The No. 1 Hunfen King in the Entire Server [Interstellar] Chapter 34

The first mass extinction had been caused by an external cosmic attack. But this time, the destruction was coming from within the Earth itself.

Scalding magma from the depths of the mantle would surge toward the seafloor, its terrifying heat instantly boiling the ocean and triggering massive underwater collapses. Ancient creatures would go berserk. The submarine, exposed to such extreme temperatures, would melt away, leaving them trapped inside—alive, but suffocating to death.

Lin Jing gripped the control stick tightly, but for a long moment, he made no move.

The short-haired girl still didn’t fully grasp the situation. Fear filled her expression as she asked, “Super mantle plume eruption? What does that even mean?”

Karl let out a long sigh. “Think of it as magma bursting out… but a hundred times more terrifying than a volcanic eruption.”

Ke Lingxuan pressed her lips together, staring blankly at the ocean outside. “A mass extinction capable of destroying the entire sea… Can we really survive this?”

The short-haired girl collapsed onto the floor, crying hysterically, then suddenly burst into angry shouting: “I knew that b*tch’s idea would be a disaster! We didn’t even have to worry about this extinction event before, but now? We’re doomed! Completely doomed! Waaaahhh!”

Inside the submarine, everyone else remained silent, their gazes turning complicated as they looked at Elena.

Even though they had all agreed on the decision to take the submarine out, when faced with a crisis, people always sought someone to blame.

If they had stayed in the kelp forest, they would have had a safe retreat. The only thing they would have lost was a few images of giant prehistoric creatures—there would have been no need to confront the Devonian extinction head-on.

Elena leaned against the door, absentmindedly twisting a strand of her red curls around her finger. She turned her head away, saying nothing, her eyes rimmed with red.

Then, the man in the black jacket suddenly spoke up. “Lin Jing, what do you plan to do?”

His attitude toward Lin Jing had completely changed. In a moment like this, his instincts told him to trust Lin Jing.

Lin Jing took a deep breath, his mind replaying Xu Wanzhi’s words.

In the Paleozoic era, aside from disasters caused by ancient creatures, nothing external could affect the players.

Including magma, toxic gases, and radiation.

To put it bluntly, everyone had been worrying about the wrong thing regarding the Devonian mass extinction.

This time, there were only two real threats: the rampaging prehistoric creatures and the submarine itself.

Bringing the submarine out to experience the second mass extinction—what an incredibly stupid move.

But who could have guessed that the second mass extinction would be caused by a mantle plume eruption? Once again, ignorance had cost them dearly.

Antique Codex had a strict rule: in each Paleozoic era, players had only one chance to return after leaving. Once they came back, they could never go out again. In the past, “returning” essentially acted as a single-use immunity from death—one chance per era.

They had already used their “get out of death free” card for the Devonian period.

Which meant they were now trapped inside the submarine, unable to escape.

The super mantle plume eruption’s heat and magma wouldn’t affect the players directly—but they would melt the submarine. The submarine, as their base, existed in reality relative to the players. If the metal melted, it would engulf them completely, sealing their fate in certain death.

Lin Jing was so frustrated he didn’t even want to explain anymore.

Since he’d boarded this cursed vessel, the only option was to grit his teeth and see it through.

He blamed himself for not considering this possibility earlier. He had assumed that the real danger on the last night would be players turning on each other. Who would have thought that the submarine itself would be the death trap?

The first mass extinction, he had survived purely because Xu Wanzhi led the way. Fleeing into the deep sea had kept them alive. But this time was different.

The magma was erupting straight from the earth’s core. If he was unlucky enough to steer the submarine right into the plume, they’d all be vaporized in an instant—submarine and all. What a thrill.

“Let’s gamble.”

Lin Jing couldn’t think of another solution and muttered the words under his breath.

Right now, he was the group’s only hope. Every word he spoke was heard crystal clear by everyone on board.

Karl’s eyes widened. “Gamble?”

Ke Lingxuan was stunned. “Lin Jing, are you planning to take the submarine into the deep sea?”

Lin Jing was silent for a long moment. Then he let out a resigned sigh and admitted, “Yeah. Right now, we need to do two things: first, avoid the rampaging prehistoric creatures; second, make sure the submarine doesn’t get destroyed. The only way to accomplish both… is to escape into the deep sea.”

Ahead of them lay a deep-sea trench, the water now dark except for the faint, dreamlike contours of the seabed.

Last time, the deep sea had been safe. This time, it was probably the best option again—the safest place to avoid the chaos above.

Lin Jing murmured, “Alright then. If we’re lucky and the mantle plume eruption doesn’t reach here, we’ll survive. If we’re unlucky…” He wrenched the control stick. “Then let’s die quickly. The sooner we die, the sooner we can start the next round.”

Everyone: “…”

Dying quickly to start over… That actually made a lot of sense.

Xu Wanzhi, resting his chin on one hand as he gazed out the window, chuckled at Lin Jing’s words.

The prologue of the second mass extinction had begun. As night fell over the world, all the creatures in the ocean grew increasingly agitated, sensing the impending catastrophe.

Only now did Lin Jing fully grasp just how dangerous this Paleozoic world was. The confidence he’d felt before? That had only existed because Xu Wanzhi had been with him.

The night before the Ordovician extinction, he had still been casually watching jellyfish…

But ever since he’d stubbornly boarded the submarine, Xu Wanzhi had stopped helping him—opting instead to just sit back and watch the show.

Lin Jing curled his lips into a bitter smile, took a deep breath, and piloted the submarine downward, joining the drifting jellyfish as they descended into the abyss.

The countdown on their wristbands continued to tick down.

3.

2.

1.

A blinding white light.

Time surged forward at an incredible speed. But unlike last time, when the transition had been strangely beautiful, this time… even time itself seemed hostile.

Boom. Boom.

A deafening roar came from above—massive plumes of white gas erupting from the seafloor.

The surrounding water began to boil. At the same time, the seafloor collapsed, creatures rampaged, ash and toxic fumes filled the ocean. A chaotic, suffocating apocalypse.

A previously quiet, unassuming young man suddenly shouted, his voice shaking: “Look!”

Everyone’s hearts leaped into their throats as they followed his gaze.

From the depths of the trench, a massive mushroom cloud of gas was slowly rising.

It engulfed the entire passage, thick smoke billowing, the surrounding seawater churning violently.

Where it passed, the cliffs crumbled, and the jellyfish—once floating peacefully—disintegrated instantly.

Inside the submarine, everyone was frozen in place.

“What… is that?”

No one had an answer.

But they all knew—whatever it was, it was not good news.

Lin Jing: “…”

The submarine’s descent was a simple linear motion. It required no real maneuvering.

Lin Jing sat at the controls, silent, exasperated, and deeply annoyed.

Could his luck really be this bad?

Even the short-haired girl—normally the one to stir up trouble—couldn’t hold back her terror. She suddenly screamed, her voice cracking: “MAGMA! MAGMA!”

Behind the colossal mushroom cloud, they could now see it—searing, golden-red liquid, flowing toward them.

The moment those words were spoken, it was as if the air inside the control room had been sucked dry.

Every player’s face went rigid. No one dared to speak.

“We’re done for. We’re done for.”

She was terrified of dying.

In Survivor, pain was not significantly reduced.

The idea of being burned alive in magma? No one wanted to experience that.

The short-haired girl spun around in a panic, clutching Lin Jing’s clothes in desperation, her voice breaking into sobs: “Go up! Hurry up and take us back up!”

Lin Jing was so furious with his own bad luck that he couldn’t even be bothered to respond.

Instead, the black-jacketed man—who now practically idolized Lin Jing—grabbed the girl and yanked her away, cursing: “Do you even think before you speak? Didn’t you hear Lin Jing say we have to avoid the rampaging creatures? If we go up, we’ll just get torn apart instead!”

Below them, the magma was rising.

Above them, the prehistoric creatures were in a frenzy.

They were trapped.

The submarine drifted in the deep sea, caught between two absolute certainties of death.

Silence.

A cold, suffocating fear gripped them all.

The water churned and boiled.

Ancient creatures howled and shrieked.

And from the horizon, the sound of magma surging ever closer.

The short-haired girl cried so hard that she couldn’t say another word.

Elena bit her lip, her face full of grievance.

The nearsighted guy and the ordinary boy exchanged glances, their eyes filled with despair.

Ke Lingxuan’s voice was weak as well: “Is there really no other way?”

That was the question on everyone’s mind.

Beep. The submarine’s alarm system blared again, red warning lights flashing across their anxious faces.

They pinned their last hope on Lin Jing.

Lin Jing froze for a moment when he felt all their eyes on him, then waved them off gloomily. “Don’t look at me. The sooner we die, the sooner we can start the next round.”

Unbelievable. After the Devonian comes the Carboniferous and Permian. Out of the six periods of the Paleozoic, they hadn’t even glanced at two of them. If they wanted to barely scrape by without losing points, they had to achieve 100% collection progress in each of the earlier periods.

Lin Jing thought for a moment, then looked up at Xu Wanzhi.

Xu Wanzhi finally withdrew his gaze from the window. Under the red warning lights, his dark eyes met Lin Jing’s, and he gave a faint smile.

Lin Jing: “…” D*mn it. He had accepted Xu Wanzhi’s help earlier, and now he was being led into a trap. He didn’t even have a right to be mad.

And just like the last round, Xu Wanzhi hadn’t actually done anything—yet somehow, they were still heading for a total wipeout?! Infuriating!

Grinding his teeth, Lin Jing turned away, refusing to look at him.

His reaction snapped everyone else out of their panic, and they all turned their attention to Xu Wanzhi as well. Until now, they had been too busy freaking out to realize that one person in the submarine had been watching everything unfold like a detached bystander.

Ke Lingxuan still had a deep impression of Xu Wanzhi and suddenly felt a strange sense of anticipation.

But the first impression he gave them—that cold and distant aura—was so strong that no one dared to speak up.

Xu Wanzhi was amused by Lin Jing’s expression. He chuckled a few times before suppressing his laughter and, all of a sudden, stood up from his spot by the window.

The moment he moved, everyone held their breath.

Lin Jing might have been saying, “The sooner we die, the sooner we start again,” but deep down, he wasn’t ready to give up. He maneuvered the submarine upward slightly while calculating the depth. Just as he was focused on that, he suddenly felt a familiar yet ambiguous presence leaning in from behind.

Lin Jing froze.

A quiet voice brushed against his ear. “Are you mad?”

Could Lin Jing admit he was mad? Of course not. He forced himself to be magnanimous and said indifferently, “No, just unlucky. That’s all.”

Xu Wanzhi let out a soft laugh, then reassured him, “No, you’re not unlucky.”

Lin Jing: “?”

Xu Wanzhi: “This sea region is right by Siberia. With a three-thousand-cubic-meter mantle plume, no strait in the area is actually safe.”

Lin Jing: “…”

A surge of fury boiled up inside him. Lin Jing spun around. “Then what the h*ll were you—” letting me choose so carefully for?!

Before he could finish cursing, Xu Wanzhi pressed a single finger against his lips.

Xu Wanzhi winked at him, his tone affectionate and teasing for all to hear. “Baby, this time, safety isn’t in the deep sea—it’s in…. the sky.”