Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Rules of the Underground Cavern

“Two lizards?” Fang Tang raised an eyebrow, a glint of excitement flashing in his eyes. The pearls were valuable, and lizard pearls were worth even more than those from crocodiles. Two at once—this was practically a windfall delivered to his door.

He opened a hole and approached with his explosive bow in hand. As he entered, he caught a glimpse of two massive lizards vanishing from sight, but Fang Tang remained calm—he had his Eye.

“These two lizards are cunning. One is distracting you, the other is slowly approaching. Stop looking around; it’s beneath the ground. Five meters from the left corner—shoot through that spot.”

Fang Tang immediately aimed at the location indicated by the Eye and released the arrow.

Whoosh!

The arrow shot into the ground at a dramatic speed, and a searing electric net exploded instantly. Fang Tang faintly heard a pained scream but didn’t bother to check; instead, he turned his attention to the other Phantom Sand Lizard.

After its companion was attacked, the remaining Phantom Sand Lizard quickly burrowed underground, vanishing from plain sight. Fang Tang could see nothing with his naked eye.

“Jump.”

Fang Tang leapt with force, just as the ground where he’d stood cracked open and a huge lizard’s head lunged out, jaws agape.

“That was close!”

He stared at the lizard’s mouth full of venomous fangs, heart pounding. Whether ordinary or subterranean, lizard teeth teemed with bacteria; a mere graze could break the skin, draw blood, and poison him. If not for the Eye’s warning, his life would have ended there.

Stabilizing himself with practiced speed, Fang Tang fully drew his bow and aimed at the Phantom Sand Lizard.

Whoosh!

The arrow pierced the lizard’s skull, and the powerful electric charge ended its life instantly. Even in death, the sand lizard remained half-emerged from the earth, its pose grotesque.

With both threats eliminated, Fang Tang approached with his dismantling hammer and struck twice, venting his lingering fear and retrieving a crimson pearl.

The other Phantom Sand Lizard had died buried in soil. Fang Tang had to dig it out with a shovel.

Another red pearl in hand, Fang Tang was finally satisfied. Rolling the cool pearls in his palm, he sank into contemplation.

It was time to make money.

He had no idea when he’d next encounter a Subterranean Market, but preparation was essential—he had to build his capital.

Aside from the marketplace, he also needed to craft a mechanical claw arm. Yet, memory metal and intelligent motherboards were rare commodities—even the octopus hadn’t possessed them, which showed their value.

The information he’d pried from the octopus left a heavy weight on Fang Tang’s mind. The current state of the caverns was still a beginner’s village. But what lay beyond? Perhaps the wrong question. The real question was: what lies beyond the beginner’s village?

After all, no one could be sure the world outside the caves wasn’t just a bigger cave. The logic was circular, but perhaps not wrong—everywhere, the same law reigned: the stronger you were, the better your chances of survival.

The more Fang Tang pondered, the heavier his thoughts became. He stared at the pearls for a long time before a startling realization dawned on him.

Subterranean creatures could produce pearls, but their strength was not enough to be ranked—they were insignificant. So, what was the purpose of these pearls?

At first, Fang Tang had assumed they were some sort of inner core, or condensed essence of blood. But on closer thought, the Sand-Eyed Demon had no blood, yet still produced a pearl.

This meant the pearls were not formed from blood or essence, but by some far more unusual means. Perhaps these pearls didn’t form within the creatures at all, but had always existed inside them.

The thought sent chills down his spine.

“Were the pearls the creators of the subterranean creatures?”

A sinister chuckle echoed in his mind. “Heh heh heh… I laugh like a villain. I must admit, I’m starting to appreciate you. You’ve uncovered one of the main rules of the caves so quickly. But this is only the most superficial rule and won’t do you much good. If you want to leave the beginner’s village, you still need strength—strength recognized by the rules.”

This time, the Eye spoke without riddles. The rules had already been discovered; further riddles were pointless. It even granted him a crucial hint:

Strength recognized by the rules.

But how could such strength be recognized? What kind of strength was it? Was it the “sequence” the Eye had mentioned before?

Questions tumbled through Fang Tang’s mind, leaving him with a headache. He sat on the ground, letting out a heavy sigh, and made his way to the silver chest.

These questions were too difficult for now; he would take things slowly, without rushing. For now, he would check the supplies in the silver box.

He obtained: pork ×4, mutton ×3, milk ×3, glass ×4, fiber ×4, cotton ×2, iron ingots ×3, copper ingots ×2, silver ingots ×2.

It was a decent haul. With the three silver ingots from dismantling the silver box, he now had five more silver ingots to his name.

He packed everything into the newspaper and turned to the other walls.

No matter what, only by exploring could he grow stronger.

“Well, well, now that you’ve discovered a rule, you should also realize the value of the pearls. So what should we search for now—supplies or pearls?”

“Is there a difference?” Fang Tang asked, puzzled by the Eye’s meaning.

“Of course there’s a difference. These are two distinct paths: one is hunting subterranean creatures, the other is searching for supplies. The focus is different, and sometimes you can’t have both.”

Fang Tang chuckled at the Eye’s words.

“You know better than I what we need right now. Are you getting confused too? First, we need blueprints. Elemental stones are second, as we’re not lacking those for now. Third is increasing our credit points, so pearls are naturally a priority. After that, silver ingots—for with the blueprint for the Mithril Heart, we’ll need to craft it. As for other resources, we’ll gather what we can along the way. If not, we can always trade for them; these supplies will only get cheaper in the future.”

After his speech, and seeing no response from the Eye, Fang Tang prepared to continue searching for supplies.

“Ahead, there’s a blueprint.”

“Another blueprint,” Fang Tang said with a smile, hefting his pickaxe as he entered Cave 65.

With light in the cave, moving inside was much easier—no more temporary blindness from adjusting to the dark.

He approached a low table, on which lay a blueprint depicting something long, like a stone trough.

He stored it in the newspaper, and the synthesis tree appeared—Fang Tang’s eyelid twitched.

Plant Cultivation Box: iron ingots ×3, copper ingots ×3, blue aquastone ×1.

A glance at the description revealed its use.

Normally, the newspaper’s storage space was timeless: objects remained unchanged inside. But with this cultivation box, plants could grow even in that environment.

The key was, the box could also accelerate plant growth—about tenfold.

In other words, peppers that would normally take two months to mature would now be ready in just six days.

“Finally, I can eat peppers again!”

“Scrambled eggs with peppers!”