Under the intense light, a small, unusually reflective spot appeared in a recess on the rock wall ahead. Su Chen strode forward and, sure enough, discovered a larger Gray Ore Crystal revealed in a crevice.
Its color was like settled leaden clouds. When he touched it and channeled a trace of blazing firelight into it, fiery, cloud-like cottony patterns suddenly appeared within.
When he used his invisible Telekinesis to brush away the surface dust, the fiery glow became even more prominent.
"Another ore crystal." Su Chen took a picture with his phone to mark the location and sketched out a simple topographic map.
Just then, two figures ran over from behind, clearly drawn by the commotion of the remote detonation.
"Are you okay?"
Pang Peng arrived with another figure. The answer was obvious.
Realizing his question was pointless, the dedicated support from the polytechnic university, Zhang Haoyang, found an opportunity to speak and cast a Rainfall Skill.
A cooling energy seeped into Su Chen’s body like a fine rain. The Rune core in his mind hummed and vibrated gently, and his Rune Energy Bar steadily rose as if nourished by a trickling stream.
As for the one-time, full-recovery Empowerment Potion, it was clearly more suited for scenarios where one’s Rune Energy was completely depleted. Su Chen had been holding onto a bottle and hadn’t used it.
The three of them paused briefly before continuing forward.
Ahead, the terrain suddenly sloped downward. A winding path led down, but the road was covered in jagged piles of rock. Water seeping from the rock walls also made the surface slick and slippery.
"More ore!"
Pang Peng cried out in surprise. He had just slipped and nearly fallen, but he immediately realized the ground felt strange beneath his feet. Underneath was an exposed, shallow layer of ore.
After he continuously channeled the fluctuations of his Wood Element, green, vein-like patterns spread out, revealing a hidden cluster of Gray Ore Crystal in the nearby rock wall, along with two Ashen Bud Flowers.
’Damn, hit the jackpot.’
Zhang Haoyang’s eyes went wide. He exclaimed, "You really are lucky, kid."
After that lucky little interlude, the downward-sloping path ahead came to an abrupt end.
A massive vertical pit lay before them, nearly ten meters in diameter. It was like the maw of an Abyss, its bottom lost in unfathomable darkness, from which the faint sound of flowing water could be heard.
The rock layer overhead was breached by a large hole that slanted up to the level above. A faint, weak sliver of light shone down from the opening. If he wasn’t mistaken, it led to the middle fork from the initial three-way intersection.
"The cave dwellers must have run down there," Pang Peng said in surprise.
Su Chen picked up a fist-sized piece of rubble from the ground. A flash of crimson light shone from his palm, and the rock’s surface burst into flames, resembling a miniature Fireball.
As he let go, the Fireball plummeted downward, trailing a tail of flame and illuminating the jagged, strange rocks of the pit’s walls.
Fearing he might slip and fall, Zhang Haoyang only dared to lie flat on the edge of the pit and peer down. But even after six seconds, the Fireball still hadn’t hit the bottom.
A muffled BOOM echoed up from the extreme depths as the Fireball suddenly exploded, shattering into a spray of fine sparks before being completely swallowed by the darkness.
"Jeez, just how deep is this thing?" Zhang Haoyang’s expression turned grim.
Pang Peng’s lips moved as he did some quick mental calculations. "Factoring in air resistance," he said without hesitation, "this vertical shaft is at least two hundred meters deep. And considering it was blasted apart before it even hit the bottom, you can imagine it’s much deeper than that."
’The monsters’ lair is pretty deep,’ Su Chen thought. It was just as well. Considering the danger posed by the cave dwellers, he really needed to power up before it would be convenient to venture down. Even with the Life Talisman, diving deep into a pit like this was too reckless.
In the next instant, he seemed to sense something and violently yanked Zhang Haoyang back from the pit’s edge with a wave of Telekinesis.
BOOM! A blast of high-pressure air shot up from the depths, striking like a cannonball and shattering the rock at the pit’s edge.
Zhang Haoyang collapsed onto the ground, his face pale. After breathing heavily for a moment, he couldn’t stop himself from thanking Su Chen. "Th-thanks... You really saved me."
Pang Peng quickly entered a combat stance, donning a layer of Thorn Armor. But after waiting for a while, no cave dwellers climbed up.
"Let’s go. We’ll mine as much as we can carry and go back to turn in the sacrificial materials," Su Chen said.
After leaving a Netherworld War Dog clone to stand guard, the group immediately started heading back.
Considering the large number of ore crystals that needed to be excavated, they did some work to re-bury the shallow ore vein Pang Peng had just discovered. As for the Ashen Bud Flowers growing from the rock wall, they were picked and taken along.
In fact, this work was necessary.
A group of people who had taken the left fork of the cave arrived. Following the sounds of the commotion, they had passed straight through the choke point and reached this hunting hall. The moment they arrived, their eyes lit up. Staring at the pile of corpses, they looked as if they had found a mountain of gold.
"Are these the cave dweller bodies required by the bounty altar?"
"Holy cow, those guys are gonna be rich."
The newly arrived people had a motley collection of equipment. Two of them held long electric batons with lightning patterns on them, while several others carried a riot shield in one hand and a large machete in the other.
This security-type equipment was very conspicuous, suggesting the group included some base security personnel. In addition, some of the others had even more outlandish gear: one held a pair of large gardening shears, another a steel pipe, and one person was even carrying a chainsaw.
Although the group’s overall style seemed like a ragtag bunch of freelancers, it clearly included some security personnel.
In terms of numbers, there were a full thirteen of them.
"Hey buddy, need help moving the bodies? Just give us two of them, that’ll be enough," the leader of the new arrivals said with a fawning smile after his initial shock, his tone almost pleading.
Even the tall, skinny guy next to him adopted a very humble posture. Perhaps seeing that the other party was unmoved, he lowered their asking price even further. "Boss, we’ll be your manual labor. Can you spare one body? Just one!"

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