Qin Hu crouched on the ground and observed it for a long time before he said, “It’s the path in the middle. There’s faint traces of blood and wolf fur here. You can even see red light coming from inside. This path must lead to the Red Radiance Jade mine.”
But Meng Chao narrowed his eyes. He thought about it and ran his fingers over the three cracks before he shook his head and said, “No, it’s the one to the left. Look, Mr. Hu.”
Under his guidance, Qin Hu examined the crack on the left. They had a faint row of spikes that formed an arrow. It went to the depths of the crack.
The spikes were less than five centimeters long.
With the cover from the subsurface plasma, if they did not look closely, they would not be able to see them.
“The White Spirit used its fur and blood to deceive intruders, but Lu Siya used the stones to leave us a sign. She knows that I’m a harvester and an Ultimate Style practitioner. My senses are far sharper than those of a normal person, so there was no way I would miss the spikes.”
Meng Chao was amazed by Lu Siya’s ruthlessness. In her previous life, she had to have engaged in a battle of wits with the White Spirit to the bitter end.
However, at that time, he was not around, and Qin Hu had fled, so she was alone and did not have backup. That was why she could not stop the White Spirit’s scheme.
This time, the White Spirit had underestimated the humans’ wisdom and determination, so it would definitely suffer!
The two men held their breaths and entered the left crack.
There were a lot of twists and turns in the crack, along with a lot of forks.
Fortunately, every single time, they were able to find the small bumps left by Lu Siya, which pointed them in the right direction.
There were even two times when Meng Chao found two criss-crossing spikes. They were a sign telling him that they were not to enter a certain place.
They went forward carefully, and just as they expected, they found alarms set up by Lin Chuan. If they were the slightest bit careless, they would end up triggering them.
With Lu Siya being the mole, Meng Chao and Qin Hu bypassed the alarms safely.
As they continued going forward, they soon no longer needed Lu Siya’s guidance.
The crack grew wider, and the spirit energy waves became each stronger than the last. Gradually, they grew so thick that they could be seen with a naked eye and dyed everything around them in bloody-red.
The two’s breathing became chaotic, and their blood boiled. Their ears rang, and they kept seeing sparks in front of their eyes. Their brainwaves went out of control, and a storm rose up in their heads.
“The spirit energy magnetic field interference here is so strong! We’re definitely close to the Red Radiance Jade mine!”
Qin Hu gritted his teeth. Sticky blood came out of his orifices, and he gasped while he said, “It’s as they said, if you risk your life in this sort of stupid place, you’ll definitely minimize the distance between your realms.”
The red light in front of them looked like a volcano eruption. They reached the end of the crack and saw a huge cave.
Once again, Meng Chao found a cross left by Lu Siya.
He leaned against the stone and placed his grenade launcher where it was easily accessible. He used his periscope to investigate the cave.
As he pushed the periscope upward, his breathing froze.
He saw a red, crystalline palace.
Countless huge red crystals grew from the ground throughout the entire cave.
They shone with a dark light in shades of red Meng Chao had never seen before. They competed with each other in their beauty and covered their own weaknesses. They looked like a living volcano, but also like the entrance to the deepest parts of hell.
This feeling was especially prominent at the center of the cave. The red crystals there were the brightest and most brilliant. They were like aquatic dragons baring their teeth while lurking in the ground. Their mouths were wide open and gushing out with red spirit energy, which drenched the entire cave in a sea of blood.
“We finally found the main Red Radiance Jade mine!” Lin Chuan’s laughter could be heard from the depths of the sea of blood. It sounded like he was so happy that he cried. “Siya, do you see it? This is the future of Dragon City! It’s also the children’s hope! With so many cultivation resources, I will definitely be able to reach Deity Realm and change Dragon City. The children will then be able to compete fairly under the sun and grow equally!”
Lu Siya remained expressionless. Her eyes shone a little.
The White Spirit stared fixedly at Lin Chuan and swung its tails slightly. It seemed to be happy for him as well.
Since Lin Chuan had reached his dream, he was delighted. He kept on repeating things like saving Dragon City and allowing everyone to be equals.
Suddenly, his movements became a little stiff, and he brought out a lot of crystal bombs from his backpack. He placed them on the brightest Red Radiance Jade cluster and brought out a chisel to dig out holes for the bombs in the depths of the Red Radiance Jade mine.
“Lin Chuan…” Lu Siya discreetly cast a glance at the entrance of the mine, where Meng Chao and Qin Hu hid. Suddenly, she put on an expression as if she had just registered what was going on. She mumbled, “Why did we bring so many crystal bombs? You can’t mine the Red Radiance Jades by blowing them up!”
“We want to save Dragon City and give all the children the same bright hope.” Lin Chuan did not answer her question directly. His face was filled with a feverish, crazy look, and as if he was reciting a tongue twister, he said, “As long as I become a Deity Realm elite, I can change Dragon City’s future, and only this Red Radiance Jade mine can help me reach Deity Realm…”
It seemed like he was not looking at the chisel, explosive-actuated tools, and crystal bombs in his hands. All he could think about was the beautiful, brilliant future that would no longer have a difference between the rich, poor, noble, common, powerful, and weak. Everyone was equal there.
But the White Spirit became wary. Its tails stood up, and it jumped in front of Lu Siya.
“Wake up, Lin Chuan!” Lu Siya shed her disguise and took half a step backwards. She screamed, “Look at the crystal bombs and tools in your hands, and see what you are doing! This creature has never been thinking about mining Red Radiance Jades! It wants to completely destroy this place!”
The White Spirit bared its teeth, and its expression turned incredibly savage. It turned into a white bolt of lightning that went for Lu Siya’s neck.
Meng Chao grabbed the grenade launcher and was about to fire when Lin Chuan’s expression changed drastically, and he pounced over.
Blood bloomed like a flower on his shoulder. He had blocked the White Spirit’s fatal bite for Lu Siya.
Lu Siya and the White Spirit screamed at the same time.
Lin Chuan did not care about his flesh being torn. He just looked at both sides with a conflicted and puzzled look, as if he was struggling in the depths of a nightmare. His consciousness gradually rose to the surface. “Siya, Whitey…”
The White Spirit still wanted to jump forward.
Lin Chuan instinctively stood between it and Lu Siya. He called out, “Whitey, what are you doing? We already promised that we won’t hurt Siya. We still need her to mine the Red Radiance Jades!”
“Don’t be stupid, Lin Chuan. Do you still not get it? You treat this monster as your kindred, but it’s only treating you as a tool!” Lu Siya sneered and started speaking like a machine gun. “While I was held hostage, I kept wondering about its real goal.
“All that talk about the three of us working together to mine the Red Radiance Jades is just to trick you, because you’re a layman who has no knowledge about how large-scale crystal mining works. There are too many procedures and interests of other parties involved in this. The time required to mine them is too long, and there are too many variables!
“Even if I will get the right to mine the place first, it’ll be impossible for me to rely on my father’s power. There will definitely be a lot of specialists from the Lu family who will be sent here.
“Also, Shen Yulong’s whole team died here, so Universe Corporation will definitely not let things slide. To dissolve the conflict between both parties, we might even end up letting Universe Corporation have a share.
“Right now, the Survival Committee is getting increasingly more displeased with Sky Pillar Corporation and Universe Corporation monopolizing the crystal mining industry, and they’re supporting the rise of medium and small mining companies.
“Many specialists and powerful elites will enter the underground to mine the Red Radiance Jades together, and as long as they find any clues about what happened, we’ll be done for!
“This creature has known it from the start, which is why it has no plan to mine this place slowly. Instead, it wants to explode it.
“The Red Radiance Jades contain incredible spirit energy and are one of the most unstable supreme-grade crystals. Once you open up detonation holes in suitable spots in the main mine and stuff them full of explosives, there’s a high possibility that you will cause a chain reaction at the level of an avalanche and the ancient divine power that has been accumulating for billions of years in the Red Radiance Jade mine will instantly burst forth.
“This is a power that is one hundred times greater than even a volcano eruption. It will form a destructive spirit energy tidal wave that will affect all living beings. Even Deity Realm fighters and Apocalyptic Beasts cannot use a spirit energy tsunami to cultivate. They will go through spirit energy deviation, and their violent tendencies will increase by leaps and bounds. In fact, their bodies might even explode,!
“Lin Chuan, I still don’t understand why the White Spirit wants to do this, but my guess is definitely right. I’m begging you, open your eyes and look at the crystal bombs and explosive-actuated tools in your hands!”
The murky look in Lin Chuan’s eyes disappeared bit by bit.
In disbelief, he stared at the explosives and explosive-actuated tools piled up around him. An expression of pain appeared on his face, as if his dreams had shattered. He mumbled, “Whitey, what are we doing? What… are we…”
The White Spirit’s tails started swinging rapidly.
It used its mind control again, and Lin Chuan’s expression suddenly changed, as if he had become someone else.
It was strange. There was smugness and monstrous ruthlessness on his face.
“That’s right. If we work together to mine the Red Radiance Jades, it’ll be too slow. There’ll be a lot of problems, and the process will be filled with variables we can’t control. We can’t possibly succeed like that.
“Right now, humanity’s Deity Realm fighters and the monsters’ Apocalyptic Beasts are fighting in Raging Waves. They’ve been at a stalemate for a few months, and countless low-grade superhumans and normal monsters have been injured, but these people remain unharmed.
“Thus, I’ll make this Red Radiance Jade mine explode and add pressure on them. Once the ancient divine power that has been accumulating here for billions of years explode, we can create a spirit energy rampaging field that is ten times greater than the one on the surface. It’ll cause all the Deity Realm fighters and the Apocalyptic Beasts in Raging Waves to go through spirit energy deviation, and their violent tendencies will be magnified, which will result in both sides being badly injured.
“And the extreme weather conditions will become even worse than a few months ago. Raging Waves, Graveyard Forest, and Shattered Starlake will experience violent storms. Fog will fill the area, and space-time rifts will be everywhere. The low-grade superhumans and the Red Dragon Army will have to return in failure, and Dragon City will be unable to develop this place for at least ten years.
“This place will then turn into our heaven! We will eat the corpses of all the Deity Realm fighters and Apocalyptic Beasts and grow stronger endlessly, just like before!
“Without Deity Realm elites and Apocalyptic Beasts, we will stand at the top of the food chain in this chaotic region!
“When the environment stabilizes again, we will long since have obtained invincible power, and we will no longer need to be slaves. We’ll be free to carry out our will and create a beautiful new world for our kind!”