Meihe's Journey

Rie was manipulating the wooden house inside the special controller—one of the subjects for the primary-level mage and general mage qualification exams. This device contained seventy-eight wooden blocks of varying sizes, and mages needed only to channel mana into them to practice. Mana control was paramount, especially for necromancers; if one's control was poor, they would fail to summon a powerful skeleton, whereas with precise control, even a tiny amount of mana could summon a fully armed one.

Currently, Rie could not yet fully control the flow of her mana, so her thin threads of energy swayed left and right as if caught in a breeze, causing the wooden block she was manipulating to wobble unsteadily.

"Rie, we're almost there. Stop practicing for now." Heming had already ceased his own practice of the Pitch Black Heart Method; he had been observing Rie's struggle with the strange device for some time.

"Oh, then you try this thing first. I haven't been able to piece together more than five blocks at once." Rie handed the special controller to Heming.

Heming frowned, thinking to himself that he had never practiced mana control before.

"Wow, you're amazing! You stabilized it instantly. How did you do that? Teach me, quick!" Rie had expected Heming to struggle just as she did, but his mana control was impeccable.

Heming set the controller down and said, "I don't know, either. I just... could."

At that moment, a girl sitting in front of them on the plane turned around and stood up. "The Pitch Black Heart Method increases mana and energy while reshaping the body's structure. The most critical aspect of 'Pitch Black' is energy control, so your ability to manage mana while practicing it already surpasses that of an ordinary mage. This special controller is basically child's play for someone like you."

Heming felt a bit embarrassed after hearing the girl's explanation. He smiled and said, "Hello, I am Guangcheng Heming, and this is Sanada Rie." Rie also smiled and greeted the girl who had answered her question.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Guangcheng Minghong, the team leader of the Pitch Black Africa Field Special Operations Group. Pleased to meet you. What brings you to Africa this time?" Minghong was an African girl who appeared to be of Asian descent despite her deep tan. She had a very ordinary face, wore a common local dress, and sported a sea-blue hair clip. Her build was quite average as well.

Heming pulled out the Biological Data Scout and said, "We've been dispatched to a new no-man's-land in Africa, Meihe. We need to find a new species there and capture it. If we aren't strong enough to catch it, we'll observe it for a time and then request assistance from the African branch."

Minghong looked at Heming and Rie with a grin. "Meihe is a relatively 'clean' no-man's-land. Just watch out for the insects there; there's one that causes hallucinations when it bites. That's no fun—the hallucinations take hours to fade. Anyway, we've arrived. I have to go to the company to file my report, so I'll be off. If you have time, come visit me. Even though I'm just with the field ops team, we have plenty of interesting things." With that, she grabbed her briefcase and hurried away.

Heming and Rie exchanged glances and stood up. Heming carried a suitcase, which clearly contained only a few of Rie's clothes.

They arrived in Feibu, a major commercial hub in Africa. It boasted countless commercial facilities, and its transport, dining, and entertainment were the best—relatively speaking, of course, for Africa.

Heming and Rie arrived at the designated location to wait for their guide. Places like Meihe were not somewhere just anyone dared to go; without a guide, one could never reach it, and even with one, they would only take you as far as the entrance.

Meihe had been created two years ago when it was suddenly attacked by aliens. At the time, the world had organized a joint military force to eliminate the invaders, but when they arrived, they found only alien corpses; everything else had vanished. Meihe slowly emerged amidst the pollution, and a year ago, it was officially designated by the World Environmental Organization as a no-man's-land and an uninhabitable zone.

This was the extent of Heming's knowledge on the matter.

Half an hour later, the guide arrived. He drove Heming and Rie to the entrance of a forest and said, "Walk in from here for half a day, and you'll reach Meihe. My mission ends here; the rest is up to you."

Heming thanked him and stepped out of the car.

This was the isolation zone of Meihe. There was no longer any Earth-native life in this forest. Occasionally, creatures from inside Meihe would wander near the perimeter, but they would quickly return, as they were unaccustomed to the environment of the isolation zone, which contained only plants and no animals.

The two walked at a brisk pace. After about half an hour, Rie asked for a rest. After all, she did not practice the Pitch Black Heart Method; while she didn't need to eat, her physical stamina was still limited.

After a short break, they continued their journey. It was truly a legendary isolation zone; aside from a few monotonous plants, there was absolutely no life—not even the common insects found in ordinary forests.

After half a day of trekking, they finally arrived at the legendary no-man's-land: Meihe. It felt as if this place did not belong to Earth; both the plants and the creatures possessed strange, unique traits.

Clearly, this was the place biologists most wanted to explore, yet it had only been disturbed twice. During one expedition, they had lost two experienced biological experts. Since then, it remained a place of speculation, and few people ever mentioned coming here to explore.

Over a dozen species had been publicly identified in this region, though insects accounted for two-thirds of them.

Upon entering Meihe, Rie activated her magic shield to avoid being harassed by insects.

The entire area of Meihe was about a few square kilometers. Many strange creatures lived here. Just as they entered, Heming observed a creature he had never seen before.

It had a black shell, no limbs, and two eyes set in the middle of its casing, constantly darting around. It rested on a yellow plant, its shell shimmering with a faint purple light. Suddenly, a red insect resembling a mosquito flew onto the creature's shell. As soon as the red insect landed, it was sucked in; slowly, like a swamp, the insect was completely absorbed. From the outside, the creature truly looked like nothing more than a shell.

What kind of creatures are still living here? Heming was secretly astonished. Perhaps he needed to be very careful about his surroundings from now on.

Yellow plants were everywhere. Perhaps on alien worlds, yellow replaced green? These were just lingering questions.

Unfortunately, Rie had no interest in this place; it was highly unlikely for a city girl to enjoy such things. Upon entering, she had decided to simply follow Heming and never take the lead.

It was already evening, and Heming prepared to find a spot to set up their tent. This tent was of a suspended design, which provided effective protection. It was made of special materials that were even bulletproof, making it quite safe to sleep inside.

Rie was exhausted and needed a good rest. Heming let her go inside first. At the entrance, Rie summoned a skeleton holding a large blade. This skeleton required very little mana to sustain daily and was perfectly loyal. It didn't need to eat or sleep, and it would attack any creature other than those Rie designated as safe.

Rie fell asleep quickly once inside the tent. Sleep was currently her only way to replenish mana, as she could not yet do so through meditation.

Heming looked at Rie and wondered, What exactly is our relationship now?

After pondering for a while, he decided to go outside and look around. He wanted to explore, but he was also worried about Rie, so he planned to stay within a hundred meters of the tent so he could rush back immediately if anything happened.

Stepping outside, Heming examined the skeleton at the door. The skeleton, naturally, did not know it was being watched; it simply stood there, motionless. This was a well-summoned skeleton—it had a weapon, a helmet, and even a pair of tattered boots. Regrettably, it lacked a shirt and trousers.

Heming walked toward a nearby tree. He had been thinking about what felt wrong, and only when he reached the tree did he realize: he had come here to find a new species, but everything here was a new species. Which one was he supposed to find? Even the shell-creature he had discovered earlier couldn't be identified by the Biological Data Scout.

Heming took out his phone and called Qiming.

Fortunately, there was signal everywhere on the ground across the globe.

"Hello, Qiming? It's Heming. I'm already in Meihe, but I don't know what kind of new species I'm supposed to catch. Everything here is new, and the Biological Data Scout is useless." Heming asked, sounding quite dissatisfied.

"Ah? Oh, right, I forgot to give you the data. Listen, the creatures there don't have energy or mana. If one of them shows mana or energy fluctuations, that's the one. Catch it and bring it back. I'm busy, hanging up." Qiming seemed to be in a rush and ended the call immediately.

Heming shook his head and put his phone away. At least he now knew his target: energy or mana fluctuations. In other words, a creature of the same type as the Water Dragon from before.

According to Qiming, that captured Water Dragon had just mutated and hadn't fully recovered its energy; otherwise, Heming would never have been able to catch it.

The tree Heming had approached shifted slightly while he was on the phone. Heming felt it—the tree was moving away slowly because of his presence. Clearly, Heming's actions had caused the tree some fear. It was no different from an Earth tree, except for its yellow leaves.

Heming found it strange and moved closer. This time, the tree moved even more noticeably. Its roots supported the entire tree as it slowly shifted; the roots walked like feet, albeit slowly.

After observing for a moment, Heming walked elsewhere. He didn't want to disturb the moving tree any further; walking must be exhausting for a tree. He arrived next to a patch of tall, pale yellow grass. A few flea-like insects were jumping around on the grass. The alien fleas were actually green and larger than an American cockroach; clearly, they didn't survive by sucking blood.

Out of curiosity, Heming took out the Biological Data Scout and aimed it at the alien fleas. This time, it did react, though not to the fleas, but to the grass patch.

Keleimu: One of the primary plants of the Keleimu star. Extremely high survival capability. Its body is incredibly sturdy; experiments show that even a rocket launcher cannot cause it damage. This organism survives on water; as long as it has a tiny drop, it can last for about ten days. Naturally, this plant is very, very rare on Earth—there are perhaps only a dozen patches left...

"ROAR!" A sound similar to a tiger's cry came from the direction of the tent. Heming turned and sprinted back immediately.

Under the tent, the skeleton was raising its blade, preparing to attack a strange, pale purple creature.