Chapter 158: The Attack of the Dark Shadow

That night, at the factory building near the mining area.

There was no cheese-baked lobster to be had, but the barbecue made by the Fatty tasted quite good. After the few of them ate, drank, and rested enough, they arranged for people to tidy up rooms for them, and then, taking advantage of the night, drove toward the mine.

Arriving at the mine in a little over ten minutes, Xiao Liu was waiting outside the laboratory door. Spotting Cheng Zhi's car, he quickly trotted over.

"President Cheng, you're finally here. There have been so many things happening at the mine these days, and your phone was always unreachable, which made us so worried."

Cheng Zhi nodded without wasting words, especially since his boss was right behind him, making him feel somewhat embarrassed.

"Just manage the rest yourself; it looks orderly enough under your watch. You mentioned on the phone before that you found some more stones with special compositions—where are they all?"

Xiao Liu pointed to a row of houses next to the laboratory, a slightly awkward smile on his face.

"Since you weren't here to judge, we just collected everything similar or identical in composition. They are now packed into these four warehouses; the laboratory can't hold them anymore."

Cheng Zhi nodded. "Alright, you go get some rest. I'll take people to take a look, and once we're done, we'll head to the foot of the mountain to rest. Tell them to heat the rooms up a bit, and we'll be back shortly."

Xiao Liu didn't linger. Seeming accustomed to Cheng Zhi's temperament, he quickly called the surrounding people to evacuate.

The lower mining area was illuminated with lights, but in the outer laboratory area, there was no one else left besides the four of them.

After inspecting the perimeter, Cheng Zhi quickly looked at Zhou Yi and Sophia.

"Sir, there are many stones inside. Shall we each search a room?"

Zhou Yi nodded, having no objection to this. After all, there were some energy fluctuations coming from all four rooms, though not very intense—too many items likely being one of the reasons.

"Very well. One room each, conduct a quick search. Among these stones, there aren't many with high purity."

Understanding Zhou Yi's intention, the few of them didn't delay, quickly finding their respective rooms to begin inspecting.

Zhou Yi chose the first room. Upon opening the door, a person could barely squeeze inside. The room was piled with a dozen large crates, all filled with stones.

Zhou Yi walked over and checked the first crate. There were quite a few stones inside, some gleaming with specks of gold sand, but there was no perception of anything special whatsoever.

Reaching out, Zhou Yi placed his hand on the stones to examine them carefully. Moving them slightly aside, he began checking the boxes underneath. By the time he reached the innermost part, he had only filtered out three pieces, and their contained energy was even lower than that of the low-energy spirit stones found in the water rat's mine tunnel.

The moment he grabbed them and absorbed even slightly, the stones changed color.

He walked out. The other three seemed a bit slower and were still inspecting. Standing in the courtyard, Zhou Yi pulled out a cigarette, leaned against the wall, and prepared to light it for a short rest.

Yet before the flame in his hand could catch, he sensed a pair of eyes staring right at him—a feeling that made every hair on his body stand on end.

The tomb guardians in the Five Elements Tombs would attack without greeting, but although they fought dirty, they carried an aura of righteousness. The water rat showed caution and fear toward him, while that old man carrying a saber held disdain and contempt.

Even though the Black Panther was a ruthless character, he had never given anyone this kind of feeling. As for the stone egg, it didn't give off such a sensation at all.

Zhou Yi's movement paused only for a fraction of a second before he continued to spark the flame and smoke.

Closing his eyes slightly, he cast his perception outward. That gaze had been cast from the side of the mountain, but after searching carefully for a long time, Zhou Yi failed to find out what it was.

At that moment, the Fatty emerged from the adjacent room, grinning widely at Zhou Yi and holding up five pale-yellow spirit stones in his hand, looking immensely pleased.

"I found five! Although the energy is a bit weak, they happen to be of the earth attribute..."

Before the Fatty could finish, he noticed Zhou Yi looking at him with a strange expression, seemingly carrying a warning. Wearing an awkward smile, the Fatty blinked, desperately trying to figure out what he had done wrong.

Just at that moment, a black shadow swooped in like lightning, rushing right up to the Fatty. A blur flashed before the eyes of both Zhou Yi and Fatty, and Zhou Yi instinctively shouted:

"Get back in the room, close the door!"

Simultaneously, an ice arrow materialized in his hand and hurled toward the black shadow. It was extremely fast, but the shadow merely slowed down slightly, shifting its trajectory just enough to avoid taking any damage.

However, the Fatty had already been knocked over, a gash opened up across his belly. Fortunately, the strap of his backpack blocked the brunt of it, preventing his entire abdomen from being ripped open, though a deep wound still bled profusely.

Holding the ice arrow, Zhou Yi scanned closely for the shadow's location. The Fatty was terrified; ignoring the pain in the back of his head and his stomach, he knew obeying the boss's order to hide was the safest option, plus going forward would only make him a human sandbag.

"Boss, be careful! Sophia, Cheng Zhi, don't come out, lock your doors!"

This time, without needing Zhou Yi's instruction, the Fatty reacted quickly, retreating into the room, locking the door, and clutching his stomach.

Squatting by the window—which was fitted with anti-theft security bars and a self-made wire mesh—the Fatty felt his anxious heart ease just a fraction.

Yet, having flashed by right in front of him like that, the Fatty hadn't clearly seen what kind of creature had injured him. Could it still be that water rat?

Zhou Yi pressed his face close to the protective bars. Cheng Zhi hadn't come out, and after Sophia muttered a brief word, she flashed to Zhou Yi's side. The two stood back-to-back, carefully observing the surrounding darkness.

"Did you see what it was?"

Zhou Yi sighed.

"Didn't see a thing. It charged straight at the Fatty and slashed his belly. If not for the backpack strap blocking it, the Fatty would have been disemboweled right then and there!"

Sophia frowned. Although Zhou Yi was only at Tier 1, his actual combat capability was not weak. It seemed his many attributes slightly dragged down his leveling speed, but his perception was the best among the four of them. If even Zhou Yi hadn't seen it clearly, who could?

"Don't panic, let's watch closely. By the way, why did that thing attack the Fatty?"

Sophia's words served as a wake-up call for Zhou Yi.

He suddenly paused, flipping his wrist to raise the spirit stones he had just found.

"Spirit stones—earth-attribute spirit stones. The Fatty was holding those five pale-yellow earth-attribute spirit stones while standing at the door talking to me. Before I could finish, that thing attacked him."

Imitating Zhou Yi, Sophia raised two spirit stones. She hadn't found any energy-bearing spirit stones while searching her room, but she had plenty of the low-energy spirit stones from the water rat's mine vein, so she simply grabbed a couple.

At that moment, Zhou Yi thought he heard a faint grunting sound.

He nudged Sophia behind him, dropping his voice to a whisper.

"It seems to be opposite us. Did you hear that grunting? Careful, it might attack!"

"It's coming!"

The moment Sophia uttered those words, a fireball in her hand hurled toward the rushing entity. A piercing screech rang out, and the fireball seemed to strike something, flashing with a burst of light before the surroundings plunged back into darkness.

"Did you see what it was?"

"No, but it doesn't look human!"

Zhou Yi was extremely tense. This creature was too fast to catch sight of. darting back and forth like this meant they would only be on the receiving end of attacks.

Sure enough, the black shadow darted over once more, this time changing targets to lunge straight at Zhou Yi's face. Zhou Yi swung the ice arrow in one hand while flicking his other hand to unleash a blinding swarm of water needles resembling silver needles.

Even so, it only elicited an even more piercing screech. Zhou Yi still hadn't seen what was right in front of him, and his defensive movements had separated him a distance from Sophia. The shadow seemed to be making a feint, suddenly spinning around to rake a claw across Sophia's back.

Sophia dropped straight to her knees. Zhou Yi didn't turn back to look; if he abandoned his defense now, all of them would be doomed. Reaching out, he hoisted Sophia up, his hand instantly feeling the sticky warmth of blood.

"Get to Fatty's room! You're injured, I can't take care of you here. Hurry!"

Sophia didn't persist, knowing she was heavily wounded. Hiding away and occasionally launching a sneak attack might work, but staying here would only distract Zhou Yi.

"Alright, be careful!"

Sophia flashed into the room where Fatty and Cheng Zhi were hiding. The two had been watching the whole time, and seeing Sophia return, they quickly unlocked the door.

Seeing Sophia's back reduced to a bloody mess, the Fatty sucked in a breath of cold air through his teeth.

"Big Orange, what on earth is in this place? Have you ever encountered it before?"