14: Withered Forest, Raiders of the Ruins

Late at night, Lin Chen seriously looked at the information about the caves and ruins sent by his squad leader, Lin Fan.

The fourth-tier cave, numbered 40856, also known as the Withering Forest, connected to the surface in the 25th year of Feng City's establishment.

The Withering Forest has a 21-year development history, with 70% of its area developed. Its development level is high, and its danger is medium, with the strongest life form being late-stage fourth-tier.

In 21 years, no fifth-tier life forms have been discovered in the Withering Forest. According to the Federal Cave Army's detection, it can accommodate early-stage fifth-tier life forms, and it's not ruled out that fifth-tier life forms are dormant in the strata.

The Withering Forest covers an area of over 500,000 square kilometers and generally appears as a withered ancient forest, mostly inhabited by undead life forms, primarily beast skeletons, beast souls, and undead plants.

Special resources include Bone Essence, Soul Hearts, and undead plant materials. Tiers one to four are evenly distributed, and the difficulty of acquisition is medium.

The acquisition prices of common materials of various tiers in the Federation are relatively stable, while rare materials generally have a premium of one to ten times.

First-tier acquisition price: 10,000 to 100,000 federal currency.

Second-tier acquisition price: 150,000 to 500,000 federal currency.

Third-tier acquisition price: 700,000 to 3,000,000 federal currency.

Fourth-tier acquisition price: 4,000,000 to 10,000,000 federal currency.

Fifth-tier acquisition price: 13,000,000 to 40,000,000 federal currency.

Materials of the sixth tier and above are generally valued at over 50,000,000 federal currency. They are controlled materials and do not circulate in the market; they usually require specific conditions to purchase.

After checking the detailed information of the Withering Forest cave, Lin Chen felt relieved.

It was a very ordinary fourth-tier cave, not too dangerous. With Lin Chen's cultivation as a mid-stage third-tier Mentalist and a late-stage third-tier Martial Artist, he could practically move unhindered within the cave.

The unknown ruins discovered by Lin Fan and Oriental Red Sleeve did not have much information, but their danger level was not very high either.

The age of the ruins was determined to be from the Human Empire era based on the architectural style, estimated to be three to five tens of thousands of years old.

Based on the conditions for entering the ruins, it should be a legacy-type ruin, requiring a minimum of three people to activate and needing a team to clear it.

Given the carrying capacity of the Withering Forest cave, the ruins established within it could only support early-stage fifth-tier power at most, so the danger was genuinely not high.

“I can join Lin Fan and the other person to clear the ruins. My safety is very much guaranteed. I just hope I don't get led astray by Lin Fan, who seems to be the protagonist.”

So, Lin Chen contacted Lin Fan and confirmed his participation in the team to clear the ruins. The day after tomorrow, which was Friday, they would gather at the Snow City Milk Tea Shop in front of the Withering Forest cave.

At this time, Lin Chen consulted Lin Fan again.

What supplies might be needed for going into the cave, and what practical small tools should be fully equipped? Lin Chen, who had never been into a cave, did not know the information and uses of these items.

Lin Chen still had one billion federal currency in his bank card, so he wasn't short of small money for preparing supplies and purchasing small tools.

A craftsman must sharpen his tools to do his work well.

If everything was prepared, and an accident still occurred, it could only be fate playing tricks, the heavens not wanting him to have an easy time.

Time flew by to the weekend.

The students of Class 1 had not been idle these two days, actively learning about caves and Star Gates, teaming up with well-acquainted classmates, and jointly funding the hiring of senior teams.

The first time entering a cave and a Star Gate was a novel experience for anyone, especially students who rarely left campus and witnessed the vast world.

Lin Chen arrived relatively early at the Snow City Milk Tea Shop in front of the entrance to the Withering Forest cave.

After a few minutes, Lin Fan and Oriental Red Sleeve walked in hand in hand. The moment they saw Lin Chen, they quickly let go of each other's hands, and facing Lin Chen's gaze, they were somewhat embarrassed.

“You two, I didn't see anything.”

Lin Chen's words were completely self-deceiving, which only made Oriental Red Sleeve and Lin Fan's faces turn redder.

Although everyone tacitly assumed they were in a relationship, without concrete evidence, they neither admitted nor denied it. Now, being caught in the act, they felt somewhat ashamed.

“Lin Chen, are you ready?”

“I'm ready. I've prepared two sets of everything you mentioned and put them in my storage ring. From now on, I'll follow your command.”

“Alright then. We'll queue up to enter the cave now. Once inside, change into your combat suits immediately.”

“No problem.”

When it came to professional matters, Lin Fan was very reliable.

In the three-person team, Lin Fan was the captain, responsible for handling all matters big and small within the team. He was also the most experienced person present.

Oriental Red Sleeve only began exploring caves and Star Gates with Lin Fan after the Nirvana Training Camp ended in the second half of her third year of junior high, giving her over half a year's more experience than Lin Chen.

If it weren't for the fact that the ruins absolutely required three people to activate, the two young lovers wouldn't have brought along Lin Chen, the third wheel.

After queuing for half an hour, the three-person team passed through the spatial gate and entered the cave space.

As soon as the three landed, they immediately took out their weapons, changed into combat suits, and vigilantly scanned their surroundings.

Lin Chen's combat suit was a fourth-tier nano combat suit, which was close-fitting and offered excellent defense. He could also equip full-body armor to enhance his defense.

Lin Fan and Oriental Red Sleeve's gear was similar to Lin Chen's. When it came to self-preservation, everyone's choices were consistent.

“The surrounding environment is temporarily safe.”

“Lin Chen, release your mental power to scan the surroundings, ensuring you can detect and mark approaching enemies immediately.”

“Hongxiu and I will prepare for battle. After Lin Chen marks the enemies, we will eliminate the incoming enemies as quickly as possible.”

“Free hunting. Our goal is to reach the ruins.”

“Understood.” * 2

Lin Fan immediately issued orders. Lin Chen and Oriental Red Sleeve did not object; this command was very normal.

Lin Chen released his mental power to cover a 500-meter radius, sensing life forms of third and fourth-tier strength within the perception range, and constantly reported the situation to Lin Fan and the other person through the team's ear microphone.

Upon entering the cave, the landing point was uncertain.

Generally, one would land at the edge of the cave, and after walking a certain distance outwards, one could see the cave wall, which resembled a cliff. The cave wall had some exploration value, but compared to the cave space, its value was very low.

This time, Lin Fan and the two others were lucky to enter the cave, as their landing point was not far from the ruins hidden deep underground, only 300 kilometers away.

Lin Fan led the way at the front, Lin Chen was in the middle, using his mental power to scan the surroundings, and Oriental Red Sleeve brought up the rear, guarding against enemies from behind.

All three had fourth-tier combat power. In the Withering Forest, as long as they were careful, they practically had no opponents.

Four hours later, the three had traversed 300 kilometers and arrived above the ruins.

Along the way, they encountered no significant dangers.

The most thrilling encounter was merely running into a tribe of two fourth-tier souls, fifty third-tier souls, and thousands of first and second-tier souls blocking their path.

The final result was the complete annihilation of the soul tribe, with only slight smudges on the trio's clothes.

Lin Fan and Oriental Red Sleeve directly engaged the fourth-tier souls, easily slaying them in under a minute without much effort.

The other souls were wiped out by 90% with one Mental Shock from Lin Chen, and the remaining 10% were individually targeted and killed by flying daggers controlled by his mental power.

As geniuses of the Human Race, it was normal for them to effortlessly kill souls that only possessed instincts.

This single encounter alone yielded materials worth 25 million federal currency, which, when divided equally, meant each person received over 8 million federal currency.

The stronger the martial artist, the faster they earn money. Of course, they also spend money quickly. Earning a lot and spending a lot means their actual savings are not much, and their cash flow is not very abundant.

“Starting the teleportation now. Lin Chen, Hongxiu, grab my hands tightly.”

“Okay.”

Lin Chen didn't hesitate and directly grabbed Lin Fan's left wrist.

On the other side, the two held hands tightly, looking at each other, their eyes full of love.

“Sigh, single dogs have no human rights, do they?”

Lin Fan and the other person acted as if they heard nothing.

After a dizzying sensation, the three disappeared from the surface and entered the ruins' cavern five kilometers deep underground.

Lin Chen shook his head, and the dizziness dissipated.

“Squad leader, you two are truly amazing. You managed to find ruins hidden so deep underground.”

“It was merely luck.”

Lin Fan didn't elaborate on this topic, and Lin Chen didn't ask further. He had discovered some other anomalies about Lin Fan; teleporting people wasn't something that could be simply explained by talent.

The ruins were protected by a barrier that resembled glass. Through the barrier, one could see the ancient buildings inside, full of imperial style. Only the Imperial Era had such iconic architectural complexes.

The three approached the barrier hand in hand. The barrier did not obstruct their entry. The three seemed to pass through a thin film, instantly entering a new space.

“Detecting entry of non-royal descendants. Activating extermination array.”

“Detecting special environment. Extermination array upper limit locked to early-stage fifth-tier.”

“Detecting insufficient energy. Extermination array activation failed.”

“...Program crashing. Self-destruct array activated.”

“Self-destruct array missing core components. Activation failed.”

“...Crashing...”

The three looked at each other, somewhat speechless.

Ruins from the Imperial Era were always like this; everything served the royal family. If non-royal descendants entered the ruins, the ruins would casually activate extermination and self-destruction protocols.

This ruin had existed for too long, and many of its functions had already become ineffective.

The ruin's program was awakened, forcefully attempting to activate certain functions, which ultimately resulted in the ruin's program crashing and its only protective measures failing.

“Well, that benefits us.”