The flow of time on both sides is indeed completely different; he has been gone for nearly a month.

During this period, not many Extraordinary beings have emerged; everything has slowed down, particularly for ordinary people, with almost no births of Extraordinary beings—most of them come from players.

According to the statistics from the Security Bureau, the speed at which monsters are born in the black mist has actually slowed down, seemingly reaching a critical point.

These monsters come in various forms, but there is one common point: they lack particularly high intelligence and can hardly communicate.

Moreover, the monsters born in the black mist generally do not exceed Tier Eight, with only a few exceptions.

The more troublesome ones are those large-sized monsters; their gigantic size endows them with supernatural power, power surpassing their tier.

Lin Xiuyu and the others encountered a similar large-sized monster attack when they evacuated. It looked like a white wolf, with fur like ropes and possessing extremely strong defense capabilities; ordinary artillery had completely lost its effect.

They barely managed to kill it using targeted mysterious items, but the losses were still enormous.

Looking at the current situation, while not optimistic, it’s not as bad as it could be, still within their manageable range, and Team Seventeen’s establishment has not been disrupted.

Su Changxing wrapped himself in the Shadow Cloak and walked towards the highway, only to see several corpses clad in heavy armor on the ground. They were hidden in the bushes, and had just died, with fresh blood.

"Someone killed them right here, not long ago."

Su Changxing analyzed, realizing the attackers were numerous, at least several times that of these dead soldiers. Like ancient humans collectively hunting some powerful beasts.

It’s likely that some players are still nearby, have not left Donglin City, and are fighting against these people from the Wizard World.

This point was quite unexpected to Su Changxing; he thought players would all leave, and those who stayed would just be ordinary people.

Thinking back, he felt it was quite normal; this world is big and diverse, and not everyone makes the same choice.

Apart from clothing, everything on the corpses was stripped away; no weapons were left.

"Sufficiently ruthless..."

Su Changxing couldn’t help but lament; compared to the people of the Wizard World, they indeed seemed like scavengers, while the others could casually bring out mysterious items, and they needed to earn them through missions.

The bodies of several human beings from their world on the ground died extremely gruesome deaths, with severed bodies or parts shattered.

There’s a major difference again between human body structure in the two worlds; Wizard World people have broad, thick bones with high density, whereas people from their world have slender bones with low density.

This is possibly a genetic difference, and more likely an environmental one.

Under different circumstances, humans present different forms; from social structures to physical structures.

Su Changxing observed the watchtowers, deciding to bypass them and head towards Hedong County, to meet up with Lin Xiuyu and the others, to avoid alarming soldiers on the watchtowers as much as possible.

If he did alarm them, he’d likely face a large number of wizards.

······

"They’re nearby, capture them; we need them for some research."

An officer led dozens of soldiers swiftly through the jungle, seemingly in pursuit of something.

"What special features could people from this ordinary world have? They look so weak," the adjutant questioned, puzzled.

"Just follow orders; try to capture them alive."

"Hmm, okay."

······

Soon, they chased into a ruined town, pitch black, with some large "cockroaches" skittering within.

"No need to bother with civilians; let them fend for themselves," the officer coldly instructed.

Slaughtering civilians is always taboo, involving basic compassion, and unless necessary, they won’t slaughter indiscriminately.

In certain ways, humans from both worlds aren’t much different.

"Just ahead; they’re hiding very well, no wonder they couldn’t be found several times. Underground, very deep, over ten to twenty meters away."

The adjutant holding a crystal wooden staff spoke, eyes glowing eerily.

They silently approached and decisively infiltrated from the entrance. With shouts and cries, battle broke out instantly.

These soldiers didn’t have any fancy abilities, just pure strength—powerful strength, resolute bodies, agile speed, and highly coordinated tactics.

A beam of red light ricocheted in the underground space; many fell to the ground, unconscious, without even having time to react.

"Rush out, we must rush out."

A middle-aged man with rows on his face shouted, panic showing in his expression; trapped by these soldiers at the door, none could escape.

Intense gunfire rang out.

The bullets couldn’t stop these heavily armored soldiers.

In a blink, a woman with a rifle was punched out by a heavy armor soldier, falling to the ground, convulsing.

One by one, they fell; the air filled with hopelessness. An old man in white clothes crouched in a corner, shivering and talking to himself.

"I knew it."

"I knew it."

······

Soon, the remaining people naturally stopped resisting; surrendering gave them a slim chance at survival, and the people from the Otherworld didn’t seem to want to kill them all.

With the clear sound of chains clashing, the surviving people were shackled and ordered to walk outside in a long line.

"Are we really going to be captured like this?" A young man with glasses whispered, with an expression of unwillingness.

He had done nothing and fainted at the first moment of the battle.

Leading ahead, a middle-aged man with his hands shackled, responded softly, "They didn’t want to kill us; if you’re alive, don’t think about dying... I made a mistake in judgment, we should’ve left here... I failed you."

The young man exhaled, speaking gently, "Don’t say that, it’s not your fault; none of us wanted to leave... Security Bureau people didn’t want to resist, but we’re different!"

"Shut up! Anyone who speaks again, don’t blame me for being rude." A soldier next to him kicked him to the ground, scolding; if he wasn’t holding something, he would’ve used a sword.

During war, these soldiers are much colder than anyone else.

They are war machines.

The young man fell to the ground, his glasses shattered, fragments piercing his eyelids. He slowly crawled up from the ground, silent, not distraught by the broken glasses; blood slowly slid down from his ear.