Striking It Rich

The Spirit-Melting Gu insect ranked third among the Ten Great Venomous Gu. From what Yu Xian understood via Qilin's database, the most terrifying trait of this Gu insect was that the greater their numbers, the higher their temperature rose. If there was only one Spirit-Melting Gu insect, it could only radiate a hundred degrees of heat. When there were two, their temperatures would rise together to two hundred degrees. When there were three, their collective temperature surged to three hundred degrees. Ten Spirit-Melting Gu insects could generate a searing one thousand degrees. A hundred meant ten thousand degrees, and a thousand meant a hundred thousand degrees. If there truly were two hundred thousand Spirit-Melting Gu insects here, their collective radiated temperature would reach twenty million degrees! Of course, that was purely theoretical. In reality, Spirit-Melting Gu insects could never unleash such preposterous heat because each insect had a limited sensory radius. Assuming the insects packed tightly against one another, an insect at the very center could only sense ninety-nine others around it. Anything beyond that exceeded its sensory range. Consequently, the actual temperature ceiling for Spirit-Melting Gu insects was ten thousand degrees. While not as absurd as the theoretical twenty million degrees, this was still nearly double the surface temperature of the sun, making it horrifying enough. The moment the Spirit-Melting Gu insects lit up with crimson light, the temperature throughout the entire chasm skyrocketed. Everywhere the swarm passed, the ground melted into magma. So when Yu Xian had seen the insects resembling molten lava, they were indeed accompanied by immense quantities of real magma. Yet seated inside his bubble, Yu Xian felt not the slightest trace of heat. The blistering inferno outside had nothing to do with him. The spatial nature of the spatial bubble dictated that it could not be influenced by external temperatures. No matter how scorching or freezing it was outside, neither heat nor cold could penetrate the bubble's interior—a fundamental property it had possessed from the very beginning. The only reason Yu Xian had fled was the threat of being swarmed by an overwhelming mass of them. Although their greatest asset was extreme heat, the Spirit-Melting Gu insects were also exceptionally durable. Standard armor-piercing rounds could not even dent their carapaces. Furthermore, their primary food source was the droppings of Barren Stone Gu insects. A brief introduction was warranted here: Barren Stone Gu insects were a variety of Gu that fed on solid rock. After ingesting stone, they excreted droppings harder than diamond. This excrement held immense strategic value; in earlier eras, the defensive ramparts of several cities had been constructed from it. For the sake of sounding pleasant, Transcendents had coined a far less disgusting name for this waste: barren stone. Across the Transcendent world, few creatures could damage barren stone, yet the Spirit-Melting Gu insect possessed mouthparts capable of crunching right through it. Thus, even without their searing heat, a sufficient quantity of Spirit-Melting Gu insects remained a nightmare to behold. Yu Xian continued his descent. Behind him, the crimson glow of the swarm illuminated the entire vertical conduit. Innumerable bizarre creatures clinging to the rock walls sensed the oncoming heatwave and scrambled to display their own survival talents. Insects shaped like ants scurried down the walls with blinding speed, keeping pace with Yu Xian, while rats with drills atop their heads rapidly bored holes to escape. The black melon-seed beetles he had encountered earlier gathered into a dense, writhing mass, forming a massive black sphere that rolled rapidly down the rock face. Marveling at the burgeoning diversity of subterranean wildlife around him, Yu Xian took out his phone and filmed every last one. On the other side of the transmission, Zhang Shou and the others stared in disbelief. Who could have imagined that modern Mars harbored so much subterranean life? They had clearly formed a complete, thriving ecosystem with a food chain capable of sustaining perpetual reproduction. Suddenly, a set of human bones embedded in the rock wall flashed across the screen. As Yu Xian plummeted further, more and more skeletal remains came into view. These skeletons displayed varied postures in death. Some possessed massive frames, while others were petite. Judging from their final gestures, several had been clawing frantically upward in life, as if trying to flee from some unspeakable terror. Codename Dead Doctor: Salty Fish, maybe you should pull out. Something's not right about this place. Codename Number One: Dead Doctor's right. Shadow Gu, Spirit-Melting Gu insects, and now all these skeletons... there's definitely trouble. Yu Xian kept an eye on his phone using an eyeball bubble. Seeing their concern, he smiled. "Don't worry. If I actually sense real danger, I'll slip away in a heartbeat. We're nowhere near that point yet." He was physically inside a spatial bubble; retreating was merely a matter of a single thought. He truly didn't feel in much danger. At this point, his curiosity was thoroughly piqued. What on earth had happened here to leave behind so many skeletons? Ten minutes later, crimson light illuminated the bottom of the pit. Roughly two hundred skeletons lay strewn across the floor in all sorts of contorted poses. One look at their postures made it easy to picture the brutal, desperate bloodbath that had unfolded here. Codename Goblin: Looks like an internal feud over dividing the spoils. Codename Fat Cat: Gold prospectors are desperate outlaws to begin with. Venturing all the way to Mars to strike gold, an internal mutiny isn't hard to believe. The two made this deduction because tattered scraps of fabric still clung to the skeletons, revealing that these people had once worn matching uniforms. Reaching the bottom, Yu Xian glanced to his right. A tunnel branched off, leading to parts unknown. He piloted the bubble into the passage without hesitation. Twenty seconds later, the swarm of Spirit-Melting Gu insects crashed down alongside torrents of lava, incinerating countless Martian creatures that had failed to slip into the tunnel in time. The swarm surged into the tunnel in hot pursuit. The two sides hurtled forward through a sprawling subterranean network riddled with countless forks and intersections. Suddenly, a glint caught Yu Xian's eye. Reaching an arm out of the bubble, he scooped at the tunnel wall. Amid a shower of dust, he hoisted a coral-shaped gold nugget in his hand, flashing a grin toward the phone. "Guess how much this is worth?" Codename Dead Doctor: Holy crap, there really is gold! Codename Number One: Are you out of your mind? Choosing money over your life? Codename Science Popularizer: The shape of that nugget in your hand is superb. Based on current market rates plus its artistic premium, it should fetch four to five hundred million easily. Codename Goblin: Little brother Salty Fish, want to go on a date? Big Sister loves cute younger guys the most. Codename Piggy: The old witch is making her move on Salty Fish! Run, Salty Fish, run!!! ... ... Paying no heed to the banter, Yu Xian stowed the gold nugget and continued surveying his surroundings. He had originally abandoned all hope of prospecting for gold. Who could have foreseen that when all paths seemed blocked, a brand-new vista would open up? Through pure dumb luck, he had stumbled upon gold after all. And since such an obvious nugget had been left behind, there was bound to be far more waiting deeper inside. He sped recklessly through the labyrinthine tunnels. As he progressed, he genuinely unearthed a steady stream of gold, ranging from bean-sized pebbles to massive boulders the size of wagon wheels. The sight of such enormous chunks of solid gold turned the onlookers green with envy. This wasn't even prospecting anymore; it was literally scooping up cash from the floor. Before long, however, the observers noticed that Yu Xian had entered a dead end. The passage ahead was blocked. Codename Fat Cat: Well, game over. Codename Dead Doctor: Time to pull out, Salty Fish. You've already made a killing on this run, no need to push your luck. Codename Piggy: Yeah, safety comes first. ... ... Reading their frantic messages, Yu Xian showed no sign of hurry. Instead, he calmly turned to look behind him. A massive tide of Spirit-Melting Gu insects was surging forward like molten lava, rapidly driving up the heat. The surrounding earth and stone had already begun to liquefy, hissing and churning with smoke. "So gorgeous. A pity I don't know how to tame them," he murmured admiringly to the audience on the other end of the line. Amid everyone's frantic urging, at the very final second before the swarm engulfed him, a thought flashed through his mind. His body instantly shifted into a different bubble, continuing smoothly down another passage. At every fork he had passed earlier, he had split off a bubble into each alternate branch, sending them forward to scout ahead. Whenever a chosen tunnel led to a dead end, he could teleport to one of the other bubbles at will and resume his exploration. A mere swarm of Spirit-Melting Gu insects posed no threat to him whatsoever. Watching this, Zhang Shou and the others were struck completely dumb. No wonder Yu Xian had been so composed—he had prepared escape routes all along. Codename Seventeen: Spatial ability users really have it made. Must be nice to be so free. Codename Dead Doctor: Spatial ability users really have it made. Must be nice to be so free +1. Codename Piggy: Spatial ability users really have it made. Must be nice to be so free +1. Codename Goblin: Spatial ability users really have it made. Must be nice to be so free +1. Codename Fat Cat: Combo breaker! ... ... Beneath the envious gazes of his colleagues, Yu Xian continued scooping up gold as he advanced steadily into the uncharted depths.