115: Chapter 115: Obtaining the Pebble!

Chen Chen pointed at the reactor. "I'm taking this directly. I'll also move the refinery. I can give up the items in the lockers, but you must hand over the pebble."

"On what grounds?"

"On the grounds that you can't escape."

Chen Chen's voice was flat, but his Mental Power released an extremely brief pulse at that moment.

Zhijin's silver liquid metal body trembled violently.

It took half a step back.

"Your anchoring program restricts you from leaving within fifty meters. Your combat capabilities are suppressed in this warehouse."

Chen Chen took a step forward. "If you could beat me, you wouldn't have had to beg me to unlock you long ago."

Zhijin's silver threads writhed frantically for a few seconds, and finally—

Stopped.

"The pebble is yours."

"But the activation code for the reactor—"

"No need. I have the complete set of manufacturing blueprints."

Zhijin's body swayed.

"...You have what?"

Chen Chen didn't repeat himself.

Walking up to the reactor, he slapped his right hand onto its casing, and the storage ring flashed—

The two-meter-tall, over one-ton grade a nuclear reactor vanished into thin air, sucked into the spatial storage.

Zhijin stood frozen, the writhing frequency of its silver threads turning into a chaotic mess.

The thing it had been sitting on just a moment ago was simply gone.

Chen Chen walked toward the refinery.

With the same operation, a slap of his right hand, and the storage ring swallowed it.

Then he turned to face Zhijin and held out his hand.

"The pebble."

Zhijin's hand holding the pebble was trembling.

It had been trapped in this warehouse for who knows how long; the only bargaining chip it had to negotiate with the outside world was being emptied out piece by piece.

Three seconds later.

Zhijin handed over the silver-gray inheritance pebble.

Chen Chen took the pebble.

The moment his palm touched the surface, the pebble grew slightly warm, and a faint hum emanated from its spiral patterns.

Storage ring.

The pebble vanished.

Chen Chen turned and walked toward the door.

"Wait!"

Zhijin's synthesized voice pitched up.

"You're just leaving like this?"

Chen Chen didn't even look back.

"You—"

Zhijin's voice splintered into static noise. "I gave you everything you wanted. The pebble, the reactor, the refinery—at least you—"

"I didn't promise you anything."

Chen Chen reached the door.

Jiang Yanxue, Su Xiaoqi, and Blood Rose had already exited the warehouse.

"But you will regret this."

Zhijin's synthesized voice suddenly changed its tone, shifting from irritability to a strange calmness.

"Once the second map opens, the war zones will merge. Do you think you'll only be facing humans from other zones?"

Chen Chen's footsteps paused for a beat.

"I am not the only seed of the Lord of Flesh. Zone 068, Zone 071, Zone 073—seeds are buried underground in every zone. Some have already sprouted, and some have grown into things you cannot imagine."

Zhijin's silver liquid metal body began to sink, its legs dissolving into the ground from the knees down.

"You have killed its Apostle projections, destroyed its Crimson Hive, and carry the highest-level hatred mark on you. In the next map—"

Its upper body also began to liquefy, silver metal flowing down from its chest.

"—you will become the primary hunting target for all the seeds."

When its body had dissolved until only its shoulders and head remained, Zhijin said one last thing.

"Remember my name, Zhijin. We will meet again, heretic."

The silver liquid metal completely seeped into the ground, silently.

The warehouse was empty.

On the three-meter-thick lead-silver alloy door frame, the deep blue emergency light flickered twice and went out.

In the communicator, Shen Wanbing let out a long breath.

"It's gone. Vital signs—still zero. Untraceable."

Chen Chen stood at the door, rubbing his thumb around the storage ring.

The reactor was obtained.

The refinery was obtained, and the pebble was obtained.

The lockers weren't opened; the three Class A items were abandoned.

But Zhijin's final words—

Zone 068, Zone 071, Zone 073.

Seeds were buried underground in every zone.

The war zone merger was imminent.

The "knockout match" Park Jae-hyun mentioned, plus the "seed network" Zhijin referred to.

The difficulty of the second map was much higher than he had previously estimated.

"Brother?" Su Xiaoqi tugged on his sleeve from outside. "Are we leaving or not?"

Chen Chen turned around.

"Let's go, back to the vehicle."

Jiang Yanxue was already walking back with her blade in hand.

Blood Rose leaned against the passage wall waiting for him, a few strands of her burgundy curly hair falling loose, her cheeks pale—the low temperature underground had affected her significantly.

Chen Chen fished out a piece of jerky from his storage ring and tossed it to Blood Rose.

"Eat this to warm up."

Blood Rose caught it, took a bite, chewed, and followed the team.

The four of them returned the way they came.

Negative eighty meters.

Negative sixty meters.

The sky's light from the shaft leaked down from above.

The Ghost Fortress was parked on the first-floor platform, its armored door open.

Qin Hongye leaned against the second-floor firing port, the muzzle of her gauss rifle still pointed toward the passage.

Shen Wanxing stood by the vehicle door, her hands wringing together, her light amber pupils filled with worry.

Seeing Chen Chen come up, she ran over and grabbed his tactical long sleeve.

"Are you okay? That metallic voice in the communicator just now... it was so scary—"

"I'm fine."

Chen Chen stepped into the vehicle and walked to the command console.

Shen Wanbing turned her chair to face him.

The person who had been incredibly calm in the communicator just now had her necklace flashing blue light incessantly, but she remained steady—brushing a few stray hairs from her forehead, she spoke.

"Loot inventory?"

"One grade a nuclear reactor, one material refinery. One Snake Scale Tribe inheritance pebble, one core component. Plus the three pieces of Memory Damping Alloy that Shen Wanxing dropped earlier."

Shen Wanbing's fingers recorded rapidly on the panel.

"What about the lockers?"

"Didn't open them. Forcing the locks would trigger degaussing, and the Class A equipment chips would be ruined. After Zhijin fled, the electronic lock's signal binding became invalid—but to be safe, I didn't touch them. Can you remotely scan the items inside the lockers?"

"The door is open, and the lead-silver shielding is gone. I'll try."

Shen Wanbing closed her eyes, and the blue light of the concentration ice heart necklace lit up steadily.

She opened her eyes fifteen seconds later.

"Three lockers. Locker one: a set of Class C self-repairing infantry armor—purely mechanical, no electronic chips, forcing the lock won't affect it. Locker two: one Class B battlefield communication jammer—electronic core equipment, degaussing would ruin it. Locker three: Class A..."

Shen Wanbing paused.

"Class A what?"

"Class A individual energy shield generator, portable. This has an electronic core; degaussing would also ruin it."

Chen Chen weighed his options for a couple of seconds.

"We can take the Class C armor; abandon the other two."

He patted Jiang Yanxue's shoulder.

"Go down once more, smash the first locker, and bring the armor up."

Jiang Yanxue jumped off the vehicle with her blade and disappeared into the passage entrance.

Three minutes later, she returned carrying a set of dark gray infantry armor and tossed it onto the floor.

"Smashed it open."

Shen Wanxing squatted down and touched it—no critical hit.

Chen Chen put the armor into his storage ring.

It would fit Qin Hongye perfectly; her defense had always been a weak point.

"Let's go. Head up."

The Ghost Fortress's engine reignited.

The chassis arcs sprayed in reverse, and the twenty-six-and-a-half-ton body slowly rose within the shaft.

The gray sky's light from the surface grew brighter and brighter.

The moment the vehicle burst out of the shaft, cold wind rushed in.

The sky over the ruined city was gloomy, with dark clouds hanging extremely low.

Chen Chen glanced at the system time on his wrist.

From entering the underground until now, it had been less than two hours in total.

Commission target inventory—the core component was obtained.

The refinery was obtained.

Two completed; the proprietress's commission was done.

Extra harvest—one grade a nuclear reactor, directly solving the power core issue for the Void Annihilation Matrix.

Yi Chang's inheritance pebble was also obtained.

It could be exchanged for a piece of exclusive intelligence regarding the second map.

Combined with the war zone merger information provided by Park Jae-hyun and the seed network intelligence revealed by Zhijin—his intelligence reserves for the second map already far exceeded any other force in the zone.

"Go to the Council Building first."

Chen Chen pressed the communicator. "Hand the pebble over to Yi Chang in exchange for intelligence."