"What... what kind of place is this?"
Someone asked in a trembling voice, their tone choked with sobs.
"Have we left Mount Tai? Or are we still on Mount Tai? This landscape... it doesn't feel like Earth at all!"
"Where... where have we been taken?"
Panic spread through the crowd.
From the gathering atop Mount Tai, to the sudden appearance of the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin, to the long and eerie journey through the starry sky, and finally descending upon this completely unfamiliar and desolate mountain forest.
These recent college graduates are already nearing their psychological limits.
Pang Bo stood beside Ye Fan. He was tall and burly, and his face was also solemn. He said in a gruff voice:
" Yezi, this place... it feels awful. It's lifeless, you can't even see a blade of grass."
Ye Fan nodded, bent down and grabbed a handful of reddish-brown sand. The sand was icy cold and slipped through his fingers.
"This is definitely not Mount Tai, and it might even be... not even Earth."
"What do we do now?" a female student asked, her voice trembling with tears.
"Let's look around first, see if there's a way out, or... if anyone's there," Ye Fan said in a deep voice, his gaze fixed on the distance.
Everyone was completely at a loss, but Ye Fan's composure had become the backbone of this group of students.
Hearing him say this, despite their fear, they could only muster their spirits, support each other, and begin to explore and move forward on this crimson, desolate land.
Meanwhile, on the Douluo Continent...
When the entire desolate, dark red forest was revealed to the crowd, many were initially bewildered. Then, those with better memories or who had paid particular attention to the previous Heavenly Screen view gradually widened their eyes and showed expressions of disbelief.
"This... this place..."
"Red earth, craters, this landscape... it looks so familiar!"
Shrek Academy, by the playground.
Tang San, who was sitting cross-legged on the sidelines, regulating his Soul Power, suddenly stood up. His Purple Demon Eye Eyes opened involuntarily, and he stared sharply at the scene in the Heavenly Screen.
"This is..." he muttered to himself, his brows furrowed.
" Little San, what's wrong?" Yu Xiaogang noticed his unusual behavior and came over to ask.
Tang San didn't answer immediately, but instead carefully observed the terrain features in the picture—the dark red earth, the huge crater mountains, the rocks eroded into strange shapes by the wind...
The images of the Heavenly Screen he had seen before flashed through his mind.
This is Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.
Tang San said in a deep voice, a hint of uncertainty in his tone, "Absolutely right, I've seen this kind of terrain before."
" Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land?" Ma Hongjun leaned closer.
Oscar put down his sausage, his expression turning serious. "Is this the place that guy named Long Aotian went to, the forbidden area that strips away time?"
Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu also gathered around.
Tang San nodded, his gaze never leaving the Heavenly Screen: "Yes, that's it."
"However, this place looks somewhat different from where Long Aotian was— Long Aotian was observing from the outside, while this seems to be deep within the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land."
Yu Xiaogang stroked his chin thoughtfully. "If it really is the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land... then Ye Fan and the others should be alright, right?"
"Do you remember that little girl from before? She came out of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land and seemed perfectly fine."
"Yes!"
Ma Hongjun slapped his thigh, "That little girl looks only six or seven years old. The fact that she can walk freely inside means this place shouldn't be too dangerous!"
We were overthinking it.
"The fact that Long Aotian was deprived of his time was probably due to an ambush. Under normal circumstances, this Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land should just be an ordinary place; it's just that the name sounds terrifying."
Xiao Wu frowned slightly. "I have a feeling it's not that simple. That place gives me... a very uncomfortable feeling."
Tang San didn't say anything nice, but he actually leaned towards his teacher's judgment.
After all, even a little girl could walk out of the forbidden area unharmed.
While everyone was discussing, Ye Fan and his group in the Heavenly Screen had already begun to cautiously explore this crimson land.
"Judging from their expressions, they seem genuinely scared," Ma Hongjun said, pointing to the Heavenly Screen with a laugh. "If you ask me, they're just scaring themselves."
"If there had been any real danger, how could that little girl have survived?"
"Really!"
A smile appeared in Tang San's eyes, "They're too nervous. What's there to worry about in a place like this?"
But just as the Shrek Seven Devils were discussing, Ye Fan and his group in the Heavenly Screen had already begun to walk out of the mountains.
Their pace quickened, clearly indicating their desire to leave the area as soon as possible.
However, change quietly arrived at that moment.
It was Li Xiaoman, the originally beautiful female classmate, who suddenly stumbled while walking and grabbed a rock next to her.
When she looked up again, everyone saw the undisguised panic on her face.
"My face... what happened to my face?"
She touched her cheek with trembling hands.
Next, the changes spread like a plague among the people.
Wang Ziwen, Zhou Yi, Lin Jia...
One by one, the students began to show signs of aging.
Their skin became saggy, wrinkles appeared at the corners of their eyes, and their hair turned white rapidly from the roots.
"What... what's going on?" Oscar's eyes widened, and the sausage slipped from his hand.
In the Heavenly Screen, Ye Fan's classmates looked at each other in terror, screams and cries rising and falling.
They watched helplessly as each other transformed from vibrant young people into white-haired old men in just a few minutes.
However, among this group of aging individuals, two people stand out— Ye Fan and Pang Bo.
They stood in the crowd, a stark contrast to their classmates who were aging rapidly.
Ye Fan still maintained his original youthful appearance, and Pang Bo showed no obvious changes either, only watching everything happening around him with a solemn expression.
But soon, they changed too.
But not getting older, it's...
Get smaller!
The two of them were clearly getting younger and younger, until they looked like children again.
Under the Heavenly Screen of the Douluo Continent, all was deathly silent.
All the discussions, speculations, and lighthearted laughter were shattered in the face of the terrifying changes that occurred in that brief moment.
At the edge of the Shrek Academy's playground, Ma Hongjun's smile froze completely, his mouth unconsciously opening wide enough to fit an egg.
His hand, which had just slapped his thigh, was still hanging in mid-air, but now it trembled slightly. The sausage in Oscar's hand had already fallen to the ground, covered in dust, but he didn't notice. He just stared intently at the Heavenly Screen, watching those men and women who were full of youthful vigor just minutes before, now with wrinkled skin, white hair, and hunched backs.
"Old... old?"
Oscar's voice was hoarse, "They... have all grown old?!"
"How is this possible? Isn't this place safe?"