Super Gene

Han Sen couldn’t use his geno armor in the sanctuaries, so he knew he’d be unable to beat the Nine-Life Cat. Fortunately, he still had Destiny’s Tower, and that meant he wasn’t afraid.

“I know there’s something good in there, I just don’t know what it is. If you help, I’ll count you in for a share of the profits,” Nine-Life Cat said.

“If you don’t know what it is that’s in there, how do you know it’s something good you can profit from?” Han Sen didn’t believe him.

“Teehee. You should know a bit about this. This is God’s Ruin, but it is a crystallizer ruin, also. I know there is something about the crystallizers here, and we’ll find out what it is exactly when we’ve dug it out,” Nine-Life Cat said.

Now Han Sen knew this was God’s Ruin, and it was no wonder why it looked strange.

“Okay, let’s dig it out together. Count me in for that share of the treasure.” After that, Han Sen started digging out the grave alongside Nine-Life Cat Then, he thought to himself, “He didn’t know I would be here. He wouldn’t count me in if I wasn’t here. We don’t have a grudge, but there’s surely no chance he’d want to harm me, right?”

They both kept on digging into the grave that looked like a little mound of soil. It was very solid. All of Han Sen’s fitness, with the use of Taia, could only allow him to shovel just a tiny bit of soil.

The soil was like steel, and it was incredibly difficult for them to dig through. After digging only a meter, Han Sen was sweating through his clothes.

“Something is wrong with this soil. There can’t be treasure inside, surely.” Han Sen spoke as he continued digging.

Nine-Life Cat said, “This is the crystallizer’s crystal soil. It’s composed of crystallizer material rendered into dirt. It’s all fairly useless.”

Han Sen kept on digging and asked, “How do you know something good resides in here? There are lots of graves here, all identical. There doesn’t seem to be anything outstanding about this one.”

“Haha! I know because I am the Nine-Life Cat. Keep digging. Something must be in here.” Nine-Life Cat smiled.

After digging for a while, Han Sen felt as if something was wrong. Soon, he started to hear a strange noise.

He stopped and tried listening to it. He decided that the sound must have been the wind, as there was nothing remarkable about it.

“Old Cat, do you hear that noise?” Han Sen asked the Nine-Life Cat.

“What noise?” Nine-Life Cat perked his ears, but there was nothing. He went back to digging.

Han Sen focused, and after not hearing anything more, he returned to the work at hand.

After half a day, they had dug a two-meter-long hole that was three meters deep. Then, they finally found something.

Han Sen felt as if he had struck something hard. He brushed away the crystal dirt and found a portion of a big metal board.

The part that was revealed looked to have been made from silver. There were some words on it, too, but he couldn’t read what was written. It wasn’t the usual ancient human text that the crystallizers traditionally used.

“What are you doing? Keep digging. Dig it out.” Nine-Life Cat hurried Han Sen along when he froze.

Han Sen followed the edges of the metal board and dug out its shape until he unearthed it all. It was a square-shaped silver board around forty centimeters long. It was full of text, but Han Sen couldn’t discern a single word of it.

He didn’t know how thick it was, as some of it was still beneath the soil. The visible portion was at least five centimeters thick. There was something there, but it wasn’t anything unpleasant Han Sen felt much better, seeing this, so he kept on digging with renewed vigor.

But when he dug, he began to feel as if something was wrong. It wasn’t actually a board. It was very long. Han Sen dug another half a meter, but he couldn’t bring it all out

“Old Cat, what is this? It cannot be a coffin,” Han Sen said thoughtfully.

“It’s not a coffin. The crystallizers didn’t bury; that’s something only humans do,” Nine-Life Cat said.

“If it’s not a coffin, then what’s in there? What is this?” Han Sen asked.

“Who told you it might be a coffin?” Nine-Life Cat said, rolling his eyes as he did.

“If it is not a coffin, then what is this?” Han Sen repeated.

“This is the greenhouse of a crystallizer,” Nine-Life Cat said.

“Greenhouse?” Han Sen’s jaw dropped.

Han Sen had never expected some sort of greenhouse.

“Stop asking stupid questions and keep digging,” Nine-Life Cat said.

The metal board was very long. They dug four meters of it out, and they still weren’t done.

“It’s working! It is almost out. Keep going!” Nine-Life Cat used his paws to push the board, and it moved a little.

Han Sen did not know what to say. They had been there for so long, it would have been terrible if they ultimately walked away empty-handed.

After digging for another two hours, they managed to dig the entire board out. They stood it up against the wall of the cave they were in. The board was six meters long, forty centimeters wide, and forty centimeters high. There was a lot of text scrawled across it.

Han Sen tried to carry it out, but he could not. Even using all his strength, he could barely lift the thing.

Han Sen felt very strange. If Old Cat said that it was a greenhouse, then that might have meant all the graves were plants. They should have been digging out seeds, not a giant metal board, right?

But before Han Sen could get answers, he and Old Cat had to get it out of the hole. They both lifted it as if it were a heavy tree. They flew together and brought it out of the pit.

“It’s finally out!” After they flew up out of the hole, Han Sen and Old Cat dropped it back on the ground. After wiping the sweat from his brow, Han Sen froze when he saw what was before him.

For some reason, there were many pairs of eyes looking back at them both.