376: Chapter 376 The Moving Skeleton

Tao Zhe was the fifth to arrive.

When he landed, he crushed a leg bone, stumbled underfoot, and almost lost his balance.

The people behind him came out of the portal one after another.

The sixth, the seventh, the eighth...

In one minute, a total of thirty people had arrived.

They were all candidates selected in Plan 1—Martial Artists at the Fifth-Stage Great Grandmaster level or above, plus two people from the research team.

As soon as the last person landed, the white portal behind them shrank silently into a bright spot, like a flame being pinched out, and then vanished.

Tao Zhe turned his head to look at the spot where the portal had disappeared, then turned back to survey his surroundings.

His expression was the same as everyone else's when they landed—first a moment of bewilderment, then a frown.

"What is this place?" he asked, while looking down at his feet, where a piece of crushed bone was ground into finer fragments under his boot.

Su Mingyuan was in no hurry to explain.

He waited until all thirty people had steadied themselves and completed a basic observation of the surroundings before he spoke.

"I've tested the communication equipment; it's all failed, and we are disconnected from the Main World. The portal has also closed, and we don't know when it will open again."

After these two sentences were spoken, the team was silent for a few seconds.

But no one panicked; everyone was very calm.

Those who could be selected for Plan 1 had passed the psychological screening.

Su Mingyuan continued.

"Let's start with some good news."

He glanced at Han Li, who understood and took the Medicinal Pill out of the sealed bag at her waist, holding it in her palm.

Su Mingyuan recounted everything Han Li had just said to everyone present from beginning to end.

The lingering herbal scent of Nine-Origin Grass, the main ingredient of the rejuvenation pill.

Spirit Pill, a cultivation-enhancing Medicinal Pill that can be used by Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage.

One pill saves two to three months of arduous Cultivate.

He spoke very flatly, without adding any tone, simply laying out the facts.

But after hearing this, the expressions of everyone present changed completely.

Several Fifth-Stage Martial Artists exchanged glances, the light in their eyes impossible to hide.

Tao Zhe walked straight up to Han Li, took the Spirit Pill with its outer skin scraped away, and examined it over and over again.

"This is great." When he spoke, his voice was half a pitch higher than usual. "This means that not only is it possible for living Nine-Origin Grass to exist in this world, but things like Spirit Pills are scattered on the ground."

He turned to look at Su Mingyuan.

"Team leader, if the efficacy of the Spirit Pill is consistent with what is recorded in the notes, you know better than I do what that means. Chen Rong and Lin Wan won't have to wait for another three and a half years, and those of us with slower Cultivate progress will also be able to rapidly increase our progress with these pills."

Su Mingyuan nodded without replying.

He understood Tao Zhe's excitement, but he wanted to hear what Han Li had to say next—because Han Li's expression had been off since just now.

Sure enough.

Han Li spoke up.

"Everyone, don't get too happy too soon."

She held the Spirit Pill in her palm up again and turned it around in front of everyone.

"Look at the color of this Medicinal Pill."

Everyone leaned in to look. The grayish-brown outer shell had been scraped away by Han Li, revealing the dark red core inside. But that dark red was not bright; it was dim and heavy, like dried blood that had been left for a long time.

"The medicinal potency of this pill is gone," Han Li said.

Tao Zhe's movements paused.

"Gone?"

"The potency has dissipated completely." Han Li brought the pill to her nose and sniffed it again. "For things like Medicinal Pills, if they aren't sealed in a jade bottle or a specialized container after being refined, the potency will slowly leak out over time. It's fine for low-grade pills; they can last a few decades without much problem. But these pills have been lying on the ground for who knows how many years, exposed to the open air, so the potency has long since run out."

She tapped the surface of the pill with her fingernail, producing a dull sound.

"This pill is just an empty shell now. It can be seen, smelled, and identified, but eating it will have no effect."

The team suddenly went quiet.

Those eyes that had just been shining were now dimmed by half.

Tao Zhe was also silent for two seconds, then said: "What about the Nine-Origin Grass? Didn't you just say there were residues of Nine-Origin Grass in the soil?"

"Residue is residue, and living plants are living plants; they are two different things," Han Li said. "The residue only proves that Nine-Origin Grass was once grown on a large scale in this world, but I'm not sure if there are any living ones left. We'll have to put in the effort to search."

Hearing this, Su Mingyuan was just about to speak to arrange the next steps.

A shout suddenly came from the back of the team.

"What the hell!"

The voice wasn't loud, but it was very clear on this dead-silent bone plain.

Everyone turned their heads to look at the same time.

The person who shouted was named Sun Lei, twenty-four years old, a Fifth-Stage Martial Artist with an SS-grade Root Bone, the youngest in this Plan 1.

He was standing on the outermost edge of the team, his expression indistinguishable between fear and confusion, eyes wide open, staring at a spot about fifty or sixty meters away to the right.

"What's wrong?" Chen Rong asked.

"The skeleton over there moved," Sun Lei said, pointing to the front right.

Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing.

Fifty or sixty meters away was a pile of skeletons that were no different from any others in the area, stacked high and low, the grayish-white bones half-buried in the soil.

There was nothing unusual.

A Fifth-Stage Martial Artist in his thirties nearby laughed.

"Look at you, so cowardly. Can a skeleton move? Must have been the wind."

Another person added: "Exactly. This place is so creepy, everything looks like it's moving."

"Only someone at Little Sun's age, so young, would get scared like this."

"With such a small amount of courage, how did you pass the selection?"

A few people laughed, and the atmosphere eased a little.

Sun Lei scratched the back of his head and laughed twice as well, muttering, "Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me."

The laughter dissipated.

But Su Mingyuan did not laugh.

He stood where he was, watching the direction Sun Lei had pointed, without saying a word.

Han Li noticed Su Mingyuan's expression, and she didn't laugh either.

Because she had also noticed something.

From the moment they landed until now, she had been observing the environment of this world—the soil, air, temperature, humidity; this was her instinct as an Alchemist.

The air in this world was very still.

It wasn't the stillness where "the wind is very light."

It was that there was absolutely no wind.

Not even a breeze.

When she was squatting on the ground looking at that cluster of Nine-Origin Grass earlier, those leaves, only the size of a small fingernail, were completely motionless, without even the slightest sway.

No wind.

How could the wind move a skeleton?

Moreover, that skeleton didn't look small, and an ordinary breeze wouldn't be able to move a skeleton anyway.

Han Li glanced at Su Mingyuan.

Su Mingyuan happened to look over as well.

Their gazes met.

Neither spoke.

Su Mingyuan turned his head back and looked again in the direction Sun Lei had pointed.

Fifty or sixty meters away, the pile of skeletons lay there quietly, no different from before.

Grayish-white bones, grayish-white soil, grayish-white sky.

Nothing moved.

But Su Mingyuan's back had been feeling a bit cold since just now.

The temperature in this world wasn't actually low; there was even a stifling, warm sensation in the air.

It was that indescribable feeling crawling up from the base of the spine.

He stared at that pile of skeletons for a full five seconds.

Then he withdrew his gaze and spoke to everyone.

"Everyone, increase vigilance."