The most dangerous place is the safest place, like beside the enemy.
If you don’t enter the tiger’s den, how can you get the tiger cub?
On the 30th day, at exactly noon, dressed in a full set of sapphire armor and riding a blue floating motorboat, Ren Zhong and the other five members of Lin Wang’s team met outside the small town.
Energetic Lin Wang waved his big hand, "Let’s go!"
The straight-line distance from Starfire Town to the newly named Chenhui Mine is 620 kilometers.
Considering the terrain fluctuations and the detours required to avoid steep mountains, the total journey is about 1000 kilometers.
At the speed of a floating motorboat, it takes only about two hours to reach the destination with full flight.
Last time, when Lin Wang and others set off to return in the morning, the delay until 3 p.m. to reach the abandoned pit was due to taking a shortcut through the valley, only to encounter a Level Five Ruined Beast, which led to a life-threatening battle and a prolonged rest with the Chongyi County convoy, causing significant delay.
This time, Lin Wang was in no hurry and didn’t recklessly take a shortcut. Instead, he led the group steadily along the usual route.
They encountered many Ruined Beasts of various sizes along the way.
If it was a First or Second Level Ruined Beast, Bei Lihui would often raise his hand and execute it on the spot, not even bothering to pick up a First Level Crystal Chip, and only checking whether a Second Level Crystal Chip was worth more than 30 points.
They encountered Third Level and Fourth Level Ruined Beasts seven or eight times, but Lin Wang didn’t waste any time.
If Bei Lihui could take them down with one shot, he would.
If Bei Lihui couldn’t manage, the armored soldier, Song Qianlian, in the team would step up, and then Si Mawan would be responsible for dismantling the Crystal Chip.
Ren Zhong observed Si Mawan’s technique a bit more and found that although her equipment and tools were much more advanced than Chen Hanyu’s, her work seemed rigid and clumsy, lacking the nimbleness of Chen Hanyu’s fingers.
When encountering a relatively formidable Fourth Level Ruined Beast, it was time for Blast Master Pan Fenglian to take action.
Occasionally, when they encountered clusters of Second and Third Level Ruined Beasts, Lin Wang would also let Ren Zhong have a small test of his skills.
After Ren Zhong clumsily yet steadily stabbed to death several Second Level Ruined Beasts with dual guns, Lin Wang nodded with satisfaction, "Although not yet proficient, your progress is evident to the naked eye."
Ren Zhong expressed his gratitude to the captain for the encouragement, yet quietly felt relieved in his heart.
He had trained intensively with Ma Xiaoling all day yesterday.
Last night, he personally invested 960 points, called in Master Ma again, and also brought Ju Qingmeng into a six-hour Virtual Reality training session.
With two technical guides—one responsible for equipment analysis and the other for technical and tactical commentary—his progress was swift.
This morning after getting up at six, he pulled Master Ma into the training ground at 6:30, and practiced until 11:30 in the morning, quickly enhancing his mastery of the Third Level Exoskeleton suit.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to grasp this state of improvement—noticeable yet not overly dramatic—and make it seem so natural.
At 4 p.m., the group arrived at the Chenhui Mine, located at the border between Chongyi County and Starfire Town.
From a distance, a triangular cone-shaped structure about a hundred meters tall, resembling a pyramid, rose from the ground.
If the alloy surface and glass of the building hadn’t been azure, Ren Zhong would almost have believed he was looking at the Pyramid of Khufu on Earth.
Feeling elated at the prospect of getting rich, Lin Wang, in a rare proactive move, became a guide for Ren Zhong.
"This is the mobile mining center station of Purple Crystal Mining. There’s an advanced device on it whose principle nobody knows, but it can greatly restrict the birth of new Ruined Beasts within a ten-kilometer radius, understand?"
Ren Zhong was greatly shocked inside, but didn’t show it on his face, only saying, "No wonder Purple Crystal Mining could emerge and rapidly become one of the giants back then."
Lin Wang carefully observed Ren Zhong’s expression and nodded, "Indeed. Alright, accelerate, let’s move forward!"
After saying this, Lin Wang took the lead, accelerating his motorboat forward, kicking up dust along the way.
The other four also followed suit, leaving only Ren Zhong slightly behind, appearing cautious.
This suited his current role as a cautious newcomer.
The floating motorboat is not like a wheeled motorcycle; crashing is extremely severe.
As he watched those five figures fade into the distance, a solemn expression briefly flashed across Ren Zhong’s face.
This is Lin Wang, suspicious and selfish to the extreme.
Just now, Lin Wang had another spontaneous thought, testing his role as a destitute civilian.
He was trying to catch him off guard.
Fortunately, Ren Zhong was not caught off guard.
But this was all within Ren Zhong’s expectation.
What truly made him apprehensive was what he saw and heard during the four hours of stops and starts today.
Besides Lin Wang, who had never taken action throughout, Ren Zhong observed the methods of a professional Scavenger Team up close and learned from them.