130: Chapter 130: If you can't adapt, then die.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Charred, mangled bodies slammed heavily onto the purple-red Wasteland.

Mor of the Time Demon Race forcibly twisted his waist and abdomen the instant before landing.

Sparks flew from the leg buffers of his nano-combat armor.

He plowed a hundred-meter-long trench into the ground before finally stabilizing his stance.

On his combat armor visor, red warning characters flashed incessantly.

Energy reserves were down to only eleven percent, and multiple armor plates were shattered.

Mor ignored the armor's warnings.

He ripped off the deformed visor, revealing a face with gill-like slits.

His grayish-white skin was covered in scorch marks from the lightning of the Void Realm.

He raised his head and looked around.

Violent tornadoes raged over ten kilometers away, tearing the skyline to shreds.

The clouds overhead remained thick, but fortunately, the area where they had crashed was temporarily clear of the extreme weather's center.

Members of his race were falling around him one after another.

Severed limbs and mangled bodies were scattered everywhere, accompanied by a charred stench.

Cries of agony and curses rang out in a chaotic chorus.

"Shut up!" Mor roared sternly, his voice overpowering the wind.

He quickly formed hand seals, and the remaining Origin of the Time Demon Race within him surged.

A gray halo expanded from beneath his feet, spreading to a radius of two kilometers and enveloping all the fallen clansmen.

[Veil of Time].

The core secret technique of the Time Demon Race, capable of shielding light and aura, and completely locking down spatial fluctuations within.

"If you don't want to die, hold your breath! Switch to internal circulation!"

Mor strode toward the densely packed crowd, scanning the clansmen still rolling on the ground with cold eyes. "This is a completely unknown and highly dangerous Wasteland Divine Domain!"

"Indigenous dependents could appear at any moment; swallow your screams!"

The leader's authority took effect.

The wailing came to an abrupt halt.

The Time Demon Race members from the Cultivation side quickly circulated their Cultivation Technique, sealing their major acupoints and switching to embryonic breathing.

Members from the Technology Faction activated their individual life-support Systems and put on backup breathing masks.

Members from the Magic side cast miniature wind shields on themselves to block out odors.

"Medical team! Treat the seriously injured with everything you've got! Suppress the smell of blood, and be quick!" Mor continued to issue orders.

The few dozen remaining healing-type Time Demon Race members in the group rushed out.

They pulled out hemostatic sprays, rejuvenation Talismans, and healing wands, weaving through the wounded.

Severed limbs were forcibly reattached, and charred flesh was covered with medicinal agents.

Mor stood on a protruding black rock, vigilantly scanning the surrounding environment.

This was a purple-red Wasteland.

The soil emitted a thick, toxic miasma of heavy metals, and scattered metal bones were strewn across the surface.

Most striking of all were the dark red saplings growing all around.

These saplings were about three meters tall, and their branches shimmered with a faint, liquid metallic luster.

The leaves, dark red in color, were greedily absorbing the heavy metal toxic miasma in the air.

After being converted by the trunks, the stomata of the leaves exhaled a faint, dark golden Qi.

Mor stared at those dark red saplings, his brows furrowed slightly.

He could sense that the Spiritual Vein network of this land was entirely locked down by the root Systems of these saplings.

"Leader, these trees..." the adjutant walked over, clutching his broken left arm, his eyes filled with uncertainty and alarm.

"Don't touch them," Mor interrupted coldly. "This place is ominous. Stabilize your injuries first, and we'll make plans once we've scouted the situation."

However, events unfolded beyond Mor's control.

dark abyss spiritual energy.

This high-level energy, converted by the sub-trees of the [Liquid Metal Blood-Devouring Demon Tree], was spreading within the gray Veil of Time.

A seriously injured member from the Cultivation side was leaning against a rock.

His abdomen had been slashed open by a Void Realm cutting blade, leaving a massive wound with his intestines exposed.

The rejuvenation Talisman stuck to the wound was dim, clearly unable to stop the loss of his vitality.

Just as he was on the verge of death.

Wisps of dark golden Qi seeped in through his broken skin.

A miracle occurred.

At the deep, bone-exposing wound on his abdomen, granulation tissue began to squirm.

The bleeding stopped, and the torn muscles knit together at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Pure and overbearing energy rampaged through his dried-up Meridians.

"This... what is this power!" The injured man widened his eyes in shock, a fanatical gleam erupting in his eyes.

He ripped the breath-holding Talisman off his face, opened his mouth, and gulped down the dark golden Qi in the air.

"Karl! Are you crazy! The leader ordered us to hold our breath!" a companion nearby exclaimed.

"Hold my ass! Are you blind! Look at my wound!" Karl pointed at his completely healed abdomen, his face full of joy and his expression ecstatic.

"The energy in this air is a hundred times stronger than any so-called top-grade Spiritual Spring!"

"It not only heals wounds but also stimulates potential!"

No sooner had Karl finished speaking than his aura began to climb.

The Realm barrier, which had been stagnant for years, actually showed signs of loosening at this moment.

This scene was clearly visible to all the Time Demon Race members nearby.

The flames of greed were ignited within the crowd.

Wanderers were, by nature, a group of desperate people who would risk their lives for resources.

They had risked their lives to tear through the time barrier and sneak in here, all for the sake of an Opportunity.

Now, the Opportunity was floating right in the air.

"My legs have feeling again!" A member from the Magic side, whose legs had been crushed, quietly lowered his wind shield and inhaled a mouthful of dark abyss spiritual energy.

A tingling, itchy sensation came from his broken bones; the bones were reconstructing themselves.

"This Divine Domain can give birth to such a divine object that extracts from the Void Realm; how could the environment possibly be a true desperate situation!"

"This toxic miasma must be a smokescreen! This dark golden Qi is the true Origin of this world!"

Vigilance crumbled in the face of tangible benefits.

More and more Time Demon Race members broke their breath-holding state.

They abandoned treatment from the medical team, sat cross-legged on the ground, opened every pore on their bodies, and plundered the dark abyss spiritual energy in the air.

Even some of the uninjured clansmen could not resist the temptation.

Watching their companions' auras soar, and fearing they would fall behind, they also began to gulp it down.

"All of you, stop!"

Mor's roar exploded among the crowd.

His figure flashed as he rushed in front of Karl and kicked him to the ground.

Mor's face was dark enough to drip water.

He, too, had tentatively inhaled a bit of the dark abyss spiritual energy just now.

This Qi was indeed pure to the extreme, but it contained violent, chaotic elements.

And World Laws that even he could not understand.

"There is something wrong with this stuff! Stop absorbing it immediately! Cut off your internal circulation!"

Mor drew the energy pistol from his waist and aimed it at the crowd. "Whoever dares to take another breath, I will execute them on the spot!"

The leader's long-standing authority still held sway.

Combined with the intimidation of the pitch-black gun barrel, the Time Demon Race members who had been inhaling reluctantly stopped their actions.

They put their masks back on and applied Talismans, though their eyes held a hint of resentment.

"Leader, this is clearly a good thing..." Karl climbed up from the ground, still wanting to argue.

Before he could finish his sentence.

Karl's voice suddenly turned shrill, like a rooster being strangled by the neck.

He clutched his own throat tightly with both hands, his eyes bulging and bloodshot.

"Karl, what's wrong with you?" A companion nearby noticed something was wrong and reached out to pull him.

"Don't touch me... it's so hot... my bones... my bones are moving!" Karl shrieked in agony.

His body convulsed, and he collapsed, rolling on the ground.

Crack! Crack!

A hair-raising sound of bones popping emanated from within Karl's body.

The place on his abdomen that had already healed suddenly bulged high.

His skin was stretched until it was nearly transparent, and blue veins twisted under his skin like black venomous snakes.

Rip—!

The skin on his abdomen suddenly split open.

No internal organs spilled out.

A deformed arm, covered in black scales and tipped with sharp bone spurs, squeezed out from his stomach.

"Ah—!"

The surrounding Time Demon Race members were scared and retreated repeatedly.

The mutation continued.

From the gill-like slits on both sides of Karl's cheeks, which were unique to the Time Demon Race, two dark purple tentacles covered in suckers emerged one after another.

His left eyeball burst, and three compound eyes glowing with a ghostly green light squeezed out of his eye socket.

In just a few seconds, Karl transformed from a normal humanoid creature into a deformed monster stitched together with the characteristics of various organisms.

He had lost his sanity, and his only remaining right eye was filled with the desire for destruction.

"Roar!" Karl let out a roar that did not sound human, swung the deformed arm from his abdomen, and lunged at the nearest companion.

Bang!

Mor pulled the trigger without hesitation.

A high-energy laser beam pierced through Karl's skull.

Karl's movements froze.

At the edge of the large hole in the skull, a liquid metal luster appeared, actually attempting to repair the fatal wound.

But the genetic collapse had already reached its limit.

"Back off!" Mor roared, his figure retreating violently.

Bang—!

Carl's body exploded with a bang, like an over-inflated balloon.

There was no scene of flesh and blood flying everywhere.

After his body exploded, it turned into a large pool of dark golden pus, splashing onto the purplish-red soil.

The scene that followed made the entire Time Demon Race feel as if they had fallen into an ice cave.

The moment the pus hit the ground.

The quiet three-meter-tall trees nearby suddenly came to life.

Countless dark red roots burst out of the soil and plunged into the dark golden pus.

Accompanied by a scalp-numbing sucking sound, the pool of pus, which was capable of corroding rock, was sucked clean in the blink of an eye.

The small trees, now satiated with the pus, swayed their branches and leaves.

The liquid metal luster on their bark became even brighter.

They even spewed out even denser dark golden Spiritual Qi.

As if saying: "Give us more."

The whole scene was in an uproar.

The wind blew across the Wasteland, bringing a bone-chilling cold.

All the members of the Time Demon Race stared blankly at the dried soil on the ground, their stomachs churning violently.

This was no great Opportunity.

This was a lethal poison!

It was bait used by this land to hunt outsiders!

"Ugh..." A clansman who had just absorbed quite a bit of Spiritual Qi suddenly clutched his chest and began to retch.

On his neck, several tumors the size of fingernails had grown, though no one knew when.

The tumors were dark purple, and their surfaces were pulsing rhythmically.

Panic exploded instantly.

"Save me! Medic! Save me! I don't want to turn into a monster!"

The clansman grabbed the nearby healing-type companion like a madman, his voice shrill.

It wasn't just him.

In the crowd, everyone who had wantonly absorbed the dark abyss spiritual energy showed varying degrees of backlash symptoms.

Some had hard black carapaces growing on their arms.

Some had large bumps swelling on their backs, as if something was about to burst out from within.

Some had eyes that turned blood-red, their sanity being swallowed by the desire to kill.

"Calm down! Medical team, form a formation to suppress it immediately!" Cold sweat seeped from Mor's forehead, but he knew he must not lose his composure.

The few remaining medics bit the bullet and rushed forward.

Green healing light, white purification magic, blue genetic stabilizers.

All of it was dumped onto those mutated clansmen.

However, conventional treatment methods appeared so laughable in the face of the underlying logic of the Wasteland Divine Domain.

The healing light fell on the tumors, but instead of eliminating them, it provided abundant life energy.

The tumors absorbed the green light, and their growth speed doubled instantly.

They immediately swelled to the size of a fist, then burst open, with compound eyes drilling out from within.

"It's not working! Leader! We can't suppress it! This isn't poison at all; it's a reconstruction initiated at the genetic level! Our power is catalyzing them!"

The medical team leader shouted in despair.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In the crowd, three clusters of dark golden pus exploded one after another.

The three clansmen who had absorbed the most Spiritual Qi experienced genetic collapse in extreme pain and exploded to their deaths.

The tree roots underground broke through the soil again, consuming them completely.

"Execute those with severe mutations directly." Mor closed his eyes and gave the most cruel order.

"Leader!" The adjutant looked at him in disbelief.

"Do you want to watch them turn into monsters and kill us all! Do it!" Mor opened his eyes again, his eyes bloodshot.

Gunfire and the roar of magic sounded within the Veil of Time.

Accompanied by desperate cursing and crying, dozens of severely mutated clansmen were killed by their own companions, turning into fertilizer for the earth's veins.

Half an hour later.

The chaos finally subsided.

The Wasteland was littered with patches of dried dark golden stains.

The surrounding small trees grew even more lush.

Mor sat slumped on a rock, watching the defeated troops whose morale had collapsed before him.

"Count the numbers." His voice was hoarse.

The adjutant's face was pale as he walked over holding the battle damage recorder.

"Leader... we lost 1,300 people in the storm. Just now... 214 people died from genetic explosion or execution."

"There are only 1,520 people left standing now."

"What about the medical team?"

"The medical team suffered the heaviest losses in the storm, and just now, to suppress the mutations, a few more people fell into a coma due to Mental Energy exhaustion."

"There are less than thirty people left who can still cast Spells."

Less than thirty medics to face 1,500 clansmen who were injured and could be corroded by the environment at any moment...

"What about those who got separated?" Mor asked the final question.

The adjutant was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head: "Outside the Veil of Time, there is no life sign feedback from any clansmen."

"Those who got separated... are all dead."

Mor gritted his teeth tightly, his fists clenching until they cracked.

This branch of the Time Demon Race had roamed the starry sky for hundreds of years and plundered countless divine domains.

When had they ever suffered such a huge loss!

They hadn't even seen the enemy's face, nor had they touched a single hair of the native dependents.

They had merely landed on this land and breathed a few breaths of air.

And their proud elite troops had already lost more than half!

"What kind of hellish place is this!" A clansman knelt on the ground, completely broken, grabbing his hair and wailing.

"No Spiritual Veins, no divine mines."

"Only poisonous miasma, monsters, and these man-eating trees! We are going to die here!"

Despair spread like a plague.

In the face of death, this group of greedy and cunning interstellar wanderers completely lost their former ferocity.

"Everyone stand up!" Mor stood up, drew the long blade from his waist, and slashed a rock nearby to pieces.

Gravel splattered, hitting the clansmen's armor.

"Will crying save your lives! Don't forget, we entered a Time Acceleration Light Cocoon!"

"As long as we survive this thousand years, once the acceleration period ends, there will be a weak point in the spatial barrier."

"We will be able to use the starship's tractor coordinates to leave here!"

Mor's gaze swept over everyone present.

"One thousand years. As long as we survive, we can sell the coordinates here to the interstellar black market."

"For a divine domain that can nurture such domineering Laws, the major powers in the black market will pay a sky-high price to acquire it! We can still make a comeback!"

The pie in the sky drawn by their leader barely injected a glimmer of life into this group of desperate outlaws.

"Group One, fifty people, is responsible for maintaining the energy output of the Veil of Time. Absolutely no leakage of aura!"

"Group Two, one hundred people, establish a perimeter guard line. No one is allowed to touch those red trees!"

"Medical team, stop using healing Spells. Switch to Freezing Spells and neural paralytics to forcibly freeze the affected areas of those with mild mutations, slowing down the speed of genetic collapse!"

Mor methodically issued a series of defensive measures.

Under his powerful suppression, the 1,500 defeated troops finally managed to stabilize their footing.

They cleared an open space and built simple shelters using scrapped aircraft and rocks.

However, the malice of the Wasteland Divine Domain would never stop because of the prey's struggle.

Just when Mor thought the situation had finally stabilized, something even more deadly happened.

"Leader! We can't suppress it!" The medical team leader ran over, covered in sweat, his voice choked with sobs.

Mor walked quickly to the wounded area.

He saw those who had only inhaled a tiny bit of dark abyss spiritual energy.

Those clansmen who only showed mild symptoms, the freezing layers on their wounds were cracking.

The dark purple tumors broke through the solid ice.

Without absorbing external Spiritual Qi, these tumors actually began to extract the host's own life force as nutrients.

A clansman from the Technology Faction had several sharp arthropod limbs growing from his thigh.

The limbs pierced through his armor and were waving unconsciously in mid-air.

"Kill me... Leader... please kill me..." The clansman rolled on the ground in pain, his eyes full of pleading.

The thirty medics sat slumped on the ground, powerless.

Mor looked at this scene, feeling ice-cold all over.

Once inhaled even a mouthful, the genetic erosion was irreversible.

There was no antidote, no cure.

This was the Law of the Wasteland. If you don't adapt, you die.