296: Ze Xing

Before he even arrived at Ze Star, Lin Tianwei already felt immense pressure.

The pressure of war.

Countless Cosmic Level spaceships surrounded the area, and among them were many Star-level powerhouses.

They strictly monitored any creature entering or exiting this area.

Especially for creatures leaving the area, a thorough body search was required.

This was a rule set by Marta.

Its purpose was to prevent any possibility of the space gem being taken out.

In his opinion, these space gems were his exclusive property, so how could he let them be lost?

Fortunately, Barbo and Lin Tianwei were entering this area.

And since they were clearly of the Ze Clan, they didn't encounter any obstacles.

Led by Barbo, Lin Tianwei soon piloted his spaceship near Ze Star.

He quickly saw the grey planet.

A life-sustaining planet vastly different from Blue Star.

Unlike the complex and diverse ecosystems on Blue Star, perhaps due to the Ze Clan's influence, Ze Star's ecological chain was extremely simple.

It consisted of only three types of creatures:

Ze Grass, Ze Worm, and the Ze Clan.

This grey plant, named Ze Grass, was the primary producer on Ze Star, surviving by absorbing free-floating energy from the air and the soil of Ze Star.

It provided crucial food for the Ze Worm and the Ze Clan.

The Ze Worm was a grey insect, the same color as Ze Grass, with a huge mouth full of sharp teeth.

It usually hid in piles of Ze Grass, primarily relying on Ze Grass for food.

Of course, when circumstances allowed, they would also turn their ferocious teeth towards the Ze Clan.

Swarming them, they would instantly devour any Ze Clan member who entered their encirclement, leaving not even a speck behind.

However, more often, they, like Ze Grass, served as food for the Ze Clan.

After a brief thought, as soon as he stepped out of the spaceship, Barbo approached Lin Tianwei and said to him:

"Zeta, you are the most outstanding warrior of the Ze Clan, the warrior with the greatest awareness."

"And now is the most dangerous moment for the Ze Clan, when we need you the most."

"Please abandon meaningless trivialities, follow my orders, and go to the place where the space gem was discovered to guard our space gem."

"That is the foundation of our Ze Clan, and there can be no mistakes."

Perhaps Lin Tianwei's previous awakening and his insightful speech moved Barbo.

Or perhaps the Ze Clan had reached a point where they had no beasts left to use.

As soon as they arrived at Ze Star, Barbo eagerly assigned Lin Tianwei a task.

This act of rushing a beast to work immediately upon return was utterly shameless.

Not to mention, Lin Tianwei had already handed over two hundred forty-nine yuan coin, all his visible assets, to Barbo.

So, even with his thick skin, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

He didn't even let Lin Tianwei go home first.

But he didn't expect his shamelessness to play right into Lin Tianwei's hands.

Lin Tianwei found Barbo utterly adorable for choosing to let him guard the space gem.

Letting a plunderer guard treasure? How was that different from inviting a thief in?

Lin Tianwei couldn't help but exclaim, "This arrangement is truly brilliant!"

Thinking of this, Lin Tianwei said without hesitation, "Matters of the race are above all else."

"I, Zeta, am not such an unreasonable beast."

"Lord Barbo, please rest assured, I will now go to the location of the space gem to guard it."

"You can be sure, I will absolutely not let any other creature approach here and take away my space gem."

Just kidding.

All space gems, and even the entire Ze Star, were within Lin Tianwei's grasp, so how could he let other creatures lay claim to them?

Even if Marta himself came, it would be absolutely impossible!

Lin Tianwei, who was just worried about not finding the space gem, was overjoyed and righteously accepted Barbo's task.

He was indeed going to guard the space gem.

However, they were not the Ze Clan's space gems, but purely Lin Tianwei's own space gems.

As long as these mysterious space gems were useful to Lin Tianwei, not a single one would escape his clutches.

"Wait a moment!"

Ultimately, Barbo still felt that what he was doing was a bit unkind, so he pulled out a space gem from his pocket, handed it to Lin Tianwei, and said:

"Zeta, I am very pleased that you have such awareness."

"Although this space gem is not large, it is still priceless."

"Consider it a reward for you undertaking this mission."

"Rest assured, once the Ze Clan overcomes this difficulty, you will certainly rise to prominence with us."

This gem was a reward he received after returning to Ze Star and submitting over a thousand yuan coin.

Of course, there was far more than just one gem; there were many.

However, the stingy Barbo was only willing to give Lin Tianwei one space gem.

Even though Lin Tianwei's submission of yuan coin alone should have earned him at least a hundred space gems.

After all, on the current Ze Star, perhaps the least valuable things were the so-called space gems, these treasures that were priceless in others' eyes.

Due to the special nature of the space gem, it could not be stored in ordinary Space-type equipment.

This also made their desire to smuggle out the space gem a complete pipe dream.

Directly selling it was even more impossible.

Marta would never pay even a single yuan coin for something that was already within his grasp.

Furthermore, the Ze Clan had no Space-type Talent whatsoever, making them completely unable to use or absorb the space gem.

So, they could only possess this precious space gem, watching helplessly as it failed to fulfill its intended purpose, becoming as useless as a stone.

It was truly tragic to the extreme.

This was also why Marta was so confident in letting the Ze Clan and his space gems stay together.

He only needed to guard the door, and these space gems would be like fish in a barrel, with no possibility of escape.

But he didn't expect it.

He made one crucial mistake, directly letting in Lin Tianwei, this terrifying locust.

Looking in the direction Barbo was pointing, he saw that he was holding a pitch-black ore in his hand.

It was entirely dark, ordinary, showing no abnormalities whatsoever, just like a common stone.

If it weren't for the faint Space Energy he could feel emanating from it, Lin Tianwei would have a hard time believing that the so-called space gem looked so unremarkable.

Lin Tianwei did not refuse the space gem Barbo handed over; he naturally showed no politeness for something that already belonged to him.

Moreover, Lin Tianwei was already very interested in the so-called space gem.

He eagerly wanted to know what effect this so-called space gem actually had.

Thinking of this, Lin Tianwei began to examine the space gem in his hand as he walked.

Though called a gem, what Barbo handed over was more like a raw ore full of impurities.

Although it emitted a faint, unique Space Energy aura, it was mottled and impure.

Clearly, it was of extremely poor quality.

The Space Energy contained within it was also incredibly scarce, barely more than nothing.

It would require extremely complex refining operations to extract even a tiny bit of expensive space material from it.

If it weren't for the extreme rarity of Space Energy-containing ore, such crude ore would attract no attention from any beast.

Even if left lying around, no beast would discover it.

In fact, the discovery of these space ores was truly accidental.

Because space ores naturally contained Space Energy, they could not be stored in conventional Space-type equipment.

A Ze Clan member, with nothing to do, picked up a stone intending to put it into space as a gift for someone.

But he didn't expect to open Pandora's box, plunging the entire Ze Clan into an irreversible predicament.

Of course, this was only under normal circumstances.

For Lin Tianwei, who possessed Space-type Talent, extracting the Space Energy from this space ore was quite simple.

One could even say it required no effort at all.

With a slight exertion of his right hand, this inferior space ore was directly ground into powder by Lin Tianwei.

What followed was a faint Space-type energy.

It was directly guided by Lin Tianwei and transported into that sole tiger tooth.

Becoming the energy for transforming the Slave Space.

That's right.

Even after spending half a year, Lin Tianwei still hadn't completely transformed the Slave Space.

He had underestimated the energy required to transform the Slave Space.

After all, Lin Tianwei's Slave Space was enormous, with a diameter of a full ten billion meters.

Furthermore, due to inconsistent attributes, the transformation was incredibly complex, and the consumption of Space Energy was terrifyingly high.

Even after half a year, Lin Tianwei had only managed to transform about half of the Slave Space.

To fully utilize it, he either needed to spend another half year or acquire enough Space Energy.

One hundredth of a day!

After absorbing the energy contained in this space meteorite, Lin Tianwei found that the progress of transforming the Slave Space had only increased by one hundredth of a day.

The effect could be said to be negligible.

However, Lin Tianwei was not discouraged.

He had no doubt about Barbo's black-heartedness.

The space ore he gave him must have been the most worthless space ore.

It was only natural that it contained little Space Energy.

And the place Lin Tianwei was going next was the real treasure trove.

Burying countless space ores.

Before long, Lin Tianwei arrived at a heavily guarded area.

Numerous Ze Clan members patrolled this area, their eyes filled with solemnity, constantly on guard against potential enemies.

A place that could command such importance from the Ze Clan naturally could only be the location of the space ores.

Lin Tianwei could even feel the free-floating Space Energy in the air.

It was certainly no less than what was in the space ore Barbo had given him, if not more.

This was enough to show how black-hearted Barbo was.

Despite possessing a large quantity of space ores, he only grudgingly gave Lin Tianwei one of the most worthless ones.

But it didn't matter.

Lin Tianwei had claws.

Anything he set his sights on, he could take for himself.

Thinking of this, Lin Tianwei walked directly towards the heavily guarded building in front of him.

After a series of tedious interrogations, Lin Tianwei's identity was finally recognized.

Just kidding.

This was the form Lin Tianwei had taken using his Talent: Beastification (Extraordinary).

These Planetary-level Ze Clan members simply couldn't discern Lin Tianwei's true nature.

Barbo couldn't.

And they couldn't either.

After confirming Lin Tianwei's identity, a leading Ze Clan member named Dakman walked over and said:

"Zeta, welcome back."

"Our current task for the Ze Clan is to extract as many space gems as possible as reserve materials."

"Whether as bargaining chips for our salvation or as resources to make us stronger, these space gems are indispensable."

"Take these shovels; your task is to dig as many space gems as possible."

"Below here are all space gems; you can't go wrong even if you just dig randomly."

Perhaps knowing that reconciliation with Marta was hopeless, Hof finally abandoned the idea of retreating.

Instead, he began to mobilize the entire clan's strength to mine space gems, hoping to use them as bargaining chips.

He attempted to carve out a path to survival for the Ze Clan.

Marta naturally knew about the Ze Clan's actions.

However, he believed that the Ze Clan could never escape his grasp, so he chose not to stop them.

He was even happy to have the Ze Clan as Slaves who actively helped him mine.

This matter almost happened with the tacit consent of both sides.

Looking at the constant flow of people, Dakman sighed and said, "These space gems are truly a gift from the heavens."

"A treasure bestowed upon our Ze Clan for our rise."

"But we didn't expect a traitor within our Ze Clan to leak the news, allowing that dog Marta to discover the existence of the space gems."

"If not for that, with these space gems alone, the Ze Clan would definitely have risen."

Dakman was still too naive.

This was a world where Talent reigned supreme, and the Ze Clan's mediocre Talent destined them to never become true powerhouses.

Even with a massive influx of resources, barely becoming Star-level Ninth Order would still leave them at the bottom, and they would never have the courage to strive for the Cosmic Level.

His thoughts were destined to be mere pipe dreams.

Of course, Lin Tianwei didn't care about the fate of the Ze Clan.

He was even less concerned about Dakman's exploitative methods.

He already intended to enter the mine, so the sooner the better.

After all, the only thing on Ze Star that could capture his attention was the potentially massive amount of space gems hidden here.

Taking the shovel, Lin Tianwei didn't hesitate and walked directly down into the mine.

The deeper he went, the denser the Space Energy became in the air.

In this mine filled with Space Energy, Lin Tianwei only needed to breathe normally to quickly replenish his lost Space Energy.

If he were to transform the Slave Space here, it would definitely achieve twice the results with half the effort.

Greatly shortening the time needed for the complete transformation of the Slave Space.

Of course.

This was not the main point.

The space ores hidden in the mine were what truly deserved Lin Tianwei's attention.

To exaggerate even more.

The entire Ze Star was the most valuable treasure.

Passing through the dark and deep mine shaft, Lin Tianwei finally arrived at his destination.

In front of a rock wall embedded with space gems.

The dense Space Energy made Lin Tianwei's eyes light up.

Dakman was right.

space gems were everywhere here; there was no need to search, and a casual dig would yield a large number of space gems. (End of Chapter)