Chapter 45: Concerning the Abyss

Chapter 45: Regarding the Abyss

"Ahem, were you taking a leave recently just to investigate this at home?"

Qin Zhe wore a peculiar expression.

Earlier, Liu An's advice had been treated by him as mere performance, so he hadn't taken it to heart. Upon hearing that Liu Qingzhi had actually gone to investigate, he couldn't help but feel a bit troubled. Should he tell Director Liu that her father didn't want her to get too deeply involved?

"No, I took a leave because I was grounded by my dad. I could only stay home to recuperate from my injuries while looking after Erbao along the way," Liu Qingzhi replied, her attitude remarkably unpretentious and candid.

"Grounded?"

Qin Zhe was astonished, somewhat taken aback. Originally, he had assumed Liu An couldn't possibly keep someone of Liu Qingzhi's temperament under control. Now, it seemed that wasn't entirely the case.

"Let's not dwell on that; my dad was just worried about me." Liu Qingzhi collected her thoughts and organized her explanation.

"According to my investigation, the Abyss has existed since the very beginning of the spiritual Qi revival. It is a massive alternate space drifting outside our world. Some believe the Abyss is an undeveloped large-scale secret realm, but that theory still requires verification. To this day, no faction has truly explored the Abyss. It is rumored that the interior of the Abyss is a sea of molten lava, completely inaccessible to anyone below high-tier cultivators, and it is fraught with extreme danger, inhabited by numerous highly aggressive alien species."

"So the two giants we encountered previously were creatures from the Abyss?" Qin Zhe asked, quietly digesting this influx of information.

"That's right. I had to put in a lot of effort to find data on the specific species," Liu Qingzhi said, turning her clear, water-like eyes toward him. "Speaking of which, you happened to guess the name correctly back then. The giants we encountered are known as Lava Giants—an elemental species native exclusively to the Abyss that operates purely on instinct. Because they are composed entirely of elements, they possess the ability to alter the properties of the land."

"In that case, was the vast expanse of scorched earth in the Cold Moon Secret Realm caused by them?" Qin Zhe pondered for a moment and muttered to himself. "Then that begs the question, how did they get here? Could the Abyss have collided with the Cold Moon Secret Realm and connected to it?"

"Such a scenario is impossible," Liu Qingzhi shook her head, refuting the idea.

"The existence of a secret realm is an alternate space drifting in the periphery, centered around our world. You can think of it as an invisible star system, where the secret realms are planets. If secret realms were colliding with one another, the sheer momentum would be far more than just heaven-shattering. The Cold Moon Secret Realm has been connected to our world since its inception; if a collision truly occurred, not only would the secret realm be destroyed, but our world would also be heavily impacted."

With that, Liu Qingzhi added, "However, according to records, the Abyss is an extremely unstable secret realm space, appearing and disappearing without a trace, completely erratic and devoid of any warning signs. Every time it manifests, it is accompanied by abyssal creatures accidentally straying into other secret realms."

"You mean... the Abyss has actually appeared, but its exact location is currently unknown?" Qin Zhe furrowed his brow, seizing upon the crucial point.

No wonder Wang Chongguo had been so cautious. Not only did he suspend the assessment and seal off the Cold Moon Secret Realm, but he also notified personnel from the Super-Disaster Bureau to conduct an investigation. Seen in this light, it also made complete sense why William had caught wind of it and rushed across several nations with exchange students!

An entirely mysterious, ultra-large secret realm appearing unpredictably—who could possibly guess how many resources it contained?

Seeing that Qin Zhe had grasped the main point, a smile touched the corner of Liu Qingzhi's lips. "If I'm not mistaken, the people currently inside the Cold Moon Secret Realm are not just from the Super-Disaster Bureau; members of the Academy of Sciences are also among them. They came here to investigate the Lava Giants and to pinpoint the location of the Abyss."

Here, Liu Qingzhi's pretty eyes narrowed slightly. "The traitor in the academy deserves to die. Committing treason and selling out the country—the Inspection Bureau will step in soon enough. But we don't need to worry about that. Our task is to ferret out those Eagle Nation people hiding in the secret realm. How can we allow outsiders to stretch their claws into something that has appeared within Dragon Nation?"

Qin Zhe remained silent upon hearing this, lowering his head in deep thought. Having inexplicably transmigrated into this world, to be honest, he didn't feel much sense of belonging toward Dragon Nation. Even though Dragon Nation corresponded to the China of his previous life, the two were ultimately different.

The appearance of a secret realm implied a massive amount of unclaimed resources. If he could enter it, making a small fortune was an absolute certainty. Once it was confirmed where the Abyss was located, should he take the risk and join in if the opportunity arose?

Resources within a secret realm were not simply lying there waiting for just anyone to pick them up. Once the location of a secret realm was determined, the very first requirement was for a vanguard team to explore it, which carried immense risks. In the history of Dragon Nation alone, the number of vanguard teams that perished during secret realm explorations numbered in the millions—truly a life-of-nine-deaths scenario. Relying solely on the military could not make up for such personnel losses. Therefore, whenever an unexplored secret realm appeared, most factions would deploy military forces while simultaneously calling upon volunteers to form vanguard teams to enter the secret realm together.

Participating in the initial exploration of a secret realm meant that one's gains depended entirely on personal luck. As long as one could walk out of the secret realm alive, not only would the resources be distributed entirely to the individuals, but there would also be intelligence rewards for returning from the exploration.

To put it bluntly, this was an opportunity to get rich overnight!

Qin Zhe didn't care about money, but resources were something he urgently needed.

Seeing Qin Zhe fall silent, Liu Qingzhi roughly guessed what he was thinking and spoke softly, "Don't overthink it; focus on the matters right in front of us first. Once the Dragon Nation authorities determine the location of the Abyss, the academy will certainly organize personnel to explore it. If you want to participate, we can just form a team together then."

"You're planning to participate in the secret realm exploration?" Qin Zhe frowned and raised his head. He couldn't quite understand why Liu Qingzhi—whose father was the Director of the Sea City Inspection Bureau, possessing limitless resources at her fingertips—would still choose to take such a risk.

"Cultivation is fundamentally an act of defying the heavens; without pressure, how can one improve?" Liu Qingzhi lightly smoothed a strand of dark hair from her forehead. "Don't you think... our current lives are far too comfortable?"

After throwing out this question, Liu Qingzhi did not let the topic linger and shifted her gaze into the distance. "Our luck is good; the direction is correct. I can sense dozens of strong spiritual Qi fluctuations over that way. Erbao, can you go any faster?"

The Cold Moon Divine Hound, which was already sprinting at high speed, let out a ghostly howl at these words. Its paws accelerated once more, shooting forward like an arrow released from a bowstring.

Within just two or three breaths, Qin Zhe spotted an encampment on the edge of the scorched earth, roughly half the size of Sea City University.

Before they could even approach, someone in the direction of the camp noticed their arrival.

"Halt! This is a military-restricted zone. Do not court your own destruction!"

A male voice echoed from afar, and instantly, a massive Daoist immortal formation materialized around the encampment—a killing array powerful enough to induce a sense of suffocation!

Even from afar, Qin Zhe had a distinct feeling: thick-skinned and tough as he was, if he were to rashly charge into the killing array or become trapped by it, he would either die or lose at least half his life.