11: Chapter 11 Collapsed Star Mine

On the eve of the opening of the Collapsed Star Mining Field, Lu Jin did not return to his school dormitory.

The lights in the old house stayed on all night.

When the black silver resource box was opened, three vials of Basic Divine Liquid shimmered with a pale blue light on the table. The Stability Domain Card was as thin as a layer of frost, and the Faith Crystals were piled into a small heap, their edges reflecting the candlelight and gleaming coldly.

Lu Jin sat cross-legged in front of the altar table, his palm pressing down on that black fragment, his consciousness sinking once again into the Dead Ash Mine.

Around the altar, gray fungus had spread out in a circle.

There were several new litters of newborn rats in the warm nest, their squeaks soft and fragmented. The rat colony had surpassed seven hundred, and the outer tunnels were much sturdier than they had been two days ago. However, the wounds from the battle at No. 9 Abandoned Well remained; collapsed supports, scorched mine walls, and the skeletons of the Ambush Rat colony all lay across the various nesting tunnels.

Lu Jin did not waste a single moment.

He poured the first vial of Basic Divine Liquid directly into the core of the altar.

The blue light seeped down through the cracks, and the entire damaged altar trembled slightly. The residual patterns on the two black stone pillars slowly lit up. The warm gray pit, which had previously gone dark, regained its heat, and even the gray fungus on the periphery swelled up a layer.

He sprinkled the second vial of Divine Liquid into the main tunnel and the western collapse.

The fractured strata seemed to be pressed down by an invisible hand; the loose rock layers tightened bit by bit, and the cave walls, which had previously only been barely holding up, slowly formed a layer of grayish hard shell.

For the last vial of Divine Liquid, Lu Jin did not use it on the mine but instead pressed it directly into his own Sea of Consciousness.

Having fought two battles in a row, his divine power had long since hit rock bottom. With this vial of Divine Liquid, the needle-like sensation of emptiness in his mind finally eased. He raised his hand and pressed the Stability Domain Card onto the outer ring of the altar. The card cracked, and silver-white lines spread out like a net, enclosing the three-layered ring nest and the gray fungus area within it.

The Transport Team immediately moved.

Bags of low-grade mineral materials were dragged into the main tunnel, and black ore was piled up in the material processing area along with the newly acquired Fire-patterned Bone Armor fragments. Several of the strongest male rats used their front paws to pat the ore materials solid, wedging the scorched armor plates into the cave walls and corners to specifically reinforce the locations most susceptible to being breached.

When the bags of Gray Wheat feed powder were poured into the gray fungus area, the entire colony of Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats became agitated.

As soon as the grayish-white powder hit the ground, it was enveloped by the gray fungus, swelling into thicker layers of fungus within a few breaths. The mother rats dragged their young inside to burrow, while the adult rats took turns gnawing on the outer ring. Each rat did not get much, but it replenished the vitality of the entire nest colony.

Lu Jin stood at the high point of the altar, watching the rat colony below get busy bit by bit.

The Digging Squad was trimming edges, repairing paths, and burying hidden pits.

The Transport Team dragged materials back and forth until their tails were rubbed red.

The Ambush Squad huddled in the newly repaired narrow tunnels, staring at him, their teeth still bearing the lingering ferocity from the last time.

That Red-Eyed Rat crouched on the stone edge of the altar; the wound on its back had scabbed over, but its eyes were brighter than before. It did not fight other rats for food, nor did it scurry around; it only stared at the bone clacker in Lu Jin's hand, its ears twitching as if it were memorizing something.

Lu Jin looked down at it for a moment, then raised his hand and tossed over a small piece of tough tendon from a Fire-Maned Mastiff.

The Red-Eyed Rat bit down on it, not swallowing it on the spot, but dragging it to the edge of the altar and bowing its head low, as if waiting for a new command.

A faint, cold light flashed in the depths of Lu Jin's eyes.

This thing was indeed close to taking shape.

When dawn broke, the assembly bell for the Unified Exam rang throughout the city.

The Unified Exam grounds for Qinglan City were located at Shenmen Plaza in the north of the city, three times larger than the Awakening Plaza. Silver-white divine gates were lined up, and behind the gates hung a massive holographic map projection. The outline of the Collapsed Star Mining Field resembled a piece of gray-black earth shattered by a giant hammer; the surface was covered with collapsed star pits and red dots representing mineral veins, while the edges were surrounded by a full circle of Abandoned Zone marked in deep gray.

The crowd of people was layered upon layer.

Seed students, scions of noble families, ordinary examinees, instructors in the viewing gallery, and Merchant Alliance representatives were all present.

When Lu Jin appeared, the plaza went noticeably quiet for a moment.

Someone recognized him, and their gaze changed immediately.

"The one from No. 9 Abandoned Well…"

"That's him, he just knocked Lu Chengyan out of the node yesterday."

"He's coming to the Collapsed Star Mining Field too? He's got some nerve."

"Abandoned Zone or not, he really can bite."

Low-voiced discussions continued.

Compared to the day of the awakening, fewer people were laughing, but more people were staring at him.

Lu Jin ignored those gazes and walked straight to an empty seat at the very edge of the waiting area. Lu Jingyao was on the other side, surrounded by a group of Fire Swamp-path students and members of the Lu family branch, the badge on his chest dazzlingly bright. The two locked eyes across half the waiting area, neither speaking first.

On the high platform, Chief Examiner Han Tieshan waved his hand, and the map of the Collapsed Star Mining Field in the air rapidly magnified.

"The rules are simple."

His voice slammed down like iron.

"Surface mineral veins, relics from the old battlefield, and ruin nodes all count towards your score."

"Grab it, hold it, and bring it out—only then does it count as yours."

As his words fell, red, blue, and gold dots on the map lit up simultaneously.

The red dots were ordinary mineral veins.

The blue dots were piles of old battlefield relics.

The gold dots were the fewest, only seven in total, all located near the collapsed star pits and ancient mine ridges; those were ruin points.

Han Tieshan raised a finger, and the ring of deep gray area on the edge of the map lit up as well.

"The Abandoned Zone has no points, no supplies, and no fixed entry or exit points."

"If you collapse, get buried, or die, that's on you."

"If you want to go that way, the school won't stop you."

A low chuckle immediately erupted from below.

"Who would drill into the Abandoned Zone?"

"No points and no supplies—unless you're crazy."

"That place barely even has ruin fluctuations; going in is just a waste of time."

Lu Jin looked at that circle of deep gray without laughing.

While others were staring at the red, blue, and gold dots on the surface, he was looking at the intermittent black lines beneath the gray zone.

Those were the old mine layers.

They were also the underground abandoned tunnels left behind after the Collapsed Star Mining Field was struck and collapsed years ago.

The black fragment in his chest had been burning hot ever since he entered the plaza. By the time the map lit up the gray zone, the heat became even more intense, as if fire were tapping against his bones from within.

It's not on the surface.

The thing is down below.

"Teleportation commencing, entry in batches!"

Once the divine gates opened, the waiting area instantly erupted.

The popular students in the front row did not hesitate at all, rushing into the divine gates one after another with their kin projections. Thunder-wing types, Wood Spirit types, Fire Swamp types, Wasteland mount types—lights and shadows intertwined in mid-air, with momentum growing wave by wave.

"Grab the West 3 mineral vein on the surface first!"

"Don't let anyone else touch the blue dot relics first!"

"Take at least one gold dot ruin!"

Commands, summoning calls, and contract fluctuations merged into one, causing the entire plaza to hum.

Lu Jin did not move.

It wasn't until most of the examinees had rushed in that he stepped toward his own divine gate.

A small team happened to brush past him, and the short-haired girl leading them glanced at him, saying coldly, "That bit of luck you had at No. 9 Abandoned Well is useless in the Collapsed Star Mining Field. A path like yours won't last half a day."

Another boy laughed, "Don't worry about him, let's finish grabbing the surface stuff first. If we really run into him, we can just clear him out on the way."

Lu Jin did not stop, nor did he even turn his head.

"If you have the ability, come down and find me."

His voice wasn't loud.

But both of them heard it clearly.

The boy was stunned, then sneered, "Fine, don't hide."

The white light of the divine gate swirled, and Lu Jin's figure vanished instantly.

The wind in the Collapsed Star Mining Field was colder than in the Dead Ash Mine.

The moment he teleported and landed, Lu Jin stepped onto a section of broken black ore beam. Beneath his feet was a sloping, collapsed mining slope, and in the distance, several collapsed star pits resembled meteorite craters that had smashed down from the sky, their edges covered in upturned gray-iron soil. Further away, he could already see several popular teams rushing toward the surface mineral veins, their kin colliding with each other, with fire, lightning, wood spikes, and stone spears creating a chaotic mess.

An open-pit mineral vein had just been blasted open by someone, and red-black ore sprayed half a day's height into the air.

On the other side, several Thunder-wing Griffins were diving to snatch a broken ordnance rack in the old battlefield relic area.

It was very lively.

And very crowded.

Lu Jin only took one look before withdrawing his gaze.

The area beneath his feet happened to be on the edge of the Abandoned Zone.

A gray-black rift valley led all the way down, and the sound of wind poured up from the bottom, as if something were breathing underground. Beside the rift, a half-toppled warning monument was stuck in the ground, with only two blackened characters on its face.

Abandoned Zone.

This place was something even the examinees could not be bothered to look at; there wasn't a single team nearby.

Lu Jin raised his hand, his divine sense sinking down.

The Gray-tailed Burrowing Rats from the Dead Ash Mine crawled out from the divine realm rift in batches, bringing dust and the scent of fungus with them as they landed. The Digging Squad came out first, lying on the edge of the rift to probe the strata; the Transport Team dragged bone ropes and ore hooks, while the Ambush Squad scattered into the shadows as soon as they landed.

The Red-Eyed Rat came out last; the moment its four paws touched the ground, its ears immediately pricked up.

It sniffed toward the bottom of the rift twice, then suddenly turned its head to look at Lu Jin, emitting a very short, sharp cry.

Just like the one in the Dead Ash Mine.

A warning.

And also like excitement.

Lu Jin slowly crouched down, pressing his fingertips onto the gray-iron soil at the edge of the Abandoned Zone.

Cold.

Dry.

Beneath the soil, however, hid a heat that did not belong to the abandoned mine tunnels.

It was very deep, very steady, like a vein of heat that had been buried for too long, still exhaling upward through layers of waste soil and collapsed strata.

His eyes sank bit by bit.

This heat was more valuable than the ore.