[Fallen Zone: Longevity Island, Coastline]
As dusk settled, a Starenergy transport ship slowly sailed across the calm sea surface.
The Starenergy transport ship's engine emitted a low hum, its propeller churning the sea, leaving a silver-tinged wake. It finally came to a complete stop near the reef area surrounding Longevity Island.
As the hatch slowly opened, the sea breeze, thick with a pungent salty smell and carrying fine spray, instantly rushed in, causing the students' training uniforms to flap loudly. Even the terminal screens lit up with a false-touch warning.
"Alright everyone, we have arrived."
The Otter Administrator, taking the lead, bit down on half a roasted fish and was the first to step onto the deck.
Its plump paws trod on the wet metal plate, leaving several dark claw prints. Its small black suit remained spotless.
Seeing this action, the students inside the cabin exchanged glances and silently followed suit.
Some of them nervously gripped the Starenergy weapons at their waists, their knuckles white.
Others couldn't help but peer out at the sea, only to see the sky obscured by clouds, unable to even find a shadow of the setting sun.
Unlike the clear skies above the New Federation's floating cities, the sky above Longevity Island was constantly weighed down by a layer of heavy gray clouds. Sunlight struggled to leak through the cloud gaps, reaching the island as only a pale, faint glow.
The oppressiveness of the sight caused many students to feel a strange tightness in their chests, and their breathing became heavy.
For the two hundred and fifteen people present, they had only read about the Fallen Zones in books and materials before.
This was their first time actually entering a Fallen Zone, let alone one that was newly fallen and not extensively explored.
It was reasonable for them to feel nervous.
Perhaps worried that some students might be reckless, the Otter Administrator spoke again before letting everyone disembark.
"Everyone, although this exploration is only a trial, and the requirement is merely to survive on the island for seven days."
"However, exploring a Fallen Zone is no child's play. Therefore, after landing, do not advance rashly; safety should be your top priority."
The two hundred and ten people present all took the Otter Administrator's words to heart.
After all, not everyone possessed the super-standard strength of Tendo.
Most of them, when encountering a Calamity-level entity, would consider it a feat worthy of bragging about for a long time if they could escape alive, let alone fight it.
Not to mention, the terrifying aspect of the Fallen Zone also lay in its strange 'rules.'
As the Otter Administrator's voice faded, everyone's terminal received a diamond-shaped flare.
A golden star pattern was encased in the pale blue crystal. The manual stated, 'For emergency distress only, rescue arrives within ten minutes of activation.'
The students quickly tucked the flares into their clothes. Some even hid them close to their bodies on the inside, as if this offered an extra sense of security.
The Otter Administrator took one last look at the crowd, its tone unusually serious.
"Alright everyone, disembark."
"We will return to this spot to pick you up in seven days. I hope that by then... none of you will be missing."
After the simple instructions were completed, the Otter Administrator gave the order to disembark.
The boarding ramp began to lower slowly, making a strange 'creaking' sound as it touched the greenish-gray sand.
After a moment of tension, the student closest to the ramp was the first to step off the ship.
However, as soon as he reached the beach, he suddenly stumbled, tripping over something unknown.
When he recovered, his face was instantly filled with surprise.
He found that the sand beneath his feet was not soft as imagined; instead, it felt like stepping on frozen, hard mud. With every step, he could hear the 'grating' sound of sand particles rubbing together.
But before he could ponder this further, more and more students followed him down.
Caroline followed Tendo onto the bizarre beach.
The moment her shoes landed on the sand, her portable detector started beeping rapidly.
Caroline lowered her head, looking at the unusually fluctuating environmental readings on her tactical tablet screen. She frowned, saying, "Tendo, something is wrong here. The Starenergy concentration is three times that of the outside world, and it carries erratic fluctuations."
As she spoke, Caroline crouched down and poked the greenish-gray sand with her fingertip. A layer of fine powder immediately adhered to her finger.
Looking at the fine 'powder,' Caroline compared it with known substances in her database and said with a heavy tone, "This sand is also very strange; it doesn't seem naturally formed."
"Its composition, rather than being 'sand,' is closer to biological bone dust."
After speaking, Caroline stood up, her gaze falling on the deeper part of the beach.
She saw that the waves, in the process of repeatedly washing ashore, were carrying several tiny white bones.
All around the beach, one could faintly see skeletons half-buried in the sand.
These skeletons were bizarrely shaped. Some looked like prehistoric giants, while others were small, ordinary creatures.
Besides this beach, which was littered with the remains of countless unknown creatures, the island's distant jungle was equally strange.
The dense vines of the jungle were a deep, almost black, purplish color, and a viscous sap was entangled among them, seemingly containing some kind of toxin.
At the same time, a few bright spots flashed quickly in the gaps of the jungle.
Because these light spots appeared and disappeared so quickly, the students couldn't tell if they were the eyes of Star Beasts lurking in the dark or the fluorescence of special plants blinking.
"Tendo, the data said that Longevity Island's style is very similar to the New Federation's previous era, but this looks more like a primeval jungle, doesn't it?"
Jing Liuli looked at the unfamiliar surroundings, her words betraying no tension, only curiosity about the unknown area.
"Perhaps it's the landing site."
"The environment in different areas might be affected by the rules to varying degrees."
"Landing site?"
Hearing Tendo's explanation, Jing Liuli didn't think too much of it and immediately accepted the explanation.
After answering Jing Liuli's question, Tendo looked up towards the depths of the jungle.
He could feel a few very 'bizarre' auras existing within that seemingly silent jungle.
At the same time, something... was approaching them.
On the sand not far away, after a quick survey of the surroundings, Liu Ma patted Chen Kong's shoulder and whispered, "Kong, let's stick close to Tendo and the others later. This place is too wicked; I have a bad feeling about it."
Chen Kong nodded without hesitation at Liu Ma's suggestion.
His eyes cautiously scanned the surroundings. Perhaps due to his childhood experiences, he possessed an outstanding 'danger perception.'
The beach currently seemed completely peaceful, but Chen Kong constantly felt a vague sense of unease, as if something terrible was about to happen.