Chapter 34

[Identity verification complete, work for the day begins.]

After a pleasant gathering with his close friends, Fu Qian put on his work badge on time Sunday morning.

To him, it was no longer just a job, but a rare pleasure.

He couldn’t think of any other work that would make him willingly work overtime on the weekend.

[Warning, leak incident.]

[Name: Angel of Comfort, Code: 1-003]

[Today’s work content has been updated: Enter the containment scene of 1-003 and complete re-containment.]

Unsurprisingly, a new leak incident had occurred.

Fu Qian was accustomed to such incidents by now, but he still became vigilant upon seeing the code number.

This was the first time he had encountered a leaked item with a code number starting with 1.

Fu Qian had always been guessing what the prefix of these item numbers truly represented.

According to simple logical deductions, the code numbers should at least follow some sort of pattern, like the smaller the number, the more dangerous it could be.

If that were the case, the difficulty of this containment would likely be quite high; he needed to be fully alert.

Besides the code number, the anomalous phenomena caused by the warehouse leak were also a bit strange this time.

The illusory image caused by the leak was a white sphere about two meters in diameter.

Fu Qian observed it repeatedly, confirming there was nothing special about it – it was just a sphere without even a pattern on it.

[Entering the containment scene of 1-003]

[…1%…5%…10%…55%…75%…100%, scene loading complete.]

[Eternity brings comfort.

Transcendents enjoy exploring various forbidden domains, honing themselves, and seeking advancement.

As a young Transcendent, during an excursion, you and many of your peers stepped into an unknown realm filled with fog and ancient structures, imbued with a mysterious aura.

Unfortunately, the explorers were unaware that not all paths have a return journey.]

[Skills: Air Bullet, Visceral Critical Strike, Cat School.]

[Weapon: Tyrant’s Fist.]

[Containment achievement condition: Escape the furnace.]

[Current SAN Points: 56, current Inspiration: 16.]

A series of explanatory texts flashed by, and Fu Qian regained his perception.

“Strange, is this place on the map?”

Someone was speaking ahead, and Fu Qian looked in the direction of the voice, finding himself amidst the ruins of some buildings.

The sky was misty overhead, obscuring the sun, moon, and stars.

At the moment, there was a team within the ruins that looked quite young, averaging about twenty years old.

Though young, their strengths were not weak; they were all much stronger than Young Master Ye, Ye Yang, and their companions.

There were even a few with exceptional spirit, probably around the Seventh Phase at least.

More importantly, the group was fully equipped with various swords and weapons; they were armed to the teeth.

Exploration Team, Fu Qian recalled the content from the introduction.

The one who had just spoken was a young man at the forefront of the team. He was frowning and signaling for the others to stop.

“There’s no path again; the layout of this place is too chaotic,” he said.

He was right, the path the group had been following was cut off; a broken wall was inserted at an angle, and the mottled marks on the stones looked very old.

The wall could certainly be climbed over, but what was on the other side was uncertain.

Not only the broken walls, but a careful look into the distance revealed that this place was a hodgepodge of architecture.

Spires, archways, stone columns, a jumble of chaotic elements squeezed together—just one glance was enough to induce a visceral disapproval.

At this moment, all these structures were shrouded in a layer of greyish-white mist.

The mist wasn’t very dense, yet it carried an inexplicable obscuring effect that made it difficult to see what lay beyond.

“Liushuang, should we stop here?”

The young man surveyed the surroundings and looked at another person in the team, seemingly seeking an opinion.

The one he called Liushuang was a girl around his age, walking right behind him.

This girl had a beautiful face, with features as if painted, and even in simple clothes designed for ease of movement, her stunning beauty was undeniable, no less than Wen Li whom they had encountered earlier.

“Indeed, it’s a bit strange.”

The girl also furrowed her brow slightly.

“I’ve never heard of such a place here, and there’s no mention of it on the map. Yet, looking at these architectural ruins, they seem rather ancient.”

“There are too many forks in the road here, and we’ve indeed gone too deep. Let’s stop and regroup. There’s no rush at this moment.”

“Even though it’s a free exploration, we’d better not get too far from the other teams; otherwise, it will be tough for Director Li to look after us.”

The two seemed to be the core members of the team, and at their suggestion, everyone agreed almost instantly; the group efficiently unloaded their gear to rest, and quickly a makeshift camp emerged in the wilderness.

A group of young Transcendents, well-prepared for wilderness exploration under good guidance.

Fu Qian made a swift judgment.

This team was strong individually and coordinated well; they must have strayed into these ruins during some exploration.

His mission was to escape from the Furnace — were these architectural graveyards the “Furnace”?

Just by getting out of here, could he complete the containment?

Fu Qian glanced around him; he didn’t see anything that might hinder his escape, but moving through such a place could easily lead to getting lost.

Especially those structures that could serve as landmarks, with their bizarre angles and stacks, could very well create illusions.

Young people are always full of vigor, and soon enough, from the conversations among the group, Fu Qian learned that Liushuang’s full name was Ji Liushuang, and the first to speak was named Yuan Xin, the two strongest members of the team.

The group all hailed from a place called the Academy, an institution dedicated to the specialized training of Transcendents.

Besides this team, there were two other teams, thirty people in total—elites of the Academy, led personally by the vice-principal, a veritable luxury Exploration Team.

Regrettably, this luxury Exploration Team seemed utterly unaware that they had walked into a path of no return.

“Do you recognize what this is?”

At that moment, someone in the team pulled something out from their backpack to show to the others to identify.

“Along the way, there’s hardly any life in these ruins, only this thing directly growing on the rocks. I casually collected some, and the deeper we go, the more there seems to be.”

The person tried to tear it with their hands.

“It’s as fine as a hair but very tough. Seems like it would be a good material.”

Everyone shook their heads, and someone pointed to where Fu Qian was sitting and said with a laugh,

“You could ask Fu Qian; he’s more into researching these strange things.”

Suddenly attracting attention out of nowhere.

Fu Qian had realized earlier that he was on the fringe of the team, not very welcome.

Not only did he walk at the very end during the trek, but no one had spoken to him during the break either.

But now, without a doubt, all eyes were on him.

Seeing that person indeed approach with a smile, holding that thing in front of him.

Fu Qian took a glance.

“Hair.”