The good news was that the team had successfully found allies to cooperate with on this map.
The bad news was that these allies, whom they had never met, had been devastated, suffering heavy losses from an attack by an insect swarm.
"They lost over a hundred people. A large section of the houses in their settlement was burned down, and there were scorched marks everywhere. When we arrived, they were still cleaning up the aftermath. We don’t know the specifics, but their casualties must have been significant."
Looking at the burly man before him, Qin Ziwen felt he looked somewhat familiar.
After sizing him up for a moment, he remembered. "You’re Chen Jingsi, right?"
The burly man with thick brows, a broad nose, and a square face looked up. A flash of surprise crossed his eyes. ’I can’t believe the President actually remembers my name.’ "Yes."
"I remember you. The last time on the Island, you were the one who volunteered to be the envoy to the Urban Village."
Chen Jingsi was both surprised and flattered that the President remembered him.
Qin Ziwen said, "What made you want to go so far out? Weren’t you afraid of the danger?"
"Our job is to scout for danger," Chen Jingsi said without hesitation. "Discovering threats allows us to prepare for them."
Qin Ziwen gave him a deep look. "You’ve done good work. What’s their attitude?"
"They asked a few simple questions about our situation. Judging by their attitude, they seem to want to cooperate, but because of what just happened to them, they’re very wary of us."
After getting a basic grasp of the situation, Qin Ziwen nodded. At the very least, they now knew the other party’s location.
It was only natural for the other party to be on guard. After all, based on past encounters, different Tuiyuan could sometimes be competitors.
Although this was supposed to be a cooperative effort, the ties binding them were tenuous at best.
Home hadn’t indicated whether there would be any penalty for attacking a partner.
This so-called cooperation was more like a verbal gentleman’s agreement.
And now that they were injured, it was only natural for them to be on guard.
...
"I never thought the other Tuiyuan would find us so soon." Two figures stood on the walls surrounding the town.
On the left was a long-haired youth in black martial attire, a long saber hanging from his waist.
On the right was an elegant, middle-aged man in a blue robe with a jade belt, his hair long at the temples.
The elegant middle-aged man nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. "It seems they’re fine. They probably weren’t attacked by the insect swarm."
"They’re really lucky," the long-haired youth said hesitantly. "Mr. Lu, should we make contact with them? We don’t know anything about them yet. Judging from that man’s clothing, they don’t seem to be from our time period."
A sharp glint flashed in Mr. Lu’s eyes. "Young Clan Leader Xue, we can try initiating contact. The fact that they found us so quickly proves they can’t be too far away. Our two groups will have to interact sooner or later.
If we deliberately avoid them now, it will only make it seem like we fear them, which would put us at a disadvantage.
Since they’ve taken the initiative to come to us, we might as well go with the flow and make contact. It would be best if we could form a partnership, but at the very least, we need to figure out their intentions."
The long-haired youth, addressed as the young clan leader, thought that made sense. "Many of the houses in town were burned down. We need lumber for rebuilding. Those insects are also afraid of fire, which also requires wood. We have a huge shortage of wood. I just wonder if the other party has any to spare."
"We can look for an opportunity to buy more lumber from them," Mr. Lu nodded slowly. "However, we first need to probe them and see if they know the insects’ weakness."
Meanwhile, the scouting teams were returning from the various cave entrances.
They brought news of two altars.
One was deep inside the northern passage.
The passage sloped upward and had many forks. At the end of one of these forks, an altar was built on a cliff in a very precarious position.
The team discovered traces of black beetle activity nearby, so they didn’t dare linger and quickly retreated.
The other was near the western passage, less than five hundred meters as the crow flies from the Gated Community. Its location was concealed, and there were no immediate dangers in the vicinity.
After an assessment, it was determined that it could serve as a permanent resource node within the Qin Alliance’s sphere of influence.
The Card on the altar was also brought back.
It was a [Enhancement Card] Human Physique Enhancement Card (One-Star).
In accordance with the contribution system, the team that found it immediately used their contribution points to claim and use it.
Aside from the altars, they had made an even more noteworthy discovery.
"You found a forest?"
"Yes, President," Yuan Ming confirmed. "At the very end of the southwestern passage, there’s a fork. It leads into an enormous cavern. The walls and stone pillars inside are covered with vines, and the ground is overgrown with vast patches of drab, shrub-like plants. They’re growing exceptionally well, most of them over three meters tall."
"Are there animals in there besides the plants?"
"We didn’t dare venture too far in, but I’d guess there almost certainly are," Yuan Ming said, offering his speculation.
If black beetles and giant centipedes could emerge from the bare stone caves outside, it was impossible for such a vast Underground Forest to be empty.
That was why he hadn’t dared to explore any deeper.
He paused for a moment before adding an important detail. "Oh, and President, when we got close to the cavern, we could clearly feel... the temperature inside was much higher than outside. It wasn’t cold at all."
"It could be geothermal heat or some other environmental factor." Qin Ziwen considered the news from Yuan Ming’s team to be very important.
’This means this underground map isn’t just bare rock,’ he thought. ’Now we’ve found vegetation.’
’There’s even an entire Underground Forest.’
’And if there’s one, there might be another.’
’This might be what’s sustaining the black beetle population.’
’This underground area isn’t just a cave system; it’s more likely a vast, complete subterranean ecosystem.’
"Investigate it gradually. I recall that body of water—the one we couldn’t tell was a river or a lake—is to the south, correct? It might be connected to that Underground Forest. Patrol teams need to increase their patrols to the south and expand their surveillance perimeter." Qin Ziwen turned to look at his younger brother.
Qin Ziwu nodded in understanding.
Qin Ziwen then said in a grave tone, "Black beetles were also discovered to the north, and it was black beetles that attacked the other Tuiyuan. Why are there so many of these things? The question is whether they all belong to the same colony."
"If they’re all from the same colony, that’s terrifying." The corner of Qin Ziwu’s mouth twitched. ’He couldn’t even begin to imagine how massive the black beetle nest would have to be if that were true.’
"And if they aren’t from the same colony, that’s even more terrifying," Qin Ziwen glanced at him. "It would mean these things are as common as ants down here. Can you kill every ant in the world?"
Qin Ziwu felt a headache coming on. "Then is there no way to deal with them?"
Cao Biansheng had a sudden flash of inspiration. "With these black beetles, could there be a queen? Like an Ant Queen. If we could capture the black beetle queen, could we use her to control the rest, like holding the Emperor to command the nobles? Or maybe even raise our own army of black beetles."
...
...