Chapter 106.3
If audio player doesn't work, press Stop then Play button again
They took a special passage this time, arriving over the garbage planet in just a day and a half. To avoid alerting the enemy, they didn’t descend directly upon arrival but quietly landed their mechas from high altitude.
The garbage planet has been completely swept clean. Now only half of the military and mining teams remain on the planet to continue searching for the laboratory’s whereabouts, but so far, their harvest has been zero, and there are no signs of anyone else landing on the planet.
Fan Xiangnan looked at the normal brown ground revealed after the sweep and said, “If Ning Tianxing and the others are here, they should have used the black hole transmission device to come and go.” Otherwise, they wouldn’t have remained undetected.
Chu Rong also looked at the vast expanse of the planet’s surface, his brow furrowed.
The laboratory must be underground, but the military has already roughly traversed the entire planet during the sweep, yet they haven’t found anything, making the situation a bit tricky.
Qiao Zhiya, who had been quietly standing by Chu Rong’s side since landing, reached out at the right moment and grabbed Chu Rong’s hand, shaking his head.
Chu Rong turned to look at him.
“I’m very good at detecting things underground,” he cautiously proposed, conjuring a bit of earth magic and explaining, “The laboratory should be deep underground. I can give it a try.”
Chu Rong immediately clasped his hand, his spiritual energy becoming even more unstable.
Qiao Zhiya quickly took out a vial of potion and fed it to him. Leaning against him obediently, he said, “You accompany me to search. This time, I won’t overextend my abilities. If I get tired, I’ll rest immediately, and if I get sleepy, I’ll sleep right away, okay?”
Chu Rong shook his head, reaching out his arm to embrace him tightly, replying, “No, that’s not allowed.”
Qiao Zhiya nestled obediently in his arms, returning the embrace and gently running his hand down Chu Rong’s back, continuing softly, “But time really can’t be wasted anymore. Ning Tianxing and the others have gone to great lengths to delay us, surely because whatever is in the laboratory is very important and absolutely must not be discovered by us. Chu Rong, it’s almost New Year’s. We’ve all suffered a lot this year. Let’s have a relaxing New Year, okay?”
Chu Rong, of course, understood all this even better than Qiao Zhiya did. He, who used to be extremely rational, was now frustratingly hesitant.
“Chu Rong, I want to protect you too,” Qiao Zhiya looked up, gently nuzzling his face, his eyes filled with worry. “What happened to you during this time? I’m really worried.”
Chu Rong rarely saw him with such eyes, and his heart tightened. The erratic spiritual energy abruptly stopped, and he swallowed hard before slowly releasing him, saying, “Magic array.”
Qiao Zhiya looked puzzled. “What?”
“After you exhausted your strength, there was a magic array that appeared around you. It almost took you away.” Chu Rong touched his forehead, his finger moving to a small bump on his forehead, gently pressing it. “Then the next day after you woke up, this appeared on your forehead.”
“Ah?”
Qiao Zhiya was dumbfounded, completely not expecting the truth to be like this. He raised his hand to feel the small horn on his forehead, frowning slowly. “Could it really be atavism?”
“Atavism?” Chu Rong frowned, feeling like he had heard some awful term. He asked with a furrowed brow, “What does that mean?”
“It means awakening the power of one’s ancestors within the body, manifested through the bloodline.” Qiao Zhiya explained, looking very distressed. “During atavism, the body’s strength can be unstable, and occasionally strange things can happen. But why would I experience atavism? It shouldn’t be, my father’s bloodline is very pure. Could it be my mother?”
Although his mother was a descendant of wandering dwarves and was taller than average for a dwarf, she still had distinct dwarf features. There were no features of other races apparent.
Unstable strength?
Chu Rong suddenly remembered Qiao Zhiya’s subconscious doodling of magic arrays in the mud when his powers went berserk before. His face darkened as he felt he might have discovered the truth. He asked, “Are there any magic arrays that lose their effect when others’ blood splashes onto them?”
“Many, um, you and I… well, our power compositions are different. Human blood has a certain contaminating effect on pure magical energy.” Qiao Zhiya felt inexplicably guilty under his gaze, stuttering a bit before asking, “W-why are you looking at me like that? D-did I make a mistake again?”
He made a big mistake!
“You really are…” Chu Rong reached out and pulled him closer. Seeing him shrink back, too afraid to move, and feeling unable to continue scolding him, he recalled the various terrifying imaginings he had had about that magic array during this time. He felt like his chest was about to explode. Finally, he took a deep breath and asked, “Then, are there any magic arrays that would make your body transparent and almost disappear?”
Qiao Zhiya’s ears twitched, and he instinctively replied, “Teleportation array? I was just studying it recently… um…”
He noticed Chu Rong’s expression becoming even more serious, so he promptly shut his mouth and snuggled into the other’s embrace. Ever since he discovered that the main factor for the black hole device to function was the red patterns on it, he had been secretly studying them, speculating whether those patterns were similar to teleportation arrays. During his free time, he occasionally drew and analyzed the power transmission methods of teleportation arrays.
Now it seemed that he had subconsciously drawn a teleportation array during his atavism, and it had succeeded, frightening Chu Rong.
This was really unfortunate. Although he had upgraded his powers, he didn’t have much knowledge of array studies and wasn’t very adept at drawing advanced arrays like teleportation arrays. He had never succeeded in drawing one before… cough.
Feeling increasingly guilty, he hurriedly rubbed against Chu Rong’s chest to try to appease him, soothingly saying, “There’s no magic in the air here, and even if a high-level teleportation array is formed, it can’t teleport too far. Don’t worry, I… I promise not to recklessly exhaust my powers again in the future!”
Chu Rong almost gritted his teeth as he forcefully rubbed his head and then, unwilling to let it go, tugged at his guilty ears. He almost wished he could shrink him down and put him in a cage so he wouldn’t unintentionally cause trouble again!
After this ordeal, the knot in Chu Rong’s heart finally loosened. He agreed to Qiao Zhiya’s request to use magic to search for the laboratory, but with one condition: absolutely no power exhaustion allowed!
Qiao Zhiya vigorously nodded, taking out a piece of jade and holding it, replenishing his power as he used it.
Chu Rong disguised himself as a member of the mining team, piloting a standard gray mech, pretending to be engaged in normal operations as he slowly moved across the planet with Qiao Zhiya.
Inside the cockpit, Qiao Zhiya closed his eyes and gradually released his earth-elemental magic, seeping into the ground.
The earth, now able to breathe freely once more, warmly responded to his exploration. The gentle power flowed back to him with each layer he delved deeper, causing him to subconsciously smile and relax his features.
Chu Rong kept a close eye on him, noticing his joyful expression, slightly flushed cheeks, and apparent relaxation, which eased his heightened concerns somewhat.
Unbeknownst to them, more than an hour had passed, and they had searched a large area without any significant findings. Chu Rong was about to suggest a break for Qiao Zhiya when he suddenly moved his ears and then crouched down in the cockpit.
“What’s wrong?” Chu Rong quickly slowed down the mech’s speed and asked with concern.
“I hear something,” Qiao Zhiya replied briefly, signaling for him to be quiet as he directed his power towards the source of the sound.
“Hsss….”
After penetrating several hundred meters deeper into the ground, a faint sound resembling the rustling of wind reached their ears.
Wind underground? Qiao Zhiya was puzzled and shook his ears.
How could there be wind underground? A cave?
As he increased the intensity of his power and focused more on listening to the feedback from the earth, the sound of wind became clearer. It seemed to be mixed with a vague “swishing” noise, which he vaguely recognized.
He adjusted his position and concentrated his power into a thread, drilling towards the source of the sound.
With a swish, as if puncturing a thin membrane that had been covering the sound, the deafening chirps of the Zergs and the roar of some kind of beast echoed, almost deafening him.
Startled, he froze, his power cut off. He straightened up and turned to look at Chu Rong, wide-eyed, quickly saying, “It’s deep, very deep! There are Zergs down there!”
Chu Rong’s expression darkened. He immediately transmitted the coordinates of the location back to the military base and the flagship hovering above the planet, then piloted the mecha to swiftly ascend, waiting for the arrival of the reinforcements.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
They took a special passage this time, arriving over the garbage planet in just a day and a half. To avoid alerting the enemy, they didn’t descend directly upon arrival but quietly landed their mechas from high altitude.
The garbage planet has been completely swept clean. Now only half of the military and mining teams remain on the planet to continue searching for the laboratory’s whereabouts, but so far, their harvest has been zero, and there are no signs of anyone else landing on the planet.
Fan Xiangnan looked at the normal brown ground revealed after the sweep and said, “If Ning Tianxing and the others are here, they should have used the black hole transmission device to come and go.” Otherwise, they wouldn’t have remained undetected.
Chu Rong also looked at the vast expanse of the planet’s surface, his brow furrowed.
The laboratory must be underground, but the military has already roughly traversed the entire planet during the sweep, yet they haven’t found anything, making the situation a bit tricky.
Qiao Zhiya, who had been quietly standing by Chu Rong’s side since landing, reached out at the right moment and grabbed Chu Rong’s hand, shaking his head.
Chu Rong turned to look at him.
“I’m very good at detecting things underground,” he cautiously proposed, conjuring a bit of earth magic and explaining, “The laboratory should be deep underground. I can give it a try.”
Chu Rong immediately clasped his hand, his spiritual energy becoming even more unstable.
Qiao Zhiya quickly took out a vial of potion and fed it to him. Leaning against him obediently, he said, “You accompany me to search. This time, I won’t overextend my abilities. If I get tired, I’ll rest immediately, and if I get sleepy, I’ll sleep right away, okay?”
Chu Rong shook his head, reaching out his arm to embrace him tightly, replying, “No, that’s not allowed.”
Qiao Zhiya nestled obediently in his arms, returning the embrace and gently running his hand down Chu Rong’s back, continuing softly, “But time really can’t be wasted anymore. Ning Tianxing and the others have gone to great lengths to delay us, surely because whatever is in the laboratory is very important and absolutely must not be discovered by us. Chu Rong, it’s almost New Year’s. We’ve all suffered a lot this year. Let’s have a relaxing New Year, okay?”
Chu Rong, of course, understood all this even better than Qiao Zhiya did. He, who used to be extremely rational, was now frustratingly hesitant.
“Chu Rong, I want to protect you too,” Qiao Zhiya looked up, gently nuzzling his face, his eyes filled with worry. “What happened to you during this time? I’m really worried.”
Chu Rong rarely saw him with such eyes, and his heart tightened. The erratic spiritual energy abruptly stopped, and he swallowed hard before slowly releasing him, saying, “Magic array.”
Qiao Zhiya looked puzzled. “What?”
“After you exhausted your strength, there was a magic array that appeared around you. It almost took you away.” Chu Rong touched his forehead, his finger moving to a small bump on his forehead, gently pressing it. “Then the next day after you woke up, this appeared on your forehead.”
“Ah?”
Qiao Zhiya was dumbfounded, completely not expecting the truth to be like this. He raised his hand to feel the small horn on his forehead, frowning slowly. “Could it really be atavism?”
“Atavism?” Chu Rong frowned, feeling like he had heard some awful term. He asked with a furrowed brow, “What does that mean?”
“It means awakening the power of one’s ancestors within the body, manifested through the bloodline.” Qiao Zhiya explained, looking very distressed. “During atavism, the body’s strength can be unstable, and occasionally strange things can happen. But why would I experience atavism? It shouldn’t be, my father’s bloodline is very pure. Could it be my mother?”
Although his mother was a descendant of wandering dwarves and was taller than average for a dwarf, she still had distinct dwarf features. There were no features of other races apparent.
Unstable strength?
Chu Rong suddenly remembered Qiao Zhiya’s subconscious doodling of magic arrays in the mud when his powers went berserk before. His face darkened as he felt he might have discovered the truth. He asked, “Are there any magic arrays that lose their effect when others’ blood splashes onto them?”
“Many, um, you and I… well, our power compositions are different. Human blood has a certain contaminating effect on pure magical energy.” Qiao Zhiya felt inexplicably guilty under his gaze, stuttering a bit before asking, “W-why are you looking at me like that? D-did I make a mistake again?”
He made a big mistake!
“You really are…” Chu Rong reached out and pulled him closer. Seeing him shrink back, too afraid to move, and feeling unable to continue scolding him, he recalled the various terrifying imaginings he had had about that magic array during this time. He felt like his chest was about to explode. Finally, he took a deep breath and asked, “Then, are there any magic arrays that would make your body transparent and almost disappear?”
Qiao Zhiya’s ears twitched, and he instinctively replied, “Teleportation array? I was just studying it recently… um…”
He noticed Chu Rong’s expression becoming even more serious, so he promptly shut his mouth and snuggled into the other’s embrace. Ever since he discovered that the main factor for the black hole device to function was the red patterns on it, he had been secretly studying them, speculating whether those patterns were similar to teleportation arrays. During his free time, he occasionally drew and analyzed the power transmission methods of teleportation arrays.
Now it seemed that he had subconsciously drawn a teleportation array during his atavism, and it had succeeded, frightening Chu Rong.
This was really unfortunate. Although he had upgraded his powers, he didn’t have much knowledge of array studies and wasn’t very adept at drawing advanced arrays like teleportation arrays. He had never succeeded in drawing one before… cough.
Feeling increasingly guilty, he hurriedly rubbed against Chu Rong’s chest to try to appease him, soothingly saying, “There’s no magic in the air here, and even if a high-level teleportation array is formed, it can’t teleport too far. Don’t worry, I… I promise not to recklessly exhaust my powers again in the future!”
Chu Rong almost gritted his teeth as he forcefully rubbed his head and then, unwilling to let it go, tugged at his guilty ears. He almost wished he could shrink him down and put him in a cage so he wouldn’t unintentionally cause trouble again!
After this ordeal, the knot in Chu Rong’s heart finally loosened. He agreed to Qiao Zhiya’s request to use magic to search for the laboratory, but with one condition: absolutely no power exhaustion allowed!
Qiao Zhiya vigorously nodded, taking out a piece of jade and holding it, replenishing his power as he used it.
Chu Rong disguised himself as a member of the mining team, piloting a standard gray mech, pretending to be engaged in normal operations as he slowly moved across the planet with Qiao Zhiya.
Inside the cockpit, Qiao Zhiya closed his eyes and gradually released his earth-elemental magic, seeping into the ground.
The earth, now able to breathe freely once more, warmly responded to his exploration. The gentle power flowed back to him with each layer he delved deeper, causing him to subconsciously smile and relax his features.
Chu Rong kept a close eye on him, noticing his joyful expression, slightly flushed cheeks, and apparent relaxation, which eased his heightened concerns somewhat.
Unbeknownst to them, more than an hour had passed, and they had searched a large area without any significant findings. Chu Rong was about to suggest a break for Qiao Zhiya when he suddenly moved his ears and then crouched down in the cockpit.
“What’s wrong?” Chu Rong quickly slowed down the mech’s speed and asked with concern.
“I hear something,” Qiao Zhiya replied briefly, signaling for him to be quiet as he directed his power towards the source of the sound.
“Hsss….”
After penetrating several hundred meters deeper into the ground, a faint sound resembling the rustling of wind reached their ears.
Wind underground? Qiao Zhiya was puzzled and shook his ears.
How could there be wind underground? A cave?
As he increased the intensity of his power and focused more on listening to the feedback from the earth, the sound of wind became clearer. It seemed to be mixed with a vague “swishing” noise, which he vaguely recognized.
He adjusted his position and concentrated his power into a thread, drilling towards the source of the sound.
With a swish, as if puncturing a thin membrane that had been covering the sound, the deafening chirps of the Zergs and the roar of some kind of beast echoed, almost deafening him.
Startled, he froze, his power cut off. He straightened up and turned to look at Chu Rong, wide-eyed, quickly saying, “It’s deep, very deep! There are Zergs down there!”
Chu Rong’s expression darkened. He immediately transmitted the coordinates of the location back to the military base and the flagship hovering above the planet, then piloted the mecha to swiftly ascend, waiting for the arrival of the reinforcements.
They took a special passage this time, arriving over the garbage planet in just a day and a half. To avoid alerting the enemy, they didn't descend directly upon arrival but quietly landed their mechas from high altitude.The garbage planet has been completely swept clean. Now only half of the military and mining teams remain on the planet to continue searching for the laboratory's whereabouts, but so far, their harvest has been zero, and there are no signs of anyone else landing on the planet.Fan Xiangnan looked at the normal brown ground revealed after the sweep and said, If Ning Tianxing and the others are here, they should have used the black hole transmission device to come and go. Otherwise, they wouldn't have remained undetected.Chu Rong also looked at the vast expanse of the planet's surface, his brow furrowed.The laboratory must be underground, but the military has already roughly traversed the entire planet during the sweep, yet they haven't found anything, making the situation a bit tricky.Qiao Zhiya, who had been quietly standing by Chu Rong's side since landing, reached out at the right moment and grabbed Chu Rong's hand, shaking his head.Chu Rong turned to look at him.I'm very good at detecting things underground, he cautiously proposed, conjuring a bit of earth magic and explaining, The laboratory should be deep underground. I can give it a try.Chu Rong immediately clasped his hand, his spiritual energy becoming even more unstable.Qiao Zhiya quickly took out a vial of potion and fed it to him. Leaning against him obediently, he said, You accompany me to search. This time, I won't overextend my abilities. If I get tired, I'll rest immediately, and if I get sleepy, I'll sleep right away, okay?Chu Rong shook his head, reaching out his arm to embrace him tightly, replying, No, that's not allowed.Qiao Zhiya nestled obediently in his arms, returning the embrace and gently running his hand down Chu Rong's back, continuing softly, But time really can't be wasted anymore. Ning Tianxing and the others have gone to great lengths to delay us, surely because whatever is in the laboratory is very important and absolutely must not be discovered by us. Chu Rong, it's almost New Year's. We've all suffered a lot this year. Let's have a relaxing New Year, okay?Chu Rong, of course, understood all this even better than Qiao Zhiya did. He, who used to be extremely rational, was now frustratingly hesitant.Chu Rong, I want to protect you too, Qiao Zhiya looked up, gently nuzzling his face, his eyes filled with worry. What happened to you during this time? I'm really worried.Chu Rong rarely saw him with such eyes, and his heart tightened. The erratic spiritual energy abruptly stopped, and he swallowed hard before slowly releasing him, saying, Magic array.Qiao Zhiya looked puzzled. What?After you exhausted your strength, there was a magic array that appeared around you. It almost took you away. Chu Rong touched his forehead, his finger moving to a small bump on his forehead, gently pressing it. Then the next day after you woke up, this appeared on your forehead.Ah?Qiao Zhiya was dumbfounded, completely not expecting the truth to be like this. He raised his hand to feel the small horn on his forehead, frowning slowly. Could it really be atavism?Atavism? Chu Rong frowned, feeling like he had heard some awful term. He asked with a furrowed brow, What does that mean?It means awakening the power of one's ancestors within the body, manifested through the bloodline. Qiao Zhiya explained, looking very distressed. During atavism, the body's strength can be unstable, and occasionally strange things can happen. But why would I experience atavism? It shouldn't be, my father's bloodline is very pure. Could it be my mother?Although his mother was a descendant of wandering dwarves and was taller than average for a dwarf, she still had distinct dwarf features. There were no features of other races apparent.Unstable strength?Chu Rong suddenly remembered Qiao Zhiya's subconscious doodling of magic arrays in the mud when his powers went berserk before. His face darkened as he felt he might have discovered the truth. He asked, Are there any magic arrays that lose their effect when others' blood splashes onto them?Many, um, you and I well, our power compositions are different. Human blood has a certain contaminating effect on pure magical energy. Qiao Zhiya felt inexplicably guilty under his gaze, stuttering a bit before asking, W-why are you looking at me like that? D-did I make a mistake again?He made a big mistake!You really are Chu Rong reached out and pulled him closer. Seeing him shrink back, too afraid to move, and feeling unable to continue scolding him, he recalled the various terrifying imaginings he had had about that magic array during this time. He felt like his chest was about to explode. Finally, he took a deep breath and asked, Then, are there any magic arrays that would make your body transparent and almost disappear?Qiao Zhiya's ears twitched, and he instinctively replied, Teleportation array? I was just studying it recently umHe noticed Chu Rong's expression becoming even more serious, so he promptly shut his mouth and snuggled into the other's embrace. Ever since he discovered that the main factor for the black hole device to function was the red patterns on it, he had been secretly studying them, speculating whether those patterns were similar to teleportation arrays. During his free time, he occasionally drew and analyzed the power transmission methods of teleportation arrays.Now it seemed that he had subconsciously drawn a teleportation array during his atavism, and it had succeeded, frightening Chu Rong.This was really unfortunate. Although he had upgraded his powers, he didn't have much knowledge of array studies and wasn't very adept at drawing advanced arrays like teleportation arrays. He had never succeeded in drawing one before cough.Feeling increasingly guilty, he hurriedly rubbed against Chu Rong's chest to try to appease him, soothingly saying, There's no magic in the air here, and even if a high-level teleportation array is formed, it can't teleport too far. Don't worry, I I promise not to recklessly exhaust my powers again in the future!Chu Rong almost gritted his teeth as he forcefully rubbed his head and then, unwilling to let it go, tugged at his guilty ears. He almost wished he could shrink him down and put him in a cage so he wouldn't unintentionally cause trouble again!After this ordeal, the knot in Chu Rong's heart finally loosened. He agreed to Qiao Zhiya's request to use magic to search for the laboratory, but with one condition: absolutely no power exhaustion allowed!Qiao Zhiya vigorously nodded, taking out a piece of jade and holding it, replenishing his power as he used it.Chu Rong disguised himself as a member of the mining team, piloting a standard gray mech, pretending to be engaged in normal operations as he slowly moved across the planet with Qiao Zhiya.Inside the cockpit, Qiao Zhiya closed his eyes and gradually released his earth-elemental magic, seeping into the ground.The earth, now able to breathe freely once more, warmly responded to his exploration. The gentle power flowed back to him with each layer he delved deeper, causing him to subconsciously smile and relax his features.Chu Rong kept a close eye on him, noticing his joyful expression, slightly flushed cheeks, and apparent relaxation, which eased his heightened concerns somewhat.Unbeknownst to them, more than an hour had passed, and they had searched a large area without any significant findings. Chu Rong was about to suggest a break for Qiao Zhiya when he suddenly moved his ears and then crouched down in the cockpit.What's wrong? Chu Rong quickly slowed down the mech's speed and asked with concern.I hear something, Qiao Zhiya replied briefly, signaling for him to be quiet as he directed his power towards the source of the sound.Hsss.After penetrating several hundred meters deeper into the ground, a faint sound resembling the rustling of wind reached their ears.Wind underground? Qiao Zhiya was puzzled and shook his ears.How could there be wind underground? A cave?As he increased the intensity of his power and focused more on listening to the feedback from the earth, the sound of wind became clearer. It seemed to be mixed with a vague swishing noise, which he vaguely recognized.He adjusted his position and concentrated his power into a thread, drilling towards the source of the sound.With a swish, as if puncturing a thin membrane that had been covering the sound, the deafening chirps of the Zergs and the roar of some kind of beast echoed, almost deafening him.Startled, he froze, his power cut off. He straightened up and turned to look at Chu Rong, wide-eyed, quickly saying, It's deep, very deep! There are Zergs down there!Chu Rong's expression darkened. He immediately transmitted the coordinates of the location back to the military base and the flagship hovering above the planet, then piloted the mecha to swiftly ascend, waiting for the arrival of the reinforcements.
