Chapter Fifty-Seven: An Egg

Mu Kui gave a wry smile and said, “Lu Sheng, you really are a monster.”

Truth be told, he was quite envious of Lu Sheng’s life card—Giant Ant, tenfold enhancement of strength, far superior to his own. Moreover, Mu Kui could sense that Lu Sheng’s stamina was nothing to scoff at. Occasionally, after a battle, he would observe Lu Sheng, but he had never seen him catch his breath or pant from exhaustion. Except, perhaps, when he had first joined their team…

Lu Sheng chuckled awkwardly, “I’m not a monster. I’m a good man, don’t say that.”

Ignoring Lu Sheng’s banter, Mu Kui continued to deal with the black spider before him. The black spider’s strength, speed, and attack methods were all formidable. The spider fighting with Mu Kui was most likely a late-stage first-rank black spider; otherwise, it would never have lasted so long against him. But Mu Kui was now at the peak of first rank; it was only a matter of time before he finished it off. The only reason the black spider was still alive was due to its agile attacks and rapid speed. Mu Kui had to dodge repeatedly, not daring to clash head-on. Trading injuries with a monster was a last resort, never a first choice.

After two minutes of wear and tear, Mu Kui finally found an opening and plunged his blade into the black spider’s head.

With Mu Kui’s battle over, the rest of the team had also more or less finished off their foes. Only a handful of the weaker members had died here. In battle, casualties were inevitable.

At the very front of the group, Wang Ziping waved his hand grandly. “Clear the battlefield!”

“Thank you, Captain!”
“Thank you, Captain!”

Wang Ziping’s command sent a surge of excitement through the group. Normally, the task of clearing the battlefield after such a fight would fall to the scavenger team. In that case, all resources recovered would belong to Wang Ziping. But this time, by letting them clear the field themselves, it meant that whatever they found was theirs to keep.

This was possible because he had already received something from the leader of the stronghold, and considering the formidable combat power of these black spiders—even though only three had died, many were wounded—it was a suitable form of reward. After all, people didn’t follow you to become beasts of burden; they followed for profit and reward.

After Wang Ziping issued the order, some began to dissect the black spiders’ corpses. These bodies were actually rather valuable. Their eight legs, once refined, could be made into weapons, and the silk in their abdomens could be used to make clothing.

Clothes made from such spider silk were highly durable and sold well in Celestial Ox City. Nearly everyone’s eyes were fixed on the corpses, eager to carve out their share.

Only Lu Sheng’s gaze was elsewhere. The Space-Time Ant relayed a thought to him: apparently, there was something of good quality inside the spider’s nest. Lu Sheng tended to trust the ant’s senses. Besides, he had little interest in the bodies on the ground.

Following the Space-Time Ant’s guidance, Lu Sheng stopped at a certain spot. He had already entered the spider’s lair, reaching its deepest recesses. The area around him was scorched black, the ground littered with several charred corpses. Other than that, he found nothing. This puzzled him—what treasure could possibly be here? There seemed to be nothing at all.

He questioned the Space-Time Ant in confusion, and the answer surprised him. The target was actually an oval, black stone protruding before him. Lu Sheng tried lifting it and found it came up easily. Only after taking it out did he realize it was an egg.

The lower half was white, the upper half black. Perhaps due to the recent fire, he wondered if the egg was even still alive…

Suddenly, a forceful suction emanated from the egg. In that instant, Lu Sheng felt his consciousness being drawn toward it. Fortunately, the suction was extremely weak; after a bit of struggle, it subsided. Maybe, failing to draw him in, it simply gave up.

Now, Lu Sheng was thoroughly intrigued. If even as an egg it could cause such phenomena, its quality must be extraordinary once hatched.

He tossed the half-black, half-white egg into his sub-dimensional space and summoned Steel Fang, instructing him to brood over it.

Steel Fang sent a disgruntled thought, “Master, can’t you let one of my underlings hatch it instead?”

Lu Sheng laughed, “I don’t trust your underlings. I feel more at ease leaving it to you.”

Steel Fang’s mood instantly brightened. Was this what it felt like to be needed by his master?

“Rest assured, Master! I will hatch it for you, no matter what!”

Lu Sheng smiled contentedly. Seeing his master’s satisfied expression, Steel Fang grew even happier.

After finishing all this, Lu Sheng returned to the surface.

Mu Kui sidled up curiously. “Find anything good down there?”

Lu Sheng waved a hand dismissively. “After all that fire, what could possibly be left?”

Mu Kui looked as though he’d expected this. “Exactly. A good blaze would have burned everything to ashes. You would have done better helping us dissect the corpses—you’d have gotten something out of it. Now, we’ve already split everything up.”

“It’s fine. Sometimes fortune comes from risk. If there had been something good down there, I’d have hit the jackpot.”

“True, but clearly, you lost your gamble this time.”

...

The day passed quickly. After dealing with the black spiders, the team patrolled briefly—nothing significant happened.

That night, Lu Sheng eagerly entered his sub-dimensional space. The red sacs in the bellies of the more than a hundred second-stage Red Fire Ants had already produced red liquid. Normally, extracting the red liquid safely required pressing on the ant’s abdomen without killing it. Lu Sheng, however, had no need for such caution—he simply killed them all and opened their abdomens to retrieve the sacs.

He easily acquired 123 red sacs, then released the 123 Red Fire Ants to continue production.

Just as Lu Sheng was about to leave the sub-dimensional space to absorb the red sacs for cultivation, the egg under Steel Fang suddenly sprang into the air and hovered motionless above the freshly killed Red Fire Ant corpses.

Since this was his sub-dimensional space, Lu Sheng had absolute control and could clearly sense the egg emitting a powerful suction—much stronger than what he’d experienced before—and targeting the pile of Red Fire Ant corpses below.

Yet, nothing seemed to happen…

What was this egg trying to do?

Lu Sheng was perplexed. Remembering what had happened when he found the egg, he began to suspect: could it be trying to absorb souls or mental energy? But why hadn’t it managed to absorb any from the Red Fire Ants? Did the Red Fire Ants lack souls or spirits? That couldn’t be; every creature possessed both.

For a moment, Lu Sheng was at a loss.

He had one more theory: perhaps the souls of the monsters he killed were being absorbed by his own talent and transformed into cards.

Thinking too much only made his head hurt. Since none of this was useful to know now, Lu Sheng decided not to dwell on it.

He exited the space and prepared to absorb the red sacs for his cultivation.