The Survival Committee had set up a law called the Resource Act. The mines discovered within Dragon City by Dragon Citizens were shared treasure that belonged to the entire civilization and had to be used for the grand cause of Earth conquering the Other World.
The first people who discovered a spirit energy ley line had the right to mine it first. They could form their own groups to mine it or give the right to mining organizations with great power so that they could earn high transfer fees.
Also, there was an unspoken rule.
All people who discovered a spirit energy ley line could pick a crystal with the highest purity, the best looks, and the most spirit energy from the mine as a souvenir.
Based on the types of crystals, the size of that “one” piece would also differ. To retain its value, it was enough to make the mine explorers so motivated that they would search for mines wave after wave without regard for their own safety.
After all, it was very difficult for the first-class elites who were above Heaven Realm to explore the depths of spirit energy ley lines.
Hence, it became a shortcut for Earth Realm elites to reach Heaven Realm or pseudo-first class elites who were at the early stages of Heaven Realm to become true powerful fighters.
It was no wonder then why the experienced and mature mine explorers and hunters who had experienced hundreds of battles would be unable to help but feel delighted.
“Did you see it, everyone? Our sacrifices were worth it!” Lu Siya jumped on a crystalline Heavenly Green Bronze and swung her fist. “Our past mining experiences have told us that the crystal mines are usually in the formation of multiple types of crystals surrounding the most valuable crystal. If there are dozens of crystals and minerals gathered together, then it must be because there is a super crystal mine that has even greater spirit energy inside! That’s the Red Radiance Jade mine!
“My senses won’t be wrong. I can already feel a beautiful red light shining underground. The value of the Red Radiance Jade mine is definitely ten times higher than of the crystals you’re seeing right now. We—’
She wanted to motivate them a little more when a mine explorer stumbled over and told them a shocking bad piece of news.
Three minutes later, everyone gathered at the brightest corner of the mine.
The vugs here blossomed as beautifully as flowers and formed an incredibly luxurious crystal throne.
And if there was not a metal plate in front of the vugs, all the people would want to sit on it to record this unbelievable sight and boast about it decades later.
But the bold words carved on the golden plate crushed all of their excitement.
[Mine Explorer Unit 122 of Universe Corporation, 25th of December, Year 55 of the New Era.]
And below it were the names of the mine explorers.
Along with them were the records of their preliminary exploration as well as the names of the crystals they had managed to identify in the mine, along with the components of the associated ores.
Universe Corporation was another major corporation that was about the same size as Sky Pillar Corporation. The two of them stood on equal grounds.
Just like Sky Pillar Corporation, soon after Dragon City transmigrated, Universe Corporation rose to power during the bloody era when societal order collapsed. They helped build the new order and were also giants who created the Survival Committee.
Universe Corporation and Sky Pillar Corporation were very similar in the road they took to become mega corporations. Both of them started off by exploring spirit energy ley lines and mining crystals.
Up to this date, the mining industry was still the core industry of these two corporations.
Naturally, if they were in the same field, they were enemies.
And the day before was the 25th of December.
The mine exploration team from Universe Corporation had been the first to discover the crystal mine.
This meant that all the excitement and delight Lu Siya and her mine exploration team experienced a moment ago turned into a colossal joke.
They had lost the right to mine the place first.
Logically speaking, unless Lu Siya’s team ran into life-threatening dangers and needed the crystals to save their lives, they could not touch a single stone.
Everyone’s faces instantly turned as dark as thunderclouds.
Their gazes burned with rage as if they wanted to burn the metal plate to a crisp.
Of course, all of them knew that even if they destroyed the metal plate, it was useless. The mine exploration team from Universe Corporation would have recorded the process of finding the crystal mine. They would have also taken a lot of samples and left behind a lot of evidence to prove that they were the first to discover the place.
Once they brought all the proof back to the surface, Universe Corporation would definitely not need to worry about any of the methods Sky Pillar Corporation might deploy against them.
“Damn it, we were a step late!”
“There were clearly no signs of a camp by the lake, and the two Lion Dragon Fishes wouldn’t have just watched them sneak to the bottom of the lake. Just where did these bastards come from?”
“Could there be a second path leading underground?”
The group gritted their teeth, and their faces turned savage.
Lu Siya sucked in a deep breath. A flush of red rose on her pale face, showing her stubbornness.
She gritted her teeth and said, “Everyone, we haven’t lost just yet!
“The mine exploration team from Universe Corporation just discovered the associate ores ahead of us. They haven’t discovered the real Red Radiance Jade mine.
“Don’t forget our primary goal. The value of the Red Radiance Jade mine is much higher than of these normal crystal mines.
“Right now, we’re hidden from our enemy, while they’ve revealed themselves to us. We already know about the existence of Universe Corporation’s mine exploration team, but they don’t know that there is another mine exploration team that is close to them.
“Raise your spirits and let’s seize every second we have. We will definitely turn the tables!”
This time, under the illumination of the dim light from the crystals, Lu Siya easily managed to boost the group’s morale.
The mine exploration team continued forward based on her instincts.
The terrain of the underground cave was complex, and it was a hundred times more dangerous than the surface.
There were cracks whose end could not be seen, subsurface streams with rapid currents, small holes leading to larger holes, and sudden drops that often made them fall dozens of meters. Even if natural tunnels sometimes appeared, they were winding paths which had multiple branches. The place was like a maze.
There were also a lot of underground creatures resembling pests. They were nourished by the spirit energy ley line and evolved into monsters. They were not like the monsters on the surface, who had learned of the might of humans and knew to choose fights when they were at an advantage, and were fearless and ignorant. They kept launching attacks at the mine exploration team.
The group lost two more people while traveling further down the mine.
One of the superhumans from Sharp Blade was overrun by a wave of venomous scorpions while taking rear guard.
When his teammates saved him, the scorpions had already left multiple holes in his body and the venom caused his body to swell up so much that he turned into a black and blue meat ball. No matter how many antidotes and gene medicine they injected in him, it was useless.
The other one who perished was a mine explorer. While using a rope to cross a deep crack whose end could not be seen, he was swept down by a huge bat that lived at the ceiling of the cave. He fell into the crack, and his body could not be found.
The wings of the large bats were as sharp as blades, and they could even release infrasound at a unique frequency that interfered with the spirit energy magnetic fields created by the superhumans, which turned them into troublesome enemies.
Even the faces of the three Heaven Realm elites turned stark pale after they killed hundreds of the large bats. They were short of breath and had no spirit energy left.
Lin Chuan told Meng Chao that they were deep in the mine. There were different types of crystals here, and they created spirit energy tremors at different frequencies. When they intersected with each other, it resulted in huge interference to a superhuman’s vitality magnetic field.
The higher the realm of a superhuman, the greater the interference.
For example, Lin Chuan was constantly hearing deafening booms. He could also see light spots like those in kaleidoscopes. His thoughts were a jumbled mess, and it felt as if every single brain cell of his was about to lose control. It was very difficult for him to focus, and at most, he could only bring out 30% of his fighting strength.
Instead, Meng Chao, who had just started his superhuman journey and was only a one-star superhuman, could still maintain the stability of his mental strength index and bring out 100% of his fighting strength.
Perhaps that was the reason why Lu Siya insisted on bringing a one-star superhuman for the trip.
Meng Chao secretly observed the expressions of the remaining superhumans.
He noticed that their faces were sometimes painted with rage while at other times, they would grit their teeth. Occasionally, they would smile in a crazy fashion, as if they were immersed in the dream of discovering the Red Radiance Jade min. They looked to be already hypnotized by the treasure and did not even notice it.
What Lin Chuan said was the truth.
Wealth could tempt human hearts. Even those who claimed to have transcended worldliness could not help but succumb to their desires.
Fortunately, aside from the pests and large bats, they did not run into any high-grade superbeasts along the way.
Besides, with Lu Siya using her instincts as a Spirit Sensor, Professor Ye searching for the tracks of the Blood Flowers, and the tracks left behind by Universe Corporation’s mine exploration team, they never lost their way. More signs pointing to the existence of the Red Radiance Jade mine appeared around them, and their morale remained high.
After they crossed the deep crack where the large bats resided, they trekked forward for another half an hour. Then, the area ahead of them widened up, and they reached an underground forest formed by large fungus.
They were thinner and longer than the Shriekers Meng Chao had seen in his memories. There was also moss shining faintly on them, making them look mysterious and dangerous.
Even the experienced mine explorers had never seen fungus like this before.
They should all be newly mutated species.
The group did not know whether they posed any unknown dangers.
Zhang Weiyan suggested that they camp here and rest for around six hours to recover their strength and investigate the mysterious fungus to determine whether they were poisonous, acidic, or aggressive. They could also figure out whether there were even more dangerous monsters lurking in the shadows.
But Lu Siya did not agree. “We don’t have time. The mine exploration team from Universe Corporation is ahead of us by at least twelve hours. If we continue delaying matters and they discover the Red Radiance Jade mine ahead of us, the four warriors who sacrificed themselves for us will have died in vain!
“There is only one path here. The mine exploration team from Universe Corporation must have passed through these fungi, and if they could do it, we can naturally do it too. Even if we have to reorganize and rest, we’ll do it after we get through this underground forest!”
Just like how she had jumped into the lake where the Lion Dragon Fish resided in the past, she once again decided to lead the charge and was the first to enter the mysterious fungi forest.
Lu Fengying jumped up. Since she faced great interference to her vitality magnetic field, she swayed as she flew in the air. Her spirit flames turned into blades that cut fiercely through the mysterious fungi.
A lot of the fungi fell because of her attacks and spewed out a lot of sticky liquid.
But aside from being slightly disgusting and sticky, the liquid was not poisonous or acidic.
Lin Chuan and Scimitar looked at each other. Then, they too flew above the underground forest. They released their attacks and cut down the mysterious fungi.
The mysterious fungi never moved. It was as if they were just giant-sized mushrooms waiting to be harvested by humans.
The group formed their battle formation and stepped into the underground forest.
As they moved between the mysterious fungi, they stepped on the sticky, pink liquid. Even so, nothing strange happened. Their hearts had been thundering in trepidation, but gradually, they calmed down.
But at that moment, the past memories in Meng Chao’s head became restless. For some reason, he had a bad feeling.