Dawn Spider

Chapter 188 Picking up the leaks
Its golden forelegs and chelicerae danced in afterimages, weaving an IOU at top speed, controlling the floating Echurn King.

"The King of Curcuma zedoaria, the usual rules."

Seeing that the Esophagus King was showing signs of going out of control, Jin added, "I collect treasure chests mainly to use with my equipment for processing God-given Force food. I'm not picky about the chests; chests containing ordinary Force food also count. I just need to collect 20."

Upon hearing this,
The turmeric insect king felt much better instantly.

The treasure chests containing divinely bestowed food are few in number, made of high-grade materials, and exquisitely crafted, possessing both practical and collectible value.

The boxes used to hold ordinary Force-elemental food were clearly a much lower grade—the materials were inferior, the workmanship was worse, and they lacked any exquisite patterns or decorations. Crucially, there were many of them; asking or exchanging 20 with one of your soldiers wouldn't be difficult.

The King of Curcuma Insects carefully examined the IOU and readily imprinted it with his spiritual power.

"You stingy purple-haired guy, hurry up and tell me."

"..."

Jin packed his things, briefly gathered his thoughts, and said, "Regarding the first question, I remember telling you that within the vast area centered on the Fog Sea, there cannot possibly be a second place for processing Force-based food among all the ruins. Including Ruins No. 1002, absolutely not!"

"The reason is simple: these ruins belong to the same force, a huge alien force, whose core location is in the 'Mist Sea Ruins'. Or rather, the 'Mist Sea Ruins' is the power center of this force."

"How large is the Primal Force food processing facility at the Saluo Twin Ruins? How much Primal Force food can it process?"

"However, how much Force food does a single faction produce each year?"

"The processing base at the Cyathea Mountain ruins is fully capable of processing all the Force-based food for the entire faction. Therefore, there will not be a second similar place."

"..."

The King of Eshu Insects pondered for a moment, then gently tapped its antennae and said seriously, "That's the same analysis I made, but the two stupid insects, the King of Sumeru Insects and the King of Shizi Insects, don't believe it and are unwilling to accept it. They are convinced that there must be another place like the Cyathea Mountain Ruins, a place for processing primal force food, inside Ruins No. 1002."

"Uh……"

"It must have been tough for the King of the Curcuma Insects."

Jin offered a word of comfort.

"Ugh--"

The King of the Eshu Insects sighed deeply and asked, "Jin, do you think there are any places worth excavating within Ruins No. 1002? Or, what is the quickest way to find such places?"

Jin said, "I certainly don't know if there are any important places worth excavating within Ruins 1002. Even assuming such places exist, I don't have a good, quick way to find them..."

"Based on my observations and deductions, the roads built by the alien civilization are like the spider webs we spiders weave, crisscrossing and connecting in all directions. Especially in large settlements, the roads are even denser and more complex. However, these roads are clearly distinguished by their importance; the wider the road, the more important it is, and the more character information it contains."

"My only suggestion is to explore along the main roads. At those major intersections, important places are usually marked. Remember these signs, and then search along the way, checking them one by one."

"It's a time-consuming and laborious, clumsy method, but I can't think of a better one."

After Jin finished speaking, he observed the reaction of the Curcuma zedoaria king. Clearly, it was very dissatisfied with the answer.

Jin hesitated for two seconds, then added, "There's another guess: the alien civilization centered around the 'Mist Sea Ruins' is clearly close to water, to clouds and the sea. If there's a place where Force warriors live in Ruins 1002, then it's most likely near the sea..."

"Based on this conjecture, we also need to consider: when an alien civilization ruled this planet, where were the oceans and where were the lands?"

"Why were alien civilizations buried deep underground? Was it due to geological changes over long periods of time? Or was it some divine force beyond our comprehension that drove them into the depths of the earth? For example, a true god of nature unleashing divine power..."

Has the geography of our planet been altered as a result? Were the islands we see today once islands? Were the oceans we see today once oceans?

Jin stopped there, concluding, "King of the Eshu Insects, don't have too high hopes; the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment."

"Hmph! It's not my place for a high-level spider to lecture me!"

The King of the Curcuma Insects, annoyed, rebuked him, pondered Jin's analysis, and found it increasingly reasonable. Overjoyed, he praised:
"Purple Hair is clever; there are some things I really haven't thought of. Your answers to the two questions are vague and unsatisfactory to the insect, but they have some reference value, so I won't make things difficult for you."

"That's all, I'm leaving now!"

"..."

The two excavation teams led by the Sumeru Insect King and the Stone Insect King have merged and are now working together to excavate Ruins No. 1002. The Curcuma Insect King, having found an opportunity to slip away, hastily bid farewell and left after his mind was filled with various useful analyses.

...

...

"Mr. Jin, did you suffer a loss?"

Hanging upside down on the rock wall, Da Feng, who was guarding the entrance of the cave, watched the Eshu Insect King disappear. He asked with regret and some confusion, "I think 100 Primal Crystals would be more worthwhile, right?"

"Didn't you hear it say? The original crystals are all gone."

Jin said, "Besides, we might not find anything good at Ruins 1002. We can't afford to lose too much. It's better to take it slow and steady. If we lose everything at once, the team will fall apart, and we won't be able to continue." "Oh..."

Da Feng asked, "Boss Jin, you're so capable, I think you could totally form your own team and dig it up yourself."

"The risk is too high; we can't afford to lose. Besides, we can't find a trailblazer with super-strong remote sensing capabilities like the Eshu Insect King and the Shizi Insect King..."

Jin Xin's mind raced, his spider eyes gleaming, and he said, "Aren't the teams led by the Sumeru Insect King and the Stone Insect King now at Ruins No. 1002? We can take a look around the places they excavated before, and maybe we can find some bargains!"

"Finding a bargain?"

"Hurry up! Quickly check along their digging tracks. See if there are any signposts pointing to important ruins that they've overlooked. If there are, we can organize a team to dig them up!"

"I understand! Mr. Jin is extremely intelligent!"

The wind, full of vigor, flapped its wings and hovered in the air, saying, "Boss Jin, this way!"

...

...

Both the comb-horned longhorn beetle and the giant venomous beetle are Zerg creatures with unique talents and abilities.

The comb-horned longhorn beetle warriors have exaggerated antennae that resemble deer antlers and antennas, giving them an extraordinary ability to sense underground rock layers.

Similar principle,

The Great Poison Armor Warrior has four horns on its head. Two of them point forward at a 30-degree angle, primarily for combat. The other two point vertically upward at a 90-degree angle, with their tips slightly curved forward, the curved parts covered in fine hairs. These two horns are its most unique sensory organs, specifically designed to detect metallic substances.

Therefore,
The excavation team organized by the Curcuma zedoaria king and his group, relying on their superhuman perception, conducted vertical exploration along the highway.

Every two or three kilometers, a vertical shaft four or five hundred meters deep is dug. The King of Ezhu Insects, the King of Shizi Insects, or the King of Sumeru Insects go down to sense the area and know the approximate location deep inside.

Check if you have deviated from the road.

Scan the road for large areas of metal; if so, they are most likely road signs.

If they find a road sign, they will continue digging, exploring deeper, and using their metal abilities to restore the road sign...

Jin and Dafeng followed the exploration shafts they had dug, searching along the way for the deep-dug caves and examining the restored road signs that had been placed on the road.

The team led by the Stone Insect King was unlucky; in the year and nine months it explored the roads, it indeed found nothing.

Next, we proceeded to the path that the Sumeru Insect King's team had explored...

North of Ruins 2002, at the intersection of the highway and a side road leading west...

A badly damaged metal sign lay on the road, bearing a blurry character that looked somewhat like the word "工" (gong).

There's another half-character that looks very much like the character 【业】.

--industry?
Jin's heart skipped a beat.

"A certain industrial college?"

"Can't the home planet have industrial bases or industrial parks?"

The Sumeru Insect King and his companions didn't pay much attention to this side passage. They simply dug a vertical tunnel down, excavated a small area, restored the damaged metal plaque, and left without figuring out anything of note.

"There might be a chance!"

Jin was overjoyed and quickly climbed out of the well.

The strong winds that were guarding the top immediately came up.

"Mr. Jin, how is it?"

"I've made a discovery! Worth a try!"

"Mr. Jin? Are you sure you've found something?"

"Nonsense! We can find more warriors with earth-type talents to dig together."

"Mr. Jin, there's no need for that. Termites are just as good at digging and transporting soil! We can just find a few earth and water elemental warriors to help us out."

"Hmm...that makes sense!"

Jin Siwei quickly came up with an idea and said, "Let's not rush this matter. After the transaction is finished, let's go back to the termite kingdom and discuss it with the Secret Order Ant King."

(End of this chapter)