Chapter Sixty-Five: Hush! We're Digging Up Our Ancestors' Graves

Chapter Sixty-Five: Hush! We’re Digging Up the Ancestors’ Graves

Red—so piercing it stung the eyes! The crimson glow representing the energy of the ice ore on the detection screen made Liu Shaoyu’s vision ache, but what hurt him more was the source of that red. On the corpses of those desolate creatures, blue crystals shimmered...

So this was it. For the first time, Liu Shaoyu realized... the so-called ice ore was... produced from the bodies of the desolate creatures! Suddenly, so many puzzles were resolved. No wonder the desolate creatures harbored an innate hatred for all other beings. After all, who wouldn’t be furious if their ancestors’ graves were dug up? It was only natural. Even if they were desolate creatures, they were capable of rage.

And Carter? Shocked, Liu Shaoyu snapped back to himself. He looked around, finally locating Carter’s position using the tracking system...

Above? Indeed, Carter had somehow risen into the air and was flying toward the center of the dome. Flying—without any aid, simply floating straight up. Today was certainly a day for Liu Shaoyu to witness the overturning of his worldview... Perhaps he’d grown numb, so Carter’s ability to fly seemed less astonishing.

He activated the remote viewing system, zooming in on the dome. At its center, there was a hole, barely visible due to the radiance spilling from it. From the ground, it was nearly impossible to spot.

Liu Shaoyu recalled Carter’s words before they entered: “The good stuff is inside...” Was the ice ore still up above?

He engaged his engines and followed Carter’s trajectory. As he approached the dome, he felt a force pulling him upward...

“Traction?” Liu Shaoyu exclaimed in surprise. The sensation was familiar. Traction devices were common nowadays... But why was there one here? He was utterly bewildered by this place.

Passing through the dome, Liu Shaoyu found himself in another hemispherical cavern, smaller than the one below. And on the ground...

Gone were the countless corpses of the lower level. Here, the floor was covered by a faint layer of blue crystals, the grains so fine they were almost powder.

The closer he got to the central hole, the denser the blue became.

He glanced back at the entrance he’d just ascended through, swept his gaze over the blue particles scattered around... and suddenly, enlightenment struck. Could the traction device be transporting the already transformed crystals to this layer?

It seemed this place was more than a simple burial ground. He could deduce that this might be a gigantic crystal extraction workshop.

But... how could the desolate creatures possess such intelligence?

Searching for Carter again, he discovered her ascending once more.

Could there be more above? Liu Shaoyu wondered, hurriedly activating his engine to follow. The second layer of the cavern was identical to the first in every respect but size. At its apex, another hole.

Through it—another hemispherical chamber, smaller yet again.

Eager to discern the differences between this layer and the ones below, Liu Shaoyu saw that indeed... here, the blue crystals had begun to coalesce, no longer mere powder but sand-sized grains.

Clearly, this was a place for transforming ice ore.

Finally, Liu Shaoyu found Carter no longer ascending, but instead lingering near the entrance, gazing at him blankly.

“Is there something you want to ask?” Carter spoke as Liu Shaoyu’s gaze met hers.

He wanted to ask—he was positively bursting with questions, his mind a tangled web of confusion... But now wasn’t the time for a deep discussion. Holding back, Liu Shaoyu simply asked, “What exactly are we doing?”

Upon hearing his question, Carter pressed her finger to her lips, signaling for silence. “Shh... We’re digging up the ancestors’ graves,” she whispered, a sly smile on her face.

Digging up the ancestors’ graves... The phrase was vivid, indeed! But what about the “big guy” Carter had mentioned?

“Wait, I’ll go up first. It’s sensed us. Don’t come up unless I call you,” Carter said suddenly, her tone turning serious, a stark contrast to her usual demeanor.

Shocked by the shift, Liu Shaoyu nodded. Only then did Carter ascend further, reassured.

This time, Liu Shaoyu saw it clearly—it wasn’t traction, she simply flew.

Could the big guy be up above? Liu Shaoyu wondered, looking up, but saw no difference. Carter’s silhouette had vanished into the dome, swallowed by deeper blue. For reasons unknown, watching her graceful figure disappear into the light, Liu Shaoyu felt a surge of concern.

Though told not to follow, Liu Shaoyu still wanted to see what lay above. He deployed the limited miniature devices from within his armor, sending them up through the hole using the traction force. This way, he could observe without ascending himself.

Suddenly, a deafening roar battered his eardrums, followed by violent tremors. Liu Shaoyu struggled to steady himself.

“What’s happening? Is this the big guy?”

The device’s holographic feed was overwhelmed by interference, making the scene impossible to decipher. Liu Shaoyu frowned, suspecting Carter’s psychic assault was causing the electromagnetic disruption.

Waves of tremors shook the cavern, scattering the crystals across the ground. Liu Shaoyu took to the air to find stability. Occasionally, larger blue crystals tumbled from the dome’s opening. He reached out to catch one.

A dazzling blue caught his eye. The crystal in his hand was about the size of a fingernail. As the saying goes, even if you haven’t eaten pork, you’ve seen pigs run! This fingernail-sized ice ore wasn’t enough to activate a doomsday weapon, but it could easily purchase a warship of less than a kilometer in length. Rarity commands price... Ice ore was just that valuable.

Looking around, Liu Shaoyu mused: if all these blue crystals were egg-sized ice ore, then... Even with his considerable assets, compared to these, he was less than a drop in the ocean. No, not even a drop—a mere bacterium on a hair.

Yet these small grains of ice ore were not particularly useful; this wasn’t an arithmetic problem where one plus one equals two. An egg-sized ice ore and a goose-egg-sized one could differ by the price of a small carrier.

So... Carter was right—the good stuff was inside. With that thought, Liu Shaoyu gazed upward.

The tremors persisted. By now, the interference on the holographic screen had diminished, and Liu Shaoyu could barely make out the figure of the big guy.

What was this...? Staring at the shape, Liu Shaoyu was awestruck.

Through the screen, he could just discern a massive silhouette. Its body was armored in tough skin, streaked with faint blue markings.

The scene was chaotic, but Liu Shaoyu could make out two pairs of delicate cicada-like wings on the creature. In the feed, a shadow darted swiftly.

“Thomas, catch and slow the footage,” Liu Shaoyu instructed, guessing the shadow belonged to Carter.

Sure enough, as the replay slowed, a lithe figure confirmed his suspicion. In the midst of battle, Carter’s face had turned deathly pale, blue-violet markings appearing around her eyes.

With the slowed footage, Liu Shaoyu could finally see the big guy in full detail.

“Hiss!” He drew a sharp breath.

For the creature’s head bore a spike nearly half the length of its body, with four pairs of extraordinarily slender legs, each covered in barbs.

Its body was sleek and elongated, its immense size in no way hampering its agility.

Most striking of all was its long, barbed tail.

“Not good!” Liu Shaoyu cried out.

A Message to Readers:
Today’s first update~ Please recommend and bookmark! Another bonus chapter at three in the afternoon with your recommendations~