There’s a saying: "Getting up the mountain is easy, but coming down is hard."
What Gao Neng was feeling right now was that tying soone up was easy, but untying them was hard. However, since he only planned on untying Shen Ning’Er’s upper body and not her lower half, it didn’t take too long.
Before long, he had loosened the outermost ropes and the sleeping bag. Then, he undid most of the ropes binding Shen Ning’Er’s body. This way, it would be much more convenient to search her.
"Shen Ning’Er, I’ll give you one more chance. If you’re awake, don’t pretend to be out. I’m about to start searching you, you know." As Gao Neng spoke, he tightened his grip on the wrench in his hand.
"..." Shen Ning’Er didn’t say a word.
"I’m really gonna do it," Gao Neng tested the waters again.
Still no response.
"Stop playing dead. I can see you’re awake—your eyelids are twitching. There’s no point in faking it. I’m going to count to three, and then I’ll really start groping you all over." Gao Neng touched Shen Ning’Er’s neck, then his hand slowly, tentatively, moved downward.
"..." Shen Ning’Er.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"Here I go!"
Gao Neng hovered his hand over Shen Ning’Er’s chest.
Shen Ning’Er remained perfectly still.
’Looks like I was overthinking it. The blow to the back of her head must have really done the trick.’ Gao Neng chuckled, then reached out and rummaged through the pockets of Shen Ning’Er’s clothes.
Soon enough, he pulled out more than ten high-dinsional capsules.
He glanced at Shen Ning’Er again.
She still hadn’t woken up.
Gao Neng finally relaxed completely. He walked over to the edge of the golden sphere, opened one of the high-dinsional capsules, and began collecting the energy according to the thod taught at the academy.
But at that very mont, Shen Ning’Er’s eyes opened again. She bit her lip, her gaze fixed on Gao Neng’s back, a fire seemingly blazing in her eyes.
"Haha, collect!" Just then, Gao Neng burst out laughing. The golden sphere instantly shrank, transforming into a stream of golden liquid that flowed swiftly into the high-dinsional capsule.
Shen Ning’Er imdiately shut her eyes again.
Gao Neng was thrilled.
’This high-dinsional capsule is filled with a huge clump of golden energy! If I sold this... forget one hundred thousand Alliance Coins, this has to be worth tens of millions, right?’
’But why haven’t I gotten a prompt that the mission is complete?’
’Could it be that the system doesn’t consider this mine yet? If I kill Shen Ning’Er, will it belong to then?’
Gao Neng glanced at Shen Ning’Er again.
Heh...
It wasn’t that he wasn’t ruthless enough. It was just that while Shen Ning’Er wasn’t exactly a good person, she wasn’t that bad either. Most importantly, he had only survived because she had intervened.
"Forget it. I’ll let you live. This gold doesn’t belong to . I’ll return it to you when I get the chance. I should just find my magnetic pile and earn my own Alliance Coins." Gao Neng said it aloud casually. Even though he was sure Shen Ning’Er couldn’t hear him, saying it served as a ntal reminder to himself.
Otherwise, holding a high-dinsional capsule filled with so much golden energy, he really wasn’t sure if he could avoid being blinded by greed.
He scanned his surroundings.
Gao Neng saw that the area was almost completely destroyed. However, about five hundred ters away, there was the entrance to a drainage pipe that hadn’t been fully blocked off.
’Should I just leave Shen Ning’Er here?’
’What if soone cos back to search the area again?’
’Better take her with .’
Gao Neng rembered soone had already searched the area once. Besides, a massive explosion had just happened here. Once the dust settled, even if those people didn’t return, so scavengers definitely would.
He picked up the rope again and wrapped it around Shen Ning’Er a few more tis.
Gao Neng didn’t bother with the sleeping bag this ti. He just picked Shen Ning’Er up in his arms, his large backpack still on his back. After all, he really didn’t feel safe turning his back on soone who could wake up at any mont.
’Holding her in my arms, if she makes the slightest move, I can just drop her and hit her with the wrench again.’
’Convenient and quick.’
Once everything was settled, he checked the ti.
It was exactly midnight.
He still had two hours until the 2:00 AM deadline given by the system.
Gao Neng began to feel his way forward.
Having broken through his first human limit, his stamina was quite impressive. Shen Ning’Er wasn’t very heavy, so carrying her wasn’t too strenuous.
Carrying Shen Ning’Er like this, he made his way to the entrance of the drainage pipe.
Gao Neng began to channel his Spiritual Power.
The layout of the drainage pipes unfolded before his eyes like a map. This powerful feeling was simply incredible, but the consumption of his Stamina... was a bit severe.
In just about ten seconds, his Stamina had dropped by more than 60 points, leaving him with less than 50.
Gao Neng was shocked by this rate of consumption.
’I didn’t feel this before, did I?’
’It was probably because I was "evolving" at the beginning, so the consumption was low. And the other ti I used it was too brief, just a quick glance.’
Gao Neng thought for a mont. ’This won’t work. Even with my calisthenics routine, I can’t handle this kind of drain. I’d have to do the routine every ten-odd seconds. Who could stand that?’
’Could it be related to the range my Spiritual Power is covering?’
’A smaller area of coverage... ans less Spiritual Power consumption?’
Gao Neng tried again. This ti, he only extended his Spiritual Power to a range of seven or eight ters ahead. As expected, the Stamina consumption was much lower.
"Hmm, keeping it within a ten-ter range should be acceptable." Gao Neng carefully weighed his options and started feeling his way forward again.
After all, he already had a clear idea of the layout inside the drainage pipe, so there was no need for such a large, continuous drain. A ten-ter range was more or less enough.
...
「Twenty minutes later.」
Gao Neng successfully reached the location of the ntal hospital.
Through his Spiritual Power exploration, he determined that the underground factory was just seven or eight ters ahead. The next step was to recover his stamina and then search for the so-called magnetic pile.
Gao Neng first ate a few crackers and drank so water. Then, he did his calisthenics routine for a bit, and his Vitality and Stamina values were soon full again.
"Want a bite? Go ahead if you want one, don’t say I’m stingy." Gao Neng held a cracker to Shen Ning’Er’s lips, then closed his eyes and began to explore with his Spiritual Power.
BUZZ!
In an instant, he felt the tendrils of his Spiritual Power pass through the wall and enter the underground factory.
There were quite a few people bustling about inside.
But the flow of personnel seed to follow a specific pattern.
’It’s in the southeast direction!’ Gao Neng quickly confird this. He then extended his Spiritual Power toward the southeast, and in no ti, he discovered a specific location.
"A pile of ore!"
"How can it be a pile of ore?!"
Gao Neng was so shocked he almost shouted out loud.
’Don’t tell the magnetic pile *is* the ore pile?!’
’Impossible!’
’How could a magnetic pile be an ore pile... That doesn’t make any sense. Sothing must be wrong. Based on my understanding of magnetic piles, so kind of "unknown" existence would be a better explanation.’
’Wait!’
’Is it possible that there’s a pile of ore at the location of the magnetic pile? And this ore pile was affected by the magnetic pile, which then ford so kind of special ore?’
’Or maybe...’
’...at the location of every magnetic pile, there’s always a special pile of ore?’
Gao Neng couldn’t be sure.
He knew too little about magnetic piles; everything was just speculation. The only reason he even had this theory was because of the system’s hint.
’A hamr, a wrench, and a shovel?’
’It’s telling to go mining, right?’
"Whether it is or not, I’ll just start digging first. If the magnetic pile really is with the ore pile, then I’ll just dig up the magnetic pile along with it!" Gao Neng grinned at the thought.
’Digging up a magnetic pile...’
’Just thinking about it is so badass!’
There was still an hour and a half left.
’First, I’ll get to the ore pile’s location and get ready to dig. It doesn’t matter if my judgnt is right or wrong. As long as I dig up so ore, it’s a profit. The more I dig, the more I earn!’
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