98: The ground armor herd retreats

It seems it won't be easy to wipe them all out.

However, Lin Ye isn't worried; Earth Armor Beasts, even if they learn to be cunning, will soon forget.

It's like fishing: if the fish at one spot become cunning, they'll still foolishly bite the hook after some time has passed.

He stored several Earth Armor Beast corpses in his spatial storage.

Now, his spatial storage already spans over a thousand cubic meters.

Earth Armor Beasts are only five meters long, so they don't take up too much space.

Mutated Beast meat is quite valuable; although it's far from being comparable to Ability Seeds, even a small mosquito is still meat.

Lin Ye had gone all-in, and he didn't have much money left.

He still had shares worth a billion in Prosperity, but Prosperity's shares were soaring now; he wasn't sure exactly how much they had risen, but they were definitely a growth stock, so he naturally hadn't cashed them out.

He prepared for a protracted battle.

Since he was idle anyway, he found a beast pack to practice on first.

While searching for resource points, he had relied on his Star Eyes to avoid these beast packs to save time, but now that he had nothing to do, he actively sought them out.

This group of Earth Armor Beasts was probably startled and highly vigilant; he would wait until they relaxed their guard after some time.

Earth Armor Beasts aren't very intelligent; despite being several meters long and thicker than a barrel, their brains are actually smaller than an egg.

He had just killed a few, and they probably had about sixty left, which was still a considerable challenge.

But it was nothing more than a matter of persistence.

Afterward, once the Earth Armor Beast pack relaxed, Lin Ye would lure a wave with potions.

Their leader was slightly smarter, but there were always disobedient subordinates.

Moreover, the allure of this potion was comparable to that thing; humans find that thing very difficult to quit, let alone a group of low-intelligence Earth Armor Beasts.

After more than thirty days, hunting a wave every two or three days, the Earth Armor Beast leader finally couldn't take it anymore and retreated with its family.

This place could no longer be stayed in; if they stayed any longer, their subordinates would eventually be wiped out.

It repeatedly warned its subordinates not to fall for the two-legged beast's tricks, but the idiots fell for it time and again, yet never learned their lesson.

Damn it!

Fortunately, there were still over twenty clansmen left; they could still continue to dominate after breeding.

They finally retreated.

Lin Ye felt a bit eager to try.

If this wave was mined, it would definitely be a huge harvest.

The lowest-grade unit of star core costs a hundred million, and the price increases exponentially, almost tenfold for each higher grade.

This was a mountain of gold and silver!

However, mining proved difficult. Although there were caves left by the Earth Armor Beasts, mining star core inevitably led to geological collapses.

Lin Ye did not act rashly.

In fact, he had already realized this problem and had studied up on it in advance.

But how could quick success be so easy?

“Should I find a professional to take a look?”

As soon as this thought appeared, Lin Ye extinguished it; wealth moves hearts, and the value of this resource point, once mined, was immeasurable.

Lin Ye decided to draw up basic geological cross-sections and elevation maps of the underground, then anonymously find a reliable expert on Blue Star to design a mining plan.

Well, no time like the present.

This resource point wouldn't be discovered by anyone for a while, but to prevent complications, Lin Ye still acted quickly.

Returning to Blue Star, he found a famous designer on the optical computer to design the plan.

At the same time, he also purchased a batch of mining tools.

To prevent leaving clues that could be discovered by those with ill intentions, he used the dark web to change his identity.

Fortunately, his requests did not attract the attention of anyone with ill intentions.

After ten days of preparation, Lin Ye returned to the mountain range where the resource point was located—the Black Stone Mountain Range.

It was named after the star core—Black Stone—mined from it.

Mining would inevitably be a large-scale operation, and Lin Ye couldn't guarantee that he could hide it from others after mining; he could only say to do it as quickly as possible.

Thus, he began a life of continuous mining, day and night.

First, he dug tunnels, shoring up sections as he went.

This step was very simple because there were caves left by the Earth Armor Beasts, so it was completed very quickly.

Then he began to create suitable work platforms around the resource point.

Transporting the excavated earth with his spatial storage was very convenient.

During this period, there were also significant problems.

One time, a collapse buried him alive, but his physique was not afraid of a mere collapse; relying on the X-ray vision of his Star Eyes, he managed to find a way out.

Fortunately, after that experience, he gained a lot of experience and became more and more skilled.

After building the platform for collecting resources, he began to collect Black Stone.

With one swing of the pickaxe, a large section of Black Stone was dug out.

He didn't bother to separate it carefully, casually throwing it into his spatial storage.

One swing of the pickaxe yielded more than a dozen units of Black Stone.

Lin Ye grew more excited and energized the more he dug.

“Oh, we common folk, we're truly happy today, hey-ho.”

A few more swings of the pickaxe, and another dozen units were in hand.

“Huh? What's going on here? Why is there so much earth and stone?”

On the fifth day, passersby discovered the unusual nature of this area.

There were occasional clanging sounds, along with scatteredgravelmud and dirt.

“Old Wang, everyone, let's go down from the sky and take a look.”

Gong Zhen and his teammates were flying smoothly in the sky, preparing to hunt, when they unexpectedly discovered the anomaly in this area.

“Oh? Is someone mining here? So many earth mounds.”

His teammates descended one after another.

This small team consisted of eight people, all at the seventh rank, with formidable strength.

“What kind of ore is in this place?”

“That's a bit far-fetched, isn't it? Why would anyone mine here?”

“This place has been turned upside down, hasn't it? No one would really be that desperate, would they?”

“Hahahahaha.”

The group laughed.

Suddenly, a voice rang out unexpectedly.

“Could it be that there's still Black Stone underground here?”

Everyone's laughter stopped abruptly.

They looked at each other.

“No way? With so many people skilled in detection, could there still be an oversight?”

“Impossible, absolutely impossible.”

“Why don't we go take a look first?”

Everyone responded eagerly.

If there really was something, and they missed it, they would definitely regret it later, beating their chests and stamping their feet.

“Everyone, pay attention. If there really is something, it must be a large force mining it. We shouldn't act rashly, or we'll definitely be finished.”

“Right, right, we can't lose our heads.”

“If the other party is relatively weak, then we attack and kill them.”

One member said fiercely.

Murder and robbery are not uncommon in the Star Realm where there is no oversight.

The seven joined forces and headed to the mine shaft to investigate.

The mine shaft Lin Ye dug was very small, only wide enough for one person to pass through.

One cannot blame Lin Ye for his poor vigilance or for not concealing his traces; in fact, as long as you engage in mining, you cannot hide it from passersby.

How to deal with so much excavated earth?

Lin Ye's spatial storage was indeed very convenient; he could accumulate a large amount before disposing of it.

But no matter where he dumped it, someone would discover it, after all, there was so much earth.

Following the clues, they quickly found their way there.

Concealing the cave entrance was even more like burying one's head in the sand.

How sensitive is a seventh-ranker's hearing? As long as you are mining, they can hear you.

For example, Gong Zhen, as the team's scout, had particularly sensitive perception.

He had heard Lin Ye working from the sky.

As for why Lin Ye didn't activate his Star Eyes for vigilance, there was nothing he could do; even with his Star Eyes activated underground, the range of his detection was limited by the weakening effect of the soil and rock layers.

It was normal that he didn't discover Gong Zhen and their team.