Sealed Land

The target vanished.

In that moment, with a sudden, inexplicable gust of wind and snow, the two figures—one large, one small—simply disappeared without a trace. Under the cover of the blizzard, few noticed the path of their departure, and even those who did could not stop them. From a certain perspective, this was a dimensional bullying.

Outside the Sandbox, Lin Tuo's hand did not lift any higher. After breaking out of the encirclement, he casually found a spot, set down his Avatar and Hua Xi, then switched his consciousness back inside.

"We're safe." When Hua Xi heard Lin Tuo's voice again, she released her grip and opened her eyes, only to find in surprise that she had arrived in an unfamiliar area. From her perspective, she had only felt the wind howling past her ears, then her feet seemed to step onto some strange "soil," her body briefly rising and then falling. Hmm, as if pulled by some force, she had been teleported. This was truly an unprecedented experience.

"You..." Hua Xi blinked, looking at Lin Tuo. She wanted to ask something, but ultimately closed her mouth, though the confusion and curiosity in her eyes deepened. Lin Tuo had no intention of explaining either, simply saying, "Alright, let's continue."

The Western Mountains were not large, so a few hours later, Lin Tuo's trail was picked up again. Combined with his earlier "disappearance," some speculated that this too might be an ability—hmm, a power that could teleport over a certain distance.

"But does such an ability really exist?" Many harbored similar doubts. After all, while a certain proportion of Evolvers developed Extraordinary Abilities, most were related to the body, more like an evolution of some organ's function. For example, some had an extremely keen sense of smell, others exceptional eyesight, and some could sense changes in the weather... abilities like teleportation were truly too rare. Yet these doubts seemed unimportant.

The hunters of the Floating Apocalypse only knew that the encirclement by the Three Major Powers had utterly failed, and the mysterious strongman's rating had been adjusted to an unprecedented SS-Rank. Nor did this failure cause the native forces of the wasteland to give up; instead, it only strengthened their resolve to kill Lin Tuo. A controllable strongman could still be courted, but if his power grew beyond control, killing him was undoubtedly the safest option.

What baffled them, however, was that the mysterious man seemed to possess some kind of precognitive ability, perfectly dodging their encirclements almost every time. He either left early or activated his "teleport," and after several rounds of this, they not only gained nothing but also delayed their own exploration progress. They were thus forced to divert more energy toward pushing deeper into the Great Western Continent, and discovered, with mixed feelings, that because Lin Tuo's sweeping actions had eliminated a large number of powerful mutated beasts, their own exploration speed had actually increased many times over. It had to be said, this was a somewhat ironic situation.

In this strange atmosphere, another day passed. Lin Tuo continued his body-tempering and eating at his own pace. When he killed another Snow Bear and climbed to the top of a peak, he found that there were no more enemies ahead. Beneath the gloomy sky, a light snow was falling. Before him lay a chaotic valley, and beyond that, only the last mountain remained. In the background stretched the endless, dark sea.

That was the Endless Sea. That was the edge of this continent.

"We've actually come to the edge of the continent..." Wrapped in thick cotton clothes and carrying a rifle, Hua Xi gazed at the sea in awe—this was her first time seeing the ocean. "If I'm not mistaken, that mountain should be a laboratory."

Lin Tuo looked ahead through his scope and noticed clear traces of human construction on the peak's top, base, and waist—especially the top, which had a clearly scrapped large antenna. "It should be. Legend says the Mad Emperor started the Cataclysm at the last mountain by the Endless Sea," Hua Xi said, her expression complex.

After a brief silence, Lin Tuo let out a breath, feeling the accumulated fatigue from continuous fighting and body-tempering, and said, "Let's go take a look."

Through "teleportation," the two took only a dozen seconds to arrive outside the Great Western Continent Laboratory. The lab's entrance was halfway up the mountain, a half-sealed gate. When Lin Tuo and Hua Xi—two figures, one large and one small—stood alone before the imposing gate, both fell silent.

The laboratory's gate was exceptionally plain, with no plaques or decorations, only a white jade statue placed here. It had likely been damaged in the explosion back then. The statue was broken at the waist, its upper half lying in a snowdrift, still maintaining a posture of gripping a pointer.

This is a statue of "Lin Sheng," except the face of the statue had been deliberately polished smooth, erasing all features.

Over the past few days, through Hua Xi's accounts, Lin Tuo had learned that after he left back then, the Chi Kingdom Ruler had erected statues in his honor, passed down for a hundred years.

It wasn't until later, in the final years of his life, that the Mad Emperor of the New Dynasty used ruthless methods to forcibly destroy all statues within the kingdom and forbid anyone from commemorating the Sage.

Unexpectedly, one had actually been preserved here.

"He wanted me to witness this experiment with my own eyes."

Lin Tuo stared at his own statue, a guess rising in his mind.

Shaking his head, he raised his hand and shattered the statue completely. Lin Tuo stepped forward and forcefully pried open the metal door, which was already on the verge of collapse. With a little effort, he tore open a gap.

"Let's go in and take a look," Lin Tuo said, then walked in first.

Passing through a corridor, the view suddenly opened up, and a massive, spacious experimental hall came into sight.

Thirty years had passed, yet it still retained its old appearance, though the instruments and wiring were all damaged, covered in rust.

Some areas even showed signs of collapse.

Hua Xi followed cautiously, looking around, when suddenly she stepped on something and let out a startled cry.

"They should be the researchers who died back then."

Lin Tuo looked at the dry bones on the ground, his expression somber as he spoke.

The scattered bones of the dead were spread haphazardly across the hall.

From the traces, it seemed a riot had once broken out here.

Lin Tuo couldn't guess the details of what happened back then, but from the postures of the dead bones, they had clearly died in agony.

"They must have been the first humans affected by radiation."

Lin Tuo sighed inwardly. For some reason, facing these sinners who had destroyed an entire civilization, he couldn't muster much anger—only a heavy heart and a silent expression.

Taking a few more steps forward, Lin Tuo's gaze finally landed on a somewhat unusual skeleton on the ground.

It wore a bright yellow coat exclusive to royalty, and due to the environment inside the mountain, the color had somehow been preserved.

This skeleton appeared to belong to an old man, sitting against the wall. Above its head was a broken "window" that looked out to the sea, and even now, the quiet sound of waves could be heard.

In its withered hands, it held a dark green metal box, with several rotten cables connected to the bottom.

Written on it were the words "Detonator."

Clearly, this was the dead Mad Emperor—the first and only emperor of the New Dynasty, who had single-handedly ended the Chi Kingdom's centuries-long rule.

"Click."

As Lin Tuo approached, likely due to vibrations from the ground, the Mad Emperor's skeleton suddenly shook, collapsed, and could no longer support its sitting posture. The box in its hands fell to the ground.

A dark green, square, ancient seal rolled out from the bones, clattering onto the floor.

Lin Tuo's gaze shifted, his eyes moving.

From the inscriptions, he recognized it as the so-called supernatural item said to influence others' minds: the Secret Seal.

So it really was here.

However, its surface was covered in countless cracks, the edges chipped and somewhat dim, as if it had suffered irreversible damage during the incident back then.

Lin Tuo thought for a moment, then reached out and picked it up.

But at that very moment, when he touched this strange seal, the Evolution Sandbox's Virtual Panel automatically popped up in his retina.

A line of text appeared that he had never seen before:

[Special item detected. Analyze it?]

Lin Tuo was startled, growing even more curious. The Evolution Sandbox had this kind of function?

"Analyze," he thought.

A progress bar flashed briefly on the Virtual Panel.

[Analysis complete]

At the same time, a stream of information poured into his mind—the Evolution Sandbox's analysis report on the Secret Seal:

Attributes: Natural mineral supernatural item (suspected to have altered its own structure and gained spirituality due to Aether tides, thus possessing certain special abilities) Rating: Low Status: Severely damaged, on the verge of breaking Ability: By consuming Aether, it can affect the minds of life within a ten-meter radius, producing a hypnotic-like effect. Duration, number of affected individuals, etc., dynamically correlate with the amount of Aether consumed... Negative effects: Will cause certain mental effects on the holder, such as amplifying obsessions, paranoia, loss of reason, madness... Long-term use is not recommended...

"You... what's wrong?" In the lab, seeing Lin Tuo staring blankly at the Secret Seal, Hua Xi's face showed concern. After hesitating for a moment, she stepped forward and tried to call out to him.

"Ah, nothing," Lin Tuo snapped back, giving the girl a reassuring smile. Then, looking at the Secret Seal in his hand, he said with emotion, "I'm just... a little surprised."