The trio might have been refined by the Red Radiance Jades and Blue Origin Crystals, but they were still heavily injured and had crawled through underground tunnels for three days and three nights while starving. Their bodies were drained and they suffered from all sorts of different sequelae.
Meng Chao was in the best condition. He was just hungry, and after he was injected with a nutritional fluid that had ten times more calories than what a normal superhuman would take, he slowly recovered.
As a Spirit Sensor, Lu Siya’s spirit energy sensitivity had been magnified several times, which meant that she was now too sensitive to spirit energy. It was just like how a person’s brain would not be able to handle a gigantic amount of information flooding into it if their vision and hearing became ten times better than before.
As for Qin Hu, he had been too greedy and absorbed too much spirit energy in one go. It was now stuck in his spirit meridians. Some of it had even poured out of his spirit acupoints, so his limbs and joints were stiff. His whole body was filled with power, but he could not use it.
The trio lay for a few hours in medical cabins, and after the doctors treated them carefully, they were able to sigh in relief for the time being.
While they were being treated, they also received a lot of information about the war. They learned about what had happened on the surface during the five days since the Red Radiance Jade mine exploded.
First, Lin Chuan’s self-explosion had successfully weakened the strength of the spirit energy tsunami.
With the numerous walls and cracks continuously weakening the spirit energy tsunami, the spirit flames that gushed out onto the surface did not reach the requirements to form a spirit energy storm. Instead, they turned into highly concentrated spirit energy that the human body could absorb directly, so all the superhumans in the area from Raging Waves to Shattered Starlake benefited from it.
This was especially so for low-grade and middle-grade superhumans. The sudden appearance of the spirit energy was a rare blessing. Many of the broken-star superhumans’ spirit meridians were nourished and repaired. Plenty of people who had been struggling for years at Spirit Tattoo Realm but were never able to get lucky reached Spirit Transformation Realm as well.
Second, the spirit energy rain also brought benefits to the Deity Realm fighters. Even though the benefits were not as great as those to low-grade and middle-grade superhumans, they did avoid becoming violent, going through spirit energy deviation, and their bodies exploding.
Under the stimulation of the spirit energy, the Apocalyptic Beasts hiding deep in Raging Waves were all forced out.
Hence, under the leadership of the military’s Deity Realm general, Thunder God Shao Zhengyang, humans engaged in a shocking battle against the Earth-shattering Bull, Demonic Amethyst Gold Ape, and Heaven Devouring Dragon. They killed them as well as their descendants.
Once the Apocalyptic Beasts no longer posed as a deterrent to the humans and all the monsters in Raging Waves to Shattered Starlake lost their leaders, the monsters became terrified.
The humans chased after these monsters while seeing victory in their grasp. Quite a number of Earth Realm and Heaven Realm fighters who had become much stronger killed a lot of Nightmarish Beasts and Hell Beasts. Monster carcasses stuffed the winding rivers flowing from Raging Waves to Shattered Starlake.
The spirit energy rain lasted for a few days, which meant that a lot of the rampaging energy squashed underground was spent. The spirit energy magnetic field gradually became stable and the fog scattered. The sky became blue once the clouds faded away.
Humanity’s steel army could then enter freely. The internet became smooth again, and the Red Dragon Army could fight at full strength. There was no longer any doubt that they would win the northern offense. Dragon Citizens were finally able to take their first, firm step toward colonizing the Other World!
Something else worth mentioning was that Meng Chao saw a few familiar names in the war reports. They were youngsters who had performed outstandingly during the battle and were future stars worthy of being nurtured with plenty of resources.
Wu Wu was among them, and the other three specially recruited fighting course students from the alliance of the five universities were also in the list.
Based on the war report, they had been fighting fiercely in Graveyard Forest. Even though their lives were not at stake underground like what Meng Chao and the others went through, they still had terrifying experiences while surrounded by danger.
With their strength of one-star superhumans, they killed Hell Beasts in Graveyard Forest. Even if their strength increased because of the spirit energy rain, it was still an astonishing achievement.
What was even more surprising was that Meng Chao actually saw Chu Feixiong’s name on the list. Apparently, he had followed Shao Jianqing to fight and stood out as well.
The war report did not say what he did in detail, and Meng Chao could not puzzle it out. Just how did the white bear—no, the black bear—”stand out”? Did he end up standing out even more than he?
“These brats are really lucky. It’s the first time they went out on a mission and they encountered a spirit energy rain. It’s something you can only encounter once in a blue moon, you know? Many people managed to reach a breakthrough in battle!”
There was a lack of space in the medical airship, so Qin Hu and Meng Chao could only squeeze into one medical room. When Qin Hu recovered, he put a hairy leg outside the medical cabin and said in a jealous and pained voice, “But the spirit energy rain also took away most of the spirit energy contained in the crystal mines. If the crystals could have been mined and sent to crystal refinement factories to be turned into the purest spirit gas, everyone would have benefited even more.”
That was true.
Spirit energy should be conserved because blessed grounds did not appear out of nowhere. The price for a large number of middle-grade and low-grade superhumans reaching a breakthrough during battle was a sharp drop in crystal mine grades. Many of the mines even became completely useless.
And it was impossible for the superhumans to absorb all of the spirit gas that gushed out. A lot of it flew a thousand kilometers away or even escaped to the ozone layer.
If they were to talk about the event from the perspective of efficient spirit energy usage, it was not a profitable deal.
But Meng Chao knew about the ending of the northern offense in his previous life. All the crystal mines, Raging Waves and a large area around the place had been rendered useless. A lot of powerful fighters and future stars also died because of it.
He was already very happy that he could get so many benefits in this life.
“At least we won,” he told Qin Hu.
“We did win, but I’m still pained over the profit we lost from the first mining rights!” Qin Hu covered his chest. “After this rain, the Red Radiance Jade mine should have fallen by at least two grades and its value by two-thirds. I fought for it with my life, but in the end, all the brats managed to profit from it!”
When Meng Chao saw that Qin Hu was still not satisfied even after he managed to survive, he could not help but say, “Mr. Hu, do you really like money that much?”
“You don’t like money?” Qin Hu glared at him and extended his hand to Meng Chao. “Cool. Give me your wage from the mission and all the extra benefits that woman promised you. I’ll enjoy half of it, and I’ll donate the rest to poor children. How does that sound?”
Meng Chao found himself speechless for a period of time.
After not knowing what to say for a long time, he said, “What I mean is, aside from money, we should be concerned about something else.”
“Such as?” Qin Hu asked.
“Such as this mysterious medical airship. Don’t you think that the equipment here is a little too advanced? The doctors we saw just now were really professional as well. Many of the doctors’ vitality magnetic fields were really powerful. They should be, at the very least, at Heaven Realm.
“At first, I thought that this was a private medical airship that belonged to Sky Pillar Corporation, but after observing it for a while, I found it strange. The medical staff here work in a very militarized fashion.”
“So it’s a medical airship that belonged to the Red Dragon Army,” Qin Hu said casually. “There’s nothing wrong with it. In any case, no matter which organization this medical airship belongs to, it won’t stop me from healing my wounds, reaching Heaven Realm, becoming a hero, and getting rich!”
“It’s not the Red Dragon Army.” Meng Chao shook his head slowly. “I observed it. This airship doesn’t have a single insignia from the Red Dragon Army. The medical staff and the people wearing black uniforms in the corridor give off a different presence from actual soldiers. They seem… more mysterious.
“Also, you saw those war reports? The area around Raging Waves is still in a state of chaos. Even though the Apocalyptic Beasts have been killed, there are plenty of superbeasts and normal monsters still hiding in the forest.
“Forget about monsters, even if there were thousands of pigs hiding in the forest, it would still take some effort to capture all of them, right?
“But in such a chaotic situation, these people managed to write such clear war reports. Everything in them is logical and well-recorded. They even managed to detect new superhumans like Chu Feixiong, who only shone a little. This sort of information gathering ability is not something a normal hospital or any other industry should have.”
“So?” Qin Hu was still unbothered by it. “Before we came here, we saw a lot of Red Dragon Army soldiers, and we even told our families that we’re safe. You also contacted Agricultural University’s martial arts course so that everyone knows that we’re together with Lu Siya. Why are you still worried?
“I say, you’ve been underground for too long and you’re a little paranoid now. But that can be easily treated. In any case, all of the medical cabins, high-calorie nutritional fluid, and gene medicine over here is free. We can just eat, drink, and rest comfortably for a few days while waiting for the high wages and profit from the first mining rights. Hahahaha!”
Meng Chao looked at how carefree Qin Hu was and felt that they simply could not communicate with each other.
But once he thought about it, he felt that Qin Hu was not the selfish kind of sleazy person.
After all, once he escaped from the underground in his previous life, he gave up on most of the profit he could get and dedicated his entire life to hunting the White Spirit.
Meng Chao did not know the reason behind his actions. It could be because Qin Hu wanted to take revenge for Frenzied Saber, because all of them had died aside from him.
It could also be because he regretted that he did not prevent the White Spirit’s scheme and wanted to “atone for his crimes”, for running away and causing the northern offense to fail.
No matter which reason it was, it meant that while there was a sleazy heart hidden under his bold and crass appearance, there was some loyalty and honor deep in that sleazy heart of his.
Meng Chao thought of something. While Qin Hu had become alone again, he had obtained a miracle, so he should be able to easily reach Heaven Realm. If he had the 10% from the first mining rights, he might even surpass his level in Meng Chao’s previous life and go higher than a five-star superhuman, which would mean he would stand at the peak of Heaven Realm. He would become someone like Soul Breaking Saber Luo Wu.
Also, Qin Hu had already been in the hunting circle for years. He had a lot of connections, tricks, and was experienced. He could be considered to be a person of great skill.
If Meng Chao wanted to change the future, it would be impossible for him to fight alone. He had to form his own force.
If he took in Qin Hu as his lackey, it would be much easier for him to do a lot of things, such as creating his own superhuman squad.
After thinking about this, Meng Chao said, “Mr. Hu, what do you say if I take you in as my lackey?”
Qin Hu was stunned. “What did you say?”
Meng Chao’s expression did not change. “I mean, we went through a mission in which we nearly died, but we survived. Now, what sort of plans do you have? Have you ever thought about working together with me to form a business?”