When system cheat becomes rampant!

Chapter 234 Reminder (3rd Update)

They had been flying for a full ten minutes before they turned to look back at the sea of fire they had left behind. However, the expected scene of the flames consuming the entire withered forest did not materialize. There was no thick smoke or blaze spreading in the distance; it seemed as though the flames had been extinguished long ago.

The forest was not that easily ignited, but fortunately, the Ghost Mustache of Remnant Visage had already disappeared.

"Actually, we didn't necessarily have to run; we could've just set the forest on fire directly. Maybe that would've been enough to overcome them," Long Guocheng said.

"It's not that simple. If you don't believe me, try using a flame to see if you can ignite the trees below," Xiang Beifei said seriously as he looked back at the vast withered forest behind them.

Long Guocheng threw a fire pill that smashed into the forest.

Whoosh!

The fire pill exploded into a burst of flame, but the withered trees were not ignited by the flames it produced; they only shook their leaves as if they couldn't care less about the fire.

The light from the fire quickly dispersed, and the withered forest did not catch fire. Not even the leaves were fully burned.

"This..." Long Guocheng said in surprise, looking at Xiang Beifei, "Then why were your flames able to ignite these withered trees?"

"Do you really think these withered trees are just withered trees?" Xiang Beifei asked in return.

He was using spiritual power to burn, different from ordinary fire pills. Moreover, the leaves seemed to have a resistance that could fend off the spread of flames. Once the spiritual power was depleted, the flames would die out.

Long Guocheng was uncertain after being questioned by Xiang Beifei.

Indeed, the trees here were very strange. As they approached, the withered trees turned green again, regaining vitality—completely different from normal withered trees.

"So, is Liu Qing... dead?" Tang He asked through clenched teeth.

Before they joined the freshman competition, each of them was a favored pupil from elite schools, having awakened SR talents, with a bright future ahead.

But the continuous incidents had Tang He feeling panicked.

SSR Hou Chengwu was killed by people from Yanzhou University; SR Liu Qing fell into the hands of the tentacle creatures; the whereabouts of the others were now unknown. Only he was lucky enough to have been brought along by Xiang Beifei and the others.

"I don't know," Xiang Beifei said.

Everyone's mood was somewhat heavy; under those circumstances, it was impossible to go and rescue Liu Qing. They could only offer help when they themselves were capable of doing so.

Tang He couldn't help but look back in the direction where Liu Qing had encountered trouble, feeling very distressed, but there was nothing he could do. He had witnessed the power of those strange desolate beasts and knew that Xiang Beifei's decision was the correct one.

At this point, they had been deep inside the withered forest for an hour, which meant that it would take at least another hour to leave the forest. So far, they still couldn't see the edge of the withered forest; the area was simply too vast.

But at that moment, they discovered several vague green dots appearing ahead on their path!

These green dots were not clustered together; they were scattered in all directions, and their movement was uncertain, very dispersed, with each green dot moving at varying speeds.

"Are there other people who have come to this withered forest?" Li Zimu wondered aloud.

"They might all be here looking for the Landmine Dragon," Xiang Beifei said gravely.

Every university's team would surely have someone relatively familiar with the terrain of the outer wilds and who knew where to lead everyone to kill desolate beasts. The Landmine Dragon was one of the essential desolate beasts on the list that needed to be hunted, and anyone knowledgeable knew that where the purple lightning struck from high above was where the Landmine Dragon could be found.

That also meant many school teams might choose to pass through this withered forest!

"Should we warn them?" Ma Ziqian asked.

"How do you propose we warn them?" Long Guocheng gave Ma Ziqian a sidelong glance, saying, "You go warn them? Do you think they'll believe you?"

Ma Ziqian shrugged his shoulders, as if to say he hadn't spoken.

Although he was fast, going back and forth like that would consume a lot of time. Besides, what Long Guocheng said was true; teams from other schools might not believe him.

Looking behind them, the withered forest still seemed very quiet, as if the battle just now had never happened. The entire forest appeared to be safe and untroubled.

Such a situation would hardly be persuasive to those people.

Moreover, not everyone could perceive the aura of the Ghost Mustache of Remnant Visage in advance. The only one who could be certain of the presence of the Ghost Mustache was Xiang Beifei.

And the kind of aura that Xiang Beifei talked about was completely imperceptible to the others, making it impossible to determine where exactly the Ghost Whiskers were hiding in the forest.

"It's not right to just watch them walk into their deaths," Ma Ziqian said.

"The priority now is to get out of this withered forest as quickly as possible and find a place where we can use the SOS Talisman so that the God Refining judges can deal with these matters," Long Guocheng said sternly.

This was indeed the best course of action; otherwise, facing those ghostly things again might get them entangled for half a day more.

However, not all the green dots they could see were moving deeper into the withered forest. Some, like them, were also running back. Judging by the alternating speed of the trees withering and greening, those running back were going fast, seemingly also realizing something was amiss and beginning to retreat.

But some green dots continued to run deeper into the withered forest.

"Let's just warn those that are conveniently on our way, whether they believe it or not is up to them," Xiang Beifei said.

The Ghost Mustaches that they had encountered just now weren't too formidable, but what truly concerned him was the slender-waisted, blonde-haired woman mentioned by Tang He. That Ghost Mustache had spoken so deftly, clearly not of the same caliber as these Ghost Whiskers.

What Xiang Beifei was most worried about now was whether that slender-waisted woman could be a desolate beast with God Refining strength.

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Leading his team, he didn't dare to gamble; no matter what, they had to take the slender-waisted woman seriously.

Especially since he always felt that a powerful presence was faintly drawing closer from a far distance behind them, tracking them—a presence even stronger than the Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage they had encountered so far.

"Okay."

Li Zimu quickly turned towards the approaching green dot on their right front—it was about a kilometer away, the closest one.

About ten seconds later, they caught up with the green dot. Xiang Beifei immediately revealed his dominant spiritual power, deterring the person below, and soon a male student jumped out from under the trees.

This was Jingzhou University's SSR, Xia Wenxi, a slim and pale young man. As soon as he sensed the Meridian Opening phase spiritual power locking onto them, he quickly came up to check the situation.

"Is it you?"

Xia Wenxi recognized Xiang Beifei instantly—now, there were few who didn't know of Xiang Beifei.

His expression was clearly wary because the teams from various universities were all competitors. If it came to a fight here, Xia Wenxi was no match for Xiang Beifei.

"Don't go any deeper. This forest is very dangerous. Check your Forfeit Talisman and SOS Talisman—they've already become ineffective. If you want to live, leave this place!"

Xiang Beifei barked rapidly.

"What?"

"Run for your life!"

Xiang Beifei roared again, then darted past Xia Wenxi's head and continued to surge forward on his sword. Li Zimu didn't say much, leading the others to run outside.

Time was of the essence for them now. Stronger Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage were following from behind. It would be unwise to delay any longer—finding allies from their coalition was the best strategy.

"What does that mean?"

Xia Wenxi originally thought that encountering Liangzhou University's team might lead to a big fight, but he hadn't expected Xiang Beifei to leave right after uttering that warning, not even staying for more than two seconds!

"Captain, is everything alright? Was that Xiang Beifei from Liangzhou University? He didn't make a move?"

The other students from Jingzhou University also gathered around Xia Wenxi, with one SR-level male student asking.

"No." Xia Wenxi found it very strange and continued, "He told us to leave this forest, saying it was dangerous."

"Dangerous?" The male student was puzzled, "But we've been here for so long, what danger could there be? Could he be trying to bluff us? Maybe he doesn't want us to complete the mission, so he's claiming it's dangerous?"

Their target was also that thunderous sea. Giving up now didn't seem realistic.

"People from Liangzhou University must be saying that deliberately. It's probably his scheme."

"Exactly, they probably already killed the Landmine Dragon and came back, so they're trying to scare us off, not wanting us to go there," another person chimed in.

Xia Wenxi shook his head slightly, "Logically, if he didn't want us to complete our mission, he could've directly attacked us. He alone has more than enough strength to take care of all of us."

As he spoke this, the others grew quiet.

This was indeed true. Xiang Beifei's strength had been Witnessed by All at the freshman competition. He was very strong, and Xia Wenxi had already admitted he was no match for him, let alone the other SRs.

"Did he say the Forfeit Talisman and SOS Talisman are ineffective?"

"Just because he says they are ineffective, does it make it so? What if he's deliberately deceiving us? If we go to check the SOS Talisman and trigger it by accident, we'll lose points," a male student spoke.

Their Jingzhou University's score was not high, only forty points in total, and using the SOS Talisman meant a deduction of thirty points—a significant cost.

Xia Wenxi was also hesitating. Holding the SOS Talisman, he examined it closely—it looked normal without any damage. No one would use it frivolously without good reason.

To verify if it was still functional, he'd have to infuse it with spiritual power. But once spiritual power was inputted, if it were triggered, that would mean he'd been fooled by Xiang Beifei for real.

So now Xia Wenxi was also troubled over whether to believe Xiang Beifei's words.

After all, the thunderous sea was at the end of this withered forest.

Jingzhou University's team of five had only stood discussing for two minutes because of Xiang Beifei's warning.

It was just two minutes of discussion.

At that moment, a crisp and pleasant voice suddenly came from below the forest.

"Which school are you from?"

A slender-waisted blonde woman had appeared behind them at some unknown time, with a sweet smile on her face.

"Who are you?" Xia Wenxi asked in a deep voice.

"Me? My name is Shi Renmei, I'm a referee."

The blonde woman smiled brilliantly.

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