Free Web NovelChapter 151: Chapter 151: Never Stop Expanding
Flying Tiger held his phone, taking advantage of the signal to relay the latest news to his father.
Jiang Che had asked Ding Ning how to prevent the invasion of the Dark Forest.
Ding Ning only gave him one answer: deploy an anchor point.
Wherever a human above Tier Thirteen resides, they will deploy an anchor point centered around themselves, thus occupying a region.
Once the Dark Forest senses this aura, its expansion will automatically avoid the area.
After occupation, the lord of the region can leave, but must constantly reinforce their anchor point, stabilizing their territory.
Above Tier Fourteen, one can not only consolidate their anchor points, but also expand outward, establishing their own "stakes".
These "stakes" will be assigned subordinates of varying strength, depending on the size of the occupied area.
Because of the high-level lord’s aura, even if the subordinate lords stationed at the "stake" aren’t particularly strong, they can still maintain the area.
This is also the main reason evil spirits have to kill intruding humans—before humans invaded the Evil Spirit Realm, their growth depended mainly on devouring their own kind and absorbing the world’s energy to cultivate and advance.
Lords of small dungeons who are stationed cannot leave their area, needing to constantly defend against the Dark Forest’s corrosion.
At first glance, it’s like drawing boundaries and locking oneself in, trapped in one place, but there is one huge benefit to stationing:
Their own energy can, relying on the lord’s "stake," continuously resist the Dark Forest, and their strength can grow through ongoing confrontation.
This is why the lords want to occupy land in the Human Realm—this place is too clean, untouched by the Dark Forest’s contamination, allowing them to expand their territories unchecked.
Even if the Dark Forest grows over later, the lands they expanded into first will be stabilized, making them immune to the forest’s corrosion.
Ding Ning had explained to him: this is what the lords have in mind nowadays.
Be it human or evil spirit, the size of territory and land is one way to measure a leader’s power.
Even humans—throughout history—war and expansion have never ceased.
Someone once posed such a question:
If humans discovered other habitable planets, would they "colonize" them?
The answer was yes.
Humanity has constantly explored the universe—from Genesis to geocentrism, from Copernicus to Galileo, from Chang’e flying to the moon to Armstrong, from astrology to radio telescopes, from the Earth-Moon distance to tens of millions of light years...
Human exploration outward has never stopped.
It seems ingrained deep in human nature, a drive that’s almost impossible to explain.
Perhaps it’s required by evolution, or perhaps it’s because humans originally came from outer space.
Other beings are much the same, never ceasing their steps of expansion.
Zhou Ang was driving; Jiang Che looked back at the city behind them, now shrouded in darkness, its concrete and steel overtaken by bizarre trees.
The Human Realm’s sky was still blue, the clouds still white, the air still fresh.
Against the deep green of mountains, the black forest simply appeared like a cluster of ancient trees.
Such old trees are not rare deep in the mountains, and black isn’t even the usual color of the Dark Forest.
If you ignored the Dark Forest’s rapid expansion, placed in the vast world, it would hardly stand out.
According to the lords’ plans, they would occupy first, and the Dark Forest would come a little later.
But now, everything seems off track.
Humans hadn’t anticipated this; nor had the evil spirits.
There are many human cities, but not every city has a master stationed there.
Or rather, humans don’t have that many masters.
Evil spirits also hadn’t expected that humans would be so numerous, a densely packed urban population providing endless fuel for the Dark Forest’s growth.
"My father has received the news and already informed other groups. Humans have started deploying their own anchor points in several major cities," Flying Tiger looked at the reply on her phone and relaxed a bit.
"You can rest a little easier too—the family area is inside my father’s anchor point range. Your mom will be safe." She looked at Zhou Ang, who was driving, and his tight grip on the wheel eased up slightly.
"Stop the car." Jiang Che suddenly looked back at the forest behind them.
Zhou Ang slowed down, turning his face to Jiang Che in confusion.
"I can, too." Jiang Che looked at the ever-expanding Dark Forest, recalling that he could deploy his own anchor point, too.
Now they were on their way to Flying Tiger Group headquarters—if he deployed one here, it could block the Dark Forest’s expansion in this direction.
Flying Tiger was momentarily stunned when she heard he could do it, but quickly gathered herself.
Her gaze toward Jiang Che became complicated; she remembered once wanting him as a live-in son-in-law. The man she once thought had potential was now powerful enough to become a lord himself.
"Why don’t we find a city?" Flying Tiger suggested thoughtfully. Having a city could at least shelter some humans.
"Just now, my dad told me there’s a big problem." Flying Tiger looked serious. "Cities can only hold so many people. Now, every Survivor who’s made it to a higher tier is demanding to be let in first."
Every city was crowded and overflowing, and this was even before a lot of people had made their way over.
"No need—right here is fine."
Jiang Che glanced another way, having just sensed where he could deploy his anchor point.
That direction was exactly toward Red Pearl Mental Hospital; his anchor point would envelop the hospital.
Though his memories in this mental hospital weren’t happy, seeing it again, he hesitated.
He had lived there for far too long.
So long that his world consisted only of the small space of the mental hospital.
He was unfamiliar with the outside world. When Flying Tiger suggested defending a city, he felt nothing, but when he saw Red Pearl Mental Hospital, he wavered.
This place was full of pain, and yet it held memories.
Zhou Ang stopped the car and stood on a patch of ground with Jiang Che.
Xiong Jie followed Jiang Che’s gaze and, naturally, saw Red Pearl Mental Hospital as well.
"Right! We buried something there before." Xiong Jie seemed to recall, assuming Jiang Che was thinking of the things they’d buried.
"While the forest hasn’t reached here yet, you deploy your anchor point—I’ll go retrieve the stuff." Xiong Jie looked at Jiang Che; now, finally, he dared leave Jiang Che’s side.
Jiang Che didn’t need his protection anymore.
He’d benefited from tagging along with Jiang Che for two SSS dungeons, but was still only Tier Three Intermediate.
That growth rate was already several times faster than a normal Survivor.
But compared to Jiang Che’s current strength, he’s nowhere close—not even a fraction.
If he faced Jiang Che’s enemies, he wouldn’t even get the chance to take a hit in his stead.
