"Wash your hands and get ready for lunch! I've prepared lunch for you!" Alice said happily.
At the training base, the parents who had just returned from a victorious battle and were taking a break were all laughing and joking around.
For some reason, Alice felt a strange sense of happiness looking at those people.
Unlike Sorel, she didn't pay attention to the battles outside and even wore earplugs to bed.
When the training base was deserted before, she always felt a sense of loss. Now the training base is full of people, and there are people laughing everywhere. Someone even said to her in broken English that they were hungry.
This kind of warmth is very rare on ordinary days.
Chapter 914, Forbidden Land No. 001, The Town
Lunchtime.
When the parents returned to the dining table, they were all covered in black medicine and bandaged up, looking utterly miserable.
There were even people with broken hands, their arms in casts, being fed...
While wolfing down his food, this guy said, "Don't let my broken hands fool you, the orc warrior I fought was in a much worse state than me. I think these orc warriors are all just for show. It's mainly because Brother Qi wouldn't let me fight him one-on-one, otherwise I would have shown you how I would have dealt with him."
Everyone burst into laughter: "You're already like this and you still won't stop. Someone just flicked the steel cable and broke both your hands..."
"Wait until you go to the toilet, then we'll see if you're still so stubborn. Nobody will help you then!"
Just then, Qingchen and Yangyang walked into the restaurant.
The family members immediately stopped talking: "Wow!"
Qing Chen was both amused and exasperated: "Go ahead and eat your food... Xiao Qi, what about the casualties?"
Xiaoqi limped to his feet and replied, "Parents, there are only the wounded, not the dead."
"Are you all alright with your injuries?" Qingchen asked.
"It's okay, I can manage!" Xiao Qi grinned.
At this moment, Yangyang said, "You should worry about yourself. Your injury isn't much better. Come on, let me treat your wound before we eat."
As she spoke, Yangyang forcefully dragged Qingchen back into the room.
Family members: "Wow!"
Inside the room, Yangyang helped Qingchen take off his coat. She looked at Qingchen's bruises and wounds in silence.
After a long pause, she said, "If you hadn't eaten dragonfish, all your bones would have been broken countless times, and you would have suffered long-term health problems when you get old."
Yangyang carefully applied the ointment to Qingchen's body. Qingchen said, "I called Dayu and Zard over. If any bones are broken, we'll use a shroud."
Yangyang asked in confusion, "Why doesn't this shroud have any containment requirements? That's strange. Are there any side effects from using it?"
Qingchen suddenly coughed violently and did not answer the question.
Yangyang asked, "Your cough seems a bit abnormal."
Qing Chen smiled and said, "It's alright."
...
...
In the evening, the two sat on the edge of the training base's rooftop, with the coffee Alice had made for them beside them. They chatted about random topics, such as how many female celebrities were pursuing Luo Wanya recently, how Xiao Qi had been invited to a celebrity banquet, and some scandalous secrets from the Black Knights' third brother's memories.
In any case, not a single word of it was anything serious.
Yangyang's arrival suddenly brought a moment of relaxation to Qingchen's life, freeing him from the tension he used to feel, like a pendulum that would never stop.
Qingchen lay on the rooftop, resting his head on Yangyang's lap, and took a nap until Yangyang woke him up 10 minutes before he was to travel through time.
The girl tidied his messy hair: "I know you feel a sense of crisis, and I know how powerful the Roosevelt Kingdom is, but you are the kind of person who can create miracles. We believe in you, and you must believe in yourself."
The countdown has reached zero.
Time travel.
...
...
When the world lights up again.
Qing Chen, dressed in the clothes of a wilderness dweller and carrying a tattered backpack, walked through the wilderness.
His face was covered in mud, and his posture was no longer so upright, as if he had been defeated by life.
From any perspective, he is a true wilderness dweller.
From afar beyond the mountains and fields came the clanging of blacksmiths striking metal, along with scattered sparks.
Qingchen looked up and saw an endless "carpet" of tree canopies in the distance, which was the forbidden place No. 001, as dark as ink in the midnight.
Outside the forbidden land, there is a small town that is somewhat deserted in the darkness of night.
Or rather, it's not just deserted... but rather eerie.
It was as if a chill was emanating from there.
Looking down from the mountain, the town was pitch black, with only two tritium lamps hanging on the wooden archway at the entrance. When the wind blew, they swayed and wobbled, like two heads being pulled up by their hair.
Town No. 1 is a very simple town.
There was no town here before; it was only because some 'gold prospectors' gathered plant fruits and caught small wild animals on the edge of Forbidden Land No. 001.
Gradually, gold prospectors set up camp outside the forbidden land, forming a small town.
News of 'gold diggers' finding rare treasures in forbidden lands and becoming rich overnight has surfaced from time to time in the Federation. Someone even found a dead vine and sold it for three million.
Someone found a strange stone and sold it for five million.
Someone found the forbidden artifacts left behind after the superhuman died inside and sold them for 100 million.
Qingchen slowly approached, only to see several men guarding the town entrance, playing cards.
Seeing Qingchen's dirty appearance, they immediately laughed and shouted to the opposite side, "Another gold prospector has arrived! Those inside, come out and greet him!"
Standing hesitantly outside the town, Qing Chen asked, "Does anyone here pay wages?"
Several men burst into laughter: "You really don't know anything. You pan for gold in town, you go with the team, and whatever you find in the forbidden land is yours. When you sell it, you only need to pay 50% commission to the town. There's no salary."
Qing Chen asked warily, "Why do we have to pay 50%? Isn't that too much?"
The man chuckled and spat on the ground: "Have you ever been to Forbidden Zone 001? We risked our lives to forge that path, ensuring you come out alive. That's why we demand a 50% commission."
Qing Chen seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: "You managed to come out alive?"
"Don't worry," the man replied.
Just then, a swaying old man walked out of the town. As soon as the men saw him, they immediately put down their cards: "Why did you come in person? Where's Gouwa?"
The old man waved his hand and said, "It's haunted inside again. Gouwa is cleaning it up."
Qing Chen was stunned for a moment: "Haunted?"
“It’s not a real ghost. You’ll find out when you go inside,” the old man said, glancing at Qing Chen. “Why did you come here?”
“I want to get married, but I can’t afford a house in the fifth district,” Qingchen replied. “My younger brother needs money for medical treatment, and I need money.”
The old man snorted: "Who here doesn't need money? Remember, once you're in here, don't treat your life like it's your life."
"Can it make money?" Qingchen asked anxiously.
"Making money? That's a matter of fate. How much is your life worth?" The old man glanced at him sideways. "They've already told you the rules, haven't they?"
"Okay, I'll pay a 50% commission."
"Good to know. Perform a body search, lest you let in any more investigative reporters from Hope Media."
Several men searched Qingchen, then shook their heads: "Just a cell phone, no camera equipment."
"Take your phone, I'll give it to you outside."
Qing Chen asked, "Were any reporters sneaked in before? But I haven't seen Hope Media report on this place."
A man grinned, revealing his yellowed teeth, and said, "Killed... You're not a reporter, are you?"
Qing Chen shrank back fearfully: "I'm not."
“It doesn’t look like it,” the old man said, hunching over as he walked inside. The town was muddy everywhere, and along the roadside were dilapidated shacks inhabited by thin people, both men and women.
The entire town lacked sewage pipes and basic living facilities, and the garbage outside was piled up like mountains, emitting a stench.
There was even a... bloody smell.
The smell of blood was coming from the old man in front of us.
But from inside a shack, someone was muttering to themselves, "Where have they all gone? Where have they all gone? They're all dead!"
Qing Chen's heart skipped a beat; this person's mind was clearly disordered, and he was even beginning to show obvious symptoms.
As he was pondering this, he saw someone rush out of a shack in the distance, brandishing a knife: "Come and kill me if you dare! I'm right here, kill me!"
The next moment, the man turned to look at the old man and Qing Chen, and charged over menacingly with his rusty machete.
The old man pulled a walkie-talkie out of his pocket and said casually, "Another one's gone mad. Come over and take him away, lock him up."
Footsteps came from the darkness, and several shirtless men ran out carrying tritium lamps. They grabbed the man who was about to attack and pinned him to the mud, tied his hands with hemp rope, and dragged him back into the darkness.
The old man turned around and glanced at the trembling Qing Chen: "Don't be afraid. If you behave yourself, you won't end up like him."
"What happened to him?" Qingchen asked. "Did you cause him to become like this?"
The old man said, "If you don't listen, you'll end up like them."
After walking several hundred meters further, Qingchen heard the heavy breathing of a man and a woman in the shack, along with countless murmurs.
The only constant was the clanging sound of blacksmithing coming from who-knows-where, ringing incessantly.
However, Qingchen looked for a long time but still couldn't find the blacksmith's shop.
Qing Chen suddenly realized that most of the people here seemed to have some mental problems.
If it's just one or two cases, then they might be driven mad by someone. But if it's a widespread phenomenon, then it indicates a problem with Forbidden Land No. 001.
“Alright, you can stay in this room,” the old man said, pointing to the shack. “You can’t leave town without my permission, and you can’t go into the forbidden area alone.”