Two days later, outside Vast Desolate Town.
The once-desolate border between plain and hills was now completely occupied by a sea of people. Dense figures spread out like a vast migrating colony of ants, blackening the land until there was almost no end in sight.
The clamor was deafening, gathering into an enormous, chaotic wave of sound that rolled and collided in the air before spreading far into the distance. Even Vast Desolate Town, several miles away, could hear it clearly.
At this time, Lin Ming and the two women stood near the rear of the crowd. They had chosen a slightly higher slope and were quietly looking at the vast, spectacular, yet heart-palpitating tide of people ahead.
"This number... is probably no fewer than five or six thousand." Lin Ming swept his gaze over them. With a slight probe of his Soul Power, he arrived at a rough estimate, and for a moment, he could not help clicking his tongue and shaking his head.
And this was the number of "survivors" who had ultimately decided to participate in this joint operation after the dreadful news of the first batch of explorers being wiped out had frightened people off, and after two days of waiting and screening. One could imagine just how terrifying the original flood of people pouring into Vast Desolate Town had been.
"Since those Ancient Ruins back then, this is the first time I've seen experts gathered on such a scale." A trace of gravity also flashed through Qing Lin's cold eyes as she softly added, "And this time, their quality is far higher by who knows how much."
Indeed, although among the black mass of people before them, there was no lack of "cannon fodder" whose strength was only at the Dou Emperor or Dou Wang