Chapter 775: Flooded? (Bonus Chapter)
He called his little brothers to finish off all five thousand jin of soybeans brought by Jiangnan!
Many Raging Longhorn Beetles had their antennae glowing red, filling Jiangnan with joy!
Beetles that could freely control their emission were simply amazing, weren't they?
It was like saving up a big move!
After eating the soybeans, they naturally had to work for Jiangnan!
The beetle leader led Jiangnan's group toward the location where the core was stored!
On the way, Ling Feng, Wang Ba, and the others didn't dare get close to any Raging Longhorn Beetle whose antennae had lit up red!
What if they just exploded while walking? Wouldn't that spell disaster?
As for Qin Shou, he seized the opportunity to sneak to the rear of a "Little Awesome" beetle, craning his neck to get a good look!
Wang Ba trembled: "Holy shit! Bro, you don't want to live? Didn't the mentor teach you not to stand at the muzzle?"
If it misfires, your head gets blown off!
Qin Shou looked enlightened!
"(*ﾟﾛﾟ) Oh~ So that's why it's square! Nature really is amazing!"
At that, more people were curious and looked over, exclaiming in awe!
"The world is full of wonders! Today I've really learned something!"
"The structure is so ingenious! No wonder it's convenient! Tsk tsk tsk!"
Even Jiangnan was intrigued and climbed to the back to take a look!
Σ(っ°Д°;) "Huo~ Little Awesome is truly awesome!"
At this moment, the beetle leader's face darkened. What strange hobbies do these humans have?
Why are they all gathering behind me and staring? Don't I have dignity?
God damn convenient!
I'm already feeling uneasy!
Following the beetle swarm to the central area of the ninth layer, this was where the beetles used to feed, now riddled with holes!
They led the group into the complex tunnels, heading deep underground!
There, a black stone tablet six meters long and two meters wide stood stuck in the ground!
It was engraved with countless intricate runes!
Everyone's eyes lit up with excitement—the core of the ninth layer!
They'd found it so quickly! That made two resource layer cores—the eighth and ninth—already in hand!
Jiangnan grinned: "All good!"
He walked up to the stone tablet and gently touched it. It still felt metallic, but not as dense as the eighth-layer core.
It gave off a feeling of being a cheap imitation.
Jiangnan frowned. Was this related to the instability of the ninth-layer spirit realm space?
Lost in thought, he grabbed the core with both hands and pulled hard.
It didn't budge!
He tightened his core muscles and yanked upward.
Finally, he pulled the core out of the ground.
But at that moment, Jiangnan's scalp tingled, every hair on his body stood on end. He abruptly turned to his left!
"Everyone, get down!"
He dropped the core and shot like an arrow toward Heidi on the left!
The moment he spoke—
With a "boom," a space rift a hundred meters long suddenly appeared, tearing through the ground!
An extremely strong mental wave emanated from inside, making everyone's heads ring and causing blood to flow from their ears and noses!
The rift slashed rapidly, and Jiangnan grabbed Heidi as they both dodged to the left!
The space rift barely missed them, closing in an instant, disappearing without a trace!
Everyone's faces turned pale with splitting headaches!
Looking back, the top of the cave was gone!
The space rift had left a slash a kilometer long on the ground!
All the soil and rock had been sliced and sucked into the rift!
Heidi stood up, wiping nosebleed. If not for Jiangnan, she would have been sucked in!
She was about to thank him when she saw Jiangnan's shoulder bleeding profusely!
Heidi: "(☍﹏⁰) Nan Shen! Your shoulder! Does it hurt? Heal it quickly!"
She panicked a bit.
The near miss had actually scraped off a chunk of Jiangnan's flesh!
Jiangnan glanced at his shoulder, frowned slightly, and ate a small ginseng pill: "It's fine. How is everyone? Anyone hurt?"
Ling Feng grinned: "We're all okay. Thanks for the warning, or a few brothers might have lost their heads!"
When Jiangnan pulled out the core, he had sensed a dense spatial fluctuation.
But it appeared too suddenly—even he almost didn't react in time.
This was his first time seeing a space rift. It seemed the ninth layer was truly unstable.
Yet it also piqued his curiosity. What lay behind the space rift?
With the ninth-layer core in hand, Jiangnan's group didn't linger and returned directly to the mining-free zone base camp.
Now that both cores were secured, the only problem left was how to get them back to Huaxia safely.
Although the ninth layer was fraught with danger, Jiangnan had no immediate plans to leave.
The job wasn't done—the root cause of the Abyss's mutation still hadn't been found.
Over the next three days, Jiangnan rode "Little Awesome" and led the beetle swarm through almost the entire ninth layer.
They had thought there might be a tenth layer.
But after searching the whole ninth layer, they found no space gate leading to a tenth layer.
Instead, they discovered many traces of space rifts having appeared.
Jiangnan pondered: "So the ninth layer is the bottom? Then why did the Abyss mutate?"
"And what's with the mental wave coming from behind the space rifts? Normal space rifts shouldn't behave like this, right?"
Moreover, he hadn't encountered Odin the Lord God all the way down to the ninth layer.
Where had that old divine conman gone?
Jiangnan froze—could he have been sucked into a space rift?
He couldn't help but become curious about what was inside those rifts.
His wandering thoughts were pulled back to reality by an excited shout.
He saw Gong Lin running over happily: "We can control the eighth-layer core a bit now! Come see!"
Jiangnan's eyes sparkled. He quickly ran to the tent!
The eighth-layer core was propped on the ground, with seven or eight detection-type and wave-type Explorers acting as signal converters.
Connected to Jiangnan's alternate dimension's computers and mainframes, they had set up a simple system!
The computer screen showed an overhead view of the eighth-layer mining-free zone!
In the image, Feito and his team had already set up camp there, resting leisurely.
Obviously, they were waiting for their prey like a sitting duck, ready to harvest.
Jiangnan cackled: "How much control do we have?"
Tao Xinyi said: "The equipment is too crude. We can only control a small part of the terrain, and it takes time to prepare."
"Besides, we're not professionals. Forget about changing the space gate's teleport point or anything."
Jiangnan: (΄◞ิٹ◟ิ‵) Jie jie jie~
"Enough! Dam up the river in the valley nearby, make it big, then redirect the channel so the water flows toward the mining-free zone!"
"Let's give them a nice wake-up call first!"
Tao Xinyi: =͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪‧̣̥̇)
Starting off so intense?
Wang Ba: (˵ಡټಡ˵) "Vicious! I like it!"
Gong Lin also snickered, feeling like she was playing a sandbox game!
She shot spiritual energy threads from both hands, injecting them into different runes, starting to combine them!
Inside the eighth-layer mining-free zone!
In the stone house, Feito was enthusiastically applauding love, drenched in sweat!
The noise kept people in nearby houses awake, all wearing pained expressions!
Several Explorers on night watch cast envious glances!
Meanwhile, Aiwei sat on a tree branch, gazing into the distance, looking a bit melancholy and lost.
(๐･᷄~･᷅) Hmm~
But then, Aiwei blinked and rubbed her eyes, staring suspiciously at the distant valley!
"What's that?"
In the darkness, a white line surged forward like a stampede of ten thousand horses, charging toward them aggressively!
Aiwei: (๐･᷄◠･᷅) "Whatever it is, it's none of my business!"
So she ignored it!
But the other night watch Explorers also noticed and jolted awake!
"Water? Damn! Where's all this water coming from?"
"Wake up! Stop sleeping! Alarm!"
The wave crashing out of the valley was at least forty to fifty meters high, like a dam burst!
Several drowsy Explorers poked their heads out of stone houses, rubbing blurry eyes!
"What are you yelling about? What's that rushing sound? Holy shit!"
They all snapped awake, completely confused!
Earth-element ability users immediately raised earthen walls to block the flow, but they were all ruthlessly shattered!
Some climbed trees, others flew up—the once tranquil camp instantly became chaotic!
"Boss Fei hasn't come out yet! Who's going to call him?"
Walker dashed to Feito's stone house, just about to enter when he heard the applause!
He stiffened: "Boss Fei?"
Inside, Feito shuddered from the scare, going soft: "Get lost! Don't mess with my good thing!"
Walker said wryly: "Water's coming soon! The valley's flooding! Boss, don't drown—"
Feito: !!!
"Your grandmother! Do I need you to give me a live commentary? Scram! Are you peeping?"
"How big could the water be? And you think it'll drown me?"
"Hey! What's all the noise outside? Can you guys shut up for a minute?"
Walker: (๑•̌ࡇ•̑๑)ˀ̣ˀ̣
What commentary?
I'm just here to warn you!
As he was about to speak, the wave crashed into the camp!
Well, no point running now!
Feito, whose mood was ruined by Walker, was also puzzled by the sound of rushing water.
Rumbling?
He was about to get up and check!
But with a "boom," the stone house collapsed under the water's force, and a powerful current splashed right into Feito's face!
"Where the hell did this come fr... glub glub glub~"
After the wave passed, the former mining-free zone had become a river channel!
Standing in the river, Feito could only use his bone armor to protect his front and back. His pants had been washed away somewhere!
Feito gritted his teeth: (ꐦʘ̆益ʘ̆)
"Jiangnan! It must be you, Jiangnan, right?"
[From Feito's Rage Points +1000!]
——Author's Note:——