Digimon: I really didn't want to be the Digimon Emperor!

[Skills: Corrosive Breath, Painful Bite, Death Tentacle Arms]

[Description: A dragon-human type Digimon that mutated due to long-term exposure to death data, suffering the pain of continuous data corruption, and going into a frenzy during battle.]

Chapter 130 Scavenger Gathering Place

Amidst the murky light of data, one after another, distorted Digimon burst forth.

Some of them were corrupted by the dark virus data, causing their original form to mutate and exhibit a pathological state of mutation.

Cheng Yuan's pupils constricted slightly. The mutations of these trainers' Digimon far exceeded his imagination—some had grown extra limbs, some had ulcerated skin revealing purplish-black data streams, and some had completely misaligned body parts.

Compared to the native Digimon of the Underworld, these contaminated mutants appear even more ferocious and terrifying.

"Watch out! It's Black Bardoramon and Sand Dragonmon!"

Wang Zheng's voice came from the smoke and dust. Several black, tattered-winged Bardora beasts were chasing them, each exuding a savage aura.

Even more alarming, several sand dunes suddenly rose up in the desert, and Sand Lizard Beasts and Sand Dragon Beasts burst out of the ground, their eyes flashing with a crazy red light.

Sand Dragon Beast

[Virus Species, Mineral Type, Soil Type]

[Maturity Stage]

[Skills: Earth Thorns, Quicksand Abyss]

[Introduction: Composed mostly of sand, this is a mineral-type Digimon that inhabits deserts. It can blend into the sand to move and hunt, often teaming up with Sand Lizardmon to defend against enemies. It excels at hunting using quicksand and dislikes damp environments.]

Sand Lizard

[Virus Species, Reptilian Type, Soil Type]

[Growth Period]

[Skills: Gravel Hook, Wild Sand Explosion]

[Introduction: A reptilian Digimon that primarily inhabits desert regions and lives in mimicry groups. By adjusting the volume of sand that makes up its body, it can extend and deform its limbs and tail, making it extremely difficult to identify when blending into the desert and often mistaken for quicksand. It is cunning, skilled in ambush, and often fights in cooperation with Sanddramon.]

"Form ranks!" the lean man roared.

The mutated Cyclops Beast charged out first, its rotting dragon claws tearing through the air and creating a foul-smelling wind pressure.

Other trainers' Digimon also joined the battle, their well-trained fighting instincts remaining intact despite being similarly corrupted by darkness.

The battle instantly intensified. Explosive bursts of light echoed through the darkness, the roars of Digimon mingling with the commands of their tamers. The mutated Digimon launched a fierce attack, relying on their numerical advantage, but the team led by the lean man coordinated perfectly, gradually stabilizing their position.

Fifteen minutes later, as the last black Bardora beast howled and fled, the battlefield finally returned to calm.

Only then did the lean man learn that Wang Zheng and the others had sought refuge in a wild mine cave to avoid the Black Bardora Beast, but unexpectedly stumbled into the lair of the Sand Dragon Beast. It was truly a double whammy.

They rescued several of their pursuers, who were carrying bulging leather bags on their backs.

Although every member of the lean men's team was injured, their faces all showed the joy of victory.

After the group regrouped, the atmosphere became noticeably more relaxed. The men carrying leather bags were surrounded by their companions, and faint rustling sounds could be heard coming from inside the bags.

These people soon returned to their original route, and among them were several tall men whom Cheng Yuan had seen in the Black Bardora Beast's lair, who were carrying those huge leather bags on their backs.

Wang Zheng nodded to Guan Yan.

With these people joining, the team moved forward much faster.

After walking for more than an hour, they finally emerged from the desert and found themselves in a dark, jumbled pile of rocks.

Like the desert, Cheng Yuan couldn't tell how wide these piles of stones were; he just couldn't see the end of them for the time being.

But the stones in the pile were all strangely shaped and jet black, casting distorted shadows in the dim light, giving Cheng Yuan a sinister feeling that made him extremely uncomfortable.

However, upon seeing this place, the group of people all breathed a sigh of relief, their expressions showing reassurance.

The black fog in the sky churned, and blue lightning flashed frequently, occasionally striking the nearby ground and blasting out a crater.

Cheng Yuan and Guan Yan were startled by this, but the others took it for granted.

"Quick! The tide is coming!" The lean man urged everyone to hurry: "The settlement is going to be sealed off, don't get trapped outside."

The stench of blood, the swarming of maggots, and the rampaging of beasts all rushed inside.

Cheng Yuan and Guan Yan exchanged a glance. Although they didn't know what was going to happen, they didn't dare to be negligent and stayed close by.

Led by these people, they walked for a long time through the intricate stone forest, until finally the view opened up before them, revealing a tall, dark stone wall.

These stone walls are made of huge stones, each several meters wide, stacked one by one, supported by a metal frame. The walls are as high as thirty meters, comparable to the walls of the former Savage Valley outpost.

The city wall was covered with countless sharp metal spikes to prevent climbing. The data debris hanging on the wall consisted of the dried flesh and skeletons of some Digimon, making the city wall look ferocious and menacing.

Directly in front of Cheng Yuan stood a massive, imposing metal gate. Several people and digital beasts stood vigilantly on the pavilions of the city walls on either side of the gate.

The guards, upon seeing the lean man return, immediately greeted him with excitement.

"Commander Feng is back!" the guards shouted excitedly.

The metal doors slid open with a loud rumble, and they were ushered inside.

Guan Yan had been traveling with the team and this was her first time entering the settlement. Although Cheng Yuan and she were strangers, the guards only glanced at them and didn't ask anything. Instead, they surrounded the lean man and Wang Zheng and the others, excitedly discussing something. They even showed the men carrying leather bags and the Digimon to them, eliciting gasps of surprise.

Inside were more than a dozen unconscious baby Digimon.

The Digimon meat from these juvenile Digimon doesn't contain as much dark and viral data as that from adult Digimon, so it has fewer side effects and less pollution, and the meat is of better quality, making it especially suitable for growing children in the community.

In addition, they also brought back several digital eggs.

"Great! With these Digimon, the kids can sign partnership agreements, and they have hope of surviving!"

"That's right, only by becoming a beast tamer can you have a chance to survive in this godforsaken place!"

"As expected of Commander Feng!"

As for where the Tyrannosaurus Rex came from, it naturally came from those dead tamers.

Cheng Yuan glanced around the entire settlement, and the scene before him surprised him.

It's more accurate to call it a village than a gathering place.

The entire settlement was surrounded by high stone walls. All the buildings in the village were constructed of stone, mostly simple, and primarily square in shape.

The most eye-catching thing is a high platform in the middle. This platform is several times higher than the house, and unlike the stone house, it is made of metal. In the middle of the stone platform, there is a power generation device. The material for power generation is those energy crystals, because I saw someone at the bottom carrying energy crystals in.

“That’s our power station.” Noticing Cheng Yuan’s gaze, Wang Zheng explained, “We rely on it to maintain our basic livelihood.”

Cheng Yuan was filled with astonishment and doubt. It seemed that even in a place like the Yellow Springs, technology existed.

Near the high platform, there was a hall that was taller than an ordinary stone house, where people lingered and whispered. Next to the high platform was a more spacious stone hall, where a lean man led several core members inside.

Cheng Yuan heard a heated argument coming from inside, and he could vaguely make out that they were discussing how to distribute the Digimon meat and Digimon eggs they had just acquired.

"You two come here for a moment. Some of the managers here have some questions for you." The lean man, Commander Feng, poked his head out from the hall door and beckoned to Cheng Yuan and the other man.

Chapter 131 The Flower of Darkness

Cheng Yuan sat upright on the stone chair, his expression normal. But Guan Yan beside him seemed uneasy, her fingers constantly twisting the hem of her clothes.

She glanced at Cheng Yuan furtively, then quickly lowered her head again—the promised exit to the underworld hadn't been found, and she wondered how these strangers would deal with them.

They sat in a meeting room with a round table made of stone. Stone was the one thing this place had in abundance. In this world eroded by darkness, stone was the most common and reliable material.

In the center sat an elderly man wearing reading glasses, flanked by Commander Feng, a pale-faced man with a sinister look, and several key members including Wang Zheng.

"Please have a seat, both of you. We are all from the Eastern Kingdom, and since we have ended up here, we will naturally do our best to help each other. However, this place is indeed quite different from the outside world. Could you please introduce yourselves first, and then I will tell you about this place?" The kind-faced old man sitting in the center of the hall said to the two of them.

Cheng Yuan noticed the old man's Digimon—a shrunken Sagemon with clearly insufficient data, but its intelligent eyes were exceptionally bright, standing quietly behind him. This gave him a new understanding of the old man's identity.

“My name is Qilin. I’m a high school student and a novice beast tamer. I was accidentally caught in a spatial rift during the battle.” Cheng Yuan’s eyes darted around as he continued, “And this is Guan Yan, a digital archaeology researcher.”

The expressions of the people present varied upon hearing this. Cheng Yuan secretly observed that these people must have been powerful figures who once dominated the world, or even members of a pioneering group who had been stranded here to protect humanity. The murderous aura emanating from them had not been diminished even after being corroded by the darkness of the Yellow Springs for many years.

The old man nodded: "Now high school students can become beast tamers... Don't be afraid. There are quite a few beast tamers who have fallen into the Yellow Springs region, though not many. Based on the experience of the pioneering team, we have also explored the Yellow Springs region. Its most prominent feature is its vastness and expansiveness. Our abilities are limited, and we haven't been able to explore very far over the years, but one thing is certain: we have spent many years here, but we have not found the way back to the real world."

The pale-faced man suddenly sneered: "Why say so much? Just tell them the rules. Here, it's either work or wait to die."

Commander Feng frowned and said, "Deputy Commander Zhou, don't interrupt Professor Zhao. They are still young, so please be polite."

Professor Zhao waved his hand and continued to say to Cheng Yuan and the other person, "I'm saying this only so that you won't waste your energy on fantasies and doing useless work. Give up those thoughts as soon as possible and focus your energy on living. Only by living can you have hope, right?"

“Although it’s cruel, Deputy Commander Zhou is right. Here, everyone has to contribute to survival. Although you are just novice animal trainers, as long as you are willing to work hard, the settlement will provide you with corresponding protection.”

"Many of the tamers who have fallen to the underworld were as strong as professional tamers. Although they were corrupted by the darkness and viral data of the underworld, they were still able to fight with difficulty. Although you two Digimon are still in the growth stage, even if you are not proficient in combat, as long as you work hard, you can still become good helpers in the settlement."

Cheng Yuan noticed a hint of disdain in Deputy Commander Zhou's eyes when the term "growth period" was mentioned. He secretly became wary, thinking that this pale-faced man was probably not easy to get along with.

"We will arrange for someone to show you around," Professor Zhao concluded. "Remember, in the Underworld, only by uniting can you survive."

After leaving the hall, Wang Zheng volunteered to act as a guide. He led Cheng Yuan and Guan Yan through the narrow stone path, introducing the layout of the settlement: the east area was the residential area, the west area was the training ground, the north area was the plantation, and the south area was the dangerous "isolation zone".

“That’s where deeply corrupted Digimon are imprisoned,” Wang Zheng said gravely. “Never go near it.”

As Cheng Yuan passed by the central square, he saw a group of children undergoing basic training under the guidance of an older animal trainer.

They are the second generation of Beast Tamers who ended up here, and they are using baby Digimon hatched from the Digimon eggs they just brought back.

These children have never seen the real world, nor have they ever seen blue skies and white clouds, but their faces are filled with the light of hope.

“These children are our future,” Wang Zheng said softly. “With each additional animal trainer, the community has a greater chance of survival.”

As night fell, Cheng Yuan was placed in a simple stone house.

Inside, there was only a stone bed and a storage cabinet, but compared to the dangers outside, it was a rare sanctuary. The little beast was curled up by the bed, its condition had improved considerably, and it had returned to the data volume of its peak growth period.

At this moment, he began to think about how to allocate skill points to the puppy beast to maximize its effectiveness in this area.

How can I best utilize my wealth of over 360 million?

Cheng Yuan discovered that this underworld region possesses pure and violent dark energy and data. Within this ecological domain, there is severe suppression and pollution that erodes both Puppymon and Gatomon.

Conversely, if a Digimon is inherently a dark type, it will thrive in its environment.

"If the puppymon evolves into BlackGatomon..." Cheng Yuan frowned, "can it turn back?"

Is there any way to make evolution reversible?

"The Dark Seed!" At that moment, Cheng Yuan thought of that Dark Seed.

Although the Dark Seed was intercepted and obtained by the system when Mo attempted to seize control of him during the battle with "Mo," the zombie Satan Beast, it has already become his power under the system's absolute authority.

Although you might hear the devil's sneer when you use it, you can't worry about that now.

"System, disable the Dark Seed shield."

[Ding! Dark Seed shield lifted!]

Cheng Yuan stretched out his hands, a seed of light appearing in his left hand and a seed of darkness condensing in his right. The two seeds shone brightly and slowly spun in his palm.

Looking at this dark seed, I seemed to faintly hear a chuckle in my mind, but when I listened carefully, I found that there was no sound at all, as if it were an illusion.

[Wealth value: 361 million]

[Puppy Beast (Degenerate State)]

[Growth Stage: Growth Period (Temporary Regression)]

[Attributes: Light 17188 / Holy 6560 / Dark 5220 / Fire 5000]

[Form Values: Beast 280 / Dragon 190 / Angel 120 / Fallen Angel 100]

【Cheng Yuan Beast】

【Attributes: Seed of Light: 335, Seed of Darkness: 810, Others: None】

Let's take a gamble!

He could also find the evolution requirements of the purchased Black Gatomon from the system's evolution tree records: [Darkness: 15+, Beast Type 100+]

"System, start allocating points!"

【Ding! 】

Wealth: 261 million (-100 million)

【Cheng Yuan Beast】

【Attributes: Seed of Light: 335, Seed of Darkness: 10810, Others: None】

He added his wealth to the Dark Seed, and the faint chuckle in his mind suddenly stopped, as if it had been startled by something.