Shao Xuan didn't look at the rocks for long. He flipped through Su Le's recliner. There was a hidden compartment under the recliner, but there were only some pretty gemstones inside. Su Le might have taken away the important items.
Shao Xuan stepped over the recliner and came to the recliner behind it. This was where the person controlling the strange man sat. There was another hidden compartment under the recliner. There were no gemstones inside, only a few bottles. Shao Xuan took a sniff. There were eight bottles. Four of them were probably used for healing or other purposes, so they shouldn't be poisonous. The other four gave Shao Xuan a bad feeling. They might be poison or something else.
Judging from the traces in the hidden compartment, there should have been ten bottles inside. Two of them had been taken away, perhaps by the person before they escaped.
Shao Xuan removed the hidden compartment and put it aside. He walked around the small house and changed his vision. He scanned the interior of the house. There were no other hidden compartments, but there was another level below the house. In Shao Xuan's vision, there was another person below. He could only see the skeleton, so he didn't know what the person looked like. However, Shao Xuan became alert when he saw the skeleton below.
The human skeleton was very bright in Shao Xuan's vision. There was a qualitative difference between the bones of strong and weak people. In Shao Xuan's special vision, the bones of strong people were brighter. The bones below were even brighter than those of Ao and Zheng Luo! Shao Xuan had never seen such bright bones on a human before.
The flame on his saber that had just been extinguished reignited. Shao Xuan couldn't help but be cautious. He didn't sense the presence of a living person, nor did he sense any other energy waves. He thought that the strange man was no longer here, but who was the one below?
Shao Xuan leaped out of the house. He raised his arm and slashed at the side of the house close to the ground. He could see the situation inside through the gap.
There was a long wooden box inside. It looked like a coffin. The person was inside.
There was still no movement.
There was a long gap at the bottom of the hut, and the beetles didn't crawl in. The hut seemed to have been sprinkled with medicine, which had the effect of repelling beetles, so the beetles didn't come close.
Shao Xuan looked inside for a while, then walked over and pulled out the coffin with his free hand.
Strangely enough, the beetles avoided the coffin. They didn't even get close to it. After Shao Xuan dragged the coffin out and put it on the ground, the surrounding beetles avoided it.
Could it be that this coffin was also sprayed with insecticide?
"Xuan, what's that?"
Tower and the others did not dare to get close because of the insect horde. They could only watch from afar. Seeing Shao Xuan drag something out from under the hut, the others were also curious.
"I don't know," Shao Xuan said as he used the tip of his knife to pry open the lid.
Inside was a shriveled person. His skin was greenish-black, and his clothes looked strange. They were very simple and tattered. The accessories looked like they had been there for a long time. They would break with a pinch, and it was impossible to tell what they originally looked like.
Judging from the clothes and accessories, this corpse should have been left here for a long time. However, this corpse looked similar to the other monsters that had been controlled. Its entire body was shriveled, and there were clear traces of ribs. Its abdomen was sunken, but there were no signs of it being torn open.
The other monsters had signs of rupture because their organs were removed, but this one didn't. Was it because the people from Rock Hill City didn't have time to do it, or did they deliberately not do it? Or was there another reason?
A hawk screeched outside. Shao Xuan stopped looking at the person and closed the lid again. This kind of monster was not suitable for Yang Guang. Otherwise, the controllers wouldn't have covered their bodies with thick cloth to hide Yang Guang.
Chacha did not participate in the close combat. It had been watching from the sky to prevent others from approaching and attacking them. Now, Chacha warned them again. This time, it was not an enemy attack, but Sapphire's return.
Even without Chacha's warning, Shao Xuan could sense it. However, Sapphire looked miserable. Its forelimbs and hind legs were severely injured. One of its forelimbs was missing, and the other was not in good condition either. Its hind legs and forelimbs were in similar condition. There were many impact marks on its back. It was a smooth arc, but it looked like it had been smashed.
Sapphire didn't look this bad when it came out of the sand and chased after the Golden Armoured Beast. Clearly, this was the result of its continued pursuit.
When Sapphire returned, it was pushing a sand ball. It liked to roll its spoils into a ball and push it around.
When Sapphire pushed the ball upside down, the sand ball was slightly taller than it. On the sand ball, there were two pieces of golden hard armor that shone brightly under the sun.
They were two segments of hard armor from the Golden Armoured Beast's body. There was still flesh on them. They had been forcefully removed from the Golden Armoured Beast's body.
Shao Xuan shifted his gaze from the sand ball to Sapphire, who was already in front of him.
Upon closer inspection, Shao Xuan noticed that Sapphire's shovel-like head was slightly crooked. Its two paddle-shaped antennae drooped down like folded antennae.
When Sapphire chased after the Golden Armoured Beast, Shao Xuan didn't let it fight to the death. He didn't expect Sapphire to pursue to this extent.
Sapphire seemed to be in a hurry to explain something. Due to the connection between their consciousnesses, Shao Xuan could roughly guess why it couldn't bring Su Le and the controller here. Su Le and the others had reinforcements. Otherwise, Sapphire wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state.
Sapphire rolled the sand ball in front of Shao Xuan, indicating that it wanted Shao Xuan to examine its results. Its two folded antennae swayed anxiously and nervously.
Seeing Sapphire's reaction, Shao Xuan smiled. He cut open the sand ball with his saber and dug out two pieces of shiny, ring-shaped hard armor from the sand ball. There was no one inside, but there were two small bottles. Shao Xuan guessed that they were together with the eight bottles he found in the hidden compartment of the hut. Perhaps they were dropped when Sapphire was chasing after them.
The opening of the bottle was tightly sealed. Shao Xuan examined it. The bottle wasn't broken. The medicine inside had a refreshing smell that refreshed one's spirit. It was probably a healing medicine.
Other than these, Shao Xuan also dug out a palm-sized green metal plate from the sand ball. There were words engraved on it, the number '22'.
Putting aside the meaning of this number, the palm-sized metal plate in Shao Xuan's hand was similar to Yanjiao's new bronze. It was probably made from the blood of a green-faced fanged beast that the people of Rock Hill City had captured. However, its quality was slightly better than that of Yanjiao's and it was also more exquisite.
Looking at the nervous giant blue beetle in front of him, Shao Xuan asked, "Do you want to unlock the last lock?"
Sapphire's two antennae shook. The folded section seemed to lift up, and its hind legs that were missing a section kicked the sand. It was agitated.
Shao Xuan didn't intend to unlock the fifth lock so soon. Sapphire had just woken up not long after the fourth lock was unlocked. Unlocking the fifth lock so soon would be risky.
Secondly, Shao Xuan thought about it the most. The more slaves he unlocked, the stronger he would become. Many slaves who broke free from their shackles relied on their talents and willpower after unlocking the second and third locks. Sapphire's body was different from the other slaves with three locks. When Shao Xuan enslaved it, he placed five locks on it. So far, he had already unlocked four.
Shao Xuan didn't know if the giant blue beetle would break free from his control after unlocking the fifth lock. It might even break free from his enslavement. However, he didn't know when he would return after leaving the desert this time. Would the injured Sapphire be targeted by the people of Rock Hill City? What would happen when that happened? Shao Xuan couldn't predict it.
He didn't manage to capture Su Le's men this time. With Su Le's vengeful personality, he would definitely do everything in his power to seek revenge. Yanjiao was too far away from the desert. The possibility of Su Le leaving the desert wasn't high. Thus, he could only target Sapphire. The insect swarm was too big a target. It wasn't impossible for Su Le to find Sapphire. He could even set up some traps to lure the swarm.
There were many factors to consider. If he wasn't careful, the knife in his hand could become a tool to stab himself. However, Sapphire's performance this time made Shao Xuan decide to unlock the fifth lock.
Ji Ju once said that the loyalty of the first slave was much higher than that of the other slaves. Shao Xuan was willing to take a gamble. Even if Sapphire really broke free in the future, it wouldn't turn against Shao Xuan.
Other than Sapphire, Shao Xuan also noticed during this trip to the desert that Sapphire was faintly influencing the other beetles that followed it. There were changes in the swarm. Some beetles were larger than the others. When Sapphire was in hibernation, these beetles led the swarm to sweep the desert. Every time they swept, beetles would die and new beetles would join them. The swarm had expanded compared to before. However, based on the conditions here, the number of beetles in the swarm would eventually fluctuate within a certain range. If there were too many beetles, they wouldn't be able to survive with limited food.
However, the future of the swarm still depended on Sapphire. A swarm with a leader was completely different from a swarm without one. A swarm with a leader knew how to coordinate strategically while a swarm without a leader would be more disorganized and wouldn't survive for long.
"I wonder what you'll look like after you're fully unlocked," muttered Shao Xuan as he watched the giant beetle kick its legs excitedly.
After the swarm of insects retreated, the Yanjiao people removed the armour from the slaves that had been beaten to the bone. In Gongjia Ren's words, these were good materials for forging.
The two pieces of golden armour that Sapphire brought back were also taken away by the Yanjiao people. Shao Xuan carried the coffin-like wooden box, planning to study it when he got back.
The group didn't stay for long. After a short rest, they left in case the people from Rock Hill City came.
When they were about to reach the edge of the desert, Shao Xuan unlocked the fifth lock for Sapphire.
Perhaps after unlocking all the locks, Sapphire could become a king beast like other fearsome beasts.
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