The Ant-man before him nodded in understanding after hearing what Lei Wenbo had to say.
It had been a huge gain for them, getting so many weapons last time.
He didn’t know why, but the weapon called a "pickaxe" was not only great for fighting, but also for mining.
But all that mattered was that it worked.
Sometimes, crawlers would squirm out of the mine tunnels, but one tap from a pickaxe was enough to kill them. The weapon was very useful. He had come this time hoping to buy more pickaxes; the Ant Mother had been very pleased after he brought the last batch back.
’It would be a wonderful sight,’ the Red-armored Ant-man thought, ’if every Ant-man in the tribe could have a pickaxe in the future.’
"Human, I like your weapons. Trade. Ore for weapons."
The Red-armored Ant-man was eager.
He and the group of Ant-men behind him set down the baskets from their backs.
They formed a line, each Ant-man placing its hands at its sides and standing up straight, looking very well-behaved.
Someone from the Qin Alliance stepped forward, took the baskets, and emptied the ore to be weighed and inspected.
Qin Ziwen walked over and glanced at the ore. It was still covered in dirt, clearly freshly mined. "The ore is decent," he said, "but we don’t need it. This stuff is everywhere down here; you can dig up a huge pile just about anywhere. It isn’t valuable. I’m more interested in other valuable information or items."
The Red-armored Ant-man froze. ’Not valuable? But last time, the humans gave us so many weapons for it.’
’So these humans are good people!’
From his perspective, the ore probably wasn’t valuable. After all, it was just rock buried in the dirt. Other than a few insects that needed to eat it, it didn’t have much use.
"What’s ’information’?"
"Valuable news," Qin Ziwen explained, giving examples. "Like where to find good food, or good items. Where it’s dangerous, and where it’s safe."
The Red-armored Ant-man had never considered what humans might want; they were just too rare in the underground world.
Suddenly, an idea struck him. He remembered something he had seen a long time ago.
Back then, he was just a Black-armored Ant-man. He had seen some humans go gleefully to an altar and take something from it.
Later, those humans all died.
When he went back, he found a red cube floating above the altar. He tried to grab it, but his fingers passed right through. After trying every method he could think of, he was unable to touch it and eventually gave up.
The altar was in a very hidden location. Ever since the humans in that area were wiped out, no others had come by.
The Red-armored Ant-man gestured with his hands. "A red cube. It glows. It seems only you humans can touch it. It’s in a hidden cave."
After hearing the description, Qin Ziwen took a Building Card from his robes. "Like this?"
"Yes," the Red-armored Ant-man nodded.
"And it’s red?"
"Red!"
Qin Ziwen understood. He put the Building Card away. ’If it’s a red Card, then it must be a Function Card.’
"Is the Card still there?"
The Red-armored Ant-man hesitated. "I don’t know. I haven’t been there in a long time. We Insect Men can’t touch it. The Card you mentioned might still be there."
"How far is the altar from here?"
"Five earth-hours. I can lead the way."
Qin Ziwen did a quick mental calculation. ’One earth-hour is three hours, so five earth-hours is fifteen hours.’
That wasn’t a short trip.
But it wasn’t too far, either.
Qin Ziwen looked back at his people. "Who wants to go?"
Du Yu stepped forward. "My lord, I can go."
Qin Ziwen considered it. "I’ll assign two Fishmen to go with you. Pack some rations."
Qin Ziwen turned back to the Red-armored Ant-man. "Besides the one with the red Card, how many other altars like this do you know of?"
The Red-armored Ant-man counted silently for a moment before answering, "Four. One is underwater, and three are by the water’s edge. Dark Tide Fishmen show up there often. It’s dangerous."
"Do those Dark Tide Fishmen take the Cards?"
The Red-armored Ant-man shook his head blankly. "I don’t know."
Qin Ziwen mused, ’If these Dark Tide Fishmen are backed by a Tuiyuan from the Fishman Race, they most likely wouldn’t miss out on the Cards generated by these altars.’
’After being collected, the Cards were probably offered up as tribute.’
’Although, if the Dark Tide Fishmen were bold enough, they might have hidden some away.’
Qin Ziwen said, "Mark down the locations of these altars for me. If possible, it would be best to have an Ant-man guide us. Rest assured, we’ll make it worth your while."
The Red-armored Ant-man, noticing how interested the humans were in the altars, said, "Okay. I only know some of the locations. I’ll go back and ask about the others."
"I appreciate it," Qin Ziwen said with a nod.
’This underground world is a labyrinth, and it’s pitch-dark. Finding the altars on their own would take an unknown amount of time and energy.’
’These Insect Men have lived here their whole lives; they’re much more familiar with the area.’
’With their help, they should be able to find all the altars in this underground world quickly.’
...
「In a certain world.」
The sky was a murky yellow, and the land was barren.
Roars echoed endlessly through the city’s ruins.
On the edge of the ruins stood a strikingly new, modern high-rise, completely out of place with its surroundings. On its top floor, Chen Jinming held a wine glass, his expression dark and uncertain as he stared at the empty air before him.
"Next week? Why does it have to be next week? I planted Blood-bone Flowers somewhere else! If I don’t go harvest them next week, I’ll have to wait another entire week! What if some beast eats them by then?"
"These are the guild’s rules," came a woman’s voice.
Chen Jinming retorted angrily, "What kind of tyrannical rule is that? I can deal with paying regular taxes, but now you’re trying to control our time, too?"
"That wasn’t your attitude when you were enjoying the conveniences and resources the guild provides."
Chen Jinming was taken aback. "How is that the same thing?! I really have something important to do! I put a lot of effort into those Blood-bone Flowers. Besides, the guild has so many members. Does absolutely everyone have to participate?"
"This trip won’t use up your personal backtrack function’s time. It’s a guild ability that will only use up the guild master’s own backtrack cooldown."
"In that case..." Chen Jinming’s voice trailed off. "If it doesn’t use my cooldown, I guess it’s okay... but I don’t have any naval forces. I can’t even scrape together a single proper ship. I’ll just hold everyone back once we’re at sea."
"We will provide the ships. Our opponents this time, aside from other Tuiyuan, will mainly be the Sea Beasts. That map has quite a few large, sea-dwelling dinosaurs."
"Why are so many Tuiyuan going all of a sudden? Is there some special resource there?" Chen Jinming asked, his curiosity piqued.
The voice on the other end was silent for a moment. "There’s no harm in telling you. According to reliable intelligence, that map contains a Level 9 Marvel: the Heart of the World."
"The Heart of the World," Chen Jinming murmured.
’Just from the name, it sounds like a high-level Marvel. I wonder what it does.’
’A Level 9 Marvel... I’ve never even seen one of those before.’
...
...