A pale orange Crystalline being, its four limbs shattered, lay on the ground, glaring furiously at Dukat Holsam, who was encased in thick, silver armor. Dukat’s cold gaze swept over the being, and slowly, he raised his foot, crushing the Crystalline's head to dust with a heavy stomp.

This was a circular cavern spanning over six hundred meters in diameter, housing more than four hundred Crystalline beings: three green Crystalline, twenty-eight yellow Crystalline, sixty-nine orange Crystalline, with the rest being red Crystalline and a dozen newly hatched white Crystalline.

Dozens of Roman warriors secured the cave's only entrance and exit passage. Bolbort, clad in energy armor, hovered in mid-air, furiously cursing the hidden path map provided by the previous hunting team. “Damn it, is the soil of Pluto a living creature? How is it that they penetrated two hundred kilometers underground through this entrance last time, and we only found this tiny settlement?” Enraged, Bolbort extended his right hand, and an invisible mental shockwave pulverized a struggling red Crystalline being into fragments.

Eighteen deep-blue, human-head-sized orbs of light orbited Bolbort, revolving around him in a constant, esoteric trajectory. The orbs trailed streaks of azure light, forming a thick energy barrier around Bolbort. Occasionally, arcs of lightning, bursts of flame, or biting cold would erupt from the orbs, the varied flames illuminating Bolbort—tall, handsome, and martial—making him appear like a god against the intense light.

Glancing sullenly at Dukat, Bolbort snarled, “The intelligence I received indicates that our supervisors stationed with the Earthlings have discovered that the humans have already transported back hundreds of Christo-Crystalline beings! They have hundreds of prey, and based on my understanding of that insidious, treacherous Gu Xechen, they captured prey that are at least Yellow Crystalline or higher.”

After viciously cursing the ancestors of Gu Xechen back to their simian origins, Bolbort roared, “But what about us? Across five consecutive settlements, we found fewer than one hundred Crystalline beings above the Yellow rank!”

Releasing his grip, a streak of azure light swept forward, instantly shattering a dozen white Crystalline beings trembling on the ground, sending countless white shards scattering far and wide. Bolbort shouted in exasperation, “None of the five entrances they provided us are useful; each one only leads to a tiny settlement. Why is this?”

Dukat stood silently in place while a squad of Roman warriors carefully loaded the heavily injured green and yellow Crystalline beings on the ground into specialized alloy containment boxes and transported them away.

Lili, wearing a protective suit, crouched in a corner of the cave, streams of green light flowing from her body and slowly seeping into the surrounding earth. After a long, long while, Lili whispered cautiously, “Xiao, I’ve discovered a strange phenomenon. The underlying structure here is bizarre; although solid, it possesses a fluidity like [Note: Term omitted as per instruction, assuming original term refers to a specific substance/state]. The terrain and geology here are constantly shifting.”

“Aha!” Before Dukat could speak, Bolbort exclaimed excitedly, “This is the root of the problem! This damn Pluto, its geological structure is always changing? No wonder the maps we have are useless! Then, slave, find me the passage leading to the lower levels.” Bolbort pointed commandingly at Lili, addressing her directly as "slave."

Lili carefully curled her body, continuously seeping her mental energy into the ground. Dukat frowned, took a few steps forward, and positioned himself between Bolbort and Lili.

Bolbort smiled strangely, mocking, “Dukat, you base half-breed, are you planning to bring shame upon the Holsam lineage again? I advise you to stay away from this lowly slave, this spirit-race woman. Will the family elders allow a spirit-race woman to defile our noble bloodline?”

Lili’s face instantly paled. She cautiously and meekly lowered her head, the green crystal embedded in her brow flashing violently, brilliant green light erupting continuously from her palms.

Dukat watched Bolbort silently; the silver armor he wore was slowly flowing, the intricate patterns shifting constantly—truly marvelous in its complexity.

Bolbort sneered a few times. He glanced sideways at Lili, who was squatting on the ground, then turned away and cursed under his breath, “Lucky slave! Christo-Fusion. Even she, a mere slave, achieved it by chance! Damn it, even such a base spirit-race slave succeeded, yet all four of my Phantasm-race guards failed! Gods, inflict your punishment upon this despicable woman!”

Suddenly, the ground before Lili flared with intense light. She looked up in surprise and cried out, “Xiao, ninety-eight kilometers below, there’s a brand new passage. I sense Christo-Crystal—”

“Impossible!” Bolbort exclaimed, “Ninety-eight kilometers? How can your mental power penetrate that far? Even for me, my mental energy can only seep less than ten meters into Pluto’s strata!”

Bolbort lunged toward Lili, a massive hand composed purely of mental energy howling forth. The azure hand, several meters across, was about to seize Lili.

Dukat stepped across, firmly shielding Lili’s front. Bolbort’s materialized mental hand slammed heavily into Dukat. A blinding silver light erupted from Dukat’s armor, the light slicing like a sharp blade, shattering the azure hand into pieces. Bolbort, suspended in the air, let out a muffled groan, his face turning sharply pale. Dukat placed a hand on Lili’s shoulder and said calmly, “Call over a high-energy excavator; we’ll blast a tunnel straight down.”

The Roman warriors glanced fearfully at the rapidly changing expression on Bolbort’s face. Bolbort tilted his head, pondered for a moment, then slowly waved his hand. The Roman warriors, as if granted amnesty, bolted out to quickly summon a massive high-energy excavator. Bolbort’s eyes flickered as he looked at Lili’s small frame, suddenly letting out a strange, cold laugh.

“Very good. The maximum detection record for spirit-race individuals in Pluto’s strata is only three kilometers! While we great Roman nobles can project our mental power a maximum of five hundred meters into the planetary crust! This base slave woman can psychically probe over ninety-eight kilometers here—she has immense potential left to mine!” Bolbort smiled cunningly. “Excellent, this slave woman belongs to me now.”

A high-energy beam, twenty meters thick, erupted from the front of the excavator. The sheer intensity of the light rapidly softened and embrittled the geological layer. A set of super-alloy drills extended from the excavator, rapidly boring into the ground. The excavator plunged underground with a deep roar, while a squad of Roman warriors began erecting a lift tower near the entrance of the tunnel it carved.

While Bolbort was calculating Lili’s fate, Gu Xechen had already come face-to-face with the guardian of the Fifth Altar, the Black Crystalline being. Intermission reminder.

The real show is next, Pig Head asks for monthly tickets (To be continued)