After completing the spirit gathering of the Five Spirit Disk, twenty-four hours had also nearly passed.
The possession effect of the God of War, Lu Bu, ended, and Bai Ye returned to his normal state. At the same time, Bai Ye finally reached the boundary of this spiritual anomaly zone.
"This time, I should have found the right place!"
Bai Ye stepped across the boundary, and as the surrounding light dissipated, then…
"Achoo!"
As soon as Bai Ye stepped out of the light’s embrace, he was immediately met with a blast of cold air. He couldn't help but cover his nose and let out a sneeze.
What appeared before Bai Ye was a vast expanse of glaciers, with wind and snow blowing all around, and waves of coldness instantly assailing him.
Even with Bai Ye's current physique, he could feel the invasion of the cold, causing him to shiver involuntarily.
However, a look of joy flickered across Bai Ye's face. Glaciers were exactly what he was looking for!
He hadn't come to the wrong place; this should be the venue for the coming-of-age ceremony.
"Then…" Bai Ye said, exhaling warm air from his mouth, "First, I need to find the scientific expedition team's base. I remember its location shouldn't be too far from the boundary!"
Bai Ye mused as he rubbed his hands together and continued to move forward.
The icy and snowy environment made one suspect this was a doomsday zone, as it seemed no life could possibly survive here.
But Bai Ye knew that this was actually a technologically advanced area.
A wealthy man named Vilander owned his own private satellite. One day, this satellite discovered the ruins of a pyramid-shaped temple deep within the Antarctic glaciers. Coincidentally, Vilander was a wealthy man with a passion for adventure and exploration.
Thus, Vilander spared no expense in assembling a scientific expedition team to venture deep into the Antarctic glaciers in an attempt to explore the pyramid ruins. That's when the terrible events began to unfold.
Within the pyramid ruins were terrifying extraterrestrial creatures, known as Xenomorphs, a nearly perfect combat-form organic lifeform. They had been imprisoned here by the ancient gods for at least two thousand years and would have continued to be imprisoned if not for an unforeseen event. The arrival of the expedition team disrupted everything. The team entered the ruins and awakened the sleeping Xenomorphs, who then began to lay eggs and reproduce in large numbers. These creatures were extremely aggressive, possessing a primal instinct to kill all other species.
Meanwhile…
A spaceship also descended upon this glacier. Three Predators, similarly, intended to enter the ruins.
They were the ancient inhabitants of this world. The pyramid ruins were built by their ancestors. When their technological civilization reached its peak, they built spacecraft and began to explore the universe, eventually leaving this world.
However, two thousand years had passed, and these ancient humans still maintained their traditions. Every ancient human who wished to become a true warrior needed to complete their coming-of-age ceremony, which involved returning to their ancestral land to hunt the Xenomorphs imprisoned there.
Life or death!
Complete the hunt, or die within the ruins.
Therefore, although the environment of this glacier seemed utterly disconnected from any notion of "technology," it was, in fact, a technologically advanced area.
Of course, if one insisted on calling it a doomsday zone, Bai Ye felt that wouldn't be entirely wrong. If those Xenomorphs escaped the ruins, it would undoubtedly be a catastrophic disaster for humanity, as they would slaughter all other species, including humans.
However, Bai Ye did not know the ultimate outcome.
Perhaps the Xenomorphs were the ultimate victors in that world, transforming it into a doomsday wasteland under their devastation.
Alternatively, perhaps humanity or the Predators emerged victorious, maintaining peace. Although Predators were also fierce, they did not possess the same inherent killing instinct as Xenomorphs.
But the specific fate of that world was irrelevant. What mattered was that this region had become part of the World Battlefield.
Lost in thought, Bai Ye stopped as a building appeared before him.
The structure resembled an oversized shipping container, square and silver-white on the exterior.
"A monitoring station, perhaps?"
Bai Ye surmised that it wasn't the expedition team's base, which would have been much larger. It was likely just a monitoring station set up by the expedition team.
Bai Ye glanced at the sky. The wind and snow seemed to have intensified.
Traveling in this accursed weather was difficult. Visibility was extremely low, and it was terribly cold. If not for his body being modified by the T-virus and the continuous strengthening from the Five Spirit Disk, Bai Ye felt he would have frozen into an icicle long ago. But even if he could endure it, Bai Ye thought it would be better to find some warm clothing and wait for the snowstorm to pass before continuing.
With this in mind, Bai Ye walked into the building and pushed open the door.
And then…
Bai Ye was stunned!
What was going on?
The monitoring station was brightly lit, and there were quite a few people inside, perhaps four or five. Most of them were wrapped in blankets, sitting at tables or resting on the floor.
As Bai Ye opened the door, many eyes turned towards him, but only for a brief moment before averting their gaze and returning to their activities, as if Bai Ye's arrival was a perfectly normal occurrence, nothing to be surprised about.
Bai Ye was utterly bewildered. Were there this many people gathered in this godforsaken place?
After all, this was a glacier, devoid of human habitation, and there was no such thing as a neutral zone. Therefore, even if one were randomly teleported to this area upon entering the World Battlefield, they would try their best to leave as soon as possible, let alone gather here.
"Could it be that the forbidden zone has been claimed by someone already?"
This thought crossed Bai Ye's mind.
If the forbidden zone opened, and everyone within the area was teleported into it…
Bai Ye shook his head. That didn't make sense either. If that were the case, people would be gathered *inside* the forbidden zone, not outside. And after the battle within the forbidden zone concluded, they would be teleported back to their original locations, not gathered here.
"Hey, would you like a cup of cocoa?"
At this moment, a voice sounded from behind Bai Ye.
Bai Ye turned around and saw a petite woman, about 1.6 meters tall, bundled in a thick cotton coat, making her appear even smaller.
Simultaneously, the woman held two cups in her hands, filled with steaming hot cocoa.
The woman smiled and raised the cups, gesturing towards Bai Ye.
Bai Ye reached out and took a cup, saying, "Thank you."
The woman took a sip of cocoa and said, "My name is Jin Sha, what's yours?"
Bai Ye replied, "Bai Ye."
Jin Sha nodded. "Are you here for Regias too?"
Bai Ye blinked in confusion. "What's that?"
Jin Sha clarified, "The Ice God Pillar, Regias!"