The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

The second intelligence point was Lin Yuwei's.

About three kilometers east of the abandoned windmill, there is a gray-white stone house half-buried under the sand dunes.

The silver treasure chest was in the cellar of the stone house, its entrance covered by a thick stone slab.

When Su Mu moved the stone slab away, a damp, musty smell wafted out of the cellar.

He shone his flashlight down, revealing a small storage room at the bottom of the stone steps. A chest leaned against the wall, next to several dried animal skeletons and a few rusted tools.

He went down and retrieved the chest. The silver chest was larger than the bronze one, and inside were three items: a piece of armor, a blueprint, and a potion.

Sandwalking Boots (Green, Armor, Feet)... Agility +12, increases movement speed by an additional 8% on sandy surfaces. Durability 120.

[Blueprint: Eye of the Desert (Green Building)... Can be built on top of a cable car, providing sandstorm weather forecasts within a 200-meter radius.]

[Small Stamina Recovery Potion (Green)...Instantly restores 30% stamina.]

Su Mu handed the sand-walking boots to Lin Yuwei. "You wear these. My current speed is sufficient, and these boots will provide a greater boost to your performance."

Lin Yuwei accepted the shoes without hesitation. She tried them on and found them much lighter on her feet.

"Let's go," she said, her pace noticeably quickening.

The third intelligence point is the most troublesome.

The Desert Fruit is located on the edge of a small oasis in the northeast. According to Lin Yuwei's intelligence, there are Lv12 poisonous lizards active in the surrounding area.

When they arrived at the outskirts of the oasis, Su Mu first scanned the area using his regional perception.

Five.

All are Lv12, green quality, and are located in three places on the edge of the oasis.

One was behind the reeds near the water source, two were in the gaps between the sand willows, and two more were patrolling near the fruit.

The desert fruit grew atop a short, stout cactus-like plant in the center of the oasis. The plant was only half a person's height, but its main stem was as thick as an arm. Its surface was covered with a layer of dark red short thorns, and at the top was a fist-sized, dark yellow fruit with tortoise-shell patterns on its skin, which gleamed with a warm luster in the sunlight.

Su Mu observed for two minutes and figured out the patrol route of the five poisonous lizards.

"You wait here," he said to Lin Yuwei.

He summoned his spear, not unleashing the Ancient King's Bloodlust, and simply cut in from the north side of the oasis at a normal speed. The five venomous lizards detected his presence almost simultaneously and pounced from three directions at once.

They are fast and large, each about the size of a calf, with a bony tail club at the end that makes a dull whistling sound when swung.

Su Mu did not give them a chance to gather around.

He dodged the first attack by sidestepping, his gun tip slicing into its neck from the side, pinpointing its weak point and precisely piercing its skull. The second one attacked from the side and rear; he swung his gun backhand, severing its hind leg, and followed up with a fatal blow.

The third and fourth attacked from the front simultaneously. Su Mu pressed down with his gun, knocking both of them back, and then used the momentum he had built up to take them down one by one. The fifth tried to escape but was pierced through from behind by a single shot.

【Killed a Lv12 Sand Poison Lizard, experience points +0.1.】 Five notifications in a row.

Less than a minute before and after.

When Lin Yuwei walked over from the edge of the oasis, the corpses of five poisonous lizards lay across the sand. Su Mu was squatting next to the cactus, carefully cutting off a fruit with a dagger.

【Desert Fruit (Blue - Special Plant Product)】

He carefully collected the fruit and then glanced at the cactus-shaped trunk.

"Can this thing be transplanted?" Lin Yuwei asked.

Su Mu reached out and pressed his hand against the base of the main stem. A system notification popped up: [Transplantable. The entire root ball and original soil must be preserved. New soil must be planted within six hours of transplanting, otherwise the plant's activity will decrease.]

He took out a spare cloth bag from his backpack, dug up the cactus along with its roots and the surrounding sand, and carefully wrapped it up. The plant, about half a person's height, wasn't large, but it was quite heavy. He carried it with one hand, without much effort.

"All done." He stood up, dusted off his hands, and said, "Go back and contact Zhou Zhenguo again to see if they've found it."

No sooner had the words been spoken than an announcement resounded throughout the entire cable line.

[886 Cable Line Announcement: The ruins of the ancient city of Loulan have been discovered. Coordinates have been marked on the public map. All cable line members are welcome to explore.]

[Mission Progress: Locating the ancient city of Loulan... Completed. Cable contribution +5%. Rewards will be distributed according to contribution upon completion of the overall mission.]

Su Mu and Lin Yuwei looked at the panel at the same time. A flashing gold marker had appeared on the map, located in the northeast direction, about forty kilometers away as the crow flies.

Then came another announcement.

[System Announcement: Cable 886 has completed the "Searching for the Ancient City of Loulan" phase of the quest. This cable has received a 5% bonus to total experience and resource settlement weight.]

[Regional Announcement: Due to the activation of the Loulan Ancient City Ruins, 100 merged cable lines in the adjacent area will be eligible for access in two days.]

Su Mu looked at the line of text and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Forty kilometers. Zhou Zhenguo and his team's search speed is much faster than expected."

Lin Yuwei looked at the gold marker on the map and nodded: "They're lucky. Or maybe they have someone with search-type talents over there."

Su Mu opened his communicator and sent a message to Zhou Zhenguo: "Found it?"

Zhou Zhenguo replied quickly, his tone filled with barely concealed excitement: "Found it. It's on the edge of a basin buried by sand dunes in the northern part of the desert. On the surface, it looks like ordinary sand dunes, but someone discovered unusual energy fluctuations nearby. When they dug down, they found the foundations of stone city walls underneath. The area is quite large, with at least the outline of a complete city."

"Where's the unsealing stone?"

"Not found yet. The announcement says that unsealing stones are needed to fully open it. Currently, only the outer ruins are marked; the core area is still blocked by an energy barrier. The system indicates that the barrier requires enough unsealing stones to remove."

"Okay. We'll be right there."

Su Mu turned off the communicator and turned to Lin Yuwei: "The remains have been found. Let's go take a look."

Lin Yuwei was about to nod when her attention was suddenly drawn to another message on the panel. She frowned slightly.

"What's wrong?" Su Mu asked.

"Regional channel." She turned the panel to show him. "The major channel with 100 cables has just connected. The news is going viral."

Su Mu glanced at it. The number of people in the upper right corner of the channel was jumping wildly, and the messages were scrolling by so much that they were almost impossible to see.

"100 cables? The entire area has been merged?" he asked.

Lin Yuwei checked the channel information: "Yes. The system announcement says, 'Due to the activation of the Loulan Ancient City Ruins, cross-cable communication has been enabled on 100 merged cables in adjacent areas.' From now on, people on these 100 cables can communicate with each other."

Su Mu looked at the message and remained silent for a moment.

"In other words," he said, "we're going to be facing more than just the people with our own cables."

Lin Yuwei didn't reply. She was scrolling through the messages scrolling across the channel, her expression growing increasingly grim.

Su Mu leaned over and took a look.