69: Chapter 69 The entire army is mobilized, their target: the salt flats!

The next day, 10:00 AM.

The upgrade progress for the Lords Hall had just over a day remaining.

"Tian Ming, is there any situation?"

"Reporting to Master, resource collection is proceeding normally. The entire territory is clear," Tian Ming replied.

Xu Qin stood up and opened the command panel.

Timber increased by 12,000, stone by 8,000, iron ore by 6,000...

As expected of a resource-rich land, the efficiency was truly high.

Xu Qin walked out of the Lords Hall and stood on the Watchtower, looking down.

The Floating City was parked low to the ground in a forest clearing, with its three-story boarding bridge extended.

Outside, swarms of the Undead Army were busy in the forest.

The sixty-six newly converted super soldiers were among them, working three times faster than ordinary soldiers.

Xu Qin leaned against the bone railing, feeling quite emotional.

"A land of abundance is truly comfortable."

He tapped a few times on the panel.

The vulture's reconnaissance reports had all been returned, making everything within fifty kilometers clear.

Xu Qin continued to expand the reconnaissance circle outward.

"Have the Sand Rats continue to push south. Seventy kilometers."

The order was issued.

Deep underground, dozens of Skeleton Sand Rats received the order, changed direction, and began digging at full speed toward the south.

The Skeleton Sand Rats were extremely fast, and combined with the soft underground sand, they could advance over ten kilometers in an hour.

Xu Qin was not in a hurry either.

He walked back to the Lords Hall, sat on the bone chair, and began to review the detailed panel data after Tian Ming's promotion.

The epic-level attribute growth curve was about ten times that of an ordinary hero.

Following this trend, when Tian Ming reached level 25, his single-target output would be able to match Shadow.

Furthermore, Tian Ming could also lead troops.

"Once the Lords Hall upgrade is finished, I need to plan the next step carefully."

As he was calculating, the panel suddenly flickered.

A reconnaissance report from the Sand Rats came in.

Xu Qin tapped to open it.

Sixty-eight kilometers directly south of the Floating City.

An extra marker appeared on the map.

The color... orange.

Xu Qin raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Orange?"

He had seen white, green, blue, and purple in this world.

Orange, he had never seen before.

He immediately tapped to open the detailed information.

First was the terrain.

Sixty-eight kilometers to the south, the surface was a dry salt flat, with nothing unusual visible.

But underground...

The Sand Rats detected a massive cavity.

The depth was about eighty meters underground.

And the area was equivalent to the footprint of ten Floating Cities.

The inner walls of the cavity had obvious energy reactions.

And at the very center of the cavity was that orange marker.

Xu Qin had the Sand Rats move closer.

Two minutes later, more detailed detection results were returned.

The panel popped up a resource description box he had never seen before.

[eternal source crystal Vein]

[Quality: Legendary (Orange)]

[Type: Energy Vein]

[Description: An ultra-high purity energy crystal vein located deep underground. The energy inside the vein has self-regenerating properties, and after mining, it will recrystallize and grow at an extremely slow rate. For lords of any race, this vein can provide a qualitative leap in improvement. Living races can use the eternal source crystal to reshape unit quality, increase building durability, and research high-level technology.]

[Warning: There is an unknown protective force inside the vein. Reconnaissance units failed to penetrate the core area, and the specific threat level is unknown.]

After reading this description, Xu Qin stood straight up from the bone chair.

A legendary vein?

A qualitative leap for any race?

"Tian Ming!" Xu Qin waved to Tian Ming.

"Here."

"Seventy kilometers directly south. Eighty meters underground."

"There is a legendary vein."

Upon hearing this, Tian Ming's soul fire flickered:

"Master, do you need me to lead the army to investigate?"

"No."

Xu Qin shook his head.

"This isn't something that can be solved just by sending troops."

"There is an unknown protective force there; the entire army must be deployed."

"We are taking the Floating City over there."

Seventy kilometers, at a speed of fifteen kilometers per hour.

"It will take four and a half to five hours to fly there. The consumption will be around twenty thousand."

For the current treasury, this consumption was just a drop in the bucket.

Xu Qin glanced at the countdown for the Lords Hall upgrade.

He couldn't delay any longer.

A legendary vein.

Things like this are either monopolized or snatched away.

Arriving a second earlier is better.

What if there are other lords' scouts in that area?

Xu Qin made a prompt decision.

"Recall all collection units! The entire army returns to the city!"

The order was sent out through the command panel.

In the forest outside, the Undead Army, which was busy logging and moving stones, stopped their work and turned around in unison.

Transport vehicles turned around, soldiers lined up, and the Undead Army flooded the three-story boarding bridge like a tide.

Xu Qin stood on the Watchtower, watching the orderly return-to-city process below, his finger already tracing a flight path on the map.

From the current position, a straight flight of seventy kilometers to the south.

There were no known lord territories on the flight path.

The terrain gradually transitioned from forest to desert, and then to the dry salt flat.

"Tian Ming."

"Here."

"Have all hero units assemble at the Combat Readiness Platform and prepare for battle. The unknown protective force might be very strong."

"Yes."

Tian Ming turned and left.

Fifteen minutes later.

All collection units returned to the city, the boarding bridge was retracted, and the city gates closed.

Xu Qin sat back down in front of the console in the center of the Lords Hall, placing his hand on the energy control panel.

"Take off."

Hum!

The anti-gravity core at the bottom of the Floating City started at full power.

The bone-white city slowly lifted off the ground, rising to an altitude of twenty meters.

A dark purple energy exhaust plume sprayed from the bottom of the city, pushing the entire fortress to turn directly south.

Maximum speed.

The Floating City stabilized at an altitude of twenty meters and pressed toward the direction of the salt flat in the south at a speed of fifteen kilometers per hour.

...

Four and a half hours later.

The Floating City arrived above the target.

Xu Qin stood at the edge of the Watchtower, looking down at the ground.

Beneath the Floating City lay a gray-white, barren salt flat.

The cracked surface extended to the edge of his vision.

It looked like an unremarkable wasteland.

But on the command panel, that orange marker was flashing eighty meters beneath his feet.

Xu Qin opened the latest reconnaissance report from the Sand Rats.

Inside the underground cavity, three hundred and thirty-five red dots were moving back and forth, appearing to be patrolling.

Xu Qin tapped to open the detailed information.

[Mineral Vein Guardian]

[Level: ?]

[Attack Power: ?]

[Defense: ?]

[HP: ?]

[Note: The level of this unit far exceeds the perception limit of the reconnaissance unit, and detailed data cannot be obtained.]

Everything was question marks.

Xu Qin watched those three hundred and thirty-five red dots wandering slowly on the map, frowning as he pondered a strategy.

At this moment, Tian Ming's voice came from behind him.

"Master."

"The strength of the Mineral Vein Guardians is too great; a direct confrontation would result in huge losses. Please reconsider."

Xu Qin replied without turning his head:

"With such powerful monsters, we certainly won't fight them head-on."

"The first step now is to figure out the strength of these things and see if we can even damage them."

He pulled up the underground cross-section on the panel and traced his finger across the boundary of the cavity.

"Furthermore, even if we are going to fight, we cannot choose the battlefield on their turf."

"Fighting over three hundred monsters with question-mark levels in an underground cavern eighty meters deep? Do we want to die faster?"

Tian Ming did not speak again.

Xu Qin closed the panel, sat back on the bone chair at the console, and analyzed seriously:

"First, continue to have the Sand Rats penetrate the core area to map the complete terrain. I need to know the exact scale of the entire vein to plan the path of the tunnels."

"Second, develop a contingency plan."

"If these things are so tough that we can't even damage them, I need a fallback measure."

He looked up at Tian Ming.

"Notify the Forging Area. Have all five Bone Drill Vehicles moved to the Combat Readiness Platform and stand by."

"Yes."