Chapter Thirty-Eight: An Unexpected Discovery

The night was deep. After his conversation with Liu Chun, Liu Zong gathered his belongings and returned to his temporary tent. Even before he reached the spot allocated to him, he noticed a figure standing in the shadows. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was one of the ten players who had arrived with him.

The man was completely shrouded in a black cloak, and beneath it, his body was wrapped in linen bandages, making him resemble a black-robed mummy. He was likely quite tall, but his gait was peculiar; his body was hunched, as if in pain.

Zhu Yan had introduced him at the start, mentioning that he was a poison-type magic-warrior hybrid, with a name that sounded something like Huar or Hua.

Upon seeing Liu Zong, the man nodded. "You're the shadow-type magic-warrior hybrid, aren't you? Could I have a word with you in private?"

Liu Zong glanced around, then nodded. He placed his things inside his tent before following the man outside.

They walked to a corner untouched by firelight. The man waved his hand, and Liu Zong saw a cloud of green mist spread out, enveloping a space of three to five meters. Among this group of players, each had their own way to prevent eavesdropping. Liu Zong found this a bit exasperating; he resolved that, once back at school, he would have to learn some of these little tricks himself, lest he be underestimated in similar situations.

After scanning their surroundings, the man lowered his voice. "Earlier today, you used necromancy outside, didn’t you?"

Liu Zong nodded, fixing his gaze on the man’s eyes, unwilling to offer further explanation.

The man didn't mind Liu Zong's attitude and asked, "Can you tell me where the Type IV Seven Knights main control core you summoned appeared from?"

This time, Liu Zong hesitated only briefly. Thinking there was no harm in sharing this, he replied slowly, "Within the sandstorm, the control core descended from the sky."

"Descended from the sky? Then it must be the yellow sands. Thank you, that's all I needed to know. I won't trouble you further." With that, the man withdrew his hand, and the green mist was drawn back as well.

This encounter surprised Liu Zong, but he didn’t pursue it further. After the man left, Liu Zong turned to return to his tent for some rest. He still needed to meditate and cultivate tonight, having made new choices that required him to make up for lost time.

Yet that night, it seemed no one wanted Liu Zong to rest peacefully. No sooner had the poison-type hybrid left than the wind-type followed, then the earth-type arrived. Each of them, like the poison-type, shielded their conversation from prying ears and asked the same question: where did the Type IV Seven Knights summoned by his necromancy come from?

After receiving the answer they sought, their expressions changed distinctly. The poison-type had looked contemplative, the wind-type's eyes shone with excitement, while the earth-type seemed hesitant, uncertainty clouding his face.

Liu Zong was puzzled by their reactions, but could not unravel their intentions. Lost in thought, he eventually drifted into a deep sleep, failing to complete his cultivation for the night.

The next morning, Liu Zong joined Liu Chun and the others for breakfast at the center of the outpost. The meal consisted once again of sand scorpions and mudworms, but prepared in the style of the Golden Pine Valley outpost.

The sand scorpions were wrapped in resin secreted by the golden pines and roasted, giving them a faint pine aroma. The mudworms were stuffed with pine needles and grilled on hot stones by the fire; once the worms were charred, the pine needles inside were removed and eaten. This method was somewhat wasteful, but after eating, one felt energized, as if set alight from within, able to brave the wind and sand outside without quickly tiring.

During breakfast, Liu Zong observed that An Qiang and the others who had visited him the previous night behaved as if nothing unusual had occurred, betraying no private agendas. This deepened Liu Zong’s confusion about the dynamics of his team. He was not a rash person, so after finishing his breakfast, he did not hurry out to complete the day’s tasks. Instead, he sat by the fire, waiting for something.

Soon, a few players finished eating, gathered their gear, and left the outpost—presumably to tackle their daily missions. At that moment, Liu Zong stood up and addressed a resident preparing breakfast by the fire, “How much for the recipe?”

The resident thought for a moment before replying, “It’s not for sale.”

Liu Zong said nothing further. He picked up his gear and headed for the outpost’s exit to start his daily tasks.

As he reached the gate, Liu Zong habitually took out his map to check the day’s assignments, as was his custom—always looking to see if he could combine tasks or find efficiencies. But this time, upon opening the map, he noticed a strange trajectory marked on it.

Uncertain what this meant, he realized that his use of necromancy yesterday had affected the environment outside the outpost.

Studying the map and confirming the direction of this odd track, Liu Zong changed his plans, choosing to follow the trajectory while completing his daily missions along the way.

While completing his tasks, Liu Zong kept an eye out for food, as he always did. Because of this, he noticed something unusual about the ground that day. Normally, the surface was all yellow sand, but today he sensed a faint negative energy emanating from it.

This piqued Liu Zong’s interest. He soon discovered that not all the ground radiated this negative energy; rather, some sand that had fallen from the sky had mixed into the soil, carrying negative energy and slowly seeping into the surrounding earth.

He even uncovered a couple of components in the sand that had been fully corrupted by negative energy. He could now be certain: in another four or five days, the latent negative energy and spirits hidden deep in the earth would be activated, and minor undead would begin to appear in the vicinity.

If left unchecked, in ten days or so, the undead would grow stronger, and ultimately, the Golden Pine Valley outpost nearby would be destroyed.