The Dark Silent Forest

Chapter 18: Dark Silent Forest

This was a mountain range, a boundless dark mountain range, as if a splashed-ink painting by God—vivid yet... sunless.

The sky was gloomy and oppressive. Occasional thunderclaps sounded like ancient, resonant bell tolls, bringing a faint touch of liveliness to the otherwise silent forest.

Silent Forest, or Hunting Forest—that was the name of this dark, silent woodland. Where the name came from, probably no one could say anymore.

At some point, a cliff had appeared in this forest, and from it, a human slowly emerged.

It was a man. His silver hair and silver armor seemed utterly out of place against the surroundings.

The man had barely appeared at the cliff when he vanished in an instant. The moment he disappeared, a pitch-black lightning bolt struck the cliff, shattering it to pieces in the blink of an eye.

Not far from the cliff, the man's figure reappeared. He carefully observed his surroundings, and only after confirming it was safe did he let out a breath of relief:

"That was close. Looks like this mission won't be easy to complete."

No sooner had he spoken than he vanished again, reappearing a thousand meters away.

This man was Yi Chen, brought to this forest by the System Mission. He now arrived at a riverbank. Standing on the shore and looking into the water, he saw that the river, like the surrounding environment, was pitch black. The water seemed completely still, unmoving, like a stagnant pool.

Looking further toward the center of the river, he noticed a structure resembling an ancient Egyptian pyramid standing there. However, this building was not made of piled sand and stone.

This pyramid-like structure towered into the clouds. At its peak was an ornament resembling a lightning rod. Light flowed across its surface, eerie and strange, yet it stirred curiosity.

Why is there a building like this here? What's it for?

Yi Chen thought to himself. Then he leaped again, landing at the base of the structure. Wrapping his hand in Dark Energy, he reached out to touch the building. The moment his fingertip made contact, the scene before him began to warp. In a daze, he found himself in a new place.

The surroundings were still the Dark Forest, but slightly different from where he had been before. The trees were denser, clearly deeper into the forest.

Teleportation? Or a wormhole? No, it shouldn't be a wormhole. This world is clearly different from the original one. It might be some other power.

Yi Chen thought to himself, then continued walking deeper into the forest. He decided to keep searching for the pyramid structures, as they might be the way to reach his mission location.

Before long, Yi Chen came to another pyramid structure, identical to the first.

Using the same method, he passed through the building and arrived at another location. He noticed that by using these structures, he seemed to be going deeper layer by layer. His current position was further in than before.

"Beep!"

Just as Yi Chen was about to go deeper, the system's mechanical voice rang out in his mind:

"Due to unforeseen factors in the mission, the system has pre-activated the host's Gene Engine to ensure the host completes the mission successfully."

After transmitting the information, the system's voice fell silent, leaving Yi Chen bewildered. After a brief moment of confusion, he sensed that something had appeared in his consciousness. Then the system's voice continued:

"The host should explore the usage of the engine 'Star Departure' on his own. Since 'Star Departure's' functions overlap with the system, from now on, 'Star Departure' will replace the system in serving the host. Henceforth, except for issuing missions, the system will no longer provide any assistance to the host. May the host soon attain the rank of Main God."

After saying this, the system's voice vanished completely. Yi Chen tried calling out to it but got no response. He then attempted to open the System Store. After confirming that the items in the store were still there, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Yan often taught him about technology, but he hadn't actually studied the specifics yet. So even with the engine activated, he couldn't use it properly. For now, he could only buy what the system already had.

"Fsssh~"

Just as Yi Chen tried to enter the Dark Dimension, a sharp crackling of electricity came from behind. Without time to hesitate, an instant before the black lightning struck him, Yi Chen narrowly leaped to the side. The ancient tree behind him was instantly blasted to pieces.

Yi Chen turned back in alarm. About a hundred and fifty meters ahead stood a figure. But the figure seemed shrouded in some substance, making it hard to see clearly. That substance was very similar to the flowing light on the surface of the pyramid structures Yi Chen had seen earlier, clinging to the figure and also emitting a flowing glow.

Electricity crackled in the figure's eyes, and sparks occasionally flickered at the corners. It looked like a human silhouette, but aside from its human-like shape, it had no human features. Moreover, it seemed to have no signs of life—like a Robot.

The figure showed no anger at having missed Yi Chen. It seemed emotionless, staring at Yi Chen without preparing to attack again. After several minutes of this, the figure turned mechanically and walked down another path, disappearing from Yi Chen's sight.

Seeing the figure leave, Yi Chen didn't stay either. He continued searching for the pyramid structures.

But the journey was no longer as safe as before. Figures like that one appeared from time to time, and each one acted the same—unleashing lightning, and whether it hit or not, they never lingered.

Still, Yi Chen remained vigilant. He was full of curiosity about everything here. In truth, with his Second Generation Divine Body, that level of lightning attack wouldn't harm him, so he could afford to be bolder.

He kept searching for the pyramid structures. Now they were harder to find than before, no longer as conspicuous, as if deliberately hidden in inconspicuous places.

After continuously passing through pyramid structures, Yi Chen could clearly feel that he had gone very deep into the forest. The surroundings had become more humid than before. The stench of rotting plants assaulted his sense of smell, forcing him to hold his breath. The forest remained shrouded in darkness, sunless, eerie, and terrifying.

Finally, an hour after passing through the last structure, Yi Chen arrived at another one. He reached out and touched the flowing light on its surface. In an instant, the scene before him began to change.

Angel Nebula

After another fruitless search for Yi Chen's location, Yan slowly stopped the fluttering of her wings behind her.

She had just returned to Brahma Star from Merlo Star. After coming back to the Angel Nebula from Earth, she had handled the mission Queen Keisha had given her on Merlo Star, then returned here.

But when she got back, she found no trace of Yi Chen at all. Even opening the Scout Eye to check revealed not a shadow of him. This stirred a hint of anxiety in the usually calm and composed Yan.

She wasn't worried about Yi Chen's safety—after all, this was the Angel Nebula. No one in the known universe could take someone away from here without a trace. What worried her was that Queen Keisha had said Yi Chen's genes contained many secrets worth uncovering.

She kept wondering if Yi Chen had discovered some new ability in his genes and accidentally teleported himself to some corner of the unknown universe. If so, whether he could return would depend entirely on himself.

Just now, Yan had asked Queen Keisha to search for Yi Chen's location, but found nothing. With the entire Knowledge Repository backing her, if even the Queen couldn't find him, Yan dared not imagine where Yi Chen had gotten himself to.

"Yan, if he can disappear on his own, he naturally has the ability to come back. Don't worry too much. Trust your male god."

"Ah?... Mm." Yan's pretty face flushed slightly, her tone a little unnatural.

"By the way, Yan, Zhi Xin said she found traces of some demons on Fei Leize. Go take a look?"

"Yes, my Queen."

"By the way, go check on Anixid, but for now there's no need to let her know we exist."

"Understood."

"Mm... I originally wanted your god to accompany you on this mission. Now that you're going alone, be careful. Report back to me immediately if anything unusual happens."

"Thank you for your concern, my Queen. I'll be careful."

"Mm, go ahead."

With that conversation concluded, Yan began preparing to depart for Fei Leize. But before that, she left some markers on Brahma Star—a reminder for when Yi Chen returned. Once she finished, Yan set off for Fei Leize.

On the other side, after passing through the fourth Pyramid Structure, the scene before Yi Chen began to change. When everything settled, he started surveying his surroundings. But as he looked more closely, his pupils sharply contracted, as if stunned by what lay before him—so much so that it took him a long time to come back to his senses.