In less than half a day’s worth of time, they had finished preparing for their departure.

Meteor Rock Guild was a small guild to begin with. However, after having received assistance from Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild and the supplies that Fatty gave them, they now possessed a considerable amount of resources.

They possessed the invaluable Tidal Fighter, which could be used for both combat and transportation. Additionally, everyone could now be equipped with energy-based weapons.

They also possessed four Sentinel mechs. In accordance with the standard for Zero City, those Sentinel mechs have been outfitted with a comprehensive weapons and defence system. Its built-in AI could automatically engage in combat. When necessary, however, Roddy could use his Mechanical Heart skill to control them, putting them into a semi-manual mode of sorts.

There were also two Thunderstorm Tanks, a set of [A] class protective suits… … adding all those items together was enough to make Meteor Rock Guild a first-rate guild among the Awakened guilds.

Naturally, when compared to the former resident guilds of Zero City, they were still far lacking. At present, however, Zero City was in ruins and there was no clue as to where Zero City’s survivors had gone to. Who knows where they had hidden themselves. There was also no telling if they would be forced to participate in this instance dungeon.

In addition to their existing equipment, Xia Xiaolei had also used up a considerable amount of their remaining points to purchase a great deal of ammo and healing props. Given the possibility that the instance dungeon was most likely set in the ancient era and could last a long time, they had also prepared a good amount of food and water for the guild, enough to last them for a month. They were all stored in Chen Xiaolian’s storage equipment.

“Right now, we still have one issue, the Star Sand mine.” After Xia Xiaolei was done reporting the amount of equipment they have, Roddy spoke up with a look of concern. “Back then, Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild promised to give us three times the cost of operating the mine as the price for procuring it from us. Right now, though, Zero City is destroyed. Although there might still be survivors from Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild, it is impossible for them to regain their former glory. It is hopeless to think they can follow the original agreement. Not to mention, we cannot even make contact with them right now.

“Back then, you brought 10,000 points back to let the Star Sand mine operate at full capacity. However, I don’t think we will be getting more points from them. So, what should we do about the mine?”

Chen Xiaolian frowned.

After Zero City’s destruction, he quickly became preoccupied with the Romania trip. Next, he entered World’s End. There was simply no time for him to consider the mine.

This was quite the headache inducing situation.

It was like a factory that had gotten an investment from a big buyer. The production line had been set up and the sales and purchase agreement had been signed. After everything had started operating however, the big buyer suddenly went bankrupt.

Additionally, they were still incapable of finding other buyers for the products produced from the factory.

Continue mining? Every day they continue mining would translate to a day’s worth of losses. Qiao Yifeng’s words back then were not pointless words. Given Meteor Rock Guild’s size, they simply could not use that much Star Sand. After putting in all the points to mine out the Star Sand, all they could do in the end was to leave it aside.

Stop mining? When Zero City issued out the quest, it had stated that the rights to using the mine was limited to one year. Given that Zero City was now destroyed, after the one year was up, the mine might simply disappear. It was also possible that it might simply become unusable to everyone. The rights to the mine had not been easy to obtain. For them to simply stop mining was too much of a waste.

Naturally, Chen Xiaolian was still uncertain about the mechanism involved in Zero City’s issuing of quests and what will happen after Zero City’s destruction. It was also possible that the mine would become Meteor Rock Guild’s forever. However, such a fortuitous scenario was something that Chen Xiaolian dared not wish for.

Additionally, the point consumption for the operation of the Star Sand mine was not something that would flow evenly.

Back then, when the man in black had given Chen Xiaolian those points, he said that it could allow the operation to last for around three months. Chen Xiaolian had not bothered to calculate it then. Later on, when the mine was fully up and running, Chen Xiaolian found out that the points were not enough for three months.

There were eight mines. Each mine required 100 points per month to open. It was a one-time payment which will not be refunded even if the mine was closed at the end of the month.

Next were the mining androids. In addition to the daily point requirements, there was the initial purchase price of 100 points per android.

After receiving the points transferred over by Qiao Yifeng’s side, Chen Xiaolian had directly bought the maximum number of androids needed when he returned to the mine. Each of the eight mines could accommodate eight androids, leading to a total of 6,400 points spent.

They had been operating for more than 10 days now. At present, they had used up 8,000 points for the mine. Given the present rate of point consumption, the 10,000 points will be used up in way less than three months.

At that time, Chen Xiaolian, who had finally calculated the speed at which the points will be consumed, had planned to go contact Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild members in Zero City and request for another transfer of points. However, a series of matters kept popping up and he ended up putting it on hold before eventually forgetting about it.

“Let’s do this…” After a moment’s consideration, Chen Xiaolian said, “Let it continue operating first. Don’t reduce its production rate. We still have around 2,000 of the 10,000 points. It is enough for us to maintain mining operating for the first month. Stopping the androids’ operations only saves us tens of points per day. If we let it stop now, our losses will be too big.”

“Understood.” Roddy nodded his head. “Then, after the first month is over?”

“There are still around 10 days before the first month is over. By then, if we still cannot find funding for it, close up the other seven mines. Just leave one running.” Chen Xiaolian gritted his teeth. “Star Sand is indeed good stuff. However, it is not something we can afford to use. Still…”

He turned toward Roddy and said, “How much Star Sand have we mined in total?”

“We have only opened the mine for around half a month. There’s not even 30 kg…” Suddenly, Roddy’s eyes lit up. “What? Are you going to use it on my Mech?”

“Dream on.” Chen Xiaolian rolled his eyes. “Right now, within a time period of 24 hours, you can only operate the Mech for 18 seconds. Given this time restriction, it doesn’t matter how much you enhance it. It will not be able to help much. Rather, it is a complete waste.”

“Damn it. You made me happy for nothing,” said Roddy sullenly.

“But…” Chen Feng continued. “Even though they cannot be used to enhance your Mech, it doesn’t mean you cannot use them. Don’t we still have four Sentinel mechs?”

“That… that’s not bad. However…” Hearing that, Roddy’s spirit lifted somewhat. “30 kg of Star Sand is only enough to slightly enhance the armour of the four Sentinel mechs.”

“When did I say I want to enhance all four?” said Chen Xiaolian with a smile. “Although the specs of the Sentinel mechs are high, at the end of the day, they cannot become our main equipment in the future. They are just a temporary solution. Besides, we had to fork out so much points only to get so little Star Sand. We cannot be so wasteful. If I give you 10 kg to use on one mech, it should be enough to enhance the mech to a sufficient degree. That mech will be your long-term equipment for now.”

“So little? What about the rest?” Roddy pursed his lips.

“This instance dungeon is very big. The surrounding areas before the opening of the instance dungeon must surely be very lively. When that happens, we can try to sniff around to see if we can find a buyer. If its only 20 kg, we may be able to find a guild capable of buying it.” Chen Xiaolian turned back to face Roddy. “Right, did you find anything of value online?”

“I’ve surfed through a few secret forums for Awakened ones. They are all practically exploding.” Roddy smiled before continuing, “Everyone believes that the difficulty level for this instance dungeon is unimaginably high. Someone has already proposed meeting up before the instance dungeon begins.”

Having said that, Roddy pulled out his mobile phone and pulled out a page. “It’s this guy.”

Chen Xiaolian accepted the mobile phone and had a look. The one who sent the message had a casually made digital ID. He did however, write down quite a bit of his analysis regarding the instance dungeon. Finally, he said that both he and his guild will be arriving at the instance dungeon area two days ahead of time. Anyone who wanted to share information and create a joint plan of attack, be it a guild or an individual participant, they can contact him.

However, when Chen Xiaolian scrolled down to check the reply section, he saw that no one had replied to him.

“Even if someone does want to contact him, they will do so privately. They will not be using the reply function,” Roddy explained. “So, is there a need for us to contact him?”

“Naturally. After we are done dealing with the matters in our base, we will head out immediately.” Chen Xiaolian did not hesitate to nod his head in agreement. Suddenly, he recalled something. “Right, what about the child we brought back from World’s End?”

Lun Tai slapped his head apologetically. “You mean Toto? I forgot to mention. He is living in our resort as well. Since you had not return, we did not know what to do with him as well. We had simply asked him for a general picture. His real name is Wang Duo, ten years old, a fourth-grade primary school student. His home is in Xijing…”

“Then, just send him back home.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head. “At his age, he should be able to remember his home address and the name of his parents. At any rate, the Tidal Fighter is very fast. We can send him to Xijing first before going to the instance dungeon.”

Lun Tai faltered for a moment before whispering out, “The child is very smart. He knows he had died once. He was slammed to death by a car while crossing the road. Sending him back… his parents…”

Chen Xiaolian blinked. Then, he recollected himself and said with a wry smile, “Too many things have been happening lately that my mind has gone dumb on me. In other words, he is now a dead person for his family?”

“Yes,” said Lun Tai as he faced Chen Xiaolian. “Qimu Xi had been taking care of him for the past few days while we waited for your return. At present, it seems we will have to… … adopt him.”

“That seems to be our only option for now.” Chen Xiaolian sighed before turning to Roddy. “You will have to handle this matter. Arrange an identity and a school enrolment for Toto. Can you do it?”

“No problem.” Roddy nodded his head and he walked outside. “Let me make a call.”

After just a moment, Roddy walked back in and said with a smile, “All right, it is done.”

“So fast?!” Chen Xiaolian was amazed.

Roddy snickered and replied, “Not so fast. All I did was make the request. We can’t possibly bring him along with us as we go participate in an instance dungeon, can we? We also cannot afford to wait until everything is done before setting off. My old man has gone to find a friend to deal with the identity issue. Once we return, the school enrolment should be about done as well.”

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