I transformed into a cute girl and lived a carefree life in the apocalypse.

"Is something the matter, Uncle?"

"I'm asking you, did you get the item?" Yan Shan asked meticulously, his domain covering the two of them.

Yan Ziming shook his head with a wry smile, his expression full of resentment: "I've searched everywhere but haven't found it..."

Upon hearing this, Yan Shan sighed softly without saying a word. He regretted letting Youming and the others leave earlier, but it was too late to do anything now.

A distraught Yan Ziming went to observe the dissection work under the sea snake's corpse in an attempt to distract herself from her depression. Ye Qianxue obediently lay on her back to comfort her.

During the observation, Yan Ziming discovered that the dissection tools used by the dissection staff were actually made from the raw materials of the Jinghong Sword, with the gleaming blood grooves shimmering with a dangerous light.

"The government really went to great lengths to get the sea serpent's corpse!" Yan Ziming exclaimed. Ye Qianxue, who was beside her, nodded repeatedly and nestled in her arms.

Even so, it is still very difficult to cut through the sea serpent's outer skin defenses. In Yan Ziming's opinion, it would take at least a day or two to completely dissect it.

Then, as if by fate, Yan Ziming's eyes met the sea serpent's majestic eyes.

Gazing at those eyes that shone as brightly as a glass lamp, Yan Ziming suddenly had a strange thought.

—Does the crystal core really have to be inside the body?

Having confirmed it with a glance, Yan Ziming quivered and his eyes regained their sparkle, a renewed desire stirring within him.

Chapter Eighty Unexpected Visitor

"Xiaoze, is there anything in there?"

Yan Ziming lifted the sleeping Xiao Ze from his chest and asked solemnly.

When it first led to her and Ye Qianxue being chased by Youming, she didn't believe that Xiaoze had just shouted it out randomly.

"Meow~"

"...Yay!! Hahaha!! Chiyuki has been found!!"

Yan Ziming hugged Ye Qianxue like a madwoman and showered her with kisses. Ye Qianxue was a little dazed, but she was happy because her older sister was happy. She cheered along with Yan Ziming, feeling both confused and shy.

After a moment of joy, Yan Ziming realized what was happening, kicked off with both feet, and landed on the sea serpent's head, carefully gouging out the right eyeball.

It felt like an eternity. Yan Ziming felt the heavy weight in his hands and was filled with ecstatic joy.

That's right. The moment she got her hands on it, Mo Xin gave an accurate answer: this eyeball was the crystal core of the sea serpent!

"What's making you so happy?" Yan Shan asked, looking at Yan Zimo's sudden outburst.

"found it."

Yan Shan's expression turned solemn. He activated his domain again and scolded, "You found it but didn't know where to hide it? Are you trying to make sure everyone knows you've found a sequence-level crystal core?!"

"Uh... I'm just too excited. It feels like I've been brought back to life. Uncle, you should understand me."

Holding the heavy eyeballs in his hands, Yan Ziming couldn't stop smiling; he was overjoyed.

"This thing is the crystal core of a sea serpent? Are you sure?" Yan Shan asked in surprise.

He had seen the Grim Reaper's crystal core before; it was very ordinary, like its bone blade, and was semi-transparent. They had almost missed it back then, leaving it behind.

"I guarantee it's true, this guy confirmed it!"

Seeing Yan Ziming's assurance when he mentioned the Qilin, Yan Shan resolved his last remaining doubt.

"What are you going to do next?"

"What else can we do? Uncle, you should find a time to divide this thing up!" Yan Ziming said mysteriously.

Yan Shan thought for a moment and asked, "How many people is this enough to share?"

"...I don't know. I've never seen a sequence-level crystal core before. It depends on how hard Xiaoze tries."

Xiao Ze, who was sleeping in Yan Ziming's arms, suddenly shivered for no reason, as if he had a premonition of something bad.

"Let me make it clear first, don't force it to do something it doesn't want to do."

"Alright, am I still your niece or not? Why are you always siding with outsiders?"

Yan Shan gave Yan Ziming a heavy tap on the head, the force precise enough to make Yan Ziming feel pain without actually hurting her.

"Hide the stuff well, or you'll come crying to me when it's gone!" Yan Shan went off to supervise the moving operation, leaving Yan Ziming alone here crouching with his head in his hands, on guard.

—Wow! You old man, you hit me so hard, it hurts like hell!

Yan Ziming covered her head and couldn't get up. Ye Qianxue breathed on the spot where Yan Shan had hit her, her eyes filled with undisguised laughter.

"Well, you dare to laugh at me too!" Yan Ziming pinched Ye Qianxue's cheek and said fiercely.

"Eh—" Ye Qianxue dared not resist, letting Yan Zimo vent his resentment.

Meanwhile, Yan Shan received a report from his subordinates.

"Not enough manpower?"

"Yes, sir, we can't transport that many on our own... It would take a very long time to completely dissect it."

Yan Shan has regained his original appearance, and his subordinates all recognize him and obey his every command.

"Should we wait for our reinforcements to arrive?" the officer asked.

"No, no need. Stop the dissection work too. I'll do it myself."

"Yes!"

Now that time was of the essence, Yan Shan's bad premonition grew stronger and stronger, and he did not want to stay here a moment longer.

A little while later, he had a new question.

Why...didn't that big loach swallow the sea snake's crystal core?

Logically speaking, once you reach SSS rank, you shouldn't have any fear of sea serpent corpses, right?

Unless it was unaware of the sea serpent's carcass there, or it wasn't a descendant of a sea serpent?

To be honest, I've never actually seen it exhaling mist, so I can't just assume it's a descendant of sea snakes.

With old problems unresolved and a host of new ones arising, Yan Shan rubbed his temples in exasperation, worried about the next steps.

……

"My lord, are we really going to leave like this?" Barol asked unwillingly.

"Don't give me that nonsense. Are we going to stay and fight them to the death instead of leaving?" Youming glared at him, the terrifying mental pressure making him afraid to look up.

He was truly furious. The organization had invested countless manpower and resources and spent nearly half a year preparing to obtain the sea serpent's crystal core, but they still failed.

When they first saw Qin Tianhai, they thought they could still put up a fight, but Yan Shan's arrival made them lose all hope. Rather than staying here to fight to the death, they decided to preserve their forces and retreat to prepare for future actions.

Moreover, he was badly beaten, and the mental energy he lost would take a long time to recover. Fortunately, he was already at the ninth level, otherwise, he would never have been able to recover in this lifetime.

The reason lies with that damned woman, Yan Ziming, who led many powerful figures from China to this place to plunder them, causing the organization's six months of investment to be completely wasted.

Although it has never been confirmed, Youming just felt that all of this was thanks to Yan Zimo.

Not only did the failure of this operation cripple the organization, but the previous failure in Bei'an also caused the organization to bleed heavily.

This means that the organization has been unable to make any waves in recent years. All the efforts of more than half a year will be in vain. Not only have its own spies in China been uprooted, but they may never have the opportunity to infiltrate its ranks again.

Barol continued, unwilling to give up, "But this is something the God himself ordered us to do!"

"We've already failed, what else can we do?" Youming glanced at him coldly, then said resentfully, "But even though we've failed, they won't have it easy either. I've left them a 'big gift'!"

They suffered such a humiliating defeat this time that it would be a disservice to their professional ethics as villains to let China get the best of everything.

"Those guys should be here soon..."

……

On a semi-submersible boat by the shore, a relatively intact sea snake carcass lay on the surface, and the people around were preparing to depart.

The reason for this was that, in order to save time, Yan Shan directly transformed into the true form of a mountain qilin to transport the sea snake corpse, moving it onto this ship, which left his subordinates with a lot to complain about.

"Old Hai, what's wrong with you? You look so disheveled."

When Yan Shan saw Qin Tianhai, whose clothes were tattered and looked like a beggar, his face was full of mockery.

"If you're so capable, why don't you go and deal with that giant mudskipper? What are you talking about!"

Qin Tianhai said angrily, "SSS-level mutated species are never easy to deal with. Even they have times when they are defeated, but the number of times is very small."

Has the identity of that giant mudskipper been confirmed?

"We chased it away, but it's not a descendant of sea snakes; it doesn't have any of the characteristics you mentioned."

"That's strange. Who created this fog on the island?" Yan Shan asked, puzzled.

"Who knows? Maybe the real one is watching us from somewhere?"

Qin Tianhai said nonchalantly, but after he said that, both of them trembled and their expressions became extremely solemn!

Their idea is not unreasonable!

Just then, several unfamiliar energy fluctuations came from the sky, and Yan Shan's face became as gloomy as could be.

"Haha, we're old friends, why don't you share such a good thing with us?"

That bastard Youming, the harsh words he uttered before leaving actually meant this.

He also summoned people from other major countries!