22: Harvest and new dungeons

Xu Le had a headache. To some extent, scum brainwashed by the God Descent Cult were no longer normal humans; breaking through their psychological defenses was extremely difficult.

Simple physical torture was completely useless.

"Besides, as kind as I am, I haven't even heard the full names of the Ten Great Tortures, let alone know how to carry them out."

"I'll just hand him over to the Great Wall Guard Army; it's a good chance to earn some merit points."

Thinking this, Xu Le cast a "Life Recovery" skill.

The Priest's health bar, which was nearly empty, instantly filled up, and his wounds healed immediately.

"You're not killing me?"

"Hahaha! Once I escape, I will definitely report this to the Cult Leader. Your family, your friends, everyone you care about—they will all die!"

"The Ninth District, the Eighth District... every district on the Blue Star will surely be destroyed!"

It was unclear if the Priest was deliberately trying to provoke Xu Le into killing him. He had absolutely no awareness of being a captive, spewing all sorts of arrogant and suicidal threats.

Xu Le was so annoyed that he kicked him away and only got some peace after stuffing a sock into his mouth.

With the battle over, he began to take stock of the spoils.

The first thing he did was strip the equipment off the Priest.

Earlier, through the Divine Eye, he had discovered that the Priest was the wealthiest person in the group besides Mind Controller, A-rank. Not only was he equipped with an Epic Grade necklace and ring, but his other pieces were also of Rare Grade.

The only downside was that they were restricted to the Priest class; other than selling them for money, they were useless to him.

He then began scavenging the equipment from the dead Heavy Shield Vanguard. The armor and heavy shield were both Rank 40 Epic Grade equipment, which could be sold for a lot of money.

Just when he thought today's harvest would only consist of Credits, Mind Controller, A-rank's wrist caught his attention.

It was a Space Bracelet.

When his consciousness entered the bracelet, the contents gave him a start.

Setting aside the various monster Materials and common equipment, there were as many as 35 pieces of Rare Grade equipment, two pieces of Epic Grade equipment, and even a legendary grade ring.

[Accessory] traceless ring

[Quality] legendary grade

[Requirement] None

[Equipment Trait] Resets the cooldown of all skills. Cooldown: 12 hours.

[Accessory] soul of the black bird (Necklace)

[Grade] Epic Grade

[Requirement] Spirit ≥ 600

[Equipment Trait] Use 200 Mana to summon the Black Bird Essence Seal within the necklace.

[Chest Armor] star robe

[Grade] Epic Grade

[Requirement] Rank ≥ 50, Spirit ≥ 200

[Equipment Trait] Spirit +200, Life +1200, can activate a life shield that absorbs 6,000 damage.

As expected of a Protector, he had so many treasures!

Although the ring didn't add any attributes, it was a Divine Artifact for the vast majority of classes that relied on skills.

Some would even be willing to trade three to five hundred attribute points for it.

In certain situations, the difference of one skill could decide life or death, let alone the fact that it reset all skills.

If he put it up for sale, it could easily fetch over a hundred million Credits.

As for the exact amount, well, he hadn't seen any spendthrift actually put one on the market yet.

It was priceless and unavailable on the market!

As for the necklace, it was the giant bird mount that Mind Controller, A-rank and the others had summoned.

Xu Le channeled his mana, and a massive Black Bird appeared before him.

However, it was merely a dead essence, an item of equipment, and could not benefit from the "All Ascend to Heaven" bonus.

Xu Le tried to make it attack a nearby tree and the Priest, but it remained indifferent. Clearly, it was only a mount and could not be used for anything else.

"What a treasure!"

Xu Le looked toward the Priest's wrists and fingers, making even the death-defying Priest shudder in fear.

Don't come over here!

"What a pauper!"

Xu Le curled his lip and jumped onto the Black Bird.

Little Dog followed him up, acting as the navigator.

Although pathfinding wasn't in Little Dog's skill list, its sense of smell was exceptionally developed. Even from ten thousand meters away, a slight sniff was enough to find the way.

The Black Bird was very fast. In less than five minutes, they flew back to the previous battlefield.

"Master has another new contracted beast?"

Little Yellow Chicken stared warily at the Black Bird, but unfortunately, the Black Bird had no sentience and ignored it completely.

Little Black Snake, on the other hand, affectionately crawled to Xu Le's feet to act cute.

Xu Le began looting the corpses. There were the most corpses here, but all he got was Rare Grade equipment. He could only sell them, and their value was far lower than what he had stripped from the Priest.

The entire East City Contaminated Zone was vast and boundless. He didn't know what those Cultists from the God Descent Cult had done, but he didn't see a single monster.

He flew the Black Bird directly toward the South City Contaminated Zone.

He first flew to the southernmost boundary defense zone and handed the Priest over to his acquaintance, Zhuang Qiang.

"You're a real pal, brother!"

Zhuang Qiang was overjoyed. After listening to Xu Le's description and looking at the items inside the captured Space Bracelet, he took away a few dangerous items and then recorded 3,000 merit points for him.

It was very little compared to last time, but after experiencing the experience cards, he knew exactly how precious merit points were.

Last time, he had helped capture a Spirit Array Master who had been wanted for a long time, whereas now he had only caught a fanatical idiot; the two situations could not be compared.

This was also thanks to Old Zhuang's generosity, as he even recorded merit points for the kills that had no evidence.

After the two chatted for a while, Xu Le chose to leave and continue leveling up.

There were also few monsters in this part of the Contaminated Zone. He searched for a long while before spotting a Squirrel Monster.

He threw a "Mental Shock" skill at it, and it collapsed immediately.

[Experience +3,600]

All the experience points were given to Little Peach Tree, successfully raising it to Rank 5.

Then, he discovered something strange.

Regarding Little Peach Tree's most important sixth skill, let alone bearing small peaches, he didn't even see a single flower bud.

Through their Mind Link, he could only get a vague sense of emotion, suggesting that it was missing something.

As for what exactly was missing, Little Peach Tree gestured wildly, but Xu Le simply couldn't understand.

Every time Xu Le walked a certain distance, he would release Little Peach Tree, hoping it could find that strange object.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the evening two days before the Joint Entrance Exam.

After all his hard work these past few days, Xu Le had barely managed to raise it to Rank 19. Finally, he could see small peaches the size of rice grains.

There were nine in total.

If he relied solely on Rank to cultivate it, he would probably still be a bit short even after reaching the Peak of Rank 99.

What exactly was missing?

While he was pondering, Chu Haodong called him.

"Brother, thanks to you, the Rank 30 Valley Demon Monkey Dungeon has been successfully established."

"Tomorrow morning at eight, there will be a city-wide live broadcast of the first clear attempt."

"Bring some friends along to join the fun and show some support; it's free."

"I'll come for the fun, but forget about the free part!" Xu Le knew the other man was generous, but he wasn't someone who liked taking petty advantages.

During a dungeon's first clear phase, every run was extremely precious. The drop rates for equipment and skills were much higher than they would be later.

The first clear could even grant a permanent buff.

The two chatted for a bit longer before hanging up.

He sent a text to Li Yang, telling him to meet at City West at eight the next morning.

Li Yang glanced at the class group chat and said hesitantly, "Brother Le, women are like clothes..."