With this thought still on Qin Feng’s mind, he turned over to Bai Li who was soaking in boredom. She made a tiny yawn, like a little puppy but cuter.
“Haha, I see. At this point, I’m just being a third wheel here. Think I’ll go home and surf the bounty hunter network!”
Lin Wuyi smiled as he left. Seeing Lin Wuyi walk off into the distance, Qin Feng made sure the man was out of sight before going over to Bai Li’s side.
Though, before he had the chance to say anything, his communicator broke the silence as it started ringing.
It was the last person Qin Feng would expect a call from at this moment.
Yang Sanhu, the general of the Wilderness Rangers.
“General Yang!” Qin Feng greeted the man as soon as his battle-weary face entered the screen.
As expected, Yang Sanhu was out in the wilderness. From his screen, Qin Feng observed a thick jungle with granite structures in the background.
“Mayor Qin!” Yang Sanhu responded with a friendly smile. “You know me, I never go to church for no particular reason. I have something to discuss with you!”
“What is it?” Qin Feng was puzzled. Just what incident did Yang Sanhu bump into that he needed help from him?
Still, Qin Feng’s senses returned to him at lightning speed. Yang Sanhu’s Wilderness Rangers were expediting out in the wild in search of crucial resources. Perhaps they had stumbled upon something impressive?
“I’ve sent you a map. Maybe you’d know once you see it.”
Yang Sanhu was a forthright person and disliked pointless small talk. It did not take long for Qin Feng to receive a short clip on his communicator.
Playing the clip, he discovered that it was footage of a small spring with its water flowing out from deep inside the face of a mountain cliff.
This spring was by no means large. It was at most, two meters in diameter and looked like a small pond you would find anywhere in the jungle. However, the thing that caught Qin Feng’s attention were the plants that grew around it.
E-tier hollow bamboo grass.
On the surface, it looked just like a bamboo plant but in fact, it was a special type of grass that grew to a height of about one meter-tall. It possessed the purest form of energy in their dimension and could turn into internal strength once ingested as food. It goes without saying that this type of plant would fetch an extremely high price in the market.
One shoot alone could sell for up to 3 million yuan and his entire screen was filled with countless of these shoots.
From what he saw, Qin Feng approximated that there were at least fifty of them, meaning that profits might be upwards to hundreds of millions.
Qin Feng’s mind was still on these bamboo grass shoots, but instead of watching the footage till the end, he quickly returned to the call with Yang Sanhu.
“I’ve watched the video. So, what’s the difficulty you’re facing? For there to be so many of these precious plants in one place, there must be a guardian beast watching over nearby, right?” Qin Feng teased.
“You’ve got it right, Mayor! We’re really in deep sh*t now!” Yang Sanhu responded smoothly.
“We’ve found this treasure here and yet there is a formidable ultra beast that stands in our way. It’s a beast general tier scaled tiger in case you’re wondering.”
This is a type of ultra beast akin to a tiger but covered in a layer of tough scales. It was a ferocious fighter that had breached the E-tier threshold. Only a handful of well-known gunners had lived to tell the tale after taking down such beasts.
Human-wave tactics against such a creature was an effort in futility. They had tried luring the beast out from the cover of the jungle foliage in order to increase their likelihood of success, all of which were executed under Yang Sanhu’s command.
It however, only ended up with the team which was sent to retrieve these shoots being torn to shreds by the scaled tiger. Not only did their operation fail, they even lost a number of good men who were all gobbled up by the darned beast.
From then on, Yang Sanhu refrained from taking any more unnecessary risks.
“There were some things which we found back then but gave up because we couldn’t defeat the guardian beasts. But this time, I don’t wanna give up something that’s right in front of our eyes. After all, we have you on our side this time round, don’t we?”
Yang Sanhu continued, “Mayor Qin, be rest assured, I will be more than willing to split the profits in half with you should you come to aid us in our fight. I’ll coordinate our attacks with you. And you can keep its carcass after that if you want!”
To Yang Sanhu, his half was already more than what he asked for.
To rake in 80 million in just a single expedition. He would be an overnight billionaire! This was what a true E-tier aptitude user should be earning.
Qin Feng’s income could be stacked up into a skyscraper, which was downright against God’s teachings.
And yet, Qin Feng’s heart was pumping at the thought of raking in so much cash.
Hearing Yan Sanhu’s words, his mind was fixated on the things which he apparently “gave up on”.
Though, he did not ask about those things. For now.
His plan was to cooperate with the general first, to flex his might in front of Yang Sanhu, and the rest should soon follow smoothly. Now, was that not logical?
To be honest, Qin Feng knew far more about such discoveries than the general himself. However, he was unable to participate in expeditions that went to places too far away since the world had officially ended. Also, for something so far away, it must have been a significant issue for them to contact Qin Feng.
They needed someone with the ability to go with them!
Coincidentally, now was the perfect time to master one’s ability.
“Of course, are you guys still there?”
“Yeah, we’re still here!”
“Then sit tight. I’m coming for you!”
“I’ll give you whatever you ask for! Your help is much appreciated, Mayor Qin!”
“We’re cooperating after all! Stop being so courteous, General!”
The two of them discussed further about their plans and Yang Sanhu provided a specific location for Qin Feng to head toward. Naturally, Qin Feng planned to have Bai Li tagging along in his journey to the general’s current position.
If one wanted to grow stronger, then his footsteps must never stop.
“Bai Li, release the tank! We’re heading out into the wilderness!”
“Okay!” Bai Li released a lengthened-version of a battle tank immediately, onto which the both of them climbed.
“This may take quite a while! You should go catch some shut-eye at the back!”
“It’s no problem! I’ll stay up with you!” Bai Li was holding a communicator in her hands. She scrolled up and down the screen, fulfilling her crucial duty of filling up the virtual shopping cart. The new address for her shipment had now changed to Fengli colony.
Qin Feng caressed Bai Li’s petite face before setting the destination for the battle tank’s autopilot system. After he was done with that, he retrieved his own communicator from his pocket.
On his end, he watched the entire video that Yang Sanhu had sent him.
It was footage taken by a drone in the sky. Entering the lens was the small spring, followed by the hollow bamboo grass.
Qin Feng zoomed in on the area closest to the spring.
“For so many hollow bamboo shoots to grow in a single place, this area must contain a great deal of energy. This should also mean that there are lots of naturally-occuring energy gems here!”
Naturally-occuring energy stones were not the type that modern human beings compressed energy out of. These were instead formed from the energy cores of dead ultra beasts which were left untouched by other beasts and were either buried deep underground, or left baking under the hot wasteland sun.
Because of weathering effects, they would turn into a rock-like entity.
The energy contained within these stones could continue flowing never-endingly. It could change the surrounding environment as a result and was a suitable item for cultivation.
The energy that humans use today was that which had been artificially-compressed. It had even been acknowledged as a pseudo-currency that replaced either gold or silver after the apocalypse.
After the process of compression, a one-centimetre cube would form and the current market exchange rate was one of these cubes to 10,000 yuan in cash.
However, these were exclusively used by high-tier aptitude users, and for transactions under a trillion yuan, the communicator alone was more than enough.
‘If there are indeed naturally-occuring energy stones here, then we’d really strike it rich!’ Qin Feng thought to himself. His heart was now a field of flames thinking about all the money.
‘Though, I haven’t heard of anyone in Chengbei colony becoming a billionaire overnight before my rebirth. Perhaps Yang Sanhu missed it, or maybe it’s because he didn’t have the ability to achieve such a feat then!’
Qin Feng felt that his theory offered the most plausible answer to his question.
‘I wonder just how big the naturally-occuring energy stone is underneath that pool of water. If it isn’t too large, maybe I should place it within the manor’s garden to cultivate the plants!’
Qin Feng stopped himself from expecting too much before seeing anything firsthand.
There was still the possibility of becoming rich overnight though.
As Qin Feng had set up dark runes around the tank’s exterior, the rest of their journey toward Yan Sanhu’s coordinates was completely unobstructed, allowing him to continue basking in his thoughts.
It was nearly twenty hours of travelling in darkness later that a glow could be seen rising up from the horizon.
Qin Feng had finally arrived at the location sent by Yang Sanhu.
Poof!
A smoke bomb was shot into the sky, leaving a dark trail that contrasted against the bright white sky.
This was a warning.
Out in the wilderness, black was a color that did not attract the ultra beasts’ attention, meaning it was suitable to be used as a signal to indicate immediate danger for other human beings.
If the person were to not respond immediately, they would soon be met with direct gun fire.