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

"Well done, BlackGatomon!"

Hearing Cheng Yuan's shouts from not far away, Wang Zheng murmured in disbelief, "That's... a Qilin's Digimon?"

He clearly remembered that Qilin's Digimon was a white puppy, so how did it suddenly turn into a black cat? And it even evolved to adulthood!

What shocked him even more was the black cat's mastery of dark powers!

In all his years in the Underworld, he had never seen anyone manipulate dark energy so precisely—the corrupted Digimon always used dark power with rage and chaos, but the dark power wielded by this black cat was very stable.

......

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Eight Shadow Balls, like precision-guided missiles, struck four Sand Lizard Beasts in succession. These dark energy balls were not only incredibly fast, but upon impact, they also unleashed highly corrosive black mist, rapidly disintegrating the opponent's data structure.

"Well done!" A trainer gave Cheng Yuan a thumbs up. His Digimon—a mutated Mantismon—was panting heavily, having just been nearly hit by Sand Lizardmon's [Sandstorm].

Cheng Yuan nodded, but his gaze involuntarily drifted into the distance—where the battle between the two enormous creatures had reached a fever pitch.

"Boom—"

Zombiemon slammed its mutilated body into Protossmon, and the shockwave from [Bone Collision] leveled the surrounding sand dunes.

Zombiemon, clinging to its last vestige of obsession, launched a frenzied attack, retreating back into the desert with the original Magnamon still standing.

The original Magnamon was forced to retreat repeatedly by this reckless fighting style, its diamonds spinning wildly on its carapace, but it was still unable to escape its opponent's entanglement.

Zombiemon had lost its mind and was fighting only on instinct and obsession. The two giant beasts fought their way to the edge of the desert.

Zombiemon's left arm had already been severed by Morphomon's Triple Destruction Diamond, but it seemed to feel no pain, its only remaining thick red right claw viciously clawing at its opponent's face.

【Desperate Bone Claw】!

Three blood-red bone fingers gripped the face of the original armored beast tightly, with one of the bone fingers digging deep into its eye, causing digital blood to gush out like a fountain.

The original Magnamon let out a deafening roar, and all the diamonds on its carapace were pointed at the chest of Zombiemon.

"The situation is bad..." Wang Zheng appeared beside Cheng Yuan at some point, his face grave. "Commander Feng, he..."

Wang Zheng said in a low voice, "Zombiemon is the form that Cyclopsmon evolved using 'Despair Spirit'. Once it evolves, the Digimon's consciousness will be gradually devoured by madness... Cyclopsmon may never come back."

Cheng Yuan was shocked. He finally understood why the Digimon was not a simple Digimon evolution, but the final sacrifice of a Digimon that a trainer had partnered with for many years.

“Commander Feng used to be the commander of the Second Reclamation Regiment in the Imperial Capital,” Wang Zheng continued, his voice slightly choked. “His partner was originally MasterGreymon. After being stranded in the Underworld, due to injuries and pollution from long-term battles, he degenerated and mutated into a mature-stage Cyclopsmon… At the same time, because of his years of wandering in the Underworld, Commander Feng mastered a spiritual power called Despair. This power, guided by the Digivice modified by Dr. Zhao, can allow Cyclopsmon to evolve into the Zombiemon before us. I heard that Commander Feng only used this power once before!”

Cheng Yuan was surprised.

He recalled the first time he met Commander Feng, the weariness and resilience hidden deep in the eyes of that lean man.

He can understand the Digimon spirits of light, courage, knowledge, and even darkness, but can an emotion like "despair" be cultivated into a Digimon spirit? What kind of despair must one experience to allow the seed of despair to grow to this point?

"Boom—"

A deafening explosion interrupted Wang Zheng's words.

Crimson Shuttle watched in horror as the spine of the Zombiemon suddenly split open, and a strangely shaped organic missile slowly rose into the air.

Zero cruise missile!

"Get down!" Wang Zheng grabbed Cheng Yuan and pressed him down on the sand.

The missile emitted a long trail of flame, directly blocking the original Magnamon. Zombiemon used its wrecked body to hold onto the original Magnamon tightly, ensuring that the attack would hit its target.

A blinding white light engulfed the entire field of vision. Even from hundreds of meters away, the shockwave still reverberated. When the light faded, only a giant crater nearly a hundred meters in diameter remained at the edge of the desert; the figures of the two giant beasts had vanished without a trace.

“It’s over…” someone murmured.

But no one cheered in the gathering place. The animal trainers stood up silently, brushed the sand off their clothes, their eyes filled with complex emotions. The children were held in the arms of the adults, some already sobbing softly.

Looking at the still-smoking giant crater in the distance, Cheng Yuan suddenly understood what the beast tamer's resolve was—to protect those important to him, even if he had to become a demon, he would still remember his mission.

BlackGatomon had somehow returned to his feet and gently rubbed against his trouser leg.

Cheng Yuan was about to bend down and pick it up when the little guy leaped up and landed directly on Cheng Yuan's shoulder.

"Commander Feng... must be very sad," Wang Zheng said in a low voice.

Cheng Yuan didn't say anything and walked towards the stone wall outside the gathering place. He saw a lone figure slowly walking towards the center of the explosion on a distant sand dune.

That's Commander Feng.

His back was hunched so badly that he looked ten years older, but he still walked forward resolutely, gripping the old Draconis machine tightly in his hand.

"Why don't you go and take a look?" Cheng Yuan suggested.

Wang Zheng: "Okay, I'll go protect him. Black Garurumon, let's go."

Cheng Yuan hesitated, wanting to say that the man was a person with a spirit of despair, and that he needed to keep a close eye on him to prevent him from doing something foolish.

Then, it's time to solve another problem.

He turned to look at the black cat on his shoulder, meeting its golden eyes.

"BlackGatomon, have you been corrupted by dark forces?"

Cheng Yuan felt that his partner's personality had changed after evolving into BlackGatomon.

"You think too much."

Why are you so cold to me?

"That's how it should be."

"You're not that little cutie anymore..."

BlackGatomon brandished its small, gleaming claws: "If you say 'cute' again, don't blame me for being impolite."

Chapter 134 Route

The atmosphere at the gathering place was both somber and fortunate.

People were overjoyed to have held onto their settlement, yet saddened by the sacrifice of Commander Feng's one-eyed dragon beast.

Cheng Yuan stood outside the hall, watching the small groups of scavengers talking in hushed tones, their faces filled with complex emotions.

Commander Feng walked alone into the depths of the desert, his figure appearing exceptionally lonely.

The other managers had already regrouped in the hall, and Cheng Yuan knew this was the best time to gather intelligence. He touched the black giddymon on his shoulder; the little guy haughtily turned its head away, but its tail quietly wrapped around his arm.

“Let’s go in,” Cheng Yuan said to Guan Yan behind him. The female researcher had been looking at him with a suspicious gaze since the beginning, clearly shocked by his sudden display of mature combat power.

Inside the hall, Professor Zhao was wiping his reading glasses, his eyes behind the lenses revealing fatigue. Deputy Commander Zhou stood beside the stone table, his fingers unconsciously tapping the surface, producing a dull sound.

“The giant beast that Brother Qilin just saw is the Primal Armored Beast, the overlord of this desert.” Professor Zhao put on his glasses, his voice hoarse but steady. “In the Land of the Underworld, every region is inhabited by a fully evolved Digimon lord. We have already identified at least three.”

Cheng Yuan's pupils constricted slightly: "Complete forms are rarely seen in the real world, yet there are so many here?"

“Of course it’s different.” Deputy Commander Zhou sneered, his fingers stopping tapping. “This is the sealed land of the digital world, not the real world outside that has only been integrated for less than twenty years.”

His gaze swept over the Black Gatomon on Cheng Yuan's shoulder, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes: "In this attack, we lost the threat of the original Jagras king of the desert, but we lost Commander Feng's combat power. Fortunately, these kings usually only guard a few fixed locations and don't move easily, so they don't pose a great threat to us. If Wang Zheng hadn't done something stupid and stolen an important item from the desert Digimon's nest, we wouldn't have suffered such a large-scale attack. Otherwise, we would have had to seek refuge in another settlement."

Cheng Yuanmin keenly caught the key information: "Judging from what Deputy Commander Zhou said, there are other gathering places in the Yellow Springs region?"

“There are at least seven or eight places.” Deputy Commander Zhou walked to the wall and ran his finger across the rough stone wall. “It’s a mixed community of people from East Asia, Japan, Borneo, and even small Southeast Asian countries. Most of them are lost souls from Eastern countries.”

Professor Zhao continued, his voice heavy: "The resources for survival in the Yellow Springs region are extremely scarce. Apart from a few dark plants that are barely edible, everything else is highly poisonous. What's even more terrifying is that if we stay here for a long time, our bodies will gradually become 'data'..."

“So here, everyone must prove their worth.” Deputy Commander Zhou’s voice suddenly turned cold. “Otherwise, they can only leave the settlement and fend for themselves.”

Cheng Yuan felt the BlackGatomon on his shoulder tighten its grip. He gently stroked its jet-black fur and continued, "This place is called the Underworld. Does it have anything to do with the legendary underworld? Is there any way to restore a Digimon's dark mutation to its original state? Most importantly, I don't want to stay here. I want to return to the real world. Professor Zhao and Vice Commander Zhou, if you have any useful information, please share it with me."

A brief silence fell over the hall.

“Go back? If there really were a way back, would we still be stuck here, living this precarious life every day? You know, the people here are all professional animal trainers in the real world, the best of the best. And the children born here, they've never even seen the sky, the ocean, or green trees. Do you think we don't want to go back? Our relatives and friends are all out there. Do you know where Commander Feng's spirit of despair came from? It was born after years of searching for a way out without success.” Professor Zhao shook his head and sighed.

"As for what exactly this place is, and whether it is related to the 'underworld,' we have some guesses. This should be a special digital space formed by the aggregation of all the data related to the underworld, such as death and hell, in the real world of the East. That's why it is so vast and the dark energy is so chaotic and dense."

"This could be something that transcends the realm of ultra-large digital space."

“There’s another theory,” Professor Zhao pushed up his glasses, “that this place might be part of the ‘Dark Zone,’ the greatest digital threat to humanity.”

Cheng Yuan's eyes lit up: "If that's the case, can we find the passage to the outpost?"

“Ha, so young yet so knowledgeable.” Deputy Commander Zhou turned around, his gaze sharp. “We’ve thought about that too. But none of the teams that went to search for the outpost have returned.”

"Is there really no hope of getting out of here? I still don't quite believe it," Cheng Yuan said unwillingly. In the real world, he still had his family and his dream of becoming a beast tamer; he absolutely could not give up.

At this moment, Guan Yan, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up: "Actually..."

"Shut up!" Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou interrupted sharply, "How many more times are you going to tell that absurd story about the ruins?"

Cheng Yuan looked at Guan Yan and found her face as pale as paper, her lips trembling slightly. At her feet, the adorable beast rubbed nervously against her trouser leg.

"Gentlemen, I've never heard of this before. May I hear it?" Cheng Yuan's words were gentle, yet they conveyed an undeniable attitude.

At Cheng Yuan's insistence, Guan Yan finally had the opportunity to recount her experience. Her voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable firmness: "I really didn't lie. That place..."

……

As she described her experiences, a bizarre route gradually took shape in Cheng Yuan's mind: a dilapidated palace in a towering mountain → down the mountain → a cliff → a strange stone bridge a hundred meters high and a few meters wide → desert → a boulder field.

Following the woman's memory backwards, the route involves crossing this black desert, traversing a bizarre stone bridge hundreds of meters high across a precipice, climbing a towering mountain, finding a dilapidated palace on the mountain, and finally discovering the passage...

Half a minute later, Cheng Yuan stood alone at the entrance of the hall, gazing at the dark desert horizon in the distance. Black Dilu Beast stood quietly on his shoulder, its golden eyes gleaming with contemplation.

“Qilin…” Guan Yan followed, her voice trembling, “Do you believe me?”

After countless rejections, a cloud of despair had settled over her eyes.

Cheng Yuan didn't answer immediately. This woman's memories were indeed too bizarre—high mountains, cliffs, stone bridges, deserts, and finally, a belt of giant rocks. How did she survive such a treacherous route?

"I haven't made up my mind yet," Cheng Yuan finally said, his gaze still fixed on the distance, "but I should at least give it a try."

At the edge of the desert, there is only darkness that devours everything.

Chapter 135 Upgrading the Arc Light Machine

Inside the stone house, Cheng Yuan sat cross-legged on the ground, staring at the Black Dilu Beast on his shoulder.

"Do you still remember things from before?" Cheng Yuan asked, "Like the lobster feast we had together?"

BlackGatomon elegantly licked its paw: "Foolish question, of course I remember."

"Do you still remember where you liked me to touch you the most?"

A flicker of emotion crossed BlackGatomon's golden pupils, before it regained its haughty demeanor: "Hmph, who would remember such a trivial matter?" Its black rump and tail swayed slightly.

Cheng Yuan sighed. Ever since evolving into BlackGatomon, it was like he had become a completely different person—no, a completely different beast. The clingy little cutie from before had now turned into a cold and aloof queen, and had even become arrogant.

"Could it be that different evolutionary paths led to the split in their beastly nature?" Cheng Yuan muttered to himself.

BlackGatomon's ears twitched: "What did you say?"

"It's nothing," Cheng Yuan quickly changed the subject. "I was thinking about the Digimon of the tamers here, the dark energy within them... chaotic, evil..."

He looked at Wang Zheng and Black Garurumon in the small square outside and scanned them using the system's [Digital Scan] function:

[Wealth Value -100]

BlackGarurumon (Mutant)

[Virus Type - Monster Type - Dark Theme]

[Maturity Stage]

[Status: The digital core has been corrupted by chaotic dark energy, resulting in mutation and weakening]

[Solution: Gradually restore by clearing the dark contamination from the digit core]

This reminded him of three months ago, when the Gearmon in the Sheriff's Office were infected by Dark Gear, and Puppymon used divine and dark power to help the Gearmon repair their Digicores.

"Do you remember three months ago, when the Dark Gear virus was rampant, and we were at the Sheriff's Office helping the Gear Beasts clean up the Dark Gear?"

“Of course I remember,” BlackGatomon said, turning its head without any hesitation.

"Perhaps this kind of pollution can be treated using that method...?"

"Hmm, we can give it a try." BlackGatomon yawned.

Just as Cheng Yuan was about to ask further questions, footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.

"Little Qilin, would you mind having a chat?" Professor Zhao's voice came from outside the door.

Cheng Yuan quickly got up and opened the door.