Chapter 123: Struck It Rich!

"Ah! There are still E crystals here!" Willy accidentally kicked the ground, which was covered in black ash deep enough to drown an ankle. Unexpectedly, a few glittering objects surfaced amid the dark dust. Picking them up, he realized they were low-energy "shard crystals."

These so-called "shard crystals" refer to X crystals that might form upon the death of low-level supernaturals with danger ratings below F1. Such shards generally have an X-energy equivalent below 100°, making them highly inefficient as energy crystals and unusable as direct supernatural currency.

However, X crystals still hold considerable purchasing power. Physical X crystals often prove difficult to dismantle in daily use. Thus, upon acquiring these "shard crystals," one can exchange them for X-energy points at the Jialuo Mountain base, converting them into virtual currency for everyday expenses.

But generally, it is rare for such low-energy shards to form. The supernatural energy particles released by dying low-level supernaturals usually dissipate immediately. Only near intense anomalous points with strong multidimensional spatial field fluctuations is there a chance for these particles to condense into crystals under immense field pressure. This implies...

Before the shocked Lofi and Su Xiaoke could voice the possibility, they saw the others already lying face down in the carbonized black ash, furiously digging through it!

"Ha ha ha!" Willy, face smeared with black ash, held up an E crystal excitedly. "I found a level 1 E crystal!"

"Pfft! So what?" Xia Youyou, who had just been clutching a steel bead tightly, now rolled in the ash like a little black monkey, proudly boasting, "I've found plenty more!"

But when the two noticed Chicken Leg and Jason lying on the ground, scooping up piles of black ash with their shields and blowing hard until only rolling E crystals remained, they were dumbfounded. After all their digging, they had only found a handful, while those two were stuffing them into their pockets by the handful!

"We're getting rich! We're getting rich!" Maya, face covered in black ash, looked like a madwoman. Grabbing a handful of E crystals, she bounced with excitement, shouting joyfully, "We're getting rich!"

Meanwhile, Bai Yuxi stealthily crept toward the corner where the rat holes were located. It was worth noting that the low-level mutated rats that had charged near them earlier were the ones he had killed with his small area attacks. The higher-level mutated rats coming out later barely made it halfway before being electrocuted by Xiao Lan. Naturally, the closer to the rat holes, the higher the grade of E crystals found!

Lofi looked at his greedy subordinates, who had stirred up the dust in the cave, turning it back into a smoky mess, and was speechless. But at the thought that beneath the carbonized black ash lay a potentially vast number of E crystals, his heart burned with excitement. How many mutated rats had they just killed?

It seemed that Bai Yuxi, their new member, was truly a lucky charm. Having joined the seventh squad only recently, he had already brought considerable gains to the team one after another.

Previously, the seventh squad's routine patrol missions assigned by the LDH yielded about one E crystal per person per mission. Discovering and promptly reporting supernatural incidents to the LDH special warfare team earned three E crystals per person per mission. Handling such incidents independently brought rewards ranging from five to ten E crystals, depending on the specifics and completion level.

In other words, executing one patrol mission daily for a month would earn them roughly 30 to 50 E crystals. Though they could obtain additional income from loot like supernatural creature corpses, even the longest-serving squad leader, Lofi, had never accumulated more than 500 E crystals.

Yet, from just one mission, they had harvested over ten thousand E crystals—more than the combined annual earnings of the entire seventh squad. No wonder these money-starved individuals lost their composure.

In the supernatural world, enhancing one’s strength and ensuring safety required costly supernatural resources. A large stockpile of E crystals meant abundant resources, heralding a rapid leap in the seventh squad’s overall power.

Fueled by overwhelming enthusiasm, everyone set to work. Soon, they had dug out all the detectable E crystals, not sparing even those that had fallen into crevices. Just these alone made the trip worthwhile.

Everyone was elated—except Su Xiaoke, who furrowed her brows anxiously. Lofi handed the heavy bag of E crystals to Chicken Leg for safekeeping. Noticing Su Xiaoke’s worried expression, and suspecting a certain possibility, he clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention.

"There’s a problem now," Lofi said, looking around. "Do we retreat back to camp to rest, or… continue?"

"Of course, continue!" Willy shouted eagerly. "We’ve only just gone a little deeper and already found so many E crystals!"

Before Lofi could finish, Willy blurted out excitedly, "There must be even more mutated rats deeper inside. A few more rounds like this and we can retire comfortably!"

"E crystals are great, but you still need to keep your life intact," Lofi retorted.

"Don’t forget, we’re on a joint operation mission rated at danger level E!"

"A danger level E means high-risk supernatural creatures, and a joint operation means there’s more than one E-level creature!"

Lofi shot a disdainful glance at the foolish foreigner. "Do you think with your pitiful combat skills you can handle monsters only trained warriors can fight?"

Willy was immediately at a loss for words. With their strength, it might be possible to take on mutated creatures of the same level, but facing supernatural beings a realm above themselves? That was pure suicide... and not to mention, unthinkable to break their defenses.

"From those regenerating steel beads, which under saturated energy conduction accelerate particle infection and improve conduction efficiency," Su Xiaoke added, "and considering that the supernatural energy inside these low-level mutated rats can condense into X crystals upon death..."

"At the 'Dominant Dimensional Overlap Point' deep within Hualan Mountain, there’s likely a sizable 'Multidimensional Spatial Rift'!"

"In other words, if we go further, not only will we face mutated rats of increasing danger, but we might also confront dimensional beings that have passed through the spatial rift..." (To be continued.)