Chapter 182 - Endless Tunnel (1/2)

Seeing General Tang was warning them so seriously, Zheng Hongru and the others knew that this was no small matter. Every one of them nodded profusely after hearing what he said.

-But, what on earth happened to Zhang Che?-

In the end, Xiao Yi couldn’t resist stopping in place as he reached the door. He turned around, facing General Tang and that casually dressed middle-aged man and asked with difficulty, “General, may I ask, Brother Che… I mean, Zhang Che, what happened to him? Is he in danger?”

In truth, the four of them understood that after Zhang Che was suddenly sucked in by that black door that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly, it was highly likely that Zhang Che would never leave this place alive. They had never heard of any similar incidents. One could only imagine…

General Tang fell silent for a short while, before saying with a low tone, “His life and death unknown, a blessing or curse uncertain…”

After saying this, he waved at the four of them, sending them away.

After stepping out of this ad hoc tent, Zheng Hongru and the others’ faces kept changing. They didn’t understand what General Tang meant by that, but they were vaguely able to make out that perhaps Zhang Che might return one day?

The four of them were feeling extra down. They no longer had any mood to care about the examination, only hoping that this big brother of theirs who they only spent three short days with would return safely.

Although Zhang Che would say some harsh things to them from time to time, the four of them knew very well that in the two days they entered the hunting zone, Zhang Che didn’t let them brave any dangers at all. Whenever there was anything amiss, he would be the one to rush in front, protecting them like a gigantic fort.

Even if Zhang Che was only afraid that his results might be affected if anything happened to them, he still did his best to protect them for the past two days. It was truly hard to repay him.

————

In the tent, General Tang and that casually dressed middle-aged man both fell into a prolonged silence. After some time, it was the middle-aged man who broke the silence, “How many years has it been? I didn’t expect that strange thing to appear again!”

General Tang nodded. He sighed, “Right, there’s no pattern to its time of appearance at all, and all those who were sucked into it ended up disappearing from the world. There’s no way for us to investigate it, even if we wanted to.”

The two fell into silence again. After a while, the middle-aged man suddenly said, “Say, do you think this is related to the sudden appearance of this world into ours?”

He extended his hand and waved it around him, referring to the beast worlds that descended upon Mercury thirty-six years ago so bizarrely.

“Who knows? There aren’t any survivors in all the cases that happened around the world, nor was there any further study into it. All of it is but mere guesses.”

It was obviously hard to carry on this topic. The casually dressed man said, in a discussing tone, “Then, what about those four kids? This came unexpectedly, and now they’re left without a strong guy to lead them. I’m afraid it’ll be very difficult for them to get a good ranking.”

“Let’s see how it goes. Who knows, I think that they might experience an unexpected growth?”

The inside of the tent fell silent again.

Going forward, this matter wasn’t spread among the other examinees. Other than Zheng Hongru and the rest of the team, who knew about this matter and were told to keep their mouths shut, the soldiers who took part in this rescue mission were similarly forbidden to leak any of this information.

However, the next day, a detailed report of this matter was given directly to the upper echelon of Hua Xia region through some secret means, and was sealed tight, along with other similar cases in the past.

There weren’t any subsequent rescue operations, as every appearance of the black door was at random. The time, location, everything. There was no way they could do anything about it.

———-

In the instant Zhang Che was enveloped by the chaotic mass of light, he only managed to recall his two subdued beasts before he felt he was sucked into a long interspatial tunnel. Under the irresistible suction force’s guidance, he flew in a certain direction at great speed.

The tunnel seemed endless. Zhang Che was bound by the force for an indeterminate amount of time, and there still wasn’t any sign of him reaching the other end.

“No, this can’t continue on like this. Heavens know what kind of place is on the other end!”