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

Ou Yun and Leng Ruolan exchanged a glance.

Despite the communication difficulties, the hyena queen's warning cries were still audible.

Combined with the information they have obtained so far—the ring-shaped valley where abyssal energy remains, and the abyssal vein discovered by the Pangolin King.

All the clues point to that place.

Ou Yun looked at Leng Ruolan and said, "It seems we can't avoid this circular valley."

Leng Ruolan nodded.

Now that we've received the information, there's no need to linger.

The two bid farewell to the hyena queen and the white fox, and left the still desolate and cold territory.

Dazhuang and Scarface even escorted them a long way.

Dazhuang circled around Ou several times, barking incessantly.

"Alright, let's go back."

Ou Yun waved to the two hyenas, "Come again next time, I'll bring you some barbecue."

Da Zhuang and Scarface then stopped and stood at the edge of their territory, watching the two figures disappear into the distance.

The setting sun cast long shadows of the two people.

Leng Ruolan walked ahead, her steps light and steady.

Ou Yun followed behind—suddenly remembering something, he took out a communication stone from his spatial ring.

Ou Yun pressed a button on the sound transmission stone.

"drop--"

The sound of a phone being dialed.

"Beep—beep—"

The sound of dialing.

"Feed—"

The sound of Chen Hao answering the call.

I subconsciously treated the communication stone like a telephone, and the first thing I heard was "feed".

"Feed—"

Of course, Ou Yun also subconsciously called out "hello"—

Chen Hao on the other end of the line paused noticeably.

—Am I making a phone call?

Forget it, there's no point in mourning.

"Big brother? What's wrong?"

"cough……"

Ou Yun snapped out of his daze and cleared his throat amidst Leng Ruolan's suppressed laughter.

"We just came from the Hyena Queen's territory. The white fox is doing really well these days..."

Ou Yun originally wanted to say something else first—but then felt it was unnecessary, since he wasn't there for idle chatter.

"By the way, do you remember that circular valley marked on the map before? This pangolin boss also confirmed it; the location of that abyss vein is very close to the one marked before."

"The hyena queen also indicated that there might be danger there, and we plan to go check it out tomorrow."

"Oh……"

Chen Hao hadn't used the phone like this in a long time and was still processing the information in Ou Yun's words.

The white fox followed the hyena queen... Yes, I heard my older brother mention this before.

Abyss mineral vein? I can't believe this is real—wait, is there danger nearby?

Should we still go check if there's danger?

"Brothers, you don't have many weapons on you, do you?"

"There's quite a lot, don't worry about it."

Ou Yun patted his chest and guaranteed it.

Leng Ruolan, standing beside her, remained calm, thinking to herself that it was true. If all else failed, she would just throw her older brother over as a secret weapon—regardless of whether it was dangerous or not, she would just hedge the risk for him.

Ou Yun held the communication stone, and Chen Hao's tone on the other end seemed a little calmer: "Okay, be careful. Contact us anytime if you need anything."

"Okay. How are Mung Bean and the cow?"

"It's going well. Green Bean and the cow are getting along really well lately, and the cow has even started eating the grass Green Bean finds for it..."

"That guy's actually started eating grass???"

"Yeah, I don't know where they got the mung beans from. I haven't seen any around here, and they don't taste very good either."

"Oh……"

Ou Yun felt something was off, but didn't think much of it at the moment. After all, that's how the forbidden area is; they can do whatever they want, while the players have to consider many things—

"That's good. Contact us anytime if anything happens at the camp."

"clear."

The light from the sound transmission stone went out.

*

the next day.

The two got up early, ate something, and then checked their equipment again.

Ou Yun emptied all the weapons from his spatial ring and tried them out one by one with Leng Ruolan.

"Take this electrified dagger."

Ou Yun handed Leng Ruolan a dagger that crackled with electricity, saying, "It will paralyze you if you touch it, making it suitable for you to initiate the fight."

Then he pulled out three arm shields, put two on himself, and handed one to Leng Ruolan: "You should wear this too, in case we encounter an attack and we need you to break through."

Leng Ruolan nodded, took the arm shield without saying anything, and easily put it on her forearm.

This arm shield is lightweight and flexible, barely affecting movement when worn, yet its protective capabilities are in no way inferior to heavy shields.

"That's about it."

Leng Ruolan checked the ammunition one last time. "Let's go."

The location of the circular valley is farther than I imagined.

According to the distance marked on Hassan's map, it would take about four hours to get from the camp by off-road vehicle, but it would probably take a day and a half to walk.

Moreover, because the circular valley is located between cliffs, it is probably impossible to ride north or south, and the latter half of the journey can only be done on foot.

"Let's walk then."

Leng Ruolan spoke while looking at the map.

"It's a good opportunity to take a closer look at the surrounding terrain along the way."

They didn't just go to the circular valley; they also explored the places they passed by, hoping to make some unexpected discoveries.

Ou Yun said so too.

They haven't officially gone on a long-distance hunting trip for a while, so they're taking this opportunity to travel and see more of the world, which will be helpful for their future actions.

So the two set off from the border of the Hyena Queen's territory and continued along the northeastern ridge.

The terrain along the way changes a lot.

At first, you can still see sparse trees and bushes, but after walking for about an hour, the vegetation begins to decrease significantly.

More and more rocks are exposed on the ground, and the sound of footsteps is particularly crisp when walking on them.

The distinctive smell after a thunderstorm gradually faded, and a faint burnt smell quietly emerged.

"This taste..."

Ou Yun sniffed. "It smells a bit like the one before the Abyss Bone Demon appeared."

"Yes, but it's much lighter."

Leng Ruolan gripped the dagger in her hand, slowed her pace slightly, and became noticeably more vigilant.

"Maybe it's another member of that guy's clan, or some other thing of the same level."

After walking for another two hours, the color of the rocks underfoot began to change.

It gradually transformed from the most ordinary and unremarkable grayish-brown rock into a rock stratum with dark purple veins.

Ou Yun squatted down and examined the patterns carefully, then touched them with his hand; they were even a little warm.

"It feels like it's somewhere around here..."

Leng Ruolan watched as Ou Yun touched the glowing rocks as if they were new toys, and sighed.

"Brother, why don't you open a supply crate sooner rather than later, so you don't get interrupted during your preparation?"

"What do you mean by interrupting? Don't you know that the pre-cast animation is invincible?"

"Aren't you afraid this monster won't play by the rules?"

"Forget about routines and tricks, the real routine is not using any routines at all!"

"...?"

Forget it.

Leng Ruolan thought to herself, if a hidden boss is really triggered, then she will have to rely on herself to stall until her brother gets his god-tier gear.