Chapter 85: Springwell Grass (Votes, Please!)

Zhou Yi cast a glance at Fatty. Fatty shrank his neck, lacking confidence but refusing to compromise; if he could sit, he would never stand, and if he could lie down, he would never sit. As a fat man, this was his basic principle.

Zhou Yi understood well; though he didn’t mind walking, spending so much time wandering around seemed unnecessary. Besides, with this world opening up new possibilities, they had already collected all the major spirit stones. Whether or not there were awakened individuals in this world no longer held much allure for Zhou Yi.

He closed the map and tapped the call button on the control panel, finding Sophia’s option and dialing with a single touch.

The ringing lasted only briefly before Sophia’s image appeared on the screen, her face tinged with confusion, then urgency as she asked, “Zhou Yi? What’s the matter?”

Her concern warmed Zhou Yi’s heart. Whether Sophia was using him or genuinely found his mark extraordinary and wanted to help him, at least for now, she was the only one in the base he could trust.

“Are you able to come over? The map has changed here, and I’m not sure if further investigation is needed.”

Sophia paused. The sound of clattering keys followed, as she tried to check their status via the base’s main control console. Carter leaned over to help. After a moment without results, Sophia grew irritated, rolling her eyes at Carter and kicking him aside, then frowned at Zhou Yi.

“I understand. Give me a moment; I’ll come in person. Do you need any supplies?”

Zhou Yi was about to shake his head when Fatty squeezed in, poking Zhou Yi’s arm with a plaintive look. Zhou Yi understood his meaning.

“We’ve run out of food and drinking water. If we need to explore this world further, we’ll need at least two months’ worth of supplies. We’re deep in the Gobi Desert, crisscrossed with ravines—no end in sight. If you could provide a means of transport, that would be even better.”

Sophia wasted no words. “Understood. Wait for me; I’ll prepare and come over!”

The screen shut off. Fatty grinned, gesturing at the endless desert, “Unless we fly, ordinary vehicles won’t do. Look at the valley—remnants of water flow everywhere. There’s no road at all!”

Zhou Yi remained silent, but Fatty’s assessment was right. Everything would have to wait until Sophia arrived.

After a short wait, a teleportation pad appeared before Zhou Yi, its light flashing—and Sophia stood before them.

Fatty and Cheng Zhi quickly nodded to her. Sophia, gathering the teleportation pad, looked around in confusion and addressed Zhou Yi, “The base can’t see anything here, nor contact this mission world. How is your exploration going?”

Zhou Yi pointed to the small path below. “When we teleported over, we found a marked spot on the map and went to investigate. It’s a Five Elements Tomb, all man-made stone chambers nested within each other—very complex, guarded by a tomb keeper.

We killed the tomb keeper and obtained five spirit stones within the tomb: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—the five elements. It seems collecting the stones expanded the map’s visible area. Look!”

He opened his control panel, displaying a map with a triangle marker beneath their feet, now faded and no longer bright red.

Sophia’s face was awash with shock, as if events had surpassed her expectations. She glanced at the three men, surprised to see none were injured.

“I didn’t expect it to be so dangerous here. But you said the Five Elements Tomb had a tomb keeper?”

Zhou Yi nodded. “A formidable tomb keeper—he didn’t seem to understand the outside world’s time and space, more like an ancient general in manner. I used water and metal abilities to kill him. In the end, he disintegrated into dust, leaving behind a small purple flower.

At the time, I was in severe pain and thought I was dying. Then I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, a whole day had passed.”

Sophia was full of curiosity, evidently intrigued by Zhou Yi’s account. “What happened to the flower?”

“I ate it.”

“Ate it?” Sophia stared at the three, Zhou Yi nodded calmly, as did Fatty, while Cheng Zhi looked uncertain and conflicted.

Glancing at Sophia, Cheng Zhi finally stepped forward. “Though the tomb keeper was dead, sir was gravely wounded and unconscious. We had nothing on us, saw the flower, and I thought—wherever venomous snakes dwell, there must be an antidote within seven steps. So…so…”

Sophia found Cheng Zhi amusing, raising her eyes to him. “That’s an interesting idea. Can you draw? Your profile says you’re from the geology department. Try sketching the flower, or searching for it—I’d like to see what it was.”

Zhou Yi hadn’t expected Sophia to be interested in this. He looked to Cheng Zhi, who was embarrassed, unsure if he’d made a mistake, but took the tablet Sophia handed over.

The search box allowed input of text, photos, or drawings. Wasting no words, Cheng Zhi quickly selected colors and began to sketch the flower’s form, carefully depicting the pale blue stamen. Zhou Yi and Sophia moved closer, watching him draw, and Fatty, having seen the flower, chimed in with his own suggestions.

Soon the sketch was finished, and Cheng Zhi looked to Sophia. She took the device and pressed search.

The screen instantly switched to a comparison page, the sidebar updating at speeds faster than the eye could follow. Clearly, this was not an ordinary search engine, but something akin to an information repository provided by Space-Time City.

As Zhou Yi pondered, the search stopped, and an introduction page popped up. Sophia opened it, and the group gathered around, Sophia glancing at Cheng Zhi and Fatty.

“Why are you two so worried?”

Cheng Zhi looked awkward. “We’re worried we might have given sir the wrong medicine.”

Fatty nodded. “Yes, I want to make sure what you’re searching for is what we found.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow. It was rare to encounter slaves who spoke to her so openly and without fear—clearly a change brought by Zhou Yi. If he had kept himself apart, they would never have behaved this way, given their spiritual contracts. This pleased Sophia, though she said nothing.

She scrolled down; the introduction was brief but accompanied by many images. Cheng Zhi kept checking and glanced at Fatty.

“I think this is it.”

Fatty nodded, confirming Cheng Zhi’s judgment. “It looks just like it, though ours seemed a bit bigger.”

Following Fatty’s finger, they saw an image of the flower held between fingers, providing some scale.

Seeing Sophia silent, Zhou Yi glanced at her. “What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

Sophia shook her head. “No, this is called Tongquan Grass. It grows where Five Element spirit stones converge. I suspect the tomb keeper you encountered was once a powerful figure from Forgotten Hill, perhaps transformed with secret arts into a puppet-like thing.

But we don’t really know. For people from Space-Time City, especially concerning the Hunter Tribe and Forgotten Hill, it’s a taboo. Decades ago, after a confrontation, the base won a great victory, but it didn’t shake Forgotten Hill’s foundation. Neither the Main Brain nor the Intelligence Brain sent forces to attack further.”

Zhou Yi frowned. Though Space-Time City ostensibly ruled all bases, everyone knew the real power lay with the Intelligence Brain and the Main Brain. The Intelligence Brain was a consciousness entity, but the Main Brain was different. Yet, as Sophia had said, no one had ever truly seen the Main Brain.

These wars and struggles felt very distant to Zhou Yi. But if the tomb keeper was so extraordinary, why did the Tongquan Grass appear upon his death?