Forbidden Zone's First Appearance

Meanwhile.

In a mountainous area dozens of kilometers away from Qingcheng.

Fiery exhaust trails streaked across the dark night sky like meteors, plunging into the depths of the mountains.

Each scorching beam of light represented an expensive hypersonic remote guidance missile.

This kind of high-tech weapon.

Even during the Golden Age, a complete military-industrial system was required for production, and the cost was not low.

In the Red Moon Era, where technology had declined, the value of each hypersonic missile was immeasurable.

These weapons were essentially used one by one in a short period.

Of course.

The power of these weapons also absolutely matched their high price.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

High-precision guided missiles.

Propelled by the flames from their engines, they launched at terrifying speeds far exceeding the speed of sound towards the Forbidden Zone that had appeared in the mountains.

Even passing at an altitude of several hundred meters.

The strong winds generated by the missiles as they streaked across the sky caused the vegetation on both sides to instantly bend low.

Several ancient trees growing on the edge of the cliff could not withstand the terrifying wind pressure. Their thick, dark roots let out a mournful cry before slowly falling to the ground.

Rumble!

Several missiles, carrying immense kinetic energy, impacted the dark, continuous mountainous terrain.

Immediately, seven or eight huge dark red fireballs ignited, appearing out of nowhere in everyone's sight.

The flames were initially dark red, then burned fiercely, turning into scorching white light, like rounds of sun, dispelling the darkness. Shockwaves lifted large swathes of the earth.

In the mountains, the strange trees that had grown like demons, with their branches and claws flailing under the influence of the Red Moon.

Those that were closer were directly vaporized and reduced to dust.

Even those that were far enough away to avoid the first wave of the most powerful explosive flames were uprooted by the subsequent shockwaves, falling haphazardly to the ground.

At each spot where a missile landed, a large number of mutated creatures had gathered.

Among them were even some colossal Supernatural Mutated Creatures, dozens of meters long.

Affected by the Red Moon, these creatures had become larger, their claws and teeth sharper, their speed more agile, and their perception of danger more acute.

They had sensed the warheads falling rapidly from the sky long ago.

But under the precise strikes at several times the speed of sound, the only thing these mutated creatures could do was lift their heads and look towards the sky as destruction arrived.

The flames were like a tide.

Instantly engulfing a large number of mutated creatures.

Even powerful Tier 2 Supernatural Creatures, caught in the aftermath of the explosions, were doomed.

Their tough bodies were torn apart, and some of their flesh and blood hadn't even fully detached from their bones before being vaporized by the high temperatures.

When the aftershocks of the explosions slowly subsided, only a few thick beast bones remained on the scorched earth.

Indicating that powerful supernatural creatures had once appeared here.

Powerful mutated supernatural creatures were almost powerless to resist the impact of humanity's cutting-edge weaponry.

This should have been a cause for great joy.

But in a temporary field base not far from the mountains.

In the command center.

The commander of the combat department, a tall man with graying temples wearing a field uniform, put down his binoculars, his face as grim as if it could drip water.

"Something's wrong!"

The man in uniform tightly gripped his binoculars, veins bulging on the back of his hand.

"What's the situation?"

Beside him, an old man in a white coat with a scholarly appearance couldn't help but ask.

"A total of sixteen missiles were provided, but only seven successfully detonated."

"The other missiles just disappeared into thin air."

No explosion.

No obstruction encountered.

One moment they were flying at high speed in mid-air, and the next they had vanished from sight.

Even the professional instruments responsible for adjusting their trajectory detected no signal fluctuations.

"The environment and even the physical laws within the Forbidden Zone are different from the outside. We should be fortunate that this Forbidden Zone was discovered relatively early, otherwise, by the time its area further expands, not a single one of these missiles would detonate."

The old man in the white coat pushed up his glasses and said calmly.

"You're right, it's just..."

Thinking of the brutal battles about to erupt, the man in uniform couldn't help but sigh again.

Having fought on the front lines against the Forbidden Zone and mutated creatures for decades, he was naturally not a sentimental person.

But thinking of the young warriors who had accompanied him for many years, full of youthful vigor like children, disappearing before his eyes.

He also felt a pang in his heart.

"The conventional weapons left behind from the Golden Age are becoming increasingly limited in their effectiveness in the current environment."

The minister, with his temples graying, looked up at the nearly endless mutated creatures from the Forbidden Zone, emanating from the depths of the continuous mountain range, and sighed.

"One day, humanity's conventional weapons will become completely useless, and we'll be forced to live within the Forbidden Zone, fighting those monsters. Only Awakened Ones and Supernatural Beings will be able to break through the thorns and carry the heavy burden, carving out a future for the surviving humans."

"It's a pity..."

The old man beside him also had a solemn expression.

"In human society, the number of Awakened Ones is simply too small. Those people from the Golden Age, after decades of research, couldn't develop a controllable evolution plan even as humanity was completely at a disadvantage in the fight against the Red Moon."

"Now, we have even less hope of achieving that."

The same mountain range.

On the other side.

In an inconspicuous mountain valley, a tall willow tree was shrouded in a hazy mist, with several colorful butterflies fluttering around it.

Its lush branches hung down like green waterfalls, swaying gently in the breeze.

With the help of the Butterfly's Spring Return Technique talent.

In just one week, the willow tree grew rapidly, its accumulated vitality reaching the limit of a Tier 1 Lifeform.

The willow tree's height also increased from just over fourteen meters to nearly thirty meters.

Such a massive size was unprecedented in the world before the mutations.

Even in the distorted world affected by the Red Moon, a giant tree over thirty meters tall would stand out in a forest.

Dusk arrived.

Su Heng's consciousness descended into the body of the Second Template Willow Tree.

He first checked the willow tree's condition.

Then, he faintly sensed an anomaly coming from another part of the mountain range.