novelraw Chapter 93 : Sultry Red Forest
Chapter 93 : Sultry Red Forest
In the Silent Monument Forest, several light pillars lit up, including the coordinate refresh signal from Jacques Delot.
Inside Base Station B, Golden Tower noticed this message. The red-haired youth in the control room studied the map information with a serious expression, scanning the distance from Base Station B to the Silent Monument Forest.
Sitting behind him, the four members of Golden Tower surrounded the control room operation panel, marking points on the light screen. The information displayed showed the most recent refreshes for Zhu Jing Fu and Jacques Delot.
Zhu Jing Fu's last refresh position was near the Silent Monument Forest.
After completing the marking, the analyst sitting in the center looked up. Qi Songhuai's short hair was a disheveled mess, resembling a chaotic bird's nest with bits of leaves and twigs mixed in. His face bore dusty marks, stained with some black soil.
The red-haired youth turned to see him scratching his bird's nest hair, and felt annoyed: "Qi Songhuai, can't you look in the mirror and do something about that hair? Doesn't walking around with that hairstyle bother you?"
The young man he addressed glanced back without goodwill: "What's there to fix? Think we have time for that? Time is money. I just want the red rain to get lost so I can go find Zhu Jing Fu and Jacques Delot for a fight."
"Who could you possibly beat with that physique of yours? You can't even touch Zhuo Yun, and you'd never beat Chen Sui."
Seeing him unresponsive to reason, Xin Yan looked at his messy appearance with extreme distaste.
After being scolded by his Commander, Qi Songhuai clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction and raised his head to counter: "Zhuo Yun does have some toughness to him, I can't beat him physically. But my output damage is good, right, YouYou~"
The strong attacker standing in the shadows shuddered, hand silently resting on the table, covering half his face, appearing unwilling to look directly at the scene or answer.
Then they heard the analyst continue boasting: "As for Chen Sui, she's only a little better than me. Your humble Qi might be able to take her on."
"Chen Sui loves targeting analysts. Just don't cry for backup when the time comes," Xin Yan crossed his arms and snorted coldly.
As the Golden Tower members looked at the map, seeing that the Commander and analyst had stopped their verbal sparring, both moved closer to the light screen. Xin Yan drew a route between Base Station B and the Silent Monument Forest marker.
"Jacques Delot's elimination signals are far apart, which means the team they're facing isn't weak. Based on the refreshed coordinates of teams on the Sultry Red Forest track, we can infer who might be fighting Jacques Delot at this level. Zhu Jing Fu and Seventh Ring Third Academy are both possibilities—their most recent published coordinates were also near the Silent Monument Forest."
Xin Yan's voice deepened. Compared to his arrogant, prideful, and overbearing demeanor from a year ago, Golden Tower's Commander had clearly become more composed.
Hearing his analysis, the Golden Tower members nodded in agreement.
Qi Songhuai, sensing that the wood attribute energy in the energy field had surged once, said, "From that previous energy fluctuation, I'm actually leaning toward Chen Sui. Her energy concentration was already apparent in the White Sand Sky Pillar Sea Domain energy field—truly not to be underestimated. If Zhu Jing Fu dealt with high-level energy bodies nearby, they probably wouldn't have enough energy left to face Jacques Delot, so the eliminated five probably aren't them."
"Doesn't that mean there are still fewer than 30 contestants left, with three of the seven schools among them?" Golden Tower's single combat unit Xi Xi blinked her moist deer-like eyes, her gaze somewhat worried.
The rather silent strong attacker Tang You pondered for a moment, lowered his gaze, avoiding eye contact with others, and spoke in a low, slow voice: "Why... couldn't... Zhu Jing Fu... fight... Jacques Delot?"
"Zhu Jing Fu's mecha damage must be severe. Look, we've all converged from four corner positions, experiencing red rain. Even if we were lucky enough to find meteor trees each time, the damage would still be in the 40% to 50% range, or even higher. Zhu Jing Fu also fought a high-level energy body—hard to say how serious their mecha damage is. Xie Chunshi isn't stupid; he wouldn't go looking for a fight with Jacques Delot in that condition."
Qi Songhuai's thinking was clear.
However, as soon as he finished, he couldn't help but look proudly at Xin Yan: "So, do you feel I have the talent to be a Commander too?"
"Like hell you do!" Xin Yan looked down at him coldly. "You forgot that Zhu Jing Fu's analyst can repair mecha. Mecha damage isn't a problem for them at all."
"Shit!" Qi Songhuai was enlightened by this point and suddenly widened his eyes, raising his voice: "Could it really be... Zhu Jing Fu fighting Jacques Delot? Did Jacques Delot eliminate Zhu Jing Fu?"
Once this guess came out, Qi Songhuai frowned: "But I haven't faced Chen Sui yet!"
Although Qi Songhuai studied under Guan You and couldn't be considered a strong-attack analyst, Guan You's teaching wasn't entirely focused on defense. He also required analysts to practice output routes, partly for self-protection and partly to create openings for the team.
He was also one of the rare analysts with strong offensive capabilities among the seven schools.
He was genuinely curious about Chen Sui, who had shown obvious strong-attack tendencies.
However, as Golden Tower members listened to his sighs of regret, they felt something was off.
Xin Yan attributed this to his distaste for Qi Songhuai's affected manner.
Since Jacques Delot's coordinates had refreshed, no one believed Jacques Delot would be the one eliminated.
The question troubling Golden Tower was which team had battled Jacques Delot—the team that had already been eliminated from the competition.
Was it really Zhu Jing Fu?
But regardless of who it was, once the red rain stopped, Golden Tower would leave Base Station B and head to the Silent Monument Forest.
"Let's take out the biggest threat first, then we can deal with the rest however we want," Qi Songhuai fully supported Xin Yan's instructions. In his view, the team that fought Jacques Delot was probably Zhu Jing Fu: "Two refreshes and still no Zhu Jing Fu coordinates—I'm increasingly suspicious that Zhu Jing Fu has been eliminated."
"I heard they prepared detailed material collection strategies before entering. Should have asked for a copy in advance."
He then leaned forward and looked at Xin Yan: "Team Leader, do you think we could ask Zhu Jing Fu to help us prepare material collection strategies for the main competition? They made a fortune in the last competition. I heard Chen Sui immediately got new weapons for all of them from selling the materials from White Sand Sky Pillar Sea Domain."
"Where do you get all these 'I heard' from?" Xin Yan was irritated by his noise but genuinely curious about Zhu Jing Fu's news. He was very interested in Qi Songhuai's ability to gather so much information, so he coldly asked.
Qi Songhuai cleared his throat and said quietly: "I bought a Zhu Jing Fu school account and infiltrated their forum area."
With these words, the other four Golden Tower members simultaneously twitched the corners of their mouths, and the bullet comments expressed exasperation.
[Dude, the livestream is still recording]
[Come on, can't you keep account buying private? Talking about it like this will make Zhu Jing Fu tighten their controls!]
[Qi Songhuai! Don't spread rumors—Zhu Jing Fu has never sold accounts! (So annoying that I can't buy one)]
[Why does everyone want Zhu Jing Fu accounts? What good stuff do they discuss?]
[Zhu Jing Fu forum reports are really funny, I lurk in their area every day]
[Seriously, open the league area soon, I really want to read reports with Zhu Jing Fu people, they're such a vibe]
[No one's mentioning Zhu Jing Fu's technical posts? The technical level is very high, they even post Chen Sui's energy field analysis and weapon designs, super impressive]
"You're stalking Zhu Jing Fu's internal forum?" The agile attacker Sun Kai, who had been silent until now, looked at the analyst with a complex expression.
As a teammate, he had always known that Qi Songhuai had bizarre thought processes, but he hadn't expected them to be this bizarre.
Qi Songhuai reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. As soon as he heard Sun Kai's choice of words, he exploded: "What are you talking about! Your language is really inappropriate! This is called reconnaissance, understand? Don't you know what an information station is? You have no idea how much useful content is in the Zhu Jing Fu forum. I learn knowledge there every day."
"What did you learn?" Xin Yan asked quietly, fishing for information.
Qi Songhuai spoke without thinking: "How to extract fire nitrate, how to do analyst assignments, how to quickly grab links in Chen Sui's online store—"
After speaking, he realized these things didn't sound like what an opponent would do, so he immediately shut up.
But what he'd said was enough for a certain master who was watching the livestream to examine his student's homework.
Guan You looked at the submitted homework and suddenly revealed a white grin.
He had been wondering why Qi Songhuai's energy field analysis style had changed so drastically recently. Previously, he'd only shown some creative ideas, but now he'd become extremely aggressive. Guan You had only taught him to take initiative, not to go blow up energy bodies' nests inside insect hives!
Who taught him this?!
It had the distinct flavor of a strong attack approach!
Qi Songhuai seemed to know he'd slipped up and looked nervously at the livestream position, quickly adding: "Actually, I also studied Chen Sui's combat habit analysis, but I haven't had a chance to face her yet."
At this point, Qi Songhuai sounded rather regretful. His wariness of Chen Sui far exceeded his wariness of Ye Kaiyun.
After all, he knew Ye Kaiyun all too well and understood his style completely. Qi Songhuai could break this guy's earth walls with his eyes closed.
But Chen Sui was completely unfamiliar, so he'd done considerable homework to understand her.
Hearing his additional words, Xin Yan's expression improved slightly.
On the way to the Silent Monument Forest, he silently thought that it would be best if Jacques Delot had eliminated Zhu Jing Fu. Otherwise, if Golden Tower faced Zhu Jing Fu, Xin Yan himself couldn't guarantee they would have a chance of winning.
That team was full of unknowns and challenges.
Especially Chen Sui.
Proud as Xin Yan was, after learning she was a survivor of the serial energy field descent on Talo Star, he felt an unconscious shame facing her.
Golden Tower had been punished by both the Education Department and the Military Committee for refusing the Star Alliance Joint Academy's recruitment.
The Golden Tower school team had entered the Border Army early, experiencing several months of Border Army energy field descent rescue operations.
Those blood-soaked, flesh-scattered limbs, the corpses eroded by energy fields with only half their bodies remaining, countless wails and cries—they all appeared before his eyes every time he closed them.
Every time he saw Chen Sui, he was reminded that his arrogance and contempt had once caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people on Talo Star, who died in energy field descents where rescue was delayed.
As heavy emotions churned within Xin Yan, his face remained cold as they rapidly moved through the Sultry Red Forest, no longer showing any trace of arrogance.
The route from Zhu Jing Fu to Base Station B intersected with Golden Tower's path to the Silent Monument Forest. The two teams' trajectories on the map resembled two parallel lines, always separated by a distance, never intersecting except at one point where they passed each other from above and below a forest.
The two analysts in each team both paused momentarily. Qi Songhuai glanced into the distance, vaguely feeling a slight energy fluctuation, but it quickly dissipated, as if it were only his imagination.
On the other side, Chen Sui also slightly halted her movement. The Zhu Jing Fu members looked at her: "What's wrong?"
Xie Chunshi, noticing the analyst's subtly off-beat rhythm, immediately looked over.
Chen Sui frowned as she glanced into the distance at the extremely faint energy fluctuation, likely from some team.
She said lightly, "It's nothing, just felt a slight spiritual body fluctuation. Let's continue."
"We've been searching everywhere but haven't seen a trace of snow bud branches. How can they hide so well?" Zhou Chen was still anxiously thinking about materials he hadn't obtained.
"Snow bud branches typically grow inside special mountain rocks. They only emit an energy storm the moment they fully mature, then they're like ordinary ore, without any fluctuations to track," Chen Sui explained. "Sultry Red Forest only has records of their appearance. The Border Army might have cleared them before we entered. These things take time to grow a cluster, maybe they haven't grown back yet."
After listening, Zhou Chen's face puffed up in dissatisfaction. After thinking for a while: "I want to try something mystical."
"Oh?" Chen Sui raised an eyebrow, somewhat expectantly: "Try it then. If you succeed, you'll be the one true god."
Zhou Chen was stimulated by this chuunibyou title. He had only intended to make a joke, but now felt tempted. As his mecha flew forward sharply, he heard himself shouting: "I bet I'll see snow bud branches the moment I open my eyes!"
After speaking, his figure suddenly stopped. Chen Sui could imagine from his movements that he had flown out with his eyes tightly closed, then abruptly stopped and opened them, desperate for snow bud branches to respond to his words and fly directly in front of him.
This left the four people behind him in Zhu Jing Fu speechless.
Chen Sui said impatiently: "Brother, mysticism is one thing, but daydreaming is another. You think snow bud branches will appear right in front of you when you open your eyes? Do you think they understand human nature?"
Zhou Chen was silent for a second, then shrank back disappointedly: "I just thought, you know, mysticism, try to make it happen faster."
"Forget it," Chen Sui put her hand to her forehead. Seeing Zhou Chen lowering his head and fidgeting with his hands, she thought if he was foolish enough to believe in mysticism, what more could she expect? "After we get to Base Station B, let's see if we can find data on past resource situations in Sultry Red Forest. Maybe we can find locations where snow bud branches are more likely to appear."
Zhu Jing Fu's words made Mo Qiu'an laugh in the control room: "So mysticism didn't work, and now they're willing to believe in science?"
"Science might not work either," Jian Run lay back in his chair, also watching with amusement: "There's a reason snow bud branches are rare. Their growth is too unpredictable—pure luck. By the way, Director Mo, your management department hasn't found snow bud branches in Sultry Red Forest for a long time, right?"
Mo Qiu'an nodded: "Zhu Jing Fu certainly has high standards, always going for the expensive and hard-to-find items. These bandits, really—"
She cursed with a smile, but her face showed a gratified expression.
Past Star League competitions had always been solely about points. Not all awakened individuals had the mood to appreciate the scenery in energy fields.
Every competition was tense and nerve-wracking. Even watching from the control room made one anxious for these children, fearing they might accidentally perish at the hands of energy bodies or die in the capricious environment of the energy field.
Zhu Jing Fu seemed like an exception. They were relaxed and composed, as if... they were so certain they could overcome the challenges in the energy field.
Fearless of energy bodies and energy fields.
This was the confidence and vitality Mo Qiu'an perceived from the Zhu Jing Fu school team, and it made the manager who had dealt with energy fields for years smile with gratification.
[Director Mo finally convinced herself]
[Director Mo: Made peace with Zhu Jing Fu's energy field sweeping]
[How about this—I see Golden Tower is convinced they'll either fight Jacques Delot or both Jacques Delot and Zhu Jing Fu. Haven't they considered Jacques Delot might be eliminated?]
[I can only say that refreshing Zhuo Yun's coordinates at the end was a stroke of genius. With that coordinate refresh, who would know Jacques Delot was eliminated? Everyone thought Jacques Delot had eliminated someone else]
[Zhu Jing Fu—teams that believe in mysticism always have good luck]
[Zhu Jing Fu fully expects to go to the base station, defeat Golden Tower, and then run wild in Sultry Red Forest]
[Golden Tower is thinking the same, that's why they're heading to Silent Monument Forest]
[I'm dying laughing, I'm watching both perspectives, seeing both teams marching confidently, then passing each other like ships in the night]
[Qi Songhuai: Too bad Chen Sui is out!]
[Chen Sui: Surprise! I'm still here, how do you like that?]
[Some of these comments are too funny]
[Looking forward to seeing Zhu Jing Fu and Golden Tower's faces when they find empty bases and silent monuments]
This comment floated by just as Zhu Jing Fu reached the outside of the base station.
Concerned that teams might be lying in ambush at the base station, the five didn't dare enter directly. Chen Sui's energy sensing swept around multiple times, confirming there were no energy fluctuations, and had their output fly around below, performing a one-man show.
Zhou Chen peered out from broad leaves. He had already done this from three different positions, perfecting this undeliberate performance of a solitary mecha's fear and nervousness. As he pulled back broad leaves to look toward the base station tower, he demonstrated it flawlessly.
While Zhu Jing Fu cautiously attempted to lure out enemies, the bullet comments watching this performance laughed uncontrollably.
[Someone please tell them there's nobody at this base station]
[Didn't Chen Sui already discover there were no energy fluctuations?]
[Stay alert! After all, Qi Songhuai's mental threshold isn't low. He might have special ways to conceal fluctuations. Chen Sui tricked many teams by hiding her team's fluctuations—she knows these tricks too well]
[What is Zhu Jing Fu doing? Haha, scaring themselves?]
[Zhou Chen is so funny haha, performing in several positions, acting surprised each time there's no one]
[Zhou Chen doing the same move, same expression, so many times haha]
"No one's here!" Zhou Chen, seeing no reaction from the tower, boldly jumped out from behind the leaves. Still no guns firing at him, he took a few steps toward the base station and heard Chen Sui's voice: "No good, friend, your acting is too forced. Anyone can tell you're not alone."
"I'm naturally imposing, can't act weak. What can I do?!" Zhou Chen stomped his foot dramatically.
Chen Sui got goosebumps from his tone, involuntarily clenched her fist and said ominously: "Is that so?"
Zhou Chen felt as if a cold breath blew down the back of his neck. His whole body shuddered, and he quickly straightened up: "No, I was just joking."
He piloted his mecha around the area.
"The base station should be empty."
Seeing still no attack fluctuations, Xie Chunshi observed the base station's outer structure and noticed faint friction marks in the black soil, likely left by mechas when the soil was still soft shortly after the red rain stopped.
Chen Sui nodded understandingly: "Then let's go in directly. Zhou Chen, charge!"
No sooner had Chen Sui finished speaking than the mecha flamboyantly flying in midair dove toward the base station.
The five members of Zhu Jing Fu entered the base station and left their mecha cockpits. Zhou Chen turned to Chen Sui: "See, I told you no one was at the base station, but you wouldn't believe me. Sometimes you need to trust yourself. You didn't sense any energy fluctuations, so obviously there's no one!"
Chen Sui was sitting on the maintenance room counter when his big hand slapped her, making her body jolt. "I was being cautious."
"Bullshit," Zhou Chen snorted. "You've played sneaky rice balls too much and think everyone's a sneaky rice ball. You think everyone can do energy shielding? Golden Tower isn't that clever."
"They left so quickly. I thought we could finish them here."
Xie Chunshi was silent for a second, then suddenly looked outside and said, "Golden Tower wouldn't go looking for us, would they?"
"Huh?" Zhou Chen exclaimed in surprise.
Puluo and Gu Qinxue also looked over.
Chen Sui's hands paused, thinking it was entirely possible.
"This is truly... a useless increase in tacit understanding."
She critiqued.
Meanwhile, having arrived outside the Silent Monument Forest, Golden Tower first saw the mess near the meteor trees, then the stone mushrooms slowly crawling in the darkness of the Silent Monument Forest. The five members of Golden Tower didn't dare move rashly, nervously passing through the Silent Monument Forest, afraid someone might fire a shot from the shadows and startle the stone mushrooms, forcing Golden Tower into a premature battle. When they finally made it out safely, they breathed a sigh of relief.
As soon as Qi Songhuai emerged, he took a deep breath and said: "Now I'm certain Zhu Jing Fu isn't here. If they were, they definitely would have fired a shot at us while we were in the Silent Monument Forest. They're very sneaky."
He had barely finished speaking when the scene in the distance rendered Golden Tower speechless again.
In the jungle beyond the Silent Monument Forest: wind-toppled trees, fire-scorched black ash, lightning-split cracks, growth-stimulated then withered branches, broken earth walls, and huge holes blasted by artillery fire.
All signs indicated that an extremely fierce battle had taken place here.
The five members of Golden Tower quickly approached, searching for traces of the battle.
After circling the area and returning, Qi Songhuai's eyebrows were tightly knitted as he looked at the earth walls and the giant trees bent by wind pressure.
"Why do I feel like Jacques Delot is both impressive and unimpressive? Is Bai Ruohua's wind attribute this strong?"
Such powerful wind pressure over such a large area—was this the Bai Ruohua he knew?
"And this is Zhuo Yun's earth wall, right? The energy congregation fluctuation is familiar. It seems to have been broken."
"And this one, it's Zhuo Yun's energy shield. This edge—" Picking up a small fragment of the broken energy shield and examining the edge fracture, Qi Songhuai's mind flashed to a scene and he slowly said: "Why does it look like it was hammered open?"
"Zhu Jing Fu."
Xin Yan's eyes darkened as he stated confidently.
The first thought when discussing hammering energy shields was Zhu Jing Fu.
"Chen Sui loves hammering people's energy shields. It's quite possible."
Xi Xi said.
Qi Songhuai looked around, suddenly struck by an unsettling thought. He turned to the Commander, his expression somewhat stiff: "Shit! I have an idea! Is it possible that Jacques Delot and Zhu Jing Fu really did fight, and—"
"Jacques Delot didn't have the upper hand."
Qi Songhuai felt this guess was too bold, considering Jacques Delot's reputation!
Golden Tower might not understand Zhu Jing Fu, but they certainly knew Jacques Delot.
"The facts speak for themselves," Xin Yan's gaze was heavy as he looked at the scene on the ground and confirmed: "Jacques Delot was completely eliminated by Zhu Jing Fu."
"They refreshed Zhuo Yun's coordinates during the battle to make us think Jacques Delot was still in play."
"Which means," Sun Kai realized, "the teams still in the field don't know Jacques Delot was eliminated. They still think there are three seven-school teams."
"Then if Zhu Jing Fu isn't here now, they couldn't be looking for us too, could they?"
If Jacques Delot was eliminated, Zhu Jing Fu's only target would be Golden Tower.
Just like Golden Tower thought Zhu Jing Fu was eliminated and came to the Silent Monument Forest.
With two of the seven schools surviving in the energy field, after they battled each other, the victorious team would gain dominance over the energy field and could encircle other teams.
Both Zhu Jing Fu and Golden Tower likely had the same idea.
The agile attacker's statement instantly silenced the rest of Golden Tower.
So, Golden Tower had traveled all this way only to learn that it wasn't Zhu Jing Fu who was eliminated, but Jacques Delot. They gained nothing and had passed right by their target.
Most critically, though it was barely past noon, the sky suddenly darkened—clearly the red rain was coming.
"Damn!" Qi Songhuai, who had browsed the Zhu Jing Fu forum extensively, not only understood a lot about the Zhu Jing Fu school team but had also learned many of their verbal habits, like always prefacing statements with "grass" (a mild curse). "Zhu Jing Fu goes to the base station, at least they don't need to find meteor trees. We come here and still need to find meteor trees."
After speaking, he thought of the meteor trees he'd seen on the way, and his dissatisfaction grew.
"They've even broken one of the few meteor trees! What a waste!"
"What did we come here for?!" he exclaimed.
On the other side, Zhou Chen asked the same question after Chen Sui repaired their mechas, which already had low damage rates.
Xie Chunshi searched through a pile of data in the control room and finally found the birthplaces of snow bud branches, immediately sharing them to the team channel.
"Maybe it's destiny that we're meant to go after snow bud branches," the Team Leader joked.
This successfully calmed Zhou Chen's restlessness. He jumped up: "Well said! As expected from our Team Leader, with such high awareness."
"These locations don't seem to follow any pattern?" Chen Sui frowned slightly.
"When the Border Army clears resources, they generally don't remove everything completely. Look for places where snow bud branches have left root systems, particularly older locations. If snow bud branches haven't been completely energy-drained after clearing, there might still be a chance to get some."
Xie Chunshi marked several points, conveniently all around Base Station B. "These are closest, we can check them first."
While Zhu Jing Fu was searching for snow bud branch information in the base station, it was midday in the Sultry Red Forest, yet outside the window, dark clouds gathered and the smell of blood permeated the air.
The red rain came early again.
"Now it's really coming true—in the end, we'll all be fighting in the red rain until everyone's eliminated," Zhou Chen said, looking at the red rain pelting the outside of the base station with inner relief. "Our analysts are truly prescient. Sui, I've realized your habit of hoarding supplies is very good, commendable."
In the White Sand Sky Pillar Sea Domain, Zhou Chen hadn't understood Chen Sui's obsession with resources, but the materials and energy crystals exchanged at the market had given him quite a taste of the benefits. Since then, he'd become a devoted follower of Chen Sui's orders.
Now, following Chen Sui to collect a spatial pocket full of meteor trees, listening to the red rain fall and occasionally seeing elimination signals light up, he felt secure in his position.
"At this rate, after we defeat Golden Tower, we won't even need to search for coordinates one by one. A few red rain showers will eliminate the surviving teams."
With the number of mecha frames decreasing again, the refresh rate would be shorter. According to Xie Chunshi's prediction, the refresh rate would eventually reach one mecha per hour. After dealing with Golden Tower, Zhu Jing Fu would have ample time to sweep the battlefield.
"Once the red rain stops, we'll go after the snow bud branches."
The red rain falling at noon seemed like a signal, heralding that the red rain patterns in Sultry Red Forest were no longer regular.
In the afternoon, before sunset, the red rain suddenly stopped without any warning. The torrential rain simply cut off, followed by the clouds breaking and a beam of sunlight striking down, instantly dividing the gloomy curtain of rain.
The setting sun brought vast swathes of fiery clouds, abruptly sweeping across the sky.
As sunlight filtered through the base station's floor-to-ceiling windows, the five members of Zhu Jing Fu gathered in the control room, able to see traces of previous teams and, through data copy records, evidence of Golden Tower's recent departure.
"So that's why there's been no one in the base station," Chen Sui found it both amusing and frustrating. "Golden Tower would clear the area when they were here. Nearby teams wouldn't approach."
So first there was Xin Yan clearing the area for Zhou Chen, then Golden Tower clearing for Zhu Jing Fu.
Golden Tower really were good people.
Chen Sui's hair was tied up with an iron ring, bundled into two small circles hanging on either side of her shoulders, looking somewhat adorable. Her eyes were sharp and bright, reflecting the sunlight like highlights, extraordinarily vivid.
The bullet comments, seeing this scene, all commented on how appearances can be deceiving.
When she smiled, the dimples on her cheeks faintly appeared. Xie Chunshi caught a glimpse of their early formation, the corners of his lips rising slightly as he handed nutrition fluid to his teammates.
"Let's go, time to set out."
They determined their route for searching for snow bud branches. As for Golden Tower... they could fight them later.
Collecting resources was more urgent.
Snow bud branches sound like plant branches but are actually a mineral type, similar to nitrate, growing in the special geology of rainforests—sometimes on the surface, sometimes underground.
The geology of Sultry Red Forest, besides the characteristic black soil, also includes swamps, wet soil, and quicksand.
These geological environments are all foundations for nurturing snow bud branches.
In the records at Base Station B, there were many locations where snow bud branches had been cleared. Zhu Jing Fu scanned around based on proximity.
Most searches yielded nothing. The better ones allowed them to see growing minerals after digging in the sandy soil, which they promptly excavated completely.
In the control room, Mo Qiu'an found bitter amusement: "I'm going to clip this part separately and show it to the management department staff. This is how mining should be done—both sustainable and thorough."
Mo Qiu'an's words were understated.
[Director Mo: Questioning bandits, understanding bandits, becoming a bandit]
[Watch your language! What bandits? Our Zhu Jing Fu is just helping reduce the Border Army's pressure, understand?]
[Yes, yes, yes, how could Zhu Jing Fu be wrong? The materials they dig up will all be used on me!]
[The snow bud branches are what I need. If you want to blame someone, blame me]
[No one's blaming anyone. Honestly, could you teach us how you always manage to find resources with perfect accuracy?]
[...You think this is some kind of lucky thing?]
[Think about the Pure Blood Tree, the Purple-Winged Golden Butterfly... I can only say, without that level of strength, don't even dream about it]
[I suspect Zhu Jing Fu might actually dig something up for them...]
The new location was a huge quicksand pit in the jungle.
This jungle, like others in Sultry Red Forest, had tall, layered broad leaves, but the ground wasn't black soil. Even before entering, the mechas could clearly feel the soil becoming much softer. Stepping in from the periphery gave two distinctly different sensations.
On the ground, vines crossed and interlaced like a massive spider web covering the soil, layer upon layer. The mechas stepped on the vines, moving toward the snow bud branch location.
"The data says snow bud branches here were dug from under quicksand. There's an ore vein below, with a quicksand layer on top. There's a stone cave nearby that leads underground."
A layer of vines on the quicksand surface seemed to be a symbiotic relationship between plants and quicksand, creating a harmonious condition. The vines laid out a path over the quicksand. Following the vine trail, Zhu Jing Fu found the cave entrance recorded in the data on the rocky wall surrounding the forest. The mechas drilled inside.
Mo Qiu'an remembered this mine vividly: "Oh, this place."
"It was about twelve years ago when I led a team there. I was still the energy field manager for the Ninth Star Ring then, hadn't reached this position yet."
This scene awakened Mo Qiu'an's memories, immediately reminding her of her past experiences.
"Director Mo, what kind of mine is down there?" Jian Run asked from the side.
"This is a snow melting stone mine!" Mo Qiu'an smiled. "Surprising, right? We were shocked too. Despite Sultry Red Forest's concentrated fire and wood attributes, a fire attribute snow melting stone was born underground. This type of snow melting stone is very special. Normally, in ice and snow environments, snow melting stone can display excellent damage resistance after being tempered by energy, but this fire attribute snow melting stone doesn't have that property, so it's completely useless. But it grew snow bud branch clusters, so they were left behind during that clearing."
"When I checked the clearing records later, I found that earlier teams thought the same way. Later clearing teams determined they had no use and weren't affecting the energy field, so they were left again, all the way until now. I think..." Mo Qiu'an shook her head with a smile, "even if I were afraid, these wouldn't survive meeting Zhu Jing Fu."
These kids would definitely dig everything clean.
From the stone cave, after a long journey through darkness, the narrow tunnel path gradually became more spacious, with increasing room for movement.
Until light filtered in, revealing blue crystals growing here and there on the visible stone walls.