The little Black Iron Worm, which had been restless just moments ago, gradually calmed down.
After about half a minute, it cautiously took a bite of the Darksteel ore.
Then another bite… and another.
When Bai Qiu tried letting go, it no longer seemed afraid, quietly resting on his arm.
Seeing this curious scene, everyone’s movements slowed unconsciously, until Li Zhongjun barked at them to get back to work, prompting them to resume mining in earnest.
Time passed bit by bit.
After agreeing to help clear this secret realm, Bai Qiu had already prepared for a prolonged operation.
Before entering, he had contacted Zhang Shiyao and the others, entrusting them with handling the affairs of Zone 2203.
They readily agreed.
After all, since those people had been spared, it was only fair they suffered a bit before the military stepped in.
Keeping them busy day in and day out like overworked laborers would leave them no time to scheme…
…
In the dim cave, no one knew how much time had passed.
Everyone simply worked nonstop, stopping only when their condition began to decline and hunger set in, taking breaks to rest and eat.
Once the vein had been mostly exhausted, Li Zhongjun finally ordered the team to withdraw.
The Darksteel ore wall had been hollowed out.
It wasn’t that there was no ore left, but the Darksteel content had dropped off a cliff—falling below 50%, classifying it as low-grade ore.
Continuing to mine it would only waste time.
So they decided to leave and head for the next resource-rich location.
Just as Bai Qiu was leaving with the group, a pitch-black Black Iron Worm crawled out from a crack in the rocks, wriggling as it followed after him.
This naturally caught Bai Qiu’s attention.
Turning around, he recognized it—it was the little worm he had casually fed a few times earlier.
It now stretched its head forward, chirping “ya, ya, ya” as it trailed behind him.
Curious, Bai Qiu asked, “Are you trying to follow me?”
He didn’t actually expect the worm to understand—he just wanted to see how it would react.
To his surprise, the little creature seemed quite intelligent.
It actually nodded as if it understood and let out a soft cry.
Bai Qiu laughed, bent down, and extended his arm.
The little Black Iron Worm skillfully climbed from his palm onto his arm, gripping onto the vambrace of his Skyward Battle Armor.
Li Qingshan came over, intrigued. “You only fed it a few times and already tamed it?”
Before Bai Qiu could respond, the worm on his arm suddenly raised its head and hissed threateningly at the approaching Li Qingshan.
“Ya! Ya! Ya!”
“Oh? Little thing, you don’t like being talked about?” Li Qingshan was amused.
He hadn’t expected such a timid creature to grow bold after sticking with Bai Qiu.
Feeling mischievous, Bai Qiu “accidentally” flicked the worm off his arm.
It landed on the ground, and Li Qingshan crouched down beside it, saying, “Come on, try biting me.”
The moment it left Bai Qiu, the little worm immediately wilted, lying flat on the ground and playing dead without making a sound—until Bai Qiu came over, scooped it up, and placed it back on his arm.
Instantly revived, it lifted its head and began hissing at Li Qingshan again.
This time, however, it clung tightly, clearly afraid of being “accidentally” thrown again.
“Ya! Ya! Ya!”
“Hahaha…” The group burst into laughter.
For a moment, the previously tense and solemn team atmosphere was filled with cheer.
Bai Qiu couldn’t help but laugh as well.
He hadn’t expected this little thing to have such a side.
Right there on the spot, he shaped another Darksteel ore and fed it.
After its fill, the little Black Iron Worm grew lazy.
It crawled to the inner side of Bai Qiu’s arm and hung from his Concealment Cloak to rest.
This species possessed a fair degree of intelligence, but little in the way of group attachment.
Or rather, the Black Iron Worms were more like an ant colony, with a strict hierarchical system.
A larva like this one, even if it grew naturally, would at most become an ordinary Black Iron Worm.
Even if the colony hadn’t been wiped out, the future awaiting it would still be nothing more than a life of forced labor it couldn’t resist once it matured.
With a certain level of intelligence and self-awareness, being born into a life of oppression meant it felt no real sense of belonging to its own kind.
On the contrary, Bai Qiu—who played with it—never bullied it and even fed it delicious Darksteel ores.
To a Black Iron Worm, these ores were like taking coarse, unprocessed grain, removing the husk, washing it clean, and cooking it into fragrant rice—far more delicious than what they were used to.
Because of this, it developed a fondness for Bai Qiu.
It would rather give up the chance to become the leader of this broken colony and follow him instead.
Bai Qiu himself hadn’t expected that the little worm he casually played with would end up being tamed unintentionally.
He had even worried that, due to its colony being destroyed, it might be impossible to tame—so he had taken several of the largest eggs as a backup.
But now, faced with this little creature that had willingly attached itself to him and showed clear intelligence, Bai Qiu felt no resistance toward it.
Instead, he found its tendency to act tough with borrowed authority rather amusing.
Before the disaster, he had been busy with work almost every day.
In truth, he really liked small animals like cats and dogs.
Precisely because of that, he had never kept any—he was always out working, and even when he returned, he had little time to spend with a pet.
Now, however, he finally had the time to develop some hobbies.
Raising Ah Yuan or this little worm both provided a certain kind of emotional comfort.
Speaking of Ah Yuan, Bai Qiu had actually tried to bring it out for feeding and interaction.
But ever since he fed it the Water Control Orb at the reservoir, it had fallen into a deep sleep and begun molting within the contract space.
If nothing unexpected happened, once it awakened from this molt, Ah Yuan would truly become a King-class creature.
Li Qingshan was quite envious, but neither he nor anyone else could afford to just capture and raise whatever they liked like Bai Qiu.
It wasn’t that Bai Qiu had some innate ability to tame creatures—rather, as soldiers and members of a collective, they couldn’t act with the same freedom and extravagance.
Darksteel was a foundational resource, yet Bai Qiu fed it freely.
While the worm was still young, it only consumed around ~4–5 kg of Darksteel per day—but what about when it grew larger? Wouldn’t it eat even more?
It couldn’t be used as a mount and had little combat capability.
Raising it purely as a pet while consuming valuable resources—this kind of emotional satisfaction simply wasn’t something everyone could afford.
…….
After that, Bai Qiu mostly stayed in a laid-back mode—either interacting with the little Black Iron Worm or alerting the group whenever enemies were approaching and from which direction.
The so-called enemies were mostly cave-dwelling creatures, most likely worm-type beings that fed on minerals.
Of course, there were a few exceptions.
However, in this secret realm, only creatures like the timid yet intelligent little Black Iron Worm could be tamed.
Others, such as Crystal Worm larvae, were extremely ferocious—noisy, fearless, and attacking anyone on sight.
Completely untamable.
Bai Qiu dealt with them cleanly and without hesitation…
Up to this point, the strongest monsters encountered were still at the King-class level.
No Transcendent creatures had appeared.
With Bai Qiu’s deliberate reminders—
Li Zhongjun formulated a strategy: after clearing out lesser enemies, Li Qingshan would face King-class monsters alone.
Meanwhile, everyone else would observe from three hundred meters away to gain combat experience.
Li Zhongjun had also asked Bai Qiu to stay nearby as a precaution, but under normal circumstances, he preferred that Bai Qiu not intervene.
After all, Bai Qiu would take 20% of the exclusive experience from kills, and resource distribution would become difficult.
Bai Qiu himself had also made it clear—he wouldn’t take any resources from creatures he didn’t personally kill.
Upon learning that reaching Level 5 Sanctuary and beyond might require King Token, Li Zhongjun specifically instructed Bai Qiu not to act for the time being.
A soldier’s duty is to obey orders.
Some might have been dissatisfied, but no one showed it—after all, Li Zhongjun wouldn’t bring anyone likely to cause trouble into this dungeon run.
Bai Qiu naturally understood his intentions.
By letting the others handle the kills, it allowed the people of Zone 2201 to level up more efficiently and accumulate more materials and equipment.
Besides, Bai Qiu was already receiving 30% of the gathered resources without doing much, so he had no objections.
He was happy to take it easy—though when bored, he would occasionally try helping with the mining.
And it turned out he was even more efficient than Li Qingshan.
He swung the pickaxe so hard it produced sonic booms, causing ore to fall off like shaken grain.
The only downside was that he kept breaking the tools.
After destroying three high-quality pickaxes in a row, he was promptly told to step aside…
Bai Qiu could only shrug helplessly—when he slacked off, they were unhappy; when he actually worked, they still weren’t pleased.
Although the secret realm was a cave, its scale was enormous.
From the time Bai Qiu and the others entered, advancing while fighting and mining, they had already covered over ten kilometers in a straight line.
Darksteel, Mithril, elemental ores—everything was present!
Of course, despite the cave having breathable air, the dust was overwhelming.
Fortunately, Bai Qiu wasn’t entirely idle—he used his wind-manipulation ability to disperse the dust.
At the same time, he drew in fresh air, allowing everyone to breathe properly despite being covered in grime.
After working together for a long time, the group began to genuinely admire him.
It was hard to imagine that someone focused primarily on combat could be so useful without even fighting—his near-omniscient perception alone was invaluable, and he also protected everyone from the suffocating dust.
One of the miners with a mining specialization only realized this by accident—after blowing his nose, he was shocked to find no dust inside, despite working for so long.
Only then did he understand that Bai Qiu had been quietly helping them all along.
Bai Qiu himself didn’t think much of it.
He still considered himself to be slacking off—after all, with his wind-control ability, doing this was effortless.
However, as they ventured deeper into the cave, at the edge of his perception, Bai Qiu began to sense a faint aura… that of a Transcendent creature.
— The end of the Chapter–
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