Star Farming, the eldest lady relies on alchemy to counterattack

Chapter 209 Special Minerals—Lapis Lazuli
"Master, we don't know where this little fox came from. Now that its injuries have healed, it's time to let it go." Yun Han looked at the little fox with great displeasure.

This little fox is incredibly intelligent; it doesn't resemble a mythical beast at all, but rather a person wearing a mythical beast's skin.

Moreover, the little fox was also very powerful, and Yun Han felt that even if they really fought, he might not be its match.

"Mmm," the little fox seemed to understand Yun Han's words, and suddenly buried its head in Ning Xuan's arms, clinging tightly to her clothes, as if afraid of being thrown away.

"It's a sentient beast. Its master saved its life, so it must be grateful to its master, which is why it helped us so much," Nine-Tailed Fox chimed in from the side.

Seeing Yun Han looking at her with an unfriendly expression, Nine-Tailed Fox lowered her head and took two steps back in fear.

Although Yun Han was nominally a contracted slave, his personal strength and background, coupled with Ning Xuan's somewhat biased favoritism, meant that no one dared to treat him as a slave.

"Don't you guys think it's a bit strange that we've traveled so far without encountering a single desert beast?" Ning Xuan asked, dragging the little fox clinging to her.

"Perhaps there are simply fewer strange beasts in the desert to begin with," Chen Nan guessed.

"It's also possible that it sensed the beast beforehand and killed it," Yun Han said, glancing at the little fox.

Everyone else's attention also shifted to the little fox. Thinking about it, it seemed to make sense; since the little fox joined their team, their chances of encountering strange beasts had greatly decreased.

On the contrary, the little fox would bring back one or two exotic beasts every now and then, but this time, it brought back so many at once.

Ning Xuan waved her hand and stored the prey into her ring space.

"With no strange beasts blocking our way, our journey has sped up considerably. Let's go, the energy ahead is getting denser, let's go take a look," Ning Xuan instructed.

They explored the Crimson Sand Sea for two reasons: firstly, to map its topography and complete the exclusive mission for the S-class squad; and secondly, to search for the Spiral Nebula, as they had been given a hint when accepting the mission that the Spiral Nebula existed in the mission area.

As early as when the joint graduation exam was announced, the authorities also announced that while the new celestial body was filled with viruses, it also contained viral derivatives that could improve human physique, enhance mental strength, and improve genetic bloodlines. The spiral nebula was a special energy body that was condensed together, and they certainly could not miss it.

Desert storms always come unexpectedly. Although Zhang Nan was able to sense the approaching storm in advance and Ning Xuan and the others made a series of preparations, they were still in a very bad state due to the strong storm.

Inside the tent buried under sand and gravel, Lin Mo turned on his flashlight, took out a tent lamp from his backpack, and hung it in the center of the tent.

Even under the protection of Yun Han, Di Youlin, and Lin Mo, Ning Xuan still had her mouth full of sand before she could hide in the tent, and everyone's hair became an explosive hairstyle again.

Looking at each other's disheveled state, everyone felt somewhat helpless. When the storm broke out, the ground they were on suddenly collapsed. If Lin Mo hadn't used the protective barrier, who knows what would have happened.
About ten minutes later, Zhang Nan summoned the golden hamster to emerge from the sand pile and check the situation. It took a full 20 minutes for the golden hamster to send a message back to Zhang Nan.

Zhang Nan gave a wry smile. "Miss Ning, we're buried under a sand dune. According to the information the golden hamster sent back, the dune is extremely high."

The tent frame made a teeth-grinding creaking sound, but fortunately, their tent frame was made of very tough high-tech materials, so even though it looked shaky, it did not collapse.

As the golden hamster emerged from the sand, fine sand fell onto the tent roof. Ning Xuan brushed the sand off her hair and looked up to find the tent roof had been compressed into an arc shape. "We're buried here. If we stay here too long, we'll definitely suffer from oxygen deprivation. We need to find a way out." The tent was only about 2.7 or 2.8 meters high. Yun Han placed his backpack under his feet and checked the tent's support structure.

Di Youlin suddenly coughed; he had just choked on a mouthful of sand.

Zhang Nan handed the kettle to Di Youlin so he could rinse his mouth.

"Zhang Nan, can you find the shortest route? Or can you calculate the exact altitude?" Ning Xuan asked.

"Eek..." The little fox nudged Ning Xuan and pointed its paw at the ground.

"You mean there's an exit underground?" Ning Xuan asked it.

The little fox nodded quickly.

Zhang Nan overheard Ning Xuan's conversation with the little fox. He seemed to be deep in thought, and quickly took out the map he had drawn earlier to compare it. He discovered that there was a deep underground river in this area.

“The sand above is all fine sand; it will collapse if you try to dig, and you won’t be able to get out at all. Why don’t you try digging downwards?” Lin Mo suggested.

"Let's check the soil quality below first. See if it's easy to dig?" Ning Xuan made a cut in the center of the bottom of the tent to check the soil quality.

The bottom is still a sandy structure, and the sand particles at the bottom are larger and more moist than the fine sand covering it.

"Can a strong storm cause ground subsidence? Judging from the moisture content of this sand, the height from which we sank at the beginning of the storm must have been quite high," Ning Xuan remarked.

After Ning Xuan and the others confirmed that digging underground would make it easier to gain space for activities, they waited for Zhang Nan's companion spirit, the golden hamster, to return. After the golden hamster returned, it went to explore the underground environment again. Zhang Nan sensed the information fed back by the golden hamster and drew a map of the underground environment.

With the help of this underground environment map and the tools in their spatial artifacts, a dozen people worked together and dug three or four meters deep in just 13 minutes. After hearing the sound of flowing water from underground, the soil layer became extremely hard.

"What kind of rock is this? The color is so beautiful." Chen Nan asked in surprise.

"This is Lanluite. The Federation also has this kind of stone, but the reserves are very small. This stone can be refined into Jinlvsha, which has extremely strong conductivity for light energy. It is the main material for the light energy receiving plates of large starships and is very expensive." Yun Han looked at the Lanluite that was emitting a green light with great surprise.

I never expected to find such an expensive mineral here.

“Since it’s so valuable, what are we waiting for? Let’s dig it up.” Ning Xuan smiled with some surprise and said.

Even if these stones are worthless, they still have to dig them up to find the underground river.

However, these stones were very valuable, which motivated them to dig even harder. One by one, pieces of greenstone were unearthed and stored in their spatial rings.

Ning Xuan and the others worked with great enthusiasm, and half an hour passed in the blink of an eye. They didn't feel tired at all and just wanted to dig more.