Just like that, Lin Bei ate alone while everyone else watched dumbfounded. Soon... they traveled unimpeded and successfully crossed the Mist Area covered by the Dark Forest.
From start to finish, the entire process only took a little over half an hour.
Of this time... more than ten minutes was spent with Lin Bei lying in the Healing Pod.
[Prompt: Your team has successfully crossed the Dark Forest! Time taken: 41 minutes, 11.11 seconds!]
[Prompt: Dark Forest clearance evaluation: "Perfect"!]
[Prompt: Your team has successfully entered the honor ranking! Current rank: Third place!]
[Prompt: Your team has successfully entered the speed leaderboard! Current rank: First place!]
Almost the instant they crossed the Dark Forest, a series of system prompts sounded simultaneously in the ears of everyone in the team.
"Holy crap? Holy crap, crap, crap!!! We actually... got first place on the speed leaderboard?! And we also snagged third place on the honor ranking! This, this, this... isn't this too exaggerated?"
Battle Tyrannosaurus was the first to jump up, unable to contain his excitement, but he forgot that he was currently inside the shadow tank. After a loud crash, he slowly got up, rubbing the large bump on his head with a distressed expression.
Naturally, the shadow tank didn't fare well either.
It was only an excellent quality tank, and its internal defense was much weaker compared to the exterior. Facing the head impact of a Transcendent like Battle Tyrannosaurus, whose Combat Power reached hundreds of thousands of points, a large dent also appeared on its top hatch.
"Hey, aren't you guys excited at all?"
Battle Tyrannosaurus looked at the other members of the team, confused.
However, everyone looked at him with an expression like they were looking at an idiot.
How could they not be excited about this?
The problem was, before they could react, they witnessed Battle Tyrannosaurus's performance of headbutting the tank's top hatch, which immediately sobered them up.
"Alright, don't get too excited. Look at the mess you made; you almost broke through the tank's roof!"
"Exactly, exactly. So what if we got a ranking on two charts? Don't act like you've never seen the world!"
"Mhm, mhm. We traveled smoothly the entire way, so what's wrong with getting a high rank? You Stinky Little Brother, you're far too restless!"
The others scolded Battle Tyrannosaurus for a few moments, then looked at Lin Bei with expressions of awe, unable to speak for a long time.
"Why are you looking at me?"
Lin Bei swallowed a Steak Burger in one bite, then looked at the crowd, confused.
He had actually considered whether he should restrain his Spirit pressure and kill a few Shadow Cat Demons along the way to see if they would drop any materials or items.
But then he thought, if he acted alone in the future, he would have plenty of such opportunities. Therefore, in order to get a good ranking for the members of the Wildwind Squad, he abandoned the idea of grinding monsters, and instead used his Spirit pressure to intimidate the monsters in the darkness, passing through the Dark Forest unimpeded.
What he didn't expect was that even by doing this, he still didn't manage to get first place on the honor ranking.
Judging by this, there must be some fierce individuals among the other Survivors.
But that's what makes it interesting.
"You... don't you have anything to say?"
Seeing Lin Bei's calm demeanor, everyone couldn't help but ask.
"Oh, thoughts? It's a bit of a pity this time. I originally thought we could get first place on both charts, but I didn't expect to only get third place on the honor ranking."
"It seems Tianjian City truly hides crouching tigers and hidden dragons; there are actually people stronger than us."
Lin Bei casually said a few words, but seeing the strange expressions on everyone's faces, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's wrong with you guys? Your expressions look unnatural. Are you carsick?"
"N-nothing, we're fine!"
Gale quickly replied.
But soon, he sighed and patiently explained, "Actually, the reason we didn't get first place on the honor ranking, I feel, isn't because other Survivors are stronger than us."
"It's because..."
"Because of what?"
"As I said before, the honor ranking is a comprehensive evaluation based on overall performance, including clearance speed, monster kills... and so on. Although our clearance speed was extremely fast this time, we didn't kill a single Shadow Cat Demon along the way."
"So it's not strange that we didn't get first place in the ranking."
"It's just... I didn't expect our clearance speed to only take less than an hour! If you exclude the ten-plus minutes we delayed midway, it's even less than half an hour!"
"This speed... it's simply terrifying!"
Gale took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart, and continued: "Before we entered the Dark Forest area, I checked the rankings on the speed leaderboard. Before us, the team ranked first was the Tianlong Squad of the Order Dynasty, with a clearance time of... 3 hours, 33 minutes, and 33 seconds!"
"Compared to them, our team... only used less than one-fifth of their clearance time!"
"This speed... it means our team barely took any detours along the way, passing straight through the Dark Forest!"
"And we didn't encounter any monster obstructions during that time!"
"It's simply unbelievable!"
After Gale finished speaking, he looked at Lin Bei and said solemnly, "Bei Ming, you must have used some special item to prevent those Shadow Cat Demons from approaching us, right?"
"Also, the reason we could cross the Dark Forest in a straight line—you used some kind of special item for that too, right?"
"Great kindness needs no thanks! Everyone in our Wildwind Squad will remember your favor!"
"If you need help with anything in the future, just say the word! And regarding the material transaction you mentioned earlier... if you don't mind, I'd be willing to handle it for you!"
Gale looked sincere.
Now, he was even more certain of his initial assessment of Bei Ming.
This guy... definitely belongs to the category of Children of Destiny!
Otherwise, how could one explain that despite being a newcomer, he could always produce various awesome items and forcibly push the team into the top ranks of the double charts?
This is clearly unreasonable.
Based on his experience, those 'Children of Destiny' who are like protagonists are almost all such illogical existences!
Even if their Combat Power is low, they can always turn danger into safety and obtain various opportunities!
Clearly, the Bei Ming standing before them... is a living example of this!
"Uh... special items and such... I really didn't use any."
"As for the transaction, I've already discussed it with someone, and she will help me, so you don't need to worry about it. This matter is neither big nor small, and if you get targeted because of it, you'll run into a lot of trouble."
Lin Bei spread his hands.
To him, this was just an insignificant small matter.
"Hahaha, I understand! We certainly don't know anything about special items! Don't worry, we absolutely won't expose this matter!"
Gale showed an expression that clearly said, 'I knew it.'
"Mhm! Even if I'm beaten to death, I definitely won't say anything!"
Battle Tyrannosaurus pounded his chest loudly, his face resolute.
Seeing this, the others also expressed their stance one after another.
However, the gazes everyone directed toward him were sparkling, full of adoration.
Lin Bei felt helpless seeing this, knowing he couldn't explain clearly. He cleared his throat and said, "Ahem, well... shouldn't we head back? If we stay here, being surrounded by onlookers won't be good."
He pointed to a cluster of yellow dots approaching on the shadow tank's display—these were the markers of other Survivors.
"Uh... that is indeed a problem!"
Gale's expression darkened. He glanced around at everyone and said helplessly, "I didn't buy a Return Scroll before we set out this time. It's probably impossible for us to avoid these people's detection and return without anyone noticing."
Normally, after crossing the Dark Forest, there is a Teleportation Array that can directly Teleport back to Tianjian City.
Because of this, the Wildwind Squad hadn't prepared a Return Scroll initially.
After all, this item wasn't used much generally, and its price was very high.
Generally, it's a Teleportation item used by big shots who use the Teleportation Array to go to other Main Cities and then need to return after finishing their business.
After all, a Teleportation Scroll can Teleport back to the bound Main City anytime and anywhere, but a Teleportation Array requires multiple Teleports to reach a distant Main City.
The cost during that time also far exceeded that of a Return Scroll.
Hearing this, everyone fell silent.
Seeing this, Lin Bei didn't care. Instead, he directly entered a series of commands, instructing the shadow tank to return the way they came.
Rumble—
The engine started, and the shadow tank quickly turned into an afterimage, disappearing into the dark mist.
"Huh, did my eyes just deceive me? I think I saw someone driving a car in the dark mist?"
As soon as the shadow tank disappeared, a Survivor team immediately appeared in the area not far from where the tank had stopped.
A pointy-eared girl wearing black leather armor looked in the direction the shadow tank had left, saying with a look of confusion and disbelief.
"Haha, driving a car? Impossible! This is the Dark Forest. Every Shadow Cat Demon here has reached the Transcendent level! If someone foolishly drove a car through the Dark Forest, they would definitely be ripped to shreds within three minutes by the army of Shadow Cat Demons attracted by the engine!"
Behind the girl, a burly, bald man wearing Plate Armor burst into loud laughter upon hearing this.
Following the burly man were two similar-looking dark-skinned women, who nodded in agreement.
However, a hook-nosed man with a pair of gray wings nearby narrowed his eyes, carefully watching the direction of the black mist, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.
Because... he seemed to have just seen a rapidly moving black phantom.
Looking at the outline... although it was completely different from the 'car' in his memory, it was somewhat similar to a 'tank'.
"Heh, really, how is this possible? This is a King-Level Dungeon World that only high-level Survivors can enter! How could equipment from a low-level Survival World appear here?"
"Besides, even if it really was a low-level world's tank, how could its defense withstand the attacks of countless Shadow Cat Demons in the Dark Forest?"
"I must be a bit tired from recently clearing the Dark Forest, so I'm seeing things."
The hawk-nosed man thought to himself, a wry smile appearing on his face.
Their squad had spent too much energy in the Dark Forest trying to get into the top ten of the speed leaderboard.
They finally broke into the top ten today, but before they could celebrate, they suddenly found that the leaderboard had refreshed, and a team with a hidden name had rushed to the first position, and their time was incredibly exaggerated, taking less than an hour!
You know, the Tianlong Squad, ranked second, took over three hours!
All members of the Tianlong Squad had Combat Power exceeding three million!
And Tianlong, as the captain, had nearly five million Combat Power!
Therefore, facing the terrifying achievement of that unknown squad, although they were very frustrated because they once again fell out of the top ten on the speed leaderboard, they were also very curious and wanted to see what the composition of this squad's members was, to be able to defeat the Tianlong Squad with an overwhelming posture and win first place on the speed leaderboard!
However, not just them, but other Survivors who were previously near the exit of the Dark Forest were also disappointed.
Although they were extremely fast and rushed into the Mist Area immediately.
They couldn't find any trace of that mysterious squad!
"Alas, they probably used a Return Scroll to go back directly."
Someone sighed.
"Yes, they must have used a Return Scroll. Otherwise, it would be impossible for them to disappear without a trace in such a short time!"
Someone next to him echoed.
"You guys... is there a possibility that they just returned the way they came? After all, it only took them less than an hour to clear the Dark Forest. Returning the way they came would also save them the kings medal for buying a Return Scroll."
"Tsk, what do you think the Dark Forest is? Return the way you came? If it were that easy, we wouldn't be struggling to break our records even after entering it again and again!"
A middle-aged uncle curled his lips and said, "No matter who it is, every time they enter the Dark Forest, their Spirit perception will be obscured, making it impossible to detect the correct direction! Unless... that person's Mental Attribute can break through 10 million points! But... do you think that's possible?"
"10 million Mental Attribute points? This... this is too exaggerated, isn't it? I heard that increasing Mental Attribute is more than ten times harder than increasing Vitality Attribute! Even the strongest person in Tianjian City doesn't have a Mental Attribute exceeding 10 million points, right?"
"Nonsense! Although the leaders of the Three Major Forces in Tianjian City each have Combat Power above 10 million points, their Mental Attributes... definitely haven't individually broken through 10 million points!"
Everyone discussed animatedly, and soon the topic strayed, beginning to debate whose strength among the leaders of the Three Major Forces was stronger, and the conversation extended, completely losing direction... On the other side, Lin Bei and the others took less than half an hour to successfully return to the entrance of the Dark Forest in the shadow tank.
This time, everyone got off the vehicle early and left on foot.
But soon after they started walking, they saw a dilapidated carriage quickly approaching the entrance of the Dark Forest.
"Haha, what a coincidence, I didn't expect us to meet an acquaintance!"
Gale looked from afar, and when he saw the coachman's attire, he couldn't help but grin.
Everyone looked in the direction of the hoofbeats, and indeed... the coachman was precisely the Reborn One who had driven them out of the city earlier.
"Oh? It's you guys?"
As expected, after the coachman stopped the carriage, he didn't leave immediately but looked at everyone with a puzzled expression.
If he remembered correctly, it had only been a little over an hour, right?
These people... failed so quickly?
"Yes, what a coincidence, we meet again."
Gale smiled and nodded.
"You have a good mindset. I've seen many failures, but it's rare to see people like you who can quickly recover after failing."
The Reborn One coachman said, "Forget it, consider it a good deed for today. If you take my carriage back to the city, I'll only charge you half price."
"But I still have to give you a reminder: if you want to clear the Dark Forest, you must prepare sufficiently in advance. I send many people here every day, but not many can pass. You failed so quickly... you should do your homework thoroughly before trying again."
"Otherwise, you will just keep failing."
On the way back, the Reborn One coachman spoke earnestly.
The people inside the carriage exchanged glances and smiled.
They didn't explain but kept nodding in agreement with the coachman's words.
After all, the less people knew about their Wildwind Squad achieving top three on both rankings, the better.
Seeing that everyone was sensible, the coachman's eyes shifted, and he remembered something someone had just entrusted him with. So, he changed the subject and said directly:
"Actually, the reason you can't pass the Dark Forest is only partly due to your strength; more importantly, you don't have powerful enough items and equipment."
"I have a friend who recently opened a general store near the square, and there are many good things for sale there. If you go... I can get her to give you a 2% discount!"
"And don't worry, my friend's shop not only accepts medal transactions but also star stone transactions!"
"Let me tell you, this is a limited-time event my friend is holding to increase customer traffic! After all, in the entire Tianjian City, there is currently only one shop that accepts star stone transactions!"
"So... don't just think about it, act! If you miss this village, you won't find this shop again!"
The coachman spoke very enthusiastically.
He had received a promise from the shop owner: as long as he successfully introduced a customer who made a purchase at the shop, he would receive a reward of at least 10 brave badges!
The more the customer spent, the more commission he would get!
And all he had to do was talk on the way; it was a no-risk, high-reward business, and if it succeeded, his income could reach new heights.
It was a win-win situation.
However, Lin Bei, who was originally leaning against the side of the carriage, was slightly startled after hearing the coachman's string of sales pitches.
In his mind, a cute image of a girl with pure white wings suddenly appeared.
"Could the friend this coachman is talking about be her?"
As soon as this thought arose, it lingered.
As for the other members of the Wildwind Squad, they didn't think too much at all.
When they heard that there was actually a Reborn One's shop that accepted star stone transactions, they all became excited.
"Can we really trade goods with star stones? Is your friend... not trying to scam us?"
"That's right! Don't you Reborn Ones need various medals? star stones shouldn't be of much use to you, right?"
Although they were excited, they quickly frowned and began to suspect the coachman's motives.
Is this guy... trying to dig a pit for them?
Gale, seeing this, frowned slightly, and then... a flash of inspiration struck him; he seemed to have thought of something!
Could it be... He secretly glanced at Lin Bei and found that the latter seemed to have paused for a moment, and his confidence in his own guess immediately grew!
That's right!
It must be what he thought!
The financial backer behind this shop... is definitely Bei Ming!
He just didn't expect his actions to be so swift; he had only just gone to the Dark Forest, and yet the business promotion had already spread out!
This efficiency... is simply too exaggerated!
Then, Gale subtly gave Lin Bei a confident look that said, "I understand you," which left the latter bewildered.
No... I'm not even sure myself, what's with that confident expression, kid?
Lin Bei felt a bit helpless.
"Ahem, listen to me, everyone. Since this shop is near the square, there's no harm in us taking a look! The Main City is protected by the world will, so killing is not allowed."
"So, whether it's true or false, we'll know once we go and see!"
"And if there really is a shop that accepts star stone transactions, then for all Survivors, it would definitely be a great thing!"
"At that time, Survivors will flock to the shop, so if we go early, we can seize the initiative."
"What do you all say?"
Gale said, winking at Lin Bei, as if asking the latter if his assist was brilliant.
Lin Bei rolled his eyes at this.
However, the other squad members' eyes lit up upon hearing this.
That's right, mutual Combat isn't allowed in the Main City. As long as the shop is in the Main City, what are they worried about?
If the other party truly made false claims, they could just leave!
But if it was true... then they would make a fortune!