Moving the Crystal Stones was a major undertaking, so Tang Mo couldn’t afford to be anything but cautious.
From the moment Jingjing first emerged from the quicksand, Tang Mo had dedicated a portion of her spiritual power to monitoring the surrounding several miles. She would immediately sense any disturbance.
Just a moment ago, Tang Mo had sensed a small group of people heading this way, which was why she had quickly ducked into the sand dune.
The two people on the ground were still fast asleep, completely unconscious.
’Did I go too hard on them?’ Tang Mo scratched her head and reached out, untying the cloth strips that bound the two one by one.
Some scattered Blood Red Crystal Stones and Light Blue Crystal Stones remained inside the sand dune, while White Crystal Stones covered nearly the entire cave.
Tang Mo didn’t plan on sending Jingjing down for a second haul. Even farmers know to leave the persimmons at the very top of the tree for the sparrows in winter.
The remaining Crystal Stones were a blessing from the universe to the world, and Tang Mo didn’t like to take things to the extreme.
Heaven’s path is cyclical. Perhaps because she had been reborn, Tang Mo actually put a lot of stock in such metaphysical concepts.
So, since these things were bound to be discovered by someone eventually, she certainly couldn’t leave behind any loose ends.
These two guards from Sand Town had never seen her. Untying them now would just make them think they’d had a rough night’s sleep that left them with sore backs.
It had just been an ordinary night, no different from any other.
Once all that was done, Tang Mo scooped up Jingjing and bolted, disappearing from the other side of the desert.
She knew who was coming and what they wanted without even having to look.
Lin Shourong and his people were probably so worried about the things here that they couldn’t even stomach their food if they didn’t come to check on it at least once a day.
The Desert Flower had not yet bloomed, and the quicksand still guarded this place like a Devil. No one dared to make a rash move.
Tang Mo wasn’t worried in the slightest. The top priority for her, after being up all night, was to get back and sleep. That was what really mattered.
There was nowhere in the desert suitable for a person to rest. Left with no other choice, Tang Mo could only slip back, "unseen by god or ghost," into the room Lin Yu had prepared for her.
Xianxian’s room wasn’t large. The bed took up half the space and was exceptionally soft.
Using her last ounce of energy, Tang Mo pulled out a large wooden tub, filled it with water, and gave herself a proper bath with shampoo and shower gel before changing into clean clothes.
It wasn’t that she was being extravagant, really. She just hadn’t bathed in so long, and besides, water wasn’t considered a luxury item outside.
She didn’t stop after washing herself; Jingjing got a full-body cleaning as well.
Once everything was done, the girl and her beast lay down on the bed. They both fell into a deep sleep the moment their eyes closed.
When Tang Mo opened her eyes again, a glance at her watch told her it was already afternoon.
Jingjing was sleeping soundly, its head resting against the pillow. Its little belly rose and fell with each breath.
Tang Mo didn’t wake it. She sat up and started scrolling through her watch, reading the latest papers and announcements from the base’s research institute.
Then, she opened up her attribute values. She wasn’t one to obsess over numbers and hadn’t checked her own stats in a long time.
ID: Tang Mo
Life Value: 225
Strength Value: 198
agility: 268
spiritual power: 1024
Space: 0
Overall Strength: 1715
1715!
It was so much higher than last time.
Tang Mo couldn’t remember what her attribute values were the last time she’d checked, so she had no real basis for comparison.
She opened the rankings and saw that she had already reached 48th place.
An Overall Strength of 1715 put her in 48th place.
’Tsk, tsk. You can just imagine how hard everyone in the world must be working to raise their attribute values.’
But...
Tang Mo thought about the four mountains of Crystal Stones piled up in her Space.
’I wonder what my rank would be if I absorbed all of them.’
It was just a passing thought, though. Even if Crystal Stones put little strain on the body, Tang Mo wouldn’t absorb them excessively unless it was necessary.
She still wanted to see just how high she could climb relying on her own power.
The old saying "with grain in your hand, your heart will be at ease" wasn’t just empty words. Even without using them, just having those Crystal Stones sitting in her Space made Tang Mo feel that life was, for some reason, just a little bit brighter.
"You’re awake?"
Lin Yu, hearing a sound from outside the door, quickly asked.
Tang Mo had given him instructions earlier, so he hadn’t dared to disturb her. Not knowing if she was awake, he could only pace back and forth outside.
The moment he finally heard some noise from the room, he had immediately called out.