Ning Zheng mimicked the NPC to assign tasks:
"Quiet! All of you blacksmiths from all over the Four Seas, the entire Nine-State has undergone a tremendous cataclysm. Thereâs a massive unknown disaster on our villaâs navigation path."
"To obtain the latest intelligence for the Nine-State high-level analysis, please explore the entire lava pit and uncover the truth behind the cataclysm!"
Ning Zheng knew they just loved that darn sense of ceremony, and this tone when issuing tasks was very important.
It wasnât just Ning Zheng who got proficient, Jiucai Rong was even more skilled.
He immediately scampered to the task board at the villaâs entrance and wrote down:
[Time-Limited Emergency Instance: Meteorite falling above has caused unknown disaster to this land. Please investigate the mystery behind the disaster]
[Number of participants: Unlimited]
[Task difficulty: Unknown]
[Task reward: Dependent on completion]
...
The ceremonial feel immediately surged.
Countless people were eager to try, while Ning Zheng drew a big circle for them, confining the activity to this meteorite pit to prevent them from running out.
Those who received the task started eagerly forming teams with familiar people.
It must be said, the recent tasks have been quite abundant.
The villa seemed just that big, but with the [Beast Arena] opening a casino, people flying kites, it was already lively.
And now this temporary exploration task was added.
"Awoo Awoo Awoo!"
"Break them to pieces!"
"For Nine-State!"
Excited young blacksmiths stood before the magma, exuberant with energy.
Acquainted young blacksmiths soon gathered, picked up their tools, attempting to wade into the molten red-hot magma.
Like the Eight Immortals, they were preparing to pass the magma lake using their own methods to reach the core.
"Hot hot hot!"
At this moment, Shao Chaikun withdrew his thumb and, seeing it was directly scalded off, couldnât help but lament: "I just wanted to test the water temperature."
"Why the hell are you using your finger to test water temperature," Food God quipped, "This magma is temporary, really viscous. I feel like if you lay down an iron plate and step alternately, you could cross."
A group of people each tried, quickly finding a way, laying a path with heat-resistant forging iron plates.
With money, their villa lacked nothing but plenty of forging materials acquired.
This was the advantage of having plenty of school supplies.
And Qilin Childâs heat resistance was not a problem, as long as he didnât directly touch the magma, stepping on iron plates, he could still hop around.
The iron plates paved layer upon layer, and they reached the fall core of the meteorite pit.
Magma was beneath their feet, pondering how to dig, with the stuff inside the meteorite clearly surrounded by magma.
Even Ning Zheng frowned a bit, "This is troublesome. Using an Embers Avatar from the One Heart Realm could easily scoop it up...but for safety, I wonât do that."
What if the avatar indirectly affects the main body?
He didnât want to take the risk.
The life of his avatar was much more valuable than a blacksmithâs life.
"This is where our technology shows."
"Do you know how MC digs magma?"
"I donât get it, but Iâm not stupid. Fill the lava with earth blocks, build a Hui character wall, insert steel plates to isolate the external magma, use water series spells to cool down, and just dig down."
"Can you let me act it out?"
...
What Ning Zheng felt was a very tricky lava problem that only a High-Tier cultivator could solve, a few ordinary young blacksmiths easily resolved.
They even felt this wasnât an issue.
Playing games and raiding instances for so many years, if you canât build terrain, what kind of veteran are you?
The group filled dirt with a hey-ho, then used water series spells from weapons to cool, digging down afterward.
It must be said, Qilin Childâs strength was great, more suited than Money Child for carrying bricks, and in just over half an hour, with everyone taking turns, they cooled, dug, cooled, dug...
In this cycle, finally saw the true form.
An irregular ore with some patterns, with square edges.
Based on blacksmithsâ experience in prying bricks, this was likely a square stone brick.
"Not some treasure, huh."
"Sir, should we take it back to the villa?"
"It seems like great material, we have to take it back for testing."
...
Seeing this scene made Ning Zheng frown.
Was it that simple? Nothing happened?
He didnât think his Qi Fortune Value would deceive him if there was lethality, there was lethality.
Thinking carefully, if something could threaten him bypassing the avatar of One Heart Realm, its concealment must be extremely strong, possibly a latent toxin.
Regardless of whether this guess is reliable or not, Ning Zheng didnât plan to let those blacksmiths return to the villa.
"You all stay here!"
Whoosh!
A huge pile of food fell from the sky, serving as their supplies.
"Huh?"
"Lava survival?"
"You donât understand, this is MCâs challenge difficulty, starting with a lava terrain!"
"There you go again, knowing it all."
...
They were completely unaware of being abandoned, instead giggling and viewing it as a challenge.
Whoosh.
The iron smiths used the leftover materials to build a gathering place and started a bonfire barbecue.
The livestream audience was also chatting.
"Iâm so envious."
"They can actually camp out."
"Oh my, lava barbecue, what a flavor!"
"Wait, have you guys noticed, it seems these Qilin Children are getting hairier?"
"Is it just your imagination?"
"No, Iâve noticed it too."
As they watched the livestream, they gradually felt something was off.
These giggling iron smiths were gradually growing more hair, as if covered by some strange thing, transforming into furry upright humanoid creatures.
Humans seemed to be ancestrally regressing, turning into ancient ape-men.
The scene was eerie; most people would be scared silly, but the iron smiths were bewildered, "Whoa, has our race mutated?"
"Whatâs happening?"
"Can this hair be plucked out?"
"Ah, it hurts, what the heck is this hair!"
"I get it, new version, Ape God, activated!"
...
They laughed, but Ning Zheng was creeped out.
This toxin gave people an inexplicable feeling of horror. If it spread, wouldnât everyone turn into hairy people?
What is that Saint behind the scenes planning?
Even the always timid Jiucai Rong was quite frightened, "What is this, dark hairy monster, ill fate in old age?"
Ning Zheng ignored them and said to the iron smiths, "Connect the projection of the Immortal Beast Arena directly to those iron smiths far away and broadcast the information!"
"Ah!?" Jiucai Rong was stunned, "I understand."
Jiucai Rong felt both shocked and scared, but also knew spreading this information was necessary.
The sooner discovered, the sooner researched, the more beneficial for humanity.
...
Ximen City.
With a swish, the people watching the beast fight suddenly saw the screen flash.
"Now we urgently interrupt with a piece of information!"
"Meteorites mixed with ancient viruses can turn people into ancient apes, please stay away."
"Also, our Xirong Divine Craftsman side has already discovered the first batch of poisoned samples, please watch and study together."
...
The screen flashed.
They saw a group of dark-haired creatures sitting on iron plates on the lava, eating.
Doukou Hong looked shocked, "What is this? Covered in hair? Does it mean some creature thatâs been poisoned?"
Xinyi Baisan: "Is it that after being poisoned, they become stupid, eat raw meat and drink blood, start regressing?"
They watched the eager-to-perform little iron smiths who were gesturing like primitive ape-men, thumping their chests and howling at the sky.
Ning Zheng silently transmitted a message, telling them not to mess around.
The monkeys instantly became serious, sat back down, and continued eating barbecue and food.
Man Tianshou: "I donât get it either, does poisoning cause hair growth? Our Nine-Stateâs First Divine Doctor, what do you think?"
Tri-Colored Cloud Rainbow was silent for a while: "I remember some ancient records mentioning, Rongtian Era, there seems to be similar snippets, but Iâm not sure about the details."
Human history is so long that it can forget many records.
However, what shocked many more was:
Xirong Divine Craftsmanâs intelligence system, how is it so powerful?
Ark, Defense Tower, obviously were the first to know about the coming chaos!
And the meteorite poisoning incident was also first discovered by Xirong Divine Craftsman!
Both pieces of intelligence were known first.
He got ahead of everyone in everything, this information network is too terrifying, even the ancient layout and scheming couldnât escape them.
No one doubts Xirong Divine Craftsmanâs information ability now!
Upon thinking, it seems like the news of the mastermind being the Saintâs son was also revealed by them.
Xirong Divine Craftsmanâs information network is very powerful, probably they uncovered another behind-the-scenes conspiracy and locked onto the true identity of the mastermind.
"Looks like the news about the mastermind being the Saintâs son is true, what a big son who kills his father."