Shekh ignored him, focusing intently on reading the expensive article about exploring extraterrestrial beings.

Standing at the entrance of the guesthouse, Shi Jinzhe heard the players in the corridor confirming each other's identities and starting to walk out. He gently pushed Shehe's hand down from his back, indicating, "Let's go."

Shekh lowered his head. "Take me away. I haven't finished reading yet."

"Did you see anything?" Shi Jinzhe put his arm around her and walked out, pushing open the door and stepping into the mist.

Shekh hunched his shoulders, not expecting the outside temperature to suddenly drop so low, when it was just a moment ago warm and in the twenties.

"The dungeon has already started?"

"Because all the players have arrived."

"Then let's hurry up." Without even finishing reading, Sheh shoved his phone into Shi Jinzhe's pants pocket. "What kind of exploration article is this? It's completely unreliable, and it cost me ten yuan more."

"A physical tail is not as good as a visually appealing wing. Ordinary people can't understand your strength. They've wasted ten dollars on that. Actually, we're the same."

The two crossed the courtyard and heard someone forcefully pushing the door open behind them. They hurriedly chased after them, calling out, "Big... Boss!"

Sher quickened his pace and, together with Shi Jinzhe, passed through the gate of the guesthouse courtyard without hindrance, isolating the players' shouts within the invisible wall.

Once away from the air wall, the temperature returned to normal, and Shekh instantly let go of him from being pressed against him.

The fog concealed the unusual guesthouse, making it appear unremarkable from the outside and easily mistaken for the typical mountain climate with its heavy moisture.

The player who had just been calling out to them gripped the outer gate with both hands, his face pressed against the crack in the door, swaying back and forth like tears streaming down his face behind the iron bars.

"Don't go... Boss... Boss!"

He was definitely not mistaken; that's what the forums said. When you see a guy with long, white, curly hair and a girl with big, black, wavy hair, and they're inseparable, they always have to go up and hug his leg. That's the game's master; if you hold on tight, you're guaranteed to clear the dungeon.

"Don't go...don't go!"

Unfortunately, Shehe couldn't hear the call, nor could Shi Jinzhe. The two walked through the bushes that automatically tilted to both sides and headed towards Puxian County.

After walking for half an hour, Shekh encountered a bamboo viper much larger than the one in the original world, more than four meters long. When it lay down on a tree, it looked like a slender version of a tree python from a distance.

After walking for another half hour, we encountered another enlarged king cobra, completely black with a very high gloss. When it stood upright, its front end was about the same height as Shi Jinzhe.

Shekh circled the King Eye snake and discovered it was more intelligent than ordinary snakes; the bamboo viper from before seemed to be saying, "You can't see me...you can't see me..."

This gaze followed her the entire time, extremely vigilant.

Shekh walked around it, and after walking a distance, she turned back and found that the Eye King was still watching the direction she had left, as if it couldn't put its mind at ease until she left.

"The snakes here are about three to four times larger than usual. Is that related to the life force you released back then?"

"Yes." Shi Jinzhe turned his hand to control the bushes to block his and Shehe's figures. "The purest life force was used to open the formation, so the creatures on this land have been greatly affected. However, it's not entirely my fault; you've also been a factor. Didn't you notice that only snakes have undergone the biggest size mutations?"

"We've discovered that both the trees and snakes have mutated significantly. This is probably why this place remains an unsolved mystery."

Along the way, Shekh encountered many small animals; the ecology here has been restored very well, and there were also human skeletons.

It's been dead for a long time; the tent it was in was covered in mold. It belonged to someone who came in to explore but never came out.

"It's impressive that you were able to get this far."

"When you leave, have two players come and see you off." Shi Jinzhe made a mark, worried about affecting Shehe's mood, and fed her a piece of chocolate.

"This is delicious." Shekh chewed, "I'll have another piece."

"Freshly picked." Shi Jinzhe picked another cocoa fruit, and in the short time between picking it from the tree and feeding it to Shehe, a piece of chocolate was created.

Shekh looked at the tree: "There are cocoa fruits here?"

“It might also be affected by the gene pool in my body; some plants and animals that shouldn’t be growing here have appeared.” Shi Jinzhe showed her the map. “The central area is greatly affected by us, but the other affected areas are okay. If we go further in, we can see more creatures that are not native to this place.”

"Okay... then get me a custard apple to eat."

"anything else?"

Shekh took a bite of the fruit. "No, I smell a familiar scent."

Before long, they saw Pu Kui dressed in a red wedding gown by the stream ahead.

She was in a special state; she hadn't looked any different in thirty years. For Shekh, the last time he saw her was yesterday.

Pu Kui walked over, a little unfamiliar, "I sensed someone coming from a distance, but I didn't expect it to be you."

"I came to check on things here, nothing serious," Shekh asked her. "Have you been wandering around here for decades?"

"Yeah, going out would scare people, so it's pretty good here. When I'm bored, I come here to wander around this remote area, listen to people chat, and the little animals in the mountains like me too."

Sheh scrutinized Pu Kui from head to toe. Having stayed in this place for a long time, the ghostly and evil aura on her body had disappeared, replaced by a natural spiritual energy.

"You're doing pretty well."

"The snakes here are all very friendly to me, probably because I have your aura on me." Pu Kui was very grateful for that pull. Back then, Shehe had broken through the red flesh and blood to wrap her aura around himself, protecting her very well.

"Have you ever thought about leaving this place?" Shi Jinzhe found a dry, large rock to sit on. The stream still held abundant power—his, Shehe's, both.

“I’m not going.” Pu Kui shook her head and explained, “At first I thought about going outside, but then I felt that taking care of these little animals was quite interesting. I couldn’t bear to leave them after spending so much time with them.”

She pulled a blue glandular coral snake out of her clothes. "It escaped from poachers. It was almost dead when I found it, but it's much better now."

"Let me see." Shekh reached out and took the small snake; it was tiny, like a child.

Shech tapped the top of the snake's head, giving it a bit of power that belonged to it alone, "It will grow strong and healthy."

"More than that, you've already won at the starting line of life." Shi Jinzhe looked at the snake, then at the palm leaf he had carefully taken, and suddenly said, "Since you want to stay here, I'll give you some special privileges. How about you protect this area?"

Shekh looked over and realized that this man really didn't let go of any promising young people who could work for him.

Pu Kui didn't think anything of it. She was already doing this anyway. She was able to get rid of those things because of the two people in front of her. It was something she should do even without special privileges.

"Tell me, what do you want me to do?"

Shi Jinzhe: "It's nothing. This place is special. If too many people explore it, it will bring bad things. Don't let anyone get close easily. Just guard it."

"Sure," Pu Kui readily agreed.

"Here, take this." Shi Jinzhe took out an ordinary-looking phone from the item shop. "It won't break, it doesn't need charging, it will iterate on its own, and it's connected to the shop. You already have the skills, so I won't give you this one."

"Skill?"

“Yes, you have skills.” Shehe Ming revealed to Pu Kui, “【Pseudo-Mountain Spirit】, you are the master of this mountain.”

The word "master" felt strange to Pu Kui. She savored it for a moment and felt that she had a home, which felt really good.

"I will protect this special area."

"Get used to what you have to do." Shekh watched her tapping on her phone with one finger and said to Shi Jinzhe, "Let's go, let's walk around some more."

Shi Jinzhe accompanied her further inside and heard Shehe say, "I think that since there is nowhere else to go in the dungeon, the victims who still retain their rationality can be set up as guardians, like Pu Kui. Their special form can be surprisingly effective. It would be more convenient for them to investigate anomalies than for the players. After all, they are still a boss before the dungeon is resolved. It's not good to just leave them like this. If we screen them, there should be quite a few people who meet the criteria. What do you think?"

Shi Jinzhe: "I think you can't condemn me anymore, you haven't let them off the hook either."

Shekh: "..."