A dark‑green mech stopped squarely in front of Lei Ze. Ye Cheng grabbed Yang Yu's hand and leapt out, ordering him to store the smoke‑belching Lei Ze before pulling him into the cockpit of Shennong.
Until now, she had only been able to control Shennong by voice. But the moment they entered together, the pleasant male voice she was used to was gone. In its place came the old, mechanical monotone:
"Divine Unit 02 – Shennong. Pilot data scanning… contract invalid. Entering basic mode."
Ye Cheng didn't notice how Yang Yu froze when the words pilot data scanning echoed. Fortunately, the system said nothing more. Only when the cold voice went silent did he let out a slow, unseen breath.
All mechs shared similar operations; it didn't take long for Yang Yu to master this one. Shennong's performance was beyond comparison—its mechanical dagger sliced through the rock face as if it were cutting warm tofu rather than stone.
According to Shennong's radar, the pursuers soon fell far behind.
Since the secret was already exposed, Ye Cheng decided there was no point holding back. "Shennong, can you search for nearby Source Crystals?"
"Elemental scanning activated. Please specify search radius and minimum grade."
She thought for a moment. "Let's say… a hundred‑meter radius, starting from Chaoshi‑grade."
Yang Yu silently gaped. Starting from Chaoshi‑grade? Did she even know what that meant? Just one Chaoshi‑grade crystal could fetch more than a hundred million on the black market.
He said nothing, and Shennong followed the command automatically. Rings of scanning waves rippled outward, and before long the radar lit up with several bright points. Ye Cheng didn't need to speak—Yang Yu had already begun extracting each one methodically.
By the time they were done, the nearby veins had been completely cleared. Shennong simply drilled a new passage upward, emerged onto the surface, and used massive rocks to seal the hole against the storm howling above.
"We can't just fly this thing straight back to Sunset City, can we?" Ye Cheng frowned at the swirling clouds on the display. "Do we hide in another mine until the storm passes?"
Yang Yu replied, "I suggest looping back toward the original entrance. Those raiders wouldn't destroy the dust‑proof vehicle—it's a valuable asset. They probably kept it as spoils."
Ye Cheng's eyes lit up. "Then let's go!"
Yang Yu piloted Shennong toward the mine they had descended earlier. As they neared the site, he switched to stealth mode and hid behind a ridge. Scanning the radar, he reported quietly, "The vehicle is still there, about thirty meters inside the entrance. There's also a Chaoshi‑grade combat mech nearby."
Ye Cheng's gaze fixed on the glowing dots. "How do we get it back with that thing standing guard?"
"Best not to fight," Yang Yu reasoned. "Wait a bit. Sensor data shows they're sending transmissions—probably because something underground caught their attention."
His guess was precise. The guard pilot soon boarded his mech and headed into the tunnels. Once the red dot on radar moved far enough, Yang Yu acted—Shennong shot forward, seized the dust‑proof car, and escaped to a deserted mine ten kilometers away.
When they emerged from the cockpit, Ye Cheng raised a hand. "Return."
A brief shimmer, and the massive machine vanished. Ye Cheng exhaled in relief and turned to see Yang Yu already at work, as if nothing extraordinary had happened. He was laying out the crystals from his ring, sorting them by hue and grade with calm precision.
Ye Cheng stood quietly. She could show him Shennong, but not the truth—that she wasn't human. Remembering his words earlier, she stayed still, watching him work.
Thanks to Shennong, their haul was tremendous: more than forty crystals above Chaoshi‑grade. Yang Yu packed them carefully into containment boxes, then gestured. "Master, come look at this."
Ye Cheng now knew the universal elemental grading system: night‑black Midnight, cyan Dawn‑Mist, green First Light, and amber Daybreak made up the lower tiers; azure Chaoshi, crimson Noon, and scarlet Zenith formed the middle; orange Twilight, brown Dusk, and violet Fall were the high grades.
But now, among them was a tiny golden stone no bigger than her fingernail—clear and radiant, its color brighter than sunlight itself. Even without comparison, it was unmistakably beyond Daybreak.
Yang Yu had set it apart deliberately. Ye Cheng looked up at him, her eyes full of unspoken questions.
As the last disciple of the legendary mech‑engineer Yang Jin, Yang Yu needed no tools to identify it. He crouched, lifted the box holding the golden crystal, and pressed it solemnly into her palm.
"You know the ten official grades," he said softly. "But you must also know—there are crystals that surpass the system entirely. They take centuries, even millennia, to form. The energy in one such shard could power a military fortress."
Ye Cheng remembered the day she had charged Shennong—how a golden‑silver sphere had materialized before her—and nodded slowly.
"For most of us," Yang Yu continued, "the highest we ever see is the violet Fall. But above that, there are three legendary tiers, spoken of only within the empire's top research and military cores."
He held up a finger. "First, the silvery Evening Glory."
"Second, the golden Luminous Nightfall."
"And beyond all measure—the chaotic Void Abyss."
The weight of the golden crystal in her hand suddenly felt impossibly heavy.
Yang Yu closed her fingers around it. "I believe this one is Luminous Nightfall. Please guard it well. A single crystal of this rank could spark an armed conflict between clusters."
Neither of them knew that, far below in the mine they'd left, a man with flaming red hair and a crimson Element Lock was crushing a cigarette between his teeth as he stared at a trembling underling.
"So," he drawled, voice dripping contempt, "you're telling me I brought my crew through this damned storm for your so‑called 'Twilight‑grade treasure,' and someone else beat us to it?"
The man trembled, stammering, "We—our scanners couldn't locate the orange Twilight veins, but you saw yourself—there were other mid‑ and high‑grade crystals here—"
The redhead exhaled smoke lazily, gesturing to the vivid scarlet mech beside him. "Come up on Suzaku and see for yourself what's left."
The man fell silent. The energy detector before him was top‑grade, capable of seventh‑tier readings—Crimson Zenith level. Yet now, not even a single Chaoshi‑grade mark remained on its display.
The redhead chuckled coldly, drew his gun, and fired. The man collapsed, blood pooling beneath the body. The redhead holstered his weapon with a sigh of annoyance. "Next time," he said to no one in particular, "bring me a few first‑generation talents worth feeding. This level of trash is a waste of air."
No one dared respond. A combat‑mech pilot approached hesitantly. "Boss… the storm's subsiding."
The redhead turned his gaze on him, eyes narrow. "And the targets?"
The man's voice shrank. "We… lost them."
The cigarette dropped from his lips. "So in less than two hours," he said slowly, "someone dug out every mid‑ and high‑grade crystal from under your noses… and drove off in your faces?"
The pilot scrambled for an excuse. "We—we saw their dust‑proof car outside!"
"Did you identify who owned it?"
"N‑no… not yet. We were going to refit it for ourselves—"
"Check it."
"S‑sir, the car's gone."
Silence. Then laughter—sharp, mirthless. "So let me get this straight. Some pauper came to dig crystals in a junk car, left it out front, stripped the mine bare with their bare hands in two hours, and then drove off again right past you?"
No answer. The redhead's smile vanished like a blade being drawn. "Find them."
He flicked away his cigarette. "A yield that large can't go through government channels—it'll hit the black market. Stake out District C. Find whoever it is, and—"
A spark burst from his fingers, igniting the falling cigarette midair; it exploded in a flare of bright red before disintegrating into drifting ash. "—bring back every piece of what's ours."
Meanwhile, Ye Cheng and Yang Yu waited only long enough for the storm to ease before driving back. By the time they reached Sunset City, the dust had died, replaced by sheets of pouring rain.
For Ye Cheng, wealth beyond dreams now sat quietly in her Subspace Ring. But to spend it legally, she needed official income records. So, forcing herself to part with a few, she sold one Chaoshi and one Zenith crystal, along with lower‑grade stones of Midnight and Dawn, at the government acquisition depot.
The clerks were stunned. The same man who had registered them the week before nearly drooled with envy. "You actually found Chaoshi and Zenith‑grade crystals! Incredible! Let's see… total payment: nineteen million, one hundred and seventy thousand Union Credits!"