Dawn Spider

Chapter 196 Tianyuan Lake Industrial College (Part Two)
"Jin, there's a building over there! It's very well preserved."

"in spite of."

"Mr. Jin, there's a building over there with an extremely high metal content!"

"Remember the location, come back later."

"..."

The tunnel winds its way forward along the highway.

The buildings that occasionally appear on both sides of the road are low and exquisite; they are clearly villas purchased off-campus by wealthy students within the academy.

The Zerg warriors who were digging noticed that these buildings were different from the ordinary buildings in ordinary settlements, and their emotions became excited and agitated.

Apart from necessary eating and rest to restore energy, no other rest is taken.

After three more days and nights without rest,

At the forefront of the tunnel, the Blood Fruit Lord suddenly exclaimed in a low voice, his mental energy surging, "We've dug it up! We've dug it up! It's right ahead! The kind of stone marker that Boss Jin mentioned! I also sensed a lot of metal."

Lord Jin Nan's mental energy echoed, "I sensed it too, it's all metal! A level 0 ruin entirely made of metal!"

—Have you struck it rich?

The insects cheered.

The ant colony stirred.

Jin was also pleasantly surprised, but also secretly relieved. After making such a big fuss and digging for more than three months, his biggest worry was that he would make a wrong judgment and then he would have a hard time explaining himself.

Fortunately, as long as we find a level 0 relic, it's acceptable regardless of whether we gain anything or not.

Jin was pleased for a while, then directed the team to appropriately widen the tunnel and continue digging forward.

They quickly dug up the college gate, where a stone gate was cleared out, inscribed with the words: [Tianyuan Lake Industrial College]

It’s indeed this name!
Continue digging inside the school.
The spacious cast-iron plaza is where Force warriors rest and train; we can ignore it.

Lord Jin Nan sensed the danger and directed the excavation of a 3-meter-diameter tunnel, heading directly towards the nearest metal building.

Dormitory area.

Let's leave that aside for now.

Continuing our exploration, we passed the teaching building, the virtual universe equipment building, the auditorium, the cafeteria...

On the roof of the teaching building, twenty-nine corpses clad in armor were found.

One of the Force armors was preserved intact.

The chest bears the cloud pattern emblem of the Mist Republic, with a seven-pointed star below the cloud pattern, representing its evolutionary level as the Star Realm.

According to Lord Jin Nan's intuition, there are still a large number of such remains in the metal-cast training grounds.

Jin speculated that something happened suddenly, and realizing the crisis, which seemed to have come from the sky, everyone ran out fully armed and to open spaces such as rooftops and plazas to observe...

What exactly happened is impossible to guess, and it's no longer important.

These training grounds, specifically for Force warriors, are not very large. They typically have a few hundred people, including both teachers and students, and at most, no more than a thousand Force warriors. The higher the level of the training ground, the fewer people there are.

The insects quickly found the logistics department building.

The building doors were tightly closed, but the interior was clean when opened.

After searching high and low, they quickly found the underground 'treasure trove,' an open warehouse containing various types of armor and weapons. This was the academy's armory.

There is another, even more robust 'treasure trove,' which is actually the academy's 'vault' for storing cultivation resources. It was constructed using '205 tungsten-tantalum alloy.' The most prominent features of this material are its high strength, stable primal energy properties, and its ability to isolate all mental energy and sensory detection, blocking the flow of primal force. It is a level-two primal energy metal, and even after an unknown period of time, it still retains primal force properties.

The 'treasure vault' was locked tight; the intelligent recognition system must have been completely broken long ago, so the only option was to break down the door by force.

Lord Jin Nan stepped forward to try, but after a few attempts, he gave up.

"I can't do it, I'm not strong enough, I can't open it. How about I go and ask the King of the Eshu Insects for help?"

"Why would you need it? Aren't you just asking for trouble?"

"If we bring it over, we're bound to get ripped off, right?"

"We definitely can't invite the King of Curcuma worms over."

"Wait a minute. What if this treasure vault also contains a calamity-level corpse like the one from the Cyathea Mountain ruins last time?"

"Should we invite the Sumeru Insect King over as well?"

"Isn't that just courting death?"

"..."

Who would hide in a vault for no reason? Jin believes it's unlikely that the remains of a 'calamity-level' human powerhouse are hidden behind the door.

The primal alloy used to forge the vault has fallen to approximately level zero. Even at level zero, a lord-level warrior cannot budge it in the slightest, let alone a typical insect king.

We need a powerful insect king to help open the door.

Jin had witnessed before that the King of Curcuma worms could forcefully break down doors.

Besides the Curcuma Insect King, there is another option: the Ancient Hook Spider King of the Flame Spider Kingdom, an 8th-instar peak insect king whose fire power can probably burn through walls.

Who should I ask?

No matter who you hire, you have to pay a price.

The Ancient Hook Spider King is of the same kind, so it should be sought out first. However, once the price is paid, it's gone forever.

The king of turmeric insects is different; there are many ways to retrieve it.

Moreover, Jin also had some ideas about the metal materials used in the ruins...

Lord Bai Cang urged, "Jin, you are the leader of our excavation team, say something?"

The Blood Fruit Lord then asked, "What should we do if we don't have the strength to open this treasure vault?"

Jin pondered for a moment, then said, "I'm certain that the treasure vault doesn't contain any calamities like the Cyathea Mountain ruins. We just need to invite the Eshu Insect King over..."

Lord Bai Cang said unhappily, "Jin, why are you still paying attention to that stupid old insect king?"

Lord Tuanhua, who rarely voiced his opinions, asked worriedly, "Won't this cause trouble? That three-headed old insect king doesn't have a good reputation."

Blood Fruit Lord: "..."

Lord Jin Nan: "..."

The Purple Wind Mountain Master raised his paw in a gesture, weakly saying, "The Stone Insect King certainly won't cause us any trouble..."

Lord Bai Cang said, "The King of the Eshu Insects is the most despicable! He will definitely take this opportunity to extort money!"

"I'm still here!"

Lord Jin Nan asked with displeasure, "Bai Cang, do you have a problem with me?"

"Quiet! Quiet!"

Jin Anpai said, "Lord Jin Nan, you and Da Feng go to Ruins No. 1002 and ask the Eshu Insect King for help. I'll discuss the reward with it."

"Other insects, search the ruins for valuable items and pile them up in the third-floor hall."

"Row!"

"it is good!"

"Hurry up and move your claws."

"..." The insects began to busy themselves.

Two days later, all the buildings, including the corpses on the cast iron training ground, were ransacked. Various well-preserved armors and weapons, various equipment fragments, daily necessities for cultivation, as well as a raw crystal storage box and three gene agent storage boxes were cleared out and piled up in the conference hall on the third floor of the logistics department.

Please wait one day.
Lord Jin Nan arrived with the King of the Curcuma Insects.

"I told you, if we dug along that path, we might find some ruins, but those two idiots, Shi Zi and Xu Mi, wouldn't believe me. Look what happened! They lost out big time, the little spider got the better deal, and there's a whole bunch of other insects waiting to laugh at them..."

From a distance, the King of Curcuma Insects swept his spiritual energy across the area, and while rushing on his way, he kept muttering his frustrations and complaints.

More precisely, it's an explanation that the problem with this mistake wasn't theirs, but entirely the fault of Shi Zi and Xu Mi...

"..."

The insects chuckled inwardly, but none of them responded.

The King of Curcuma Insects headed straight for the underground 'treasure vault,' glanced at it briefly, and asked in a sarcastic tone, "You stingy purple-haired fellow, aren't you so capable? What do you want with me?"

Jin calmly said, "Actually, we can also ask other insect kings for help."

"Humph!"

The King of the Eshu Insects questioned, "Are you sure there won't be a calamity like the Cyathea Mountain Ruins behind this?"

Jin replied, "Absolutely, certainly, and without a doubt."

So far, Jin's various assessments regarding the ruins have not been wrong.

"Don't get so close, everyone stay away."

"This metal is hard but not tough, so it's easy to break. Be careful, you might break to death."

The King of Curcuma Worms shook its antennae vigorously to drive them away, its metallic energy surging like a tsunami, converging towards the horns, ready to attack the gate.

Jin hurriedly called a halt.

"Hold on!"

"what happened?"

"How about we settle the fees first?"

"Oh! Right! There's a charge!"

The King of Eshu Insects' eyes darted around, and it made an outrageous offer: "200 Origin Crystals!"

"..."

Jin glanced at him coldly and said in a low voice, "Then I might as well ask the Ancient Hook Spider King to come and help."

The King of Curcuma Insects changed his mind and said, "150 Original Crystals!"

Jin turned around and said, "Purple Night King, go and inform Great Wind to make a trip to Red Firefly Island, please..."

The King of Curcuma Insects hurriedly said, "100 Primal Crystals! That's the lowest I can go!"

Jin said, "50 Primal Crystals! That's the highest I can go."

"Row."

The King of Curcuma Insects, too lazy to argue, agreed without hesitation, raised his claw, and carved four characters into the ground with the tip of his toe:
[Academy]

【Hospital】

The King of the Curcuma Insects pointed at the word 'hospital' and said, "You stingy purple-haired guy, let's discuss what these characters mean. If you analyze them well, we'll waive the 50 primal crystals."

"..."

These guys really did confuse the hospital with the college.

Jin Ning choked, pondered for a moment, then raised her paw and pointed to the word 'Academy', saying, "Those with these characters are most likely to lead to Level 0 ruins."

Jin pointed to the word 'hospital' and said, "But this is clearly not a level 0 relic. Although the two characters are very similar, a single character difference can lead to completely different results."

"Isn't it a level 0 ruin?"

The Eshu Insect King asked, "What could that be? A settlement of other types of alien Force warriors?"

Jin replied vaguely, "Never seen it before. Don't know. Not sure. I can only tell you for sure that it's not the type of level 0 ruins you're standing on."

"Um--"

"I think I understand."

The King of Curcuma Insects asked, "Purple Hair, do you think it's necessary to dig over and take a look?"

Jin pointed to the word 'hospital' and asked, "King of Eshu Insects, are you digging in this place?"

The King of Curcuma Insects truthfully replied, "It has just begun."

gold:"……"

Jin said, "Let's dig it up and see. I'm also very curious about what it is."

"Okay. I'll tell you for free later."

The King of Curcuma Insects didn't hesitate much, vigorously waving its antennae to scare them away, shouting, "Get away! Get away! I'm about to unleash my power. Be careful, or the fragments will kill you all!"

The insects acted swiftly, hiding in the open warehouse next door, and using their mental energy to scan and observe the situation.

The King of the Curcuma Insects gathered its metallic energy into its horns, charged forward, and slammed into the treasure vault gate.

With a deafening roar, metallic energy surged through the underground space like a tsunami, causing the all-metal building to tremble and sending metal fragments flying, which struck the surrounding walls with a clattering sound.

The blow smashed open two large holes, each over ten centimeters wide, in the treasure vault's door.

The King of Curcuma worms pulled out its horns, gathered its strength, and rammed into the ground again, with another deafening roar...

It lasted only a dozen seconds.

It bumped into me more than ten times.
The door to the 'treasure vault' was smashed open, leaving a hole.

Inside the vault, two rows of metal cabinets lined the wall. Behind the vault, three large rows of raw crystal storage boxes were neatly stacked.

The King of Eshu Insects flashed into the warehouse, his thoughts racing, and wisps of metallic energy drifted by. With the clicking and clattering of metal components, the doors of the metal cabinets against the wall opened one after another.

The cabinet contained a gene-selective agent storage box, which floated up automatically.

"empty!"

"empty!"

"It's all empty!"

The King of Curcuma Insects swiftly inspected the area, then suddenly froze, its antennae swaying. Two metal boxes floated before it. Sensing them carefully, it whispered:
"In stock!"

"You little rascals are incredibly lucky!"

—Are they in stock?
--why?
Jin had repeatedly assured everyone that these kinds of ruins definitely didn't contain any Force-based food. The insects believed him, but none of them held out much hope.

—There are actually Force-powered foods left behind?

The insects exchanged glances, cheered with joy, and then picked up the gene-agent storage boxes around them, starting to try entering the password.

A click-clack sounded.

The lid of the divine gene agent storage box, which was suspended in front of the Curcuma worm king and was engraved with cloud patterns and bird and beast designs in silver and purple-red, popped open.

It's unlocked! The universal code to the Cyathea Mountain ruins!

(End of this chapter)