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Ye Jiang said with a blank expression, "It's okay if you don't look for me."

"Is my sister angry?"

"No."

"My sister is angry."

"No."

"What should I do? What should I do? My sister is angry!"

Just as Ye Jiang was about to emphasize that she hadn't, the boy bent down and picked a wildflower. He gently placed the wildflower into the bunch that Ye Jiang was holding. As soon as it was placed in, the wildflower transformed into a swarm of transparent butterflies, which scattered with a whoosh and gently landed among the flowers.

"I felt it when I arrived; this place is beautiful, but it seems to be missing something."

The boy said, his figure vanished, and his voice came from the illusory place, "This is for my sister."

As soon as those words were spoken, even the sound disappeared.

Ye Jiang stood in this realm between reality and illusion for a long time, waiting for the illusion of the butterflies to dissipate before she picked up the flowers, sat on the eagle-man, and left.

In the Green Forest Exclusion Zone, a cluster of transparent butterflies appeared and then dispersed. Dong Zhen's figure emerged from the swarm of butterflies. Above him was the shade of a giant tree that blocked out the sky, and on the ground was a grove of giant mushrooms with eyes. A vine quietly approached his feet, waiting for an opportunity to hook his foot. Without looking, Dong Zhen lifted his foot and stepped on it, and the vine let out a baby's cry.

This is deep within Green Forest Exclusion Zone.

Whew—Whew— Dong Zhen walked through the forest, her feet crunching on the soft fallen leaves.

He seemed very familiar with the jungle, walking with an air of effortless ease.

Whoosh!

A thin sliver of ice sliced through the dense foliage and shot toward him, grazing his hair and embedding itself deeply into the trunk of a giant tree behind him.

"Stop!"

A low, menacing warning rang out, its origin indistinct in the dense forest. "This is a restricted area. Leave!"

Dong Zhen looked up and instantly spotted the superhuman hiding in the treetop. The superhuman's expression changed, and he quickly changed position to guard against an attack.

But there was no attack; Dong Zhen simply watched her, her gaze following her from one spot to another.

"This is a restricted area," Dong Zhen said. "Then what are you doing here?"

Superpowered Person: "You don't recognize me?"

Dong Zhen chuckled, "So you're an important person."

Only great people have this kind of confidence.

Yu Wei remained silent.

She stood on a thick branch of a giant tree, and realizing she couldn't avoid the intruder's gaze, she stopped trying—it was pointless. Her eyes swept over the intruder's wrist and saw the competition bracelet on it.

This is a contestant.

Yu Wei's expression was unreadable as she declared, "This is your last chance. If you've stumbled in by mistake, leave immediately. Otherwise, you're not leaving."

Dong Zhen smiled faintly, "Thanks for the reminder, but I rarely come in here, so..."

Before he could finish speaking, several diamond-shaped ice spikes shot out, instantly turning the air icy cold.

"Oh, it's an ice-based ability."

"That was the last thing Dong Zhen said," he said, and then ice spikes appeared in front of him, piercing his body one after another. His body swayed left and right from the force of the ice spikes, like a broken doll. Yu Wei, who had made the move, frowned. She hadn't expected such a boastful intruder to be so easily defeated. Just as she was about to withdraw, the intruder's body shattered with a crack, turning into a pile of broken ice in front of her.

It's an illusion!

Yu Wei's expression changed, and her eyes darted around, quickly searching for the intruder.

rustling.

Yu Wei's gaze fell on the treetops. When she looked up, leaves rustled down from above her, like a sudden green rain. She was momentarily dazed, her body stiffened, and she unconsciously reached out and caught a leaf.

The moment it was caught, the leaf transformed into living vines within the forbidden zone, and the illusion vanished in an instant.

The real danger was revealed when the vines wrapped around her arm and suddenly pulled her away.

Yu Wei regained consciousness amidst the stinging pain, summoned her ice blade to sever the vines, and without daring to delay for a second, rolled away on the spot. The next second, a peach branch was stuck into the spot where she had just been lying.

Ahead grew a lush green peach tree, with accompanying vines swaying around it, trying to capture their prey again.

Yu Wei stood still, catching her breath. When Tao Zhi attacked again, she pressed forward, wielding an ice spike that snapped the mutated peach tree in half. Yu Wei didn't look at the peach tree; she searched for the intruder. There was no one there, nowhere!

The Green Peach, now just a stump, is reviving, sprouting new branches and green leaves. Its branches and leaves sway, greedily waiting to devour people.

The mutated peach tree in the Green Forest Exclusion Zone isn't particularly strong in attack, but it's immortal and can resurrect infinitely.

Yu Wei was not surprised at all. She stood outside the peach tree's attack range, her expression complex.

Her participation in the Xingyi Technology competition was related to this peach tree. One of the managers of Part-Time Cat was a special plant-type ability user who could deactivate plants. The Ability Control Bureau secretly commissioned Part-Time Cat to have the manager deactivate the Green Peach in the Green Forest Exclusion Zone. However, due to the immortality of the Green Peach, the manager's ability could only deactivate the mutated peach tree for a period of time, and he had to come back to treat it again every once in a while.

The mutated peach tree was extremely dangerous, and after it became known to the world, many taboo incidents occurred, until Part-Time Cat took on this commission, and those kinds of things stopped.

However, a few days before the competition held by Xingyi Technology, the head steward of Part-Time Cat went to the restricted area to deal with the Green Peach as usual, but never returned. Part-Time Cat sent people to look for him, but instead of finding the head steward, they discovered that the Green Peach that should have been dealt with had revived.

The head steward has been handling this case for over a decade without any incidents. His sudden disappearance strongly suggests that something has happened to him.

Moreover, the involvement of Green Peach inevitably makes one wonder if this matter is related to this tree... and its fruit.

Yu Wei immediately informed the branch of the Ability Control Bureau about the matter. The two sides investigated together but found no clues. At this time, the Pollution-Hunting Competition held by Xingyi Technology started. The Forest Green Exclusion Zone was located in the A-S Wilderness Zone. The competition was a mixed bag, and perhaps some clues were hidden there. Outsiders only knew that the Ability Control Bureau controlled all the forbidden zones in the world, but they did not know that the Forest Green Exclusion Zone was special. The Part-Time Cat was also involved. So Yu Wei took this opportunity to investigate. However, as the competition progressed, nothing happened to the Forest Green Exclusion Zone, and no clues were found.

That boy was the first to enter the restricted area.

That person's illusion was so perfect that there wasn't a single flaw; it was absolutely terrifying.

Yu Wei had seen people use illusionary abilities, but without exception, they all had triggering conditions, and they were too fake for high-level ability users to detect easily.

The intruder's illusion was flawless; what level of superhuman was he?

Could he be the clue she's been searching for?

Yu Wei's face turned grim. Recalling the boy's figure and appearance, she immediately took out her phone and contacted the Ability Control Bureau, asking them to investigate the contestant.

Ye Jiang waited until the arena was almost closed off before the boy turned back to look for her, but he didn't. She walked out of the wilderness area alone, handed over the bracelet, and waited at the entrance. She didn't know why she was waiting there; maybe it was because of the flowers in her hand. The boy had given her flowers, and she seemed to have forgotten to thank him. According to the principles of conduct the Nurse had taught her, she should have thanked him.

Ye Jiang found a reason, so she waited patiently.

As dusk fell, the contestants emerged one after another. Seeing Ye Jiang holding flowers and waiting at the entrance, they all cast curious glances at her.

As the lockdown approached, a commotion erupted in the wilderness. A tall, uniformed woman carrying a mangled, bloodied contestant burst forth, shouting as she ran, "Where's the healing ability user? Hasn't he arrived yet?"

Receiving no response, the uniformed woman frowned deeply.

Suddenly, a thin figure holding flowers caught her eye; pale and dejected, this was...

"Waiter!"

Xiao Pei blurted it out.

There's hope!

Ye Jiang was in a daze when, a second later, the stench of blood filled the air as the boss rushed towards her carrying a woman covered in blood.

"Waiter, please help! Please treat this contestant!" Xiao Pei said anxiously. "She's from the Miao Family family. Heal her, and whatever price you ask for, the Miao Family will meet it!"

Ye Jiang lowered her eyes and looked at the so-called Miao Family person.

Her thoughts were still wandering in the wilderness, wandering on the boy who hadn't returned to find her. She seemed a little listless, and coupled with her naturally cold face, she appeared somewhat indifferent.

Some contestants couldn't help but mutter when they saw this scene. The people from the Ability Control Bureau were in a hurry to find a healing ability user, so why did they end up looking at that person? Before they could figure it out, they saw the number one powerhouse on the leaderboard lazily raise her hand and place it on the seriously injured person. Before long, the unconscious injured person opened their eyes.

"..."

"..."

"!!!"

ah?

Ye Jiang withdrew her hand. She hadn't completely cured the Miao Family person; she had only pulled him out of danger before stopping her. She didn't have the energy to save anyone right now, and her gaze was fixed on the wilderness.

Xiao Pei and the person she rescued were naturally not dissatisfied. Miao Qiao, now out of danger, stepped out of Xiao Pei's arms and, forcing herself to speak, thanked the person who had saved her, "Thank you... Player Ye."

She recognized Ye Jiang as the contestant who had recently gained the most attention.

Ye Jiang casually hummed in agreement.

Xiao Pei glanced at Ye Jiang and thought she looked a little strange, but she had urgent business to attend to, so she didn't have time to ask her.

Xiao Pei asked Miao Qiao, "How did you get injured like this?"

Not long ago, she received a distress signal from a contestant and rushed over. Unexpectedly, the person she found was the heir of the Miao Qiao Miao Family. Miao Qiao's strength was among the top three in this competition. Apart from Yu Wei, Part-Time Cat, and a certain extremely special D-Rank ability user, Miao Qiao was the strongest. Miao Qiao was clearly not there for the prize money, but for self-training. After killing the Polluted, she basically did not bring back any of Polluted characteristic tissues, which resulted in her consistently low ranking.

In terms of strength, she is superior to Sun Liang, Xue Ping, Miao Family. Xiao Pei has some connections with the Miao family and has watched Miao Qiao grow up, so there is no doubt about that.