Inside the desert relic—
Zhao Xuan's eyes blazed as he stared at the Tier-4 Desert Statue standing atop a distant dune. His face was flushed red with excitement.
It was almost like…
Like a young, vigorous man who'd been abstinent for months suddenly catching sight, in the dead of night, of a breathtaking woman barely veiled in silk.
His gaze burned with exhilaration and wild joy.
His expression overflowed with restless eagerness.
A single Tier-4 Desert Statue—that was worth three million!
Three million credits might not sound like much to some, but to Zhao Xuan, it was still a hefty fortune.
Though truthfully…
Money wasn't what truly drove him.
What he really valued—was the chance to fight a Tier-4 Desert Statue.
Opportunities like that were rare beyond words.
"Take it down! I have to take it down!"
The more Zhao Xuan thought about it, the more fired up he became—so fired up that a reckless urge rose in his heart to charge right up that dune and beat the statue to rubble.
But—
He restrained himself.
Because—
He was utterly exhausted.
When he'd gone to sleep the night before, only his mind had been tired.
But after spending the whole night sweeping through the desert ruins, hunting third-tier Desert Statues nonstop, his body was spent as well. His stamina reserves were now dangerously low.
"Better sleep first. Once I'm rested, I'll come back and finish it off."
With that thought, Zhao Xuan memorized the statue's location and quickly headed back.
On the way to his shabby little hut, he passed the corpses of several Desert Statues sprawled across the dunes—and suddenly, inspiration struck.
He spent quite a bit of effort—nearly half an hour—hauling back seven or eight third-tier Desert Statue corpses.
Then, using those stone bodies together with the reinforced blue bricks he tore off his old hut, he rebuilt himself a new one.
It looked rougher than before, sure—
but the space inside was two or three times larger, much more comfortable.
"Perfect."
Zhao Xuan grinned, satisfied, admiring his new stone shelter.
"With this pile of third-tier Desert Statue corpses around, even if there are a few stragglers left in the area, they shouldn't dare to come close."
"Hmm… just to be safe, once I deal with that Tier-4 statue, I'll drag its corpse over too. Then I'll never have to worry about the hut getting smashed again!"
Muttering to himself, Zhao Xuan stretched lazily.
Then—
He downed a bag of concentrated energy fluid, ate three Spirit-Nurturing Fruits, and collapsed onto his bed, falling fast asleep.
That sleep—
was blissful.
He slept straight from morning till night.
When he woke—
Glug, glug, glug!
He guzzled another bag of energy fluid like it was free, chomped on a few more Spirit-Nurturing Fruits, filled his stomach, and restored his strength to peak condition.
Then, without wasting a moment, he set out again.
Charging straight across the desert, Zhao Xuan soon reached the dune he'd scouted that morning.
He licked his lips as he stared up at the massive stone figure towering there.
"My little darling," he murmured, "I'm back. Did you miss me?"
The words had barely left his mouth before—
Thud, thud!
He launched himself forward, sprinting up the dune.
"ROOOOAAARRR!!!"
The instant his feet touched the slope, the massive statue's eyes snapped open, glowing with fury. It threw its head back and roared, shaking the sands.
Its enormous stone arm swung down toward Zhao Xuan like a battering ram.
"Too slow, you big oaf!"
Twisting midair, Zhao Xuan used Moon Step to dart aside with ease, evading the blow entirely.
He soared over the statue's head and landed right behind it—before the cactus it was guarding.
The cactus was clearly larger than the ones guarded by third-tier statues.
Without hesitation, Zhao Xuan grabbed it by the base and yanked it straight out of the ground.
Then he turned and bolted back the way he'd come.
"ROOOOAAARRR!!!"
The Tier-4 Desert Statue went berserk.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Its footsteps thundered across the dunes as it charged after him.
One chasing, one fleeing—
one pursuing, one retreating!
Before long, the two had neared Zhao Xuan's new base.
And just then—
Zhao Xuan suddenly burst into full speed.
Within seconds, he widened the gap between himself and the statue, sprinted into his new camp, dropped the cactus behind the shelter—then immediately turned and dashed back out.
His plan was simple—efficiency.
Yes—he was saving energy.
A third-tier Desert Statue weighed about one ton.
A Tier-4 one, nearly ten times that—over ten tons of solid stone.
There was no way Zhao Xuan could carry that much weight from the deep desert back to his camp.
So—he came up with this little scheme.
Use his speed advantage to snatch the spirit cactus, lure the statue into chasing him, and then kill it here, near his base.
That way, afterward, he'd only need a bit of time to put the corpse to good use.
——
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