Meihe's Journey

Rie was controlling the wooden house inside the special controller (one of the questions in the World Elementary Mage and Mage Qualification Exams. This special device contained seventy-eight wooden pieces of different sizes. Mages only had to channel magic into it to practice. Controlling magic was extremely important, especially for necromancers. If they couldn't control their necromantic magic well, they definitely couldn't summon powerful skeletons. But with good control, they could summon a fully armed skeleton using only a tiny amount of magic.

Feisu Chinese Network). Rie still couldn't fully control the flow of magic, so the trickle she channeled wavered like it was being blown about by the wind, making the wooden piece she was controlling tilt up and down...

"Rie, we're almost there. Stop practicing for now." Heming had already stopped practicing the Pitch Black Heart Method. He'd been watching Rie practice with the strange device for a while.

"Oh, then you try it first. I can't get more than five pieces together." Rie handed the special controller to Heming.

Heming frowned, thinking that he'd never tried controlling magic before.

"Wow, you're amazing! You managed to control it steadily right away. How did you do that? Teach me!" Rie had expected Heming to be just as unsteady as she was, but his control over magic was excellent...

Heming put down the special controller and said, "I don't know. I can just control it, that's all."

Just then, the girl sitting in front of Rie on the same plane turned around and stood up. "The Pitch Black Heart Method can increase your magic and energy, and it can also alter your body. The most important thing about Pitch Black is controlling energy, so when you practice the Pitch Black Heart Method, your magic control already surpasses that of an ordinary mage. This special controller is basically child's play for someone from Pitch Black."

After hearing the girl's explanation, Heming felt a little embarrassed. He smiled and said, "Hello, I'm Guangcheng Heming, and this is Sanada Rie." Rie also smiled and greeted the girl who had answered their question.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Guangcheng Minghong, leader of the Pitch Black Africa Field Special Operations Group. Pleased to meet you. What are you going to Africa for?" Minghong was an African woman who seemed to be of Asian descent from her skin, though she was quite dark from the sun. She had an extremely ordinary face and wore a dress common in Africa, with a sea-blue hair clip in her hair. Her figure was pretty ordinary, too...

Heming took out the Biological Data Scout and said, "We've been sent to Meihe, a new uninhabited zone in Africa. We're supposed to find a new creature there and capture it. If we can't catch it, we'll observe it for a while, then ask the African branch for help."

Minghong grinned at Heming and Rie. "Meihe is a relatively clean uninhabited zone. Just watch out for the insects there. There's one kind that causes hallucinations when it bites you, and that's no fun. The hallucinations take several hours to fade. Oh, the plane's landed. I need to go file a report at the company, so I'll head off. If you have time, come visit me. It's only a field operations group, but we've got some fun stuff, at least." With that, she grabbed her suitcase and hurried out.

Heming and Rie exchanged a glance and stood up as well. Heming carried a suitcase that evidently held only a few changes of Rie's clothes...

Feibu was currently one of Africa's largest commercial cities, boasting countless business facilities and the best transportation, food, and entertainment around—at least, the best in Africa...

Heming and Rie went to the designated meeting point to wait for their contact. Not everyone dared to go to a place like Meihe, and without a guide, they couldn't get there. Of course, even with a guide, all they would do was take them to Meihe's entrance.

Meihe had been created two years earlier when aliens suddenly attacked. At the time, the whole world had organized a joint army to wipe them out. But by the time the army reached this place, only the aliens' corpses remained; everything else had vanished. Meihe had gradually emerged amid the pollution, and a year ago, the World Environment Organization had designated it an uninhabited and uninhabitable zone.

That was all Heming knew about it...

Half an hour later, the guide arrived. He drove Heming and Rie to the entrance of a forest and said, "Walk through here for half a day and you'll reach Meihe. That's as far as my job goes. The rest is up to you."

Heming thanked him and got out of the car...

This was Meihe's buffer zone. There were no terrestrial creatures left in this forest. Sometimes, creatures from Meihe wandered near the buffer zone, but they soon went back. They weren't suited to the environment here, and the buffer zone had plants but no animals.

The two walked at a brisk pace. After about half an hour, Rie asked to rest. She hadn't practiced the Pitch Black Heart Method, and although she didn't need to eat and so on, her stamina was still limited.

After a brief rest, they continued on. The buffer zone truly lived up to its reputation. Aside from a few kinds of plants, there really weren't any living creatures—not even a single insect, the most common sight in an ordinary forest.

After half a day on the road, the two finally reached the legendary uninhabited zone, Meihe. This place seemed almost like another planet. Its plants and creatures all had their own strange qualities.

It was clearly the place biologists most wanted to explore. Yet, so far, it had only been disturbed twice, and one expedition had lost two experienced biological experts. After that, people only speculated about what might be occupying the area, and few mentioned coming here to explore.

More than a dozen species from this region had been made public, and insects accounted for two-thirds of them.

As soon as they entered Meihe, Rie put up a magic shield to protect herself from the insects.

Meihe was roughly [corrupted text] kilometers across. Many strange creatures lived here, and just as they entered, Heming spotted a creature he'd never seen before.

It had a black shell and no arms or legs. Its two eyes were set in the middle of the shell, glancing around from time to time. It rested on a yellow plant, its shell glimmering faintly purple. Suddenly, a red insect that looked like a mosquito flew onto its shell. The moment the insect landed, the shell sucked it in. Slowly, like a swamp, it absorbed the red insect completely. From the outside, the creature really did look like nothing but a shell...

What other creatures lived here? Heming wondered in surprise. Perhaps he needed to start paying close attention to his surroundings...

Yellow plants were everywhere here. Maybe yellow replaced green on alien worlds? It was only a guess.

Unfortunately, Rie had no interest in the place. City girls were unlikely to enjoy this sort of thing. From the moment she entered, she'd decided to simply follow Heming and never walk in front.

It was already evening. Heming was about to find a place to set up camp. The tent was suspended off the ground, which helped keep it safe. Made from special materials, it was even bulletproof, so sleeping inside was quite safe.

Rie was exhausted and needed a good rest. Heming let her go in first. At the entrance, Rie summoned a skeleton carrying a broadsword. It needed very little magic each day to stay alive, and it was utterly loyal. It didn't need to eat or sleep, and it would attack any living creature except those Rie had authorized to pass.

Rie fell asleep soon after entering the tent. Sleep was the only way she could replenish her magic for now; she still couldn't recover it through meditation.

Heming glanced at Rie and wondered, What exactly are we to each other now?

After thinking for a while, Heming decided to go out and have a look. He wanted to explore, but he was also worried about Rie, so he planned to stay within [corrupted text] meters of the tent. That way, he could rush back if anything happened.

Outside, Heming studied the skeleton by the entrance. The skeleton naturally had no idea he was looking at it; it just stood motionless. It was a fairly well-summoned skeleton, with a weapon and helmet. It even wore a pair of battered boots, though unfortunately it had no shirt or trousers.

Heming walked over to a nearby tree outside the tent. He'd been wondering what was wrong, and only when he reached the tree did he remember: he'd come here to find a new creature, but everything here was new. Which one was he supposed to find? He couldn't even use the Biological Data Scout to identify the shelled creature he'd just spotted.

Heming took out his phone and called Qiming...

Fortunately, there was a signal everywhere in the world as long as you were on the ground...

"Hello, Qiming? It's Heming. I'm in Meihe now, but I don't know what new creature I'm supposed to catch. Everything here is new, and the Biological Data Scout is useless." Heming sounded rather frustrated.

"Ah? Oh, right, I forgot to give you the information. Listen, the creatures over there don't have energy or magic. If one of them has magic or an energy fluctuation, that's the one. Catch it and bring it back. I'm busy, so I have to go." Qiming sounded rushed and hung up right away.

Heming shook his head and put his phone away. At least he now knew what to catch: a creature with an energy or magic fluctuation. In other words, something like the Water Dragon last time.

According to Qiming, the Water Dragon they'd caught had just mutated, and its energy hadn't fully recovered. Otherwise, Heming would never have been able to catch it.

The tree near Heming had shifted slightly while he was talking to Qiming. Heming had sensed it. It was slowly moving away because of his arrival, clearly frightened by him. It was no different from a tree on Earth, except its leaves were yellow.

Heming found it strange, so he moved closer. This time, the tree's movement was even more obvious. Its roots supported its whole body as it slowly moved, walking on them like legs—just very slowly.

After observing it for a moment, Heming went elsewhere. He didn't want to keep bothering the walking tree; walking had to be hard for it. This time, he went over to a patch of tall grass. The grass was pale yellow, and several flea-like insects were hopping around on it. The alien fleas were green, and they seemed bigger than an American cockroach. Clearly, they didn't live on blood.

Curious, Heming took out the Biological Data Scout and pointed it at the alien fleas. This time, the device responded, but not to the fleas—to the patch of grass.

Keleimu, one of the main plants of the Keleimu planet. It had an extremely strong ability to survive, and its entire body was very tough. Tests showed that even a rocket launcher couldn't damage it. This creature lived on water; with just a tiny drop, it could survive for [corrupted text] days. Of course, this plant was extremely rare on Earth. There might only be a dozen or so patches...

"Roar!" A sound like a tiger's came from the direction of the tent. Heming heard it and immediately turned and ran toward the tent.

Under the tent, the skeleton was holding its sword, ready to attack a strange pale-purple creature...