Chapter 212: Another Hope
Leng Feng stood up and turned his back.
He stood by the window, sensing the life force within the Dungeon.
The city was full of people. As the master of the Dungeon, he could feel the strength of every single person.
The instant that black spike pierced his foot, it became like an invisible probe, surveying everyone’s condition.
He closed his eyes, quietly feeling the thick energy in the air.
The energy particles in the air were faint, but certainly very different from before.
Long ago, he had sensed this sort of thing when entering other Dungeons.
Perhaps it was due to the separation between the Human Realm and the Evil Spirit Realm.
The Upper Realm’s natural protection—the Evil Spirit Realm would automatically repel the parasites trying to sneak into this little world and steal its energy.
If a human entered the Evil Spirit Realm and couldn’t escape the Dungeon within three days, the Dungeon would absorb them, transforming them into its own energy.
If, during those three days, humans refused to take on challenges, refused to seek the exit or level up—
They could still upgrade by naturally absorbing the sparse energy particles floating in the Dungeon.
But this method was too slow—even after becoming a Survivor, even with conscious guidance of energy into one’s body—
Besides, if you couldn’t escape, you would still die in the Dungeon after three days.
So what was the use of levelling up, no matter how many levels you gained?
This sort of passive absorption was far slower.
What’s taken by force is always quicker than what comes on its own.
Even if the naturally accumulating energy was insignificant, over time, the starting line for evil spirits always remained much higher than that of humans.
To be precise, he had been the first human to enter the Evil Spirit Realm, and also the first to return alive from an SSS-level Dungeon.
Back then, Dark Star was deeply curious about him—curious about this new kind of creature that had appeared in their world.
Because whenever these creatures saw them, they grew scared, grew flustered.
And these negative emotions were even thicker than the energy particles naturally present in the air.
Absorbing them, there was an unusual, addictive flavor to it.
You could absorb energy and grow, and it tasted pretty good as well.
This was natural food—their bodies, however, weren’t tasty; dry kindling, stuck in your mouth, thick and sticky.
But, curiously, when they committed acts of slaughter, the fear only grew stronger and thicker.
In front of them, this group would scream and run, curse them as demons, hurling everything they had at them in desperate terror.
Leng Feng sank into memory; his expression grew more and more pained.
He’d remember forever that day, when Dark Star seized him, asked where he came from, and asked what they intended to do by invading this world.
Goal? Motive?
In that moment, his mind was as sluggish as glue—he simply couldn’t comprehend.
Just like those bizarre Dungeons in novels—how did it become, in their mouths, that it was he who’d invaded their world?
In only three days, Dark Star had already comprehended nearly everything; he even sensed the Dungeon’s innate rejection, aimed at these humans.
The temperature began to fluctuate, the extreme air gnawed away at both their bodies and their minds.
There were many in that batch who entered the Dungeon, and Dark Star soon learned—in the world outside, there were vast mountains and seas of humans.
And if a person conquered a Dungeon and found its exit, they could claim that Dungeon’s energy, growing stronger themselves.
That day, Dark Star had a bold epiphany.
He marked him, making him into one of his seeds.
His entry into the Evil Spirit Realm was pure accident, but Dark Star gave him a tool.
Not just him—a great many humans were seeded, each one given a tool, and set loose.
Dark Star told him, once you’re back, use this tool—then, between the Human Realm and the Evil Spirit Realm, countless cracks would open and connect.
The two worlds would be like a sieve, spawning endless holes through which countless humans would be hauled into the Evil Spirit Realm.
At first, he refused.
But personal refusal was useless—once seeded, their reason was shattered by terror.
From that day forth, the Dungeon began dragging humans in ceaselessly; the two worlds were like an hourglass, forever sinking into quicksand.
Humans, poised at the mouth of the funnel, could only be sucked in from above.
From that day, he knew—all of this was unstoppable, and the hourglass would only widen, Dark Star eager to gorge upon every human’s fear.
When Dark Star conceived this notion, he knew it too: waiting passively for death was pointless—it was better to move, to strike first.
Because, after leaving the Dungeon, he’d gained power.
But Dark Star said it was all part of his plan; he would plant countless seeds, send them out to steal power from other Dungeons.
He knew—humans needed their own strong ones, strong ones not controlled by Dark Star, or better yet, an entire group of strong ones.
Opening the channel had been part of his own plans as well.
After figuring things out, he gave the plan another push.
He told everyone: it was a monstrous invasion, that the monsters had descended upon the Human Realm.
He never told them that every time a human entered a Dungeon, they were actually acting as thieves, entering the Evil Spirit Realm to steal energy.
It was only when the evil spirits descended in a hunt, invading the Human Realm, that it became the Evil Spirits’ furious retaliation.
But in the end, none of that really mattered anymore.
The channel between the two worlds was now fully open, and the Dark Forest, this variable, had instead bought humans their last stretch of time.
The Dark Forest only occupied space—it never stopped the energy of the Evil Spirit Realm from flowing through unimpeded.
Now, humans too could grow by absorbing the energy in their surroundings—it’s just, there wasn’t much time left for them to do so.
But what if?
What if they endured, what if they truly waged war with the Evil Spirits, year after year—
Then this energy, for humans, would be a kind of elevation.
Behind him, Liu Mang retreated out toward the corridor.
He did not glance back until the sound of the office door closing finally echoed out.
Those following him were many, all people he’d picked up from various Dungeons—each of them harbored hatred toward the Evil Spirits.
Their parents and loved ones had all died inside the Dungeons; even those who escaped, most had wholly lost the will to live on.
It had been him, then, who told them to seek revenge.
Thus, even if it meant becoming seeds for Dark Star, they still clung to the resolve to grow stronger, to take vengeance.
Leng Feng looked down—he could sense the energy fluctuations inside everyone, could feel the shifts in their emotions.
It felt, almost, as if he’d truly become an evil spirit, able to perceive the feelings of the masses.
He could sense it clearly: as the pain beneath their feet endured for so long,
Everyone was beginning to develop resentment toward him.
Because there was nowhere to flee, all they could do was hate him.
But, by contrast, the group he’d rescued before—the more their feet ached, the happier they became.
Because they took this pain to be another form of hope.