Under the transmission of the Heavenly Road, Zhou Yi arrived in a large architectural complex.

Around him were fences made of wire mesh and railings, and there were fixed wooden signs written in East-West universal language naming the creatures inside.

Each enclosure housed a different animal.

Zhou Yi saw many familiar species within, including thorny bird, Red-eyed Vulture, clawed pig, Forest Sheep, Red Monster... even the sand rat had its own place.

A lazy voice came from behind.

"Welcome to the Hundred Beasts Garden."

The Warlord appeared beside him at some point.

He still had that sleepy look, with deep dark circles under his eyes, exuding a strangely relaxed aura.

Zhou Yi, Alert, noticed that the area was still bathed in white light, still within the stage of identification.

"Come, I'll take you to see the little golden elephant."

The Warlord walked slowly by his side.

Zhou Yi followed behind.

In a spacious garden, he saw the little golden elephant.

The Hundred Beasts Garden's little golden elephant didn't seem very large; its legs were only a bit thicker than those of Jade City, surely still in its juvenile stage.

The right hind leg of the little golden elephant was crippled, twisted into an odd cone-shaped wrinkle.

"You have identification capabilities."

The Warlord said to Zhou Yi: "Help me see what exactly is wrong with it."

Zhou Yi nodded.

He summoned the atmosphere creature.

Ice Pot stretched its body and enveloped the leg of the little golden elephant, initiating a conscious-level inspection.

Zhou Yi then asked Yuan Xiao on his right: "How is its condition of life?"

"There is no threat to its life, it's just injured."

Angel of Death carefully observed the little golden elephant: "However, this injury continues to expand and shows no natural healing. For a creature as robust as a little golden elephant, to suffer irreversible damage..."

About two minutes later.

Ice Pot said: "Chairman, it is in extreme pain. I spent quite some effort finally locating the memory source at the conscious level. This little golden elephant is in a very confused infant state, its conscious information hard to comprehend, but I managed to organize the part that could be read and understood.

"The injury of the little golden elephant is physical. In the world where its upper body resides, there are flows of High Temperature metal everywhere, which the little golden elephant can continuously absorb and transform into the Gold it needs."

"But also because of the continuous transformation into Gold, always existing in a high-energy state, has caused many problems in their bodies."

"Primarily two diseases."

"The first is that the little golden elephant's body transforms some unrelated metals, which can be called impurity syndrome. As time goes by, the accumulated metal impurities increase, making the purity of the little golden elephant's Gold lower and lower, weakening them gradually, losing control over their bodies, eventually collapsing into metallic fragments."

"Almost all little golden elephants have this condition to some extent, just a matter of severity."

"The second is what this juvenile little golden elephant faces, hollowing. The little golden elephant unconsciously transforms its own gold into energy, leading to large and small voids inside the body, ultimately dying in agony. The previous little golden elephant died due to severe hollowing too."

"Now both these conditions are becoming more common, and many little golden elephants are sick."

Zhou Yi immediately shared this information with the Warlord.

The Warlord pondered for a while: "Impurity syndrome... and the characteristics of the little golden elephant's golden life might be related to that liquid metal world. But this hollowing, it is indeed a common Light Core Body problem."

"Normally, transforming one's essential material into energy for stable release requires a lot of practice."

"The energy outburst and detachment phenomena of the little golden elephant are very severe, undergoing very dangerous assimilation behaviors, with very poor energy control, their control over energy is even weaker than some Skywalkers."

Zhou Yi couldn't help but think: "Are you saying, they leave gold foil on the ground and transform other lives into gold?"

"Correct."

The Warlord looked at the crippled little golden elephant: "Assimilation and transformation are actions that can only be done at higher levels. Like a fish trying to walk on land with its fin in water, it only continually hurts and tortures itself."

"The characteristic of a Light Core Body is to transform material into energy."

"But beyond this."

"The core of a Transformer is to transform energy into material."

"The little golden elephants lack enough, strong Light Core Bodies, and are attempting such actions without having formed a Transformation System first. Even though their strength as gold creatures is naturally very high, it is still extremely dangerous... However, this group of little golden elephants is abnormal in itself."

The Warlord turned his face: "Do you know how long it takes for a little golden elephant to grow from birth to maturity?"

Zhou Yi pondered for a moment: "Hundreds of years?"

The Warlord smiled faintly, lifting a finger: "One year."

"Just one year, they can transform from the form of a newborn Skywalker into a Light Core Body."

Zhou Yi was utterly baffled.

How many?

"One year?"

To grow that large in one year?

That growth rate is ridiculously fast.

"Do you know about the herdsmen of the little golden elephant, senior?"

"Herdsmen? Tell me about it."

After listening to Zhou Yi's account, the Warlord stroked his chin: "That makes sense then."

"Golden elephants are bred by a group of nomads who never show their faces, so all that is required is their fast growth and harvest, regardless of any issues with their Light Core Body."

"Due to being forcibly ripened, the golden elephants suffer from severe developmental deformities and mutations, with their consciousness unable to keep up with the growth of their bodies, rendering them incapable of effectively controlling their own bodies and actions."

"The mutation rate of the Light Core Body is getting higher and higher, no wonder the death toll of the golden elephants continues to climb every year."

Zhou Yi took the opportunity to ask, "Senior, do you know what this Taboo Paradise is all about?"

The Warlord shook his head.

"We can only confirm two things for now."

"One, this place is open to native life of this world, but Heavenly People are prohibited."

"Second, the owner of this place has left for some unknown reason, leading to this place being just an abandoned prototype."

"A prototype?"

"Yes. Think about it, this continent is a carefully planned artificial landform, Meat Mountain, Golden Elephant Valley, and Spark Plain are more like three artificial attractions, much like my Hundred Beasts Garden, moving specific life and natural environments here. But many areas on the outskirts are abandoned."

"There is guidance for safety zones, outdoor growth promotions on TV, and local life mechanisms such as Gray Whales used as ferry boats, yet it lacks more corresponding facilities."

The Warlord chuckled: "It's like a beautifully crafted firearm, with a polished, fine-quality stock, grip, and fore-end, but without a barrel and gun body."

"So I said, this is a prototype, not a complete entity."

Zhou Yi was immediately enlightened.

No wonder the Forbidden Continent gives off an eerie feeling between order and chaos.

Landing ferries, safety zone guidance, boundary markers, all exhibit a clear and explicit order.

However, places like Golden Elephant Valley and Spark Plain have no signs or information; there are even Deadly Killer Rats in the wilderness, leaving tourists to explore on their own.

The existence of both elements on the Forbidden Continent is quite contradictory.

If it is due to construction halting halfway.

That would make sense.

"There's another thing."

The Warlord said, "The breeding and harvesting of golden elephants shouldn't require human intervention."

"That liquid metal world is a precision, giant device integrating breeding, mating, and harvesting."

"Set growth periods, weight, and harvesting times, therefore, the lifespan of golden elephants is not long, and they maintain a fixed population."

"The herdsmen of golden elephants are likely the creators of this Taboo Paradise."

Zhou Yi sighed.

Heavenly People are already unfathomably profound, and to think there are masterminds like the golden elephant herdsmen.

With such max-level players messing around on Earth, no wonder the ordinary locals are struggling.

"But there's one thing you misunderstood."

The Warlord said with a smile, "The pleasure of death does not mean this place is a hunting ground for visitors to slaughter these high-strength creatures. On the contrary, it's a place provided for visitors to die."

"Facing death under the stampede of golden elephants turns into solid gold foil and lead blocks; on Spark Plain, being burned to death by the Horror Claw with electric shocks; or even attacked by Killer Rats in the wild, there's also the moment of sudden death occurring..."

"All of these are meticulously designed death experiences."

"At levels above the Light Core Body, most things are no longer stimulating enough, gradually leading to diminished desires. Only continuous strength enhancement and death still effectively inspire strong life feedback."

"Getting stronger is very difficult, requiring tremendous efforts with high rates of failure. Death is much easier and a better target to chase."

"The moment of death brings an experience of extreme stimulation."

The Warlord looked at the stunned Zhou Yi, "For example, the stimulation of mating is 1, high-grade drugs are 1000, then theoretically, death has no upper limit — every death reaches a new peak."

Zhou Yi's lips moved, his mind struggling to keep up.

"It's not real death, right?"

"Of course it's real death; fake death cannot fool the physiological and consciousness sources."

The Warlord, with a serious face, said: "At the higher Transformer level, even with death, one can resurrect through special means, it just consumes a lot of resources."

"This is a quick and increasingly intense stimulus experience, requiring only resource consumption to feel an unparalleled euphoria."

"Taboo Paradise is such a place that provides a death experience."

Zhou Yi took quite some time to digest this.

Experiencing the pleasure of death.

All one can say,

These people from High-level Civilization cities really know how to play.

Zhou Yi couldn't help but think about the death experience included with the Breathing program, which had once addicted Walker from the Program Department, to the extent that 703 had to forcibly uninstall it. This shows that death stimulation also has a certain allure for Mechanical City lifeforms.

"..."

Seeing him silent, the Warlord said with a relaxed tone, "Don't think about things too far away, just do what you can. In this world, the further you step out, the more you realize, there is always someone even further ahead."

"There are more pressing matters you need to focus on now."

Zhou Yi caught some implications: "Please enlighten me, senior."

"Mechanical City."

The Warlord pocketed his hands in his wide coat and dropped his smile: "You have chosen the most difficult opponent to defeat, it's a tough path."

"Mechanical City has never been defeated."

"Even the Heavenly People have not managed it."

"So, are you prepared for Mechanical City's retaliation?"

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