Chapter 39

“Damn, let’s attack!”

Upon seeing a few underground sand ants rushing over, Xiye’s expression changed along with Nanqi and Moli’s. They showed no hesitation and immediately attacked.

A fireball and an arrow were blasted out, killing two underground palace sand ants. Xiye also waved his sword and sliced the head of another sand ant into twain.

However, the underground palace sand ants came continuously and charged toward the three catfolks as they screeched.

For a time, an intense battle broke out between the two sides.

Lu Yuan had been following behind Xiye’s group, and he suddenly heard a huge commotion.

He stared at the scene before him with some bewilderment.

What just happened?

He then swiftly continued running ahead.

Very soon, he saw a deep crater on the ground.

After that, Lu Yuan heard the angry roars by Xiye, the screeching noises made by the underground palace sand ants, and the sounds of combat.

This deep crater and this sound…

“A nest of the underground palace sand ants?!”

Lu Yuan’s expression immediately changed.

Yesterday, Lu Yuan had looked at the Sandstone City’s ferocious beast illustrated handbook and naturally read the introduction about the underground palace sand ants.

If he encountered a small group of underground palace sand ants in the underground palace tunnels, as long as he could defeat them it would be no problem even if he killed them.

But if he encountered an ant nest, the illustrated handbook’s author’s advice was only two words.

And that was…to flee.

If one entered the underground palace sand ant’s nest, they would be treated as invaders. All the sand ants would charge over to surround and attack you.

If one failed to take you down, there would be ten. If ten failed, there would be 100.

It would continue all the way until all the invaders died.

One must know that there were over tens of thousands of sand ants inside their nest.

Once the ants ganged up on someone, their numbers were frighteningly huge. No matter how strong a person was, once their spirit energy was used up, they wouldn’t be able to block the ants.

Gene fighters would feel fatigued too.

Moreover, other than the ordinary worker ants, there were also elite-grade ants.

If it was a large-scale ant nest, there might even be boss-grade existences!

Let alone boss-grade underground palace sand ants, even facing the encirclement of a bunch of elite-grade soldier ants would be a deadly situation.

Right now, although Lu Yuan’s defense wasn’t weak, if he encountered elite-grade soldier ants, he wouldn’t be able to contend against them.

Elite-grade soldier ants were different from the black-rune graystone beetles. The refinement rate of black-rune graystone beetles was somewhat lower in comparison.

The moment Lu Yuan saw this information, he decided that he would definitely not seek death by entering an underground palace sand ant’s nest.

Who would have thought that he would encounter an ant nest here?

Lu Yuan immediately had the thought of retreating.

However…as he listened to the sounds of combat below, his expression kept changing and a look of conflict appeared on his face.

(No matter what, I used a $10,000 defense enhancement potion…Could it be that I really have to return with no gains?)

That was $10,000!

But if he encountered an encirclement by sand ants for the sake of $10,000, it would truly be not worth it…

Lu Yuan felt conflicted, but his feet involuntarily and cautiously brought him nearer and nearer to the deep crater.

“Mn…I will just take a look. Given my defensive capabilities, ordinary worker ants basically wouldn’t be able to break my defense. As long as I don’t get encirclement-attacked by elite-grade soldier ants or worker ants with very high refinement rates, the danger should be non-existence. At the very least, I have to personally see those three catfolks die. Naturally, it will be even better if they drop some good items.”

Lu Yuan kept consoling himself silently.

Not long later, he came to the side of the deep crater.

Lu Yuan lowered his head and peered down.

He immediately saw a hole that was about five meters deep, and there were two extremely dark tunnels that branched out in two directions inside the crater.

Underground palace sand ants kept running out of the tunnels, encircling the three catfolks who were in the center of the crater.

The three catfolks were still pretty strong.

This was especially so after they had consumed potions. Before the effects faded, their strength would naturally be boosted.

All the underground palace sand ants that attacked them were killed.

Right now, the ground was already littered with a thick stack of sand ants’ corpses. There were over 20 of them.

Lu Yuan’s eyebrows twitched when he saw this.

If this continued, maybe when the corpses of sand ants increased, the corpses might be able to block the tunnels?

“Wouldn’t these three catfolks be able to flee after that? …Wrong, I’m still here. Wouldn’t that mean they would be captured by me?”

Lu Yuan’s eyes brightened as he realized that this situation didn’t seem to be bad.

Xiye and his group discovered that the number of corpses gradually increased.

Hence, Xiye’s eyes brightened as he revealed a look of joy.

“We can use the corpses of the sand ants to block the tunnel!”

“Good idea!”

Nanqi’s eyes brightened. “Xiye, you do it. Your strength is the greatest! The two of us will provide support for you!”

Xiye: “…”

His lips trembled but he had no way to refute it.

At this moment, the underground sand ants also discovered this point.

A few sand ants didn’t lunge toward the three catfolks. Rather, they carried the corpses of their comrades away.

The originally thick stack of corpses in the crater was soon cleared.

The expressions of Xiye and the other two immediately grew unsightly.

Nanqi cursed, “Have these ants become demons? Why is their intelligence so high?!”

Moli looked at the unceasing stream of sand ants rushing out and her countenance paled.

“What should we do? If this continues, we will be exhausted to death sooner or later!”

Xiye’s countenance was gloomy. He killed another sand ant, but he could feel that his spirit energy was going to be depleted soon.

All of a sudden, Xiye seemed to have thought of something as his expression changed.

“Oh right, where’s the human?”

The other two started. Both of them lifted their heads to look at the opening of the crater.

After that, they saw Lu Yuan who was currently squatting there and looking at them.

When Lu Yuan met their gaze, he waved his hands at them and revealed a smile.

“My three catfolk friends. Hello! Given my turtle-like speed, I didn’t expect that I would be able to catch up to you guys again.”

The three catfolks: “…”

They almost broke their teeth from gritting them too hard when they saw the smile on Lu Yuan’s face.

This was especially so for Nanqi who had spoken mocking words to Lu Yuan earlier. Right now, he gritted his teeth harshly as he wanted nothing more than to cast a fireball at Lu Yuan.

But ultimately, he directed the fireball onto a sand ant before him.

He coldly spoke.

“Human! Our luck was indeed not good and we ran into an ant nest! What do you mean by watching the show here?”

Lu Yuan laughed. “Who says I’m watching the show? I’m waiting for you three to die so I can pick up your items.”

Upon hearing this, the sounds of teeth being ground could be heard again.

Moli coldly glanced at Lu Yuan.

“Let’s hope that you won’t die in the mouths of these underground palace sand ants too!”

“Many thanks, beautiful lady, for your concern. However, you are a good person. It’s impossible between us.”

“B*stard!”

Both Nanqi and Moli were incomparably enraged.

“Human! How about we do a transaction?”

At this moment, Xiye who had been silent spoke up.

Lu Yuan started. He glanced at Xiye while feeling somewhat puzzled.

“What can we transact?”

“You let us out and don’t attack us. We are willing to give you spirit crystals!”

Lu Yuan frowned. “Give me spirit crystals?”

“Alright! I don’t mind telling you that we have just entered the Land of Origins, so we basically don’t have many gains. Even if we died, you might not even be able to get 100 spirit crystals and merely ten-plus materials.”

Lu Yuan’s expression froze.

(Only ten-plus materials?!)

(Are you guys dismissing me as a beggar?!)

The potion he used cost $10,000!

Wouldn’t he lose his capital then?

Seeing that Lu Yuan didn’t say anything, Xiye’s eyes brightened.

(There’s a chance of success! This human seems to lack spirit crystals a lot?)

He decided to strike while the iron was hot.

“If you let us out and not attack us, we can each give you 1,000 spirit crystals!”

“1,000 spirit crystals per person?”

Lu Yuan stared at Xiye as he repeated the sentence.

If it was 1,000 per person, it would mean a total of 3,000.

He would have to kill thousands of ferocious beasts in the Sandstone Underground Palace for that many crystals.

And he would have to spend a very long time killing so many.

(Damn, I really feel moved!)

“Right, 1,000 spirit crystals per person! How about it?”

Xiye killed another sand ant with his sword as he spoke.

Lu Yuan fell silent.

Xiye didn’t speak; Moli and Nanqi also fell silent. They quietly continued killing the unceasing stream of underground palace sand ants.

One couldn’t help but say that the number of sand ants kept increasing, and the pressure on them also grew greater and greater.

Besides, the duration of common-grade potions was only roughly 20 minutes.

The effects were soon coming to an end.

For a time, Xiye and the other two felt torn by anxiety.

At this moment, Lu Yuan smiled as he spoke.

“Your suggestion is very tempting…but I reject it!”

Upon hearing Lu Yuan’s words, the expressions of Xiye and the others changed.

“Why?!”

“Who knows whether you guys lied to me or not? Maybe your gains weren’t bad? In addition, if I really release you guys, what will happen if you continue to flee? I will have to continue chasing you all? And the most important thing is…”

Lu Yuan revealed a smile as coldness flashed in his eyes. He gritted his teeth as he continued.

“You three b*stards tried to kill me twice! If I don’t kill you all once, I won’t be able to calm my anger!”

(Although I, Lu, lack money, I want to kill you three b*stards even more!)

(Daring to go against me every time you guys come in?)

(Am I that easy?!)

(I will make you guys die once and see if you all still dare to do this in the future!)

Although he said this internally, Lu Yuan’s heart still ached with pain.

It was 3,000 crystals!

If he could get them, that would be considered a really huge sum of money!