Why not try looking around nearby for Crystal Cores?
She circled the opening and actually found some.
A pull came from two meters beneath a stalk of Lapi Grass she had cut down. Sang Luoluo noticed a drilling function on the armor's panel and decided to try it. She raised her left hand, which immediately transformed into a drill, and set the depth. The drill whirred for half a minute, digging two meters down.
The armor made it awkward for Sang Luoluo to reach in.
She ran aside and washed the butterfly powder off the armor with clean Spirit Spring water, opened the armor, and jumped out. Then she jumped into the pit to feel for the Crystal Core. With a little digging, she obtained a dark green, fist-sized Crystal Core. She tossed it into her space, instantly unlocking seven warehouses.
When she turned back, she discovered that the surrounding vines had gathered around the spot where she had washed with Spirit Spring water, seemingly very fond of it. She recalled how she had been bound by vines last time-it seemed to have been because some Spirit Spring water had spilled onto the ground while she was drinking. She would have to be careful when using Spirit Spring water next time. She could not make such a basic mistake again.
Very satisfied, Sang Luoluo jumped back into the armor, filled in the pit, and wandered around nearby. She found two fingernail-sized Crystal Cores on the ground. They appeared to have grown inside fruit, which had fallen to the ground after ripening, leaving them in a shallow layer of soil.
She tossed them into her space and unlocked another Stasis Zone warehouse.
The Crystal Cores were small, but they contained quite a bit of energy.
Only thirty minutes had passed before Lei Qi became the first to climb up the rope from below.
He saw Sang Luoluo sitting under a large tree in her armor, idly playing with leaves as she waited. Only when she saw him come up did she struggle to her feet.
"Brother Lei, how are things down there?"
Lei Qi was not wearing armor, but he still had his exoskeleton on.
"It's taken care of. The captain sent me to bring you down." Lei Qi pointed below.
The mere thought of the pythons down there made Sang Luoluo's scalp prickle. She hesitated. "There are so many pythons down there... I'm scared..."
"We've already wiped them all out. What's there to be scared of? Huh?"
"How did you clear such a large patch of Lapi Grass?" As he spoke, Lei Qi noticed traces of cannon fire on the roots left on the ground.
Sang Luoluo explained, "I couldn't see the opening clearly and was afraid I'd fall in, so I tried clearing away some Lapi Grass. Once I cut through its roots, the rest of it couldn't move."
"The roots are Lapi Grass's weakness. Good job, though you used a bit too much electromagnetic cannon fire." Something normally handled with one shot had probably taken Sang Luoluo more than two or three. She was a beginner, so doing this well was already quite good.
Sang Luoluo scratched her head. "It was my first time using it. I'm not quite used to it."
Lei Qi went over to make sure the secured rope was sturdy enough before climbing back down.
Sang Luoluo had no choice but to steel herself. She jumped out of the heavy armor and put it into her space, then slowly climbed down the rope. Her arms were weak, and they began trembling after barely a couple of movements.
Her whole body felt as heavy as lead. She slid down the rope, and when her hands could no longer support her, she fell straight down. Fortunately, the exoskeleton protected her. She rolled a little on the ground before steadying herself.
This exoskeleton really is good stuff, she thought.
She looked up to see an extremely bloody scene. Severed python limbs and tails covered the ground and surrounding stone walls, with bloody flesh and skin scattered everywhere. She stood up, but there was nowhere to step. Some had inevitably gotten onto her shoes and uniform as well.
Captain Qi and the others had switched on their armor's lights. Sang Luoluo saw a battered jade object on the ground, with broken glass and writing carved into stone beside it.
[White jade ruyi]
[Hetian white jade, shaped with a rounded head and a long handle...]
A corresponding English explanation accompanied it.
Looking into the distance, she could see other similar objects scattered here and there.
"This place used to be a museum, didn't it?" Sang Luoluo said quietly.
What a pity. Cultural relics once protected so carefully were now casually buried in the dirt.
Xiao Li, who stood closest to her, did not quite understand what he heard. "What's a museum? What are you talking about?"
Sang Luoluo was speechless. How was she supposed to explain? They had been very common three hundred years ago.
Hearing them, Captain Qi explained over the headset, "A place that housed ancient cultural relics for people to visit before the Cataclysm. These things used to be very valuable."
He Fei's eyes immediately lit up. "Then if we take them back to the base, will the base exchange them for points?"
"What do you think?" Captain Qi replied flatly.
"What a shame. They won't even get us a bite to eat," He Fei said.
"Sang Luoluo, come over here and collect these things," Captain Qi said.
Everyone had avoided serious injury here thanks to their armor, except Wei Xing, who had landed wrong on the way down and broken his hand.
Seeing Sang Luoluo dawdling, afraid to go down, Lei Qi grabbed her by the back of her neck. A few swift strides later, they were in front of Captain Qi like a gust of wind.
"Put everyone's armor away, along with these python hides and teeth," Captain Qi instructed.
Sang Luoluo complied. Seven sets of armor vanished into her space in an instant. Before her lay bundled snakeskins, python teeth, and venom from venomous snakes stored in glass bottles.
Relieved to see her put them away, Captain Qi asked, "Are there any empty glass bottles left in the box? Take out ten."
Sang Luoluo waved her hand, setting ten on the ground.
Qi Feng tossed one to each of the others, and they began collecting the remaining snake venom together, sealing every last drop in the bottles.
Once they finished, he said in a low voice, "Put them away. Store them carefully. These shouldn't be shaken vigorously."
"Okay." Sang Luoluo waved them into her space. Its Stasis Zone was not just for show.
"Captain, I found a Crystal Core!"
Fatty's voice came from the lowest level.
A smile appeared on Qi Feng's face, and he leaped down. Fatty had found a peanut-sized Crystal Core inside a snake's head.
Sang Luoluo noticed a handheld detector in Fatty's hand. It had flashed just before he called out.
Lei Qi also looked a little envious. Clearly, seeing Fatty find a Crystal Core made him want one too.
Sang Luoluo had a guess and asked, "Brother Lei, how do you find Crystal Cores?"
Chapter 20: Energy detector, enhanced paraquat, and a share for me...
Sang Luoluo had never seen an energy detector before. Thinking they would be working together often in the future, Lei Qi patiently explained, "We use an energy detector. Crystal Cores are energy bodies formed through radiation from extraterrestrial meteorites, so they naturally give off energy fluctuations. We usually carry an energy detector when we go out-the thing Fatty is holding. It can detect Crystal Cores inside nearby mutated plants and animals, as well as on the ground. We rely on it to find Crystal Cores in the wilderness."
"It can detect the energy fluctuations of most Crystal Cores, but Crystal Cores exist in many forms. Some can't be detected even by the highest-grade energy detector."
No wonder, Sang Luoluo thought. Right at Lei Qi's feet was a patch of ferns, with a Crystal Core about ten centimeters below ground. Yet the energy detector hanging at Lei Qi's waist showed no reaction at all.
"Then what do you do about the Crystal Cores the energy detector can't detect?" Sang Luoluo continued.
"There's nothing we can do. You can't get enough time to search for Crystal Cores out in the wilderness, and there's a lot we can't bring back. Sometimes Crystal Cores remain inside the bodies of mutated plants and animals. Once those are brought back to the base, whoever's lucky enough to find one gets to keep it. That rarely happens, though. We can usually find most of them with the detector."
Lei Qi wanted to go down and look too. "Stay here and don't wander off. I'm going down to take a look."
"Okay," Sang Luoluo said. It seemed her space's ability to sense Crystal Cores worked better than that detector.
After Lei Qi left, she took a short hoe out of her space and dug a couple of times at the spot she had picked out. Sure enough, she unearthed a peanut-sized Crystal Core and casually tossed it into her space.
It instantly unlocked roughly two hundred square meters of open ground in the Stasis Zone.
As He Fei, Xiao Li, and the others cleared away the giant snakes' bodies and piled the useful parts they collected together, they also carefully scanned the vicinity and the surrounding giant snake corpses for Crystal Cores.
Sang Luoluo walked around nearby but found nothing. The place reeked of snake blood. No longer paying attention to the severed snake parts, she made a circuit through the museum's upper and lower levels but found no more Crystal Cores.
An hour later, they finally finished clearing the battlefield.
As requested, Sang Luoluo put their packaged snakeskins, teeth, and venom into her space. Before storing them, she made sure to take a photo for the record, so there would be no disputes if anything went missing later.
Then Lei Qi took her up and down to collect all the heavy armor below into her space before bringing her back up.
As soon as she reached the surface, Sang Luoluo could not resist washing off the filth on her with Spirit Spring water. She used it sparingly. The armor's material was special, and a little cleaning made it much cleaner.
Lei Qi watched enviously. He stank terribly too, but years of doing missions outside had made him used to it.
By the time Sang Luoluo finished her quick wash, the others had come up too. Lei Qi even made a special trip down to carry Wei Xing, whose wrist was injured, back up.
Sitting in a shady spot, He Fei treated his injury, setting the bone before applying a special medicinal spray.
With one hand temporarily out of action, Wei Xing could only stay with Sang Luoluo, following behind the others.
They quickly cleared the nearby Lapi Grass, pulling it up by the roots. Once the vines were gathered together, they applied a special chemical spray, and the Lapi Grass rapidly withered.
Watching the spray, Sang Luoluo thought it seemed a little like an enhanced version of paraquat.
"Wash up ahead and take a short rest," Captain Qi instructed.
It was already almost one o'clock. Even in their radiation-protection uniforms, they were not completely insulated from the heat under the sun. They felt a little hot, but overall it was still tolerable.