When he tried to crush it, a vortex of air erupted from the center of his palm. The oxygen concentration skyrocketed, and the effect lasted for over twenty seconds before slowly subsiding.
"And that was just a single leaf. This forest really is a treasure trove. It’s like a natural, portable emergency oxygen tank." Su Chen was very pleased. At the very least, he wouldn’t have to worry too much about oxygen when exploring deep caves.
Although his own cardiopulmonary abilities were already far beyond what an ordinary person could imagine, he still had to maintain a healthy respect for deep subterranean caverns.
If the Cave Dwellers could survive this elemental era and lift the curse suppressing them, their physical bodies would undoubtedly become far stronger than they are now. They might even regain their individual consciousness.
The pitiful Bloodthirsty Fungus required immense Life Force just to sustain itself, while the Cave Dwellers hiding deep underground simply waited in silence for the next era... or perhaps the one after that.
One could assume that ’He’ had no intention of letting these flesh-and-blood abominations go, intending to sever these lingering remnants of a bygone era.
That was why the sacrificial altars constantly appeared day after day.
However, there were still dangers involved. He hadn’t yet truly encountered the hidden legacy of the civilization within the caves, and the Bloodthirsty Fungus seemed to have misunderstood his intentions.
"Evolving into this oxygen-rich form might be a way to avoid being eaten," Yu Ziyuan said, picking up a leaf of the Oxygen Algae between her fingertips. She examined it closely in the daylight filtering down from the lake’s surface.
A string of crystalline sacs between the leaf’s veins gleamed in the light. The high-purity oxygen inside was perfectly sealed, seemingly not exchanging with the surrounding water.
"Maybe," Su Chen replied casually.
Twenty minutes later, they had collected two large bags of Oxygen Algae.
Afterward, to expand their understanding of this forest treasure trove and better exploit it, Yu Ziyuan summoned her contracted Flower Demon, Wind Spirit, and Fire Fox all at once.
As someone who prioritized aesthetics, her contracted creatures had to be elegant in form. To her, strength was fleeting, but beauty was for a lifetime.
Soon, the Wind Spirit, which looked as if it were formed from Flowing Clouds, zipped through the forest canopy, catching the scent of fruit on the wind to trace it back to its source.
The Fire Fox lowered its body and, with its keen sense of smell, began tracking the slime trails left by geoworms, and even potential mineral deposits.
The Flower Demon entered a low-frequency Resonance with the surrounding plants, searching for high-value items like Thunder Vines and Red Millet Grain.
As for the newly contracted Unicorn, it strode elegantly toward the bushes on the other side of the lake, leading its master to pick a type of highly nutritious berry that condensed moonlight.
’A Warlock’s skills can be used like this, huh?’ Su Chen was pleasantly surprised by the efficiency of Yu Ziyuan and her animal companions.
With her specialized knowledge and a more efficient way of communicating with flora and fauna, she had effectively created a sophisticated exploration system.
「4:30 PM.」
Their group, laden with spoils, began the journey back.
Along the way, Su Chen used Elemental Resonance to track down the local regional lord. He finally managed to slay the Bright Rhino, which dropped a Holy Light Armor Lv. 5 skill, a Divine Guardian Lv. 4 skill, and two portions of Spiritual Dust Sand.
If there was one regret, it was that they didn’t have time to reach the island in the middle of the lake. A closed ecosystem like that was bound to have plenty of good things. He had even seen enormous birds landing there, apparently using it as a nesting ground.
They arrived back at the campsite in the camping base before evening. After unloading their haul of resources and treasures, they began a thorough search of the nearby buildings for supplies.
"Paper towels! This is some prime apocalyptic hard currency!"
Yu Ziyuan was so excited she was practically jumping for joy inside the storage room of a nearby family-friendly amusement park.
She had just dragged out two large, unopened boxes of extra-soft baby wet wipes from behind a shelf, along with a box of soft-pack paper napkins.
"You guys won’t believe this, but paper is so scarce in the city that a couple of days ago, I was close to having to use pages from a book to wipe my ass." She looked like she wanted to cry just thinking about it.
Su Chen thought for a moment and understood. It really wasn’t an easy thing to produce.
High-purity fiber materials were difficult to extract, not to mention the complete lack of equipment, machinery, and factory production lines. After more than six days of consumption, their supply was dwindling with every use, with no way to replenish it.
Under the current circumstances, a single soft, clean sheet of paper was possibly more of a luxury than a bullet.
’I’ll have to see if Runes can solve this problem later on,’ he thought.
"This base is huge, and there are so many empty buildings. There must be more paper hidden around," Su Chen said, leading a few others to continue searching for supplies.
Come to think of it, this vast, empty camping base was a treasure trove of living supplies in its own right.
When hundreds of people evacuated, they had to abandon most of their supplies due to travel distance and carrying capacity limitations.
Just then, Yan Ziqian and Pang Peng took Gong Jun to check the area where numerous RVs had been abandoned, hoping to find some solar panels that could be repaired and put back into use.

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