Everyone fixed their eyes on the swarm of sandworms emerging from the ground.There were so many of them, packed tightly together, stretching endlessly into the distance.Their thick, spine-covered bodies twisted and writhed, making a raspy, skin-crawling rustle that sent shivers down the spine.Cheng Xuening frowned, her voice laced with concern. “There’s way too many of them. We can’t fight them head-on—what do we do?”Yun Luohe remained relatively calm, keeping her eyes on the swarm as she observed closely.“Don’t panic. There’s always a way. Let’s first observe their movement patterns.”She activated [Scanning Eye], trying to locate a weak point or figure out the behavior of the sandworms.Sweat slid down Qin Sisi’s forehead, soaking the strands of hair by her cheeks. Suddenly, she spoke up in alarm.“Everyone be careful! These sandworms seem to be responding to some kind of signal—they’re moving toward us fast!”Yang Mian put on his protective gloves while speaking. “Let’s form a defensive ring first. Don’t let them get close.”Qin Sisi said, “If fire’s not an option, could we use water? I brought a lot this time…”“No.” Yun Luohe rejected the idea immediately. “Water is way too valuable right now. Wasting it on bugs like these is just not worth it.”The group was already standing back-to-back in a circle, weapons raised and ready, prepared for the incoming assault.Cheng Xuening suddenly had an idea. “We can use the terrain. There are a few small sand dunes around—if we can lure the sandworms over there, we might be able to trigger a collapse and bury a bunch of them.”Yun Luohe nodded. “That could work. But they come from under the sand to begin with, so even if they’re buried, they might dig themselves out again fast.Still… it’d be better if we just kill them. We might get some resources out of it.”Then she looked to Yúntūn.“Yúntūn, can you spit out some silk with a special scent to lure the sandworms?”Yúntūn nodded enthusiastically. Its small body wriggled quickly as it spat out a clump of silk carrying a crisp, woody scent.The sandworms seemed to catch the smell. They shifted direction en masse, swarming toward the web.Once they had completely covered the silk, Yun Luohe told everyone to fall back. She pulled out a torch and tossed it over.Yúntūn caught it with its silk.The torch instantly ignited the web, creating a wall of flame that scorched the swarm.The sand was soon littered with charred sandworm remains and scattered loot.“Hehe, don’t burn them—let me eat them!”Yúntūn suddenly got excited as it stared at the thick swarm of sandworms.Yun Luohe’s expression changed.She hadn’t expected Yúntūn to want to eat them.“Yúntūn, maybe don’t eat them this time?”What if it got indigestion again?Every time Yúntūn devoured a bunch of things, it evolved—but there were always some side effects.Yúntūn paused. “I can’t eat them? But there’s so many… and they look really tasty.”Yun Luohe said, “But you still haven’t fully recovered from what you ate last time.”Yúntūn looked at her with big, pitiful eyes. “I feel all better now! I really wanna eat!”Its eyes were filled with longing—as if those sandworms were its favorite delicacy.While Yun Luohe was going back and forth with Yúntūn, the others had already begun attacking the swarm.More sandworms kept emerging from the sand, continuing to press closer.Mu Zitang threw a smoke bomb into the swarm, disrupting their vision.A thick haze spread through the area, and the sandworms lost their sense of direction. Their movements slowed.Under the cover of smoke, the team managed to catch their breath and search for a better strategy.Cheng Xuening suddenly spotted a large boulder nearby. She had an idea.“We can roll that boulder into the swarm and crush some of them with its weight!”She and Qin Sisi pushed with all their might and finally got the boulder moving.The huge rock rolled down and crushed a wide patch of sandworms, creating temporary chaos in the swarm.Throughout all this, the Nightingale kept singing.Thanks to her song, none of them collapsed from heat exhaustion. Though they were still uncomfortable, it remained bearable.Yun Luohe finally agreed to let Yúntūn eat the sandworms.She also released Roubao to help out.Roubao’s combat strength was no joke—especially when it came to tiny creepy crawlies like these.Each paw strike flattened ten or so sandworms.Taking the opportunity, Yun Luohe also picked up her Multi-function Entrenching Tool and joined the fight.Each blow she struck precisely crushed several sandworms.Yang Mian’s weapon was custom-made—a massive axe with tremendous destructive power.Each swing gouged a crater into the sand, leaving the sandworms with nowhere to flee.After a fierce battle, the number of sandworms finally began to visibly decline.Yúntūn had no idea how many it had eaten—its belly was swollen and heavy. It lay limp on the ground, exhausted.The surviving sandworms began to retreat.Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief and collapse to the ground, their clothes soaked with sweat, completely drained.“They’re finally gone…”“If it weren’t for the Nightingale…”“That was intense. Yun-jie, your spider’s incredible—it must’ve eaten over a thousand of them.”“They dropped a ton of loot. Let’s grab everything—we’re running out of time. We’re about to get auto-ported out.”Yun Luohe and the others began gathering supplies.Where the sandworms had died, there were tons of Desert Fragments, Sandworm Glands, and Ice Crystal Stone Fragments.But just then, a countdown appeared on the system screen.Only ten seconds left before they were teleported back to the reef.They’d been so focused on fighting the swarm, no one had kept track of time—now it was too late.Fortunately, Yun Luohe had her Magnetite Ring, which pulled in the majority of the fragments nearby.The others scrambled to grab what they could.Once they returned to the reef, they handed all their collected Desert Fragments to Yun Luohe.Altogether, she now had eighty-plus Desert Fragments in her possession.[Collect 50 to unlock a hidden spring. Collect 200 to unlock oasis coordinates.]Yun Luohe decided to keep saving up.Since they had already gathered this much today, they could probably hit 200 in three more days.No need to rush the spring—no one in their group was lacking water at the moment.The oasis was the real goal.—Back at the reef, lead-gray clouds were gathering rapidly over the ocean.About a hundred meters offshore, towering waves—over ten meters high—were rising, an awe-inspiring sight.The Water Elemental Core atop the Elemental Alert ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Tower was glowing brightly.Who knew how long this alert status would last?“Looks like a thunderstorm warning.”During the last thunderstorm, there hadn’t been such a reaction—this time, it was clearly on a more severe disaster scale.Half the sky was blanketed in dark clouds. The other half still blazed with a red-hot sunset.Waves slammed against the cliffs. Bolts of lightning crashed down on the sea, sparks flashing as the water lit up—electrocuting a school of fish in the process.Dead and stunned fish floated to the surface.But no one dared enter the sea to retrieve them.If lightning could knock out the fish, it could certainly kill a person.It was best not to touch the seawater at all.Still, the seafloor probably wasn’t affected.Only those too close to the surface would be in danger.—Yun Luohe returned to her villa and released Yúntūn to check its condition.After eating so many sandworms, she was worried something had gone wrong again.But thankfully, it seemed fine.It looked completely satisfied, nuzzling against her as if to show its gratitude.Yun Luohe let out a breath. “You’ve done enough today. Get some sleep.”Yúntūn had done a lot—eaten even more—and sleep would help it digest faster.She was getting ready to cook dinner, both for Roubao and herself.“Roubao, what do you want for dinner?”Roubao: “Fat fish! Fat shrimp! And rabbit meat!”Yun Luohe: “Alright. Go gather some supplies first. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”Pleased to hear his request granted, Roubao was happy to follow orders—even when Yun Luohe told him to work.They’d brought back a lot of materials from the desert.Many of them had special functions.For example, Saltbush Root Powder—it could be used to make insulating coatings for wiring.Rat Hide could be used to make high-grade clothing, like waterproof jackets.And those were just the uses they knew so far—others were still undiscovered.They’d need the appropriate blueprints to know how certain items could be used.Based on the Adhesive Formula Cheng Xuening obtained, Sandworm Gland Mucus could be mixed with resin to make adhesive for repairing metal tools.Qin Sisi had gotten an Antitoxin Serum Formula that involved combining Sandworm Glands with cactus sap.Yun Luohe had already asked Mu Zitang to have members of the association watch for desert supplies on the trading market.A lot of players didn’t even know what their materials could be used for and were trading them away blindly.At the moment, most players were scrambling to get materials to upgrade their reefs in order to survive the thunderstorm disaster.As a result, trading volume on the marketplace had reached a new peak.Everyone had more stuff—and bigger needs.Yun Luohe also opened the trading center and chat channel to check what others had brought back from the desert.After all, the desert was huge. The five of them had only scratched the surface.“Before I logged out, I saw what looked like an oasis—could’ve been a mirage. Can anyone confirm?”“I brought back a ton of cacti—are they edible? They seem really useful.”“Unlocked a spring! The water’s sweet as nectar—it instantly cools you down. Anyone want some? 20 Iron Ore per bottle.”“Are you robbing me? One bottle of water for 20 Iron Ore? That’s insane.”“During the thunderstorm earlier, the sea was full of glowing jellyfish. Are they poisonous?”“Still in the water? Catch some! I’ll trade for them. The more, the better.”“I’m not going near those things. They’re electrified—I’m not risking it.”The one asking about Glowing Jellyfish was Wu Jing.Yun Luohe was immediately intrigued.She contacted the group leader from Heaven’s Secrets Pavilion to request information on the jellyfish.She no longer had to go through Mu Zitang to access research—it was much more convenient now.After stating her request, she quickly received all available data on the Glowing Jellyfish.There wasn’t much—because this species had only recently appeared.They were only found during thunderstorms, and very few players had encountered them.No one had managed to capture one alive.Coincidentally, a Heaven’s Secrets Pavilion member had accidentally obtained the corpse of one—and that’s how they discovered its traits.Still, the data wasn’t classified as S-rank intelligence yet, since not many people needed jellyfish.According to the report, the dead Glowing Jellyfish had a bell-shaped body with a diameter of 1.5–2 meters and tentacles up to 10 meters long.Its translucent form was laced with golden bioelectric circuit patterns.The corpse was currently with Si Qi for experiments.Tests showed that after absorbing electricity, its tentacles could release high-voltage arcs.Even in death, the jellyfish still retained considerable activity.If it were alive, the effect would likely be even stronger.But to catch a live one, insulated equipment was a must.Still, live specimens had potential uses Wu Jing probably understood better.Yun Luohe happened to have a Diving Permit.A trip into the sea wouldn’t be difficult.And with a thunderstorm active now, as long as she wore insulated diving gear, it should be fine.She had just acquired some Saltbush Root Powder—she could make insulation coating and apply it to the suit to block electricity.So Yun Luohe messaged Wu Jing:“I heard you’re collecting Glowing Jellyfish. Do they have some special use?”Not long after, Wu Jing replied:“Haha, Yun Luohe, you’re interested too? These jellyfish are super valuable.I can’t say too much right now, but if you get one, we can definitely talk trade.”

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