Two days had passed since Tighnari left to visit friends, and Lin Feng, who had nothing to do, had basically wiped out the Monster Camps in the nearby Rainforest.
The enhancement progress of the Dexterity attribute on his body had also reached level 4. Lin Feng felt that his current control over his body was quite exaggerated. Not to mention small problems like walking on a Wooden Bridge, even if he went back to his previous life and directly auditioned for a circus performer, he would probably be the best.
Naturally, the most intuitive change was the increase in reaction speed, which was as smooth as switching from a 2G network to a 5G network.
Staring at the pile of Combat Ability attributes on himself, Lin Feng felt that his Combat Ability would probably be quite exaggerated if he really fought. As for Little White, Lin Feng felt that with his steady-as-an-old-dog personality, letting it be a Mascot with no sense of presence, eating and sleeping every day would be enough—at least Lin Feng thought so.
Lin Feng breathed a sigh of relief when he found that his level had not increased again. He knew this was because the Lesser Lord Kusanali had chosen to temporarily give up after failing to pull him into the Dream.
—After all, the true form of Nahida was still in the Sumeru Akademiya, and she had no one to use except for some Aranara who would not approach human Gathering Places.
The more Lin Feng thought about how pitiful the Lesser Lord Kusanali was, the more he decided to meet the other party before leaving Sumeru to see if he could help the other party with something. After all, his level had jumped from 19 to the current 36, and the Lesser Lord Kusanali and her Statue were indispensable.
As usual, Lin Feng chose to enter the Rainforest to complete his daily patrol after breakfast.
"Help! Is there anyone to help!"
Unexpectedly, Lin Feng heard a cry for help not long after entering the Rainforest.
Helping people in distress was also one of the Forest Rangers' jobs, so Lin Feng quickly rushed towards the direction of the sound.
"I am the Forest Ranger Lin Feng here. Sir, please calm down a little. What happened?"
Lin Feng, who revealed his identity immediately, saw the source of the cry for help—a Middle-aged Liyuean Merchant with Black hair and wearing a Robe.
"Oh, young man, please help!"
"My daughter, my daughter was captured by a Monster—"
The Merchant, who was at a loss, kept repeating these words.
"Please calm down!" Lin Feng released some Elemental Energy, Dendro Element with a hint of Dream characteristics, and successfully allowed the panicked Merchant to regain some Rationality.
"Which direction? What are the characteristics? What Monster captured her?"
Lin Feng, who understood that it was not time for reminiscing, asked the Middle-aged Merchant, who had calmed down a little, a few key pieces of information in the most concise way.
"Right in front of this road!"
The Middle-aged Uncle understood the urgency of the situation and quickly stated the specific situation.
"About half an hour ago, the two of us and the Caravan were passing by a dark Forest in a Packhorse,
Suddenly, a group of Mechanism Monsters with Black Qi rushed out. The formation was disrupted, and the Packhorse under the two of us were frightened and ran away separately!"
"My daughter is a Liyuean, about the same age as you, young man. Please, you must bring her out!"
"I, I can give you all the Caravan's property. Please, save Xiao Lu!"
"I, I, I can lead the way, those Monsters just now..."
The Middle-aged Merchant was about to turn back when Lin Feng reached out and grabbed the Uncle's arm, stopping his action.
"Uncle, you don't have to worry first. The Dead Zone is too dangerous for ordinary people. We'll talk about leading the way later. I will do my best to bring your daughter out. Please don't run around. I will take you to do some related records later."
Lin Feng also felt a bit tricky after hearing the situation clearly. He told the Uncle not to run around and rushed into the Rainforest at the fastest speed.
From the Middle-aged Merchant's description, they were likely to have encountered the "Dead Zone" in the Rainforest, although it seemed they were just passing through the edge area—otherwise, the Uncle would not have been able to run out.
But his daughter was likely to have run towards the depths of the Dead Zone with the frightened Packhorse.
During this time of learning with Tighnari, Lin Feng's understanding of the Dead Zone had also been updated.
First of all, the Dead Zone phenomenon in Reality was not common at present, and it generally would not appear in the edge area of the Rainforest.
Secondly, the Dead Zone was extremely dangerous for ordinary people. Even if they ignored the Projected Monster, ordinary people would continuously lose Vitality while staying in it, and there would be Life-threatening danger after more than half an hour. Only those who possessed a Vision could resist for a while longer.
Clearing the Dead Zone required using Dendro Elemental Energy to attack the Dead Zone Branches. After defeating all the Projected Monsters, the exposed Dead Zone Core—Dead Zone Tumor—could be eliminated.
Recalling the information about the Dead Zone in his mind, Lin Feng estimated the time the Merchant's daughter had entered the Dead Zone. Half an hour later, Lin Feng's heart sank and he quickened his pace.
—Hopefully, the strength of the Monsters in the Dead Zone wouldn't be too Absurd, Lin Feng silently prayed in his heart.
Because the strongest Monsters in the Dead Zone often came from the projections of the Ley Lines. If it was a Fungi or other creatures with low strength, the Dead Zone would not be difficult to clear. But if he was unlucky, he might encounter dangerous Monsters such as the high-level Ruin Drake and Hilichurl King.
Lin Feng, who was on his way, noticed that the light around him was gradually dimming. The sky and the Forest both revealed an ominous Purple-red light. The chirping of insects and the calls of birds that had originally surrounded his ears were also gone. The entire Forest exuded a dead silence.
The Dead Zone has arrived!
Lin Feng's heart tightened, feeling the ominous Power that was corroding him, and a feeling of inner aversion welled up in his mind—this was a Power that was in Opposition to all Life.
As soon as he entered the Dead Zone, Lin Feng felt a sense of crisis. He jumped to the side and back, avoiding the laser beam that struck him. Lin Feng turned his head to look at the attacking enemy.
—Three mechanical constructs, like centipedes, with triangular heads flashing with light, were obviously accumulating for the next attack.
"Entanglement!" "Spikes from the ground!"
Lin Feng didn't hold back, and his opening move was a full-force attack of Entanglement and Spikes from the ground.
The Vines, which were as thick as an adult's waist after training, entangled the centipede-like constructs from all directions as soon as they were born. The dense but firm Wooden Spikes emerged from the ground, piercing towards the restrained Ruin Guard.
"Hmm?!"
Lin Feng was a little incredulous—the Ruin Guard, which was bound by the Vines, was damaged after completely taking the attack of the Wooden Spikes, but it could still move.
The Ruin Guard used lasers to destroy the surrounding Vines, rotated its long, strip-shaped body, and, like a drill, dug into the soil and disappeared into the ground.
!
Lin Feng, who had tasted it enough times in the game, quickly jumped away from where he was.
The next moment, three Ruin Guards emerged from where Lin Feng had originally stood, releasing indiscriminate laser attacks around them. The brilliant light was like a small Sun, making the dim environment bright, and the extremely high temperature even produced a burnt smell in the surrounding Air.
"Good opportunity!"
Lin Feng, who was familiar with the mechanism of this thing, did not rush to dodge in the face of this terrifying attack, but instead condensed arrows with Pure Dendro Element and shot them far away at the Core exposed by the three Ruin Guards.
"Sizzle."
Suddenly, a sound as if there was a bad connection came from the Ruin Guard. The three Ruin Constructs were wrapped in orange-yellow electric arcs, and they were obviously in a state of temporary paralysis.
Lin Feng took the opportunity to compress the Dendro Element in the surrounding environment, and a Dendro Element Bomb with the maximum output power was thrown towards the center of the three constructs.
"Boom!"
—The three constructs trembled and turned into black ashes, disappearing into the Air.