The most conspicuous things in the sky are always the three suns of different sizes, but now only two can be seen, and the other one is temporarily obscured by thunderclouds that occupy half of the sky.

Besides the three suns, there were also some strange luminous mists flickering in the sky above the restricted area. Some were far away, some were near, but all had a hazy quality, and it was impossible to see clearly what they were.

According to geography textbooks, the urban areas currently inhabited by humans account for less than 5% of the entire Earth's surface.

However, the textbooks are rather vague about the forbidden zone.

Aside from extreme weather, ubiquitous strong winds, and the possibility of poisonous miasma, nothing else was mentioned.

"Captain Song, do you know what those are?" Shen Qian asked loudly, pointing to the colorful, dazzling light mist.

"I don't know." Song Ye shook his head. "I've only been outside the restricted area a few times, so I don't know much about the outside world."

Shen Qian nodded, then asked, "Captain Song, tell me the truth, are the scavengers hiding in the junkyard really just low-level beginner martial artists?"

"There's nothing to hide from you."

Song Ye said frankly, "Don't be fooled by how strict your teacher Chen is; there really won't be any major danger this time."

“We cleared it out beforehand, leaving only about ten scavengers inside. The strongest one was only a level three beginner martial artist, and the rest were only three or four who had reached the level one or two beginner martial artists.”

"Your class is full of geniuses. As long as you don't panic, you'll be more than capable of handling it."

I see.

Shen Qian suddenly realized why all the police officers and armed personnel looked so calm earlier.

It seems I can now relax and just sit back and do nothing.

Feeling the hand around his waist tighten again, and knowing that even the protective suit couldn't block out certain sensations, he coughed lightly.

"Um, Huo Ling'er, I'm feeling a bit down."

"oh."

A muffled sound came from behind, but there was no sign of letting go.

"What's wrong with you?" Shen Qian then realized that Huo Ling'er's condition was not right; she seemed to have been silent and withdrawn since just now.

"...I'm scared." After a while, Huo Ling'er's weak voice finally came through.

"What are you afraid of?" Shen Qian was taken aback.

"I'm just... scared." Her voice grew even weaker.

Shen Qian glanced down and noticed that Huo Ling'er's knuckles, which were gripping his clothes tightly, were bluish-white from excessive force. He pried open Huo Ling'er's hand and saw that it was covered in sweat.

"If you're so afraid, why don't you stay in the city? Why did you come along?" Shen Qian asked, puzzled.

Huo Ling'er remained silent.

He sighed and didn't ask any more questions.

After an unknown amount of time, the sandstorm suddenly disappeared, as if it had been penetrated by a thin film, and the surroundings became quiet.

Under the dim yellow sky, there was a stench-filled ruin before my eyes. Apart from a few intact houses in the corners, there were broken walls and piles of garbage that looked like huge, grotesque monsters peeking out from the ruins.

Song Ye stopped his motorcycle, and the police officers who had arrived earlier came to greet him.

"Boss, the security system here is still working. It can be used as long as it's charged with energy. No wonder those scavengers use this place as their base," a police officer shouted.

"Hmm, our intrusion may have alerted them. Spread out immediately, stay alert, and guard against danger!" Song Ye ordered.

Shen Qian found it uninteresting; he already knew that these police officers were just putting on a show, deliberately creating a sense of tension.

Feeling sullen, Chen Qian patted Huo Ling'er, "We've arrived."

Huo Ling'er released Chen Qian, jumped off the motorcycle, her hands clasped together, her small face pale through the transparent mask.

"If you're really scared later, don't go looking for the scavengers. You can come and swim with me," Shen Qian comforted her.

Upon hearing this, Huo Ling'er immediately regained some of her spirits and nodded vigorously.

Before long, everyone had arrived.

"Fortunately, we didn't encounter any monsters..."

Before sinking, he overheard the police officer whispering something to his companion.

Indeed, to be honest, monsters are the real overlords of the forbidden zone, far more terrifying than ordinary scavengers. Song Ye was very vigilant the whole way, presumably to guard against possible monsters.

Shen Qian looked up and saw that the visibility outside the protective air shield was still very poor, but Shen Qian guessed that Liu Changqing was probably hiding somewhere high in the sky.

The group of police officers, numbering about thirty, quickly dispersed under Song Ye's command and headed towards the edges of the ruins.

"Let me emphasize again: please act within your capabilities and don't overexert yourself. If you encounter scavengers you can't fight, the best thing to do is to run away."

Song Ye repeated himself, and after confirming through the communicator that all the police officers were in place, he nodded to Chen Feng and Zhao Hanhai.

"Everyone, get ready and we'll set off. Director Zhao and I will stand in the center of the ruins and keep an eye on everyone's condition."

Chen Feng's eyes swept over everyone, and he warned, "But as I said before, danger may come suddenly, and we may not be able to get there in time. You must be prepared to rely on yourselves."

After Chen Feng finished speaking, he and Zhao Hanhai entered the ruins first and quickly disappeared.

Looking at the silent garbage dump that seemed to have a gaping maw ready to devour everyone at any moment, coupled with the police officers' "alarmist-like" demeanor, the students who had been relatively calm just moments before began to panic again and started trying to form teams together.

Everyone's first choice for a team was Zhou Xiaoguang, but Zhou Xiaoguang ignored everyone, leaped into the ruins alone before anyone could speak.

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