Chapter 207: Chapter 207: Black Spikes!
Leng Feng stood atop the plaza, raising his head to gaze at the blazing sun overhead. The searing sunlight burned into his eyes like fire, making them ache unbearably.
The scorching rays made him feel dizzy and disoriented.
The barrage in the live stream kept urging, telling the two to hurry up and join in, not to waste time.
The audience could barely hold back their anticipation, torn between fear and excitement.
This was humanity’s first true attempt to create its own Dungeon. In the future, Dungeons would be humanity’s line of defense against Evil Spirits.
Everyone could be a liar, but Leng Feng wouldn’t.
In everyone’s eyes, if Leng Feng dared to deceive the crowd, then humanity was doomed.
So when Jiang Che set up the Dungeon and explained the rules, plenty of people were skeptical.
But after Leng Feng confirmed the rules with Jiang Che, everyone instantly believed.
Leng Feng’s live stream was more explosive than the streams from humanity’s earliest Dungeon attempts.
The barrage of comments flooded the screen like a tidal wave.
The blistering sun baked Leng Feng’s back. His black clothes absorbed heat, growing scaldingly hot, yet he felt not a trace of warmth.
He glanced at his assistant. The assistant nodded to him with certainty, then out of view of the camera, handed him a tablet displaying satellite tracking data for the two individuals.
The map showed that the two were still standing in place, completely motionless.
They had remained in the same spot for a long time, not moving an inch.
Leng Feng’s heart gave a sudden jolt. He took a deep breath and looked at the assistant holding the tablet.
"Zoom in on the map. Check the surrounding area." A surge of dread rose in his chest.
But it felt impossible—before everyone headed to Jiang Che’s Dungeon, they’d taken ample precautions.
The city was at the center, and surrounding it—a ten-kilometer scorched isolation belt.
People and wild animals from farther away were evacuated.
For the animals impossible to drive out, plenty of poison had been scattered from above.
This was all done to give the Dark Forest no chance to devour and grow.
In the past, humanity valued biodiversity, tried to protect nature.
But in this era, the so-called habitable cities could only hold so many people. High-tier humans were limited, while the population was overflowing. Many had already been abandoned, unable to live in those cities.
The first thing Leng Feng thought was: after they left, what happened in these cities?
The assistant quickly pulled up the relevant information. The satellite images on the tablet were clear—zooming from far to near, an overhead perspective revealing details steadily.
The screen was split into two regions, each representing one of those who hadn’t joined the live stream.
The two tiny red dots remained still; the aerial image grew sharper.
Human landmarks were still obvious from above—far away, they looked like a patch of gray-white; closer up, you could see the steel and concrete skyscrapers.
This time, however, the screen was empty.
Blackness blanketed vast stretches of land, seamless darkness covering it entirely.
There wasn’t a trace of blue lakes or rivers, nor green mountains or forests—just boundless black.
The two red dots were right in the center of it.
The camera zoomed in again, making the black landscape eerily clear. You could see the twisted forest intertwining, countless trees packed together, their trunks carved with tortured human faces.
Through cracks, you could barely glimpse gray-white walls wedged between tree trunks.
In those fleeting glimpses, the outline of the forest became apparent—it had once been a city of steel, concrete, and earth.
Leng Feng’s breathing stalled instantly. He looked at the tablet’s image, his expression complicated.
The barrage had stopped urging; everyone could sense the shift in Leng Feng’s face.
Even the crowd gathered a hundred meters away froze, their anticipation turning rigid.
The once quiet plaza grew murky with whispers and murmurs.
Leng Feng saw the two people standing stock still, eyes vacant, staring at the city already swallowed by the Dark Forest.
Neither moved, their eyes full of pain and confusion.
Their ranks were high—despite being surrounded by the Dark Forest, it wouldn’t act against humans above the thirteenth tier.
At this moment, they could have dropped anchor points and opened their own Dungeons.
The Dark Forest would even wither and crumble to dust at the spot they created a city Dungeon.
But they just stood there, staring at twisted growth, at the darkness blinding out the sky.
"Check the footage—what happened here?" Leng Feng’s voice was stiff. "Look elsewhere too. Is this happening anywhere else?"
The assistant grasped his neck, fingers digging into flesh, leaving stark black marks. He bit his lip, as if wanting to gouge out the meat.
"Go check. Everything’s unknown now. We need to halt the losses." Leng Feng sucked in a shaky breath. He looked at the camera, silent for a long while.
[What happened?]
[Did those two die?]
[Did the Evil Spirits invade ahead of schedule?]
[I tried to contact friends over there. No response at all. What’s going on?]
[Hurry up and establish a Dungeon. Humanity’s too passive now.]
...
The barrage continued to surge, wild as ever, though most people were discussing these issues.
Leng Feng stared at the comments, eyes full of unease. The Dark Forest had devoured everything in an instant—everyone in that entire city, with no time for any counteraction, all became nourishment for its growth.
Once he calmed inside, he finally spoke.
"There’s been an accident on our end."
"I’ve already sent people out to investigate exactly what happened."
"We’re not waiting for those two anymore. What we need to do now is create our Dungeon." Leng Feng’s tone grew heavier, his breath sinking. With eyes closed, everyone could feel the ground beneath changing.
Spikes began to sprout from the flat earth, stabbing into everyone’s feet.
The crowd pushed and shoved, searching for somewhere safe to stand, only to find the whole city offered nowhere at all to land.
Whether the first floor, the second, or even higher, the ground was riddled with upright spikes.
The black spikes weren’t very tall—just deep enough to pierce the skin on the sole of your foot.
These spikes seemed to control themselves; no matter how thick your shoes, the black needles would still stab right in, making escape impossible.
Leng Feng kept his eyes closed, sensing changes in the Dungeon. His brows knit tighter and tighter, until the black spikes covered the whole city, and he felt the stabbing beneath his own feet; then he finally opened his eyes.
Wave after wave of agony radiated from his feet. Bearing the pain, he looked around; every face twisted in suffering.
What the hell is this!
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