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

Marcus counted the number of coffee worms—twenty-three in total.

Then he started writing out the equation, muttering to himself. After about two minutes, he gave the answer.

"Two pots of sandworm blood coffee every day. The coffee grass seeds are enough for five days, but the sandworm blood needs to be replenished today."

"Where can we replenish the sandworm blood?" Alexander asked.

"Of course, we're going to catch sandworms."

Leng Ruolan stood up, drew her sword, and a smile curved her lips.

"Perfect timing, I also want these coffee worms to demonstrate how useful their detection capabilities are in actual combat."

"You mean—"

"Since they can detect abyssal energy from fifty meters away, we can pinpoint the sandworms' location before they discover us."

Leng Ruolan pointed the tip of her blade at the desert ahead, "The hunter becomes the prey; this is the right way to experience the desert."

At this moment, the coffee worms seemed to sense something as well, turning into a wary pale purple in unison, and all their straws pointed in the same direction—due west, thirty meters away, below the sand dune.

Douglas raised his scope and saw a ripple slowly moving across the surface of the dune.

The ripples were about two meters wide, much smaller than yesterday's behemoth, but still quite large.

"A medium-sized sandworm, about eight to ten meters long. It's about two meters deep. It's moving from west to east and is expected to pass under our feet in three minutes."

"Three minutes."

Leng Ruolan began assigning tasks, "Marcus, you take the Coffee Worm and retreat to a safe distance. Douglas, use your rifle to hold it off, shoot its head to make it surface. Alexander, use the hammer to smash its tail, don't let it burrow back in. Big brother—you stay with me."

"This time it's not bait?"

"This time you're the one reaping the rewards."

Leng Ruolan's short sword gleamed with a dark luster in the morning light. "Once I've fixed it to the sand, you can charge it with the Abyss Sword."

"receive!"

Three minutes will pass quickly.

When the sandworms swam to the feet of the expedition team, the sand surface suddenly bulged up, and their mouthparts opened from under the sand, their barbs gleaming coldly in the sunlight.

Leng Ruolan made the first move.

She was much faster than the sandworm's attack.

Before the mouthparts could close, she had already sidestepped to the side of the sandworm and plunged her twin blades into the junction of the sandworm's body and tail.

That's where the sandworm's muscles contract most frequently when it moves, and it's also its weakest point.

puff!

The sound of the blade piercing the sandworm was accompanied by its painful screech.

The sandworm thrashed about, trying to throw her off, but Leng Ruolan gripped the hilt of the knife tightly, fixing herself to the sandworm like a nail.

"Alexander! Now!"

Alexander swung his heavy hammer and smashed it down with all his might at the sandworm's tail that had swung onto the sand surface.

boom!

The hammer blow sank the sandworm's tail into the sand, creating a circular pit.

The sandworm's tail was injured, causing its entire body to arch, with most of its torso exposed above the sand surface.

"Douglas! Shoot it in the eye—"

"Its eyes are located inside its mouthparts, making them difficult to aim!"

"Then the tactile nerves on the edge of the mouthpiece! Those protruding black nodule-like growths!"

Douglas took a deep breath, held it, and pulled the trigger.

boom! boom! boom!

Three precise shots fired, and three black, tumor-like objects exploded one after another.

The sandworm convulsed violently in pain, its mouthparts snapping wildly in the air, completely losing its direction of attack.

"Big brother! Now's the time!"

Ouyun has circled around to directly below the sandworm's head.

He gripped the Abyss Sword with both hands, its tip aimed at the base of the sandworm's mouthparts—the joint connecting the head and torso, where the carapace was much thinner than the rest of the body.

A sword pierced through.

[Energy absorption in progress...]

[Current charge: 91%...94%...97%...]

The abyssal energy within the sandworm surged toward the sword like a flood that had found an outlet.

Its body shrank at a visible rate, and the purple patterns on its carapace faded from its tail to its head.

Current charge: 100%

"Full!"

Ou Yun drew his sword, the red light on its blade brighter than ever before. "All skills unlocked! Anyone want to see me unleash my ultimate move?"

"No need to go all out!"

Leng Ruolan jumped off the sandworm. "Save your energy, there are more valuable targets ahead!"

The sandworm lay completely paralyzed on the sand, its body shrunk to half its original size, showing no signs of life.

Ou Yun took out several empty water jugs from his spatial ring and tossed them to Alexander and Marcus.

"Squeeze out the blood while it's still fresh. This is the only food source for these coffee worms."

And so, on this boundless sea of ​​golden sand—

Two burly men squatted next to the carcass of a giant sandworm, using an empty water bottle to collect the worm's blood.

A group of small red monsters lined up nearby, waiting for their meal, occasionally making strange "chirp chirp chirp" noises.

The two lynxes looked at the scene with disdain.

Leng Ruolan stood atop the sand dune, gazing at the endless sea of ​​sand in the distance, and sighed inwardly.

Oh well... I've barely passed this level anyway.

With the help of coffee worms, the journey across this desert will be much faster than expected.

More importantly—she could already sense that the core area of ​​this desert was approaching them.

That huge dark shadow that flashed by under the starlight last night.

That terrifying being hidden deep within the underground fissures.

Desert Lord.

It is waiting for them.

And they, too, are waiting for it.

*

As the sun sank into the sea of ​​sand, the expedition team set up camp among a cluster of giant mushroom-shaped rocks.

This rock formation was discovered by Ou Yun at dusk—a dozen or so stone pillars eroded by the wind into bizarre shapes, standing like a group of silent giants among the sand dunes.

The bases of the stone pillars are connected, forming a semi-enclosed space that can both block wind and sand and provide cover.

"Let's rest here today."

Leng Ruolan looked around—although she had already looked around several times, ever since this thing appeared she had been checking the surrounding area, and had also sent two lynxes to patrol the area several times.

Oh dear, there's nothing I can do. Although this is indeed an excellent place of refuge, it was chosen by my elder brother after all, so I have to take precautions!

But Ou Yun himself was satisfied with the campsite, saying, "The height of the stone pillars is enough to block the light from the campfire, so there's no need to worry about revealing our location."

The group began to skillfully set up camp.

Marcus was in charge of setting up the tent with steel pipes and canvas, while Douglas was in charge of setting up a simple warning device around it (which was actually just a few thin wires with bells on them).

Alexander was in charge of building the sand wall, while the lynxes were responsible for patrolling and guarding it.

Europe is in charge of feeding the coffee bugs.

"Come on, come on, dinner's ready!"

He mixed the blood he had collected from the sandworm carcasses that afternoon with the last of the coffee grass seeds, boiled it, and poured it into a shallow iron pan.

Twenty-three coffee bugs immediately surrounded it, lining up to drink the coffee with their mouthparts.

Leng Ruolan watched from the side, then looked at Ou Yun's high-spirited back of the head, and hesitated to speak.

"Hey bro, I know this thing can be used as a detector... but isn't this a bit too much?"