354: Chapter 354 Forbidden Zone: The Frozen Alien City

The dry rations from Chu Yanran were indeed better this time.

At the very least, when biting into them, my teeth didn't make any worrying sounds.

Lin Yuan sat in the driver's seat.

Holding the steering wheel with his right hand and a Compressed Energy Biscuit in his left, he chewed expressionlessly.

The modified Flame Burst Technology tank drove steadily across the ice sheet at 80 kilometers per hour.

The interior was kept at a constant 25 degrees, with warm air blowing evenly from the vents.

It formed two distinct worlds compared to the minus 120-degree ice sheet outside.

Ye Qingxue sat in the passenger seat, holding a map—a paper one.

She insisted on bringing a paper map.

Her reason was, "Electronic equipment might malfunction near the Restricted Area."

Lin Yuan did not object.

In fact, he felt this reason was very sound.

But the more important reason was that when Ye Qingxue looked at the paper map, she would lower her head slightly, revealing a small section of her nape; that angle—

Forget it.

It's not important.

In the back left seat, Shen Bingtong had her eyes closed.

She was sensing the energy fluctuations ahead.

The closer they got to Restricted Area 37, the stronger the resonance of the cleanser fragment within her became.

That resonance wasn't painful.

It felt more like a guitar string gently vibrating inside her chest, with the frequency getting higher and higher.

In the back right seat, Xia Bingning was sprawled against the car window, her nose almost touching the glass.

Outside the window was an endless white ice sheet.

Occasionally, she could see traces of an Evolved Beast—

claw marks, skeletons, and drag marks on the ice. But there were no signs of human activity at all.

A 500-kilometer journey.

Not a single light, not a wisp of cooking smoke, not a single living person.

"So desolate," Xia Bingning whispered.

No one responded to her.

She turned her head and found Shen Bingtong sensing with her eyes closed, Ye Qingxue looking at the map, and Lin Yuan driving while eating a biscuit.

Out of the four, she was the only one here for sightseeing.

Xia Bingning silently pressed her face back against the car window.

The eighteen-year-old Primal Body's internal monologue at this moment was: So boring.

...

Seven hours later.

The tank stopped.

Not because they had reached their destination, but because there was no road left.

To be precise—the road ahead was blocked by a wall.

An ice wall.

About 200 meters high.

It extended to the edge of their vision, with no end in sight on either the left or right.

It was as if someone had erected a barrier on the ice sheet, splitting the entire world in two.

The four of them got out of the car, stood in front of the ice wall, and looked up.

200 meters.

Roughly the height of a 60-story skyscraper before the Apocalypse on Blue Star.

But high-rises were made of reinforced concrete, while this wall was pure ice.

No, not just ice.

The surface of the ice wall was covered in complex patterns—

not naturally formed ice cracks, but some kind of deliberately carved text or symbols.

Those symbols were arranged extremely neatly, looking like writing in some language, or perhaps a wiring diagram for some kind of circuit.

When Shen Bingtong saw those symbols, her body trembled slightly.

She opened her eyes.

In her light gray pupils, silver specks of light were dancing.

"These symbols… I have seen them before."

The three of them looked at her at the same time.

"In the ruins of the Everwinter World."

Shen Bingtong said, "Shuanghan once took me to an underground ruin. The walls were carved with identical symbols."

Ye Qingxue walked up to the ice wall.

She reached out her hand, not touching the wall, but releasing a wisp of Dark Attribute Ability.

The black energy was like a thin snake.

It burrowed into the interior of the ice wall, wandered inside for a few seconds, and returned to her palm.

"There is a huge space behind the wall."

Ye Qingxue said, with a trace of imperceptible surprise in her voice.

"The temperature… is minus 280 degrees."

Minus 280 degrees.

160 degrees lower than the minus 120 degrees outside the Shelter.

Xia Bingning shrank her neck.

Although the Primal Body made her impervious to the cold, the number itself was unsettling.

Lin Yuan did not speak.

He walked to the ice wall, raised his hand, and touched a symbol with the energy of the authority fragment.

Golden light surged from his fingertips and flowed into the symbol.

The symbol lit up.

Then, the golden light spread along the patterns—

like blood flowing into dried-up veins, or like electricity connecting a circuit that had been dormant for ten thousand years.

The light expanded further and further, passing from one symbol to the next, and then to even more distant places.

The entire ice wall was illuminated by golden patterns before their eyes.

The 200-meter-high ice wall, on the dark ice sheet, looked like a huge glowing screen.

And then—

A door appeared in the center of the ice wall.

It wasn't broken open.

It emerged.

It was as if the door had always been there, just hidden before.

The door slowly opened.

Inside, it was pitch black.

But in that darkness, something was glowing.

Very far away. Very faint. But it was definitely glowing.

Golden light.

Lin Yuan withdrew his hand, turned his head, and glanced at the three of them.

"Let's go."

He stepped into the door.

Ye Qingxue followed closely behind.

Shen Bingtong was the third.

Xia Bingning was the last. Before she walked into the door.

She looked back at the gray-white ice sheet outside and the tank parked in the snow.

Then the door closed behind her.

Silently.

As if it had never been opened.

...

Inside the Restricted Area—

It was not pitch black.

But a city.

A complete, massive city, frozen in ice.

The four of them stood at the entrance of the city, silent for a long time.

Not because they were afraid.

It was because of shock.

This was not a human city.

The architectural style was completely unfamiliar—

towering spires like inverted sharp swords.

Spiral transparent pipes were wrapped around the towers.

Floating platforms drifted in mid-air, connected by thin, long bridges of light.

The ground wasn't a road, but a translucent material, through which one could see dark blue light flowing underneath.

All the buildings were frozen in ice.

But through the ice, one could see the precise structures inside—

gears, circuits, crystal arrays, and some completely unrecognizable devices.

The scale of the city was vast.

Visually, it was at least as large as a medium-sized city on Blue Star.

It extended deep into the horizon, disappearing into a blue-white mist.

The most shocking part was the center of the city.

A huge Pyramid-shaped structure.

The spire pointed straight to the sky—

Or rather, straight to the dome of the Restricted Area.

The surface of the Pyramid was not ice.

But a kind of golden metal that, in the minus 280-degree environment, still emitted a faint, warm glow.

The color of that light was exactly the same as the color of the authority fragment within Lin Yuan.

"What kind of civilization is this?" Ye Qingxue's voice was very soft.

"I don't know."

Lin Yuan said, "But they recognize the authority fragment."

Shen Bingtong did not speak. Her silver energy became exceptionally active the moment she entered the city—

like a fish put back into water, swimming excitedly within her.

She closed her eyes, extending her perception.

Then she opened her eyes.

"This city… is still alive."

The three of them looked at her.

"Not that it has life. But its energy system is still running. It's frozen, but not dead."

Her gaze swept over those frozen buildings.

Those dark blue light flows, those platforms hovering motionless in mid-air.

"It's like someone pressed the pause button."

"Then who pressed it?" Xia Bingning asked.

"I don't know," Shen Bingtong replied.

Xia Bingning looked around and asked another question that everyone was thinking but no one had voiced:

"Then who has the remote control?"

Shen Bingtong glanced at her, but did not answer.

Lin Yuan, however, answered.

"Perhaps inside that."

He raised his hand and pointed to the Pyramid in the distance.

...

The four of them proceeded along the city's main thoroughfare toward the Pyramid.

After walking for about ten minutes, Lin Yuan stopped.

Not because there was an obstacle ahead.

But because—there was something ahead.

Standing things.

At the intersection of the main thoroughfare, about twenty humanoid silhouettes were neatly arranged in two rows, facing the four of them.

They were not human.

They were some kind of… ice sculptures.

But not ordinary ice sculptures.

Their outlines were humanoid—

two legs, two arms, one head.

But the proportions were wrong.

The arms were too long, the legs too short, and the head was a smooth oval with no facial features.

Their bodies were translucent ice blue.

Inside, there was a fist-sized speck of light pulsing slowly—

like a heart.

Guards.

The city's automatic defense devices.

Ye Qingxue's Dark Attribute Ability fluctuated first, and black energy condensed in her palm.

Lin Yuan reached out and pressed her shoulder.

"Wait a moment."

"Let me see first."

The guards moved.

The twenty ice sculptures took their first step simultaneously.

The movements were fluid and precise, without any mechanical feel; instead, they were like well-trained soldiers.

Their speed was very fast—from a standstill to a sprint, it took less than a second.

[part:gemini-3.0-flash]

The first guard rushed towards Lin Yuan, who was at the front of the line, and threw a punch.

That punch carried visible ripples of ice-blue energy.

The air in front of the fist was compressed into a thin layer of ice crystals.

A-rank attack power. At least.

Lin Yuan stepped aside, dodging the punch.

He didn't strike back.

The second and third guards followed closely behind, flanking him from both sides.

Lin Yuan retreated three steps in a row, still without making a move.

Ye Qingxue's expression changed slightly: "Lin Yuan?"

"I'm observing."

Lin Yuan's voice was very calm, "The way their energy operates is quite interesting."

He was observing.

In the middle of a siege by a group of A to S-rank guards.

Observing.

Xia Bingning was the first to charge out.

A guard's fist slammed into her shoulder—ice-blue energy erupted with a roar.

And then—

Nothing happened.

Xia Bingning stood where she was and looked down at her shoulder.

The guard's fist was still pressed against it.

The ice-blue energy rippled out in a circle across her shoulder.

Then, as if being sucked into a sponge, it vanished.

Primal Body.

It could adapt to any energy frequency.

The guard's attack hit her and was directly absorbed by her body.

The guard froze in a daze.

An ice sculpture without facial features expressing an emotion like "dazed" was inherently comical.

It withdrew its fist and punched again.

It was absorbed again.

It punched yet again.

Absorbed again.

Xia Bingning stood there, enduring the storm-like attacks with an innocent face.

She even started counting.

"That's the seventh punch," she said to Shen Bingtong.

Shen Bingtong ignored her.

She was observing the guard's body structure—

The silver energy made her perception exceptionally keen; she had already seen the guards' weakness.

"The chest."

Shen Bingtong said, "The Energy Core is in the chest. Shattering the core will paralyze them."

Ye Qingxue didn't need to hear it twice.

The Abyss of Death bloomed in her palm—

A pitch-black vortex, like a tear in space itself.

The black vortex lunged at the three nearest guards.

In the city's energy environment,

Ye Qingxue's Dark Attribute Ability received a significant boost.

The Abyss of Death directly "bit" the Energy Cores in the guards' chests, like biting into a piece of candy.

The three guards stopped moving at the same instant.

Cracks appeared on their ice-blue bodies, spreading out from their chests in all directions.

And then—they shattered.

Like three collapsing ice sculptures.

The remaining seventeen guards seemed to realize the change in threat level.

Their formation adjusted instantly, abandoning their ineffective attacks on Xia Bingning to concentrate their fire on Ye Qingxue.

Ye Qingxue did not retreat.

The Abyss of Death bloomed a second time.

This time, seven of them.

Shen Bingtong cut in from the flank.

Her silver energy transformed into slender needles, precisely piercing the cores in the guards' chests.

Every needle strike was a paralyzing blow.

Four of them.

Xia Bingning finally reacted as well.

She didn't know how to fight the guards, but she could block.

Her Primal Body stood in front of Ye Qingxue, absorbing every energy attack fired at her.

A living shield.

The last six guards, having lost their means of attack and tactical advantage,

Were cleared out by Ye Qingxue and Shen Bingtong within ten seconds.

From contact to conclusion,

It took less than a minute.

Lin Yuan hadn't made a move from start to finish.

He stood at the back, still holding that Compressed Energy Biscuit—

Yes, he had brought one from the car—

His expression was like he was watching a mediocre ball game.

Xia Bingning turned her head, looked at the biscuit in his hand, and said aggrievedly:

"You just let me block in front as a shield while you ate a biscuit in the back?"

Lin Yuan stuffed the last bite of the biscuit into his mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed.

"I didn't make you a shield. I let you utilize your specialty."

Xia Bingning: "My specialty is getting beaten up?"

Lin Yuan thought for a moment: "Your specialty is that it doesn't hurt when you get beaten up."

Xia Bingning: "..."

She felt like there was nothing wrong with those words.

But she also felt like something was very wrong.

Ye Qingxue coughed lightly, interrupting the conversation.

"Ahead."

She looked toward the Pyramid.

After the battle just now, the distance had closed further.

The Pyramid's silhouette was even clearer now—

The golden metal on its surface emitted a soft glow in the darkness, like the only lighthouse in the night.

At the entrance of the Pyramid, there was a massive symbol.

It shared the same origin as the symbols on the ice wall, but it was more complex and precise.

Like an ultimate password that condensed all the information from the entire ice wall.

Lin Yuan walked up to the symbol and raised his hand.

The energy of the authority fragment surged out.

This time—

It wasn't just the symbol that lit up.

The entire Pyramid lit up.

Golden light spread from the base to the apex.

It spread along every line on the surface, like a lighthouse that had slept for tens of millions of years.

At this moment, it was reignited.

The light was too bright.

Bright enough to illuminate the entire frozen city.

The ice-sealed buildings, the floating platforms, the translucent ground—

Everything was enveloped in golden light, as if soaked in a pool of liquid gold.

And even more noteworthy—

The guards.

The guards patrolling throughout the city, those on standby, and those who had just been destroyed and were reforming.

All of them stopped moving.

They simultaneously turned toward the Pyramid.

And then—

They knelt.

Twenty, fifty, hundreds.

All the guards in the city knelt on one knee, maintaining a "standby" posture.

As if they recognized the clearance of the authority fragment in Lin Yuan's hand.

Xia Bingning watched this scene, her mouth hanging open wide enough to fit a fist.

"They... are saluting you?"

Lin Yuan didn't answer.

He watched the door in the center of the Pyramid slowly open.

A warm breath drifted out from the door—

In a frozen city at minus 280 degrees, the interior of the Pyramid was actually warm.

It was as if someone had lit a fire inside, specifically waiting for him to arrive.

Lin Yuan stepped inside.

Ye Qingxue followed closely behind.

Shen Bingtong was third.

Xia Bingning was fourth—

Before she walked through the door, she hesitated for a moment and whispered "thank you" to the nearest kneeling guard.

The guard didn't react.

Shen Bingtong didn't even look back: "It doesn't understand."

"Just in case."

Xia Bingning said, "Politeness is never wrong."

...

Inside the Pyramid.

It was a massive circular hall.

The dome was so high the edge couldn't be seen, and its surface was covered with the same symbols as the ice wall.

But these symbols were all glowing—

Golden light flowed, like golden rivers converging on the dome.

In the very center of the hall, a crystal floated.

The size of a fist.

Golden.

An authority fragment.

It hung quietly in mid-air, like a frozen star, emitting a gentle yet powerful energy pulse.

But beside the crystal, there was something else.

A holographic projection device.

The device was very old—thick frost covered the base, and some components had oxidized and turned black.

But it was still working.

Above it, a segment of footage was playing on a loop.

In the footage was a being.

Not human.

It was very tall—at least three meters, based on the projection's proportions.

Its body was slender, and the proportions of its limbs were different from humans, being much longer. Its head was a smooth oval.

It had no hair, but it had facial features—

Unlike the guards, this being had eyes, a mouth, and a demeanor belonging to an intelligent lifeform.

It faced the camera, saying something in a language Lin Yuan couldn't understand at all.

The voice was like wind blowing through an ice valley, carrying a metallic resonance.

The footage lasted about three minutes.

In the final few seconds, the being stopped speaking.

It made a gesture—

First pointing to the floating golden crystal beside it, then pointing to its own chest.

The meaning of the gesture was clear.

This is mine. Now I give it to you.

Lin Yuan watched it three times.

The first time, he watched the movements.

The second time, he watched the expressions.

The third time, he looked into the being's eyes.

And then he understood.

This wasn't a record.

This was a last will and testament.

The builder of this city—

No matter what race it was or what civilization it came from—

Had left its authority fragment here.

Sealed within a Pyramid.

Waiting for the next "qualified person" to claim it.

Waiting for who knows how many years.

Perhaps a thousand years. Perhaps ten thousand. Perhaps even longer.

Lin Yuan withdrew his gaze and looked at the golden crystal floating in mid-air.

He reached out his hand.

"The second piece."

He said.