#2820 - Excavation
"To be precise, the probability of the surveying instrument malfunctioning is low. I suspect there's a Mind Crystal vein below. We'll know once we try,"
Standing to the side, Su Guantong spoke, reaching out her hand. A multi-functional engineer's shovel appeared, and she began digging downwards.
"Alright, I'll help too."
Zaka agreed, and together with Zate, they began digging.
Fang Heng retreated to the side, flipped his wrist, and two rune papers appeared in his hand.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The rune papers were thrown into the distance, exploding simultaneously in mid-air. Two Lickers burst out from the explosions, quickly coalescing into two flesh cocoons upon landing.
"Chirp, chirp..."
The flesh cocoons pulsed rhythmically.
Su Guantong turned her head and saw Fang Heng manipulating the Lickers. Her pupils suddenly contracted.
Lickers!
During the previous incident in the desert, she hadn't seen the Lickers clearly due to the distance. But this time, Fang Heng used the summoned creatures openly in front of them, and she saw everything clearly!
That's right!
They were Lickers!
The summoned creatures Fang Heng had used before.
According to the collected intelligence, Fang Heng could control large numbers of Lickers, even using them to directly confront the Holy Court forces from the Divine Realm on the battlefield!
Each Licker had been assessed by the Federation as an elite unit from a high-level game world.
Extremely difficult to deal with.
Su Guantong looked at Fang Heng.
She was now 100% certain that the person in front of her was World Lord Fang Heng!
However, since Fang Heng had chosen to conceal his identity, he must have his reasons.
Su Guantong decided to pretend she didn't know.
Zaka and Zate also saw the Lickers and were both inwardly shaken.
"Fang Heng? Your summons?"
"Mm."
Fang Heng nodded lightly.
Five minutes passed, and the modified and enhanced Licker broke out of the flesh cocoon.
The two modified Lickers used their evolved forelimbs to quickly clear the ground. To the surprise of Su Guantong and the others, the Lickers quickly burrowed into the ground and disappeared.
Huh?
Su Guantong's heart skipped a beat.
Digging? So fast!
In just seven seconds, the two Lickers had completely disappeared into the ground, leaving only two holes.
Zaka and Zate also looked at Fang Heng with surprise.
Using summoned creatures to explore for ore?
Is that even possible?
The soil layer in the forest area was much firmer than in the desert, so the Lickers' digging efficiency was slower.
Soon, after digging more than thirty meters deep, the Lickers discovered an underground cave.
"Found it."
Fang Heng controlled the Lickers to climb back up and said to Zaka and the others, "There's an underground cave system about thirty-two meters directly below us. I think the real entrance to the cave should be somewhere else."
Zaka carefully swallowed.
Good lord, digging down more than thirty meters. How long has it been?
It would take them at least half a day to dig that much manually.
Zate asked, "Can you confirm that the Mind Crystals are inside the cave?"
"I can't confirm yet. We need to go down and see for ourselves."
Fang Heng's connection with the Lickers relied on mental perception and game prompts, so he didn't know if there were any Mind Crystal ores below.
While speaking, the two Lickers had widened the digging passage and returned to the surface, stopping in front of Fang Heng.
"It's ready."
Fang Heng stepped forward, checked the passage below, and nodded. "Confirmed, there are no alien insectoid creatures below. I'll go down first, you guys follow."
With that, Fang Heng jumped directly into the dark cave below.
Zaka and the others looked at each other, nodded, and followed Fang Heng into the pit.
...
Thirty meters below in the cave.
Inside the cave, an unknown mineral emitted a sparkling light, providing a dim glow that illuminated the surroundings.
After landing, Fang Heng quickly surveyed the area.
The cave clearly had signs of artificial excavation. Stone pillars that reached the ceiling could be seen all around.
The stone pillars were similar to the ones seen outside, with Mind Gems embedded in them.
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"There are signs of artificial excavation here. It looks like an underground structure built by an ancient race. It seems like no one has been here for a long time."
Zate and the others followed Fang Heng down from the opening above, quickly surveying the surroundings after landing. Finding nothing special, they turned their attention back to Fang Heng.
"Fang Heng, any discoveries?"
Fang Heng walked to a large stone pillar in the cave, reached out, and pried off a Mind Gem from the pillar to observe it in his hand.
【Hint: Player has discovered Mind Gem (Quality: B)】.
"No, the stone pillars here are similar to the ones outside, and the Mind Gems embedded in them are about the same level."
"Everyone, come and take a look here." Su Guantong, holding the surveying instrument, tracked it to a stone wall on the side and said, "The Mind Crystal energy reaction is greatly increased here."
Carter walked to Su Guantong's side and tried tapping the stone wall with the hilt of his sword, feeling the force transmitted back and listening to the sound. He frowned.
"It seems hollow."
"Let me do it. Everyone, please step back a little."
Fang Heng walked to the stone wall, a metal alloy rod appearing in his hand. He swung the metal rod and smashed it hard against the stone wall.
"Bang!!"
Under the heavy impact of the metal, the entire stone wall exploded, large chunks of rock falling from the ceiling.
After clearing away the stones, a mining area that had been mostly excavated was revealed behind the shattered rock wall. Many mining tools were left scattered around.
Zate walked forward, examining the scattered pickaxes on the ground, trying to analyze them. "These tools have been left here for at least several decades. Also, it seems that the tools were crudely made. Could the cave have been built by the natives of this world?"
Zate looked puzzled. "For some purpose, the natives built the outer cave here and hid the mining area. Why...?"
"Don't worry about that. It's all things from hundreds of years ago. The natives of this world have already been wiped out by the alien insects. Why bother thinking about them?"
Zaka said, curling his lip, taking out a multi-functional engineer's shovel from his backpack and continuing, "Anyway, we're just going to try to mine a batch of Mind Crystals and take them back to complete the mission, right? Fang Heng?"
"Yes, mine first, take a batch of ore back to see what's going on."
Hearing that Fang Heng had no objections, everyone present nodded, took out engineer's shovels from their backpacks, and began mining Mind Crystal ore.
Fang Heng also picked up an engineer's shovel and dug a few times in the mining area.
【Hint: Player has obtained Mind Crystal raw ore (Grade: C)】.
A game prompt appeared on his retina.
Because Fang Heng's mining skill was already maxed out, the Mind Crystal ore he mined was of a slightly higher grade than everyone else's.
The troublesome problem was that the backpack was full after loading 100 units of ore. Each additional piece of ore would greatly increase the load, causing a large number of negative effects, including reduced movement speed.
For old players like Zaka, mining skills were essential. With the help of high-tech engineer's shovels, everyone quickly filled a backpack of supplies.
Then, they collected most of the gems from the stone pillars below the cave. Fang Heng glanced at the time and nodded. "Let's go, we'll go back to the ship to deliver the mission."
