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Inside the Council Hall of the Limitless Martial Arts Hall.

"You're here to turn in the mission, claiming you've completed the bounty?" Dongguan asked the warrior named Wu Feng standing before him.

Yang Bei, Lu Gang, and Zheng Yuqiao, who was there as a witness, stood nearby.

Feeling the gazes of four War Gods fixed on him, Wu Feng, who was only at the intermediate war general level, swallowed.

"It's true. I have video evidence. I saw traces of human construction in Despair Oasis. All five of my teammates died for this. I was the only one who made it back."

As he spoke, he sent them the video.

Zheng Yuqiao operated his specially made Communicator, and the video was projected onto the large screen.

The video began with a group trekking through the desert, hunting monsters as they advanced.

Wu Feng appeared in some clips but not others. The video combined footage they had filmed separately.

The editing was poor and somewhat disjointed, but none of them minded.

The team consisted of six people, an ordinary warrior team from the Limitless Martial Arts Hall. Wu Feng was the captain, at the intermediate war general level. The other five were two Primary Generals and three Advanced Warriors.

There was little worth watching at the beginning. Though it was the Death Desert, the main concern was the sheer number of monsters.

So they fast-forwarded.

Along the way, the team encountered other warrior teams, but they parted after brief conversations.

Then a splash of green appeared amid the endless yellow sand.

By this point, the team had already lost one Advanced Warrior.

During the journey, the team also argued over whether to press on or turn back. Even without the bounty, they had gathered plenty of monster materials, though it hardly seemed worth losing a teammate.

Each side of the argument consisted of one Primary General and one Advanced Warrior. In the end, their captain, Wu Feng, decided to continue.

The Primary General and Advanced Warrior who wanted to retreat would have struggled to make it back on their own, so they had no choice but to follow.

They entered the oasis, where the dangers were even greater.

They encountered quite a few lord-level monsters alone. However, many monsters in the oasis were asleep and not particularly alert, allowing all five of them to evade them successfully.

They ventured deeper and deeper.

Suddenly, fear appeared on the face of one of the Primary Generals. At that moment, the camera showed only that person from the front.

The camera turned, revealing two red lanterns-no, enormous crimson snake eyes.

The footage shook violently, then cut out altogether.

"We disturbed that lord-level monster and had no choice but to split up and flee," Wu Feng explained.

When the footage resumed, it showed only Wu Feng and one Primary General. Including the person filming, there were three of them.

The Primary General's right arm was swollen and purplish, clearly poisoned.

After asking for consent, they performed a crude amputation.

The footage grew dark. Night had fallen.

The three dug underground. After a while, the footage cut out again.

"We were exhausted. After eating a little, we rested deep inside the tunnel we'd dug. But before long, we heard something crawling again. Snake monsters are the most common monsters in Despair Oasis."

Yang Bei nodded as Wu Feng spoke.

He had once been trapped in Despair Oasis himself. It really was a snake nest.

"So, to avoid being cornered, we kept digging underground, deeper and deeper, until we couldn't dig any farther."

The screen was pitch-black, but the sounds of digging continued. The three were using their dead teammates' weapons as tools.

Hum!

A faint sound rang out.

"What's this? A rock?" a voice asked in the darkness.

"Dig around it."

A little more time passed.

"Is this really a rock? Why is it flat?"

"Like a wall?"

"Exactly."

Hearing the voices in the video, the four War Gods focused their attention.

A wall and ruins were clearly related.

The video ended there.

The four looked at Wu Feng.

"We confirmed that it really was a wall. Natural rock wouldn't be that flat and straight. But we couldn't do anything more. My two companions died on the way back, too. We just weren't strong enough." Wu Feng's expression was anguished.

Their lack of strength was indeed a problem.

Having even one person bring the information back was already fortunate.

Dongguan remained silent. The moment he posted the bounty, he had anticipated something like this.

"So, for my dead teammates' sake, I need this bounty, too." Wu Feng looked determined, but a trace of greed lurked in his eyes.

"Do you have any more supporting evidence? Your route, for instance? Can you mark the wall's exact location on a map?" Dongguan asked.

Wu Feng shook his head.

"Then I'm sorry, but you aren't entitled to this bounty. The requirements are clearly stated: information on unusual objects or locations. Without specific information on the find, we can't pay out the bounty," Zheng Yuqiao said.

The bounty had been posted on a platform, so naturally it had specific requirements. During this time, some people had even tried to claim it with fabricated, edited videos or random objects acquired from who knew where. It could not be completed so easily.

Wu Feng clenched his fists. He had paid such a heavy price, only to receive this answer.

"But the video is real." Wu Feng's voice was filled with desperation.

"It does fail to meet the requirements. However, since your video suggests ruins may exist there, I'm personally willing to compensate you with one billion," Dongguan said.

"Only one billion?" Wu Feng was deeply dissatisfied, no longer caring that he stood before War Gods.

"If you don't want it, leave," Yang Bei said with a frown.

The absence of any footage from the return journey had already made him suspicious. Wu Feng's video was genuine, but much of it had probably been cut.

"I'll take it. Of course I'll take it."

Wu Feng left the Limitless Martial Arts Hall seething with resentment.

As he walked down the street afterward, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

"Question: Can a War God's bounty really be trusted?" He posted a thread on the forum.

Soon, many people on the Warrior Forum were discussing the post.

Inside the Limitless Martial Arts Hall.

"Captain, why did you give him money? Didn't you notice how heavily those videos were edited? There was no exact location and no footage of the return journey," Yang Bei said indignantly.

"Maybe he wanted to collect the bounty here, then sell the remaining information separately," Zheng Yuqiao remarked. He had seen such things before; they were nothing unusual.

"Actually, whatever he's thinking, at least the video shows that ruins very likely exist there, doesn't it?" Dongguan did not seem concerned.

"Take a look at the Warrior Forum," Lu Gang said urgently.

"What is it?" The other three checked as well.

"Question: Can a War God's bounty really be trusted?"

The post had quickly risen to the top.

Topics concerning War Gods always drew considerable attention on the Warrior General level forum, and this post directly questioned a War God's credibility.

"What should we do?" Yang Bei was anxious.

Their reputation was secondary. The real issue was that if too many people thought the bounty was fake, no one would keep exploring the Death Desert for the suspected ruins.

"It's nothing." Dongguan actually smiled. "This time, he's done us a favor."

"How?" Yang Bei asked, puzzled.

"Publish his video and let everyone judge whether Wu Feng deserves the bounty," Dongguan decided.

"What if the final verdict is that Wu Feng deserves it?" Yang Bei looked at Dongguan.

"Then give it to him. The bounty's purpose is to find possible ruins anyway. As long as that goal is achieved, it's fine."

That was Dongguan's stance. Though he had just spent another billion and had even less money on hand, he did not care. Such was the lavish confidence of an Invincible War God.

"I see." Yang Bei nodded, feeling as though he had suddenly understood.

"Warrior team encounters suspected artificial structure in Despair Oasis."

"Ruins really do exist in the Death Desert."

The news spread again.

And as a new video was released, the internet erupted into a frenzy.

An enormous black-scaled python with a yellowish cast all over its body was coiled around a cylindrical tower-shaped structure.

The tower-like structure appeared to be the roof of some larger building.

Many people discussed it online.

"How big is that python? And how tall is that building?"

"Look at those little saplings at the side of the picture. They appeared in Wu Feng's video last time."

"You mean those trees that are a full ten meters tall?"

"Then doesn't that mean the python is over a hundred meters high, and the building several hundred meters tall?"

And the python was coiled up. If its height exceeded a hundred meters, its length could reach a thousand.

"There's another new picture."

It showed the same python and the same building.

The building was undamaged, while some of the surrounding trees had been destroyed. The python now had numerous fine wounds on its body, with red frost forming around them. Its blood had frozen.

"Look at who posted it."

"-Limitless Martial Arts Hall, Liu He."

"It's actually Inspector Liu, a Councilor Level expert."

These were discussions on the War God Level forum.

Dongguan shut down his computer.

Entering the training room, he controlled a throwing knife and tested his strength again.

501,928 kilograms.

"My Spiritual Force is almost catching up to my physical strength." Dongguan closed the vertical eye between his brows again.

He faintly sensed a resonance between his body and his sea of consciousness, some wondrous change occurring as the two powers drew closer.

When the vertical eye between his brows was closed, the Spiritual Force in his sea of consciousness remained, but its release channel was shut.

Or rather, he mobilized Spiritual Force much like other Psychics did, except that the vertical eye between his brows would open uncontrollably.

As for keeping that eye closed while releasing Spiritual Force, it was like trying hard to see with his eyes shut. It could not be done.

He felt some anticipation for the changes his body was about to undergo.

He put on his combat gear and took his weapons. He had spoken with Yang Bei and Lu Gang, and they were going to the Death Desert together.

Liu He's post meant that Councilor Level experts had already taken notice of the place. It was time they went to take a look, too.

Inside the enormous spaceship-shaped building at the Limitless Martial Arts Hall headquarters in Hongning Base City.

"A Fourth-Order Planetary Level monster has actually appeared in Despair Oasis in the Death Desert." A sharp glint flashed through the eyes of Hong, who was dressed in black.

After speaking with Dongguan, he had also wondered whether new ruins might exist there, so he had sent Iceberg and Liu He to investigate.

Unexpectedly, while the existence of ruins remained uncertain, they had discovered a Fourth-Order Planetary Level monster.

"There's nothing I can do about those in the sea, but on land, I will never allow a new Beast Emperor to emerge."

On Earth, apart from him and Thunder God, even the Third and Fourth Speakers were only at the Third-Order Planetary Level. A monster that reached the Fourth-Order Planetary Level was already far beyond an ordinary Beast King.

The Blood-Red Triangular Fighter took off.