Chapter 1 The Mystery of the Collapsed Mountain

Wang Baixiang and Li Fang stepped out into the ruins, his mind recalling the scene of the mountain collapse.

There were two possible reasons for the unprovoked collapse of a mountain: first, the mountain's structure might have been damaged during construction, with the vibrations of heavy machinery causing the mountain to resonate.

Second, changes might have occurred in the terrain beneath the mountain, such as fissures or underground rivers.

Wang Baixiang pondered carefully, first dismissing the first possibility. Their team was among the best in the industry, having undertaken countless projects without any mishaps. Furthermore, the possibility of heavy machinery causing mountain resonance was very low. This heavy equipment was top-of-the-line, even incorporating ancient civilization technology. During operation, the internal anti-vibration layers could absorb all the machinery's leaked energy, rarely exposing any vibrational force.

As for changes in the terrain beneath the mountain...

Mad Breath Island was Li Tianran's creation, its sturdiness self-evident. Even the output frequency of the [Four Seas Dragon King] engine couldn't make Mad Breath Island vibrate. How could its terrain change for no reason?

Even if it were eroded by water, it would take centuries, even millennia, to achieve that!

With both conjectures dismissed, Wang Baixiang's eyes filled with doubt.

He leaped quickly through the ruins, eager to solve the mystery in his heart.

"Did you notice that before the mountain collapsed, the sound came from inside, and the cracks spread from the inside out... It's like the mountain was forced open from within," Li Fang said in a low voice. "It was like something inside wanted to get out, so it crushed the mountain!"

Wang Baixiang's heart skipped a beat.

Given the unique circumstances of the world's mutation, Li Fang's words made him nervous. If, as Li Fang said, something had forced open the mountain from within, the most likely culprit was a powerful monster from an ancient civilization...

If a secondary evolved creature had emerged from the mountain, everyone in the construction team would die here today.

"Doesn't seem like a creature... The life energy detector isn't reacting, and we can't detect any heat," Li Fang said, taking a detector from his pocket. It was a machine specifically designed to detect life, with extremely high accuracy.

As long as a creature was alive, as long as its genes were still active, it would generate heat, even the tiniest amount would be detected.

The Apostle of Black Night once hid beneath the sea to ambush the Apostle of Gale, evading all detectors because the seawater provided a protective layer, effectively blocking all heat dissipation, coupled with its own divine descent ability, that it barely managed to do so.

Li Fang didn't think he was facing the same situation now.

Since the Sky Apostle incident, it was unlikely that any hostile apostle would easily set foot on Mad Breath Island!

Not a creature, no energy reaction...

Wang Baixiang's brain churned with these two pieces of information. He got closer and closer to the mountain remains at the center of the ruins. Suddenly, he stopped, his eyes fixed on a spot in the ruins, as if he had seen something.

"Stop!" Wang Baixiang suddenly said, halting Li Fang's advance.

Following his gaze, Li Fang saw a pitch-black object, resembling coal, lying quietly in the middle of the rubble. At first glance, Li Fang thought it was a piece of broken steel from a damaged machine, but upon closer inspection, he noticed something different.

The object looked like a stone on the outside, with some纹路 (wénlù – patterns/veins), clearly distinct from the surrounding gray rocks.

Since the world's third mutation, all mineral resources had disappeared. Everything, whether in the soil or within the mountains, had turned gray, making it impossible for anything else to be present.

Because other colors in the stone represented the existence of minerals!

Wang Baixiang knew this very well. He knew that, normally, the inside of this collapsed mountain should also be a gray landscape, without other colors mixed in. But now, he saw a pitch-black stone with perfect clarity.

His body trembled.

He thought of an incredible idea, and so he walked forward, trembling, and reached out to gently touch the black stone.

A cold sensation came from his fingertips.

Suppressing his joy, he reached out to pick up the stone, but quickly found that it was ridiculously heavy. Even with the strength of a first-stage evolver, it took all his strength to lift this finger-sized black stone!

Its density was too high!

The veins on Wang Baixiang's forehead bulged. He wasn't a combat-type person, and his physical fitness was far inferior to that of the pioneers, but he was still one of the best among the first-stage evolvers. Yet, he was struggling to even lift this stone.

This meant that there was definitely something hidden inside this stone!

"Get the metal detector! Quick, get the metal detector!" Wang Baixiang shouted.

In the construction industry, all kinds of instruments were usually well-prepared. At Wang Baixiang's call, Li Fang seemed to realize something and became excited. He quickly retrieved the metal detector and handed it to Wang Baixiang.

Wang Baixiang looked serious, like a detective about to solve a murder case. He took a deep breath and slowly pressed the metal detector onto the black stone.

Under his expectant gaze, the data displayed on the detector began to skyrocket, accompanied by a very pleasant beeping sound!

"Metal detected!"

Hearing this prompt, Wang Baixiang couldn't contain his inner joy. He laughed loudly, as if he were mad.

Li Fang's eyes widened. He grabbed Wang Baixiang's arm and shook it hard, as if he couldn't believe his ears, asking repeatedly, "There's really metal inside? This thing, it really came from inside the mountain?"

"All I can confirm now is that there's metal inside..." Wang Baixiang looked up at the ruins in front of him, his expression excited. "If this thing really came from inside the mountain, then its significance is too great!"

If this black stone was really produced in the mountains, it would mean that the period of human resource depletion was over, and new resources would gradually appear on Blue Star. Humans could escape the current predicament of resource scarcity and achieve even greater leaps in development!