After crossing the stream, the thick fog visibly began to thin.
Visibility increased by three to four times.
With a clearer view of the distance, Qin Feng's mood improved considerably.
[Battlefield Notice: Congratulations to Park Jung-hwan, Guardian of the Bangsae (Korea), for eliminating x2 Pigmen and claiming an E-rank coal resource.]
"Damn! It's finally our Bangsae country's turn to get lucky!"
"Oppa Jung-hwan is amazing! Not only does he have a gold-tier talent, but his luck is incredible too—he found resources and even got a treasure chest right after heading out!"
"@Dragon Nation, see that? This is the strength of our great Bangsae country!"
"Shut up and get lost."
"Damn it, all you do is spew nonsense! It's just coal—low efficiency and highly polluting. Are you illiterate?! Go ahead and wait for lung cancer!"
As Blue Star's environment continued to worsen, even though international laws prohibited the use of coal—
With resources running dry, coal, despite its inefficiency, was still a resource.
"Haha, Dragon Nation is jealous! Our Oppa Jung-hwan also got a white treasure chest!"
The Park Jung-hwan mentioned by the Bangsae netizens was the replacement guardian who had taken over after the first wave, when the previous one was killed by a teammate.
This man had incredible luck—he drew a gold-tier talent right from the start.
So far, among nearly a thousand guardians, he was the only one with a gold-tier talent.
Because of this, the entire Bangsae country regarded him as a national idol.
[Battlefield Notice: Congratulations to Park Jung-hwan for opening an E-rank treasure chest and obtaining: E-rank item—Centennial Peachwood Sword.]
The moment he saw the words "Centennial Peachwood Sword," Lin Jiu, who was performing a ritual, could no longer stay calm.
"A Centennial Peachwood Sword! That's an excellent item for slaying demons and exorcising evil!"
He swallowed hard. Although the peachwood sword passed down in his family was already a few hundred years old—
How could it compare to something obtained from the National Destiny Battlefield?
The spiritual energy here was abundant, so items nurtured here were naturally far more powerful than those on Blue Star.
But Park Jung-hwan, looking at the wooden sword in his hand, became furious.
"Damn it! After all that effort, you give me a wooden sword? Made of wood! What's it even good for?!"
Enraged, he threw the peachwood sword far away.
[Battlefield Notice: Park Jung-hwan has discarded the E-rank item—Centennial Peachwood Sword.]
Lin Jiu: …You little brat, what a waste of such a good item!!
"Hahaha, I'm dying—turns out it's just a wooden sword."
"Huh? Where did the Bangsae people go? Why aren't they bragging anymore?"
"If they won't come to our Dragon Nation stream to show off, let's go to theirs and mock them!"
"Let's go!"
Immediately, many Dragon Nation netizens switched to the Bangsae livestream and began flooding it with ridicule.
Half a day passed. Not only Bangsae, but many other countries had also gained something.
[Battlefield Notice: Congratulations to Ahmed of Pakistan for opening an E-rank treasure chest and obtaining: E-rank item—Thunderstrike Twin Blades.]
[Battlefield Notice: Congratulations to David of the Eagle Nation for opening an E-rank treasure chest and obtaining: E-rank item—Centennial Peachwood Sword.]
[Battlefield Notice: Congratulations to Umechuan Ku of Sakura Nation for opening an E-rank treasure chest and obtaining: Beginner Wall Blueprint.]
…
At this moment, after flying for two minutes, a large cluster of red dots suddenly appeared on Qin Feng's HUD minimap.
There were so many red dots they almost formed a solid red mass.
Qin Feng quickly landed, not daring to approach recklessly.
"Jarvis, what kind of monsters are those? There are so many!"
Jarvis replied:
"Sir, insufficient data. There are no biological records for this species."
"However,"
Jarvis added,
"Sir, a signal of an E-rank treasure chest has been detected among those creatures."
E-rank treasure chests emitted weak radiation—Jarvis had already recorded this characteristic the previous night.
From this, Qin Feng inferred that other treasure chests likely had their own unique radiation signatures as well.
"Oh? Didn't notice that."
He looked carefully at the HUD map—sure enough, a white dot was nearly submerged in the sea of red.
"Let's get closer and take a look first!"
Being too afraid of danger to move forward was not Qin Feng's style.
Back on Blue Star, the viewers watching Qin Feng's cautious behavior were confused.
"What's going on with Qin Feng? Why did he suddenly land?"
"Did he run out of fuel?"
"Fuel? Who told you he flies using fuel?!"
"Waaah… did my husband run into danger?"
"…"
Qin Feng moved forward quietly, following the map.
Pushing aside some bushes, he found… nothing.
Except for a small hill.
Halfway up the hill was a cave about the height of a person.
"Are all the monsters inside the cave?"
He checked the map again, then glanced at the cave.
The cave was so small—could it really hold that many monsters?
Muttering to himself, Qin Feng headed toward the cave.
Jarvis warned:
"Sir, I do not recommend entering the cave. Based on existing monster data, facing a large number of creatures in a confined space is disadvantageous to you."
Qin Feng replied:
"We haven't even figured out the situation yet. Leaving without taking the reward? That's not my style!"
As soon as he said this, the system notification rang in his mind:
"Ding! Host's recklessness and arrogance +1. Iron Man role similarity +2.
Rewards obtained:
Armor auto-repair completed;
All armor systems restored to full status;
Host's physical attributes +10."
Qin Feng: …Wait, that works too?
He checked the status of the Mark III armor. It hadn't been damaged much to begin with, so the auto-repair was somewhat redundant.
But the full restoration was nice.
His expended ammunition had been fully replenished.
Come to think of it—was that really recklessness?
Then again, Iron Man could be pretty reckless at times!
Reckless it is!
Today, he was going all-in for that treasure chest!
On Blue Star, the viewers watched Qin Feng's cautious advance, their hearts in their throats.
Although they didn't know why he was being so careful, it felt as if some terrifying monster was watching him from the shadows.
Those dreadful eyes… felt like they were staring at the viewers themselves.
"Ahhh, so scary! I can't watch!"
"I'm shaking—this is the best horror movie of the year! Starring only Qin Feng, no other actors!"
"Place your bets! Guess what's inside the cave!"
"I bet 1 million points it's full of Pigmen!"
Qin Feng reached the cave entrance and peeked inside.
What he saw—
Was countless snakes tangled together in clusters.
Constantly writhing, crawling over one another.
Their crimson tongues flicked in and out, hissing at nearby snakes.
"AHHH!!! This is the creature I fear the most! There are so many—oh my god!"
"This is heaven for people with trypophobia. Congratulations!"
"So many red snakes? They must be venomous, right?"
"One of biology's principles: the brighter the color, the stronger the poison."
"Look at this guy pretending to be an expert again."
"Believe it or not!"
"Well… that actually is a thing."