They were two crocodile turtles, each over two meters long, with thick, blunt, rounded limbs, short toes, and no webbing between their toes.
Their limbs were covered in rings of ice, and their backs were covered in layers of accumulated ice spikes, with many jagged ice shards growing along the edges of their carapaces.
Their heads were brownish, triangular, with hooked upper beaks, seemingly possessing extremely strong biting power.
However, these two turtle-like demonic beasts were not what attracted Han Badou the most; what surprised him most was that the source of this stream was actually those aquamarine starfall crystals.
From the bottom of the starfall crystals, which were only seven or eight square meters in size, water continuously seeped out.
This water spread out, forming a small circular pool, and the accumulated water flowed down along the low-lying areas, thus forming this small stream.
“That crystal mine can produce water?”
Han Badou knew his question was a bit absurd, but this world was already absurd enough.
“No, that crystal mine is called starfall crystal, as the name suggests, it fell from the sky.
It probably just happened to block that spring.”
Chen Bugu glanced at it and said indifferently.
Han Badou instinctively wanted to complain about what kind of spring could be so big, but suddenly caught sight of the two giant turtle-like demonic beasts beside the crystal mine, and then felt that the size of the spring seemed normal after all.
“What kind of demonic beast is this?”
Bai Ting’s head suddenly popped out between Chen Bugu and Han Badou.
“Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle, a Black Iron mid-tier demonic beast.
Its limbs are incredibly strong, and the beak on its head has extremely strong biting power.
The ice crystals covering its body not only provide it with ice-attribute abilities but also offer excellent defense.
Fortunately, it is relatively gentle by nature.
However, this kind of demonic beast is very protective of its young and becomes particularly irritable during the egg-laying period.”
“Based on the size of these two, they are probably both around Black Iron Five-Star.”
Chen Bugu recalled as he spoke.
Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle, he had encountered one in his previous life in the extreme north.
However, that was a mutated species, its strength had long since broken through the Black Iron stage.
Chen Bugu had once seen it from afar through a snowstorm and heavy fog.
That Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle was like carrying an iceberg, only revealing a tip of the iceberg, slowly passing before him, already scaring him so much that he couldn’t move an inch.
But thanks to the relatively gentle nature of this demonic beast, that mutated species didn’t pay any attention to him.
“Do you want the egg of this demonic beast?” Bai Ting turned his head to look at Chen Bugu.
From Chen Bugu’s reaction during his negotiation with Xu Lu earlier, almost everyone knew he was very interested in that demonic beast’s egg.
“Don’t you envy Teacher Lin?”
Chen Bugu did not answer Bai Ting directly, but instead said something inexplicable.
Bai Ting turned to look, only to see Lin Ye and a young soldier chatting together.
“What’s wrong?”
Bai Ting looked back at Chen Bugu, not knowing what he meant.
“Awakeneds with summoning abilities like Teacher Lin can summon and contract a life-bound summoned beast when their strength becomes powerful in the future.”
“Such summoned beasts have no summoning time limit; they will always accompany their master, never betraying them, and are almost the most reliable and powerful companions.”
“Not everyone can possess summoning abilities, but for oviparous demonic beasts, as long as you continuously feed them with spiritual power before the young beast hatches, the moment it hatches is when it recognizes its master.”
“Even if we don’t hatch them ourselves, they will surely fetch a good price in the future.”
Chen Bugu had planned to raise a demonic beast in his previous life, but oviparous demonic beasts were not the majority, and demonic beast eggs were extremely rare, basically having a price but no market.
With his former strength and financial resources, he could only sigh in despair.
“Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles generally lay seven or eight eggs per clutch.
Since we’re going to offend them anyway, we might as well take one.”
After Chen Bugu finished speaking, his drone also happened to fly back.
He put it away and placed it in his storage ring.
At this point, they were only one kilometer away from their destination.
Xu Lu stepped back from the front of the team and came to Chen Bugu’s side, re-emphasizing their combat plan.
The plan was simple: when they were about 300 meters from the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles, the soldiers of the second squad would use gunfire to attack the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles.
When the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles chased them halfway, the soldiers of the second squad would retreat while fighting.
At that time, Bai Ting and others would also need to coordinate their attacks to delay the two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles.
Chen Bugu’s task was to seize that gap and quickly go to the starfall crystals for collection.
Xu Lu’s requirement was simple: she didn’t ask Chen Bugu to risk his life, but since he had put away his drone, he had to bring back at least one kilogram of starfall crystals.
Chen Bugu agreed.
He couldn’t say for sure about defeating the two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles, but with the enhancement of “Bullet Time,” just taking some things away should be no problem.
“Additionally, Mr. Chen, I must remind you that those two demonic beasts seem to value their eggs very much.
I hope you do not forget your mission because of those eggs.”
Xu Lu stared at Chen Bugu’s eyes very seriously and repeated it again.
Chen Bugu nodded and said, “To be entrusted by others is to be loyal to their affairs.”
Two minutes later, everyone stopped.
This position was only about 300 meters from the two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles, and everyone could already vaguely see the appearance of the two demonic beasts.
Although they were currently lying on the ground, they were already vigilantly staring at Chen Bugu and his group.
After all, with forty or so people walking up the rocky beach, it was inevitable to be discovered.
“Mr. Chen, are you ready?”
“Professor Xu, how far is the detection range of your instrument that monitors our breakthrough level?”
“About 100 meters, why?”
“Then it’s nothing.
Action is temporarily suspended; we need to first determine the level of danger.”
After Chen Bugu finished speaking, he took Han Badou and walked a few steps forward.
“Han Badou, I will take you to a place where it can be detected, but that will inevitably anger the two demonic beasts, so we must retreat before they chase us out.
You will only have about two or three seconds for monitoring, OK?”
“No problem, Chen Dage.”
Han Badou nodded.
Chen Bugu took Han Badou and tentatively continued to walk forward.
When they were about 150 meters from the two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles, the two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles had already stood up and were staring intently at the two of them.
Chen Bugu knew that this was pretty much the limit.
If they went any further, the two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles would immediately chase them out, which would compress the time left for Han Badou.
Silver light flickered in Chen Bugu’s eyes as he activated “Bullet Time.”
He pressed one hand on Ba Dou’s cervical spine, put his other arm around Ba Dou, and quickly rushed forward.
In the eyes of Xu Lu and others, Chen Bugu suddenly burst out with incredible speed, leaving a trail of afterimages, covering a distance of nearly seventy meters in less than 2 seconds.
“Han Badou, begin!”
Han Badou forcibly endured the discomfort, red light flickered in his eyes, and he quickly began Energy Monitoring.
The two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles suddenly reacted, roaring and running, charging towards Chen Bugu and him.
At this moment, their distance was less than 80 meters.
The Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle appeared clumsy, but its incredibly powerful limbs moved with remarkable coordination when running, and its strong footpads exploded with extreme speed when stepping on the ground.
“Han Badou, hurry up, you only have 3 seconds left.”
Han Badou remained silent, concentrating on completing his task.
“We have to go!”
Chen Bugu activated “Bullet Time” again.
This time, Xu Lu and the others only saw a rapidly flickering afterimage, and in another three seconds, Chen Bugu and Han Badou had already appeared before them.
“How was it?”
“Besides the two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles, there are no other energy bodies nearby, but those crystal mines emit very powerful energy.
That area is occupied by a large mass of energy, and nothing else can be seen.”
Chen Bugu nodded.
Out of caution, he still had Han Badou perform an Energy Monitoring.
starfall crystals inherently contained a large amount of energy, and the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles laying their eggs next to these starfall crystals was probably to allow the unhatched young beasts to absorb more energy in advance, so as to become stronger.
“Mr. Chen, your speed is truly astonishing.
It seems this mission will not be difficult for you.
Can we begin?”
Xu Lu handed Chen Bugu a trench shovel; clearly, Chen Bugu’s speed had given her great confidence.
“No need, I’ll use my knife.
Please begin.”
Chen Bugu silently walked to one side and began to prepare.
At Li You’s command, all soldiers in the second squad raised their guns, awaiting orders.
Xu Lu watched as the two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles, having failed to catch Chen Bugu, silently returned to the starfall crystals.
He gestured to Li You.
“Fire!”
Countless bullets spewed out, striking the bodies of the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles, sparking a series of flashes.
The two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles cried out in pain.
Faced with repeated provocations, they were clearly somewhat enraged, roaring as they directly charged towards the crowd.
“Crack~”
However, it was at the moment they left that they did not notice a few crisp sounds emanating from the eight demonic beast eggs behind them.
Subsequently, red blood and black smoke seeped from the broken surface of one demonic beast egg…
