Chapter 886: Starfish Squad

886. Starfish Squad

"What? Then I can't get out? I have to stay here forever?"

Lola's expression was extremely ugly. She wouldn't last long here on her own.

"That's not quite it. I don't know who killed the shopkeeper, but their goal was definitely to escape from here. As long as you pay a certain price, you can obtain a few spots to leave."

This was nothing new.

"...What do I need to do?"

Lola knew this would definitely be very dangerous, but she was unwilling to stay here and wait for death.

"You need to first find the murderer who killed the shopkeeper. After that, you need to deal with the murderer in a special way to obtain the spots to leave this Plane."

"Boss, can I take some time off?"

Lola needed to find a way to track down that murderer.

"Sure. You can pick one Starfish Ornament as your payment."

Lin Ye could control the starfish to help him sell goods.

"Thank you very much."

Lola took a Starfish Ornament she had wanted for a while and left the general store.

"No need to thank me. I hope you can make it out of here alive."

Lin Ye still needed to control the starfish for mining and had no time to help her search for the murderer.

After Lola left, Lin Ye and Scarlatti guided the starfish mining squad out of the slums. Scarlatti's starfish led the way, while some Silhouettes trailed behind the mining squad.

"Let's first check out the nearby small mining areas. If they've already been mined dry, we'll head to the largest mining area in this region. There are plenty of ores there, but it's also quite dangerous."

Scarlatti knew this Plane extremely well. Under her guidance, the starfish mining squad passed by one abandoned mining area after another.

While the starfish mining squad was searching for a mining area, Lin Ye didn't stop producing Starfish Ornaments either. Over half the residents in the city were now using them.

"The Crystals here have been mined out too. If the next mine shaft is the same, we'll head farther away."

Scarlatti manipulated her starfish. The nearby mine shafts had all been hollowed out by the locals. Even if small amounts of Crystal remained, there was no point in mining them.

"No rush. I've Altered the body structure of these starfish to improve their mining efficiency. As long as we find a suitable mining area, we'll dig up a large amount of Crystals in no time."

If it weren't for the fear of causing too much of a commotion, Lin Ye would have wanted to blast those mine shafts open.

"This mine shaft doesn't seem to have been completely mined out. Should we dig here first, or head to a place with more Crystals?"

Scarlatti halted her starfish outside a mine shaft. Deep within, it seemed like shadows of figures were moving.

"Let's take a look inside first. I need to familiarize myself with the terrain."

Lin Ye directed one starfish to take the lead at the front of the group. He had barely taken a few steps when he heard the sound of mining.

"Boss! A group of starfish is approaching!"

A miner shouted a warning at the top of his lungs.

Lin Ye hadn't added any stealth functions to the starfish. A squad of two-meter-tall colorful starfish entering a mine shaft was something anyone would notice.

"Hold on! Don't attack!"

A miner hiding inside one of the starfish stepped out. He observed the starfish mining squad for a moment before speaking:

"Sir, we're all poor wretches from the slums. We don't have anything valuable on us. We just wanted to dig up some Crystals to pay off our debts. Please give us a chance."

Lin Ye said nothing. He simply steered his starfish around and left the mine shaft.

"These people are mining for me. Let's head to that dangerous mining area you mentioned."

Lin Ye wasn't about to lay a hand on these poor folks.

"Alright, let's go. I've already gotten the hang of controlling these starfish."

Scarlatti guided those starfish into a sprint, constantly shifting their formation as they ran.

The starfish squad ran forward for a while longer before Scarlatti led the group to a halt outside another mine shaft.

This mine shaft looked completely ordinary, with absolutely nothing special about it.

"This is the mine shaft you were talking about?"

Lin Ye sent one starfish into the shaft. The tunnel was a slope that descended deep underground, and it was utterly silent inside, not a single sound to be heard.

"Yeah. The danger level outside is manageable, but the deeper you go, the more dangerous it gets."

Scarlatti guided the mining squad into the shaft. She didn't linger at the entrance but pushed straight down to a spot over thirty meters below the surface.

Once there, she stopped going deeper and instead had the starfish miners fan out into the nearby branch tunnels to dig out the Crystals embedded in the mine walls.

"We're mining here?"

The number of Crystals here wasn't that impressive. Lin Ye felt it was beneath him.

"Going any deeper would increase the danger level significantly. Mining here is much safer."

Scarlatti tried activating the 'switch' Lin Ye had left behind. Those starfish spun their wrists to build up power, then rammed into the mine walls like drills.

Broken stones scattered in all directions as some murky Crystals tumbled to the ground.

"Alright, we'll dig here for now. Once the spatial items are full, I'll send the starfish deeper to scout out other mining spots."

Lin Ye and Scarlatti each provided a spatial item to the starfish squad. It wasn't that they couldn't spare more. Using spatial items consumed spiritual energy crystals, and there was also the risk of not getting them back.

The starfish carrying the spatial items didn't enter the mine shaft. It just needed to wait outside to collect the Crystals. There was no need for it to go in.

Before long, the colorful starfish carrying burlap sacks emerged from the mine shaft. They handed the sacks filled with Crystals to the guard starfish, then grabbed fresh sacks and headed back into the shaft.

After a while, both spatial items were completely stuffed with Crystals. The guard starfish led the squad out of the mine shaft. One starfish broke away from the group and delved deep into the shaft on its own.

"It seems like someone has their eyes on us."

Although she couldn't sense what was happening over there, Scarlatti could gather Information through observation.

"Yeah. It's probably some of the poor folks who bought the Starfish Ornaments. There might be someone else backing them."

This was a test. If Lin Ye couldn't handle these poor folks, someone would come looking for trouble with him later.

"Can you interfere with the functions of those Starfish Ornaments?"

Scarlatti hadn't expected things to be this troublesome over here.

"No, I'm not that kind of shady merchant. But I do know how to deal with those Starfish Ornaments."

Lin Ye had been ready for a fight all along. The guard starfish would handle whatever trouble they ran into on the road.

"...Why haven't they made their move yet?"

After a moment, Scarlatti asked, a hint of confusion in her voice.

"I've already taken care of them. Since they chose to follow us, they should have been prepared for a counterattack. I'm not the type to go easy on people."

These people were using the Starfish Ornaments he had crafted to go after his starfish mining squad. If he let them make the first move, he might as well hang up his hat.