Chapter 517

Worried that noise might attract Alpha, the players ran on foot for several kilometers without using edge vehicles or high-mobility skills, finally allowing themselves a slight sigh of relief.

"A persistent curse, an unyielding specter."

Wan Li Fengdao muttered under his breath: "What kind of grudge is this? Chasing us all the way here?"

"Not necessarily a grudge—maybe they just want to kill us and claim our player qualifications."

Li Cheng whispered, pulling out a four-rotor fiber-optic drone, wrapping its body in electromagnetic shielding fabric, and launching it into the air.

Fiber-optic drones use fiber-optic cables as signal transmission media, effectively resisting electromagnetic interference; because fiber is light and thin, some fiber-optic war drones can reach ranges of thirty to forty kilometers and are still cheap to produce.

They can carry several kilograms of explosives, forcibly penetrate electromagnetic interference zones, and precisely detonate high-value battlefield targets.

Literally, "The swallows once flew before the halls of the Wang and Xie families—now they flutter into the homes of ordinary people."

In total, the drone flew high and looked down at the distant valley. Large patches of exposed surface rock were scorched black; no Alpha python was visible.

Players watching this on their controller screens exchanged glances; Lei Yesi took a deep breath. "Something's off—mechanical snakes are that big, they can't hide in a valley, and the scorch marks are too small."

"It's not just the area."

Rabbit Ranger Mianyue frowned in a human-like way. "The shape and color of the scorch marks are wrong too."

Complex granite fractured and peeled away due to differing thermal expansion coefficients among its minerals; basalt melted and shattered.

The overall destruction was far greater than modern artillery, but compared to the power seen earlier in Dreamland—where a single beam flattened an entire mountaintop—it was on an entirely different scale.

"Plasma can be classified by temperature into low-temperature plasma and high-temperature plasma; the former ranges from one thousand to ten thousand Kelvin and is widely used in mold processing, welding, hazardous waste treatment, and semiconductor industries."

"The latter can reach temperatures of several million to tens of millions of Kelvin, commonly found at the centers of the sun and thermonuclear fusion chambers."

Li Cheng mused: "Like the curse of knowledge, the characteristics of transcendent power are hard to fake."

"There are two possibilities: one, the Alpha python was drastically weakened by Dreamland."

"Two, it's having a bad day—drank too much, worked too hard, took its meds too early."

Wan Li Fengdao squinted and retorted: "Fine, I'll accept the first possibility—but what do you mean by 'took its meds too early'? Is this some middle-aged couple's excuse for poor bedroom performance?"

"Your tone suggests you know a lot."

Li Cheng squinted back, pulling out several large boxes of pills from his 3D storage: "Want to stock up? Zinc tablets, Andean maca, Compound Xuanju capsules."

"Your storage is so handy—you can pull out any item anytime, anywhere. Like Doraemon's pocket?"

Wan Li Fengdao's eye twitched; he waved his hand. "No need for meds—I have a harmonious marital life. My wife's a cat-girl, not…"

Xiao Dao Ge had been about to say "rabbit-girl," since cats go into heat only in spring and autumn, each cycle lasting three to seven days, while rabbits are in heat year-round.

But he reconsidered—Rabbit Ranger Mianyue was also a rabbit—and quickly stopped himself.

Mianyue, with her keen sense of smell, narrowed her eyes: "Are you two thinking something impolite?"

"How could that be, hahaha."

"Don't joke around, hahaha."

Li Cheng mimicked Xiao Dao Ge's evasion, pulled out another fiber-optic drone, launched it into the air, and placed its controller on the ground.

Both machines were set to hover mode, each monitoring a large area, with enough battery to last three hours; if Alpha's trail was spotted, they'd alert immediately.

They could also serve as radio relay points to continuously call out to Gray Rain.

"Even if Alpha was weakened by Dreamland, being able to freely spew vast streams of low-temperature plasma at thousands or tens of thousands of degrees without energy cost or cooldown makes it equivalent to a top-tier transcendent. We still need to avoid it carefully."

As they spoke, the group reached the outskirts of a pitch-black town.

The town's buildings resembled those of 1930s European and American towns—some were concrete high-rises over ten stories tall, others low brick-and-wood shacks.

Roads were mostly asphalt or stone bricks, littered with heavily rusted vehicles of diverse models: from early-1900s Ford Model Ts, to 1915 Ford Model T trucks, to the classic 1933 Volkswagen Beetle—all strikingly similar to early human vehicles.

Even more similar were the shops lining the streets: general stores, hardware shops, bookstores, even cinemas.

Unfortunately, all signs bore angular alien script—completely incomprehensible.

"WTF."

Wan Li Fengdao, who prided himself on being well-traveled, scratched his head in confusion: "Among us humans, there shouldn't be anyone over a hundred years old, right?"

You mushroom kings come from another world—so this place can only be the astronaut's dream.

But he's a native species—how could a killing ground produce such an environment?"

"The Spirit Realm is vast—anything is possible."

Rabbit Ranger Mianyue's expression tightened: "In our Spirit Realm exploration history, we once discovered a shape-shifting species that couldn't reproduce on its own—it replaced the offspring of other intelligent native killing-ground species with its own,

forcing others to raise its young."

She entered a bookstore, pulled a book from a dusty shelf, and as she opened it, old paper fragments tumbled to the floor.

Wan Li Fengdao raised an eyebrow: "Isn't this a cuckoo?"

The Mushroom King's eye-lines twisted into a puzzled expression: "What's a cuckoo?"

Wan Li Fengdao said: "Uh—a kind of bird."

Mianyue replied coolly: "There are almost no wild birds left in our world. All forests, farmland, timber, and crops must be prioritized for war against the Infernal Abyss Legion."

Claudia couldn't help asking: "Huh? Then what do you eat?"

"Earthworm powder, mealworm protein blocks, microalgae, mushrooms, potatoes. On holidays or before battles, we get bread, synthetic meat, and seafood."

Mianyue spoke calmly; the humans present felt an awkward silence settle over them.

The war in the other world was a brutal, bloody clash between Order and Chaos—no sentient being could escape it.

Compared to that, Earth's environment was immeasurably prosperous, abundant, and peaceful.

At this point, no one could bring themselves to ask whether to eat fat-loss meals before or after meals, or whether to choose Yoleme or Xiangpiaopiao protein powder.

Fortunately, the Centipede Octopus broke the silence: "Um… these rusted vehicles don't seem to have exhaust pipes?"

"You're right."

Claudia hurried forward—no exhaust pipes meant they likely didn't use fossil fuels. She flipped open the hood; all knowledgeable players stepped back several steps. "Holy shit—hydrogen-powered vehicles!"