Chapter 556 - 361: Things Are Not as Simple as Imagined: The Hidden Crisis

Chapter 556: Chapter 361: Things Are Not as Simple as Imagined: The Hidden Crisis

Lin Li entered Dongwu City through the pedestrian walkway. He glanced back at the carriage lane and saw a long line of convoys still waiting to get in.

’If I had ridden my dirt bike into the city,’ he thought, ’I’d still be stuck in that line right now!’

Once inside the city, Lin Li hailed a passenger carriage by the side of the road.

"Where to, sir?" the driver asked Lin Li.

"Take me to a shop that sells Spirit Stones," Lin Li said. He was heading to a Spirit Stone Shop to exchange the Spirit Stone Mine he’d obtained for Spirit Stones.

He could have done this at a Spirit Stone Shop back on Blue Star.

However, on Blue Star, exchanging a Spirit Stone Mine for Spirit Stones required you to explain its origin and present your ID for registration.

This was a mandatory government policy. The reasoning was that if someone found a Spirit Stone Mine, there was a chance a Spirit Stone Vein could be hidden nearby.

After collecting this information, the government would dispatch a professional team to prospect the area. If they did discover a Spirit Stone Vein, the government would use the registered ID information to give the provider a handsome reward.

Lin Li’s Spirit Stone Mine was from the Otherworld, so naturally, he couldn’t provide such information.

He could have just made something up, giving them a random location in the wilderness.

’But if I did that,’ he considered, ’the government’s prospecting team would follow my fake directions and end up finding nothing.’

’It would be a complete waste of their manpower and resources. My conscience wouldn’t be clear.’ So, Lin Li had decided against dealing with his Spirit Stone Mine back on Blue Star.

Here in Dongwu City, however, disposing of a Spirit Stone Mine wasn’t nearly as complicated. It was better to just get it done here.

"Sir, I know a Spirit Stone Shop nearby. To get there... it’ll be Fifteen Copper Coins..." After hearing Lin Li’s destination, the driver quoted a price.

"Alright." Lin Li nodded and climbed into the carriage. The driver then steered the carriage toward the Spirit Stone Shop he had mentioned.

About an hour after Lin Li left the city gate in the carriage, the soldiers on duty at the gate saw many Cultivators returning to the city.

Such a dense crowd of Cultivators appearing at once was unusual. The soldiers on duty also spotted a few familiar faces and immediately knew: these were the Treasure Hunting Squads that had gone to Bibo Lake.

With several hours still left before nightfall, it was strange for so many Cultivators to be returning to Dongwu City.

The soldiers on duty naturally assumed that someone must have already found the White-Scaled Drilling Rat’s nest, which was why these Treasure Hunting Squads were coming back early.

"Hey, Xiaowang! You guys back so early today? Did someone already find the White-Scaled Drilling Rat’s nest?" one of the soldiers, a middle-aged man in his forties, called out to an acquaintance.

"Captain Zhang." Seeing the guard captain call out to him, Xiaowang murmured a few words to his companions, broke away from the group, and walked over. "Sigh, we had the worst luck today."

"What happened?" the guard captain asked curiously.

"We went to Bibo Lake to find the White-Scaled Drilling Rat’s nest. After spending a good amount of time, we finally located the rat and even found a cave we suspected was its nest," Xiaowang said.

"Isn’t that great? Finding the nest of a White-Scaled Drilling Rat means a huge fortune..." the guard captain said with a laugh.

"Just listen! Things took a turn for the worse after that. You know that guy Li Mai, right? The one who’s become Young Master Zhao’s lackey," Xiaowang said.

"I know him. Heard plenty of people mention him. They say he’s latched onto Young Master Zhao’s coattails and now he’s an arrogant dog throwing his master’s weight around..." The guard captain, who also looked down on such people, nodded.

"Exactly! He’s just a dog banking on his master’s power, acting all high and mighty now." Xiaowang wholeheartedly agreed, then continued his story.

"Li Mai and his group hogged the suspected White-Scaled Drilling Rat’s nest for themselves. Normally, everyone there should get a share, but he brought up Young Master Zhao, so we had to back off."

The guard captain assumed Li Mai had successfully obtained the Spirit Stone Mine from the White-Scaled Drilling Rat’s nest and clicked his tongue.

"Tsk... To think a sycophant like that struck it rich. It really leaves a bad taste in your mouth!"

But then, Xiaowang just smiled and shook his head. "That bastard didn’t get his way."

"Oh? What happened then?" the guard captain asked.

"Heh heh," Xiaowang chuckled. "Just as Li Mai and his group were about to enter the cave where we thought the nest was, a young man suddenly ran out from inside, and then..."

Xiaowang recounted the subsequent events in detail to the guard captain. As he listened, the captain’s smile vanished completely, his expression turning grave.

"Not only did Li Mai’s group come away with nothing, but they also lost quite a few people. Their losses were devastating!

If anyone brings this up to his face in the future, he’ll probably be so embarrassed he’ll wish the ground would swallow him whole." Xiaowang recalled the scene he had witnessed, gloating.

Just then, he noticed the guard captain’s smile was gone, replaced by a very serious expression. Xiaowang’s own smile faded, and he asked quietly, "What’s wrong? Did I say something I shouldn’t have?"

"You said there’s a Centipede Swarm of over ten thousand living in a valley near Bibo Lake?" the guard captain asked.

"Yes," Xiaowang said with certainty. He had experienced it firsthand, after all. The memory of centipedes swarming over the hills toward them was terrifying; he’d nearly died. Just thinking about it now sent a shiver down his spine.

"This is no small matter! I need to report this to my superiors immediately," the guard captain said after reconfirming the details.

Xiaowang was a bit confused when he heard the guard captain say he needed to report it. He asked,

"Does this really need to be reported? I mean, yeah, there were a lot of centipedes, but they’re just normal creatures. They don’t leave the valley. As long as people don’t go in there and provoke them, we could just leave them be..."

The guard captain explained, "That’s where you’re mistaken. A normal Centipede Swarm of a thousand or so is already considered very large.

If what you’re saying is true, a swarm of over ten thousand is completely unnatural. Something like that could only happen with the intervention of a Mutant Beast.

Bibo Lake isn’t that far from us here in Dongwu City. If there’s an unknown Mutant Beast creating a Centipede Swarm of that size, it’s likely up to no good. We need to take precautions."

After hearing the guard captain’s explanation, Xiaowang’s expression also grew solemn. He hadn’t realized that the Centipede Swarm he and his companions had encountered could be tied to something so much more serious.

"Alright, that’s enough talk. You should hurry home. After going through something like that, you should spend time with your family... I’m going to report this to my superiors now," the guard captain said before turning and leaving.

Xiaowang watched his neighbor hurry away. ’I’ll ask him about what happens next after he gets off work tonight,’ he thought, then turned and headed home.

The afternoon sun was scorching, but the streets were still bustling with pedestrians.

In the areas where stalls were permitted, many small vendors stood under the blazing sun, hawking their wares to the passersby.

A carriage emerged from a corner at the end of the street and headed toward a Spirit Stone Shop further down the road.

WHOA...

The driver pulled on the reins, bringing the horse to a halt.

Once the carriage had stopped steadily by the roadside, the driver turned to the passenger in the cab and said, "Sir, we’re here."

Lin Li emerged from the cool air of the carriage, handed the driver the prepared fare, and hopped down.

Before him was a shop of modest size, occupying a little over a hundred square meters.

The shop appeared to be empty of customers. Looking in from the doorway, he could see a clerk dozing off behind the counter.

GIDDYAP...

The driver, having pocketed the fare, flicked the reins and drove the carriage away.

Lin Li strode forward and walked into the Spirit Stone Shop before him.