Chapter 38: Ore All Over the Ground, a Fork in the Road

Assam's resolute face furrowed in pain.

A moment later, he also felt an extra surge of power within his body, and a look of pleasant surprise appeared in his eyes.

"So, this was your intention, Lord? How miraculous."

"Thank you for the whipping, respected Lord!"

Assam said respectfully.

Then, Assam said somewhat sheepishly, "Lord, could you whip me a few more times?"

"Assam wants to become even stronger!"

Cao Xing shook his head and said, "No, only the first whipping has an effect."

Hearing this, Assam nodded with some regret.

Meanwhile, the people nearby were completely dumbfounded as they listened to their conversation.

Although they knew Cao Xing's actions probably had some purpose, this was just too bizarre.

Knowing they were misunderstanding, Cao Xing coughed twice and explained the whip's effect to them.

After hearing this, realization dawned in everyone's eyes.

Then, Cao Xing said, "Now, Andrew, Sarah, let me apply the blessing to you as well."

Andrew and Sarah exchanged glances and then nodded.

Cao Xing whipped them one by one.

"Crack!"

"Crack!"

The sound of whipping echoed through the deep mine.

Andrew was fine. He had thick skin and rough flesh, so this bit of pain didn't affect him at all.

On the side, Sarah's body trembled slightly.

When it was Liu Muxue's turn, she looked at the whip in Cao Xing's hand with some fear and whispered, "Xing… Do I, do I have to get whipped too?"

Cao Xing thought for a moment and nodded. "Yes, a 10% movement speed boost is a significant upgrade."

"Besides, it only takes one hit. Just bear with it, and it'll be over."

Liu Muxue thought for a moment, then nodded. "Okay."

Without any other thoughts, Cao Xing directly lashed out with the whip.

"Ugh!"

Liu Muxue let out a muffled groan and then looked at Cao Xing pitifully.

"It… it hurts…"

Seeing this, Cao Xing couldn't help but recall what happened last night, causing his blood to rush for a moment.

But he quickly calmed himself down.

Cao Xing coughed twice and said, "Now that everyone's buffed, let's keep moving forward."

Andrew and Assam continued to march forward.

There was a railway track in the passage, extending deeper into the mine.

As Cao Xing advanced along the path, he collected the railway tracks on the ground.

[Railway Track +1]

[Railway Track +1]

Before walking very far, Cao Xing had already collected over a hundred meters of railway tracks!

Even if they were dismantled into iron, there would be hundreds of pieces!

Cao Xing thought happily, "If I collect a few more tracks, I can connect that coal mine to my territory, greatly increasing the speed of resource collection."

Right then, a fork in the road appeared in the mine ahead.

The left path seemed to lead deeper into the mine, with the faint rumble of machinery echoing from inside.

The right path was boarded up with wooden planks, with a red 'X' painted on them.

This seemed to be a restricted area.

Everyone stopped in their tracks, waiting for Cao Xing's decision.

After a moment of thought, Cao Xing said, "Andrew, tear down the wooden planks. Let me see what's inside first."

Obeying the command, Andrew swung his massive bear claw and swiped at them.

*Crack! Splinter!*

The wooden planks were smashed to pieces, revealing the scene inside the mine.

Cao Xing saw that there seemed to be several overturned mine carts in the tunnel ahead, with some already excavated ore scattered all over the ground next to them.

The group of Molemen seemed to have encountered some kind of situation and left these behind in their haste to evacuate.

From the shadows, Sarah suddenly spoke up, "I sense a dangerous aura inside…"

Hearing this, Cao Xing frowned.

Sarah was a Level 20 elite monster. If even she found it dangerous, it meant there was some terrifying creature inside.

Cao Xing said, "Sarah, go scout it out."

Sarah nodded and then vanished directly into the shadows.

A minute later, Sarah's figure reappeared, and she said, "Scouting complete. Inside is the lair of a Tier 2 magical beast."

"A Tier 2 magical beast? How strong is it?"

Sarah thought for a moment and replied, "Its strength should be on par with mine."

Cao Xing nodded in realization.

On par with Sarah meant a Level 20 elite monster.

Cao Xing asked, "Are you confident we can deal with it?"

After a moment of thought, Sarah replied, "With the blessing bestowed by you, Lord, it shouldn't be much of a problem."

"If I cooperate with these two companions, victory is basically guaranteed."

Cao Xing felt reassured.

"Very well, let's head straight in!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Andrew and Assam walked directly toward the right tunnel.

Cao Xing and Liu Muxue followed closely behind.

He soon arrived in front of one of the overturned mine carts, with some ore scattered next to it.

Cao Xing directly packed up the mine cart along with the ore on the ground and took them away.

[Obtained Mine Cart *1, Iron Ore *31, Cursed Metal *7, Mithril Ore *8, Magic Energy Stone *17, Stone *64…]

"Oh? So much Mithril and Magic Energy Stones?" Cao Xing was delighted.

After all, these were high-grade materials and were highly valuable.

Cao Xing began to inspect them.

[Iron Ore: Can be processed in an Ore Processing Plant. 1 piece of ore can be processed into 5 pieces of Iron.]

[Cursed Metal: A type of metal fused with the resentment of the deceased.]

(Can be used to craft certain evil alchemical items.)

[Mithril Ore: Can be processed in an Ore Processing Plant. 1 piece of Mithril Ore can be processed into 3 pieces of Mithril.]

(Note: Requires a Level 3 Ore Processing Plant.)

[Magic Energy Stone: A stone containing energy, which can provide power to some special devices.]

…

Cao Xing nodded in satisfaction and looked at the other mine carts on the ground.

Then, he packed them all up and took them away.

[Obtained Mine Cart *1, Obtained Iron Ore *42, Cursed Metal *9, Mithril Ore *7, Magic Energy Stone *19, Stone *72…]

In addition to these, he didn't spare the railway tracks on the ground either.

[Obtained Railway Track *42, Obtained Abandoned Mine Cart *7, Obtained…]

…

Cao Xing followed behind Andrew and Assam the entire way, packing up and taking various ores on the ground.

Liu Muxue was also helping to collect them.

As she picked them up, she said with a joyful smile, "Xing, there's so much Iron Ore, and so much Mithril Ore!"

Cao Xing nodded. "This trip is really rewarding. Just these ores and mine carts make it well worth the journey."

Liu Muxue's face was also filled with the joy of a bountiful harvest.

Clearly, the Moleman Mine was a high-level area.

At least, with the current strength of the Survivors, there was no way they could enter.

But Cao Xing, because he had three powerful generals under his command, was able to enter the Moleman Mine to search for treasure at this level.

The harvest could be said to be extremely bountiful.

Up to now, Cao Xing had already collected nearly two hundred sections of railway tracks.

Fortunately, the Survivor's [Inventory] function had 20 storage slots. Same-type materials like these could be stacked up to 400 in a single slot.

And large items like mine carts could also be stacked up to nearly 100, occupying only 1 slot.

The Inventory was still quite large.

Everyone continued to move forward.

Until they finally arrived deep within the passage.

Here, the light dimmed significantly.

However, as Cao Xing took out a Magic Energy Stone Torch from his Inventory, the darkness inside was instantly dispelled.

They noticed that white spiderwebs had appeared on the ceiling and both sides of the mine.

The further they went, the denser the spiderwebs became.

There were even some massive webs filling the passage, blocking everyone's way.

At the same time, an evil and powerful aura rushed over them!

…

Thanks to book friend Xuanhai for the monthly ticket, and thanks to everyone for the recommendation votes. This humble author bows in gratitude~