I Can Control Resources

They say only when yin and yang are in harmony can one dual cultivate.

But Gao Xiaomeng and Fang Tangtang were indeed dual cultivating. As the energy continuously circulated, a silvery-white light even began to emanate from their bodies.

Fang Tangtang almost forgot she was still in the bathtub.

The water temperature had remained perfectly warm, making her incredibly comfortable. Before she knew it, she felt as if she had drifted into a dream.

In the dream, she saw a young girl with short, silvery-white hair sitting in front of her, their palms pressed tightly together.

The girl was beautiful.

Her eyes shone like two sapphires.

Most importantly, she thought she saw two dragon-like beams of light intertwining around them.

Gradually, Fang Tangtang felt her bones strengthening at a rapid pace. The speed of magnetization grew faster and faster, so fast she was starting to lose control.

’Too fast, too fast... Stop!’ Fang Tangtang screamed in her mind. This feeling was actually incredibly exhilarating.

But the speed felt like someone was dragging her along by force. Her feet couldn’t even touch the ground; they could only dangle helplessly in the air.

A sense of inexplicable panic washed over her.

VMMMM!

Just then, a suppressed wave of energy erupted.

Her mind went blank, but she knew what had happened. She had broken through. In a single step, she had advanced from Tier Five Early Stage to Tier Five Mid Stage.

And she had only reached Tier Five Early Stage...

...less than half a month ago!

’So, I, Death God Fang Tangtang, am actually this powerful...’ As the thought surfaced in her mind, her eyes closed.

What she didn’t know was that her Spiritual Power was materializing above her head.

Slowly, it coalesced.

It was on the verge of taking a physical form.

...

「The next morning.」

In the Underground City, there was no sunlight.

There were only faint, gem-like lights. In reality, these lights were much brighter during the day than at night.

The Human Alliance had set it up this way, designed to preserve a sense of routine.

When Gao Neng woke up, Shen Ning’Er was already awake. She was in the bathroom applying a face mask, making soft patting sounds as she did.

In truth, neither he nor Shen Ning’Er had had anything to drink the night before.

So, of course, they remembered everything.

After entering a state of dual cultivation, they had lost all track of time. He wasn’t sure who fell asleep first, but in any case, they had ended up sleeping in the same bed.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Fang Tangtang burst in with Gao Xiaomeng, her face flush with excitement. It startled Gao Neng so badly he nearly fumbled putting on his pants.

"I broke through! Tier Five Mid Stage! Sister Ning’Er, Gao Neng, can you believe it?!" Fang Tangtang’s face was flushed, and she was clearly in high spirits.

"That’s incredible." Shen Ning’Er was surprised. She remembered asking Fang Tangtang about it just a couple of days ago, and back then, Fang Tangtang hadn’t felt any signs of a breakthrough.

But after just one night, she had already reached Tier Five Mid Stage?

"No way! You broke through in less than half a month too?" Gao Neng was equally astonished. ’Isn’t this kind of monstrous cultivation speed my specialty?’

’How could someone with Fang Tangtang’s level of talent advance so quickly?’

MEOW! Gao Xiaomeng tilted her head back proudly.

"Huh? Gao Neng, why were you sleeping in Sister Ning’Er’s bed? Don’t tell me you two... last night..." Only then did Fang Tangtang notice something was amiss.

"I’m going to go wash up. Then we can all go get breakfast." Gao Neng couldn’t be bothered to answer such a question, so he just got up and walked out.

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them headed out.

They arrived at the cafeteria.

The number of people there for breakfast, however, was clearly much smaller than usual. It felt like there were fewer than thirty people in the entire hall.

The arrival of Gao Neng and his companions naturally drew another round of attention.

As was his custom, Gao Neng prepared to order three Energy Breakfasts.

However, Fang Tangtang insisted on treating today. Since she had broken through, it was cause for celebration. Then, she went ahead and ordered four servings.

One of them, of course, was for Gao Xiaomeng.

"..." In the hall, the twenty-odd Dragon List Geniuses watched this unfold, their eyes practically popping out of their sockets.

They weren’t really questioning Gao Neng’s group ordering Energy Breakfasts anymore. After all, everyone knew he had found a massive amount of attribute materials the day before, including three evolved species.

’But ordering an Energy Breakfast for a cat? What’s that about?’

’My life is really worse than...’

’...a cat’s!’

MEOW. Gao Xiaomeng scarfed down the Energy Breakfast, her deep blue eyes glancing around with a look of superiority.

Afterward, Gao Neng’s group once again set out for the wilds.

Their destination: Zone 118.

Another C-class restricted zone.

What was different this time was that Fang Tangtang brought Gao Xiaomeng along.

Gao Neng didn’t object. He knew Gao Xiaomeng’s strength; she shouldn’t be in any danger in a C-class zone.

Three people and one cat headed into the wilds.

Naturally, Zhang Hongying once again received an update on Gao Neng’s group.

’Zone 118?’ Zhang Hongying fell silent. She had thought it was more likely that Gao Neng would return to Zone 93 to try his luck again.

’But instead, he chose Zone 118?’

’What’s going on?’

Zhang Hongying was tempted to follow them and see for herself, but Yun Fei had already taken a team into Zone 93 to investigate the previous night, and they still hadn’t returned.

The Underground City’s defenses were somewhat depleted.

Besides, Zhang Hongying recalled that Gao Neng’s group hadn’t actually run into any significant danger in Zone 93 the day before.

Gao Neng, with his Tier Seven Genetic Weapon, was actually quite safe.

In the end, Zhang Hongying decided not to follow. In her mind, the issues within Zone 93 were her top priority.

’I’d better wait for Governor Yun and Speaker Wu to return before doing anything.’

...

「Zone 93.」

The restricted zone had never been so bustling. Rows and columns of Dragon List Geniuses and explorers from the Underground City had all flooded in.

You could hardly walk for half an hour without spotting other humans.

As for the Dark Creatures...

...they had been slaughtered to the point that any survivors were hiding deep underground.

Yutian was overseeing the operation from within the zone.

He had already spent an entire night in Zone 93, meticulously checking all three coordinates that Zhang Hongying had provided.

The result...

...was not a damn thing!

And he wasn’t the only one who came up empty. Shaximo, Wei Ya, Zhou Jin, Yi Qinglian, Yi Qingge, and the others who had entered Zone 93 had found nothing either.

After a busy night, besides killing Dark Creatures, they had spent most of their time rummaging through piles of rubble.

But aside from digging up a few semi-valuable ore deposits and some common raw materials, they hadn’t seen so much as a shadow of an attribute material.

Of course, not *everyone* came away with nothing.

For example, the Military Department squad, which included Lin Ying and Li Jun, managed to find a small stalk of ’Triple-Earth Grass’ after a thorough search.

With such a memorable name, it had to be an Earth Attribute raw material.

After all, even an idiot could figure that out.

Yi Qinglian, on the other hand, was cursing up a storm.

"Why can Gao Neng find stuff when we can’t? It’s not fair! It’s so unfair! I... I refuse to accept this! My luck is usually so good!"

"Don’t worry, let’s just keep looking. There are definitely miracles to be found in Zone 93; we just haven’t found them yet. Just be a little more patient!" Yi Qingge could only offer what comfort he could.

"Brother, are we really going to find anything?"

"Of course we can. Otherwise, there’s no way Gao Neng’s group could have collected 50 attribute materials and three evolved species in one go. Trust my judgment!" Yi Qingge said with a look of certainty.

"Yeah! When we find some attribute materials, we’ll make sure Gao Neng gets a good long look!" Yi Qinglian nodded, casually wiping the sweat from her face.

The motion left a black smear of grime across her face.

Under the circumstances, however, she didn’t care. She was determined to prove that her luck was better than Gao Neng’s. Anything he could do, she could do too.

...

Compared to the bustle of Zone 93, Zone 118 was completely deserted.

Only Fang Tangtang’s laughter echoed in the air.

"Hahaha! Fifteen stalks of Fiery Grass, plus three of its evolved form, ’Heaven-Burning Flame’! Gao Neng, how on earth did you find all this?! Hahaha..." Fang Tangtang was grinning from ear to ear. She had never, ever found attribute materials this easily.

She’d look, and there’d be a pile. She’d look again, and there’d be another pile.

Best of all, every pile of attribute materials had an evolved species in it. This time, they found three all at once.

They were practically as common as weeds.

"You can call me the Ou God, or maybe the Son of Fortune!" Gao Neng puffed out his chest and immediately stored away all three evolved species.

"When we were leaving the city, I asked around. Shaximo, Yi Qinglian, and the others all went to Zone 93 last night. They’re really getting off easy!" Fang Tangtang said huffily.

"Why do you say they’re getting off easy?" Gao Neng blinked.

"We discovered that place! Since we were able to find six evolved species in Zone 93, it must have ’evolution energy,’ right? Now that they’ve gone there, of course they’re going to find something too," Fang Tangtang said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Truthfully, when Gao Neng had decided to come to Zone 118, she had been against it. She thought they should have gone back to Zone 93 to press their luck.

But Gao Neng had insisted, so she had to relent.

But now it seemed...

...Zone 118 had ’evolution energy’ too.

’This is great!’

"Yeah, they’re really getting off easy this time! But hey, as pioneers, we should spare no effort in creating opportunities for those who follow in our footsteps!" Gao Neng smiled. At the same time, he added another thought in his head, ’Find something in Zone 93?’

’Like hell they’ll find anything!’

’If they had all flooded into Zone 93 the day before yesterday, maybe one of them would have had a stroke of dumb luck and stumbled upon a Fire Dragon Tongue Fruit or a Thunder Mushroom Grass.’

’But the problem was, he had already picked all those attribute materials clean.’

’Going now?’

’They’d find something now? Hell would have to freeze over first!’

Gao Neng gazed up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle. He wondered what kind of mood Shaximo, Yi Qinglian, and the others would be in when they returned empty-handed, only to see that he had snagged several more evolved species.

...Shen Ning’Er.

’Something feels a little off...’

’Are attribute materials really this easy to find?’

While Gao Neng and Shen Ning’Er were lost in their own thoughts, a figure slowly emerged from the tunnel at the entrance to the Underground City.

"E... Elder Li!" A guard immediately bowed, then quickly reached for his communicator to notify Yun Fei.

"There’s no need to disturb young Yun Fei. I’m here on personal business today."

"Yes, sir!"