At the Nether Capital, Chen Feng's scalp was feeling somewhat numb. His initial plan of benefiting from the conflict between the other two parties had gone somewhat awry. He was aware that villains would normally have a lot to say, but he had never expected that these two villains of different factions here would actually start talking to each other.
Damn! This wasn't logical! Shouldn't they have started fighting like mortal enemies the moment they met?
"Why are you here?" the middle-aged man asked coldly.
"We are only seeking a certain ability. We have no intention of hurting anyone," the captain said solemnly. "If this senior here is willing to hand over the art of necromancy to us, we are willing to purchase it with a high price."
The middle-aged man's eyes gleamed coldly. "You killed my child."
"Won't she be restored tomorrow?" With a smile, the captain continued, "If our transaction is successful, we will be sure to guard this place forever against further disturbances. Would senior be satisfied with this arrangement?"
The middle-aged man was somewhat tempted.
Distantly, Xu Fei cautiously asked Chen Feng, "Is this part of your plan as well?"
Chen Feng's face darkened.
These two villains seemed to be getting along well. They would probably reach an agreement before long to complete a transaction related to necromancy or something. At that point, Chen Feng's group would be in grave trouble.
Shen Yi proposed, "Retreat? Perhaps we can hide ourselves as we wait for their transaction to conclude?"
Chen Feng rejected that firmly. "That won't work."
Although the Mysterious Organization was unaware that Chen Feng's group was here, the middle-aged man was aware of them.
As of now, the middle-aged man was still unsure of the relationship between Chen Feng's group and the group from the organization. He might assume that they were from the same side and had just arrived here in different waves. However, if their transaction were to conclude, he would most definitely be aware of who the actual party pulling tricks in the dark was.
Wang Chun smiled bitterly. "What should we do, then?" How would it be so simple for them to reap the benefit of the clash of others?
"Let me think…" Chen Feng muttered. The current situation was extremely unfavorable for them. That middle-aged man was a peak A class. As for the group from the organization, there were two A-class warriors and a whole bunch of B-class warriors.
Either of these two would be capable of crushing them at any time, and now it was even possible that they would join hands. This was quite a grave problem for Chen Feng's group.
It was simply impossible for a perfect art of necromancy to exist. From what they had seen here, they had indeed observed some problems with it. The group from the Mysterious Organization was definitely aware of this as well. However, their mission was only to gather some new information to assist their research on this topic. As such, those issues didn't matter when it came to doing business with this middle-aged man.
"I must think of something…" Chen Feng contemplated.
The only thing they could do was to spoil the trade. However, how should they go about doing that?
That captain was evidently an intelligent person, since he had decided to come clean the moment they had met the middle-aged man. Moreover, he had also announced his identity and the horror of the organization he represented as a form of deterrence to help him reach an agreement easier.
Chen Feng narrowed his eyes. "We can only make our move on that middle-aged man, then."
Middle aged man… and that little girl… Suddenly, Chen Feng thought of something. "Ming Yue, do you have any necromancy-related abilities?"
Shua!
Ming Yue's eyes suddenly narrowed.
Wang Chun and the rest widened their eyes.
That's right! Ming Yue! As the strongest villain boss in the comic, despite her strength being restricted in this world, she was still someone who possessed all death-related abilities in the comic. Since she was familiar with the power lingering here…
Perhaps she would be able to unleash a true power of necromancy here?
However, Ming Yue shook her head as a response. "That's not possible. Necromancy itself is an ability whose existence is impossible. It is simply impossible for an ability promising immortality to exist in the world. Even in the world we came from, such a power did not exist. The rules governing the world would ensure a balance of nature. As life is created, some life must end as well…"
Abruptly, Chen Feng and the rest were alarmed. This was because something had suddenly popped into their minds: sacrifice!
Every time a unique ability that could prolong one's life or grant one immortality was used, a countless amount of lives had to be offered as a sacrifice. If what Ming Yue said was correct… all of this was simply unrelated to necromancy! Rather, it was a plundering, a plundering of the lives of others for one's own benefit.
Here, in this city…
Chen Feng's brain started working rapidly. This was merely a small ancient city with a population of 2,200. Every single one of them would be active for around 12 hours per day. On average, for every single day that this city was restored, the cost to power that would be around 1,100 days worth of life, which would roughly equate to three years worth of life.
In this genetic era, the quality of a human's body was higher than the past. As such, the average lifespan of the people of this era was 120 years.
In other words, if a young man of around 30 years old was killed, his remaining life span of around 90 years would be sufficient to support this city's operation for around one month.
As for the explorers that would usually operate around the Nether Capital, a vast majority of them were in their 30s.
If so… only 12 people needed to be killed per year to sustain this city's operation. For 10 years, only 120 people needed to be killed.
A hundred years…
Several hundred years…
As it accumulated, this became a horrifying figure.
Xu Fei recalled something. "The origin of the name Nether Capital seems to be from that single massacre that had happened here in the past! It was rumored that when this city initially became popular, it was also due to the spread of a certain unknown aura around here. With the Nether Capital as the center, everyone around this city was killed. After a long time, the smog remained in the air and countless explorers died after coming here. Only after that did this place become known as Nether Capital," Xu Fei finished with a solemn expression.
Right at this instant, the Shen Yi that had her head lowered for an unknown reason suddenly started talking, "I have successfully analyzed the smog in the air. Within is some sort of life-absorbing power… This is not a death aura. Rather, it is some unknown power. The reason the A-class expert from the Genetic Union left after a short exploration in the past is most probably because his life force was being absorbed instead of this place being actually dangerous," Shen Yi finished solemnly.
At that, the hearts of everyone else chilled.
Life force… smog…
If an ordinary person were to come here, that would be akin to suicide. The wandering death lions out there and the countless amounts of B-class beasts were all equally horrifying. Only A-class experts were qualified to explore this place. However, A-class warriors were sharp enough to sense that their life force was being absorbed here. As such, none of them were willing to penetrate deeper into this place.
That was the reason no one had ever discovered the truth behind this city.
If all this was correct, this was simply not some safe haven. Rather, this was a life-prolonging city built upon countless corpses.
If the Mysterious Organization was able to get their hands on this method…
Their expressions changed at the thought of this.
The middle-aged man might be hateful, but he was ultimately a single person. As such, he would not be able to accomplish much apart from prolonging his life here. However, if such a sinister power were to fall into the hands of the Mysterious Organization, Chen Feng was certain that a huge amount of people would be used by them as test subjects. This was definitely sufficient to threaten the world.
Their hearts chilled. "These guys…"
For something like this, the more they found out, the more horrified they became.
Chen Feng's head ached. "Hence… this is another 'world threat level' incident?"
Bro, I only came here to hunt some death lions! Hello! What I want is truly something very simple! A single C-class death lion or some peak C- or B-class death lion leader is what I need at most. I only need a single drop of their blood for my gene reagent! Why am I encountering such incidents again?
Chen Feng noticed that when he wasn't using his Luck Aura, his luck was obviously quite bad, as he would always find his way into all sorts of unexpected incidents.
Was this Luck Aura he had fake?
However, could he ignore this now that he had stumbled upon it?
Such a forbidden art was too sinister. Chen Feng would hate to see large scale funerals and slaughtering worldwide in the future. At any moment, someone close to him might be slaughtered for this as well. Moreover… they only knew about a part of what was going on here. Why had the death lions disappeared? Why had Nether City suddenly opened to outsiders? What happened that led to all this?
For a city that had been repeating the same day for several centuries, every single day should have been the same. Such a change in behavior shouldn't have happened. Could it be that this middle-aged man was planning something? This was what Chen Feng's group was worried about.
There was absolutely some big problem lingering here at this place.
Instinctively, they all looked at Chen Feng for an answer. "What should we do?"
After all, Chen Feng was the one who had issued this mission. Coupled with his battle history where he had never failed, in times like this, it was normal for them to look at him for options.
Chen Feng stared ahead as his eyes gleamed coldly. "What else can we do?"
Ahead of them, the negotiations seemed to have reached the most crucial point.