With the Divine Domain: Forbidden Zone now open, competitors from every country sprang into action.
It didn't take long for viewers to notice something unsettling:
Almost everyone had been dropped into the same kind of terrain.
A vast desert. Endless sand. Brutal, dry nothingness.
And among all the teams, Miracle Nation's pairing drew the most attention.
They were the world's current superpower. Everything they did pulled eyes—and this event wasn't just entertainment. It could reshape the global order.
More importantly…
Their competitors were exactly the kind of "big names" people expected.
One of them was the globally famous wilderness survival expert—
Noah Drake.
The man had a reputation bordering on myth: a human standing at the top of the food chain.
In a survival competition, what mattered most?
Water and food.
And Noah Drake was a specialist in exactly those basics. The guy was infamous for eating things other people wouldn't even touch. In a place like this, he was the last person you'd bet against.
Because the environment was already obvious to everyone.
This wasn't a friendly zone.
This was the kind of place where you died quietly if you couldn't secure the basics—long before you ever found "resources."
Noah Drake scanned the horizon, then spoke decisively to his partner.
"Desert environment. That means the priority is water."
His teammate was a thick-necked brute of a man, muscles stacked like rope. He wore a black tank top, his bronze skin catching the light with a strange sheen.
But the most eye-catching thing wasn't his body.
It was the massive tactical backpack strapped to his back.
It looked packed full—bulging with gear—but no one could tell what was inside.
The two clearly knew each other.
At Noah Drake's words, the man nodded once, silent as a statue.
Noah Drake chuckled lightly, completely at ease.
"Relax. It's a desert, sure, but getting water isn't as hard as people think."
He pointed toward the giant cacti scattered across the dunes.
"Those have plenty of moisture inside. And the pulp can keep you going too. Doesn't taste great, but it beats starving."
The big man nodded again, still not saying a word.
Miracle Nation's chat exploded with praise.
"That's Noah Drake for you—survival comes first!"
"With him, Miracle Nation's fine."
"That big guy feels familiar… I swear I've seen him before."
"LMAO, have you seen Dragon Nation's team? A student and a woman!"
"Seriously? That's tragic."
"Kinda feel bad for them."
It wasn't just Miracle Nation.
Teams across the world started moving—almost all of them with the same unspoken plan:
Find water first.
Sure, they'd been given ten minutes to prepare before transport, but no one could carry enough water to last in a desert for long.
If you wanted resources, you needed to survive long enough to search.
And by now, everyone had heard about Dragon Nation's team.
Dragon Nation wasn't some nobody state. Even internationally, it was a major power—second only to Miracle Nation.
So when news spread that Dragon Nation's competitors were a young student and a woman, the entire world had opinions.
Most weren't kind.
Most were amused.
Back in Dragon Nation's feed—
Adrian Vale took a slow look around.
The harshness of the desert didn't bother him.
As a ghoul, his physical functions were already far beyond human limits. Even without water for an extended period, he could endure longer than most.
Still, he quickly turned his attention to his teammate.
Raven Shaw—the white-haired woman with that distant, frozen gaze.
She was watching him too.
And for the first time, her expression shifted—just slightly.
A ripple beneath the ice.
Because she could feel it.
This boy who looked harmless at first glance…
was dangerous.
Not "maybe dangerous."
Not "could be dangerous."
The kind of dangerous that made the instincts along your spine tighten.
Adrian Vale met her eyes calmly.
He acknowledged, detachedly, that her face was striking—almost unreal.
But beauty meant nothing to him.
Not anymore.
The two stared at each other in silence.
Meanwhile, the live chat went insane.
"Are these two mute?! Introduce yourselves!"
"Your teamwork is negative one hundred. This is a death match—coordinate!"
"The interface says their names are Adrian Vale and Raven Shaw… weird names."
"The whole world's laughing at us. What is Dragon Nation supposed to do now…?"
There was just one problem with all that noise.
The competitors could see it too.
The scrolling messages appeared as overlays on their vision—floating text only the competitors could see, separate from the broadcast.
They could adjust transparency. Change density. Or mute it entirely.
And Adrian Vale and Raven Shaw…
did exactly what everyone expected them not to do.
They blocked it all.
Silence returned.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then, almost at the same time, they started walking—slowly, steadily—toward the same direction.
No discussion.
No map.
No dramatic declaration.
Just movement.
The stream chat immediately panicked.
"Uh… they're moving already?!"
"Where are they even going?"
"Bro… are they literally just picking a direction at random?"
"That's insane."
"Welp. GG."
In the desert, Adrian Vale didn't look back.
He kept walking.
And behind his calm expression, the ghoul in him listened…
to the sound of his own hunger.
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