It was the twenty-fifth day since entering the Secret Realm ruins.
"Whoosh~"
Qi Yuan sped through the void between two fragments of continent.
Ever since his bountiful haul in that cave, it seemed his luck had been completely used up in advance.
Along the way, aside from accidentally finding over a dozen pieces of Void Sand in a dried river valley that could be used to forge Tier 2 Force Weapons, he had gained almost nothing.
The immense disparity even made him consider turning around and heading back.
After all, the new month's System Return opportunity would soon refresh. Any random return would be better than picking up rocks all over this place!
"This Secret Realm ruin is so barren. No matter how I look at it, it doesn't seem like a powerful civilization ever existed here... If that's the case, then what was the identity of that fallen Realm Lord found in the cave? Could he have been an outsider who happened to die here?"
Qi Yuan's thoughts wandered aimlessly, but he had already arrived above a new continent fragment.
The moment he arrived, his gaze was drawn to the endless stretch of ruined wreckage at the edge of his vision!
"Ruins!"
For nearly a month after entering the Secret Realm ruins, all he had seen was blackish-brown, dried-up land.
Now that he finally saw something different, Qi Yuan immediately felt invigorated.
Ruins meant that civilization had once existed here. Places like this were the most likely to yield gains!
"Let's go take a look!"
His figure instantly turned into a streak of lightning and rapidly approached the ruins at the horizon.
How fast was a Universe Level warrior? Just a few minutes later, the previously indistinct ruins gradually became clear.
However, at that moment, Qi Yuan had no choice but to slow down.
As far as the eye could see, countless broken walls and crumbling structures spread across the black earth beneath him, extending for at least ten thousand kilometers.
And among those endless ruins, more than one figure was moving about swiftly.
"Crash~~"
"Boom~~~"
From time to time, buildings were violently overturned, and powerful figures darted through them, searching for any treasures that might have been left behind.
When Qi Yuan appeared, the three Universe Level experts busily working in the ruins almost simultaneously stopped and looked over.
"Two Second Stage Universe Levels and one Third Stage Universe Level."
As they examined him, Qi Yuan curiously examined them in return.
Among the three, the lean, short-haired man in black armor at the Third Stage Universe Level wore an insignia on his chest identifying him as a member of the Imperial Sea Pavilion.
The other two, a man and a woman at the Second Stage Universe Level, wore no markings that indicated their identities.
Moreover, judging by how they stood near each other while remaining subtly vigilant, they clearly did not belong to the same faction.
After a brief exchange of glances, the short-haired man in black armor—the only Third Stage Universe Level among them—spoke first.
"Search your own areas. Do not interfere with anyone else, or everyone will turn against you!"
With that, he ignored Qi Yuan and threw himself back into the grand endeavor of rummaging through ruins for treasure. Clearly, he did not think much of Qi Yuan, a First Stage Universe Level.
After the other two Second Stage Universe Levels exchanged a glance, they also said nothing and went their separate ways to continue their work.
"Crash~"
"Rumble~~~"
The sounds of piles of building debris being blasted aside rang out once more.
Qi Yuan could not help but smile faintly.
"Quite harmonious. This is how it should be. Everyone makes money peacefully—why bother drawing blades and fighting?"
As a "civilized person" who had received higher education in the new era, he naturally preferred not to fight if he could avoid it.
The conduct of these few people suited him perfectly.
"Looking at how impatient they are, it seems they've found quite a lot here!"
While carefully keeping an eye on the movements of the other three Universe Level experts, Qi Yuan headed toward a section of ruins that appeared not to have been searched yet.
No one knew what kind of devastating force this entire region had once suffered. Across the land spanning more than ten thousand kilometers, almost no building remained intact.
Even many portions of buildings buried more than a hundred meters underground had been wrecked beyond recognition.
What made things even more troublesome was that the ruins seemed to contain some kind of material that weakened signals, preventing the Detector's signals from penetrating very far.
That was also why the three Universe Level experts had constantly been violently overturning one ruined building after another during their search.
"This is going to be a pain to search through."
Following their example, Qi Yuan locked onto a sizable patch of ruins. Surging Force instantly spread outward, directly "blowing" the vast stretch of ruins before him away!
"Crash~~~"
As large amounts of building debris were swept aside, several passages leading to the underground portions of the structures appeared on the ground.
"Whoosh~"
Qi Yuan's figure flickered rapidly. When he reappeared, a strange look could not help but cross his face.
Without pausing, he immediately headed for the next section of ruins.
After repeating the same process in four different areas, the delight in his eyes could no longer be concealed.
"Holy crap, is this area's drop rate really this high? I've only cleared such a small area, and I've already found five or six treasures at the level of Tier 3 Force Weapons!"
He first looked at the various weapons and special metals lying quietly in his World Ring, then at the ruined region around him that stretched for more than ten thousand kilometers. A faint bloodshot gleam rose in his eyes.
My god!
If every part of such a huge area yielded this much, how many treasures would he get in the end?
"No wonder those three Universe Levels didn't have time to bother with me. They really are busy picking up treasures!"
Qi Yuan did not dare hesitate in the slightest and charged toward the next section of ruins.
If things truly were as he thought, then these ruins were practically a blessed land for him!
He was different from everyone else. He had the Return System. Every treasure he found here could potentially yield hundreds or even thousands of times the profit after a System Return!
Not to ask for too much—if he could gather several hundred or even a thousand treasures at the level of Tier 3 Force Weapons, he would definitely become filthy rich in one go!
"I'm rich, I'm rich! Who said these Secret Realm ruins were barren? This place is practically overflowing with wealth!"
Just as he excitedly rushed toward the next section of ruins, a powerful thought suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Want eat. Lots. Find."
"Hm, Bumblebee?"
Qi Yuan's heart stirred. "You want to go out?"
"Yes, Master. Tasty. Lots."
Bumblebee, the Stellar Level Metal Life, could only convey extremely vague thoughts, but its desire to rush out was exceptionally intense.
"Then go. Oh, and take this with you!"
Qi Yuan's expression remained calm, but as he landed, a mass of Golden Liquid wrapped around a Space Ring and instantly separated from beneath his feet.
"Whoosh~"
The Golden Liquid first seeped underground, then shot into the distance through the gaps between fallen ruins!
It moved so quickly that it was even much faster than Qi Yuan's method of "blowing open" patches of ruins to advance.
Before long, an extremely vague yet joyful thought came from ahead. Bumblebee, in the form of Golden Liquid, had already swallowed a piece of jet-black ore radiating an icy chill into its "belly."
"It found something so quickly?"
"Haha, with Bumblebee helping me, it looks like my search speed can increase by at least half!"
Delighted, Qi Yuan quietly changed direction and headed toward another patch of ruins without betraying anything on his face.
At that moment, the Second Stage Universe Level woman searching another section of ruins seemed to casually glance in his direction. Then, a mental transmission quietly sounded beside Qi Yuan's ear.
Big shots, please help by catching up on the latest chapters over the next couple of days! Just flip to the final page of the newest chapter. Every recommendation round looks at Tuesday's chapter read-through rate, so please lend a hand and keep reading these next two days! A deep bow to all of you~~~
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