"This... How is this possible?!" Liu Yi's eyes widened, his heart pounding wildly, and his voice trembled. If the chairman found out that all the resources they painstakingly prepared had been completely taken, as the two present, they would undoubtedly bear the brunt of his anger, with unimaginable consequences!

"Xie Fei, should we... should we inform the chairman?" Liu Yi's voice was as dry as sandpaper scraping.

Xie Fei remained silent for a long time, his face alternating between green and white. Finally, as if drained of all strength, he said dejectedly, "Inform him. This matter can't be hidden. If we tell the chairman now, maybe he can take back the items from them."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Liu Yi nodded hurriedly, clumsily pulling out the communicator, his fingers trembling slightly from tension, just about to dial the chairman's number.

But at that moment, he suddenly felt a warm sensation in his nose, something flowing down his nostrils.

Instinctively, he wiped it with his hand, only to find it was a smear of black-red blood!

Blood? Why would I have a nosebleed?

Liu Yi was stunned, instinctively turning to look at Xie Fei, only to find that Xie Fei was also bleeding from the nose. Not only that, but black blood was oozing from his eyes, ears, and mouth corners, making him look particularly terrifying, like an evil ghost crawling out of hell.

"Xie... Xie Fei..." Liu Yi wanted to ask, but found his throat clogged, making even speaking exceedingly difficult.

He clasped his hands tightly around his throat, his face turning from red to purple at a speed visible to the naked eye, his legs weakened, and he fell straight to the ground, lifeless.

Meanwhile, Xie Fei also collapsed at the same time, his body convulsing a few times before going still.

The warehouse instantly fell into a deathly silence, except for an inconspicuous vine in the corner, quietly absorbing the faint poison gas permeating the air, with a barely noticeable sheen flashing over its leaves.

...

A silver light exploded suddenly, and several figures stumbled out from behind the humming void gate, as if pulled by invisible hands.

The moist cold air, mixed with the smell of metal rust, rushed toward them. Allen widened his eyes sharply, his Adam's apple rolling as he swallowed his amazement—in just the blink of an eye, they had traversed from the blood-scented secret base of the Black Cloud Commerce Association to the depths of an underground mine, dozens of kilometers away.

Xiong's thick fingers immediately grasped the giant axe, the beast patterns on the axe's handle faintly visible in the dark, his pupils glinting green. The night vision capability unique to beast eyes allowed him to easily penetrate the surrounding environment, his nostrils twitching to catch unfamiliar scents.

"So dark."

The Poisonous Widow instinctively widened her eyes but could only see the impenetrable darkness. The chilly sensation at her fingertips made her involuntarily tense her spine.

"Put this on."

Qin Tian took out night vision goggles and handed them to the Poisonous Widow, raising an eyebrow slightly as his peripheral vision swept past the two beside him—Allen's eyes glowed with a faint blue light, Xiong's beast eyes shone like cold stars in the dark. Both wore calm expressions, clearly already accustomed to the pitch black.

The green fluorescence of the night vision goggles dispelled the darkness. The Poisonous Widow exhaled a long breath, her gaze sweeping over the crisscrossed traces on the rock walls on either side: "These mines... were all manually excavated?"

"Not necessarily." Qin Tian bent down, pinched a piece of ore fragment, feeling the cool, hard texture at his fingertips,

"The underground of Baiquan Star is laced with countless mineral veins, yet the manually mined parts account for less than one percent."

He paused, his gaze scanning the winding passage ahead, "Most of the tunnels you see are the work of mining beasts."

"Mining beasts?"

"The spirit beasts accompanying the mineral deposits." Qin Tian straightened up, his tone calm yet carrying a hint of hardly noticeable seriousness, "They feed on ore and protect the veins with their blood and flesh. To take resources from here, you'll have to get past them first."

Humanity slaughtering mining beasts to plunder resources, this was stark naked aggression.

But such is the law of the jungle in the cosmos, where the weak are the prey of the strong is the truth.

If the Empire stopped expanding, the wolves encircling it would sooner or later tear the Empire apart.

Of course, the Empire does not just slaughter. If the natives are strong and their civilization advanced, the Empire also tends to cooperate rather than invade—Elf Star is the best example of this.

The Poisonous Widow mused over the edge of the night vision goggles, deep in thought, when Qin Tian's brow twitched, his finger pointing towards the depths of the passageway: "How lucky, a mining beast is coming our way."

The three instantly tensed up, assuming defensive stances. Allen's dragon claws glowed, the Poisonous Widow's fingertips seeping with pale purple venom, and Xiong dragging the giant axe across the ground, the metallic scraping noise especially harsh in the silence.

Shasha—

A faint sound came from ahead, like someone dragging chains while crawling, or metal scraping against rock walls.

As the sound approached, a massive outline slowly rose at the passage's end.

It resembled a metallic sandworm, its over ten-meter-long body glimmering with a cold, hard silvery-gray sheen, as if forged from tempered steel, its ghostly green eyes lighting up in the dark, its open maw revealing two rows of sawtooth-like fangs, each like a poisoned steel spike.

Ho—

The mining beast growled lowly, arching its body, and in the next second charged like a cannonball, the wind it stirred up sweeping up the ore fragments on the ground.

"Come!" Xiong roared, the giant axe trailing afterimages as it charged forward, the crimson axe light tearing through the darkness, heavily striking the mining beast's head!

Ding——!

The piercing sound of metal clashing echoed in the tunnel, sparks flying over half a meter high.

Allen gasped in surprise—he had seen Xiong massacre Spiritualists like slicing vegetables, yet the terrifying axe only left a white mark on the head of this mining beast!

Xiong was shaken back a couple of steps, his wrist numb but he grinned wildly, battle intent blazing in his eyes like wildfire.

Qin Tian raised his hand, a golden light shot towards the giant axe; the next moment the axe blade suddenly lit up, dense runes flowing across its surface—the temporary enhancement of the Divine Weapon blessing awakened the dual enchantment powers of sharpness and blood sucking instantly.

Roar!

The mining beast roared in fury, opening its bloody maw to bite at Xiong's head.

Xiong's arms bulged with veins, black spiritual energy winding around the axe body like ink, borrowing momentum to chop down fiercely!

Crack!

This time, the axe blade sunk more than an inch into the mining beast's head, web-like cracks spreading from the wound.

The mining beast thrashed its head madly in pain, its thick tail whipping towards Xiong's waist with a wind-breaking sound.

Xiong yanked out the giant axe, the black light suddenly soared, the axe blade sweeping across like a full moon.

Squelch!

The mining beast's tail broke with a snap, the severed half crashing to the ground like a heavy lead block, producing a dull metallic clatter. Dark brown viscous blood seeped from the break, carrying a strong sulfur smell.

Qin Tian's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise—this was the first time he'd seen Xiong use spiritual energy.

In the past, sheer brute force had made him nearly unmatched, but now with the boost of spiritual energy, even ordinary Tier Five powerhouses would likely meet their end on the spot.

The mining beast sensed the threat of death, a sliver of fear flickering in its ghostly green eyes; despite the agony of its severed tail, it turned to flee towards the depths of the tunnel.

Its massive body twisted, scraping a piercing metallic sound in the narrow passage.

How could Xiong give it a chance? He exerted force with his feet, shadowing it closely, black spiritual energy frenziedly wrapping around the giant axe, the axe blade sparkling with terrifying black light.

"Where do you think you're going!"

The first axe strike, carrying a whistling gust, chopped towards the mining beast's nape, the axe blade blessed by spiritual energy penetrating like bamboo spitting, embedding deep into the mining beast's tough body. The mining beast let out a plaintive wail, nearly stumbling and falling.

Xiong twisted his wrist, yanking out the giant axe, immediately followed by a second horizontal sweep, precisely striking the junction of the mining beast's head and neck.

Crash!

The sound of breaking bones was clearly heard, the mining beast's head dropped with a sound, rolling to the ground with a dull thud. The headless body staggered, then collapsed with a deafening crash, completely motionless.

Xiong panted heavily, looking at the corpse of the mining beast on the ground, resting the giant axe on his shoulder, grinning broadly.

Qin Tian gave Xiong a thumbs-up, then stepped forward, gently touching the mining beast's corpse.

One green and one blue light ball flew into his body.

[Name] Metal Sensing (Green)

[Type] Passive

[Introduction] You are able to sense the metals around you, the larger the metal reserves and the higher the quality, the stronger your sensing will be.

...

[Name] Gold Devouring Hardening (Blue)

[Type] Active

[Introduction] Capable of directly devouring contacted metals, converting them into fine essence particles. These particles can quickly merge with various body parts, forming a tough protective layer, significantly enhancing defense power.

"These two talents..."

Qin Tian's eyes lit up, intrigued.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.