Chapter 120: What Is the Shesha Sect Plotting?

Three days after Liana arrived, the terrifying hailstorm and snow finally began to subside.

When the sea eel emerged from the ground, the earth was already covered by a massive ice layer over two meters thick. Above this ice lay more than a meter of snow. The entire world was transformed into a vast expanse of white.

If one did not have to live here, it would be a wonderful vacation spot... of course, only if one could withstand the cold!

Led by Kurs, Ye Hai and his group slowly made their way north toward the Ironwood Forest black market. Despite the bitter cold, the soldiers accompanying Ye Hai had undergone rigorous training and had been implanted with parasites, greatly enhancing their physical resilience. In such extreme weather, it was nearly impossible to inflict fatal harm on them unless they were left exposed naked in the snow for days.

After walking for more than two hours, Ye Hai noticed stiff corpses lining the roadside.

Kurs explained, “These are survivors who couldn’t endure the cold these past few days…”

“This is just the beginning. Throughout this winter, many more will be carried out to the surface.”

“When spring arrives, these bodies will become the best fertilizer for the Ironwood Forest.”

“Nourished by these corpses, the trees will grow even more robust!”

To Kurs, this was simply the natural cycle—an integral part of the Ironwood Forest’s ecosystem. When he spoke these words, there was almost no emotional fluctuation in his voice.

Ye Hai walked slowly to one of the children's bodies and knelt beside it. The corpse was pale and rigid, stripped of all its clothes—likely worn by others.

Though the recent ART-2 assault on the Plati black market was still fresh in his mind, Ye Hai had not seen people frozen to death like this in years. In Plati, every harsh winter, even the forbidden figures would provide some material aid to survivors—perhaps cheap moldy food or some heating energy source.

Scenes of mass freezing deaths had not appeared there in many years. This was not out of charity, but because the surrounding population was too small. To prevent massive casualties from disrupting the black market’s trade or risking exclusion by alien merchants, such aid was reluctantly given.

Ye Hai understood well that after each winter, the survivors repaid the black market’s support handsomely. Over time, the forbidden figures realized that rescuing survivors incurred no loss; instead, come spring, these survivors would repay their winter debts with timber. This created a relatively healthy ecological cycle at the Plati black market.

But the Ironwood Forest black market was quite different.

Ye Hai glanced over the numerous bodies scattered across the ground—roughly a hundred at least. This was only the northern region; the other three sides likely had no fewer dead.

This was just the beginning.

Typically, over one winter in the Ironwood Forest black market, tens of thousands would die. In times of prolonged extreme weather, deaths could reach tens of thousands in a single winter.

Ye Hai turned his head slowly and asked Kurs, “With such a mortality rate, how does the Ironwood Forest black market maintain its population?”

Kurs was momentarily taken aback. “Many?”

“Five years ago, when the black market flourished, the population neared half a million.”

“But at that time, though the population was large, so was the number of mutants in the Ironwood Forest…”

“A few winters, unable to bear the cold, people overused energy devices for heating, triggering mutant rampages.”

“Two hundred thousand perished…”

“It was only after the arrival of the Shesha sect that the mutants were driven away!”

“Over three hundred thousand survivors remained…”

“However, since then, the Shesha sect has strictly forbidden the use of heating devices during winter!”

“Even as tens of thousands die each year, this rule has not changed.”

“Anyone caught using heating devices in the black market faces the harshest punishments!”

Hearing Kurs’s words, Ye Hai and Javier exchanged a glance, both sensing the same puzzlement.

Ye Hai rose and walked ahead. Javier followed quietly, whispering, “Something’s off.”

“We had always assumed that within a hundred kilometers of the Ironwood Forest black market, using high-energy weapons wouldn’t trigger mutant rampages because of some pheromone left by ARMY-3…”

“Creating a territory ring similar to the one in the Radiation Zone!”

“This keeps mutants from entering the area.”

“Just as the strong radiation in the core of the Radiation Zone is lethally attractive to mutants, but with ART-3 stationed there, mutants at the periphery dare not rush inward.”

“If that’s true, then using energy devices for heating in the Ironwood Forest should never provoke mutant attacks!”

“From ARMY-3’s behavior, it seems they want as many humans as possible to serve as cannon fodder to help explore Karan Bioengineering’s experimental bases.”

“This disregard for survivor deaths… feels very contradictory!”

After hearing Kurs’s words, Ye Hai found himself agreeing with Javier’s thoughts. If ARMY-3 controlled the Shesha sect as slaves to explore the experimental base, logically the more humans, the better. They shouldn’t just stand by and watch these slaves die off without producing any value.

Given the Ironwood Forest black market’s far larger population and strength compared to Plati, acquiring heating equipment from alien merchants shouldn’t be a problem. What Plati can do, Ironwood should be able to as well.

“It seems the Ironwood Forest is even more complicated than we imagined.”

“I can’t figure out why this is happening either.”

“Moreover, if sending survivors into the Miracle Site is to find a way into the inner layers of the experimental base…”

“Then why does ARMY-3 choose to act during their hibernation, not when they are awake?”

“This behavior is truly baffling.”

“Once we enter the black market and meet the sect leader, perhaps we’ll get some answers.”

After walking a while longer, Kurs pointed to a nearby cave entrance.

“Lord Ye Hai, we’ve arrived…”

“This is the entrance to the northern region of the black market.”

Led by Kurs, the group quickly entered the black market.

Looking at the spacious but dim cave, Ye Hai pursed his lips and reluctantly followed Kurs inside.

The passage twisted and extended deep underground. The torches along the walls could not fully dispel the darkness.

Suddenly, Ye Hai stopped and ran his hands along both sides of the tunnel.

A flicker of surprise flashed in his heart.

“These underground corridors are not man-made!”

“A man-made tunnel wouldn’t be so smooth and rounded…”

“The Ironwood Forest black market’s underground passages were all created by enormous serpentine creatures burrowing through.”

“Perhaps… the lack of heating in the black market is intended…”

“To prevent ARMY-3 from waking up during hibernation?”