“`
“Little Chi, come quickly, I’ve made a discovery,”
Hearing this urgent summons, Song Chi promptly steered the Cang Qiong over.
In a corner of the second-layer space, two airships hovered in the high sky, their gun ports flashing brightly as they fired a barrage of cannon fire at the brand-new spatial veil hanging above them from the Cang Qiong and the Qingfeng.
Indeed, this secluded corner of the sky also had a spatial veil covering the top of the second layer.
However, compared to the veil that separated the first and second layers, the one before them was significantly smaller, only about a hundred meters in width and length—ten times smaller than the one on the first layer—but the repulsive force field surrounding the veil was not any less intense, and it was even slightly stronger.
Obviously, above this second layer, there was at least a third layer of space; whether there was a fourth layer was still unknown.
Even if there was a third layer, the two of them only knew of its existence, and it was certain they could no longer explore it. With just over an hour left before the end of this deployment, they had to leave this enclosed space if they didn’t want to encounter any accidents upon return.
Although the spatial veil was only the most basic spatial technology, as it involved the concept of “space,” the traction force that affected the Torch Warship upon return was also a spatial power. The interaction between these two spatial forces would greatly increase the chance of an accident.
Therefore, to ensure a successful return, Torch Ship Captains usually made sure to keep their warship in a state free from any other energy interference before heading back.
Not just spatial power, but other interferences could also cause accidents during the return journey, yet spatial power was the most critical point to avoid.
After barrage of attacks, seeing that the repulsion field on the spatial veil had not weakened in the slightest, Song Chi and his companion understood that the remaining time was definitely insufficient to break through this second spatial veil, let alone deal with the likely presence of other members of the Insect Race in the space above this veil.
Given the existence of the Insect Race on the second layer, the two instinctively believed that the third layer would also be inhabited by the Insect Race, since the repulsive forces of the veils were so similar, suggesting they were emitted by the same type of creature.
“Oh well, it seems we’re fated to miss out on the third layer. I wonder which civilization nearby this Star Domain will benefit in the end, or which lucky Torch Ship Captain will discover it,”
The two stopped their attack, and aboard the Qingfeng, Shen Qing sighed with a sense of helplessness, a trace of reluctance in his eyes before he resigned himself to the situation.
Having acquired a Strange Object of Purple Quality, he was actually content. Despite the inevitable disappointment regarding the unknown third layer, he was more curious than frustrated, and now that he was certain he couldn’t satisfy his curiosity, he didn’t dwell on it.
Of course, what he didn’t know was that while he was immersed in his thoughts, Song Chi on the nearby Cangqiong wasn’t saying much, but he was quite pleased inwardly.
With the Spatial Anchor Point feature of the Ruins Market, he could continue to explore these ruins of a past civilization. Naturally, he was excited.
“Big Qing, sorry about that…”
After silently apologizing in his heart, Song Chi adjusted his mindset and began to control the airship with Shen Qing, heading towards the Queen Insect’s nest. Earlier, they were worried it wasn’t completely dead, and then they were distracted by the Crystal Box, so they had not inspected it further.
Now that the spoils of battle had been divided, and Shen Qing had recently received a signal about the acquisition of Floating Land Origin, they could confidently go and check.
Speaking of the Floating Land Origin provided by the Queen Insect, this was actually a surprise for both of them; they had assumed that killing the Queen Insect would yield a whiff of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin, but the result turned out to be a whiff of Second-Rank Floating Land Origin.
The total amount of Floating Land Origin contained within its body was astonishingly the same as when it was at its peak as a Third Rank Creature, which was a great surprise to both of them.
In front of the Queen Insect’s nest, which had already collapsed on one side, Song Chi and Shen Qing walked behind two battle robots. Song Chi’s Fire Peony Soldier Figurine had been annihilated in the previous effort to block the insect tide, and Shen Qing’s Qingfeng did not have Soldier Figurine components onboard, so they had to rely on the battle robots to take the lead.
Their progress was slow; the ground was covered with a sticky liquid that was very slippery, so they had to move cautiously, step by step.
“`
Just after passing through the breach blasted open by a deep-space torpedo, Song Chi was confronted with an obese and enormous corpse that made his pupils contract slightly in surprise and confusion before he composed himself again.
It was a creature resembling an ant from his previous life but hugely magnified. Its upper body was covered with blood-red carapace, while its lower half was an exceptionally large abdomen — alien and peculiar, yet with an inexplicable beauty.
Even though it had been dead for a while, a strong sense of oppression still lingered inside the nest.
It was fortunate that both Song Chi and Shen Qing possessed Guidance Techniques of not low levels, otherwise they might not have been able to withstand it.
This was after the creature’s Life Energy had degraded to the peak of First Rank; he dared not even imagine how terrifying this Queen Insect must have been at her peak.
After a moment of contemplation, Song Chi and Shen Qing exchanged a glance, then quickly moved on to their next action.
They each brought over a cutter from the airship and began manually segmenting the Queen Insect’s body.
The bodies of the Insect Race were mostly inedible because of their acidic flesh, but a small piece of choice meat located right in the heart core was edible.
Not only was it exquisitely flavored, the energy it contained was astonishing. Moreover, this Queen Insect at her peak was a Third Rank Creature, making that piece of meat extremely valuable, truly a rare find.
As for the other members of the Insect Race with too small a size, the amount of choice meat in each was pathetically little. Besides, due to the pressing time, the two did not waste their time collecting it. After all, there were more than thirty thousand of them, and it would have taken who knows how long to collect them one by one.
With the two of them working together to cut, they quickly found the location of the choice meat inside the Queen Insect’s body, and began to carefully separate it.
The choice meat of a Third Rank Queen Insect, even just a former Third Rank, could not be compared with that of a regular First Rank Insect Race member’s. With a bit of special processing, it could immediately become a dish with effects comparable to an Advanced Body Tempering Potion, or even exceed it.
Ten minutes later, the two had perfectly extracted the whole piece of choice meat. Due to the Queen Insect’s size, although the choice meat made up only a small part of an Insect Race member’s body, this piece still weighed forty pounds.
Song Chi and Shen Qing each took twenty pounds, planning to properly process it once back and cook it tonight, while the energy contained within was still unspent.
Unlike Advanced Body Tempering Potions, whose potency was indeed strong but also demanded a high physical quality from the user — only those with at least First Rank Guidance Techniques could use them safely.
Song Chi still had a bottle, mixed with Deep Water Clam Pearls powder of nine hundred years worth, but he dared not use it yet; he had to wait until his Guidance Technique reached level 9.
However, the Queen Insect’s choice meat was different, its energy was gentle, and could be safely eaten by people of any Guidance Technique level.
Suddenly, Song Chi’s eyes came to a halt, his figure tensing up entirely.
Shen Qing immediately noticed his anomaly.
“Little Chi, what’s wrong!”
Song Chi said nothing, but his intense gaze indirectly gave an answer.
Following the direction of Song Chi’s gaze, Shen Qing’s eyes also suddenly widened. In the depths of the cavity they had cut out, there was a dim light flickering continuously.
“This… what is this?”
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