FS-novel Chapter 80 : Chapter 80
Chapter 80 : Chapter 80
Chapter 80: Enter the Tiger’s Den and Take It as Easily as Reaching into a Bag
When they saw Li Mu turn into a bird just like that, the entire Command Room froze for a moment.
Li Mu had already shown the Transformation Technique before.
But back then, he had turned into a mosquito, which no one could see.
It had looked more like flashing movement or short-range teleportation, though they all knew it was not as overpowering as true teleportation.
But this time, they had watched with their own eyes as a living person became a bird.
They had all seen true space-type Martial Artists who could actually teleport.
Even Teleportation Arrays sending a living person thousands of miles away was nothing new.
But for a living person to turn into an animal was a direct shock to their worldview.
“Quick, open his perspective!”
Liao Feng said urgently.
He desperately wanted to know what had happened after Li Mu went inside.
Because Li Mu had just killed more than a hundred monsters.
But there were still another two to three hundred left.
Those monsters seemed to have received the Mother Crystal’s summons.
They began racing back toward the mountain and drilling into those stone tunnels again.
It was obvious they were returning to defend it.
“We’ve lost all contact! It looks like that brat’s Transformation Technique changed even his Technological Watch.”
Wang Longcheng shook his head as he personally worked the control platform.
But he still could not find Li Mu’s signal.
“Li Mu can fight outside, but if he’s inside...”
Liao Feng said with deep worry.
After all, the inside of the mountain was the Mother Crystal’s lair.
Wang Longcheng shook his head.
“The Mother Crystal definitely has to hollow out a large space inside the mountain too.”
“As long as there is room for those monsters to stand, Li Mu can fight.”
“With his strength, he can definitely do it!”
He did not know whether that last sentence was meant to reassure Liao Feng or himself.
Time passed second by second.
Li Mu’s signal still could not be reconnected.
The door to the Command Room was pushed open, and Zhang Kang and Jiang Linlin strode in.
Jiang Linlin was seething with anger.
When she reached the middle-aged man and woman from the research institute, she said in a mocking tone, “Teacher, we should leave as soon as possible.”
“It seems the Pearl Military District doesn’t trust us very much.”
There was an unmistakable arrogance in her voice.
Liao Feng was furious.
Damn it, I am the dignified Commanding Officer of an entire military district.
Since when was it your place, some low-level employee from the research institute, to speak in that tone?
If not for the fact that he feared those old monsters in the research institute, and that they had, after all, come here in good faith to provide technical support, he would have slapped her straight out the door.
So he could not even be bothered to look at her. He simply stood there with his hands behind his back, staring at the screen that still had no signal.
Jiang Linlin had not expected the middle-aged male and female researchers to both signal at her with their eyes.
Not only did they not leave, they were also staring tensely at the screen.
At that moment, Wang Yinhuan also hurried back in from outside.
She was panting, her face full of anxiety.
“Dad, how’s Li Mu doing?”
In her panic, even the way she addressed him had turned personal.
“No signal for now,” Wang Longcheng said.
Before he had even finished speaking, a black shadow suddenly flashed across the screen, and an image appeared.
But the screen was pitch-black, and nothing could be seen clearly.
“Li Mu! Li Mu! Respond!!”
Wang Longcheng shouted urgently.
“If you can hear me, release the drone. I can help observe the surroundings for you!”
The imaging technology in the watch was already highly advanced.
But in many situations, it could still be limited by the user’s condition, the terrain, interference, and so on.
That was why many Martial Artists were also equipped with small reconnaissance drones.
The drone’s signal was stronger, and under special circumstances it could provide visual information to the command center.
But Li Mu did not respond. All they could hear were deafening beast roars.
“Max out the imaging signal! Pull the perspective higher.”
Liao Feng ordered.
Wang Longcheng hurriedly operated the controls.
The view kept pulling back, and after several hundred meters, it had already pulled outside the mountain.
When it pulled back farther still, the image began to tremble slightly.
Then they saw a black line on the distant horizon drawing closer and closer.
When they looked carefully, everyone held their breath.
It was actually an innumerable horde of monsters.
They ran wildly, tearing at one another as they came, while great clouds of dust rolled up into the sky.
Wherever they passed, the ground was strewn with badly wounded, blood-covered monsters still writhing in their death throes.
The sheer scale of the scene made Wang Yinhuan’s heart hang by a thread.
Wang Longcheng’s brows were tightly knit as well.
Both he and Liao Feng were Profound Rank, and they had seen much worse than this.
But even so, at this moment they were both sweating for Li Mu.
In the blink of an eye, those monsters had already reached the mountain.
Like sharks smelling blood, they began frantically drilling into the tunnels.
“Li Mu! Find a way to get out! Retreat now!!”
Wang Longcheng had no idea whether Li Mu could still receive communications.
All he could do was try.
In a matter of mere seconds, the entire mountain was covered in monsters.
They packed together so densely that it made one’s scalp go numb.
Wang Yinhuan collapsed to the floor in fright, because nearly every passage had been blocked by monsters.
And those tunnels had not been large to begin with...
Zhang Kang revealed a sneering grin.
He felt a burst of vicious delight inside.
That idiot had actually gone inside the mountain?
Served him right. He had dared curse him out. He should have died long ago.
Even if he had not died on this mission, Zhang Kang would have found a way to kill him when he returned.
If he died in the Abyss, then good riddance.
The entire Command Room sank into dead silence.
But just then, Liao Feng suddenly pointed toward the mountaintop.
“Up there!!”
Wang Longcheng immediately adjusted the angle and aimed it at the summit.
At first, only loose stones were seen tumbling out.
Then—
Boom!!
Gravel flew in all directions.
A round object about the size of a human head shot into the air.
And then Li Mu burst out right behind it.
At that moment, Li Mu’s entire body was covered in brilliant multicolored crystal shards.
He looked like a man made of color.
When he landed, he shook himself, sending countless colored fragments scattering away.
The innumerable monsters below instantly locked onto Li Mu.
Li Mu took one glance downward and even his scalp tingled.
He swiftly tore off his cloak.
At that moment, the thing in midair happened to be falling.
Li Mu caught it in the cloak, tied it in one swift motion, then hurled the bundled cloak violently into the air.
He leaped after it and transformed again.
This time, he became a huge eagle, shooting toward the cloak bundle.
But the instant the image caught Li Mu turning into the eagle, the screen suddenly vanished again.
It left Wang Longcheng and the others with an endless string of questions.
Had he caught the cloak?
Had any monsters leaped into the air to attack him?
How far could Li Mu fly, and would he be able to cross over the tide of monsters?
The silence in the room grew suffocating.
Even Jiang Linlin and the others hardly dared breathe.
Of course, they were not worried about Li Mu’s safety.
They were worried about their own future.
They had all seen clearly just now that the thing Li Mu had wrapped in the cloak was the Mother Crystal of the Living Crystal mine.
A Mother Crystal’s vitality was extremely strong.
As long as monsters did not forcibly gnaw it apart and destroy it, it could survive quite easily.
And yet they had all judged that there was no Mother Crystal here.
Not only had one existed, but Li Mu had actually managed to get it under such heaven-defying difficulty.
If he really brought that Mother Crystal back, what would that make them?
And this was a heaven-sent merit.
A Mother Crystal could continuously produce Living Crystals.
Its importance to the entire city— no, to all three cities of the Northern Frontier— would directly elevate the entire weapon-forging industry of all three Northern Frontier cities to a whole new level.
The middle-aged male and female researchers exchanged a furtive glance and both saw the same thought in the other’s eyes.
They not only could not afford to be punished, they would have to find a way to claim a share of this credit.
Of course, that was only if Li Mu truly managed to bring the Mother Crystal back.
The suffocating silence lasted for more than ten full minutes.
During that time, the screen only flickered once for a brief moment before vanishing again.
Two or three minutes later, Wang Longcheng finally seemed to realize something.
A mysterious smile appeared on his face, and his expression instantly relaxed.
He turned and said to Liao Feng with a smile, “Come on, Chief. How about we head to the entrance together and welcome our hero back?”