Chapter 162 - 161: Gaining a Treasure Chest

Chapter 162: Chapter 161: Gaining a Treasure Chest

Upon Gu Su’s command, his Undead minions immediately sprang into action.

Two heavy trucks were the first to reverse, approaching the overturned small Mobile Castle. Strong-rooted Grass Vines were dragged from their cargo beds. Several Walking Dead took the vines, sought out the castle’s load-bearing structures, and tied them on securely.

Vans and SUVs fanned out around the castle. A few braced themselves against its overturned side, their wheels digging into the rubble as they prepared to push. The others attached the vines to the tow hooks on their rears.

Push Tooth directed several Walking Dead to pull out the twisted treads jammed between the axles, while Skeletons cleared away the rubble from beneath the wheels.

Once they were in position, the two heavy trucks reversed in unison. The vines went taut, lifting the castle slightly. The SUVs immediately surged forward, bracing it to prevent it from slipping back down.

As the heavy trucks continued to pull, the castle was slowly righted. It slammed back down onto the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

After an inspection by the Skeletons, the Walking Dead placed broken planks and sheet metal in front of the castle’s wheels where the ground was uneven. The heavy trucks pulled again. Despite a few flat wheels, the castle could be towed smoothly. The vans and SUVs escorted it, flanking it on either side. Whenever they reached a pit, they would stop and wait for the Skeletons to fill it in.

Meanwhile, the salvage operation on the spaceship wreckage was proceeding in tandem.

The ship that had transported the Lizardmen was lodged diagonally in the ruins, its bow buried in the earth and its stern jutting into the air.

Several teams of Skeletons worked in concert. One team cleared away scattered bulkheads, pipes, and broken eggshells. Another climbed onto the stern and tossed down Strong-rooted Grass Vines, carefully wrapping them around load-bearing sections and reinforcing a massive crack in the hull to prevent it from splitting apart. A third team used bone crowbars to excavate the earth around the bow. The Skeletons worked in shifts, and though their progress was slow, it was steady.

Once most of the earth around the bow was excavated, two heavy trucks backed up to the wreckage. They securely fastened their tow lines to the vines already wrapped around the hull.

Healthy Body circled the ship for an inspection. It had the Skeletons tighten any loose vines but left untouched those that were firmly wedged against metal plates.

Then, the heavy trucks roared to life. The tow lines went taut, and the ship’s bow was slowly wrenched from the earth. The entire vessel lurched forward, dragged several meters by the trucks. Its stern carved a deep trench in the ground as falling debris was promptly gathered by the Skeletons.

Gu Su stood at the edge of the ruins, observing their progress. The Mobile Castle jolted onward under its Undead escort. The spaceship wreckage left a long scar in the earth as the trucks hauled it away, with Skeletons trailing behind to constantly gather any fragments that broke off.

Watching the spoils of war gradually make their way toward his territory, Gu Su felt a sense of relief. At least now, he could be sure these things would be transported away without a hitch.

Gu Su looked away, no longer concerning himself with the matter.

’He could see it wouldn’t take long for these two massive prizes to be hauled back to his defensive line. Then, he’d have someone bring the Corroding Mycelium over to devour them, which would grant him at least two new buildings.’

’By then, even if a new player arrived to garrison the area, they wouldn’t be able to snatch these things away from him.’

Just as Gu Su was about to order Bone Ash to take the bodies back, he suddenly noticed a flicker of unusual color amidst the pile of corpses.

"Bone Ash!"

At his call, Bone Ash swiftly had its underlings load all the nearby Lizardman corpses onto the pickup trucks.

And just then, Gu Su spotted it: a fist-sized egg hidden beneath the bodies, its shell emitting a faint, pale green glow.

’A Treasure Chest.’

Gu Su immediately understood what he was looking at.

’Treasure Chests in this game really come in all shapes and sizes. An egg-shaped one isn’t out of the question.’

’This must be the reward for killing the Lizardmen.’

Gu Su picked up the egg. It felt cool to the touch, yet had a faint warmth, and was heavier than it looked.

He turned it over. The shell was smooth, with no cracks or openings. But after a moment’s thought, Gu Su figured it out. ’If this Treasure Chest is an egg, it probably opens like one, too.’

He raised his hand and smashed it on the ground.

CRACK.

The shell shattered, splattering yellowish-green fluid and broken fragments everywhere.

The items contained within the fluid scattered, some rolling into crevices in the rubble, others landing in nearby pools of blood. Simultaneously, a series of system notifications appeared before Gu Su:

[You have opened an Exotic Beast Treasure Chest (Green). You received 415 Gold Coins and 2 units of Sulfur.]

[You obtained the item: Molting Remnants (White) x3. Explanation: A fresh membrane, still slimy, with torn edges. It seems to have been forcibly ripped from a panicked creature.]

[You obtained the item: Paralyzing Tongue Flesh (White). Explanation: A small segment of a forked tongue. A murky fluid seeps from the severed end. Touching it causes a brief, sharp pain in the fingertips.]

[You obtained the item: Nightlight Scale (White) x5. Explanation: Fine scales from the chest and abdomen. They emit an extremely faint purple glow in the dark and can be ground into a powder for simple illumination.]

[You obtained the item: Cold Blood Clot (White). Explanation: A semi-coagulated, light-purple blood clot. It feels colder than room temperature to the touch. Alchemy Apprentices will purchase this material.]

[You obtained the item: Broken Tail (White). Explanation: A segment of a lizard’s tail, still twitching. It is said that certain clans offer a broken tail to their young as their first taste of meat.]

[You obtained the item: Blood Waterflea Seed (White) x1. Explanation: A plant originating from swamps, where it has extremely powerful effects.]

[You obtained the item: Spine Spear (Green)]

Gu Su crouched down and picked the Spine Spear out of the mess of shattered shell and fluid.

The spear was about 1.5 to 1.6 meters long and pale green in color. It was clearly fashioned from the polished spine of some large creature. The natural curve of the vertebrae was preserved at each joint. When held, a faint warmth could be felt in the palm. The tip had been sharpened separately; its edge was lethally sharp and gave off a cold glint.

[Spine Spear (Green, Main-Hand Weapon)]

[Attack: 6]

[On Equip: Power +1]

[Equipment Requirements: None]

[Special 1: Armor-Piercing. +20% Armor penetration against enemies with carapaces or scales.]

[Special 2: Returning Throw. Can be thrown to deal 150% damage. Automatically returns to the wielder’s hand after 3 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds.]

[Explanation: The spear, polished from a spine, retains its original curve. It feels slightly warm in the hand, as if something is still trying to crawl out from within the bone.]

Gu Su hefted the spear, then planted it in the ground beside him. His gaze swept over the other items. The Molting Remnants were still slimy, with clean tears along the edges.

Murky fluid still oozed from the severed end of the Paralyzing Tongue Flesh. The thin Nightlight Scales gave off a faint purple glow.

The Cold Blood Clot was a semi-solid, purplish mass. The Broken Tail was still twitching faintly. The Blood Waterflea Seed was dry and unremarkable.

’Still, this was all part of the haul.’ Gu Su had Bone Ash pack everything up to be sent back to the Graveyard Demon Land immediately.

’After all, as he’d just seen, this wave of Lizardmen fought with claws and scales. They weren’t like the previous enemies, who had been armed with absurdly high-tech weaponry. Once the bodies were gone, there was truly nothing left.’

This Treasure Chest, at least, meant that he hadn’t come away empty-handed.

Once Bone Ash had departed with the corpses and the various odds and ends, Gu Su’s attention returned to the small Mobile Castle.

The Mobile Castle had already been dragged nearly a hundred meters, its wheels bumping and rolling over the rubble. The vans and SUVs still flanked it, and whenever a wheel got stuck in a pit, the Skeletons trailing behind would immediately rush forward to fill it.

The spaceship wreckage followed, its fractured hull gouging a long scar into the earth.

They were moving at a decent pace. ’Another half an hour,’ he estimated, ’and they’ll be out of this defensive sector.’