Why is my territory in a 2D anime art style?

Chapter 170 Harvest and Strange Tales

Last night, under Zheng Qiuyu's guidance, the crystals of Dream Dust were successfully extracted from the water rinsed off the cotton and linen rope.

These crystals look like salt, but they are different. After they precipitate, they do not stick together and remain as independent small particles.

But in the end, only a little over four ounces of Dream Dust were obtained from the cotton and linen rope, which was a huge waste.

After a night, the huge block of ice formed by the ice crystal bullets did not melt, but its size had shrunk considerably. Now it was just a thin layer, and it looked like it could shatter completely at any moment.

"So, when ice-attribute energy dissipates, it doesn't turn into water; it simply dissolves completely—"

Sui An marveled at the scene before him. It seemed that the source energy was ultimately only a part of the material properties, and its core component was still energy. Even Sui An's purple building was no exception.

"Good lad!"

Zheng Xifeng's slightly rough voice came from behind. Wang Zhen was naturally unable to handle such a special source beast, so Zheng Xifeng came over personally.

Wang Zhen followed behind him.

"So many monsters attacking the territory, and you still have a way to deal with them?" He reached out and touched the huge block of ice, and immediately felt the bone-chilling cold, which even he found somewhat uncomfortable.

Zheng Xifeng calmly withdrew his hand and said with a smile, pretending not to care.

"This isn't the first time I've collected Dream Butterflies over the years, but it's the first time I've seen one so complete. I reckon someone will be willing to pay a hefty price for it!"

Sui An's eyes lit up, and he immediately asked curiously, "Can it really fetch a high price?"

Zheng Xifeng glanced around and saw dozens of huge blocks of ice on the ground, probably numbering in the thousands. His lips curled up even more.

"Of course! It can become invisible and conceal source energy fluctuations, right? Such special functions cannot be achieved by source energy alone. Therefore, their bodies are equally special. And these source beast bodies are made from the core materials of special alchemy formulas. The more complete the materials, the better the quality!"

Sui An immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, I thought I was going to lose a fortune!"

Zheng Xifeng was immediately puzzled: "How could you lose money on such a complete source beast body? Did you spend a fortune on this freezing technique?"

Sui An shrugged: "I didn't spend too much, it's just that I didn't earn as much as before. I earned less than last time, so of course I lost money, right?"

Zheng Xifeng laughed in exasperation: "You brat—you call this a loss, huh?"

Sui An waved his hand and pointed to the pile of broken bodies in the corner: "Captain Zheng, do you have prices for both intact and incomplete parts of this?"

Zheng Xifeng shook his head: "We'll have to go back to Jiangcheng and negotiate the price in person. It's not easy to calculate the price of something this rare at a regular price."

"Judging from all of these, including the source stones that haven't been extracted yet, they should sell for around 40,000 to 50,000 yuan without much problem. These things are extremely rare, especially the tiny dream dust on their bodies. Do you know the value of that?"

Sui An quickly replied, "Sister Qiuyu told me that I cleaned up the territory and got more than 4 liang (200 grams) of this stuff. She said it can sell for 40,000 to 50,000 source stones per jin (500 grams)?"

"How many?"

Zheng Xifeng's lips twitched, as if he had heard a joke, and he quickly said, "Where would you get forty or fifty thousand? You could sell it for twenty thousand, though. Did she misremember the price?"

Sui An's expression remained unchanged. He hadn't expected it to really be around 20,000. He had been thinking of deliberately raising the price to see what would happen, but it seemed that the prices of these things were quite stable.

Seeing Sui An's calm expression, Zheng Xifeng suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Could this kid be deliberately using his sister's name to fool him?

He gritted his teeth, then suddenly felt a tickle in his hand. He rubbed it against his waist, but decided to change the subject.

"But we have to hurry. I think your freezing method can only last for three hours at most before it completely dissipates. If it dissipates by then, it will be harder to transport."

"If you trust me, I'll take it back for you first. Frozen ones will be charged by the piece, and broken ones by weight. I'll give you an invoice, and Wang Zhen can sell them along with it."

"Of course I trust Captain Zheng!" Sui An said with a smile, showing no sign of having made a rash offer earlier.

"Alright, let's start loading!" Zheng Xifeng said, looking at Wang Zhen beside him.

"Tell everyone to wear protective masks, especially for these loose items. After loading them onto the truck, cover them with tarpaulins. Be careful of the fine dust on them; inhaling it can knock you unconscious. Don't get infected!"

"Okay, Captain!" Wang Zhen breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the matter could be handled.

After all, he had never seen this thing before, and compared to veterans like Zheng Xifeng in the transportation team, his knowledge was still too narrow.

"Big brother, you've arrived!" At the city gate, Zheng Xu waved his hand, his face beaming with joy.

This bizarre scene left Zheng Xifeng completely baffled. When did this kid start giving him so much face?

"Found money? You're so happy!"

"Brother, what nonsense are you talking about!" Zheng Xu jogged over, his smile undiminished, even joking, "Even a single grain of rice on the ground here belongs to Boss Sui, do you think I'd pick it up!"

"Haha, that's true!" Zheng Xifeng glanced at Sui An with a smile, feeling that the words were somewhat apt.

Sui An could only shrug; what else could he say?

"So, why are you calling me so excitedly? Are you homesick?"

After making his joke, Zheng Xifeng didn't waste any more words and directly asked a question. He didn't believe that his cousin would be so eager to help him for no reason.

Zheng Xu didn't seem to mind and immediately inquired, "Did your city receive any news from Pinghu yesterday?"

"Oh? You know that too?" Zheng Xifeng's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a serious expression.

"Did you wander off yesterday?"

After saying that, Zheng Xifeng subconsciously glanced at Sui An, thinking to himself, "You didn't let this kid escape, did you?"

Before Sui An could explain, Zheng Xu started complaining, "What nonsense are you thinking? Someone was chased all the way from Pinghu to here by a Source Beast yesterday!"

Zheng Xifeng quickly moved closer to Zheng Xu, his thick eyebrows furrowed, and hurriedly asked, "What happened? Tell me in detail!"

This time, Sui An answered first, not because he was afraid Zheng Xu would say something he shouldn't, but because he was afraid Zheng Xu would exaggerate the content.

He gave a general account of what happened yesterday, including the identity of the Wolf Pack Territory, but he didn't mention Zheng Xu's speculation because he didn't want to get involved.

Although Ye Tengyang is an ice-type in the territory, there's no need to take such a big risk for a possible treasure.

But Zheng Xu couldn't help himself and quickly added after Sui An finished speaking: "Brother, to be chased for 20 kilometers by the Ice Source Giant Crocodile, they must have obtained the companion treasure, the Ice Heart Lotus Root!"

Zheng Xifeng's eyes twitched involuntarily; he no longer cared what those people had taken.

The Ice Source Crocodile is an elite-level 6 Source Beast. Even if I were fully armed, my chances of killing it in a one-on-one fight would be slim.

You've only advanced to level 4, and you're already able to kill?

Don't think that level 6 is just one level higher than level 5. At this level, the difference between each level is huge, not to mention that they are elite level.

Although Sui An had a hard time describing the scene of his killing, he still felt that something was not right!

So, does that mean I'm a weakling in front of you?

What about all my years of hard training?

Even with Zheng Xifeng's strong mentality, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy at this moment. Was the level 4 purple building in this guy's territory really that powerful?

Even though both are purple quality, achieving the same level of kill-above-level performance in the mid-to-high stages is actually much more difficult.

There are no bad intermediate-level source beasts, and no ordinary high-level source beasts; this is a fact that everyone knows.

"Xiao An, are you taking that big guy from your territory away this time too?"

Wang Zhen's voice suddenly rang out from the city gate, immediately piquing Zheng Xifeng's interest. He stared at Sui An with a smile.

"Boss Sui, aren't you going to show me around?"

"Um, Captain Zheng, if you're interested, let's go take a look together!"

Sui An didn't intend to refuse; the goods needed to be sold through the transport team anyway, so he didn't have much to hide.

As Zheng Xifeng turned around after passing through the city gate, he saw the enormous creature. Even though he was mentally prepared, he still couldn't help but grind his teeth when he saw the huge wound on its back.

"These injuries don't seem to have been caused by a fire-attribute building, do they?"

"That's definitely not the case!"

"Boss Sui's opportunities are truly diverse!" Zheng Xifeng examined the wound, trying to reconstruct the scene of the source beast's death.

"It's nothing special, just a small stroke of luck. After all, I've experienced so many rifts, so I've still gained something!"

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Sui An tried to allocate his gains to the rifts as much as possible. After all, he had killed source beasts of higher levels before, and it was normal for him to get some purple blueprints if he was lucky.

Moreover, he suddenly found it very interesting. It seemed that the Zheng siblings were not spies after all. They would tell their elder brother everything they saw in their territory.

I've been exposing this method for some time now, though I haven't used the metal element much. The main uses were the level 5 source beast last time and the Dark Breath Silver Scale Beast the time before that.

Perhaps it was because of the headshot that Zheng Xifeng didn't notice.

Or perhaps it was just a level 5 source beast, which he assumed he could kill, so it wasn't surprising.

Sui An wasn't the only one who thought this way; Zheng Xifeng did as well.

Zheng Xifeng moved closer to the giant ice crocodile, his gaze shifting intentionally or unintentionally between the beast and Zheng Xu, his expression suggestive.

Zheng Xu felt a chill run through his body and shivered violently.

"The information I received yesterday is probably not what you're guessing."

Fortunately, Zheng Xifeng did not publicly demonstrate that the eldest brother is like a father, and the same goes for his cousin!

He said seriously, "The specific investigation results haven't been sent back to Jiangcheng yet, after all, the incident happened yesterday afternoon."

"It's highly unlikely that a source beast like the Ice Source Giant Crocodile, which mostly lives on land, would have survived in a flat lake until now. This speculation is correct, so it's very likely that it escaped from a secret realm or a rift passage."

"But according to the descriptions of those who escaped alive, those rampaging source beasts, as long as they could get ashore, were hunting down professionals, not just unique beings like the Ice Source Giant Crocodile. The reason they were hunting them down was probably not because they took the Ice Heart Lotus Root."

After refuting Zheng Xu's guess, Zheng Xifeng turned around and stared intently at Zheng Xu.

"But you'd better behave yourself, because this Source Beast shouldn't be the strongest one that appeared yesterday. There was a Level 7 Extreme Ice Giant Bear King there yesterday!"

"The Great Ice Bear King!"

Zheng Xu exclaimed in surprise, "Even a Level 7 Lord-level Source Beast has appeared?"

Sui An frowned as well. Like the golden giant wolf king he had encountered before, most beast kings had ordinary...

The race does not have physical markings.

A typical Beast King is the strongest member of its own tribe. If it is of elite strength, then the Beast King is likely a lord-level being.

The Dark Breath Silver Scale Beast I encountered that day was only in its breakthrough stage; it wasn't actually a Beast King, but its strength was even greater than that of an ordinary Beast King!

A Beast King is a Beast King, and a Breakthrough Body is a Breakthrough Body. One has a stronger innate bloodline, while the other has stronger acquired opportunities. These two are not contradictory.

Because even the Beast King can break through to a higher level later in life, it's just more difficult.

Sui An asked with some concern, "Were these rioting source beasts eventually subdued?"

Zheng Xifeng shook his head: "Some of the pursuers escaped to the vicinity of some territories and killed them, while others were unlucky enough to have their territories destroyed."

"That Arctic Giant Bear King destroyed a level 6 territory between Line 3 and Line 7, and then escaped. We don't know where it went at the moment."

"High-level source beasts are highly intelligent and will actively seek out places with abundant source energy as their habitat. They will most likely run into places like Lianyun Mountain and will no longer wander in the wilderness."

"The Lianyun Mountains are home to many mythical beasts, which also meet its foraging needs."

"A level 6 territory destroyed like that, what bad luck!" Zheng Xu shook his head and clicked his tongue twice, it was hard to tell whether he was gloating or sighing.

"Anyway, I've talked to you nicely, so behave yourself for now!" Zheng Xifeng glared at Zheng Xu. Do you think people won't empathize with what you've said in front of others?

After giving his cousin some instructions, he turned to Sui An and asked, "Are you selling this big one?"

Sui An was interrupted from his thoughts and nodded subconsciously: "Selling it, is it just this commission?"

This is the second time Sui An has sold a level 6 source beast. The last time was a level 6 Azure Feather Eagle, but because it was a bird, the price was different.

Zheng Xifeng already had the answer: "For level 6 source beasts, we'll take the minimum 5% commission. These things are very expensive, and we're afraid you wouldn't be willing to take too high a commission."

He looked at Sui An with a smile: "Even if you manage to acquire a high-level source beast in the future, you'll still get this percentage!"

"Captain Zheng is joking. If I could kill a high-level source beast, my territory would be fairly large by then, and I'd definitely handle that kind of thing myself!"

Sui An didn't have much to say about the commission; it was already the lowest he could offer, so there was no room for negotiation. If they didn't want to sell, he would have to deliver it himself.

Given the strength of the few combat professionals in his territory, if someone were to covet this guy, there's a high probability he wouldn't be able to protect him on the way.

"Let's do it your way!"

"Okay, let's load the goods. We've already taken a while, we don't want the ice to melt!"

Zheng Xifeng was also a little anxious. Wang Zhen, who was standing to the side, had already driven the transport truck in. This big guy could only be towed by a medium-sized transport truck.

Although this thing is long, its relatively flat body, plus its tail for show, makes it roughly the same size as that 5-inch...

It weighs about the same as a Dark Breath Silver Scale Beast of the same level.

The transport team worked quickly, and soon they had loaded the goods and issued a receipt.

If a transport team is bold enough not to pay, you can take this receipt to the city to exchange it.

Finally, this giant ice crocodile weighed seven tons. The price can only be determined after it is brought back to the city. Unlike low-level source beasts, which can be easily estimated based on meat prices when their quantity is large enough.

The number of the frozen Dream-Eating Butterflies was eventually confirmed to be 1523.

As for the 543 creatures that were blasted apart by the elemental statues and fire-attribute crystal bullets in the first wave, Sui An picked up the source stones. They were calculated by weight, weighing only about 5 tons, which means that each one weighed only 10 kilograms. As a level 4 source beast, it was extremely light.

However, this thing is still a butterfly, only its wings look bigger and thicker.

This was also the smallest and lightest intermediate-level source beast that Sui An had ever seen.

The convoy soon left the territory, and Sui An continued to arrange the filling-up plan for the guard team.

Yesterday, my work was interrupted by people from the Wolf Pack Territory. The second mushroom house requires a lot of soil, and it's really not going to be finished in a short time.

However, Sui An didn't want the soil from the spot where the butterfly was shattered.

The Ye brothers also said it was not suitable. The composition of insect-type source beasts is complex, and their blood is not regular blood. It is best not to water the soil of young plants.

If it is a mature source plant, there is not much of a problem. They have a stronger ability to digest and absorb nutrients and are more resistant to risks.

The territory is bustling again.

To the southwest, Pinghu was bustling with activity.

Countless mid- to high-level professionals have flocked here. The commotion here yesterday was so great that almost all the forces within a hundred kilometers of it noticed it.

In this era, the unusual means that there is opportunity; even disasters may be accompanied by opportunities.

Therefore, whether it's the three city lords of Jiangcheng, or the level seven or eight territories below, or even some level six territories, or mid-to-high-level professional players and independent individuals, they all flock here without prior arrangement.

At this moment, the vast lake was already filled with professionals. On the southeast side of the lake, there was an even larger crowd of professionals, all fully armed and exuding a powerful aura.

Among them, the three teams in red, black, and silver were the most eye-catching. Each team wore the same full set of protective gear, carried the same weapons, and their equipment was of excellent quality. The teams were neat and uniform, and their momentum was extraordinary.

At the front of the crimson-armored procession stood a tall, spirited woman wearing the same style of armor, only more exquisite.

She looked at the person leading the silver team and asked with a smile.

"Yu Ming, you arrived first, have you found anything?"

Yu Ming was dressed in bright white light armor, with a golden longsword hanging at his waist and a silver longbow and quiver on his back.

When someone called him, he turned around and immediately smiled when he saw the person's originally cold and stern face.

"Madam Li, I just arrived too, and I haven't noticed anything unusual."

"Just call me Sui Ling. Calling me 'Madam Li' sounds awkward!"

Sui Ling was somewhat dissatisfied. With her sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, she looked like a female general, with outstanding heroic spirit.

Seeing that Yu Ming hadn't found anything, she turned her gaze to the group in black armor in front of them: "Fang Cheng, have you found anything?"

"No!"

Fang Cheng's answer was simple and straightforward. He was dressed in a dark yellow armor and carried a black spear, which made him look extremely calm and composed.

Both of them answered that they had not found anything, which made Sui Ling a little frustrated. She pouted and slung the crimson horse-slaying sword over her shoulder.

"You made such a fuss yesterday, how come everything's gone so quietly after just one night? You two are the city guard leaders of the Second and Third City Lords, you're both grown men, don't try to fool me!"

Fang Cheng remained unmoved.

Yu Ming, however, still had a smile on his face: "We can't fool Sister Sui. There really isn't any movement. Even the lake is starting to freeze over."

"Even the aura of the source beasts in this lake seems much fainter. I wonder if it's just my imagination!"

Fang Cheng suddenly interjected, "No! It's definitely too little!"

Yu Ming nodded repeatedly: "Brother Fang thinks so too, then it seems to be correct!"

"Could it be that all those source beasts that rioted yesterday have run away? Then we've made a wasted trip?"

Sui Ling looked at the lake, her eyes gleaming with a faint firelight, as if she were activating some kind of special source energy technique.

Upon seeing this, Yu Ming exclaimed softly, "I almost forgot, Sister Sui, you have the Double Vision Eye! Have you discovered anything?"

Soon, the fire in Sui Ling's eyes dissipated, and she asked in a puzzled tone, "There are far fewer mid-level source beasts left, so how come only low-level source beasts remain!"

"Were they all eaten as snacks by those powerful source beasts yesterday?"

Yu Ming spread his hands, looking rather helpless: "It's not impossible, but it looks like we're going to go home empty-handed today!"

Sui Ling nodded, "This lake is so big, let's spread out and search around there, maybe we'll find something else!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she led her team back onto the convoy and began to circle around the Pinghu Lake.

Seeing that the city guards of the three city lords had not discovered them, the members of the various forces scattered in all directions began to disperse and seek their own opportunities.

On the other side, Fang Cheng didn't say a word, but glanced in the direction Sui Ling left, and led the team to check in the opposite direction.

Only Yu Ming remained in place, watching the two teams leave with a smile.

"Leader, should we also investigate?" a professional asked softly from the side.

"Those of us without the means, how can we investigate? We naturally have to follow those who do to find opportunities!"

Yu Ming's smile slowly faded: "You take a small team and follow Fang Cheng's group at a distance. Just keep them at bay. If anything happens, report to me via communicator. Remember, don't act rashly; safety is the top priority!"

"I'll lead a team to follow Sui Ling. She has the Double Vision Eye, which allows her to detect energy flow and discern the direction of source energy. If anyone discovers a problem, she'll naturally be the first!"

The man's eyes lit up: "The leader is right, then I'll take my men and follow the Second City Lord's group!"

"Go ahead, be careful!"

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