"So what do you mean? Don't tell me you want to stand as an equal with the Keren Kingdom?" Robert asked, staring at Ye Luo in shock.
Ye Luo smiled mysteriously. "Lord Robert, thank you for this information. You may leave now. When you see the Third Legion's generals, please convey my goodwill to them. We'll judge by the lives that enter the mining area over the next twenty miles. If they send an envoy, we'll treat them with every courtesy. But if they send an army, heh, the words 'fear' and 'timidity' really don't appear in the dictionary of my Huaxia Zerg!"
Robert looked deeply at Ye Luo twice, then nodded. "I'll pass on Chief Ye Luo's exact words. Of course, I sincerely hope we can coexist peacefully. Once again, I thank Lord Ye Luo for sparing my daughter's subordinates. Farewell..."
As they left, Angelina didn't even look back. Ye Luo felt a faint pang of disappointment, but their departure was more valuable to him, since he still needed them to carry his eyes and ears to the Third Legion's front lines... Only after their figures vanished over the horizon did Ye Luo suddenly turn around. "Ye Wang, Robert's information is extremely important. We can afford to underestimate those so-called bronze-, silver-, gold-, and diamond-ranked warriors, but we mustn't underestimate mages who wield the elements of nature. I'm going out to build a hidden base somewhere else. If our base ever suffers a devastating attack, at least we'll still have a seed to preserve. At the same time, we can't focus only on the mineral deposits humans have discovered. Undiscovered and undeveloped deposits, as well as other energy sources, are also among the things we're looking for..."
"My Emperor, Ye Meng is willing to cut through every obstacle for you!" Ye Meng volunteered.
"My Emperor, aside from Ye Wang, I'm the best scout, aren't I?" Ye Yi said, unwilling to be outdone.
The other heroes also looked eagerly at Ye Luo.
Ye Luo smiled. "I've already decided who's going. Ye Feng, Ye Yi, Ye Meng, the three of you will come with me. Ye Di, Ye Ci, Ye Wang, Ye Ya, hold the mining area and step up extraction..."
"Understood, My Emperor!"
The Keren Kingdom lay on the northwestern frontier of the Haolan Continent, with the turbulent Endless Sea far to the north. After setting out, Ye Luo and the others headed due south. All four were extremely fast, and they encountered no large Demon Beasts along the way. Ye Meng dealt with the smaller, foolish ones without Ye Luo needing to lift a finger.
As they traveled, Ye Feng scanned for mineral energy. After the base had advanced to level two, Ye Feng's detection range had expanded from one mile to ten. Yet even so, after a day and a night, when they reached the northern edge of the continent, they still hadn't found anything...
"Whoosh... whoosh..." The endless waves crashed against the shore, and the air carried a faint salty tang. Ye Luo furrowed his brows, in a terrible mood. Though he had left behind three backup bases along the way, he hadn't found any mineral deposits. And large deposits were sure to be guarded by humans. Clashing with them was the last thing he wanted...
"...Let's go, Ye Feng, Ye Yi, Ye Meng. We'll head back..." Ye Luo sighed, then noticed Ye Yi standing motionless, staring blankly ahead.
"Ye Yi, what's wrong?" Ye Luo asked with a frown.
Ye Yi turned his head in a daze, then suddenly pointed toward the sea. "My Emperor, I want to explore out there!"
Ye Luo was taken aback. "Out at sea?"
"Yes... Although I can't sense any energy deposits within ten miles, I have a feeling there's a huge amount of energy in the sea! I'm certain of it!" Ye Feng said firmly.
At that moment, a flash of inspiration struck Ye Luo!
What a fool I've been! As a cultured young man from twenty-first-century Earth, I've been running around in a daze looking for resources, completely forgetting that the ocean contains ten, even a hundred times more resources than the land!
And the ocean was almost untouched by humans. The deep sea was even more remote. Building a base there and gathering energy would be both discreet and safe!
As for whether the Zerg Base could be built underwater—come on! As one of the ultimate civilizations in the universe, it could gather resources beneath the sea, or even harvest energy inside stars hundreds of millions of miles across, once its level was high enough. That was child's play!
The Endless Sea—the name alone made it clear how vast the ocean at the edge of the Haolan Continent was. Thinking of the boundless energy in those salty waters, Ye Luo could barely contain his excitement!
He clenched his fists. The Black Overlord Armor covered his body, and his eyes shone brightly. "Ye Meng, Ye Yi, Ye Feng, let's go. We're diving in!"
The four of them plunged into the sea. When the water engulfed Ye Luo, he suddenly realized he could still breathe freely. He tried inhaling, and oxygen bubbled through the water and into his nose. When he exhaled, carbon dioxide immediately spread through the water in a stream of bubbles... The water also offered very little resistance to their bodies. Ye Luo looked at Ye Meng and saw that his dark skin was covered in scale-like growths. Those fishlike scales greatly reduced the resistance of the water, allowing them to move freely...
Swimming from the shore toward the deep sea, Ye Feng pointed excitedly at the distant seabed. "I found it, My Emperor! The energy fluctuation is at least as strong as the one at Smoke Mine! It's over there!"
Ye Luo was just as excited. The four of them sped up and swam toward their destination.
But just then, a sense of danger suddenly rose in Ye Luo's heart. His eyes widened, but aside from the surrounding water, he couldn't see where the danger was coming from!
As soon as Ye Luo sensed the danger, Ye Meng and the others also became alert! It wasn't that the attack was directed at all four of them at once. Rather, Ye Luo was the Zerg Emperor, and the moment his safety was threatened, the heroes would immediately receive a warning!
Ye Meng had excellent eyesight. He suddenly thrust out his right hand and punched the water three meters to Ye Luo's right, churning it into a turbulent swell. Only after Ye Meng moved did Ye Luo notice a water arrow slowly dissolving in the roiling current!
The water arrow blended perfectly into the ocean, nearly catching the inexperienced Ye Luo off guard!
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..." The first attack missed, and three more water arrows shot toward them. This time, Ye Luo was prepared and finally saw them clearly. In the mottled water, three transparent streams shaped like arrows sped toward Ye Meng. If you weren't paying close attention, this incredibly well-hidden attack would be almost impossible to spot!
Sensing hostility, Ye Meng immediately transformed into a Zergling. Strangely, underwater, the Zergling's powerful hind legs had grown webbing like a duck's feet, while gills had sprouted on both sides of his head. Ye Meng kicked off with both legs and shot forward like an arrow. Then he thrust his gaping jaws toward the sand below, and a huge claw suddenly snapped at him!
At the critical moment, Ye Meng twisted his body and shot upward. At the same time, both his forelimbs grabbed the claw and yanked hard, pulling a millstone-sized crab out from between the rocks!
The crab opened its mouth, and two water arrows shot toward Ye Meng!
So this crab had been the one ambushing them!
"There are Demon Beasts in the ocean too..." The vast, empty region in Ye Luo's mind collapsed in an instant...
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