Chapter 284: Chapter 274: Struck It Rich

The cave quickly emptied out, leaving only Tang Mo and Jingjing in her backpack.

Tang Mo glanced at the ID Watch on her wrist. She clearly remembered arriving at the cave, and now, over three hours had passed.

She definitely hadn’t spent that much time in the Illusion World. Time there must flow differently than in the real world.

Nevertheless, Tang Mo was determined. She had to move quickly and claim the entire Crystal Stone tunnel for herself.

She had to finish the job before the first person came out, at the very least. Otherwise, if anyone else saw, there was no telling how much trouble it would stir up.

The Apocalypse Garbage Dump was just too far from S Base. No one knew when this tunnel and cave had appeared or how long they would last. Since she’d stumbled upon it now, there was no sense in waiting to come back for it later.

Without further hesitation, Tang Mo retrieved the Heaven-reaching Giant Axe from her Space.

Ordinary tools would be useless for mining these Crystal Stones.

The tunnel was practically fused with the cave and the surrounding garbage dump. An object embedded so firmly couldn’t be pulled into her Space at will.

The mouth of the tunnel below was about two meters away—an awkward distance, neither high nor low.

As Tang Mo stared at the mouth of the tunnel, another idea came to mind—one she had long considered but never attempted.

It was to condense her spiritual power into a cloud that she could stand on, allowing her to levitate and fly.

With an ability like that, carving out the Crystal Stones from the tunnel would be far more convenient.

It was true that hardship spurred growth. Before long, Tang Mo had successfully condensed the cloud.

She wasn’t very skilled at first, and her feet went right through it when she tried to step on.

But after a few more tries, the cloud became a trusty aide, lifting her into the air.

However, Tang Mo also discovered that the higher she flew from the ground, the more spiritual power it consumed.

As Tang Mo grew more proficient, she became dissatisfied with a simple cloud and began to innovate.

She condensed her spiritual power into the shapes of a small car, a pony, and even a unicorn, riding them up into the air. It was a unique kind of fun.

The condensed spiritual power was a faint gold, a trait of Tang Mo’s own power. Whatever she formed looked incredibly beautiful.

However, this had one drawback: it was far too ornate and conspicuous.

Therefore, if she wanted to avoid exposing her abilities, Tang Mo would do her best not to use this trick in front of others.

But there was serious business at hand; this clearly wasn’t the time to be playing around.

Tang Mo quickly stepped onto her little cloud and, holding the Heaven-reaching Axe, rose to the tunnel’s entrance.

Aided by her spiritual power, Tang Mo entered the tunnel and climbed all the way up to its other end.

The tunnel was very long, but Tang Mo wasn’t about to abandon a single piece of the Crystal Stone within it.

She had seen what the new energy source of that future world looked like, even if she didn’t know what exactly that new energy in the parallel timeline was.

But in her current world, using Crystal Stones as a new energy source was the absolute best solution.

It would solve countless problems related to power, the environment, and pollution.

Therefore, both now and in the future, Crystal Stones would be a vital resource for humanity and the world.

The Crystal Stones were incredibly hard, but they were nothing compared to the Heaven-reaching Axe.

The tunnel wasn’t very spacious, only about wide enough to accommodate two people.

Axe in hand, Tang Mo began her excavation.

Since the space was tight and difficult to work in, Tang Mo cut the material into small, half-cubic-meter blocks.

Once a block was cut, she would release it and let the Crystal Stone cube slide down the tunnel.

The Crystal Stones were far too hard to be damaged by the fall, and Jingjing was waiting below to collect them.

This was why Tang Mo had deliberately climbed to the top to start working. Starting from the beginning, she intended to claim every last piece.

When she cut out the first block, Tang Mo couldn’t look away.

Both the block she had cut and the walls of the tunnel it came from were a deep, crimson red.

The red was as rich and deep as fresh blood.

’This is High-level Crystal Stone!’

It was even redder than the High-level Crystal Stones she had seen before in the Crystal Stone Mine, and the energy it contained was even more abundant.

Seeing this color, Tang Mo felt a surge of adrenaline and worked with renewed vigor.

The axe in her hands moved relentlessly, never pausing for a moment.

This was strenuous labor. For one, the axe itself required immense Strength to wield. Coupled with the hardness of the Crystal Stones, Tang Mo also had to channel spiritual power to augment her arms.

Meanwhile, the little cloud beneath her feet demanded a continuous output of spiritual power just to maintain its form.

Every block she carved out was crimson red, filling Tang Mo with growing delight. A thought bloomed in her mind.

’Could this entire tunnel be made of High-level Crystal Stones? If so, I’ve really struck it rich!’

"Everyone used digging in this garbage dump as a cover, but in the end, I’m the only one really doing any digging. What a wretched fate."

Tang Mo complained, but her hands never stopped moving.

As for the people still trapped in the Illusion World, one could only wonder what they would think if they knew that the treasure they had so painstakingly schemed to acquire was being carted away by Tang Mo, one axe swing at a time.

A long time passed. Tang Mo became like a digging machine, her movements growing more and more practiced.

But even so, despite all the time that had passed, she hadn’t even finished half of the tunnel.

Tang Mo glanced at her ID Watch. Nearly five hours had passed.

Having experienced the Illusion Realm firsthand, she knew that to escape, one had to genuinely grasp its true meaning.

Only by sincerely understanding the proper relationship between humans, nature, and animals—and by feeling guilt and remorse for humanity’s past actions—could one truly break free from the Illusion Realm.

But clearly, the people currently trapped inside had not yet grasped what the Illusion Realm was trying to teach them.

’That made sense. The people who went in were all driven by self-interest. To them, the world inside the Illusion Realm might be their idea of a perfect world. Why would they ever stop to reflect?’

Having come to this realization, Tang Mo finally put her axe away and returned to the cave.

’After all this time, I should get something to eat and recharge. There’s still more than half a tunnel left to dig, after all.’

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