One morning after the lively feast, while everyone was still asleep, Chen Luo had already packed all the equipment he needed for the journey. The reward from today's daily check-in system looked rather stingy: ten bottles of Enhancement Essence.
Essence dropped by hunting monsters or completing class quests was not always obtained safely, but its supply was reliable—in fact, it could be quite abundant. These bottled portions of purified Enhancement Essence, however, were an entirely different matter.
Aside from being stackable in large quantities in his inventory, each bottle contained relatively little essence at Chen Luo's current level. One was worth roughly fifteen minutes of mining and smelting thirty pieces of raw ore, or about as much essence as he would get from killing a level-six monster. Early on, he had already accumulated a great deal of essence from monster kills. The amount was not enormous, but its grade was high enough that he could easily overlook the meager value of a few bottles.
Even so, the bottles were far from useless. On the contrary, they were extremely convenient and practical. Each bottle held little, but in large quantities—ten, twenty, thirty, or even sixty-four or one hundred and twenty-eight bottles—the total amount of essence they released would be substantial. Their main purpose was to provide an emergency source of essence without the time-consuming grind, and the amount released also scaled with the user's level.
What was Enhancement Essence for? Just as its name suggested, it was specifically used to enhance equipment. Apart from special enhancement methods available to blacksmiths or certain classes, this essence was almost indispensable for directly applying upgrades to equipment or improving class skills. Without it, players could not enhance equipment, upgrade skills, or even change their character names. For that reason, top players had coveted it ever since it first appeared. The lowest black-market price was already tens of thousands of crystals per bottle. If it were not so scarce and impossible to duplicate through illegal exploits, its value might not have become so absurd.
Chen Luo no longer dwelled on the bottles. He put them into his storage space, then left a letter for the entire group, telling them he would return in a few days. This trip required him to gather and prepare many important things, so leaving the base temporarily was unavoidable.
Following the map, Chen Luo headed back toward the marked location in Wanjin City. Thanks to his exceptional Agility stat and a series of outstanding movement skills, he returned to the original area in just one day. But when he tried to approach the subway line he had used before, he was shocked to discover that the passage had been blasted shut and completely flattened. Only broken traces of the old entrance remained; there was no way he could get in that way anymore. This time, Chen Luo had to rely on his extraordinary memory and the Mind Map in his head to find another route. After several hours of searching, he finally returned to his starting point: the desolate city of Wanjin.
He headed toward his former secret base. As soon as he arrived, he noticed that the area had been ransacked. The entire place had been searched thoroughly, and objects lay scattered everywhere. The mysterious organization had apparently come looking for clues, but found nothing. Chen Luo cautiously inspected the hidden passage leading down to the underground chamber. Fortunately, the concealed mechanism was still intact and had not been discovered. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief, unaware that the place had already fallen under someone else's watch. The hunters had laid a hidden net and were patiently waiting for the traveler to return. As for those who had previously failed to break in, their bodies had been piled up in the dark, winding alleys—the very corners Chen Luo had inadvertently overlooked when he entered.
As soon as he stepped into the underground ravine, Chen Luo cautiously drank a mild elemental-resistance potion and several speed potions. He knew the resources below were abundant, but his time was limited. He could not stay long, because many other important marked locations still awaited exploration.
...
The previous morning, at the base.
When everyone woke up, they found the letter Chen Luo had left on the dining table. It was extremely brief, yet conveyed his usual decisive, dependable manner:
-"I'll be away for a while to gather resources. You kids, take good care of the base. As for you big brothers, use the time to keep renovating the place. When I return, I hope our base will be finished."
Those two short sentences conveyed both the necessary information and his trust in them. Everyone felt relieved after reading the letter; this time, they would not have to worry anxiously about Chen Luo's safety. Helber happened to touch his pocket and discovered a small note that had somehow been slipped inside. When he unfolded it, all he could manage was a bitter smile: Chen Luo had assigned him to take charge of the agricultural station. Helber said nothing. He simply told the others that the captain had asked him to inspect a special area, then set off along the route described in the note.
A battered wooden door stood before Helber, tucked inconspicuously deep inside a narrow alley. At first, he was skeptical. How could such a cramped corner possibly house an agricultural station? But the moment he pushed the door open, he was stunned. Before him stretched row after row of crops, illuminated by a system of Light- and Fire-element runes that maintained photosynthesis and temperature. Chen Luo had also painstakingly carved additional Water-element runes to power a sophisticated automatic irrigation system. It was clear how much effort and care Chen Luo had invested in this underground room. The carvings on the rune stones were still somewhat rough, but technically every rune was operating smoothly and efficiently.
-"Huh... it's this spacious? Am I supposed to be a farmer now? Fine, let's see how difficult this job can really be!" Helber encouraged himself and immediately got to work tending and harvesting the crops. The place had been designed with three vertical levels, and the growth-acceleration effect of the rune energy made the plants grow at an astonishing rate. Helber was soon rushing around so busily that he barely had time to catch his breath.
Meanwhile, the other squad members each found their own roles. Some focused on repairing and redesigning the base's structure, some took assignments to hunt for food on the outskirts of the city, and others spread through the ruins to collect more building materials. No one was idle. The base rang with the harsh scraping of chisels and the heavy friction of bricks and stones being moved, all amid an atmosphere of renewed vitality. An outsider who stumbled upon the place might have mistaken it for a large construction site rather than a group of people huddled together to improve their shelter.
...
Clang... clang... clang!
-"Whew... I'm exhausted. Good thing this pickaxe still works, or I really wouldn't know what to do," Chen Luo said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He patiently continued using his original parrot-beak pickaxe to strike the rare ore exposed in the ravine wall. These resources would be crucial to his future development plans.
After more than thirty minutes of hard mining, Chen Luo had completely extracted the ore from the front section of the ravine wall. Only then did he turn his attention to the scorching red lava flowing underground below, where rare cobalt ore could be seen. He carefully considered his options, opened the Alvibion interface, and spent another two full hours crafting specialized heat-resistant mining tools in the dark cavern. He meticulously excavated the rock around the cobalt deposits, using the tip of his pick to carve lines precise to the millimeter and cut each ore block free at its base without damaging its crystal structure. Exhausted and drenched in sweat, he finally pried loose the last piece of cobalt.
-"That's enough. One hundred percent purity, with no loss of quality. Perfect." Chen Luo examined the gleaming cobalt blocks with satisfaction and stored them away. He then approached the edge of the underground lava pool and carefully scooped some into a specially made metal bucket. But when he finished, disappointment was clear on his face. The lava was too viscous, and he had managed to collect only two full buckets. That was still far short of what he needed to recreate the portal to the Blazing Hell.
Chen Luo sighed, suppressing his disappointment, then instinctively grabbed the protruding rocks and began climbing out of the ravine. But just as his body reached over the edge, the cold *click* of a gun's bolt sounded beside his temple, followed by a hoarse, threatening voice:
-"Who are you?"