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

As for the Abyss Bone Demon and the Abyss Scorpion, they were merely creatures spawned by this network.

Upon realizing this, Chen Hao immediately shared his thoughts.

After thinking about it, Ou Yun said, "Not necessarily."

"Could this be just one of them?"

For example, this faction belongs to the Abyss faction.

The two large birds, one electric and one ice, obviously did not originate from this kind of energy.

Black Hawk himself has stated that he has a family and didn't just spring up out of nowhere.

However, this is indeed a piece of information that warrants attention.

"Could the lord of that forest also be of the abyss element?"

Chen Hao paused, his pen poised. "Very likely. If this abyssal energy network truly exists, the only beings capable of controlling such a vast network would likely be at the lord level..."

Speaking of lords, Ou Yun subconsciously touched the awesome sword at his waist.

Take your time.

Ou Yun was very optimistic, "Anyway, we now have furnaces, abyssal crystals, and all kinds of high-grade ores."

As long as we upgrade our equipment and reconnect with our allies, we don't care if you're a lord or not, just accept our righteous gang beating!

Chen Hao knew what his elder brother was thinking, and he said helplessly, "Brother, we may not be alone, but the lord certainly can't be just one person."

"That depends on how many we have."

Ou Yun chuckled and began listing the names like a menu: "Hyena Clan, Pangolin Clan, Storm Black Hawk, Frost Giant Roc, plus the nine of us, Nanbei and Green Bean—if we all come out together, I really don't believe we can't defeat a lord."

Chen Hao thought about that scene.

A massive horde of mutated beasts and humans, armed with all sorts of weapons, charged headlong into the lord's lair.

"..."

He was momentarily speechless.

Will it win?

We'll win!

The chat in the Dragon Kingdom's live stream room was filled with comments like: ...

"Hilarious! Mr. Ou is turning this forbidden area into a Pokémon game!"

"What if these seven major sects besieged Bright Peak?"

"If you can't beat them, call for backup. Isn't that basic fighting tactic? No problem!"

*

As it turns out, Cold's decision was correct.

Exploring familiar territory and deploying Chen Hao, a technical soldier, was clearly the right decision imaginable.

The two wandered around in the forest and, sure enough, discovered many more good things.

In fact, this area has far more types of mutated plants than the opposite bank of the river.

For example, there's this big tree in front of us with its trunk covered in barbs, and sticky white sap hanging from the barbs.

Chen Hao didn't even need to test it; Ou Yun touched it and found that the juice was a natural glue with extremely high viscosity.

"Can this be used to repair a house?"

Chen Hao looked on with great excitement, happily collecting a lot of mineral water bottles.

"This adhesive is much stronger than clay mortar when used to bond stone bricks! Plus, it doesn't absorb water after drying, making it much more moisture-proof!"

Ou Yun said yes.

"Hey Chen, my hands are stuck together, is there any way to get them off...?"

"..."

For example, there was another giant mushroom with a cap diameter of at least one meter.

The mushroom is pure white, with a layer of fine fuzz covering its surface.

I tore off a small piece from the European-style pizza, and it even stretched like a pizza cheese!

"Could it be a poisonous mushroom?"

"Brother, you should try it."

"oh."

Ou Yun naturally put it in his mouth.

"How does it taste?"

"It tastes like...meat?"

"Meat???"

Chen Hao didn't understand, but he tore off a piece and tasted it too.

It definitely tastes like meat—and it's very chewy.

It tastes like dead meat...

Ou Yun spat it out.

"Never mind... I'll take it back and study it."

Then it was ruthlessly stuffed into a spatial ring.

"Is that enough?"

Ou Yun looked at the sky and said, "It will get dark if we go any further, and we'll have to take a raft back."

"Shall we go a little further? Let's speed things up."

Chen Hao flipped through his notebook. "The map shows that about a kilometer further into this forest, there is a naturally formed cave."

Hassan and his companions had seen it from afar on the other side of the river and said there were obvious energy fluctuations around the cave—maybe it was some kind of mineral vein?

"A cave...it feels like some kind of mineral vein."

"Wouldn't that be better?"

Without delay, the two quickened their pace and hurried toward the cave.

The entrance to the cave was still in a canyon—a type of canyon Ou Yun had seen many times before, and he smiled the moment he saw this familiar landscape.

"Looks like it's from the Abyss again."

Chen Hao followed behind, peeking out curiously. "How did you know?"

"I guessed."

"..."

However, the entrance to the cave was well hidden, behind a dense thicket of ferns.

If Hassan hadn't marked it so clearly on the map, the two of them wouldn't have noticed it even if they had passed by.

Ou Yun drew his sword and unleashed a devastating strike through the fern leaves, carving out a hole half a person's height.

Sure enough, once the plants that had been covering it were cleared away, the true appearance of the cave entrance was revealed.

Familiar dark purple patterns covered the edges of the cave entrance, exactly the same as the abyssal energy remnants that Captain Leng had seen in the circular valley before.

The patterns here are denser, and the purple light is brighter.

"We've really stirred up a hornet's nest."

When Ou Yun reached out and touched it, it was indeed icy cold.

Chen Hao took a flashlight from his waist and shone it into the cave.

To their surprise, the hole wasn't deep, only about ten meters deep.

The cave walls were covered with purple crystals of all sizes, some as small as a fingernail and others as big as a fist.

At the deepest part of the cave, there is a crystal pillar that is half a meter high.

It is deep purple all over, with flowing light inside.

It looked the same as the one they had found near the hyena queen's territory, but it was also different.

"Oh my god..."

Ou Yun leaned closer and carefully examined the area from all angles.

"This thing looks way more high-end!"

"Yes, the level of completeness is simply incomparable..."

Chen Hao responded excitedly, picked up his pen, and quickly scribbled something in his notebook. "Big brother, can we take this back?"

"Um……"

We definitely want to get it back.

They were too embarrassed to take it last time they went to the hyena queen's territory, but now that it's wild, they have no reason to let it go!

Ou Yun circled the crystal pillar once, "Moving the whole thing probably won't work..."

This thing freezes your hands!

"Then put it in my spatial ring..."

As Chen Hao spoke, both of them subconsciously looked towards the base of the pillar.

Now that both of them are incredibly powerful, if they pull together, they can definitely pull it off.

However, this thing is stuck tightly to the ground; if you try to pull it out by force...

I wonder if something terrible will happen.