Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

Although the pangolin king had escaped the effects of the powder, it had made a decision before it did—

As the king, he should set an example and absolutely not be the kind of scumbag who starts something and then abandons it.

Since I, the Great King, have announced in front of all my subordinates that my little darling is the future Queen Consort—then she must be!

However, it also noticed that the big white cat didn't seem to accept it very well.

It's okay, take your time.

The pangolin king bowed solemnly to the north and south branches in the tree, then used its tail to push off the ground, its massive body turning around with astonishing agility—

After casually displaying his smooth muscle lines and gleaming scales, Chao disappeared into the cave at the edge of the cliff.

Before leaving, he let out a low growl.

It roughly means: I will come to find you.

Nanbei's hair stood on end again.

"Meow!"

I am!

Although I'm used to it, being suddenly hit with this direct approach is still a bit disgusting!

Ou Yun patted Nanbei's head reassuringly, "It's alright, it's alright, we're here. Do you think the pangolin would really take you away?"

Leng Ruolan also came over and scratched Nanbei's chin, "Look how much it likes you, it even gave you a mine. Throughout thousands of years of history, how many people have used a mine as a dowry?"

"..."

Do I even care?

I am the king of the mountain!

This king owns several mountains!

"But then again..."

As Ou Yun slowly climbed down, he said, "Captain Leng, you're not young anymore, have you considered—"

"Thump!"

With a muffled thud, Ou Yun flew straight off the tree and landed precisely on the pile of ore.

The ore pile is very hard.

Ou Yun's back hurts a lot.

"Why did you resort to violence without warning?!"

"Because you meddle in other people's business without a second thought."

"I call this caring about my subordinates' personal issues!"

"No, thank you. Mind your own business."

"Why……"

No wonder she can't get married!

Ou Yun rubbed his back as he climbed up from the pile of ore, chirping a few more times before suddenly realizing that the ore under his hands felt strange.

He immediately looked down.

The surface of the ore he was pressing down on was faintly tinged with a layer of pale gold patterns—very similar to the patterns they had seen on the Abyss Bone Demon's Bone Armor!

"Captain Leng! Look at this!"

Ou Yun immediately grabbed the ore and jumped up.

Leng Ruolan glanced at it twice, her face showing little emotion. "Oh, that's pretty impressive, that stone."

Having witnessed countless ups and downs with Ouyun, all I see now is this broken rock, nothing special to look at.

Ou Yun could also see that the stone was different from others, but he couldn't figure it out for a moment, so he just happily put it in his bag.

"Captain Leng, Brother Chen will probably be ecstatic when he sees this."

"Hmm, he can probably write another fifty pages in his little notebook."

The two quickly counted the amount of ore.

Although we now know that there are mineral veins underground in the camp, we can't waste these ready-made mines; we should take as much as we can.

Nanbei was in charge of guarding the area. Although it kept breathing in the direction where the Pangolin King disappeared, its vigilance and anger levels were at their maximum, so it did play its role.

After the Pangolin King went down, several smaller pangolins came up, seemingly there to help move the ore.

They moved swiftly, quickly packing up the ore and hoisting it onto their heads, looking ready to set off at any moment.

Seeing this, Ou Yun couldn't help but feel even more fond of this pangolin that had become a spirit.

"This pangolin is really nice, isn't it? We should keep in touch more often."

Leng Ruolan said that's true, "They've already given us the mines, so we're bound to have more dealings with them."

*

On the way back to camp, Leng Ruolan suddenly thought of a question.

"By the way, brother, how much of that bag of powder do you have left?"

"It's more than half a bag, only a little spilled. What happened?"

Leng Ruolan gave an "oh," her eyes holding a meaningful look.

"Keep it; you might need it later."

Ou Yun paused for a second, then gave a wicked smile.

"Captain Leng, your thinking is dangerous."

"I learned it from you."

Nanbei walked at the front, and his ears twitched.

It made up its mind in secret.

From now on, whenever the boss opens a golden supply crate, it will definitely stay far away first.

This time it's the Pangolin King, who knows what it will be next...

Its young heart couldn't withstand a second blow.

However, they hadn't gone very far.

It looked back at the cliff again.

The pangolin king's eyes, it still remembers.

Although the sticky feeling made it uncomfortable, there was no malice in those eyes.

Forget it, I don't want to.

*

It was still early when we got back to camp.

Chen Hao was squatting at the camp entrance teaching Farhan and Haishan how to mix adhesive with wild fruit juice when he saw the two return looking travel-worn. He immediately stood up with great joy.

Leng Ruolan and the Xiong Guo people immediately began unloading the ore.

Ou Yun then gave Chen Hao a detailed account of what had happened at the mine.

Detailed section: Pink memories of the North and South.

The omitted part: the power to acquire the mine!

"..."

Chen Hao listened for so long that he didn't know how many times he had to adjust his glasses. Finally, he simply took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and face, let out a long sigh, and opened "Tales of Forbidden Lands".

I turned to a new page, wrote a few words, and then stopped.

He wrote a few more words, then stopped writing.

Finally, he put down his pen and took a deep breath.

Tales of the Strange?

No.

Let's change it to "The Complete Collection of Outrageous Incidents in Forbidden Zones"!

Farhan and Haishen listened to the whole thing from the side, their expressions shifting back and forth between "This is fucking a joke" and "But these people never joke about this kind of thing."

Finally, the two looked at each other and smiled.

Actually, we had no other options.

Don't overthink things about people from China; overthinking will make you go bald.

*

Now that the iron ore issue has been settled, it's time to put new plans on the agenda.

That night, the bonfire burned exceptionally brightly.

Crafting farm tools, reinforcing camp defenses, and even considering trying to smelt some simple metal components—but that depends on when the Abyss Forge will be operational.

Over here, Ou Yun and Leng Ruolan sat on the stone bricks of the new camp square, chatting casually.

Nanbei lay beside Ouyun, looking preoccupied, its tail swishing idly.

Green Bean had somehow snuggled up to Nanbei's belly, occasionally letting out a soft, contented meow.

But contrary to its usual behavior, North and South completely ignored it, leaving Green Bean puzzled.

Ou Yun was thinking about the Abyss Furnace. "We spent ages discussing this with six people from Pakistan and Russia. What was the final conclusion?"

"The conclusion is that we need to figure out what exactly is drawn on this blueprint first."

Leng Ruolan yawned.

Anyway, there have been so many outrageous things happening lately, one or two more won't make a difference. There's no point in worrying, just let things take their course.