With Zhang Wei dispatched as an obedient resource scout, Lin Xuan turned his attention to his true, most valuable ally: Li Mo. She had spent the morning practicing the Minor Body Tempering Art in the apartment's strongest Qi currents and now sat at the desk, her focus enhanced, the Zone 7 schematics spread out before her.
Lin Xuan stood over the pile of documents—thousands of pages of technical data, environmental reports, and failed R&D logs from the old plasma reactor project.
"The Minor Qi Condensing Formation is complete," Lin Xuan began, his voice calm. "It stabilizes my foundation, but its rate of cultivation is too slow. I need a higher-grade material for the next phase: a Rank C Synthesis that will grant me instantaneous access to the Minor Realms."
He tapped a diagram showing the former reactor core containment pit. "The Failed Reactor Core Fragment was Rank D. To ascend to Rank C, I need something that possesses the latent energy of a true, naturally occurring spiritual vein. The chaotic Qi that saturated the reactor core had to come from somewhere."
Li Mo, having already absorbed the concept of spiritual energy, now approached the problem like a brilliant forensic scientist. "So, we're looking for the original source of the contamination," she stated, grabbing a highlighter. "Something geological or hydrological that the reactor accidentally breached."
"Precisely," Lin Xuan confirmed. "The Qi is 'chaotic' because it is unrestrained. It flows, following the path of least resistance—cracks in the bedrock, underground rivers, or seismic faults. Your task is to use your mortal expertise to track the spiritual leak backward."
Li Mo, fueled by the newly cleared pathways in her mind granted by the Body Tempering Art, dove into the data. She cross-referenced:
Seismic Analysis Reports: Tracking minute, non-tectonic vibrations recorded during the reactor's failure event.
Geological Borings: Detailed maps of the bedrock composition beneath Sector C.
Hydrography: Old charts detailing underground water and drainage systems.
For two solid hours, the only sound was the scratching of her pen and the steady, low hum of the Qi Condensing Formation. Lin Xuan sat nearby, eyes closed, guiding the condensation process, but his attention was tethered to her progress.
Li Mo finally slapped her hand down on a page detailing the core geology. "Found it!" she exclaimed, pushing the document across the desk.
"The initial reports from the mid-90s mention a massive drilling accident," she explained, pointing to a diagram of the bedrock. "They hit an anomalous geological vein—a fissure filled with highly unstable, non-aqueous fluid that caused a minor explosion and contaminated their drilling rig. They classified the fluid as 'Supercritical Carbon Dioxide mixed with trace magnetic minerals.'"
Lin Xuan opened his eyes, a flicker of genuine interest lighting them. "Supercritical Carbon Dioxide... a mortal classification. That is not CO2, Li Mo. That is concentrated, liquefied Earth Vein Essence."
He explained that during the era of the Great Exodus, such veins often appeared near areas of intense tectonic stress. It wasn't a spiritual stone, but the raw, unrefined energy that gave birth to spiritual stones—a resource far more powerful than the remnant in the reactor core.
"The fluid caused their accident, so they sealed the fissure immediately with five layers of reinforced containment sealant—a thermal-resistant polymer," Li Mo continued, tracing the containment area. "The report claims the fissure runs laterally, beneath the entire Industrial Zone, but the sealing point is deep in a section marked Sector D-12: High-Hazard Structural Test Tunnels."
She pointed to the corresponding sector on the schematic. Unlike the well-known Sector C, D-12 was a long-forgotten, highly unstable area known for dangerous seismic shifts and zero surveillance—a place even the scavengers avoided.
"This is the source," Lin Xuan confirmed, his voice laced with satisfaction. "The Reactor Core Fragment was merely a cup of water scooped from a vast lake. The sealed vein contains the lake itself."
[New Synthesis Material Detected: Sealed Fissure containing Liquefied Earth Vein Essence (C-Rank Primary Resource)]
The System's instantaneous notification affirmed the magnitude of her discovery. Lin Xuan now knew the location of his next major resource, a material capable of fueling a Rank C Synthesis.
"Excellent work, Li Mo," Lin Xuan praised her. "You have achieved in hours what months of mortal investigation would fail to find. Prepare the schematics for D-12. The next haul will require bypassing multiple structural weaknesses, not just security."
The target was set: the terrifying, unstable Structural Test Tunnels of D-12, and the vast reservoir of Earth Vein Essence sealed within.