minutes before the crossing.

Like a wife, the girl tidied his hair: "I know you have a sense of crisis inside, and I know how formidable the Roosevelt Kingdom is, but you are someone who can create miracles, we believe in you, you should believe in yourself too."

Countdown to zero.

Crossing.

...

...

When the world lit up again.

Qing Chen wore a wilderness man’s outfit, carried a shabby backpack, and trekked through the wilderness.

His face was all muddy, his posture no longer upright, as if life had beaten him down.

From any angle, he was a genuine wilderness man.

From afar came the sound of hammering, and flickers of fire.

Qing Chen looked up, further away was a canopy of trees stretching endlessly, like a "blanket" — that was the ink-black as midnight 001 Taboo Land.

Outside the Taboo Land, there was a small town that appeared a bit desolate in the night.

Or perhaps not desolate... but eerie.

As if cold air was wafting out from there.

From the mountain, the town looked pitch black, with only two tritium lamps hanging at the wooden arch entrance, swinging in the wind as if two heads hanging by their hair.

Town No. 1, a very rudimentary town.

Initially, there was no town here, but some ’prospectors’ started picking plants and catching small wild animals at the edge of 001 Taboo Land.

Gradually, prospectors set up camp outside the Taboo Land, forming a small town.

Occasionally in the Federation, there’d be news of a ’prospector’ striking it rich overnight by picking up peculiar treasures from the Taboo Land, someone found a dead tree vine and sold it for three million.

Someone found a strange stone, sold it for half a million outside.

Someone found a Taboo object left behind by a Transcendent who died in there, and sold it for a billion.

Qing Chen slowly approached, seeing several men guarding the town entrance, playing poker.

Seeing Qing Chen’s dirty appearance, they laughed and shouted to the inside, "Another prospector’s here, someone come out and greet him!"

Standing outside the town, Qing Chen hesitantly asked, "Is anyone paid a salary here?"

The men laughed heartily: "You really know nothing, in the town you mine gold, set out with the team, whatever you find in the Taboo Land is yours alone, just need to give the town a 50% commission upon selling. No salary."

Qing Chen cautiously asked, "Why give 50%? That’s too much."

The man chuckled, spat on the ground: "Ever been inside 001 Taboo Land? The path was carved out by risking our lives, lets you come back alive. That’s why we take a 50% commission."

Qing Chen seemed relieved: "Can we come out alive?"

"Don’t worry," the man replied.

At this moment, a staggering old man walked out of the small town, and when the men saw him, they immediately put down their playing cards: "Why did you come personally, where’s Gou Wa."

The old man waved his hand and said, "There’s trouble with ghosts inside again; Gou Wa is cleaning up."

Qing Chen was stunned: "Ghost trouble?"

"Not real ghosts, you’ll understand when you go in," the old man scrutinized Qing Chen: "Why come here?"

"I want to get married, can’t afford a house in the fifth district," Qing Chen replied: "My brother needs money for medical treatment, I need money."

The old man snorted: "Who here doesn’t need money? Remember, once you enter here, don’t regard your life as a life. Those few people said they could take you out alive, but I can’t guarantee that."

"Can I make money?" Qing Chen asked urgently.

"Make money? Depends on your luck, how much is your life worth?" The old man glanced at him: "They told you the rules, right."

"Yes, pay 50% commission."

"Good to know, search him, don’t let Hope Media’s investigative reporters sneak in again."

A few men searched Qing Chen, then shook their heads: "Just a phone, no camera equipment."

"We’ll hold onto the phone; you get it when you leave."

Qing Chen asked: "Did reporters sneak in before? But I haven’t seen Hope Media report on this place."

One man grinned, showing his yellow teeth, and said: "Killed... You’re not a reporter, are you?"

Qing Chen fearfully shrugged his shoulders: "I’m not."

"Doesn’t look like one," the old man hunched his back and walked inside; the small town was muddy everywhere, and beside the road were shabby shacks where emaciated people lived, both men and women.

The whole town lacked sewage pipes and basic living facilities, and the trash accumulation outside was mountainous, the stench overwhelming.

There was also a hint of... a bloody smell.

The bloody smell floated from the old man ahead.

Yet, from inside a shack, someone muttered to themselves: "Where did everyone go? Where did they go? All dead!"

Qing Chen’s heart tightened; this person’s mental state was clearly disordered, even showing obvious symptoms.

Thinking deeply, Qing Chen saw someone burst out of a distant shack wielding a knife: "Come and kill me if you dare, I’m right here, kill me!"

The next moment, this man turned his head, glaring at the old man and Qing Chen, and aggressively charged at them with a rusty machete.

The old man took out a walkie-talkie from his pocket and casually said: "Another one gone mad, come take him away, lock him up."

Footsteps echoed in the darkness as several shirtless men ran out carrying tritium lamps; they pinned the man threatening to stab onto the muddy ground, tied his hands with hemp rope, and dragged him back into the darkness.

The old man turned back, glanced at the trembling Qing Chen: "Don’t be afraid, be obedient and you won’t end up like him."

"What’s wrong with him?" Qing Chen asked: "Did you make him like this?"

The old man said: "We didn’t harm him; not following the Taboo Land rules turns you into this... This is ghost trouble, like being possessed."

Continuing forward for hundreds of meters, Qing Chen heard heavy breathing from men and women inside the shacks and countless murmurs.

The only constant was the sound of iron forging, ding ding ding, relentlessly hammering from somewhere unknown.

But Qing Chen watched for a long time, yet couldn’t find where the blacksmith’s shop was.

Suddenly realizing, Qing Chen noticed most people here seemed to have some mental issues.

If there were only one or two, they might have been driven crazy, but if it’s widespread, then it’s clearly a problem with Taboo Land No. 001.

However, his master hadn’t mentioned this situation before... Did the master not know, or is there some special reason?

"Alright, you’ll stay in this shack," the old man pointed: "We’ll set out the morning after tomorrow; without my permission, you can’t leave town, nor enter the Taboo Land alone."

Qing Chen acknowledged: "Does this shack have an owner?"

The old man smiled revealing a mouthful of black teeth: "Died."

Qing Chen fearfully stepped back two steps; the old man was quite satisfied with his reaction: "You can call me Boss Wang from now on, go sleep."

Qing Chen bent down and entered the shack, inside someone had gathered branches and dry grass to make a small bed, beside it lay a palm-sized makeup mirror... The former owner of this shack might have been a woman.

He examined the surroundings and suddenly froze.

Only to see on the wooden pillar inside the shack, someone had carved lines of small words with a knife; beside the pillar lay a broken eyebrow trimming knife, its blade with dried blackened blood.

"When someone calls you from behind, don’t answer!"

"Don’t drink the sap from tree trunks!" This sentence was crossed out, someone added: "Not a tree, trees don’t cry."

"Don’t give your tag to others!"

"Remember your name!"

"Don’t eat fruit from red trees!"

"Fruit from white trees can be eaten!"

"Walk backward when leaving!"

Below these lines, clumsily carved was one word: "Escape!"

Qing Chen furrowed his brows; the person who carved these words was clearly mentally disordered. He could be sure these notes might not all be helpful and this chaotic logic might even mislead him.

He must see the truth through that chaotic mentality.

This Taboo Land is unlike any other Taboo Land he has visited.

...

There will be another Chapter before 12 tonight.

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