Chapter 561: Going Further
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ye Chong collected a great deal of mineral samples. Fortunately, the Spider had enough storage space to keep them. Darkniss was truly a place of treasures. Ye Chong kept thinking about it. If there was a place like this in the He Yue Galaxy or the Five Galaxies, people would definitely try to gain control of this place, no matter how strong the creatures who lived there were.
Nevertheless, here in this world, only shooters at Level 7 and above could enter. This made Darkniss an unexplored territory. This same place was like a beacon for Ye Chong. Ye Chong was more familiar with metals than any other material. He believed that he if could build a base in here, it would offer him many important advantages. In particular, it would speed up his progress in finding a way to return to the He Yue Galaxy.
This was a plan for the future. In the short term, he did not have the ability to build a base here. Building a base here without enough power in Darkniss would be like serving himself on a silver platter to the animals that lived here.
His objective in visiting Darkniss this time was clear – he wanted to have a better understanding of the place.
They walked along Lava River and continued forward.
...
This was their seventh day in Darkniss. The Lava River was already far behind them.
"No one's been here before, I'm sure. We are very likely the first humans to enter this place," Xuan Ning said with a smile, "This is all thanks for this Spider. We wouldn't have been able to go so deep into Darkniss."
The huge spider was slower than a mech, but it was still much faster than walking. It would take a shooter like Sha Ya more than a month to cover the distance traveled by the Spider in seven days. As far as Xuan Ning and Sha Ya knew, no one had ever stayed in Darkniss for so long.
The terrain around them was now very different compared to a few days ago.
The forest was thicker. There were more metals around, lying on the ground in small pieces. The sky was darker. Lava was not spotted as frequently as when they first entered Darkniss. Most of them were tiny branches of lava flow. There were more fluorescent plants as well. Some of them looked like trees covered with metal hooks that shined in a bright white color, giving the illusion of a metal tree with dazzling silver flowers.
During the occasional breeze, thousands and millions of spores would scatter into the wind, glowing a faint purple light like in a fairytale.
There were all kinds of plants in here, many that Ye Chong had never seen before. The golden leaf that Sha Ya gave to Ye Chong when they first met came from a plant that was seen everywhere in this place. The plant had a significant metal content. Probably up to 90 percent of the plant's composition was metal. This made the plants robust enough to survive the harsh environment.
There was a kind of flat, black colored weed. The leaves of the weed were at least 15 meters long. Ye Chong thought of them as alloy ropes. They were flexible and resilient, much stronger than even the usual alloy ropes. These black colored weeds grew in wide patches on the ground. They were a strong species that could be seen everywhere they looked.
Xuan Ning and Sha Ya had never been so deep inside Darkniss before. They looked around them curiously. Ye Chong, however, was relatively calm. He had seen too many strange things, such as the Archipelago where the Sang Tribe lived. That was also a place full of inexplicable things.
The wild animals here were sensitive creatures. Most of them would stay away, watching the huge spider from afar.
The animals here were not huge. The Spider was relatively big compared to anything else here. They had not yet encountered any animals that reached 10 meters tall, like the red-tailed beast.
Ye Chong quickly noticed that the wild animals here kept to their own territories. Apart from that, they had seen nothing strange along the way. Why, then, would the snowshade leopards appear near the entrance of Darkniss?
Ye Chong suddenly thought of something. He asked, "Where do the snowshade leopards live?"
"I don't know," Xuan Ning and Sha Ya answered in unison.
"Didn't you say that no one has ever come so deep into Darkniss? How do you know about the snowshade leopards?" Ye Chong asked.
Sha Ya replied, "I've seen the snowshade leopard in the autobiography of a legendary shooter. It's written by the only Level 10 shooter in the history of Eastern Cloud."
Ye Chong looked to Xuan Ning, who nodded and said, "I also knew about it from Lascher's book. The book describes the snowshade leopard's characteristics and great strength."
"What you're saying is, someone has been here before, and perhaps even deeper inside?" Ye Chong found the crux of the matter.
"Who knows? Lascher's been dead for over 300 years. Can't ask a dead soul, can I?" Xuan Ning said jokingly.
Suddenly, Ye Chong pointed towards the screen and cried out, "Someone's here!"
"What? Are you joking? How can anyone be here?" Xuan Ning asked in disbelief.
Sha Ya followed Ye Chong's finger and looked. "There's someone here!" she gasped.
To the front and right of the Spider was a cliff. At the foot of the cliff was a huge rock, which a person was standing on. Around the rock were dozens of horned tyrasaurs.
Horned tyrasaurs were not huge, reaching the height of an adult human when standing. Each horned tyrasaur had a single horn on its forehead. Its body was covered with many tiny scales that offered strong protection. They were fast and aggressive animals. A lone horned tyrasaur was not as strong as a snowshade leopard, but the animals often hunted together in a pack of dozens. They were also capable of impressive coordination, and were difficult to get rid of.
Fortunately, they had only encountered a few horned tyrasaurs along the way. The Spider's two powerful main laser guns and the pair of capable shooters onboard helped them ward off the animals effectively.
Now, they were watching a single person facing off against a whole pack of horned tyrasaurs! From the looks of it, the person was fighting calmly in a way that suggested experience.
Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were both flabbergasted. There was a human right here! They exchanged a look in disbelief to what they were seeing. Xuan Ning had been so certain that no one would be able to go so far into Darkniss without Ye Chong's Spider, but now, someone was obviously here before them!
Who could possibly be so strong?
Unfortunately, they were too far away to make out the person's face.
In the short instance when they were hesitating, some of the horned tyrasaurs surrounding the rock had already fallen to the ground. The rock was about 10 meters tall, and the animals could not reach up far enough. They could only leap up seven to eight meters high. It was a mystery how that person managed to get onto that rock.
The person had a laser gun, and was shooting at them with no hurry.
The mysterious shooter's laser gun did not seem particularly powerful. It was, in fact, much weaker than the two main laser guns of their Spider. However, the shooter was patient, firing shot after shot with great accuracy at the same spot until the scales of the horned tyrasaurs finally crumbled. It took about five shots to kill a horned tyrasaur, but Ye Chong had never seen anyone fired so fast before. The average laser gun became a terrifying weapon in the shooter's hands.
Sha Ya looked anxious. Even Xuan Ning, as a Level 9 shooter, was sweating.
"Do you know the shooter?" Ye Chong asked.
"I can't see the face," Xuan Ning said as she narrowed her eyes, trying to identify the shooter. Sha Ya shook her head as well.
Ye Chong moved the Spider a little closer. By the Spider's third step, all three of them felt something.
Parapsychic waves! These were strong parapsychic waves!
Now it was Ye Chong's turn to be surprised. He estimated at least 15 kilometres between them and the shooter. That the shooter's parapsychic sense could extend so far out was amazing! Xuan Ning's eyes lit up. For the first time since he reached Level 9, he extended his parapsychic sense as far out as he could reach.
Sha Ya extended her parapsychic sense to her limit as well.
Ye Chong quickly calmed himself down, being in the middle of all three strong parapsychic waves. He returned his attention to the screen.
The unknown shooter seemed to notice their presence, and looked towards them.
By now, they could all see the shooter's face. To everyone's surprise, the powerful shooter was actually a woman!
When Xuan Ning saw her face clearly, he shivered. His expression was one of shock and disbelief when he cried out, "It's her!"
Ye Chong threw a side glance at Xuan Ning and asked, "You know her?" Sha Ya looked to him as well.
"Quick, help her," Xuan Ning said firmly, "I'll explain later."
Ye Chong heard him. He immediately had the Spider running towards the woman. Sha Ya and Xuan Ning went to their weapons stations without delay.
With a Level 8 shooter and a Level 9 shooter behind the Spider's powerful weapons, the horned tyrasaurs were quickly overpowered. The Spider's two main laser guns could easily tear through the horned tyrasaur's layer of scales.
The woman was surprised by the powerful weapons of the Spider. However, she gathered herself quickly and continued firing at the horned tyrasaurs.
In just a short moment, most of the horned tyrasaurs had already fallen, leaving only about a dozen of them left. These survivors realized their terrible position and escaped without looking back.
The huge spider brought three of its riders towards the huge rock.
The rock had a smooth surface, with no anchor points for climbing. It was hard to imagine how the female shooter got onto the rock. The woman took one last glance at the huge spider, then slid down along the surface of the rock. She kept close to the rock and made her way down smoothly.
Ye Chong was surprised by her maneuvre. If he had not seen her shooting the horned tyrasaurs, he would have thought she was a combat expert, and a pretty good one at that.
Xuan Ning lowered his voice and said, "She is Mei Wu. Mind your words." He took a look at Ye Chong and felt the advice wasted on him.
Mei Wu sounded familiar. Ye Chong tried to recall when he had heard that name.
Sha Ya had a complicated expression on her face.
The three of them came out of the huge spider, and Ye Chong finally had a good look of the woman called Mei Wu. She had long eyes and thin lips, with an air of apathy about here. She wore an old and gray colored combat uniform, and had a laser gun of an old design in her hand.
Mei Wu watched the newcomers. When she saw Xuan Ning, her eyes lit up in recognition. "So it's Sir Xuan. Seems that this lady is safe thanks to you." Her voice was sharp and stressed with mockery.
Xuan Ning bowed in greeting. He shrugged helplessly and said, "You're too kind. I hope I was not interfering with your fight. How did you get here? His Majesty has missed you all these years."
"His Majesty?" Mei Wu laughed coldly. "Looks like he finally got the throne, just as he wished. Missed me? Just what kind of relationship is there between us? Since when did he dictate where I should be?"
Xuan Ning had nothing to say to that. He kept his head bowed low and his mouth shut.
"Whatever, it's not your fault anyway. You don't have to look like that. You're his subordinate, and you've got nothing to do with me." Mei Wu sighed, as though she had remembered something.
Ye Chong watched the two of them, amused. He finally remembered who Mei Wu was – she was the Shu sisters' teacher. What luck to have met her in Darkniss.
Mei Wu studied Xuan Ning for a moment and asked, "You've reached Level 9?"
Xuan Ning nodded obediently and replied, "Yes, just recently."
Mei Wu smiled coldly and said, "He's going to be very happy about this. Tsk tsk. A Level 9 shooter. Eastern Cloud's got herself a symbol of power alright."
Xuan Ning did not know how to respond to that either.
Mei Wu turned to Ye Chong and Sha Ya. "These your friends?"
"Yes. This is Ye Chong, Master weaponsmith. This is Sha Ya, a Level 8 shooter."
"Oh, a weaponsmith." Mei Wu studied him with interest. "Do you make laser guns? I need a new one. This one's too old for me."
"A laser gun," Ye Chong considered, "That can be done, but what do you have to trade for it?"
Xuan Ning was alarmed by his words. He quickly interfered, "Just get the laser gun. We'll pay for it." "Really, this guy offends people so easily," Xuan Ning cursed Ye Chong inside.
Mei Wu raised an eyebrow. "I will pay for my own things, thank you very much." She turned back to Ye Chong and said, "What do you want? Money's out of the question. I haven't left Darkniss in a long while."
"You – You've been staying in Darkniss all this while?" Xuan Ning was shocked.
Mei Wu replied nonchalantly, "Why, yes, is that a problem? By the way, do any of you have energy crystals with you? Mine's almost used up. There is no way recharge energy crystals here, and going outside is too much of a hassle."
Xuan Ning shuddered as his mind caught onto an idea. He asked Mei Wu carefully, "Did you … Did you also reach Level 9?"
"Yes, what about it? Are you the only one allowed to do that?" Mei Wu threw a side glance at Xuan Ning with an unreadable expression. Sha Ya looked surprised. She had met another Level 9 shooter!
Xuan Ning looked overjoyed. He asked excitedly, "When – when did you reach Level 9?"
"Don't remember, it's been awhile." Mei Wu cut him short and turned to Ye Chong. "You haven't said what you want."
Ye Chong considered for a moment. "You must be familiar with Darkniss, having lived here for so long, right?"
"Just so so. I didn't venture too deep inside. The animals there are too strong for me. Besides, I don't have a suitable weapon," Mei Wu explained frankly.
"I need you to be our guide. Take us on a tour to the places you're familiar with. In return, I'll make you a laser gun, and throw in some energy crystals into the deal too. What do you say?" Ye Chong asked.
"Deal," Mei Wu agreed happily.
Ye Chong had a few laser guns with him. He had wanted to use them for trading at the weapons design contest. However, he did not find anything interesting there except for the rubbery germ. Hence, he stored all the laser guns in Celest's dimension keystone. Ye Chong went back into the Spider and pretended to search in the storage room. He then withdrew a laser gun from the dimension keystone. Sha Ya and Xuan Ning did not know what was in the storage room of the Spider, which was why they did not suspect anything was wrong.
Mei Wu took the laser gun from Ye Chong and examined it. Her eyes lit up in approval. "Nice one!" It was an honest compliment, but her voice was still uncomfortable to listen to.
Ye Chong considered that particular laser gun to be only average, but Mei Wu thought it was an excellent model, and loved it immediately. It was fortunate that she did not see Sha Ya's laser gun. Hers was even better.
"Did you build this huge spider?" Mei Wu looked at Ye Chong from head to toe with admiration. "As expected of a Master weaponsmith. Not bad, not bad at all." She suddenly remembered something, and looked curiously to Xuan Ning. "I seem to remember you have your own duties. Why would the King allow you to come here?"
Xuan Ning explained, "His Majesty has reached an agreement with Ye Chong. I'm here to assist him."
Mei Wu smiled coldly. "He's still the same as before. He'll use anything he can get his hands on." She turned back to Ye Chong and relaxed a little. "Are you looking for raw materials? I remember weaponsmiths are fond of gravstones. Let me show you this one place I've been to."