"You okay? Feeling sick anywhere?" Jun Bao looked at Jing Shu, worry creasing his brow as he observed the sudden change in her complexion.
"I'm fine, my stomach just started hurting all of a sudden. Probably just the cold." She wiped the beads of sweat off her forehead with the back of her glove and forced a thin smile, but her heart was still pounding against her ribs. It took several long, slow breaths before the internal turbulence finally calmed down.
She was sure of it now. This black liquid had the same fundamental essence as the crimson liquid she had found in America last year. Her Rubik's Cube Space had reacted with a violence she had never felt before, a raw hunger that she still didn't quite understand. If the crimson liquid came from a higher-dimensional space or a different reality altogether, then what was this dark counterpart?
She couldn't shake the feeling that this substance might be the key to the next upgrade for her space. The Cube was yearning for it, calling out through a phantom resonance, much like Xiao Dou, who had been clucking excitedly and scratching at the mud ever since they had arrived. Clearly, the chicken loved this kind of energy too.
If she could find a sufficient quantity of the black liquid, would her Cube Space absorb it and evolve again? After practicing diligently for over half a year, she had hit a mental wall that she couldn't break through no matter how much energy she circulated. Now, for the first time, she saw a genuine hint of hope.
The problem, however, was that the energy in the mud was far too scarce. Even when Jun Bao concentrated the samples into buckets, she could barely feel a flicker. Only the refined, concentrated liquid made the Cube Space stir with that desperate desire.
Her face changed rapidly in the dim light, shifting from a pale mask to a look of thrill, then back to a deep frown as her thoughts raced through the implications.
"Do you need to see a doctor?" Jun Bao asked. Then he seemed to realize how pointless that sounded out here in the middle of a mountain range and quickly added, "I have got some medicine for various stomach issues. I always keep plenty of supplies on hand because of my own health."
"No, no, I'm fine." The color returned to her face, and her eyes lit up with a newfound curiosity. "So how much of this liquid can you actually refine from a single bucket of mud? If it's really connected to the crimson liquid research, then yes, it's definitely worth studying."
Jun Bao smiled faintly, a brief expression that suggested he had just confirmed a private observation. He didn't comment further on her reaction and simply went along with her question. "From one bucket? Probably not even a single drop. And this vial is everything we have managed to collect after spending several days scouring the Tianshan Mountains."
Jing Shu's heart sank at the admission. Ten days of grueling work and all they had was a few drops? That was ridiculously inefficient for her needs. When her Cube Space had upgraded the last time, it had absorbed an entire crimson crystal that was roughly the size of a cubic meter of liquid.
What could a few drops possibly do for her? At this rate of collection, her Cube Space wouldn't upgrade even if she stayed here for a hundred years. Did she need to find the core of this black liquid, the source where it was most concentrated, just like she had done before?
Wait, did that mean the black liquid had been present in the swamp water ever since they had entered the Tianshan range? If so, the entire mountain range might be saturated with minute traces of it. That was a logistical nightmare. At least the last time, the crimson liquid had a specific source buried under the roots of a dead tree. But this time, it was mixed into the endless mud. The world was full of mud. How was she supposed to find the origin?
She frowned deeply, lost in the complexity of the problem. The energy was too scattered, too diluted. Was it leaking out from somewhere deep underground?
"Want to help me collect more?" Jun Bao asked with a small smile, handing her a spare metal spoon. "I have got an extra one right here."
She took the utensil and joined him at the edge of the pit, scooping up the heavy mud like two children playing in the dirt while the adults around them worried about making ends meet.
"Let's just gather what we can. Even mosquito legs are still meat," she muttered, stirring the thick sludge. Some spots reacted with that faint glimmer, and some didn't. Every time she found a pocket that shimmered, she carefully poured it into the central bucket.
Before long, she noticed a distinct pattern in the geography of the swamp. The closer she moved her spoon toward the center of the deep pit, the stronger and more frequent the reactions became. She couldn't help thinking that if this was true for the swamp, it might be the same for the whole mountain range. Had they not even reached the true Tianshan core yet?
Xiao Dou was already running around in the very center of the swamp, its wings fluttering as it clucked excitedly. It seemed the chicken knew exactly where the best "food" was located.
Just as things were settling into a productive rhythm, Yang Yang's sudden shout broke the cold air.
When everyone turned toward the noise, they saw Yang Yang returning from his scouting trip, but he wasn't alone. Three strangers were with him, riding on what looked like a bizarre, makeshift vehicle.
They could actually travel through the thick swamp?
The vehicle was some kind of large inflatable raft that had been heavily coated with dark tree resin to keep it airtight and protect it from the grit. It slid smoothly across the surface of the mud without leaking a single hiss of air and soon stopped right in front of the minibus. The men on board shined bright, high-powered flashlights straight at the group, blinding them for a moment.
The beams swept across each person, lingering the longest on the reinforced body of the minibus. The strangers exchanged greedy, knowing glances, then nodded subtly to each other.
Yang Yang sat awkwardly in the middle of the raft, still looking tall and sharp despite the predicament. One of the men gave his shoulder a light, mocking kick.
"Give them two boxes of compressed biscuits," Yang Yang said, his voice flat.
"What? Why?" Hong Bin's eyes widened in disbelief. Compressed biscuits were vital supplies intended for the rescue fleet, and even though they had a decent stock, they weren't supposed to hand any out before meeting their target. Besides, they weren't allowed to give away official supplies for no reason.
"Because I got kidnapped," Yang Yang said, sounding entirely helpless. "Can't you see I can't move?" He raised his bound hands with an exaggerated, stiff shrug.
Everyone stood there in a stunned silence.
Yang Yang got kidnapped?
Jing Shu couldn't help but let out a short laugh at the absurdity of the situation. This was the same man who had gone to America with her and survived countless near-death situations against monsters and soldiers, and now he was tied up by three ordinary-looking men? Seriously? What kind of useless ability did he have if he couldn't even fight back in his own territory?
"Don't joke around. They put some kind of bug inside me. If they don't remove it, the consequences will be bad," he said, sounding completely defeated by the turn of events. He hadn't slipped up; he had been ambushed by something he didn't expect. Those guys were just that shameless.
Even so, he had a strange, lingering grin on his face, one that usually made everyone who knew him uneasy. God help those kidnappers if he actually made it out of this alive.
Judging from the tension in his posture, he wasn't lying about the threat. The three men behind him sneered at the group. "And here I thought you would have an army with you. Turns out it's just a bunch of weaklings and a bus. What a waste of a precious egg. Forget it, once it hatches, your friend here will make good fertilizer for our crops."
Everyone immediately tensed, their hands moving toward their hidden weapons.
Jing Shu quietly sent out her scouting bugs, but they struggled to stay aloft in the heavy, swampy air of the basin. She frowned. Whoever these people were, they definitely weren't locals from the nearby villages.
They had mentioned an egg. Did that mean they possessed some kind of strange abilities too?
Lǚ Liu looked to Jun Bao. He gave a silent, barely perceptible nod, and she quickly went to the back of the minibus to fetch one and a half boxes of the compressed biscuits. "We were supposed to have two full ones, but we already ate a bit during the drive," she said apologetically, holding out the crates. "This is all we have got left."