After daybreak, the temperature began to rise. After some simple preparations, the small group began their journey to this strange continent.
During the day, you could look up and see sunshine and clouds, but they only covered the limited area directly above. Shadows hung low on the horizon. The further they traveled, the dimmer the light became, as if they were stepping from day into night.
The exact borders remained unclear because a towering tree in the middle of the land blocked the view. Of course, these were just Oboro's assumptions, nothing had been confirmed yet.
"The temperature is starting to rise" Several people walked cautiously, not daring to move quickly. On the one hand, they had to conserve energy, on the other hand, they wanted to avoid attracting dangerous attention. They would not proceed until Oboro confirmed that there was no immediate threat nearby.
However, the place where they had landed and their current surroundings differed significantly from the V5 data. They seemed to have chosen a particularly bad route.
In just a few hours, the temperature of the originally icy desert had soared, turning it into a massive furnace. And it wasn't even the hottest part of the day yet.
"We need to find a water source immediately," Oboro frowned.
At that moment, he suddenly reached out and stopped his teammates with a gesture. Without needing any verbal instructions, Menchi and her five companions instantly vanished into streaks of light, hiding behind nearby rubble. Only Oboro remained in the open.
He stared indifferently ahead, sensing a soul fluctuation several kilometers away. The other party's ability to hide their aura was truly unique, it was difficult to detect even when using En to sense it.
The 'soul form' hidden under the sand appeared in Oboro's mind, resembling a giant lizard with a strange appearance similar to a chameleon. This creature's ability to hide and disguise itself was one of the innate adaptations that allowed it to survive in the Dark Continent's food chain. What surprised Oboro was that, whether it had anything to do with the special ecology of the Dark Continent or not, a monster with such strong vitality was born with perfect control of its aura, almost more terrifying than human Nen users who had practiced Zetsu to the extreme.
Humans spent their entire lives practicing, but this monster was born with such an ability. If not for his ability to sense souls, even Oboro would have fallen into this trap.
He stood completely still.
Soon, huge waves of sand rose from the land ahead, and a column of water like a sweet spring gushed from the ground, spreading through the air and forming a magnificent rainbow.
The high temperature of the desert was amazing and continued unabated. In such circumstances, the sudden appearance of water undoubtedly brought hope to many "lives," including Oboro's team.
Water was what they needed most at the moment, more important than food.
The water rushed down, staining the sand dark.
Not long after, Oboro spotted a massive black scorpion flying towards the water from a distance. What was most unusual about it were the many long tails with poisonous hooks protruding from its body.
The scorpion rushed to the newly appeared water source and stood still, absorbing moisture from the sand. But as soon as it settled, the vast desert floor suddenly collapsed, forming a vortex. A huge mouth emerged from the abyss below, biting the scorpion directly and swallowing it whole, leaving only half of its head visible.
It was exactly what Oboro had sensed when the lizard had been hiding underground.
The scene was shocking, firstly because of the creature's massive size, and secondly because of the visual impact that clearly demonstrated the ups and downs of the Dark Continent's food chain, the relationship between hunter and hunted.
The gushing fountain was a lizard skill, designed to lure prey into its trap. The scorpion had obviously fallen for it!
Its terrifying tails kept stinging the lizard as it struggled, making piercing hissing sounds. But due to the lizard's hard scales, its efforts failed and it was finally consumed.
The whole scene happened and ended very quickly. A few minutes later, the desert in front of us was quiet again, as if nothing had happened. The moisture in the sand quickly evaporated at the high temperature and disappeared without a trace.
Menchi and the others stayed hidden, not daring to come out. Their faces were pale; they had all felt the violent, surging aura that fully revealed the creature's terrifying nature.
Oboro waited a while, and sure enough, another familiar stream of water gushed out, just like before. Some water mist drifted over, carrying a faint, tantalizingly sweet smell of milk.
His pupils gradually constricted as his scalp prickled with alertness.
According to his perception, the scorpion being eaten by the lizard was normal. What made him feel uncomfortable was that after the lizard devoured its prey, not only did its aura seem to strengthen, but its soul also seemed to become slightly more powerful.
This made him think of something.
Meruem's talent.
The Ant King had the instinct to "eat". After consuming the brain tissue of Nen users, his power would grow stronger, to put it bluntly, he could evolve infinitely! It was similar to Oboros own ability. He had thought that it was just a special case.
But now it seemed that wasn't the case at all!
Humans eat food to sustain life and take in nutrients, but basically what they consume cannot be directly converted into "power. There's a necessary intermediate process of training! However, the creatures of the Dark Continent didn't seem to follow this restriction.
They could absorb vital energy through digestion!
Note that it was absorbing energy, not just eating living things.
This was terrifying.
It meant that it was very likely that most of the life on the Dark Continent shared a characteristic in their food chain: as long as they 'ate', they could become stronger. This would make the fights between species in the food chain even more cruel and bloody, but humans didn't have this ability. At least in the current human world, no human possessed this trait, unless they had some special abilities like Oboro.
There was the possibility of evolution! Evolution, always evolving
No one knew how many years the Dark Continent had existed. In that case, didn't it mean that some ancient creatures on that continent, at the top of the food chain, had evolved to an unknown level of "super-dimensional species"?
It was the same as the cultivation of Gu.
This realization meant that there must be several or perhaps a group of the most terrifying "things" on this land.
Oboro's heart pounded in his chest.
Netero hadn't mentioned this in his report to V5, but maybe the old man had realized it, which was why he had forbidden humans to set foot on this continent.
"Luckily, I developed the ability to stack passive abilities, otherwise I wouldn't even have the basic qualifications to participate in this game. Evolution is just a ticket," Oboro suddenly realized. "The reason why I can evolve is because of my powerful digestion and absorption abilities. In essence, it's still the difference in the structure of my life."
Oboro couldn't imagine if the humans who hadn't yet migrated to the island in the lake had this characteristic. At least they didn't now.
He thought of Alluka again.
The kind of life substance that contains the energy of the rule system.
Every living thing has all the power it needs to survive. That is the law.
Oboro once believed that Alluka used the inner desires of humans as bait to obtain the "food" it needed, but what was its food?
It was invisible to the naked eye.
There was no connection to physical food; it just seemed to 'play around'.
But anyone who got infected or came close to it would die, and the price they paid was their life.
If Alluka could truly transform "outer life" into life span with his own power, then he was undoubtedly touching the essence of life energy.
It didn't have a physical form, so of course it didn't need physical food, but what it needed to survive or maintain its existence was vital energy.
Not just flesh, blood, mind, and soul.
From this perspective, both the Ant King and Alluka were close to the essence of "continuous evolution through hunting and absorbing life energy.
Was that a characteristic unique to the Dark Continent?
Alluka's evolutionary traits weren't very prominent, but that didn't mean that they didn't exist; it was just that Alluka was still relatively young, and her "eating method" was also unconventional.
Thinking about it, Oboro felt a shiver run down his spine.
He wasn't sure if all species in the Dark Continent had the trait of 'evolution' or if it was limited to only some of them.
Even so, he did not dare to delve any further, because the implications were too terrifying.
He vaguely understood Netero's "good intentions" now.
Looking at this world again, Oboro felt like a "pitiful human" who had lost his way and fallen into the abyss.
"No matter how bad the human world is, it's still a relatively safe paradise, but this is real hell," Oboro muttered to himself.
"Too bad I wanted to come anyway."
"Since I already have the qualifications and tickets to attend this most authentic hunting feast derived from evolution, how could I miss it?"
"Prey and Predator"
"I think I like this side a little better. There's no intrigue here. It's more pure. The stronger will survive."
The next second, Oboro suddenly laughed, a hint of bloodthirsty desire igniting in his eyes.
He came here to evolve!
As he spoke, he walked alone toward the area where the water was rising.