Under the ground, inside the deep hole, a huge chunk of something shiny and sparkly like a crystal was jutting out and a middle-aged man and a younger woman were sitting near this crystal.

They had their eyes closed and their hands were placed on the crystal. Their chests visibly rose up and down indicative of deep breathing.

“This… This…” Duyi gulped and moved closer to observe the situation.

Even at this distance, he could already feel the thick density of mana emanating from within that hole and as he tip-toed closer, his suspicions only became stronger.

But how could it be possible? How could such a big mana core exist? It almost looked like common metal ores!

When a small round ball of mana core gives so much strength and power, he couldn’t even fathom the things one could possibly gain by absorbing that big ore!

Just how strong can one become by absorbing that much energy!

Just the mere thought of it made him extremely nervous. With this, their entire group’s power should grow exponentially and no beast would ever be able to threaten them! They can successfully claim this district and build their base!

And such a priceless treasure was in the hands of a bunch of civilians and weaklings?

This was just a disaster waiting to happen. It was a good thing that their Commander had issued orders to intervene.

Otherwise, this kind of treasure would only attract trouble and some other powerful beast might have devoured everyone here without even leaving out the bones.

“I… I need to report this back as soon as possible.” Duyi nodded to himself and quickly prepared to turn back.

But just as he did, he once again froze and looked shocked. His heart almost stopped beating. Standing in front of him was the silhouette of a black ominous ferocious beast. Maybe a wolf?

“What… what the hell?” Duyi took a step back, almost falling into the gaping hole on the ground. He had never come across such a powerful being.

Just the mere presence of it made his knees weak. However, the next instant the silhouette flickered and the beast disappeared as if it was just a mirage.

“Ah…” Duyi opened and closed his mouth wordlessly. He looked around, his heart still pounding like crazy, deafening his ears, but the beast was nowhere to be seen.

“Am I seeing things…” He couldn’t even tell if the beast was real or not.

Of course, he was happy about that, though it didn’t particularly do much to ease his nerves. He could feel that something was amiss.

First the treasure and now the beast? He had a bad feeling.

“Fuck. I need to get the hell out of here.” Duyi wiped away the buckets of sweat pouring out of his forehead and dashed towards the water purification facility.

He had a flare with him that he could use to signal the camp but just in case the beast was real and it was still lingering around the vicinity, he didn’t want to alert or worse attract the damned thing.

Duyi did not look back and ran away as fast as he could.

A few seconds later… four figures appeared from within the underground tunnels and another figure, whom Duyi had caught a glimpse of and ran away also joined them.

“What are those fuckers up to now?” Alex cursed loudly.

“Hmm… Definitely not something good.” Lu Chen concurred. He looked at Qin Hua and saw that she nodded as well, agreeing with him.

“Ah! Bro Chen, they might have seen our mana ores? Will they come to fight with us?” Xu Meilin worriedly added. Qin Hua had already told Lu Chen about Xu Meilin’s potential oracle ability.

So Lu Chen tactfully asked her. “Why? Are you afraid that something bad is going to happen?”

“Eh?” The young girl was puzzled. She knit her brows together and pondered for a minute before answering him. “Actually… umm… I do have a bad feeling. How did you know?”

She didn’t know how Lu Chen could tell what she was feeling in her heart, but she honestly replied to him, blushing slightly.

Qin Hua rolled her eyes but she couldn’t take her words lightly. Was something bad going to happen if they acted or if they didn’t act?

No. The wolf shook her head. She didn’t want to make important decisions based on someone else’s whims and feelings.

Before she could finish her thought, Lu Chen’s sharp voice sounded. “I think we need to do something now. It’s better for us to make the first move before they do it.”

Woof! Woof! Qin Hua shook her head vigorously. [Yeee! We need to go raid them! Woof!] Sitting and meditating constantly for the past few days had made her particularly bloodthirsty.

Lu Chen couldn’t help but be amused at just how eager she was to fight.

He reached out his hand to pat the wolf, but he suddenly remembered that the beast in front of him was in fact a young girl. So he awkwardly retracted it.

“So as I was saying… We need to infiltrate the camp again and this time we have to find out everything.” He paused and then added. “If by chance, they have bad intentions… then we will take the first step.”

“Does anyone have problems with this? Moral or otherwise?”

He glanced at Alex particularly but though she had a frown on her face, she didn’t raise any objections, and Guan Ye and Luo Zu readily nodded and agreed.

“Alright. That’s settled then.” Lu Chen began explaining his thoughts to everyone.

…

…

…

Meanwhile at the water purification facility…

“Leader! Leader!” Duyi ran, shouting at the top of his lungs. He directly went to Yahe and told him about everything.

“Hmmm? Did you take a good look? If I take this information to the Commander, then there is no going back.” Yahe frowned, narrowing his eyes at the man drenched in sweat from top to bottom.

Duyi vigorously nodded his head up and down, but somehow his actions did not instill any confidence in the words that he had spoken.

Can I even believe this guy?

Yahe looked at the sweaty man up and down, but he didn’t think about it too much as they were already about to head out and bring everyone back irrespectively.

He might as well check the huge mana core that the idiot was blabbering about.

He actually didn’t care too much about the mana core, his biggest concern was rather about the beast that he mentioned.

“Should I take more men?” The leader retrospectively pondered.

“Hmm… it should be fine… I can signal the others in case there is something unexpected. The hospital isn’t that far from the base camp.”

“Alright. Go make the necessary preparations. We will head out soon. Tonight when the sun sets. It will be easier if they don’t see us coming.”

Duyi stiffened up and bowed his head. He then quickly dashed away to inform the others. Yahe as well busied himself and started preparing ammunition for their night’s escapade.

Unbeknownst to both of them, another figure as well moved out of the room. [Things are getting interesting. Woof!]

Qin Hua’s ears perked up and she dashed around the building merging into the shadow and darkness that lingered everywhere.

It didn’t take long for her to find out what exactly was going on. The entire place was abuzz with the hot news. Some of the soldiers even talked about not hesitating to kill if required.

Qin Hua’s pair of feral green and blue orbs glinted in the darkness. [Heh. Want to take us as prisoners? Want to kill us?] Her canines majestically jutted out as she threw her head back.

[Good. Good. I am itching for a fight. Woof!]

Her lithe figure stretched, and the shadow spread on the ground danced as if it was alive. The next instant, a ball of darkness sprang forward. However, Qin Hua did not exit the base just yet.

[Last time, I didn’t come inside, but this time, I will leave only after taking a good look. Woof!]

While she checked out all the ins and outs of the base to gauge the strength of their opponents, her clone relayed all the necessary information to Lu Chen who was waiting a bit further away from there.

Lu Chen’s gaze turned icier, but he wasn’t too surprised either.

He had always known that there was a high probability of something like this happening, especially since they had delayed their stay for so long.

However, he hadn’t expected them to be so extreme and decisive in their actions, especially when most of them were from the armed forces and the military.

Attacking and forcefully making a group of people submit was very different from hoarding resources and claiming hierarchy.

While the latter could be forgiven under the current circumstances as everyone was basically fighting for their own survival, the former was something that he could never overlook.