When the intense, tearing vertigo from the Subspace jump finally subsided, Qin Feng and his three companions felt their powered boots touch solid ground once more.
However, what greeted them was not a scene befitting any civilized world.
All around them was a deathly still and twisted jungle.
The trees were bizarre in the extreme. Their trunks didn’t grow upward but twisted and coiled in every direction like tortured prisoners, contorted in agony.
The bark was an ominous, deep purple that resembled veins, and it was covered in eerie patterns that looked like silently screaming human faces.
The air was filled with a bizarre fragrance, so cloyingly sweet it was nauseating—like countless spices mixed with rotting flesh.
The sky was a dim, velvety crimson. There was no sun and no moon, only a few massive, unknown celestial bodies that emanated a baleful light, gazing down dispassionately upon the depraved land.
This was the edge of the Lost Star Realm, the periphery of the Crying Cradle.
A source of Chaos corruption that the Empire had long ago marked on its maps as "Extremely Dangerous. Do Not Approach."
The four of them didn’t move immediately. Instead, they formed a standard diamond defensive formation and warily observed their surroundings.
An almost imperceptible ripple of energy shimmered across the surface of their power armor, completely sealing them off from the seductive, corrosive air outside.
And in a higher-dimensional layer of Subspace, imperceptible to them, three far more profound and powerful presences trailed them as silently as Ghosts.
These three veterans of the Fearless Warband each possessed the terrifying power to tear planets apart. Yet, at this moment, they had suppressed their auras to the absolute limit, seeming to merge with the space around them, leaving not the faintest trace.
Qin Feng and the others were completely unaware.
...
「Meanwhile, in the highest-level conference room at the Fearless Warband’s headquarters, located light-years away high above the clouds.」
Battle Commander Feng Zhiyu and over a dozen planetary-grade, Ninth-level Martial Artists sat in grim-faced silence.
Before them, an immense holographic screen composed of pure light and shadow was clearly displaying a real-time feed of everything Qin Feng’s four-man squad was seeing.
Every detail, every shift in the environmental data, was precisely captured and presented.
Their gazes were all focused on the four small figures clad in black power armor, who looked insignificant on the vast screen.
...
"Stay alert. The Energy Field is extremely unstable."
Dragon Jade’s voice, calm and steady, came over the team channel. "According to intel, the Chaos Altar is at the center of this twisted jungle. We... are moving in quietly."
The four of them began to advance at an extremely slow pace.
Their footsteps made no sound as they landed on the soft, purple soil that felt like rotting flesh.
The deeper they went, the more unearthly, grotesque, and maddening the scenery became.
After passing through a Wind Chime Forest made from countless desiccated objects, a relatively open clearing appeared before their eyes.
But the scene in the center of the clearing made even these four top-tier Martial Artists, long accustomed to life and death and possessing Wills of steel, feel their pupils constrict.
If any sane, ordinary person were to witness this bizarre, depraved, and nauseating sight, their Spiritual World would likely be instantly overwhelmed by the massive flood of corrupting information, turning them into a raving Madman.
"Slaanesh..."
Nissan cursed under his breath over the channel, his voice filled with unconcealed disgust. "A bunch of irredeemable trash."
"Mm, judging by their style of dress, we can safely assume they’re all Central Nest Nobles from some fringe Nest Capital world."
Dragon Jade’s voice remained calm. He was like an experienced Hunter analyzing his prey.
"On the fringe planets near the Battlefield of Ten Thousand Races, the Empire was unable to fully terraform the environment or build large-scale metropolises. So, they adopted the most pragmatic solution: the ’Nest Capital’ model. They concentrate all resources to construct cities that resemble giant anthills. These people are clearly nobles from the middle-to-upper levels of a Nest Capital. Only they would maintain such a gaudy and ornate style of dress in a place like this."
"Mm, and their strength checks out."
Ning Jing added, "To be able to indulge their desires in this environment without being consumed by them, they have to be at least sixth-level Martial Artists. Their Mental Power can’t be weak."
"Who knows which unlucky planet they crawled here from."
Dragon Jade sneered. "Do you think Slaanesh takes an interest in just any top-tier painter or literary giant who’s penned countless masterworks? No. Slaanesh never initiates. It’s always the geniuses among geniuses, those who already stand at the pinnacle of their craft. When they discover that worldly accomplishments can no longer satisfy their ever-inflating thresholds, they begin to search, like madmen, for a more sublime ’art,’ a more perfect ’experience.’ This isn’t seduction. In a sense... it’s a mutual courtship."
"Every one of them had a limitless future, yet they all chose this willing depravity."
Ning Jing’s voice was filled with contempt.
"Alright, that’s enough talk."
Dragon Jade’s tone turned cold. "Words can’t cleanse Chaos. Death is their only destination."