Chapter 123 Rescue (Part 2)

According to the bird-beast breeding guide, it is no longer necessary to feed the Firebird high-level energy crystals with burning properties after hatching. However, such energy crystals are very delicious to them and are also very beneficial to the growth and development of the bird.

However, because S-level combustion energy crystals are too expensive, Mingyu has never bought one for Xiaoniao.

The bird now looked extremely anxious, just like the bird's reaction every time it came to the S-level underground fire barbecue house when he and Mu Baixing were on Ice Mars: swaying left and right, unable to wait.

This was much more urgent than eating the fireball he had formed with his own mental power.

Mingyu looked at the bird, then at Rose. The female border guard also looked puzzled, wondering what had attracted this adorable creature.

She operated the light screen panel at the door of the storage room, lowered the robotic arm at the top of the room, and opened the storage cabinet.

“Dongdongdong——”

The cabinet was filled to the brim. As the metal door slid open, the outermost layer of energy ores of various colors fell out of the cabinet and landed on the ground.

“Chiu!——”

Mingyu confirmed that there were no dangerous items inside, and seeing that the bird was really anxious, he simply let go of his hand and let the bird fly out.

"They should be energy stones collected at the experimental base." Rose, unfamiliar with starship design and modification, rarely visited the spare parts storage room, and wasn't entirely sure where these things came from. She guessed, "They look like scraps from the large energy stones used to fill the starship's energy chambers. I wonder when they were collected here."

“Bang, bang, bang—”

The bird had already crawled deep into the storage cabinet. He dug out more energy stone fragments, which fell to the ground.

Mingyu squatted down and picked up a piece, and indeed felt the cutting marks on the edge of the stone.

"There might also be some small pieces of energy stones and energy crystals dug up in the wild. Since they're too small, I might as well keep them here." He said thoughtfully, "There might be some high-level energy crystals in here."

Even...looking at the bird's excited reaction...

There may even be extremely rare high-level combustion energy crystals.

Comparing it with his own mental power, this energy crystal is at least S-level or above.

"Bang!"

“Chirp, chirp, chirp—”

The bird in the closet tucked its butt inward, then a few seconds later, its head poking outward. It looked at Mingyu and Rose for help, tilting its head and letting out a series of childish chirps. Rose was so adorably captivated by its cuteness that, without Mingyu saying anything, she manipulated the robotic arm to reach inside and, under the bird's command, retrieved a plain, white stone the size of two palms.

Rose found an energy detector and placed the ore on it.

"There's only a slight energy reaction." She looked at the detector's readings. "Does your bird... like white?"

"Chirp, chirp!" The little bird jumped back and forth on the white stones, pecking at the stones under its feet, as if trying to break its shell.

"This white stone shell is much harder than hard metal." Rose pointed to the hardness reading. "The laser knives currently at the base can't cut it."

Mingyu thought about it, picked up the stone and turned to find Mu Baixing.

"Come and cut some stone, Brother Mu—take your time, starting from the outside and working your way in. There might be something good inside!"

The little bird flew behind Mingyu, chirping non-stop.

Mu Baixing had just finished dismantling the starship engine. He turned his head to glance at him, and his fingertips glowed.

The high-intensity mental power broke down the hard white stone until a bit of beautiful red was revealed.

The temperature in the room rose sharply in an instant.

Under the illumination of the cold white light, in the golden mental mist, a bright and warm red color burst out, like a blazing flame bursting out from a stone, so that Mu Baixing, who was closest to it, took half a step back.

Behind him, Mingyu, though anticipating this, still held his breath. Rose, meanwhile, was utterly shocked, sweating profusely.

Half was hot, half was surprised.

From the glow of this crystal and the temperature changes it brought, Loli could tell that this must be an energy crystal of level 2S or above!

The bright light it emitted danced like a real flame, and even the temperature in the room seemed to rise sharply. The little firebird let out a cry of extreme joy and swooped down towards the red crack. With lightning speed, it opened its beak and bit down—

He only caught a slender finger.

Mu Baixing stretched out his hand and covered the energy crystal in his palm. The food that the little firebird was about to eat suddenly disappeared. It froze in place for a moment, then retracted its beak and looked at the two deep red marks on Mu Baixing's fingers.

"...Chiu?" The little creature felt a little guilty, but then realized that it had bitten Mu Boxing because it was entirely his own fault for blocking it from eating. He straightened his chest and blew out a wisp of flame, angrily saying, "Chiu!"

Mu Baixing looked up at Rose and asked simply, "Price?"

Mingyu held the bird in his hands to prevent it from venting its anger on Mu Baixing. He turned to Rose and said with a smile, "Since it was the bird that found it, can you give me a discount?"

Rose: “…”

Rose still didn't react.

She was in a trance, looking at the energy crystal on the table.

The fingernail-sized 2S energy crystal was unabashedly releasing its energy fluctuations. Apparently, the white mineral on its outer layer had such excellent energy isolation that the person who originally acquired it thought it was a useless, low-level energy ore and simply stuffed it here.

Rose certainly knew how expensive and valuable a 2S-level combustion energy crystal was... provided that it was in a normal human society, not this isolated island.

Neither she nor Ah Fei possessed any special spiritual power, so possessing such a thing would be of little help in escaping the Black Tide. And money meant nothing before life and death.

She gave a wry smile.

"I didn't discover this either. The person who originally found this energy crystal may have died in the Black Tide attack. It's uncertain whether we can get out..."

"Yes." Mu Boxing interrupted her. He picked up the energy stone and repeated, "Name your price."

Rose: “…”

The scene seemed a little absurd to her.

Just a few hours ago, she recorded her last words into a chip, intending to follow the example of those experimenters and implant the chip into the black tideworms in the laboratory, wondering if one day someone would be able to obtain the chip and restore the records inside.

Or, as a border soldier, she should propose to self-destruct the experimental base before the oxygen is exhausted. Even if there are countless black tide creatures here, she can kill as many as possible.

But no matter which method it is, it is just a preparation before facing death.

Yet, just a few hours later, she stood before this patched-up, old-fashioned starship, seemingly unable to escape the Black Tide, looking at two handsome men who had fallen into the base due to a spatial rift.

The two of them seemed to treat this as just an ordinary space station and discussed with her the transaction price of a precious energy crystal.

These two men seemed completely blind to the huge rock of fate pressing down on them.

"It's not mine," Rose exhaled and said, "If the bird found it, I'll give it to you."

"Chirp!!" The bird didn't know whether it understood or not, and flapped its wings even harder in Mingyu's palm.

Mingyu smiled.

"Thank you." He said with a smile, "I'll go out and take you to find the people from the Mu family."

Rose's expression shifted slightly, realizing he was referring to the famous Mu family in the North Star Region. She smiled and said, "Let's talk about it after we get out."

Although she agreed with Mingyu and Mu Baixing's plan, she remained pessimistic. She didn't want to talk about the price of the energy crystal, nor did she want to think about why a bird that looked like the most ordinary pet star beast could sensitively sense the 2S-level energy crystal and looked like it couldn't wait to put it in its mouth.

If it were an ordinary pet bird, it would explode and die from excessive energy intake after eating this crystal!

"Then give it to the bird?" Mingyu turned around and confirmed with Mu Baixing: "This burning energy crystal doesn't quite match our energy waves...it's burning so much that it's uncomfortable around us."

The burning properties of this energy crystal were so violent that Mingyu had the illusion that his skin was about to melt.

Although such energy crystals have the property of burning, the nature of the energy ripples is too poor, so he and Mu Baixing cannot use them.

Mu Baixing raised his finger.

The place where his fingers touched the energy crystal was already burned red.

Mingyu hissed, "You can't even touch me? That's so powerful."

Mu Boxing didn't even frown at the minor injury, while Mingyu immediately went to Rose to ask for a treatment device and set the bird free. The firebird chick performed a ferocious pounce, fearing Mu Boxing might cover its food with his hand, and swallowed the energy crystal in one gulp.

In the blink of an eye, the young man took over the treatment device, and the 2S energy crystal successfully entered the bird's stomach.

Mingyu was still somewhat worried. While treating Mu Baixing's finger, he was also observing the bird, fearing that it would have an upset stomach.

However, the firebird chick did not show any discomfort.

It squinted its eyes comfortably, stretched its wings, and then lay on the table, chirping with satisfaction. For the first time after hatching from the shell, it showed a leisurely look of being well fed and satisfied.

Mingyu felt relieved and looked at Rose again.

"Count the number of people boarding and leaving the ship and the items you'll be taking with you," the young man said. "I need to verify the starship's carrying capacity so I can start drawing up the design."

Rose nodded.

Ten minutes later, a broadcast broke the stagnant silence in the experimental base.

"Please gather in the central lobby on the first floor below ground level in half an hour," Rose's voice boomed over the PA system. "This meeting concerns your safety and future plans. Please arrive on time."

“…”

There are no real idlers in the underground base.

In order to avoid going crazy in this closed space, everyone is finding things to do for themselves.

Some worked in food production and facility maintenance at the base, while many more followed the former Fifth Star Base experimenters to learn relevant knowledge and joined the underground base's Kuroshio creature research and experimental projects. Over the decades, these survivors had transformed from initial "outsiders" into true researchers.

"...Safety?" The people busy compiling experimental records and preparing to write them into the chip looked at each other blankly. "Aren't we just sitting here eating and waiting to die? I just want our research results to be seen by others."

"Of course not," someone sighed. "This research is very useful. If we had this research data, humans wouldn't be at such a disadvantage in the next war with the Kuroshio."

"It's quite funny," the person next to him laughed. "Before the Kuroshio erupted, I was a restaurant owner and never went to school. I didn't expect to learn so much after being locked up here for a few years. Although I can't understand all your nonsense, at least I can help you. Who would believe me if I told this to my old friends and relatives? It's a pity I can't brag about it anymore."

"Not necessarily. Let's go to the conference room first." Someone else said, "I heard from Rango that something happened in the laboratory in Area F today. It seems like someone came from outside!"

"……What?!!!"

His words were like a shot of adrenaline, hitting the hearts of all the survivors who were lazy, procrastinating and unwilling to move.

Soon, the doors of labs opened one after another. People came into the conference room in groups of two or three, their faces filled with excitement and confusion, chatting.

The light screen in the conference room was on, Rose and Vita were talking, and the topic of this meeting was displayed on the screen: "Escape Operation".

Mingyu and Mu Baixing are still in the upper starport.

While checking the structure of each module of the starship and the direction of the line connection, the young man roughly drew a blueprint on the light screen.

He and Mu Boxing had just slept together for a while to recuperate. In the next two or three days, the two of them would face a tough battle.

A bright blue cloud of spiritual energy floated around Mingyu. The designer, holding an electronic pen, looked focused. He hadn't begun modifying the starship's engines; the screen before him depicted the ship's gun barrels. Another screen, open nearby, displayed a new coating material developed by Rose and her team, capable of resisting Kuroshio energy radiation.

Of course, the engine needed to be modified. But if they wanted to re-cultivate and leave the Black Tide Star Sea according to their existing plan, this old starship had a clear weakness in terms of defense, but it had a clear weakness in terms of attack. This weakness was much more obvious than the engine speed.

Mingyu drew two more strokes and looked up at Mu Baixing.

The man sat next to Mingyu, looking down at the design in front of him, and said simply, "Don't worry."

"No matter what happens, I can get you out."

Mingyu touched his shoulder.

"Of course." He whispered, "I believe you."

"I was just thinking that if that 2S-level energy crystal with burning properties could match your mental power ripples, you would have a much easier time."

As he spoke, the bird, which had been unusually quiet and well-behaved since swallowing the energy crystal, rested on Mingyu's shoulder. Its pointed beak opened, and it spit out a mouthful of flames like a burp.

This flame was different from the flames the bird had spit out before.

It wasn't a thin wisp, but rather a magnificent cloud. Half a second later, the red-gold fireworks gathered and compressed from the outside inward, forming a small golden-red bead like condensed gas, which fell downward.