Walking upstream along the creek, stone beaches gradually appeared on both sides, with colorful and oddly shaped pebbles covering the ground.

Lin Ye initially thought they were cobblestones, but as he continued walking upstream, he became increasingly surprised.

There were green square stones with a strange texture, like a wafer biscuit that would crumble with a squeeze; there were also orange star-shaped stones, translucent and resembling amber, but slippery to the touch; and there were many pink round stones, white-pink and very girlish, but they smelled terribly, like rotten eggs smashed in front of him…

Lin Ye picked up one stone after another, exclaiming in wonder. He had taught geography for so many years in middle school, but at this moment, he completely failed to understand the phenomenon before his eyes.

The second squad also assigned a young soldier to collect these stones, though it was clear he had no interest in the task.

But since they were both collecting stones, Lin Ye casually struck up a conversation with the young soldier.

Through their conversation, Lin Ye learned that the young soldier’s name was Cai Tianze, 19 years old, in his second year of service, from Haicheng, an only child with no siblings.

Although Lin Ye was very excited holding these stones, Cai Tianze showed no interest at all. He was expressionless, like a block of wood.

Whenever Lin Ye talked about the second squad, Cai Tianze became even more like a block of wood, not saying a word, just listening to Lin Ye’s various exclamations beside him, with a dark expression.

Xu Lu also had a dark expression, like Cai Tianze, while Chen Bugu was even more excited than Lin Ye.

At this moment, Chen Bugu and Han Badou were lagging at the very end of the team, tinkering with a thermal imaging drone together.

Ten minutes ago, when Chen Bugu said, “I need more money,” Xu Lu already had a vague bad premonition.

Sure enough, this shameless man made an outrageous demand; he actually wanted guns!

Three assault rifles and three hundred rounds of ammunition!?

Even though Xu Lu was just a researcher, she knew what carrying a gun meant to a soldier—it was as important as life itself!

“Impossible!”

As soon as Xu Lu finished speaking, Chen Bugu, as if he had prepared for it, struck while the iron was hot.

“One assault rifle and one hundred rounds of ammunition!”

Chen Bugu held up one finger.

Xu Lu pondered for a few seconds, still feeling it was unfeasible. Even if she agreed, Li You would not. Although the higher-ups told them to cooperate fully with her, this was too much.

“No, guns are impossible.”

Xu Lu still decisively refused. She looked at Chen Bugu, saw that the man was silent for a few seconds, seemingly conflicted, and then slowly smiled and spoke.

“Then I’ll take a thermal imaging drone.”

Xu Lu was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized that Chen Bugu’s true intention was never the guns from the start!

“Mr. Chen, your ‘Yan State Map’ is a bit short,” Xu Lu said with a forced smile.

“If that’s not possible, then never mind, let’s go.”

Seeing Chen Bugu act shamelessly and turn to leave, Xu Lu was practically grinding her teeth in anger.

“Deal!”

Xu Lu was helpless. Those crystalline ores were very special and rich in energy. If they could be applied after testing, they could even trigger a new generation of technological revolution. For her as a researcher, this was almost impossible to refuse.

If that material could be brought back, Huaguo would lead a new technological revolution globally, once again becoming the most powerful nation in the world.

There was a thermal imaging drone for scientific research, within her scope of deployment. Seeing Chen Bugu had her cornered, she could only go all out.

Chen Bugu smiled brightly, turned back, and extended his hand to Xu Lu with a smile.

“Professor Xu, you’re generous!”

Xu Lu gritted her teeth and shook hands with Chen Bugu. This man, despite not looking old, was unexpectedly difficult to deal with.

What Xu Lu didn’t know was that every expression and action of hers could become key for Chen Bugu to get the better of her.

After all, Han Badou was right there, and it wasn’t difficult for Chen Bugu to accurately probe her bottom line.

When Chen Bugu proposed the thermal imaging drone, Han Badou analyzed Xu Lu’s reaction and then transmitted a message to him, indicating there was a chance.

After getting the drone, Chen Bugu also readily fulfilled his promise, calling Bai Ting and the others to follow Xu Lu.

After these past few days, Bai Ting and the others had come to understand Chen Bugu, so they raised no objections.

Xu Lu and Chen You led the other three soldiers back to the opposite bank of the creek, reassembled, and set off again.

The second squad had more than one drone, so giving one to Chen Bugu did not affect their reconnaissance at all. With well-trained soldiers leading the way with guns, Chen Bugu and the others consciously stayed at the rear, taking on the responsibility of covering their retreat.

Chen Bugu never intended to get guns from the start. How could soldiers let go of such things? Moreover, without heavy firepower suppression, if they encountered slightly higher-level “pre-existing inhabitants” with one or two bulletproof equipment, what was the difference between guns and fire pokers?

Let alone “pre-existing inhabitants,” at this current distance, Chen Bugu, having received the Goblin’s Bone Staff from Lin Lin, was fully confident of killing more than half of the second squad’s soldiers before their energy shield shattered. If he went all out and activated Bullet Time, he could even wipe out the entire opposing force at the risk of some injury.

Therefore, guns on Earth only have some deterrent power for now. Once an Awakened breaks through to Black Iron Eight or Nine Star, the threat of bullets is greatly reduced.

One reason is defensive equipment.

The second reason is that the reaction time of lower-level soldiers firing guns may not necessarily keep up with higher-level Awakeneds.

Of course, there are two exceptions.

One is like Xu Lu and her team, who use multi-person firepower suppression to compensate for a lack of reaction time. In this situation, high-level Awakeneds without special abilities and defensive equipment will also suffer.

The second is large-caliber sniper rifles like the Barrett. A sudden shot can overwhelm even a high-level Awakened.

Therefore, compared to guns, drones are clearly more practical. Although Han Badou’s Energy Monitoring is useful, its drawback is also obvious—the distance is too short.

A distance of 100 meters might only be a few seconds for fast moving demonic beasts and Awakeneds.

Chen Bugu had never played with a drone before, and neither had Han Badou, but it didn’t matter, Brain Power Enhancement - Qianji would take action.

In just ten minutes, Han Badou not only became proficient in operating the drone himself but could even teach Chen Bugu.

The drone flew upstream along the source of the creek, and the scenery along the way appeared on the left half of the display screen, while the right half showed thermal imaging.

After the drone flew for more than a minute, Chen Bugu finally saw their target for this trip through the display screen.

Chen Bugu was also somewhat surprised when he saw those crystal mines, because they were a type of ore rarely seen even in the apocalypse—starfall crystal.

This stuff contains abundant energy, but unfortunately, it cannot be extracted for absorption. Its biggest use is to strengthen equipment.

This is also one of the blacksmiths’ favorite crystals. After all, just adding a little starfall crystal can instantly upgrade equipment that was originally white-grade to green-grade. Which blacksmith wouldn’t like to forge divine weapons?

Yes, the fatty was ecstatic!

Of course, all of this depended on whether they could get their hands on that stuff.

Chen Bugu finally understood why Xu Lu’s group couldn’t deal with these two demonic beasts. It was no exaggeration to say that even if he now unleashed a full-power strike on the back of that demonic beast, he might not even leave a trace.

As the image gradually became clearer, the appearance of the two demonic beasts also came into Han Badou’s eyes.

He only saw: crocodile head, turtle shell, cold crystals everywhere…