We've arrived at the Forgotten City!
Just looking at it from afar, a sense of desolation and deathly silence from the ancient wilderness washes over you, as if it can freeze your soul.
The city lay silently on the horizon, its outline blurred and eerie in the distorted light. Its architectural style was completely beyond the comprehension of Lin Yi and the others. It was neither the creation of any known civilization, nor the fantasy or science fiction style commonly seen in the game "Infinite". It was more like a... bizarre collection that had been forgotten by time itself and forcibly twisted and pieced together by space.
Above the city, a thick, leaden halo of light slowly swirled, emanating a suffocating sense of oppression, as if an invisible giant eye was coldly watching all intruders from behind that halo.
"This is... the Forgotten City?" Long Wu clicked his tongue. Even with his fearless nature, he felt a chill from the bottom of his heart. "It feels... not good."
"Data shows that the spatial structure ahead is extremely unstable, the energy field readings are abnormally chaotic, and the density of various unknown high-risk energy particles exceeds the standard." Chu Yao's voice rang in everyone's ears. Her virtual image frowned, and data streams flashed rapidly in her eyes. "According to the analysis, the risk factor of directly approaching the main urban area exceeds 98.7%. It is recommended... to stop advancing."
Su Qing didn't speak, but her face was even paler than usual, and her gaze was fixed on the city, as if she could see through the dim light and see the terror hidden inside.
Her aura also became somewhat unstable, as if the existence of this city had touched some deep memories or power within her.
Lin Yi took a deep breath, suppressing the unease surging in his heart.
Xuanmingzi's words still echoed in his ears—"the hunting ground."
This is by no means an exaggeration.
“Stopping is not an option.” Lin Yi’s voice was calm and firm. “Chu Yao, scan the city’s perimeter and find a relatively safe entrance or weak point. We won’t rush in directly; we’ll scout the situation first.”
"Understood, multi-dimensional scan in progress... Warning! High-intensity energy reaction detected! Directly ahead, 500 meters away, underground!" Chu Yao's voice suddenly rose.
Almost the instant she finished speaking!
Boom—!
The ground beneath their feet suddenly collapsed!
No, it didn't collapse, but rather it rolled up like a living thing!
The hard rocky ground instantly turned into a vortex like quicksand, and a powerful suction force came from below, trying to drag them into an unknown abyss!
"Spatial Trap!" Lin Yi reacted the fastest, instantly activating the power of [Space-Time Domination]!
A layer of pale golden spacetime power spread out like ripples, forcibly stabilizing the spatial structure within a ten-meter radius beneath their feet. The quicksand-like ground temporarily solidified under this power.
"Go!" Lin Yi shouted in a low voice, and took the lead in leaping to the side.
Long Wu followed closely behind. He stomped his foot, and golden dragon energy erupted, forcefully creating a solid landing point on the ground that was about to collapse again. At the same time, he grabbed Su Qing, who was a little slower to react, and pulled her out as well.
Chu Yao's virtual figure was even more agile, transforming directly into a stream of data and instantly appearing in a safe zone.
However, this is just the beginning!
Whoosh whoosh!
The moment they landed, countless fine silver threads appeared out of thin air around them. These threads were thinner than a hair, yet they exuded a terrifying sharpness that could cut through anything. Like a giant spider web, they descended upon them!
"The materialization of the law of cutting?!" Lin Yi's eyes narrowed. These threads were not physical objects, but pure manifestations of the power of the law, rendering ordinary physical defenses completely ineffective!
"Time...stop!" Lin Yi roared, and deep in his pupils, the illusory scale representing time spun rapidly.
Centered on him, within a radius of thirty meters, the flow of time suddenly slowed down dramatically. The rapidly cutting silver threads seemed to be stuck in viscous amber, their speed reduced by more than a hundred times!
"Now! Long Wu, break through on the right!" Lin Yi shouted at the same time.
"Roar!" Long Wu understood, and his whole body shone with golden light. The power of the true dragon bloodline erupted without reservation. A lifelike golden dragon shadow roared and appeared behind him. He threw a punch, and the violent dragon energy turned into a thick golden beam of light, which slammed into the densest part of the slowly moving silver threads!
Sizzle—!
The threads of law collided with the dragon energy, producing a piercing friction sound, and the space itself trembled slightly.
Although Long Wu's attack failed to completely destroy these threads of law, it still managed to tear open a gap!
"Chu Yao, scan the trap's core or control node!" Lin Yi commanded while maintaining the time freeze.
The triggering and linkage of this trap were too fast to have formed naturally; there must be something manipulating it behind the scenes.
"Scanning... Abnormal energy nodes detected, located 15 meters underground, three... no, five! They are moving and connected to each other, forming a dynamic defense array!" Chu Yao reported rapidly. "This... this is a highly intelligent trap system!"
Intelligent system!
Lin Yi felt a chill run down his spine; this confirmed Xuan Mingzi's theory about the "hunting ground."
Not only is it dangerous here, but there are also "hunters" around!
"Can it interfere with or disrupt?"
"Attempt to infiltrate...failed! The opponent's firewall is extremely high-level and contains unknown laws of power...wait, I've discovered a pattern! Their energy flow has a brief interval, about 0.3 seconds, but the position is constantly changing..."
Just as Chu Yao was analyzing, more traps were triggered!
The ground cracked open, spraying out a highly corrosive black liquid. An invisible mental shockwave condensed in the air, and even the space itself began to randomly fold and shift in small areas!
In an instant, danger lurked everywhere!
Lin Yi used the [Time and Space Domination] ability to its fullest extent, sometimes accelerating himself to dodge fatal attacks, sometimes freezing time in a small area to buy opportunities for his teammates, and sometimes using space jumps to move his position.
Long Wu transformed into a bulldozer on the battlefield, using his powerful physique and dragon energy to withstand damage and violently break through obstacles.
Although Su Qing's face was pale, her eyes grew brighter and brighter. It seemed that under this pressure, some kind of hidden power within her was being awakened. She began to be able to predict the trigger points of some traps and the flow of energy, and kept giving warnings.
"Energy eruption three meters to the left front!"
"Watch out above, a spatial rift!"
"Dragon Five, it's afraid of shocks!"
With Su Qing's increasingly accurate prompts and Chu Yao's initial grasp of the intelligent system's patterns, coupled with Lin Yi and Long Wu's strong execution, the four of them, though in a sorry state, managed to withstand this series of traps that could be considered a fatal blow!
However, before they could catch their breath, a series of heavy, mountain-like footsteps approached from afar, accompanied by a teeth-grinding metallic scraping sound. From the edge of the dim halo that shrouded the city ahead, several enormous figures slowly emerged!
That's... a guard!
There are five guardians in total, each over ten meters tall, made entirely of a dark metal that seems to absorb light. Their shapes are ancient and ferocious, with scarlet light shimmering at their joints.
They wield massive battle axes or hammers that match their size, with visible black energy swirling around the blades and heads, radiating an aura of destruction and death.
These guards had no eyes, only a deep darkness beneath their helmets, but Lin Yi could clearly sense that five cold, lifeless, and bloodthirsty "gazes" had locked onto them!
“Data analysis… The material of the guardians is unknown, and the intensity of their energy reaction… far exceeds previous records! Each one possesses at least near-demigod-level physical destructive power! Furthermore… they seem to have extremely high resistance to attacks based on laws!” Chu Yao’s voice carried a hint of disbelief and solemnity.
Demigod level! And there are five of them!
Long Wu licked his dry lips, his face showing no fear but rather a bloodthirsty excitement: "Good! Perfect timing to test my newly mastered dragon combat technique on you!"
Before he finished speaking, he had already charged out like a cannonball, golden dragon energy transforming into armor covering his entire body, facing the giant axe guard at the very front!
"boom!"
The dragon fist and the giant axe collided violently, unleashing a deafening roar that sent shockwaves ripping up the surrounding ground!
Long Wu's body swayed, and he was actually knocked back half a step. The guard only leaned back slightly, and once again raised the giant axe in his hand high, with a whooshing sound that tore through the air, and chopped down with force!
"What a hard tortoise shell!" Long Wu roared and charged forward again.
"We can't fight them head-on!" Lin Yi immediately assessed the situation. "These guards are clearly physical tanks, and they're likely linked to the trap system! Chu Yao, continue the analysis! Su Qing, where are their weaknesses?"
Su Qing's eyes were closed, with a faint light flickering between her brows. After a few seconds, she suddenly opened her eyes and said urgently, "The core! Their energy core is three inches to the left of the center of their chest cavity! That's the center of energy flow, and also a relatively weak point in their defense! But... there's an energy shield protecting the core, we need to break through the shield first!"
Having obtained crucial information, Lin Yi immediately adjusted his tactics.
"Long Wu, hold them off from the front! Chu Yao, calculate the shield frequency, I'll focus the attack on the core!"
"clear!"
Lin Yi's figure blurred instantly, and the next second he appeared beside a guard.
The power of time and space condensed at his fingertips, transforming into an invisible and intangible blade that precisely pierced the spot Su Qing pointed to!
However, just as his fingertips were about to touch the guard's breastplate, a layer of scarlet energy shield suddenly lit up, perfectly blocking his attack!
"Shield activated! Frequency analysis in progress... Analysis complete! The shield has a charging interval of 0.1 seconds!" Chu Yao's voice came in time.
0.1 second!
What is fleeting for ordinary people is enough for Lin Yi, the [Master of Time and Space]!
"Time, slow down!"
Centered on the guards, the flow of time was forcibly slowed down once again!
The moment when the crimson shield had just gone out and was about to recharge was stretched out indefinitely!
"Space, banish!"
Lin Yi's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he made a fist with his right hand, locking onto the area in front of the guard's chest with a powerful spatial force.
He didn't intend to attack the core directly, but rather to temporarily "exile" that area, along with the shield that was about to re-form, into the dimensional rift!
laugh--!
On the guard's breastplate, a palm-sized area along with the metal on it vanished instantly, revealing an energy core inside that flickered with an unstable red light!
"Now!"
Without Lin Yi's reminder, Long Wu, who had been poised to strike, roared and unleashed a golden dragon breath, condensed to its extreme, which shot towards the exposed core with laser-like precision!
boom!!!
A deafening explosion rang out, and the ten-meter-tall metal guard froze abruptly. The red light on its chest flickered wildly a few times before it exploded into countless fragments!
It was a success!
First kill! Team morale soars!
However, at that very moment, something unexpected happened!
It was as if their success had thoroughly enraged the city's "masters" or triggered a deeper level of defense mechanisms.
The dim aura that enveloped everything in the entrance area of the Forgotten City suddenly fluctuated violently!
A pressure far more terrifying, vast, and despairing than the previous traps and guards swept in like a tsunami!
The ground began to crack, space groaned under the strain, and the halo in the sky spun faster, forming a huge and deep vortex. At the center of the vortex, an indescribable, mysterious light, seemingly containing the secrets of the birth and destruction of the universe, was slowly rising!
As soon as the light appeared, all the traps stopped instantly, and the remaining four guards froze in place as if they had lost their power.
But this was not a good thing, because an even greater, indescribable pressure was directly acting on the souls of Lin Yi and the others!
Under this pressure, Long Wu's dragon energy was almost forced back into his body. Su Qing groaned, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth. Chu Yao's virtual image also began to flicker violently, on the verge of collapse.
Only Lin Yi, under this terrifying pressure, although he also felt an unprecedented sense of suffocation, his [Time and Space Dominator] divine spark seemed to be stimulated by some kind of same origin but a higher existence, and actually... began to surge violently and uncontrollably!
A spatial and temporal force far exceeding his current control was growing and boiling wildly within his body, as if it were about to burst out and echo the mysterious light in the sky!
Crisis? Or...opportunity?
Lin Yi's heart pounded violently as he felt the familiar yet unfamiliar surge of power within his body. His gaze was fixed on the increasingly bright light at the center of the vortex.
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