I manage female characters in all the heavens.

Half of it was buried underground, while the other half lay crookedly exposed on the surface. The newly appeared Mana Flower was inside this shopping mall.

Generally speaking, Mana flowers do not appear in open areas. They are mostly found in relatively enclosed areas such as spaceships, buildings, underground spaces, and canyons, in order to restrict the flow of scarlet pigment, maximize the concentration of scarlet pigment, and create conditions conducive to their growth and development.

At the same time, high concentrations of scarlet pigment are also one of the self-protective mechanisms of the mana flower.

The Mana Flower, which was the target of Bai Yuekui's team, perfectly fit this characteristic, taking root in the deepest part of this shopping mall that was half-buried underground.

High concentrations of scarlet pigment permeated the entire shopping mall, preventing any living creature other than mana from approaching.

The off-road vehicle came to a stop behind a relatively secluded cliff, the engine was turned off, and the dust it kicked up slowly settled behind the vehicle.

Bai Yuekui was the first to jump out of the car, put on the woolen coat, and then took out the long and narrow Tang sword Alaya-vijnana from the passenger seat and casually hung it on his waist.

She looked up at the crooked shopping mall, her gaze calm, as if she were examining an old piece of furniture.

"Get off the bus and get to work."

"Maiduo" jumped off the vehicle with a folding rifle on its back. The tea lid on its shoulder flapped its wings twice, and the little falcon's eyes darted around, surveying its surroundings.

Xia Dou dragged a metal box that looked heavier than herself out of the trunk, slammed it to the ground with a thud, and panted, hands on her hips.

"Xia Dou, you're getting more and more capable! You carried such a heavy box down all by yourself..."

Shandong, carrying a sledgehammer, came around from the other side and glanced at the box: "Doesn't that box have a levitation device?"

Xia Dou was stunned. She looked down and saw that it was there. She was immediately horrified: "...I thought it wasn't there!"

"Nonsense, how could Boss Bai let a technician like you carry such a big box all the way?" Xu Tong walked up from behind with a grin and patted Xia Dou on the shoulder.

"Your brain is really good at memorizing data, but I'm afraid you use the rest of your brain on how to play games."

"Go away!" Xia Dou pushed Xu Tong away.

The group quickly distributed the equipment and checked the weapons and communicators.

Bai Yuekui walked at the front, his pace neither hurried nor slow, each step landing on gravel and steel bars without making any extra noise.

After passing a half-collapsed advertising wall, the entire mall gradually comes into view.

It was a five-story building, or at least it used to be five stories.

Crustal movements and several violent collapses have completely altered its appearance; half of it is almost entirely buried underground, while the other half remains exposed, like a half-buried coffin lying quietly on the earth.

What's most noticeable is the faint, sweet, fishy smell in the air.

The taste of scarlet pigment.

Although we hadn't entered the building yet, a faint smell, like rust mixed with rotting flower petals, was already seeping out from the building's cracks on the breeze, lingering in everyone's nostrils.

Bai Yuekui stopped about fifty meters outside the mall in front of a partially collapsed staircase, glanced at the overall structure, and then leaped up, stepping on several protruding concrete blocks, and in a few flashes, landed at the highest point of the mall.

The movement was fluid and graceful, as light as a feather falling on snow, with only the cloak drawing a beautiful arc in the air.

"Come up." She lowered her head and waved to the people below.

In no time, all six of them were standing on the top of the mall.

The wind was strong at the top, making the clothes flutter loudly.

Bai Yuekui squatted down and brushed away the thick layer of dust with his hand, revealing a piece of glass with cracks underneath.

Those used to be windows on the side of the mall, now almost like skylights, covered with thick layers of gray dust and oxides. But after wiping one side clean, you can barely see the view below.

The crowd gathered around and peered down into the small, transparent area.

The scene below caused everyone to frown.

It was a huge space that should have been the atrium of a shopping mall. Although it looked a bit strange because of the building's tilt, you could still see the spacious and bright commercial layout of the old world.

But at this moment, the entire space was filled with a thick, almost solidified, dark red mist.

Scarlet pigment.

The mist was not still, but rather it surged and swirled slowly as if it were alive, like the breathing of some giant beast in its slumber.

In the deepest part of the courtyard, through the layer of dark red mist, one can vaguely see a huge, fleshy flower-shaped structure standing quietly.

Its petals have a dark red edge that gradually turns scarlet towards the center, while the stamens in the center are orange-red tendrils that wriggle and emit a warm light, like the organs of some giant creature.

This is a developing mana flower.

"Good heavens..." Xia Dou pressed her face against the glass, her pupils shrinking slightly. "This is much bigger than I expected. It's only been a few days and it's grown to this size. Is this some kind of paradise?"

“Theoretically speaking, our Longgu Village and the surrounding area are rare places on Earth that still maintain their original ecosystem, containing a massive amount of life-generating material, which is indeed a treasure for the Mana ecosystem,” “Maido” responded.

Bai Yuekui watched for a while with a blank expression, then stood up, dusted off his hands, and said, "Xia Dou, get to work."

"Alright!" Xia Dou immediately opened her metal box and took out a bunch of instruments of all sizes—foldable detectors, multi-band scanners, air analyzers, several palm-sized spherical mechanical detectors, and a whole bunch of other equipment whose names she didn't know.

She squatted on the ground, her fingers flying across the touchscreen as she adjusted parameters and muttered to herself.

Meanwhile, she also used a machine to make a small opening in the glass, inserted the detector, and got busy.

Bai Yuekui walked to the edge of the roof, stood there facing the wind.

She didn't speak or make any unnecessary movements; she just stood quietly, the hem of her wool coat billowing in the wind, revealing the slender Tang sword at her waist.

She was like a statue.

Amidst the ruins, she was the most striking sight, not because she wanted to be seen, but because her mere presence made the entire wasteland pale in comparison.

As expected of Boss Bai, he exudes sophistication just by standing there.

Maido's lips twitched slightly.

Mr. Bai, you're showing off again.

But... he really is quite handsome.

Rather, Bai Yuekui truly accomplished one thing—she turned this gesture into her most iconic symbol, so much so that when people in Dragon Bone Village talk about her, the first image that comes to mind is usually her back as she stands high in the wind.

He was undeniably handsome, but Maiduo knew in her heart that the more nonchalantly Bai pretended to be, the more her body was deteriorating.

My great-grandmother wasn't the type to show off; she always did things decisively. The fact that she was forced to resort to showing off instead of taking action shows how bad her health really was.

Every time she had to take matters into her own hands, every time she had to force her already overloaded body to start operating again, it was a drain on her life force.

This is why everyone present tacitly wanted to minimize Boss Bai's physical actions.

Shan Da and Xu Tong stood at opposite corners of the roof. One carried a sledgehammer and looked around, while the other squatted on the edge, picking at the plaster on the wall. On the surface, they were keeping watch, but in reality, it was of no use.

Shattered Star stood on a high point on the north side, holding a high-tech longbow in his hand, his eyes scanning the distance like a hawk.

Her eyesight is above average; it's said she can tell whether an ant five kilometers away is male or female without any obstruction. I don't know if that's just bragging.

Meanwhile, "Maido" stood proudly on a protruding spot at the top of the building, its eyes flashing with dazzling golden light, exuding a solemn and majestic aura.

Overwhelmingly powerful!

Don't misunderstand, those aren't the golden eyes of a hybrid, but rather a manifestation of her source potential. As for why her eyes glow when she uses her ability, she doesn't know either; it's just magical.

Tea Gai is just a young falcon with extremely limited flight capabilities, so "Mai Duo" equipped it with a professional miniature levitation device, which is the thing on its head that looks like a bamboo dragonfly.

This thing is definitely cutting-edge technology. Such a small thing slowly rotates, yet it can take off carrying a weight of over 100 kilograms without making any noise. "Maido" still doesn't understand how it works.

However, the underlying principles don't really matter. Even though she doesn't understand the principles, she just managed to build it. As long as it works and can be built, that's all that matters. Everything else is just minor details.

The tea lid soared into the air, hovering hundreds of meters above the ground. Everything seen by the eagle's eye was collected, decoded, and converted into information that could be understood by humans through a microchip installed in its head, which was then projected onto the "Maido's" retina.

Although it is possible to share vision without the aid of a chip, it is actually very limited. The vision and brain of the tea lid cannot process too much information at the same time, which causes many things to be missed and not transmitted to "Maiduo".

But with this chip, there's no problem; everything within sight is under control.

Moreover, the vision of falcons differs significantly from that of humans, making it difficult to understand without analysis and conversion.

This sharing is not about projecting images directly onto "Maido" like a camera, but rather a kind of brain-to-brain communication. However, it is precisely because of this that she can directly give orders to the tea lid with her thoughts and give commands without delay.

From this vantage point, the area within a kilometer or two is virtually unobstructed.

To the east lies a sprawling old town, with many low-rise buildings mostly buried under sand and soil, and occasionally a few exposed pipes and broken walls can be seen.

To the south lies a rolling hilly area with exposed rock strata and a surface covered with a layer of grayish-brown weathered material.

To the west lies an even more expansive plain, stretching to the horizon, where the dark red earth, eroded by the Mana ecosystem, stretches as far as the eye can see.

To the north, in the direction they came from, the signal tower of Longgu Village was faintly visible on the horizon, with large patches of green in the distance.

Within a two-kilometer radius of the shopping mall, no signs of any Devouring Beast activity were found.

"Safe. There are no Devouring Beasts within a two-kilometer radius, not even a spine." She reported this through the communication channel.

Shattered Star nodded in agreement: "Confirmed, there are no abnormal moving targets in the distance."

"Okay." Bai Yuekui responded indifferently, his gaze still fixed on the distant horizon, without turning around.

This area is no longer within the shielding tower's range, although everyone can use the Return to Origin state to conceal the aura of life essence, preventing the Devouring Beast from seeing it.

But if you let your guard down because of this, the names written on the list of sacrifices in Dragonbone Village will tell you that things are not so simple.

The Return to Origin state is an active skill that requires effort to maintain. Apart from freaks like "Mai Duo", no one can maintain the Return to Origin state at a high intensity for a long time and stably, including Bai Yue Kui.

When there are no Devouring Beasts nearby, people generally do not enter the Return to Origin state to conserve their physical and mental energy, so as to avoid becoming weak in the face of unexpected situations that require combat.

The Mana Flower has only recently appeared and has not yet gathered a large number of Devouring Beasts around it. Looking around, there are no Devouring Beasts in sight. It is not worthwhile for everyone to waste their strength in this unnecessary situation. It is enough for someone to keep watch.

Chapter 241 My Great Spear Can Split Mountains and Crack Rocks

About ten minutes later, Xia Dou finally looked up from the pile of instruments, let out a long sigh, and wiped the fine sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

"The data collection is complete, but the situation isn't very optimistic." She stood up, dusted herself off, and walked over to Bai Yuekui.

"The concentration of scarlet pigment inside is ridiculously high, and it gets even higher towards the center. In the area where the Mana Flower is located, the concentration has reached a level that can directly corrode metal."

"The spherical detectors I deployed can last for three to five minutes on the outer layer, but once they get close to the core area, the signal is lost in forty or fifty seconds at most, as they are completely corroded."

Even the mechanical detectors she deployed were corroded and damaged; the consequences of a human entering them are unimaginable.

Low concentrations of scarlet can invade the human nervous system, producing strong hallucinogenic effects and driving people into madness or self-destructive behavior; higher concentrations can be fatal.

The concentration of scarlet in this shopping mall is several times higher than the direct lethal dose. It corrodes even inanimate objects. Contact with it would probably be no more comfortable than taking a bath in concentrated sulfuric acid.

Shandong leaned closer, frowning: "So, we can't force our way in?"

“Trying to force our way in is suicide,” Xia Dou said bluntly. “Unless there is a way to lower the concentration of these scarlet pigments to within a safe range, we can’t even get close.”

Xu Tong suggested, "Then...why don't we use firepower to blow up the whole building first? Once the building collapses, the Mana Flower will naturally be exposed, and then we can destroy it from a distance?"