Forbidden Zone of the Human Race

The car took them not to a hotel, but to the closest hostel. It was usually used to house delegates and diplomats by the government. Since the students had come from various districts and most of them were from powerful families, the government had to ensure that they weren’t harmed in any way. Even their meals were prepared and delivered by the government.

Xiang Ning and the rest finally arrived at the hostel when the sky had darkened.

While standing in front of a window, Li Zimo saw his worried face and asked, “What’s wrong, Xiang Ning? Are you worried?”

Xiang Ning shook his head. His Combat Instinct was periodically alerting him. He tried zeroing in on the threat, but failed to do so. Still, the technique wouldn’t stop alerting him. It was worrying.

If he knew the source of the threat, he would be much calmer. It was when the threat wasn’t visible that he would have to be alert at all times. Ever since he had obtained Combat Instinct it hadn’t been active for so long, even when he was in the wilderness. It hadn’t even been ten minutes yet, but he was already being alerted to danger.

What kind of danger was lurking in Hang City?

“Don’t worry, this time many experts will be accompanying us to the frontlines. And Hang City is no small border city, their scientific inventions are many times more advanced than Tranquil City. Even a regular Spirit Cannon could be of the Shiva series. Its consumption.…” Li Zimo saw how worried Xiang Ning was and didn’t want to give him too much pressure. That was why he was explaining many of the scientific inventions and weapons the experts were using here.

As time went on the sense of danger Xiang Ning was feeling only grew stronger. No, I can’t just stay here like this. He needed to go out and find what the hidden danger was.

“Xiang Ning, it’s already late. Where are you going? Don’t you need to inform instructor Lei?” Li Zimo asked Xiang Ning as he saw him put on his clothes and disappear into the corridor.

“No need, just tell him I have something to do outside and not to follow me. Remember, he must never come after me!” Xiang Ning’s voice gradually disappeared as he went down the stairs. Li Zimo was unsure what just happened to him.

They had spent numerous days in the wilderness together, so he knew how sharp Xiang Ning’s sense of danger was. But try as he might, he couldn’t figure out what kind of danger could be lurking in Hang City.

As for Xiang Ning, he had already walked out of the hostel and turned in the direction where he felt the danger was the strongest.

“Not here... not here either. Damn it! Where is it?!” He had run around the streets of Hang City for twenty minutes as he zipped across numerous alleys until he arrived at a commercial district. His Combat Instinct instantly kicked up a notch when he arrived there, so much so that he took the Devourer out of his dimensional ring.

He stood in a dark alley and scanned his surroundings. He somehow felt that the alarm from Combat Instinct was strongest here, but he couldn’t identify where the threat was.

At the same time, the sound of footsteps sounded out and grew closer. Xiang Ning hesitated for just a moment, then dove into a dumpster while activating Disguise. He had just placed one foot into the garbage when three men appeared where he had been.

Seven Deadly Sins! Xiang Ning’s eyes widened as he saw the emblem of the cult within the dark alley. Before he could even ask himself why they were there, the men squatted down and removed the sewer grate. 

Xiang Ning finally realized why he had failed to notice earlier as he saw the cult members carefully descend into the sewer. They were hiding in the sewers! He slowly crawled out from the dumpster after ten minutes and placed the Devourer back into the dimensional ring. Then he opened the sewer grate and followed the three cult members.

It was a normal sewer; a sickly sweet and rotten smell filled the air. Xiang Ning almost left the area, not because of the stench, but because his Combat Instinct was constantly activated as goosebumps covered his skin. The only time he had felt like this was when he’d fought the Octoviolet Silversnake.

He gulped as he proceeded, following his instinct. The sewer was a complicated maze, with rats running everywhere. It was only thanks to the weak lighting that he could navigate the palace.

He walked for just a minute before he reached an intersection. He could go either left or right. Just as he was about to choose, he felt something was wrong with the wall directly in front of him. He tried investigating it, but his Combat Instinct kicked in with full force and he dove into the sewage without hesitation. The wall slowly slid open as a man dressed in black walked out, emanating an immensely powerful pressure. Another person, dressed like a butler in a brown suit and wearing small glasses, followed him. His clean outfit was starkly out of place in the sewer.

“Master, sorry for the inconvenience.”

“No worries, as long as the progress isn’t halted. Do you understand?”

“Yes, master. Just a few more beast cores and we’ll have the amount we need. I’m not sure how long it’ll last this time. According to our investigations, there are already more than fifty tier six martial artists and three tier seven martial artists paying attention to this region. I fear something might go wrong.”

“Hmm, good job. No need to worry about it. The tier seven Beast King isn’t a threat. We’ll let those experts deal with the wrath of the other Beast Kings after they kill the first one.”

“I understand, Master.”

Xiang Ning wasn’t able to hear everything clearly through the sewage, but he managed to catch some of the keywords. The pressure emanating from the man in the black robe was so suffocating that he knew he wouldn’t be able to escape even if he opened all eight gates. He was most certainly one of the leaders of the Seven Deadly Sins. Not even Lei Zhongyuan had given him such an oppressive sense of danger. His heart almost jumped out of his throat when he heard footsteps over his head. It was agonizing for his Combat Instinct to be constantly alerting him.

Two minutes… five minutes… Xiang Ning finally surfaced when he couldn’t hold his breath any longer. The sense of dread and danger had finally passed. What replaced it was once again an alarm that periodically sounded in his head. He silently gasped. He clearly felt the presence of the man disappear two minutes after he had rounded the corner. 

This novel is available on bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

If Xiang Ning were anyone else, he might have been caught.