Two Pieces of Bad News, and Experiments

Tucked into the corner of the passage, Lu Yuan studied the two Black-stripe Gray Rock Beetles in the distance, mind working rapidly.

He surveyed the surrounding terrain and turned the problem over in his mind. After drawing the beetles away — how could he quickly open the wooden chest and then escape?

A slow smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He let out a low whistle.

He had a bold idea.

He glanced up at the murky amber sky, then at the top of the gobi cliff looming above the dead end, then back at the passage around him. His eyes narrowed slightly.

*Wind erosion.*

If water could carve through stone given enough time, what did that say about relentless gales? In winds this fierce, even the hardest rock couldn't hold its shape forever. And because conditions up there were so extreme, no Gray Rock Beetle would ever venture to such a place. Rock was rock wherever you ate it — why endure howling winds when you could feed in peace below?

*Direct combat was hopeless. He'd have to outthink them.*

He approached the cliff face, sheathed his black-light alloy sword, and started climbing hand over foot.

The wall was nearly vertical. An ordinary person wouldn't have stood a chance. But Lu Yuan was a Gene Warrior — his body far outstripped a normal person's in every way: powerful limbs, fully coordinated muscles, sharp reflexes. In short order, he scaled thirty or forty meters of sheer cliff.

His head crested the top of the rock wall — and a howling gale slammed into his face.

Sand-laden wind scoured his skin like rough stone, the sting immediate and fierce. His face, it turned out, was not nearly thick enough for this — in either sense of the expression.

He could barely keep his eyes open.

Then the full force of the gust caught him before he could brace. The sheer power of it snapped his head backward, and his grip on the rock tore loose. His body tipped backward into open air.

*Critical moment.*

In an instant, his black-light alloy sword materialized in his hand. He drove his core and thrust the blade into the cliff face.

*Shhk!!*

The sword punched into the stone. He caught himself with his right hand braced against the hilt, and the fall jerked to a stop.

He hung there for a moment, the hollow sensation flooding through his arms, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints. His heart nearly stopped.

*"Holy—"* He exhaled in a shaky rush once he was sure he was stable. *"That scared the life out of me. Thought I was done for."*

He gulped down a few deep breaths, the shock still plain in his eyes.

After composing himself, he used the sword as leverage and hauled his body the rest of the way onto the plateau, then drove the blade into the ground and braced his feet against the wind until he was steady.

Thirty or forty meters. Even now, a fall from this height would have left nothing worth burying.

The plateau stretched out flat and open before him: a windswept expanse of irregularly pitted stone, every surface scoured and eroded, not a living thing in sight. The wind roared across it without obstruction, and the extent of the erosion was immediately obvious.

Because the winds here were so extreme, no Gray Rock Beetle would ever come to this place. For a Gray Rock Beetle, rock was rock wherever you ate it — why suffer through this godforsaken spot?

*Fortunately, he'd come prepared.*

He smiled and pulled out a pair of goggles — purchased back when he'd been reading through the beginner forums. Starting-city environments in the Land of Origin were almost universally brutal. Stormwind City and Sandy Rock City were famous for their relentless gales, and anyone stationed in either place would need goggles as a basic necessity. He'd had the foresight to pick up a pair, and right now he was feeling very good about that decision.

He strapped them on while quietly congratulating himself.

*Classic me.*

With the goggles in place, he could finally open his eyes.

Even so, the wind at this elevation was something else entirely. The area near the ground had been merely windy — up here at dozens of meters, it was borderline savage. One careless step and the gusts could send a person right over the edge.

He walked forward until he was directly above the U-shaped gobi enclosure of the dead-end passage, then leaned carefully over to look down.

Far below, the two Black-stripe Gray Rock Beetles were visible. At this distance, they were roughly the size of his thumbnail, as was the wooden chest behind them.

As he watched, neither beetle stirred in the slightest. They were contentedly crunching through their meal, completely undisturbed.

*Good.* Evidently, even elite-ranked Black-stripe Gray Rock Beetles couldn't detect a presence at this height.

That put his mind at ease.

He moved to a nearby stone pillar — roughly as wide as a person could reach around — grabbed a protruding ledge, and snapped off a chunk with minimal effort. When he squeezed it in his fist, it crumbled instantly to grit and powder. Thoroughly wind-weathered, structurally worthless.

He found a different rock nearby, one that hadn't been eroded, roughly the size of a basketball. This one held firm.

*"Let me test how these two react."*

He positioned himself on the plateau above the dead end, took a deep breath, and hurled the rock with his full strength toward a point roughly two hundred meters from where the beetles were feeding.

**BOOM!**

The impact rang out like a thunderclap. Both beetles immediately snapped their heads up toward the sound.

They exchanged a glance. Their antennae quivered.

A beat passed.

Then the one on the right shrieked and bolted.

Lu Yuan tracked it carefully, and his expression sharpened.

*Forty to fifty percent faster than an ordinary Gray Rock Beetle.*

He couldn't help marveling: *both grew up eating the same stuff — how can there be such a difference?* He genuinely couldn't figure it out.

More pressingly: *at that speed, if it spotted him, he might as well close his eyes and accept his fate. Not even heaven could save him.*

The beetle reached the impact zone in what felt like moments. It found the shattered rubble on the ground, let out a series of sharp squeals, raised its head to scan the area, antennae twitching. After a moment, finding no threat — just a heap of fresh stone fragments — its tiny eyes filled with enormous confusion.

It shrieked several more times. Then, grudgingly satisfied that nothing was there, it crouched and tore into the rubble with its sharp mandibles, crunching through the fragments rhythmically. The cracking sounds rang out crisp and repeated. When the last piece was gone, it trotted back contentedly.

The left beetle had not moved an inch.

**Two pieces of bad news.**

The **first**: all that commotion, and it had only lured away *one* beetle. Even with just one Black-stripe Gray Rock Beetle remaining, he still had no way to approach the wooden chest.

The **second**: these things were *fast.* Absurdly, terrifyingly fast.

After all, everyone here was a freshly Awakened Trainee-rank Gene Warrior. They hadn't yet reached the level where sulfuric acid in the eyes was a minor inconvenience.

The second problem, he had ways to handle. The first was proving more difficult.

After both beetles settled back into feeding, Lu Yuan watched them from above, turned things over in his mind, and let a slow smile spread across his face.

*"Second experiment."*

This time, he picked up two basketball-sized rocks — solid and un-weathered — one in each hand.

He threw them simultaneously, one toward each flank of the two passages below.

**Thud! Thud!!**

Two booming impacts rang out. The beetles, just back to their meal, snapped their heads up again and let out frenzied screams.

Both reacted — but only the left beetle charged out. The right one held its position.

Two consecutive interruptions, and they were clearly not pleased.

Up on the plateau, Lu Yuan watched the left beetle run its investigation — reach the impact zone, find rubble, scan the area, find nothing, eat the rubble, trot back — and frowned slightly. Even throwing two rocks in two different directions, only one beetle had moved. They were coordinating. One held the post; the other investigated.

He looked down at the two beetles with raised eyebrows, a trace of gravity entering his expression.

*"Let me see if it matches what I'm thinking."*

He raised an eyebrow and started the third experiment.

This time, he gathered three rocks and hurled them in three separate directions.

**Thud thud thud!!**

Three booming impacts rang out below.

Both beetles, barely back to their meal, snapped their heads up and let out wild screams.

And this time — no exchanged glance, no pause to coordinate — *both* charged out simultaneously, shrieking as they bolted in different directions. Their sharp claws tore long gouges across the hard stone floor as they sprinted.

Lu Yuan's eyes lit up. A grin broke across his face.

*The first problem is solved.*

He watched both beetles complete their fruitless sweep — no enemies found, fresh rubble devoured, both trotting back — and his smile widened.

*Not bad at all.*

Three simultaneous distractions overwhelmed their coordination, forcing both beetles to move at once. He had found the threshold.

His plan had taken full shape.