Night without Borders

Chapter 49 Alternative
The room was very warm. At first, it was mainly Old Man Liu who was talking and Qin Ming was listening quietly. Finally, the two of them studied together.

Qin Ming was quite expectant and a little excited. In this dangerous environment, he longed for a third rebirth and did not want to experience being chased by a giant beast again.

If he was very strong, the people from Jinjiling and Sanyan Sect would not dare to force them and would treat them as consumables, sending them underground to explore for minerals.

Old Man Liu took a sip of water and said, "After we enter the mountain, we must carefully observe the terrain and plan an escape route before we take action."

"Why do I feel that you don't have enough confidence?" Qin Ming was suspicious, wondering if he would fail at the critical moment and cause various problems.

Old Man Liu said, "It's not wrong to be careful, because we can't afford to lose. There are rare spiritual substances in the place we are going to. It is very dangerous. If we fail, people will die."

Qin Ming also became cautious and said, "Is there any homemade explosives in Yinteng Town? Buy some!"

"If you say so, it really opens my mind and I can consider a few other places." Old man Liu actually has an alternative plan.

"Tell me about it."

"In the mountains, there is a lake in the Xigou area. There is an old turtle that has mutated three times lurking there. Its body is full of treasures, and its blood is full of spiritual substances. It is hibernating now. If we can dig it out and throw the earth explosives into the turtle cave while it is sleeping soundly, I think it is likely to succeed!"

Old man Liu became a little excited when he said this, and he wanted to replace the first plan and deal with the spirit turtle instead.

Qin Ming tried to calm him down and reminded him, "The turtle shell has amazing defensive power, and earth explosives may not be able to shatter it. The most important thing is that the lake is so big, how can we find it? Do we have to dig until the end of time?"

"You're right. Spiritual creatures are inherently stronger than aliens of the same level. I don't think it's possible to blow up a thrice-mutated spirit turtle, especially since this species has long legs. If it goes crazy, its speed is not slow."

Old Man Liu calmed down and denied it himself. The spirit turtle had mutated three times twenty years ago and should be even more powerful now.

Qin Ming's face changed immediately when he heard this. He felt something was wrong and said, "Old man, the information you provided is not from 10 or 20 years ago, right?"

"Don't worry, I'm not that unreliable." Old man Liu shook his head in denial.

He proposed another alternative plan, which was to use homemade explosives to blow up the monkeys, use the huge explosion to scare away all the gibbons, and then go to their nest to take away the spiritual substances.

Qin Ming looked at him with strange eyes. Why were these plans so different?

Old Man Liu said, "From my heart, I really want to wipe out this nest of monkeys. They are so hateful!"

Qin Ming asked: "Have you ever been bullied by monkeys? Aren't they more than 20 miles away? It's very far from here."

Old Man Liu knocked on the table and said, "Get rid of harm for the people, do you understand? In Emei Town, many people who went into the mountains were robbed of their prey by gibbons, and some even dragged away."

When Qin Ming heard this, he immediately knew that he must have encountered that group of monkeys and was still very angry!
"I don't think it's reliable. What if we fail to scare the gibbons away and instead arouse their ferocity, and they chase us all over the mountains? That would be terrible. Monkeys are the most vengeful creatures."

Old Man Liu said, "Although it's not that safe, it's still feasible. Thirty years ago, someone made a big noise, lured a tiger away from the mountain, and successfully visited the tiger's den. It was a similar method."

"So fierce? It's really amazing!" Qin Ming couldn't help but exclaim in amazement. That tiger was more powerful than the old bear and the old bull in Buffalo Ridge.

Old Man Liu shook his head and said, "The tiger is more vindictive. Although it was not as powerful as it is now, it was still very ferocious. Three months after the incident, it broke into Yinteng Town late at night and tore the two people to pieces."

Qin Ming had just thought that the two men were powerful, and his mind had become active, but now he was forced to calm down and said, "I think none of your alternative plans are reliable. The first one is more suitable. Let's go into the mountains!"

As soon as the two of them went out, they saw people from Jinjiling entering the village. It was too obvious that they were riding free-range chickens, and they were the only one of their kind.

"There are still people available in Jinjiling. Why didn't they all die in the Great Rift Valley?" Old Man Liu whispered.

After the arrival of these two people, all the villagers were very nervous. After all, the predecessor of Jinjiling was a big bandit group, and even though they were recruited, their nature did not change much.

"Let's find out how many newborns there are in your village. Come and register." said a middle-aged man on a free-range chicken.

Everyone's heart sank. Were they going to take revenge?

Because everyone knows that this time, almost all the people from Jinjiling and the Three-Eyed Sect who entered the Great Rift Valley were killed, but none of the mountain people died and they all escaped.

Judging from Jinjiling's usual style of behavior, it is very likely that they will vent their anger on the new students who have escaped back from the surrounding villages.

Xu Yueping whispered, "Some of the larger villages have been surveyed since yesterday."

Qin Ming said: "What does it have to do with us that the people of Jinjiling failed to escape? They are in a strong position, but their ability to escape is not as good as that of the oppressed mountain people. Who should we blame?"

Old Man Liu said, "They won't reason with you. This is the way the world is. If you are strong enough, even the higher-level creatures in the mountains may come to attend any wedding or funeral. If you are weak, even monkeys will bully you. You have to be strong."

He added: "The old monster deep in the mountains has had dealings with the high-ranking officials of Chixia City. Don't disbelieve me. The old ranger I knew said so himself."

After the two people from Jinjiling finished registering, they did not stay for long and left immediately. "I think they might want to recruit more people," Xu Yueping said.

Everyone thought it made sense. Jinjiling suffered heavy losses this time and urgently needed to recruit new people.

Old Man Liu said, "Trouble is coming. In addition to asking for people, they will definitely ask for money and property. If we recruit new soldiers, the cost will not be small."

People felt heavy-hearted. The bandits from Jinjiling had been putting great pressure on the villages in the surrounding areas, and this situation was difficult to change.

Qin Ming and Old Man Liu went into the mountains. On the way, they both felt uncomfortable and cursed the people of Jinjiling, believing that they had always been a group of bandits.

"I really want to flatten Jinji Ridge!" Qin Ming said.

"Don't talk nonsense. It will be a disaster if someone hears it." Old Man Liu stopped him.

"Oh, by the way, old man, you said that the higher beings deep in the mountains have close contacts with the high-level officials of Chixia City. Is that true?"

Old Man Liu said, "Anyway, someone said so, but I don't know whether it's true or not."

"Then why did the Great Rift Valley Massacre happen?" Qin Ming looked at the quiet place in front of him. Three days ago, many people and monsters died there, and the valley was filled with the smell of blood.

"I'm thinking that the aliens' siege of the Great Rift Valley might be a tacit agreement between the top leaders of both sides."

Qin Ming looked at him and asked, "Why do you say that?"

Old Man Liu said, "There are more and more alien species in the mountains, but there is not much land left. It's time to consume some of them. The big families in Chixia City have developed rapidly in recent years. According to those traveling merchants, each family has its own monopoly industry. It is definitely not appropriate for the city lord to suppress them directly. Now that the Great Rift Valley Massacre has happened, it seems reasonable."

"Uncle Liu, you really dare to think like that!" Qin Ming looked at him sideways.

"I, an old man, have also traveled to Chixia City in the past. I know the place well and have seen the world. If it weren't for the famous beast in the mountains that tore our foundation apart with one claw, we wouldn't be in such a miserable state."

The two of them walked and talked.

After going ten miles deep into the mountains, Old Man Liu said, "Don't say any more. Now that we are here, we can't mention those old monsters in the mountains."

After walking for a while, the two appeared in a primeval old forest, and then arrived at the foot of a mountain.

"There is a spring of fire in the belly of this mountain." Old man Liu said, which means he knew the mountain very well. Others would have no idea about the situation here.

Moreover, Old Man Liu had been here before and knew that the fire spring here had become dimmer due to the geomagnetic disturbance in the mountains. This was one of the reasons why he chose to take action here.

There is a nest of silver-headed ants in the mountain. They are very dependent on fire springs. Otherwise, in the severe cold, their activity will be severely reduced and they don't like to move.

From blood snakes to spirit turtles, to gibbons, and the silver-headed ants here, the targets chosen by Old Man Liu are all rather unusual.

However, Qin Ming had to admit that this was indeed the best choice at the moment.

Silver-headed ants are very aggressive and the number of them in a nest is frighteningly large. Winter is the best time to deal with them.

There is another crucial reason. There can only be one queen ant in the entire nest. Although there are extra spiritual substances that can allow other silver-headed ants to mutate three times, the queen ant will not allow it.

Old Man Liu said, "We need to get some steel plates to protect our bodies. It's not safe to just wear armor. If we get bit by a silver-headed ant, it won't kill us, but half of our body will be numb for a long time. Once we're submerged by them, we'll be bitten to death."

This type of silver-headed ant is much stronger than the black ants that Xu Yueping uses to make tea. They can be seen ranging from the size of a baby's fist to the size of an egg, and are extremely ferocious.

They get their name from the silver markings on their heads.

The most amazing thing about this kind of ant is that it can brew honey wine, collect various pollen and wild fruits from the mountains, and even go out of the mountains to steal grains. Then, with the help of the spirituality of fire springs, it can brew a liquid that looks like both wine and honey.

They can extract the essence of mead again and again, allow the essence to ferment again, purify it repeatedly, and ferment it many times, and finally produce a special spiritual substance, which is a light golden liquid.

In some big cities, the price of mead brewed by silver-headed ants is incredibly expensive, not to mention the spiritual substance fermented from the essence purified again and again.

Qin Ming and Old Man Liu followed the cracks in the mountain and went deeper to take a look. His scalp felt numb. The dim fire spring was full of big ants. People with claustrophobia would definitely not be able to stand it here. The silver stripes were flowing with a cold luster, and they were motionless at this moment.

The two men retreated silently and began to observe the nearby terrain and plan an escape route.

Over the next two days, they continued to go in and out of the mountains, delivering all the necessary supplies.

"Success or failure depends on this one move!" In the icy and snowy weather, with white mist between their mouths and noses, the two men were ready to take action.

Qin Ming was uneasy, not because of nervousness or fear. His thoughts were in turmoil. If he succeeded here, after three rebirths, his broken memories would reappear. What would he see this time?
(End of this chapter)