Chapter 300: Dark Zone World

After entering the game, it seemed like not much had changed.

The only thing that popped up was an update announcement tucked away in the nooks and crannies of the game menu, and in the game modes, a new section called “Dark Zone” appeared, even bigger and more noticeable than the “Safe Zone” and “Battle Zone”.

Xia Xinyan and Ling Mo didn’t waste any time and directly chose to enter the “Dark Zone”.

Then, their consciousness plunged into darkness.

After waiting for a moment, several prompts popped up in front of them—

【Please carefully read the following content to confirm your entry into the Dark Zone. This reminder will only appear the first time you enter.】

【The Dark Zone world is an open world. Under this mode, no tasks are set; players can freely explore the Dark Zone in search of loot and establish outposts.】

【The Dark Zone world is accompanied by extremely high danger. Pain sensitivity is increased to 100%. Player death will permanently delete all player data; please act cautiously. It is strongly recommended that players who have never cleared a Battle Zone dungeon avoid entering the Dark Zone.】

【Exiting the Dark Zone world requires a 10-minute teleportation preparation. During this time, players can move freely, so please plan accordingly.】

【All players in the Dark Zone world will receive the following bonus effects:】

【Increased 30% combat effectiveness increase speed.】

【Decreased 10% stamina consumption.】

【Increased 20% damage resistance.】

After thoroughly reading these, a confirmation box finally popped up before Ling Mo. He didn’t hesitate and clicked confirm.

Then, another prompt appeared in front of him—

【Welcome to the Dark Zone world.】

As this white text gradually blurred, Ling Mo felt his senses begin to return, as if sounds were coming from far away and getting closer, while he struggled to break free from some kind of binding, much like a drowning person being pulled to the surface.

This was an experience he had never had before, whether when entering the Safe Zone dungeon or the Battle Zone dungeon.

Finally, it felt as if he broke free from the bindings, like bursting through the water’s surface. His senses surged back, as if his soul abruptly reassumed its place. When he opened his eyes to look around, he found himself on top of an abandoned building.

In the distance, the setting sun dyed the whole sky crimson, adding a touch of desolation to the abandoned city below.

Xia Xinyan seemed to have entered a moment before him, currently standing at the edge of the rooftop, gazing down at the surrounding scenery.

This was a dead city.

All the buildings showed signs of damage, with several collapsed high-rises within view. In the twilight of the dead city, eerie sounds that absolutely did not belong to humans echoed from time to time, adding an extra touch of the bizarre to the scene.

To call it a dead city, Ling Mo had seen plenty of them in previous dungeons; logically, he shouldn’t feel anything about this city.

But… he saw a university not far away.

Even though it had long been abandoned, he could still recognize it at a glance—it was his school.

Moreover, this university was just one corner—after realizing this, as he continued to survey his surroundings, he could see more familiar buildings: the mall he often visited in reality, the gigantic Ferris wheel in the distance at a large amusement park, the iconic building of this city, the Linjiang Tower, and…

A whole lot more.

He could almost instantly tell that this was the destroyed Linjiang City.

And the building they were currently in… was their home in reality.

Ling Mo was momentarily dazed: “This is… Linjiang?”

“Hmm.” Xia Xinyan closed her eyes and took a deep breath, nodding, “The Dark Zone is actually another reality.”

“What do you mean?” Ling Mo furrowed his brow, filled with many speculations, but none he could pinpoint.

“I don’t know either,” Xia Xinyan shook her head, “What can be confirmed now is that the Dark Zone is a destroyed reality. Anything that exists in reality can find another version of itself in the Dark Zone.”

In her past life, after the Dark Zone officially opened, humanity was stunned by this situation for a long time.

At that time, countless conspiracy theories emerged; the discussion was so widespread that even elderly folks living in the countryside who never came into contact with “Realm of Divine Presence” began gossiping about it, demonstrating the shock level of it all.

But ultimately, humanity never arrived at a conclusion.

At most, they only knew that the Dark Zone world was a place completely proportional to the real world; every existence in reality could find its destroyed version in the Dark Zone—even including certain R18 books hidden under someone’s bedroom bed.

However, there were no living humans in this world, only the countless living dead and various powerful monsters that would attack any normal human, i.e. the players who arrived in this world. If a player is killed in this world, they would truly die and could never return to reality.

Moreover, any changes players made to this world would be permanently preserved; they would not reset.

More importantly, the monsters that invade reality come from this world.

So although people in the previous life didn’t come to a conclusion, one guess was widely accepted— the Dark Zone world might be an underworld of the real world, and every monster there corresponded to every person in reality. Only by exterminating all those monsters could the Dark Zone be completely destroyed, halting the monsters’ incursions into reality and restoring world peace.

That’s why, toward the game’s later stages, people were so keen on establishing camps in the Dark Zone to eradicate monsters, and eventually even formed expeditionary forces to launch a full-scale attack on the real target—yes, Xia Xinyan died in that battle.

After hearing this, Ling Mo fell silent for a moment.

After a while, he finally asked, “Xinyan, do you think this speculation is true?”

“I don’t know,” Xia Xinyan shook her head, “Speculations without evidence to prove them are ultimately just speculations—however, regardless of the truth, what we need to do remains unchanged. Only by destroying this world can we ensure the safety of the real world.”

Ling Mo thought for a moment, then immediately took out a nuclear missile launcher: “I can destroy this world right now.”

“Wait!” Xia Xinyan hurriedly stopped him, “Don’t think too simply! In the last life, the whole world joined forces for the final battle against this world, but even then… um… let’s just say that before I died, all the expedition forces suffered heavy casualties, and many teams were wiped out, with not a single person left alive.”

The monsters existing in this world were far stronger than the humans in reality—otherwise, “Realm of Divine Presence” wouldn’t have taken so long to allow them to develop before finally opening the Dark Zone world for them to confront the true targets. Ling Mo might be able to plow through the real world, but he definitely couldn’t face all the monsters in the Dark Zone alone.

As she once said, even to save the world, it wouldn’t be possible to rely solely on one or two people.

But it must be said… Ling Mo was indeed quite brave.