Chapter 180: One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure

Aurelia looked toward the pile with a confused expression.

Cain’s group clearly considered the harvested Cores important, yet everything she knew about the Zombie Race suggested that their Cores and Blood Crystals contained dangerous contamination that humans could not safely absorb.

She wanted to ask about it again.

However, judging from Cain’s expression, she doubted he would give her an answer simply because she repeated the question.

So Aurelia left the matter alone for the moment.

While Cain’s people continued searching the surrounding military buildings, the two of them briefly exchanged information about the routes they had taken through the Corridor.

Cain gave her a shortened explanation of what his group encountered after entering through the Southern Entrance, including the military positions along the way and the battle that eventually brought them to the Southern Anchor Town.

Aurelia’s experience on the western side had been different from Cain’s from the very beginning.

Unlike Cain, who had entered the Invasion Corridor with only twelve people, Aurelia arrived through the Western Entrance with an already sizable force.

Several dozen people had entered alongside her.

Her force was large enough to challenge Zombie Race patrols from the beginning.

That also allowed Aurelia to divide responsibilities more efficiently whenever they moved through unfamiliar territory.

Scouts could be sent ahead while the main force remained strong enough to respond if they encountered some Zombie Races that were on patrol.

The western route itself had not been dominated by one overwhelmingly powerful enemy.

Its difficulty came from the military presence spread across the region.

Zombie Race patrols moved between fortified positions, while smaller outposts controlled several roads leading toward the Western Anchor Town.

They overwhelmed the defenders, gathered whatever equipment they considered useful, then continued forward before nearby soldiers could respond.

That approach worked well for most of their journey.

But, the Western Anchor Town was different.

The number of 2nd Echelon soldiers stationed there exceeded what Aurelia had expected, and the defenders were concentrated closely enough that attacking one section quickly drew pressure from another.

Her group had still been holding its ground when Cain arrived.

They were not on the verge of defeat.

However, the longer the fighting continued, the greater the chance that people under her command would die.

The two continued exchanging information for a while until Jack emerged from one of the nearby military warehouses carrying another large box.

He placed it beside the growing pile of resources.

Jack opened the lid, crimson light immediately escaped from within.

Cain’s eyes brightened.

Aurelia noticed the reaction, her attention shifted toward the dark-red crystals filling the box.

She recognized them immediately.

Her group had encountered the same resources several times while traveling through the western region.

They had inspected them through the System, learned about the contamination within, then simply abandoned them.

There had been no reason to waste time or carrying capacity on something none of them could safely absorb.

The same applied to the Zombie Race Cores.

Until now, Aurelia had considered both resources worthless to humans.

Yet Cain’s reaction clearly suggested otherwise.

Her gaze moved from the box toward the harvested Cores beside it.

Then she finally asked the question she had been holding back.

"Why are you collecting those?"

"The Blood Crystals?" Cain raised an eyebrow.

"And the Cores."

He was silent for a moment, then a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Instead of explaining it to you, I’ll show it to you now."

Cain reached into the box and picked up one Blood Crystal.

Dark-red energy moved faintly beneath its surface. Mixed throughout that energy were the familiar traces of Zombie Race contamination.

Cain then allowed a small amount of True Ruin to gather around his fingers. Dark-gray energy spread across the crystal.

The reaction happened immediately as thin strands of black contamination began surfacing from within the Blood Crystal before disappearing wherever the True Ruin passed.

Aurelia’s expression slowly changed.

Cain continued until the final trace of foreign energy vanished.

The crystal became noticeably clearer in his hand.

He held it toward her.

"Check it."

Aurelia accepted the crystal.

The System information appeared in front of her.

[Purified Zombie Blood Crystal]

[The Zombie Race contamination within the crystal has been completely erased.]

[The remaining blood essence and Life energy may be safely absorbed.]

Aurelia slowly raised her eyes.

She read the description again before slowly raising her eyes toward Cain.

"You can purify them."

"Yes."

"The Cores too?"

Cain nodded with a smile.

Aurelia looked toward the pile of harvested Cores.

Everything suddenly made sense.

The corpses Cain had asked permission to take were not worthless bodies to him.

Every one potentially contained a resource his group could actually use.

Her gaze returned to the purified Blood Crystal.

"How useful are they?"

"Enough that you probably shouldn’t have left those boxes behind." Cain chuckled lightly, then explained to her the use of the Purified Blood Crystal.

One of the men standing near Aurelia had been watching the entire exchange with an increasingly uncomfortable expression.

Cain had noticed him earlier. Ethan was one of the stronger 2nd Echelons in Aurelia’s group and had been fighting near the inner plaza before Cain arrived.

His gaze moved from the purified Blood Crystal in Aurelia’s hand toward the corpses being harvested across the street.

"Wait."

Aurelia glanced toward him.

Ethan hesitated briefly before pointing toward the bodies.

"We gave all of those to him."

Several members of their group turned toward the conversation.

Ethan continued, his expression growing more frustrated as the implication settled in.

"If those Cores can actually be purified, then we basically handed over everything we earned from the battle."

Cain remained silent as he had expected that someone might complain.

Ron happened to return at that moment with several newly harvested Cores in his hands.

He heard the last part and slowed down.

"Basically handed over?"

Ethan looked toward him.

"You know what I mean."

Ron walked over and dropped the Cores into the container beside Cain.

Clack!

"We asked before taking anything."

"That’s not what I’m talking about."

Ethan gestured toward the harvested corpses.

"We agreed because we thought they were useless. If we’d known he could remove the contamination, why would we give them away?"

Ron looked at him for a moment, then shrugged and sneered.

"And why is that our problem?"

He paused briefly.

"You couldn’t use the Cores. You couldn’t purify them. To you, they were worthless."

He then looked at Cain as he continued, "He can turn them into something useful. That’s his ability."

Ethan’s expression hardened.

"That doesn’t mean they weren’t ours."

"They were." Ron shrugged as he continued, "Until your leader gave them to Cain."

The blunt answer made Ethan fall silent for a moment.

Ron continued before he could object again.

"Cain didn’t walk over and start cutting open your kills behind your backs. He asked what you were doing with the corpses, and you guys said you were leaving them."

He pointed toward Aurelia.

"Then he asked if he could have them. She agreed."

Ethan glanced toward Aurelia before looking back at Ron.

"Because he didn’t tell us why he wanted them."

Ron laughed.

"Why would he?"

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"If you knew they were valuable, you obviously wouldn’t have given them away."

Ron said it as though the answer could not have been more obvious.