'Chirp—'

'Hiss'

Xiao Zi, Xiao Yin, and Da Wang, hearing the commotion from Jiang Nian'an's side, quickly rushed over from not far away.

Jiang Nian'an turned to look at them, and was about to say that she was fine when she was startled by the small dirty burlap sack hanging on the end of the wisteria.

She strode up to Xiao Zi, opened the sack, and looked inside. Her eyes widened in shock; it was another crystal core.

Where did this come from?

'Chirp'

Little Purple sprouted vines, hooked onto Jiang Nian'an's hand, and pulled her back in the direction it had come from.

Little Silver and the King quickly followed.

Xiao Zi led Jiang Nian'an to a drain filled with fallen leaves, and then stopped.

'Chirp'

Little Purple let out a soft cry and then plunged into the fallen leaves.

Jiang Nian'an quickly asked Xiao Yin to go with her.

"Xiao Yin, go with them, write down what you see, and tell me later."

Little Silver nodded and plunged into the pile of fallen leaves, climbing into the drain.

Jiang Nian'an took out a bag of bread from her spatial storage, squatted down next to the drain, and ate while waiting.

Ten minutes later, Xiao Yin was the first to rush out.

"Xiao Yin, what's going on next?" Jiang Nian'an asked hurriedly.

'Hiss hiss hiss'

Little Silver pointed to the abandoned factory, its tongue flicking in and out.

[Keep climbing from here, you can get to the other side, there's something inside...]

Little Silver tilted her head, pondering how to describe what she saw.

Jiang Nian'an didn't urge it, but quietly waited for Xiao Yin to organize its thoughts.

'Chirp!'

Before Xiao Yin could organize her thoughts, a crawling or rubbing sound suddenly came from below.

At the same time, the king quickly grabbed Jiang Nian'an and rolled her around a few times to the side.

He then released her and, together with Xiao Yin, shielded her in front of him.

'Bang'

The drain gate was smashed open by a tremendous force, flew up, tumbled several times in the air, and then crashed down on Jiang Nian'an.

Jiang Nian'an's expression changed slightly, and she lashed out with a vine whip, pulling the gate away.

Immediately afterwards, Little Purple rushed out from inside, with a small, dirty burlap sack hanging from the vine tail, just like before.

It dragged the sack and quickly crawled to Jiang Nian'an, its body covered in black slime.

However, the slime didn't seem to affect it; Little Purple was still lively and energetic.

He even pushed the small, dirty sack closer to Jiang Nian'an.

'Chirp'

Xiao Zi's voice was somewhat hurried, urging Jiang Nian'an to quickly put away the small burlap sack.

Jiang Nian'an frowned and waved to put the sack away.

The next second, a strange creature about half a meter long crawled out of the drain.

Her head was about the size of her fist, but her body was as fat as a pig; at first glance, she looked somewhat like a groundhog.

However, unlike a groundhog, it has a thin black armor covering its back and a sparse ring of black fur on its belly.

Jiang Nian'an's expression turned serious in an instant.

What is this thing?

'Hiss'

Master, this is what I just saw.

Looking at the strange creature in front of her, Xiao Yin quickly turned to Jiang Nian'an and said something.

Jiang Nian'an narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched the strange creature that had stood up by supporting itself with its feet, waving its short claws and squeaking at her incessantly.

It was remarkably similar to the dark figure she had just seen.

The strange creature's small eyes swept over Little Silver and the Great King, its eyes flashing red light.

'hiss--'

The king suddenly stretched out his neck, opened his mouth, and bit at the strange creature.

'Squeak!'

The strange creature suddenly shrank its neck, and because its body was too fat, it fell backward with a thud back into the drain, landing on its back with its four legs in the air. It struggled for a while before finally getting up.

After getting up, he didn't dare to come out. He huddled in the drain, glanced at Jiang Nian'an, and then turned and ran back.

Jiang Nian'an: "..."

What if it's a little funny?

Seeing the strange creature run away, Little Purple leaped out, climbed to the gate, used its vine tail to drag the gate to the drain, and put it back in place.

Then, fearing he might return to Jiang Nian'an, he shook his head smugly.

A hint of helplessness flashed in Jiang Nian'an's eyes as she glanced back at the abandoned factory. The broken vines had already retracted.

The entire abandoned factory was quiet.

He raised his wrist again to check the time.

It's already 8:30 in the morning.

"Let's go back first."

Although she left a note for Chen Ge and the others, she had been out for two hours, and they were probably getting worried.

Jiang Nian'an walked back to where she had gotten off the bus.

After taking the car out, she looked down and asked Da Wang and Xiao Yin, "Do you two still want to play outside, or do you want to come back to the base with me?"

Little Silver and the King exchanged a glance and chose to stay outside.

Jiang Nian'an was not surprised by their choice. She took out a small black pill from her space and let them smell it.

"Remember, you can't eat anything that tastes like this."

Little Silver and the King nodded to indicate that they had remembered, and then happily crawled away.

Jiang Nian'an got into the car with Xiao Zi and was about to start the engine when they suddenly heard a car engine roar.

She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a truck coming from the opposite direction and eventually stopping in front of the abandoned factory.

Immediately afterwards, two burly men got out of the car.

The two men walked to the back of the vehicle, opened the cargo door, and pulled out two bulging urea bags.

She then carried the two large bags of urea to the window where she had been standing.

One of the burly men opened the bag, pulled out a dark object, and then threw it forcefully upwards through the window.

It was quite far away, and Jiang Nian'an couldn't see what he had thrown inside.

She quickly took out a pair of binoculars.

"Um?"

A look of surprise flashed in Jiang Nian'an's eyes. The strange creature that the burly man had thrown was the one she had seen not long ago.