The terrifying lightning strike left a profound impression on the pair. One of the Predators, unable to evade in time, was ensnared by the root tendrils summoned by Dardanion. He was forced to absorb the full, maximum power of the Mind Storm and died gruesomely after suffering severe injuries. The other fled in disarray, and since that encounter, they were never again detected being tailed.

Relying on the regional map sketched onto the spaceship, Fang Senyan and his team managed to skirt around the territories of certain overwhelmingly powerful creatures. Where avoidance was impossible, they masked their party’s tracks with scent suppressants. Thus, before sunset, they reached the gathering place of the Vicious Fabro… a region designated as the K2 Mountain Range.

The terrain of the K2 Mountain Range bore a striking resemblance to the karst topography found in Guilin, China. Though the peaks were not particularly high, they were sheer and precipitous. The climate was relatively arid, lacking the intricate network of waterways, and the vegetation was not overly abundant.

This terrain significantly sped up Fang Senyan and the others’ advance. Furthermore, upon arriving here, they noticed that the detector for the Xiu element had shifted from pale green to deep green and was radiating a slight warmth—a promising sign. It indicated that the concentration of the Xiu element in this area was higher than elsewhere, naturally increasing the probability of discovering exceptionally rich mineral veins.

Rounding a colossal, cylindrical rock formation, the group was suddenly confronted with a bizarre sight. An area that should have been a jumble of large, scattered rocks was now completely transformed into a desolate white wasteland. The massive stones had been cleanly reduced to ash-grey gravel. The largest fragments were no bigger than a fist. As for vegetation, it had been ruthlessly trampled into oblivion.

This scene was uncannily similar to a construction site on an Earth highway, where vast quantities of uniformly sized crushed stones are used to pave the roadbed… Yet, on Earth, specialized heavy machinery handles such tasks. On this planet, who would undertake such manual labor for no reason? Naturally, only the Vicious Fabro.

Not long after entering the K2 Mountain Range, Fang Senyan and his companions spotted traces of the Vicious Fabro. Everyone felt a surge of good fortune. With time pressing, locating the primary targets immediately was indeed a lucky break.

Ronnie ghosted into the open space like a phantom and brushed his hand over the stone powder. He then returned and murmured:

“Although the climate here is somewhat dry, it is not sunny today, yet this stone powder is quite dry. This suggests the Vicious Fabro were excavating today. Otherwise, dew would have dampened the powder. If we track them now, we should find these creatures…” Fang Senyan trusted Ronnie’s judgment. After tracking for less than half an hour, they heard strange grunts and shouts echoing from ahead. Most of their calls were single syllables, but when two syllables were linked, they were often accompanied by sounds of fighting or screams.

The group stealthily crept forward and discovered another expanse of rubble ahead. This rubble field bordered a riverbed, clearly indicating a place where flash floods and mudslides erupted during the rainy season, carving out a wide channel that swept rocks down from the mountains. During the dry season, the riverbed shrunk to less than a fifth of its peak size, naturally creating this unique terrain.

Amidst the jumble of rocks, a group of Vicious Fabro were working diligently. The pickaxes they wielded resembled those used by humans, but both the handle and the head were noticeably thicker, clearly having undergone special reinforcement. When a Vicious Fabro raised its pickaxe high, it would channel its psychic ability through the fleshy nodules on its shoulders, imbuing the pickaxe head with intense high-frequency vibrations. Thus, once the pickaxe embedded itself in the rock, the violent oscillation would shatter the stone directly.

Consequently, almost every time a Vicious Fabro struck with its pickaxe, a rock would break apart like paper, shattering into small pieces. These creatures would occasionally twitch their bright red noses a few times, then pick a small black crystal fragment out of the debris and pop it into their mouths—this seemed to be the Kolut mineral they required.

However, it appeared these creatures also had quotas. After mining a piece of Kolut mineral, they would consume some themselves, but toss the rest into a pouch tied around their waists. This suggested a clear hierarchy of oppression within this clan.

Fang Senyan and his companions exchanged glances. Their time was precious and limited; they certainly weren't planning on presenting gifts, inviting them for dinner, drinks, or foot washing to build goodwill. The plan was to charge directly, capture a few, and extract information through brute force.

Unexpectedly, the moment they showed themselves from a distance, the Vicious Fabro seemed even more agitated. They roared, raising their pickaxes, and charged forward, the drool from their mouths trailing four or five meters in the wind!

Fang Senyan had initially worried that the creatures would scatter, preventing them from capturing any live specimens. He was surprised by such zealous eagerness to throw themselves into their grasp. A chill went down his spine, and he warned everyone to be cautious.

Upon initial engagement, Fang Senyan and his team immediately understood why these creatures were targeted by the Predators: they were "honored" to become prey.

Because the Vicious Fabro possessed formidable group combat capabilities!

An individual Vicious Fabro posed a moderate threat, as its primary attack method was close combat. Besides the steel pickaxe used for digging, it relied on any handy object found nearby for attack—usually rocks or wooden clubs.

However, when the numbers of these short, stocky creatures rose to three or more, one had to be extremely wary. A certain gland under their armpits secreted an indescribable stench when they became excited during combat. This foul odor not only interfered with the attacker’s sense of smell but also acted like a stimulant, enhancing the combat prowess of their companions.

Upon inhaling the gas excreted by different comrades, the Vicious Fabro’s attack power, defense, movement speed, and attack speed all received a comprehensive boost. Of course, this was limited—the enhancement cap for an ordinary Vicious Fabro was likely around 40%.

More critically, the moment a Vicious Fabro was killed was the most dangerous point in the entire fight. The fleshy tumor on its right shoulder would explode as its life extinguished. Being caught in the blast radius would inflict astonishing damage upon impact, in addition to causing sustained damage for the subsequent ten seconds.

Fang Senyan, charging into the fray, immediately suffered significant setbacks. The enemies suddenly felt as if they had engaged an overdrive gear, and their specialized pickaxes, charged with psychic energy, struck his body with what felt like armor-ignoring force. After taking several hits, Fang Senyan was overwhelmed by the intense pain and could only focus on evasion.

At that moment, how deeply he longed for the ripping pain of the Reef Stone.

Even more despicable, these Vicious Fabro bastards were utterly devoid of honor; they resorted to stomping toes, spitting saliva, blowing snot, throwing rocks, flinging dirt into eyes, plus gouging groins and testicles… they attacked in the most disgusting ways possible. When Fang Senyan charged in, it was exactly like Guan Yu preparing to warm wine before slaying Hua Xiong at Hulao Pass—intending a glorious, bloody battle to forge his reputation, only to fall headfirst into a pit of maggot-infested feces!

Fortunately, Fang Senyan realized something was wrong at that moment. He hurled a bottle of Curse Potion directly onto the ground. The resulting shockwave buffeted the surrounding creatures, shaking them drunkenly. The acrid, dark-green curse mist billowed up. While usually noxious, the smell of the curse mist instantly became a savior to Fang Senyan, at least sparing his nose from the horrific stench secreted by his foes.

In this battle, both Fang Senyan and Ronnie were effectively sidelined; their formidable skills were reduced to operating at only seventy percent effectiveness within that oppressive stench. The odorless elemental creatures performed spectacularly. Paul’s Iron Golem, Dardanion’s Treant, and the merged form of Pokan and Stoneblade Lazel drastically lowered the cost required to summon Stone Elementals, allowing them to be used as standard weaponry.

Fang Senyan struggled at the front lines, drawing fire. The three elemental creatures acted as the core shock troops, smashing through the enemy ranks. The few mages on the periphery could provide basic ranged support with wands and similar tools. Therefore, the battle did not last long, and the seven or eight Vicious Fabro were dealt with.

They killed six, leaving two tightly bound as live captives. Everyone initially wanted to quickly escape the suffocating stench of the battlefield, but Android No. 1 informed Fang Senyan that the Vicious Fabro held great wealth: their axillary glands were worth a high price and were very compact.

With profit in mind, prioritizing this became paramount. Fang Senyan readily agreed but couldn't resist a sarcastic jab, asking what purpose that foul-smelling thing served. Android No. 1’s answer stunned him into silence: it was used to manufacture a highly coveted perfume!

Dardanion, however, seemed unsurprised, appearing quite knowledgeable on the subject. He told the group that the human sense of smell was truly a peculiar thing; the line between fragrance and stench was razor-thin:

For instance, musk, a precious spice, smells like pungent urine if smelled fresh for too long. Or consider ambergris, a pathological secretion resembling a stone found at the end of a sperm whale's large intestine or the beginning of its rectum—its scent when freshly retrieved requires no description. Then there is Indonesian "Kopi Luwak," coffee beans worth their weight in gold, collected from civet droppings, yet drinkers clamor for it, and demand far outstrips supply… (To be continued) RQ