Chapter 436: There Is a Crystal Core Inside
Chapter 436: There Is a Crystal Core Inside
It isn’t that An Ran is afraid of pain—she simply believes the knife should be used on the edge of the blade. No one knows what kind of situation awaits them in the rat nest. If she ends up needing a metal-type crystal core to climb or fight and has already used it up, it would be a waste.
She stands beside the tanker’s driver’s seat, holding Doll in her arms, and looks up at Yun Tao, who rolls down the window.
With a smile, she asks, “Brother Tao, where’d this come from?”
“I don’t know who left it behind the gas station,” Yun Tao replies, clearly in a good mood. “The whole truck’s full of fuel—enough to last us a good while!” He grins happily.
Under the firelight, even the gray at his temples takes on a faint, warm hue. After days of scrounging for gas, finding an entire tanker feels like striking metal. He makes a mental note to keep it far away from Luo Feifan—otherwise, that guy will burn through it all in no time.
Liang Ziyu, sitting in the cab beside Yun Tao, is equally delighted.
He leans out and calls to Zhao Ru, who stands not far away, “A’Ru! Come check out the treasure we found!”
Zhao Ru, exhausted after dealing with the water zombie all day, doesn’t answer. She’s spent hours moving the thing from the second floor to the ground level so An Ran’s fat thorn balls can slowly absorb its water.
After all that, Zhao Ru realizes something absurd: this water zombie might as well be a professional gardener. The fat thorn balls drink from it for hours, gradually shrinking the zombie’s form. Zhao Ru remains rooted in place for just as long—though to others, it might look like she’s simply standing there.
But only she knows the truth.
The flow of energy within her has expanded dramatically. She can now channel nearly twice as much power as before. Every second spent there has pushed her abilities further.
“An Ran, come here! Look!” Zhao Ru suddenly shouts, startling An Ran.
Still standing beside the tanker, An Ran looks back and sees a bubbling spring forming at Zhao Ru’s feet. The fat thorn balls nearby swell with water and roll about, heavy and gorged.
Holding Doll, An Ran hurries over. “What? What am I looking at?”
“Right there! There’s a crystal core inside!” Zhao Ru bends down and points at the bubbling water, eyes alight. “You see it? It’s transparent. Shapeless.”
An Ran frowns. “Mysterious? I don’t see anything.”
All she sees is her fat thorn ball ballooning with water, wobbling as it rolls around like it’s overfed. Maybe the water from the water zombie is especially nutritious? The fat thorn balls seem thrilled to drink it.
As for Zhao Ru’s so-called crystal core... Transparent and shapeless?
Forgive her for being dense—she honestly doesn’t see a thing.
Zhao Ru gives her a disappointed look. As the bubbling stops, she bends down and points to a fat thorn ball, indicating a bead of water clinging to one of its spikes.
“This. This is it.”
An Ran squints, then breaks off a twig from the nearby flower bed and pokes at the water droplet. It’s about the size of a marble—clear, shapeless, almost invisible.
The instant the twig touches it, the droplet scatters like mist. But strangely, it reforms itself immediately afterward, condensing back into a perfect sphere.
It’s... incredible.
“Hey, Zhao Ru,” An Ran says, eyes gleaming with mischief, “why don’t you absorb this water zombie’s crystal core?”
Unconsciously, she licks her lips. Something about that water droplet makes her mouth water. It even looks edible...
She leans in and adds with a smirk, “Who knows? Maybe once you absorb it, you’ll ascend to heaven.”