Even if the mountains collapse and the earth cracks, I, Xu Fan, will remain calm and composed!

Incredible.

Unfathomable.

Every viewer glued to the livestream was left utterly dumbfounded.

Setting out around seven in the morning, it was now nearly noon.

A full five-plus hours.

Xu Fan and Holo—one man, one wolf—hadn't stopped for a moment, at most pausing briefly to replenish fresh water.

The rest of the time, they maintained a marathon-level pace.

The most terrifying part...

Xu Fan's breathing rhythm hadn't wavered from start to finish.

As if this long trek was as routine as a walk in the park for him.

On the other hand, the Female Snow Wolf occasionally slowed down mid-journey.

"Xu Fan's stamina is just too terrifying, right? How does he do it? Is he even human?"

"I dare say if Xu Fan entered a full marathon, he'd be champion, and he'd even break the all-time record!"

"It must have something to do with the reward from the Treasure Chest. After all, the description said wrist strength enhancement, not just wrist enhancement—Xu Fan's leg strength should have been boosted too."

Amid their shock, viewers scrambled to find objective excuses for Xu Fan.

Because they absolutely refused to believe a human could possess such freakish stamina!

And from the footage, Xu Fan showed no signs of fatigue.

This meant he could maintain his current speed and keep going.

So the question was...

Where was Xu Fan's limit?

Six hours?

Eight hours?

Or ten hours?

No one knew.

Of course...

The more Xu Fan's performance surpassed human limits, the happier the Yan Kingdom viewers were.

After all, Xu Fan represented Yan Kingdom.

Every resource he found in the Forbidden Land would manifest within Yan Kingdom's borders!

They shared a common interest!

Not to mention, Yan Kingdom's sense of national belonging had always been one of the strongest on Blue Star!

On the other hand, viewers from other countries flooding the livestream.

Seized every opportunity to mock Xu Fan.

Sour beyond belief.

But there was no helping it.

Though Xu Fan wasn't the first contestant to obtain Forbidden Land resources, he was the one who'd obtained the most.

He was also the first to tame a Forbidden Land beast.

And a D-Rank Beast at that!

No comparison, no harm.

So-called wilderness survival experts.

Special forces soldiers.

They couldn't hold a candle to him.

But...

Just as everyone was focused intently on Xu Fan's every move.

The Female Snow Wolf, following close behind Xu Fan, suddenly stopped.

Not only that, but the fur on its body stood on end, its lips curled back to reveal sharp fangs, and it let out a low, warning "growl" from time to time.

The Female Snow Wolf...

Was bristling!

"What's going on?" Host Xiao Ying was taken aback, a sense of foreboding rising in her heart.

"It's a stress response," Brother Qiang immediately explained.

"It's a kind of non-specific reaction triggered by a stressful stimulus."

"It's an animal's instinctive self-defense."

"Though I'm not sure why the Female Snow Wolf suddenly turned like this, I dare say something dangerous must be hidden in that seemingly calm snowy forest!"

Brother Qiang's face turned ashen.

Many contestants from other countries still hadn't encountered any danger at all.

But look at their Xu Fan.

Sure, his luck was good, but he'd also fallen into dangerous situations the most times.

Worst of all...

The Female Snow Wolf's danger level reached D-Rank.

Even if it couldn't match the Snow Wolf King, its combat power wasn't far off.

E-Rank and E+-Rank beasts couldn't threaten it at all.

Let alone trigger a stress response.

Judging from that, the danger source lurking nearby was no small matter!

"I wonder if Xu Fan can turn danger into safety this time..." Yuan Yuan swallowed hard and couldn't help murmuring.

And the billions of viewers in the livestream all began sweating for Xu Fan.

Inside the Forbidden Land...

Xu Fan quickly noticed the Female Snow Wolf's stress response.

"Hm?"

Xu Fan furrowed his brows slightly and followed the direction the Female Snow Wolf was warily staring.

"Observation Haki!"

Xu Fan shouted inwardly, instantly spreading Observation Haki to cover a radius of several hundred meters.

It wasn't just the Female Snow Wolf acting strangely.

All the other creatures in the snowy forest were spooked too.

Sika Deer bolted through the woods.

All kinds of birds flapped their wings rapidly, scrambling to flee the mountain.

And some weaker creatures—

Like rabbits, for instance—curled up, eyes vacant.

It was like the apocalyptic scene before a volcanic eruption.

The thing stressing out the Female Snow Wolf wasn't some beast!

"Could it be..."

In that instant, a possibility flashed through Xu Fan's mind.

Natural disaster!

Only the power of nature could terrify every living thing like this!

"Holo, we—"

But before Xu Fan could even finish saying "go,"

The earth began to shake violently.

Under Xu Fan and the Female Snow Wolf's feet, visible cracks split open.

And they kept growing.

Nearby mountain slopes started to slide, countless rolling boulders and uprooted trees tumbling down.

Even the Female Snow Wolf, a D-Rank Beast, couldn't stop its legs from trembling.

It had never experienced something like this in the Forbidden Land.

Seeing this, Xu Fan stepped forward, spread his right hand's fingers, and grabbed hard.

He locked onto the Female Snow Wolf's scruff.

Then.

The muscles in Xu Fan's arm exploded with strength, and like lifting a kitten, he hoisted the hundred-jin Female Snow Wolf off the ground.

But what was baffling...

Xu Fan didn't turn and run.

Instead, he stared ahead, standing his ground with extreme confidence.

Though he didn't know why the mountain had suddenly changed like this, this level of natural disaster clearly wasn't something you could outrun on foot.

So...

Xu Fan took a deep breath and unleashed the power of the Gura Gura no Mi on the spot.

The air around him was rapidly compressed.

In an instant, the compressed air coalesced beneath Xu Fan's feet.

Crack...

With a sound of air shattering, this force surged directly into the earth.

It caused the ground under his feet to clash violently with the trembling mountain forest.

In that fleeting moment, the two most primal, most savage forces achieved a delicate balance.

Not only that, but under the influence of Xu Fan's ability, the boulders and trees rolling down the mountain all veered around him.

For a time, only the spot where Xu Fan stood remained a patch of pure sanctuary.

The viewers in the livestream were all dumbfounded.

They stared at Xu Fan with looks of utter incomprehension.

"Xu Fan, why aren't you running? Run!"

"Ahhh, why is Xu Fan just standing there? Get out of there!"

"What are you waiting for? If you don't run now, it'll be too late!"

The Yan Kingdom viewers, unaware of the truth, frantically typed, hoping Xu Fan would move.

Meanwhile, some foreign viewers seized the chance to mock him.

"Your contestant must be scared stiff, can't even take a step."

"I reckon that Xu Fan guy is dead for sure this time."