The Krut Mineral was housed within a cavern—narrow and cramped, shaped like a small mouth leading to a wide belly—where it was evident from the exterior that the stored quantity of Krut Mineral was measured in "tons." It shone like a vast mountain of black gemstones.

However, guarding the cave entrance were two Sinful Buffalo War Beasts! Based on past incidents where tribal members might have pilfered Krut Mineral, these two bizarrely powerful, malevolent beasts were hyper-vigilant, showing no signs of resting, thus offering no opportunity for Ronnie.

Upon seeing this scene, Fang Senyan immediately narrowed his eyes; in the vernacular of his dark-skinned associate, he was clearly plotting something wicked.

After a moment of contemplation, Fang Senyan immediately recalled Ronnie. He then beckoned to Bokan and conferred with him briefly. Upon hearing Fang Senyan’s words, a look of astonishment crossed Bokan’s face. He then carefully surveyed the surrounding terrain, finally nodding seriously.

It must be mentioned here that the success of Fang Senyan and his team in infiltrating near the core valley of the Sinful Buffalo people owed much to the scent-masking concoction provided by the native humans earlier. However, that formula now appeared to have been optimized by the landed spacecraft’s optical computer, meaning the credit shouldn't truly go to those primitives.

After further discussion, Fang Senyan’s team split up once more, melting into the darkness. About ten minutes later, the Sinful Buffalo War Beasts guarding the cave entrance suddenly stood up, sniffing around tensely. They then urgently bolted into the cavern, only to emerge a short while later, shaking their heads and snorting occasionally.

Judging by their behavior, they had clearly heard something unsettling but found nothing upon investigation, likely concluding they were suffering from visual or auditory hallucinations.

Another twenty minutes passed before Bokan returned, utterly exhausted and gasping for breath, his face alarmingly pale. He looked like a chairman who had just finished a vigorous session with his secretary, only to be thoroughly drained again by a nagging spouse demanding more upon returning home—he was near collapse. For him, even merging with Shiren Lazer to boost his power had left him this depleted, clearly indicating a significant expenditure of his mutant abilities.

Fang Senyan let out a quiet breath. Before arriving, he hadn't anticipated the sheer volume of Krut Mineral stored in the camp, necessitating a last-minute change in the plan. Since the first stage of the mission had concluded flawlessly, the next objective was naturally the "Black Liver."

It was clearly visible that the "Black Liver" was sparsely guarded, with only about four or five Sinful Buffalo people huddled on the ground, heads covered with animal hides, sound asleep. Seeing them in such a state, Ronnie instantly relaxed considerably. After a silent greeting, he melted back into the shadows.

Logically, this shouldn't have been a difficult task. However, five minutes later, the surrounding sentries remained still, but one colossal "Black Liver" suddenly began to tremble violently, discharging a massive cloud of spores. These spores drifted rapidly toward the nearby darkness, carrying a distinct fluorescence that adhered directly to Ronnie’s body, instantly exposing him!

"Mistake!" Fang Senyan instantly realized he had made a major error: conflating the "Krut Ore" with this "Dark Liver." Although the latter was a plant and not a mineral! Habitual thinking had been his undoing; he had assumed plants would be docile and harmless!

When making this critical decision, Fang Senyan, blinded by being too close to the subject, had forgotten about the Sun Ladder within his own body—that thing was the quintessential mutated plant!

In a deeper sense, there was an even greater flaw in his logic: the "Dark Liver" and the "Krut Ore" held equally crucial status within the Sinful Buffalo tribe. Why, then, was the former stored in a secure chamber guarded by powerful Sinful Buffalo beasts, while the latter was left with only a few lazy simpletons for protection?

The reason was simple: the "Dark Liver" needed absolutely no protection; it possessed formidable power on its own!!!

This was a genuine mistake on Fang Senyan’s part, proving the old adage that even the wisest can err. He immediately needed to mitigate the damage. He instantly commanded Bokan:

"Execute the original plan immediately, hold steady, and initiate the first stage trap now!"

Just then, Fang Senyan rose to his full height and strode toward the exposed Ronnie. As the Main Tank (MT), he absolutely could not abandon an ally in distress, whether for appearance or personal principle. Unless absolutely unavoidable, the MT abandoning a comrade would result in a total loss of credibility.

Ronnie, afflicted by the "Dark Liver" spores, was writhing in agony. Furthermore, several thin white mycelial threads shot up from the ground below, aiming directly for his nostrils and lower body. These threads were different from the tentacles of the Sun Ladder; while the Sun Ladder’s appendages suggested octopus limbs, these mycelial threads brought to mind the repulsive, writhing motion of horsehair worms!

But at that moment, Ronnie's entire form flickered and blurred. In that instant, a total of seven Ronnies materialized, scattered across a ten-square-meter area. The spores initially clinging to him suddenly lost their target and dispersed erratically.

Shadow Clones!

One of the seven Ronnies silently slipped back into the darkness. Fang Senyan noticed that the Ronnie closest to the "Black Liver" held a dark, greasy object—the left hand of a Predator—and this clone charged toward the "Black Liver," instantly skewered by a floating mycelial thread before dissolving into an illusion.

Before the Predator's hand could even hit the ground, it was ensnared by the mycelial threads, pricked for identification, and then unceremoniously flung beneath the fungal cap below by the creature, which seemed to flip the nearby corpse over to cover it, perhaps to hasten decomposition... Ignorance is truly a terrifying thing.

"Beautiful!" Fang Senyan, charging downward, couldn't help but praise. He wasn't sure if he was complimenting Ronnie or the formidable "Black Liver." The valley was now fully alerted; a tidal wave of Sinful Buffalo people surged out of countless shanties, screeching loudly, threatening to fill over half the valley in moments.

Fang Senyan made only one movement, mirroring Ronnie’s own action: leaping behind a nearby rock! While Fang Senyan had no rock nearby, he had a large tree!!

Just as Fang Senyan crouched behind the tree, a blinding flash erupted from the pile where the "Black Liver" was stored. Immediately following, a massive, brilliant white, semi-circular high-energy shockwave rapidly expanded in all directions, exploding when it reached a diameter of about twenty meters!

A small mushroom cloud billowed upward. The cluster of over twenty giant "Black Liver" fungi near the blast suffered total annihilation. The terrifying heat radiation, shockwave, and induced radioactivity wrought horrific damage. Those nearest the epicenter were vaporized instantly by the extreme heat, while the rest were either torn apart by the shockwave or scorched black by thermal radiation.

Only two or three "Black Livers" at the periphery survived, clinging to life with tenacious vitality, emitting shrill, agonizing cries that made one feel as if they had been dropped into a den of ghosts.

The Sinful Buffalo people also screamed in agony. When the explosion occurred, they had foolishly turned their heads to look, causing their eyes to be seared by the intense light at the moment of detonation. Because the Sinful Buffalo were adept at underground excavation, their eyes were extremely photosensitive. This caused some weaker individuals to shriek in agony as their eyes literally burst open.

At this moment, Fang Senyan felt a throbbing from the Sun Ladder—it instinctively yearned for an intimate connection with the "Black Liver." Fang Senyan surveyed the chaotic scene and decisively charged forward. Fortunately, the intense heat had vaporized most of the flesh and corpses; otherwise, Fang Senyan’s greatest enemy would have been the terrifying stench.

A "Black Liver," whose cap had been half-blown off by the shockwave, was convulsing madly, secreting copious amounts of viscous fluid in an attempt to seal its wound. Fang Senyan arrived head-on.

This Black Liver instantly released its remaining spores, enveloping Fang Senyan tightly, and over ten pale, white mycelial threads simultaneously pierced Fang Senyan’s body! However, the Sun Ladder within Fang Senyan remained silent until the threads fully penetrated his flesh, at which point it retaliated fiercely! Not only did it instantly devour the threads, breaking through defenses like a hot knife through butter, but it also counter-attacked along the threads into the interior of the "Black Liver," causing the plant to instantly wither and turn to ash!

After its successful strike, the Sun Ladder rapidly retracted, coiling behind Fang Senyan’s sternum, seemingly evolving after gaining some advantage.

The others witnessed this spectacle with relative calm, but Daldaniyang, who possessed deep knowledge of botany, his eyes wide open. He profoundly understood the implications of what he had just seen! He suddenly grasped that the incredibly terrifying power he had vaguely sensed within Fang Senyan was absolutely, definitively, not a damned illusion! (To be continued) RQ