I Can Control Resources

...

Li Tiannan had slain the Eighth-Order Dark Stone Spider.

He was grief-stricken.

He believed Gao Neng had likely been killed by the Dark Stone Spider. Hoping to retrieve his remains for a proper burial, he used his blade to slice open the creature’s stomach.

And then, he found bones inside.

But they were clearly not human.

’Gao Neng isn’t dead?! He broke through the Dark Stone Spiders’ encirclement? How is that possible!’ Li Tiannan was both shocked and overjoyed. He truly couldn’t believe Gao Neng could have gotten past them.

The Dark Stone Spiders.

An Eighth-Order leader and twenty Seventh-Order ones!

And Gao Neng actually got through?!

Li Tiannan wasn’t naive enough to think Gao Neng was in the stomach of another Dark Stone Spider. It was a rule of nature that the leader enjoyed the first meal.

Since he wasn’t inside the Eighth-Order leader, he had to still be alive.

’Could he be further down?’ Without another moment’s delay, Li Tiannan immediately flew downward, his speed becoming incredibly fast.

But soon, he crashed into a transparent wall.

Just like Gao Neng, he had encountered the Natural Magnetic Zone at the 12,000-meter mark. In an instant, his body came to a dead stop.

’Hm? Air compression?’ Li Tiannan was startled again. He never expected such a region to exist within the Demon Abyss.

He looked ahead.

Still no sign of Gao Neng.

’No way. He got through this Natural Magnetic Zone too?’ Li Tiannan’s jaw dropped. After all, even he would have to put in some effort to get past this thing.

BOOM!

A wave of energy erupted directly from Li Tiannan’s body.

This was a powerful domain formed from energy. Within this domain, no Natural Magnetic Zone or air compression could penetrate.

But this was a technique for those at the High-Order and above.

He was certain that with Gao Neng’s current strength, it was impossible for him to do this.

’So how did he get through?’

Li Tiannan didn’t know. He could only continue flying downward.

Then, he encountered the Dark Ants. They flew toward him in a frenzy, causing Li Tiannan’s brow to furrow slightly.

"Get lost!" he roared.

A blast of nearly tangible lightning erupted from Li Tiannan, instantly electrocuting the charging Dark Ants and leaving them paralyzed in mid-air.

All the Dark Ants in the area died.

This was the power of a Strongest.

But after unleashing that bolt of lightning, Li Tiannan’s face grew even paler. In the Demon Abyss, his power was weakened.

’The energy consumption was a bit too high.’ Li Tiannan took out a few Great Energy Pills from his person and swallowed them in one gulp.

Under normal circumstances, he would rest for a bit, or at least wait until the Great Energy Pills were fully absorbed before continuing.

But Li Tiannan couldn’t afford to wait.

The longer he delayed, the greater the danger Gao Neng might be in.

"You damn brat, if we both make it out of this alive, I’ll squeeze ten or so... no, at least twenty Attribute Crystal Ores out of you, or I’ll take your damn name!" Li Tiannan gritted his teeth and plunged downward again.

Then, he saw a cloud of gray gas.

"A Devourer!" Li Tiannan’s expression changed instantly. In the Demon Abyss, Devourers were undoubtedly overlord-class Dark Creatures.

Although a Devourer’s individual order wasn’t considered high...

...the things were incredibly difficult to deal with.

Once touched by one, even a typical Eighth-Order could be drained dry. Even Ninth-Orders would generally give them a wide berth.

Of course, Li Tiannan was capable of killing a Devourer.

But he didn’t.

To grind something like this down to nothing would take at least a few days, and that was for a Strongest like him.

’I hope that brat Gao Neng didn’t get tangled up with this thing...’ Li Tiannan prayed silently, then moved at his top speed to bypass the two clouds of gray gas.

The moment he bypassed them, the two gray clouds sensed him and shot after Li Tiannan, trying to ensnare him.

"Energy Barrier!" Li Tiannan was fast, but the Devourers weren’t slow either. Left with no choice, he had to expend some energy to block them.

’So damn frustrating!’

Li Tiannan clenched his fists.

If his energy consumption hadn’t been so great, he wouldn’t be in such a sorry state.

’We’re already close to 16,000 meters deep. Is Gao Neng still further down? How... did he get this deep?’ Li Tiannan was keeping careful track.

Although he was continuously flying downward, he was still calculating the depth and distance. Even for him, there were things to be wary of in the Demon Abyss.

He flew downward again.

Li Tiannan clearly felt a change in the surrounding temperature.

"16,000 meters? Still no sign of him? How is that possible!" Li Tiannan was burning with anxiety. He felt that Gao Neng shouldn’t be dead.

But the problem was, this was just too deep!

Could Gao Neng really reach this depth?

’It’s completely impossible!’

Just as he was thinking this, he noticed another cloud of gray gas up ahead. Moreover, this gray cloud was latched tightly onto several ice vines.

"!!!" Li Tiannan was utterly stunned.

This was completely illogical. Based on his knowledge of Devourers, they wouldn’t linger in this kind of low-temperature environment, let alone get into an endless struggle with a few ice vines.

’What’s going on?’

’Could it be that this Devourer was led here by Gao Neng?’

’Wait!’

’If he really did lead it here, then how did he get away?’

"..." Li Tiannan felt that this was already beyond his imagination.

A Sixth-Order human managing to escape a Devourer?

’I must be seeing things!’

Unable to figure it out, Li Tiannan quickly scanned his surroundings. Soon, he discovered traces of a fight and a massive crater that had shattered the ice on the cliff wall.

Most importantly, he sensed a peculiar aura in the air.

"The energy residue of a neutron bomb!" Li Tiannan’s eyes glazed over. He was sensing a neutron bomb at a depth of 16,000 meters?

What did this mean?

It meant someone had used the power of a human-form nuclear weapon here!

"That damn brat, he can really use a neutron bomb? Oh no... he really did come here!" Li Tiannan could no longer afford to ponder the reasons why.

The appearance of the neutron bomb’s after-effects...

...made him certain that Gao Neng had definitely made it this far down.

SWOOSH!

Li Tiannan shot downward.

...

「Demon Abyss. 19,000 meters deep.」

Gao Neng stored away the last attribute raw material he had gathered. At this point, the number of attribute materials he had harvested on this trip had already exceeded two thousand.

In addition, there were also all sorts of Magnetic Crystal Ores.

You could say he was fully loaded.

But whether or not he could return... was a big question mark.

Of course, that wasn’t the key issue right now.

Because the 20,000-meter mark was finally within reach!

The final moment was about to arrive.

He needed to use forceful means to achieve true, deep cooperation with Gao Xiaomeng.

"Gao Xiaomeng, are you still hiding some secrets from me?" Gao Neng asked as he flew forward cautiously.

"Aren’t you hiding secrets from me, too?" Gao Xiaomeng was clearly in a weakened state, but she still lifted her head upon hearing Gao Neng’s words.

"Let’s have a heart-to-heart," Gao Neng said, getting straight to the point.

"Fine. How do you want to do this? Go ahead," Gao Xiaomeng said, blinking.

"Tell me your real ability. Why can you use a neutron bomb? That should be Fang Tangtang’s ability. Where did you get it from?"

"I learned it when I dual cultivated with her," Gao Xiaomeng answered without hiding anything on this matter.

"Learned it?" Gao Neng looked at Gao Xiaomeng. There was obviously a problem with that answer, because something like a talent could never be learned.

But as soon as talents were involved...

...it would once again touch upon Gao Xiaomeng’s true identity.

"That’s right, I learned it. I’m a very fast learner," Gao Xiaomeng said with a nod.

"It’s copying, isn’t it?"

"You can put it that way if you want."

"Then did you copy my talent too?"

"No." Gao Xiaomeng immediately denied it. Then, as if afraid Gao Neng wouldn’t believe her, she added, "We haven’t dual cultivated together, so how could I copy your talent? Besides, when it comes to talents..."

Gao Xiaomeng didn’t finish her sentence.

"Keep going. Aren’t we having a heart-to-heart?" Gao Neng urged.

"Anyway, I don’t need to copy talents. I just need to know the ’algorithm.’ And you said we’d have a heart-to-heart, so why is it only me answering you? You should be answering me too, right?" Gao Xiaomeng said, a bit disgruntled.

"Answer one more question for me, and then I’ll let you ask me one."

"Fine, ask away."

"Do you hate humans?"

"..." Gao Xiaomeng fell silent for a moment. Then, her two deep blue eyes met Gao Neng’s. "Actually, a little bit. Because my first master abandoned me. But Mom is very good to me, and I promised Mom that I would never harm humans."

"First master?" Gao Neng had never been sure before whether Gao Xiaomeng was still Gao Xiaomeng, but now, he seemed to be gaining some understanding.

"Alright, now it’s my turn to ask you. Do you believe what I just told you?" Gao Xiaomeng asked, looking at the pensive Gao Neng.

"Huh? That’s your question?" Gao Neng was taken aback. Instinctively, he didn’t really want to answer, because he wasn’t sure himself.

"You didn’t answer me right away. That means your answer is that you don’t believe me, right?" A faint light flashed in Gao Xiaomeng’s eyes.

"Yes..." Gao Neng really wanted to say no, but he knew Gao Xiaomeng wouldn’t believe him.

"Mom believes me, but you don’t. On what grounds should I tell you all my secrets?" Disappointment showed on Gao Xiaomeng’s face.

"Then what will it take for you to tell me?"

"Heh, as my big brother... you should at least be able to beat me, right?"