"Which means they are strong," Lin Yi surmised, his voice a low hum, absorbing the implications of her description. He distilled her elaborate explanation into its simplest, most potent conclusion.
"Which means we have lost family members in the deep zone," she stated, her voice flat, devoid of any performed dramatics. The weariness in her tone was real, the memory of those losses etched deep within her. "Good ones, Lin Yi. Exceptional individuals. At levels even above yours. They entered thinking that raw strength, that sheer cultivation level, translated directly into survivability within that boundary." She paused, letting the weight of those past tragedies settle between them.
