The group said nothing.
Lu Siya gritted her teeth and said, “Elder Zhang, I will make an application to the corporation for the mine explorers we lose, and I will give them double the normal blood money. Scimitar, I’ll do the same for your teammates. Even if they’re just injured, I will increase the wages by 30% according to the basic wage we agreed upon on the contract.
“I have to repeat my earlier words: As long as we find the Red Radiance Jade mine, the whole world is ours!”
The group looked at each other and cast aside their unprofessional emotions before they started acting again.
They used a specialized underground soundwave reader to scan the walls in search for the highest reaction and a crack that would lead them to a larger area.
One of the mine explorers who came from Sky Pillar Corporation sat down in a meditative position and started mumbling. Fine spirit tattoos appeared nonstop at his temples, eyes, and the center of his forehead.
Lin Chuan told Meng Chao that this mine explorer had a special ability. He could sense the slightest changes in wind speed and wind direction, and he could also accurately feel the difference in temperature and humidity. He was basically the same as a human weather station.
With his guidance, the group quickly went to a corner of the cave.
The seemingly sturdy wall was covered in winding cracks. Wind blew through the black cracks. The walls were wet, and there were also creatures that looked like moss growing on it. The most crucial thing was that there was a beautiful, bewitching and dangerous Blood Flower settlement growing at the foot of the crack.
“Behind this crack should be an even larger space. The wall isn’t too thick. The Blood Flowers reached this place from behind it.” Lu Siya formed her conclusion.
The feedback provided by the soundwave reader supported her theory.
After Professor Ye collected her sample, two Sharp Blade superhumans brought out flamethrowers and burned all the Blood Flower strains.
Zhang Weiyan and the other veteran mine explorers from Sky Pillar Organization moved forward. They first placed their hands on the wall and shut their eyes before they released their spirit energy to sense the thickness of the wall, its structure, and components.
After discussing for a while with each other, they used geological hammers and knifeblades to carve runic symbols on the walls.
The runic symbols they knew how to draw were all support-based and related to geological structures. Meng Chao understood absolutely nothing about them.
He just watched the men move their hands in a flurry. In a short half an hour, they drew more than one thousand profound and complicated runic symbols that were connected to each other in the space that had a diameter of around two to three meters. They formed a complicated runic matrix.
Then, they brought out rune ink made of superbeast blood and spirit energy liquid. They slowly poured it into the runic matrix from the mouth at the top of it.
A miracle happened. The runic ink did not spill all over the wall. Instead, it was led by a mysterious power and flowed in an orderly manner through the runic symbols. Very soon, it covered every line and shone with a faint light.
The veteran mine explorers sat down cross-legged and chanted while they released powerful brainwaves.
Their vitality magnetic fields resonated with the spirit energy magnetic field created by the runic matrix. It stirred up powerful spirit energy contained in the runic ink, which reached the atomic electron shell of the stones and changed the properties of the stones on an atomic level.
An unbelievable scene occurred. The originally sturdy rock softened as the spirit energy surged through it and turned into something similar to gravel. It quietly collapsed and revealed a long and narrow tunnel.
The stones that were not covered by the runic symbols retained their sturdy structure and supported the tunnel.
This was not the first time Meng Chao saw how runic symbols worked.
But every time he saw the amazing power that allowed them to gather sand into towers or turn stones into gold by changing the structure of the atoms, he gasped in amazement just like everyone else and could not understand what was going on.
Even the superhumans who used this power only knew how to use them but did not understand the logic behind it. They could only make vague statements about runic symbols being surface-level projections of spirit energy magnetic fields. They could connect with humans’ vitality magnetic fields and the planet’s magnetic field. They could even connect with the universe’s magnetic field, which existed between stars.
No one quite understood it.
Up to this date, the principles of runic symbol remained in a black box.
Earthlings had only discovered words in the ancient ruins under the Supernatural Tower after they transmigrated to the Other World and learned that they were amazing symbols that could stimulate great power.
This was one of the reasons why humans were so interested in the true nature of the Other World.
Many people believed that it was not an uncultivated planet where only monsters resided.
Millions of years ago, a highly-developed civilization should have existed in it.
But due to unknown reasons, it was destroyed, and only ruins that recorded its glorious past remained. Earthlings had inherited them when they transmigrated to this place.
But why were they so certain that the ancient civilization was ruined?
It was very simple. If a whole city from outer space transmigrated to Earth, even with the technology developed during the second half of the twentieth century, it would be discovered within twenty-four hours, regardless of whether they descended in the Sahara Desert, the Amazon rainforest, or any other place with few people around. At most, humans would spend three days making preparations before they made contact with the city from outer space.
However, Dragon City had transmigrated to the Other World more than half a century ago.
Even so, they had still not met any Other World local tribes that possessed intelligence.
Even if the fog had been surrounding them all this while, it still did not make sense.
Hence, even if there was an Other World civilization existing in the depths of the fog, its society and technology would not be highly developed, so they were destined to be suppressed by Earth’s steel army.
“We’ll conquer the Other World and explore as well as inherit the strength from the ancient civilization. Then, we’ll bring this incredibly advanced ancient technology back to Earth in a mighty manner so that we can help Earth’s civilization move from living on one planet to living on multiple planets. We’ll become the lords of the entire galaxy!”
This was the greatest dream hidden deep in the hearts of many Dragon City youths.
Meng Chao was the same before he returned to the past.
Right then, he naturally knew that this dream was far-fetched.
The Other World did possess locals who were organized and possessed intelligence.
Even though they had long since forgotten about the glory of the ancient civilization and even treated their ancestors’ extraordinary technology as magic and curses, destruction was always far simpler than construction.
The semi-automatic rifles in the hands of the primitive people could also kill a fully equipped modern man.
After the Monster War, the intelligent locals of the Other World would bring great trouble to Earthlings.
If they wanted to completely get rid of this problem, they had to pay the smallest price and use the shortest time possible to win the Monster War so that Dragon City could fight against the multiple tribes of the Other World while at “full health”.
They had to obtain victory in the northern offense.
And the key to it all might lay just in front of them.
This was the reason behind why Meng Chao was willing to take the risk to enter deep underground.
It was definitely not for the money.
And it was absolutely not to ride Lu Siya’s long, luscious, smooth, and beautiful coattails.
Instead, he did it for his comrades, for the future, and for Earth’s civilization.
“What are you thinking about?” Lin Chuan asked in a whisper.
Meng Chao was stunned. “No, I’m not doing it for the coattails.”
Lin Chuan was taken aback. “What tail now?”
Meng Chao scratched his head. “I’m talking about a Demonic Halberd Pig’s tail. I’m hungry.”
“… You have to be careful. We’re about to enter where the spirit energy ley lines are gathered. I can sense the spirit energy magnetic fields around us getting stronger. It might affect our hearts,” Lin Chuan said sternly.
“The closer we get to a spirit energy ley line, the more likely it is for a human’s brain to be affected. Our most primal emotions and desires will be magnified, and we’ll gradually reveal our true nature. In truth, even our logic may be devoured, so we’ll become someone else entirely.
“So, don’t let your thoughts wander. Focus on the mission. Remember to take a meditative stance and think for a while once every half an hour or an hour. Make sure that your mental strength index is constantly around 100%.”
“Got it. Thanks, Big Brother Lin.”
“We’re brothers. We even saved each other’s lives just now. There’s nothing to thank for. Let’s go. Everyone has already gone in.”
The mine explorers moved through the tunnel.
Once every few steps, the veteran mine explorers carved runic symbols into the walls and turned the stones into gravel so that the tunnel could continuously extend into the rock formation.
When support-class superhumans used such “magic”, it was not at all easier compared to fighting-class superhumans releasing killing moves.
The faces of veteran mine explorers, including Zhang Weiyan, soon began to wither. They had to take gene medicine and high-calorie nutritional fluid as well as meditate to recuperate.
Fortunately, there were a lot of fighting-class superhumans in the team.
Based on the investigations of the geologists, the rock formation in this area was very sturdy and could withstand powerful shockwaves.
The three Heaven Realm elites and the Sharp Blade members who were at the peak of Earth Realm took turns attacking the rocks with the most simple and crude attacks.
Even though their methods were not as elegant as those of the veteran mine explorers, they continued expanding the tunnel.
A strange light sparkled in Lu Siya’s eyes. She encouraged her teammates and said that she could sense an increasingly stronger spirit energy reaction. It was not far ahead of them, and it was definitely where the spirit energy ley line was.
In the end, after three hours in the place, they cleared the tunnel and entered an even wider underground space.
Boom!
The first mine explorer who stumbled into the place was so shocked by the grand and beautiful spectacle in front of him that he sucked in a sharp breath.
The people who came in after him were also dazzled and stopped absolutely dumbfounded.
What appeared before them was a colorful crystal palace.
Regardless of whether it was the stone walls, the stone pillars, or stalagmites, all of them gave off a semi-transparent, crystalline feel. They also shone with a dim light. It was like a reflection on water and flowed slowly in the air.
Forget about ever seeing such a thing on Earth, even in the Other World, veteran mine explorers like Zhang Weiyan seldom saw such a beautiful sight.
“Red Pillar Crystals!”
“Multi-blue Lightning Crystal!”
“Heavenly Green Bronze!”
“Violet Snake Stone!”
“Fire Glow Stone!”
“There’re so many crystals and minerals here, and their purity is very high. The difficulty in mining them is very low as well. As soon as we get rid of the Apocalyptic Beast on the surface, we can use large drilling devices to reach this place. This is basically a treasure trove already at our fingertips!”
Zhang Weiyan’s white beard started trembling.
The fatigue that had settled into his bones after carving dozens of runic matrices and stimulating them was gone. His dried up blood vessels seemed to have been filled up by the power in the crystals, and he became more than ten years younger.
Scimitar and the other Sharp Blade members were also delighted.
Even the team member who had one arm bitten off by the Lion Dragon Fish and had a pale face looked happy.
Under the illumination of the ever-changing light from the crystals, every single one of their face muscles trembled.