As Kun Peng slid forward, the two chain sabers instantly became taut.
One of the chain sabers sank deep into the tree and cut the tree trunk, which was as thick as eight people's arms, into pieces.
The other chain saber scratched Kun Peng's keel and created a series of sparks. It looked like it wanted to break the bones made of super alloy.
The huge pulling force from the two chain sabers was like two trains that were traveling at each other's throats. The crystal engines roared to the max, and Meng Chao was about to be torn apart from the middle.
Meng Chao's eyes were bloodshot.
His skin was as red as a cooked lobster.
He circulated Divine Nine Dragon Seals to the max, and circles of spirit energy gushed out of his pores like a tornado.
Profound and complicated spirit tattoos appeared on every inch of his skin, and all the spirit tattoos gathered together at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into several flood dragons that swam around his body with their fangs and claws.
"What terrifying power is this?!"
The exploration team led by Long Feijun was made up of young officers from the Red Dragon Army.
Quite a number of them had received Lei Zongchao's teachings in Battle God Palace.
With just one glance, they could tell that Meng Chao had already reached a higher level in Divine Nine Dragon Seals, and he had already perfected it.
Clearly, he had received Lei Zongchao's teachings.
Even Railway Cannon Long Feijun, a superhuman at the peak of Heaven Realm, was slightly stunned when he saw Meng Chao's muscles that looked like they were made of metal and shone with a crystalline light.
He could not believe that Meng Chao, who had just entered Heaven Realm, could reach such a terrifying level in just half a year.
But in the next second, they all came to their senses.
"Hurry up and help! Use this tree to hold Kun Peng back!"
All the superhumans held the safety ropes made of monster tendons in their hands and threw them at the tree Meng Chao was anchored to.
They used the other end of the safety rope to tie Kun Peng's keel.
If the safety rope was not long enough, they would tie it to Meng Chao's chain sabers.
Then, they gritted their teeth and glared at Meng Chao. Together, they used their strength to reduce Meng Chao's burden.
They added a new force to Kun Peng from below and dragged it in an arc that was different from its original falling trajectory.
Dozens of safety ropes instantly became taut like chain sabers.
The Kun Peng Ship was like a wild horse that had escaped its reins.
Even though everyone, including Meng Chao, felt as if their arms were about to be torn apart when they held onto the rope tightly.
Kun Peng and the keel beneath their feet also let out ear-piercing sounds of metal fatigue and even cracking.
But with the Heaven Realm superhumans working together, the armored airship finally managed to change its direction inch by inch.
Instead of moving forward in a straight line, it was now circling around the towering tree.
At this moment, there was a cracking sound. The towering tree that served as the anchor point finally could not withstand the powerful pulling force. It was uprooted and flew up.
But before it could fly thirty to fifty meters, it was stuck between two big trees.
The powerful force instantly caused all the safety ropes to break.
Even Meng Chao's chain sabers flew out of his hands and tore off a large piece of skin on his arm.
The Kun Peng once again became a wild horse.
Fortunately, due to Meng Chao and the group's hard work, the wild horse was already exhausted. When it crossed the final hundreds of meters, it crashed into a huge rock at the top of a mountain and fell to the edge of the swamp while swaying.
Boom!
The foul-smelling sludge rushed towards the shattered pod like a raging wave.
Fortunately, the airbags with more than one hundred airtight cabins were not completely dried up. They could still provide 30% buoyancy.
Besides, the airbags were nearly three hundred meters long and had a huge surface area, so they were half lying in the swamp. They did not sink into the depths of the swamp.
The crew members and the exploration team climbed out of the pod with great difficulty. Then, they crawled out of the swamp through the dried up airbags.
When they found solid ground, they fell and sprawled out on their backs. They could not get up even after a long time had passed.
They panted for a while, and their hearts gradually returned to their chests. Their souls gathered together once more, and it was only then that they got up with great difficulty. When they saw each other covered in mud and looking like neither humans nor ghosts, they bared their white teeth and laughed happily, as if they had just survived a disaster.
"Where's Meng Chao?"
The exploration team searched for him with their gazes.
Then, they gave Meng Chao a thumbs-up when he washed his face clean.
Quite a number of young officers who were familiar with Meng Chao in Battle God Palace hugged him even more passionately than the last to thank him for saving everyone and the mission.
At that moment, the long-distance bombardment ended.
The exploration team climbed to the towering trees at the periphery of the swamp and looked into the distance. They saw that the valley where the UHV transmission towers were located had turned into a sea of fire.
The green giants, which had been covered in vines and moss and waving their branches, were all revealed in the scorching fire. They crouched into bizarre-shaped scraps of copper and iron.
Even though they were far away, the exploration team felt like they could hear the towers' screams and the heat that came crashing into their faces.
They could not help but gasp in amazement. If they had not fled quickly enough, they might have really died together with the UHV transmission towers.
Fortunately, the crew members' great skills and everyone's teamwork allowed them to escape.
Aside from suffering a huge impact when they landed on the ground and a few of the boxes sank deep into the mud, the cargo boxes containing weapons, ammunition, exploration equipment, and portal parts did not suffer much damage.
Before Roc Aircraft sank completely into the swamp, Long Feijun organized everyone to move all the goods out of the swamp.
Once they inspected it, they found that some of the parts used to set up the portal had gone through slight changes due to the spirit energy ripples.
The precision of the parts used to set up the portal was very high.
If the parts were the slightest bit different, they might look like they could fit together perfectly, but when they were activated, the people and the resources might be teleported thousands of kilometers away or even into outer space.
Therefore, the members of Project 101 had to perform detailed tests on each part and try to eliminate the effects of the deformation.
The good news was that they had brought two sets of portal parts.
In the worst case scenario, they would be able to combine the parts and assemble a perfect portal. There was still hope for them to succeed, but they needed time.
"Team 1, follow me to map the terrain nearby and compare it with the map we already know. We'll determine our location and find the path to the sinkhole."
Long Feijun gave orders in an orderly manner. "Team 2, stay here and protect the technicians. Help us complete the repair and organization of the portal.
"Team 3, get close and observe the effects of the long-range bombardment. Take pictures and send them to the rear to help the main force finish the construction of the landing site.
"If possible, bring back some samples of the contamination of the UHV transmission towers. Let's see what on earth turned them into such a mess.
"Pay attention. Safety first. If you notice that there are still UHV transmission towers that are still 'alive', immediately retreat and continue calling for long-range firepower to bombard them!"
The word "alive" did not seem to be the right word to use in this situation.
But everyone understood what Long Feijun meant.
The three teams obeyed his orders and set off.
Meng Chao followed Long Feijun.
They used the landing spot of Kun-peng as the center and surveyed the area around them.
When they looked over, they saw lush forests everywhere.
No matter how many times they circled the area, they saw the same environment.
They could not help but wonder whether they had stepped into a space-time rift and run into a wall.
Even when they tried to find a few large monsters to guess the ecological chain in the area and the king at the top of the food chain, they found nothing.
The area was dead silent. It was so quiet that it made them panic.
"Senior Brother Long, don't you think that there's something strange about this forest?"
Meng Chao compared what he saw to the wild where he had trained for three months. His heart let out a loud thump, and he whispered to Long Feijun.
While Long Feijun used the signature ability of a six-star Spirit Armor Realm cultivator and spread out his vitality magnetic field to help increase the mobility of all the team members, he turned his head around and asked, "What do you mean?"
"It's too quiet," Meng Chao said.
"Logically speaking, there should be a lot of animals living in a forest of this scale, as well as monsters like wolves, tigers, and leopards.
"Besides, this is the entrance to the ultimate nest of the monster civilization. Even if they're trying to look impressive at their own cost, they should have arranged for some Nightmarish Beasts and Hell Beasts here. This is what you call a dangerous place!
"The long-distance firepower is so fierce that it turned the valley into a sea of fire even though it was so close to us. The crash of Kun Peng also shook the world. If there were really a lot of monsters living here, they would have been in chaos a long time ago, right?
"What's wrong? Why isn't there any reaction?"
"Makes sense."
Long Feijun thought about it for a while before he said, "Usually, when a seemingly lush forest doesn't have a lot of large monsters, it's definitely not a good sign. This means that the top predator in the forest is an incredibly powerful and greedy existence. It devoured all the birds and beasts, from pests to jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards!
"Could it be that the green giants that turned into the vines that crawled on the UHV transmission towers ate all the monsters here?"
"It doesn't seem like it. You saw how the UHV transmission towers swayed. When they moved, they made a lot of noise, so they would definitely leave behind a lot of traces. But the moss in this forest is perfectly fine, and there aren't any traces on the ground either. By the looks of it, the ruler of this place is someone else."
Meng Chao stared at the forest and said, "Besides, don't you think that this forest is too green? It's so green that it's a little oily and disgusting?"
Meng Chao finally realized where the sense of insecurity that had been lingering in his heart ever since he crawled out of Kun-peng's wreckage came from.
No matter how lush a normal primitive forest was, the rocks, tree trunks, soil, humus, and swamp mud would always have a lot of black spots on them.
But the rocks, tree trunks, and ground here were covered in a thick layer of green. He could not find any other color.
Meng Chao poured spirit energy into his fingertips to increase his sense of touch and protect his dermis and capillaries.
He gently wiped the green covering the tree trunks.
It was a layer of greasy lichen.
It was like a fungus that had been in the water for a few days and had become fat, large, and smelly.
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