"Gene Equipment?"
Ji Zhixing's heart jolted, and his steps involuntarily slowed.
As he followed the group, he diverted a thread of consciousness to carefully examine the newly appeared item.
Inside the furnace space, the amber-like pendant floated quietly, giving off a faint green glow.
The instant his consciousness touched it, a stream of information poured into his mind.
[Gene Equipment: (unnamed) Order: First Order Quality: one star Ability: Frog Stroke Refine this equipment to automatically gain the Frog Stroke ability and increase your diving time by twenty minutes.]
First Order, one star... Ji Zhixing thought. The quality isn't high, and the ability is ordinary too. It's just for swimming and diving.
Still, it's Gene Equipment.
People who need it will be willing to pay. Even at worst, it should sell for twenty or thirty thousand Gene Coins.
Joy welled up inside him.
Twenty or thirty thousand Gene Coins would be enough to buy roughly two or three bottles of Stone Skin Gene Potion.
Who would have thought a single Giant-Footed Frog could yield something, he thought. And Gene Equipment, at that.
My Gene Furnace really does produce different results from ordinary people.
He took a deep breath and suppressed his excitement, letting none of it show.
A name... He considered it briefly. I'll call it the Frog Pendant.
After giving it a simple name, he put it out of his mind.
By then, they had reached the edge of camp. The clearing was a chaotic mess, and quite a few teams had already returned.
"Zhixing, hurry up!" Liu Qifan called from ahead.
"Coming." Ji Zhixing quickened his pace and followed the others back into camp.
Groups clustered together in the camp, talking among themselves and guessing what had caused that tremendous noise.
The teachers were counting heads and maintaining order.
"Everyone, stay where you are!" He Yanbing shouted. "Once everyone is back, we'll end this training trip early!"
Ji Zhixing and the others found a spot to stand and looked around.
Boom!
Suddenly, another tremendous crash came from the direction of Lake Center Island.
This one was even louder than the last. Despite the distance, the ground trembled beneath them.
"The people from Rain City Middle School haven't come back from Lake Center Island yet, have they?" Liu Qifan suddenly asked, as though something had occurred to him. "Do you think they could be causing all this?"
Ji Zhixing shook his head, as did Zhang Haocheng. None of them knew.
"Roar!"
Just then, a deafening roar abruptly rang out, as though it had exploded right beside their ears!
It was so loud and sudden that Ji Zhixing's eardrums shuddered, leaving his ears ringing. The students around him paled too, and some even crouched down with their hands over their ears.
"What's that?"
Someone cried out in terror.
Ji Zhixing whipped his head around toward the sound.
In the clearing a few dozen meters in front of camp, space was twisting and shifting.
The air looked as though an invisible hand had torn it open, exposing a hazy rift.
Through the rift, they could faintly see a dense forest. Towering trees blotted out the sky, utterly unlike the wilderness outside.
Then four enormous black bears scratched their heads and suddenly walked out into the clearing.
The one in front was terrifyingly huge, standing five or six meters tall. Its entire body was black as ink, every strand of fur bristling, and it looked like a small mountain.
Its dark red eyes gleamed with ferocity, and the ground shook with every step it took.
The other three black bears were smaller, but they still stood three or four meters tall and looked just as menacing.
"This is..." Ji Zhixing's pupils suddenly contracted.
"Oh no, a Third Order Gene Beast!" a teacher exclaimed, his voice filled with terror.
"An Otherworld Secret Realm!" another teacher shouted. "An Otherworld Secret Realm has appeared here! Everyone, fall back! Hurry!"
Before the words had faded, the largest black bear had already noticed the crowd in camp.
"Roar!"
It let out an even more savage roar. Rolling waves of sound knocked some students straight onto the ground. Dropping onto all fours, it charged toward them, each step pounding against the earth with a thunderous crash.
"I'll stop it! Get out of here!"
A figure rushed out of the crowd, heading straight for the giant bear.
It was Chen Ye.
He moved like lightning, reaching the bear in the blink of an eye. A blood-colored saber appeared out of thin air in his hand, its blade glowing dark red and exuding a thick, bloody aura.
"Get back!"
Chen Ye barked and slashed.
Blood-red light surged, colliding with the giant bear's claw in a deafening clang of metal.
The giant bear was driven back two steps. Chen Ye swayed too, but immediately steadied himself and rushed forward again, keeping the bear firmly occupied.
Man and bear fought fiercely, shattering the ground beneath their feet as waves of force rolled outward.
"Roar! Roar!"
The other three black bears roared. Unable to join the fight, they charged at the surrounding students instead.
One of them headed straight toward Ji Zhixing's group!
The black bear stood three or four meters tall, its entire body pitch-black. Every step left deep claw marks in the ground. Its dark red eyes swept over them, naked ferocity gleaming in their depths.
"Run!" Zhao Qing's expression changed drastically, and she shouted urgently.
Even if these smaller giant bears fell short of Third Order, they were at least Second Order Gene Beasts.
Although she was also a student at Rain City University, she had yet to advance to Second Order and was not skilled at fighting head-on. Against a Third Order Gene Beast like this, she could not possibly hold it back.
Ji Zhixing and the others hurriedly scattered, running for their lives.
The black bear paused briefly, sweeping its gaze over them before selecting Luo Yongguang, the biggest of the group, and chasing after him.
Although Luo Yongguang had fused with the Wild Bull King Gene and possessed decent strength and defense, his speed was no match for the black bear's.
In just a few strides, the black bear caught up behind him and raised its enormous paw.
"Luo Yongguang!" Liu Qifan shouted.
Fortunately, a senior from Rain City University arrived just then. He thrust a spear at the black bear's eye, stopping it in its tracks.
"Phew..." Ji Zhixing breathed a sigh of relief. Looking around, he realized that the spot where the black bears had emerged was not the only place with an otherworld passage.
Several other passages had appeared around the camp.
One of them was not far from him.
"Screech!"
A piercing eagle cry suddenly rang out overhead.
Ji Zhixing looked up, and his expression instantly changed.
High above, another patch of space had grown hazy and distorted. Then several dark shapes flew out.
They were giant eagles, pitch-black from head to tail, with wingspans of seven or eight meters and feathers that gleamed like metal.
They circled twice, letting out shrill cries, then dove toward the crowd on the ground.
"Get out of the way!" someone shouted.
A student from Third Middle School failed to dodge in time. A black eagle seized his shoulders in its sharp talons and carried him straight into the sky.
The student screamed in terror and struggled desperately, but could not break free.
Two more students were snatched up, screaming as they were carried skyward.
Another black eagle swooped down, aiming straight for Qi Xingzhou.
Qi Xingzhou reacted extremely quickly. The shoes on his feet suddenly lit up, propelling him a considerable distance forward and allowing him to narrowly evade the black eagle's talons.
Its strike missed, and the black eagle flew high into the sky again.
It circled overhead, scanning the ground with its dark red eyes.
Still trying to decide where to hide, Ji Zhixing suddenly felt a shadow fall over him.
He jerked his head up, his heart nearly stopping.
That black eagle was diving straight at him!
Its wings folded, it shot down like a black arrow, moving at a terrifying speed.
"Damn it!" Ji Zhixing's expression changed drastically.
He looked around. The seniors from Rain City University were busy dealing with the black bears, while Chen Ye was locked in combat with the giant bear and could not break away.
The teachers were protecting the other students as they retreated, far, far away from him.
No one could save him.
There's no time! Thoughts raced through Ji Zhixing's mind.
He glanced at the black eagle, then at the patch of distorted space nearby.
There's an Otherworld Secret Realm beyond that distorted space. It must be incredibly dangerous. But staying here and getting carried off by the black eagle is a dead end too.
If it catches me, I'll be a lamb to the slaughter.
If I enter the Otherworld Secret Realm, at least I can fight for a chance myself!
He gritted his teeth, abruptly changed direction, and charged toward the distorted space.
By then, he was already close to it.
After only a few steps, he leaped, plunging bodily into the hazy space.
His vision blurred, and the world spun around him.
Behind him, the black eagle's talons grazed his back, sending a sharp sting through him.
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