CHAPTER 290: CHAPTER 250: FOUNDING TITAN?! THE SECRET OF THE WORLD!

Carrying the fragments into the lake was useless; once the light approached, the group of piranhas would flee.

"Got it!"

Xu Xin thought of an idea and quickly put the fragments back into his backpack.

Instantly, the surroundings darkened.

Their night vision abilities were still active, so even with the dimming surroundings, it wasn’t a problem.

The fish in the lake lost the sheen of the white light and began swimming frantically.

Then, the lake bottom started to boil over!

Without the protection of the white light, the piranhas hidden in the distant riverbed collectively rushed into this area, stirring up a bloodbath within the lake waters!

"Yikes?!" Keke, who was held by Xu Xin, jumped in fright, quickly climbing onto his shoulder and hanging on his back, poking out a small head to look into the lake.

Xu Xin consistently kept an eye on the condition of the piranhas in the lake.

"Your method is good; it’s just a pity for these fish." Ji Chaoyang remarked while looking at the lake gradually turning red with the turmoil.

"I’ve already checked those fish; they’re no different from ordinary fish, and the materials are merely simple green-level materials."

"Oh? Then there’s no problem."

Xu Xin used the fish in the lake as bait, lured all the piranhas to gather in this lake, and when all the red dots congregated in the lake, he immediately pulled out the Treasure Pearl fragments again.

Instantly, white light shone onto the now blood-red lake water, causing it to boil even more!

But this time, the piranhas weren’t chasing fleeing ordinary fish; they were frantically fleeing under the white light, unable to find their way out of the lake due to panic!

Soon, the lake quieted down.

On the map, only a dozen red dots escaped the boundaries of the lake, while the remaining piranhas were all left at the bottom of this once Immortal Lake, now a blood lake.

After the piranhas died, they did not surface but sank to the bottom of the lake.

The remaining piranhas had all frantically swum along the underground dark river toward the interior of the Hilly Resource Zone, disappearing within seconds.

They were likely scared of this place and probably wouldn’t return for a long time.

Xu Xin glanced at the lake bottom and saw, through the reddened lake water, the floor littered with piranha corpses.

So many!

Not bad at all!

These piranhas were low-level mutated creatures; besides the blue-level fish scale skin, their meat could be eaten, and meat from low-level mutated creatures is very delicious and can enhance strength—it’s excellent meat!

"I’ll go down; this lake is very deep, you might not be able to withstand it." Saying that, Xu Xin jumped into the lake.

There were only a few ordinary fish left swimming in the lake, and seeing Xu Xin come down with the Treasure Pearl fragments, they all swam toward him.

"These fish have been influenced by white light for some time, maybe we can take them back for a look." Xu Xin quickly, as if catching ornamental fish before, created several wooden barrels in the water, caught the fish in them, and put them into his backpack.

Next, he went to the lake bottom and put all the piranha corpses into his backpack.

Even in the water, he could clearly feel his body getting much heavier.

Although a small portion of the piranhas escaped, more than twenty remained at the bottom of the lake; along with the eight that died before, the backpack contained a total of thirty-two dead fish. Even if only a tenth sank, that’s the weight of three over a meter long solid-meat piranhas!

Swimming to the shore, Xu Xin immediately divided half to Ji Chaoyang, "You take half; it’s too heavy and affects my mobility."

"Alright." Ji Chaoyang naturally accepted everything without hesitation.

The two didn’t immediately use boning knives to break down the fish because they now had the capability to craft purple-level boning knives, and planned to do so after returning, then break down these fish to see if they could obtain higher-level materials.

After finishing all this, Xu Xin glanced back at the direction they came from.

Even though they essentially swam here without looking for a path on land, Keke was always running on the shore, and Xu Xin also told it to alert them if anything happened on land.

Keke’s observation and perception abilities were much stronger than his, and if it hadn’t found an exit, it meant there was no exit along the road they came.

However, there was another exit underwater—the underground river channel through which the piranhas left.

The channel was about ten meters deep; if Xu Xin were alone, he could attempt it, but Ji Chaoyang, Silver King, and Keke couldn’t go through, and whether deeper inside there were more powerful mutated creatures unafraid of white light was unknown, thus naturally couldn’t attempt it.

It seemed that the iron room was the only option; perhaps an exit could be found there.

"Let’s go to the room behind the waterfall."

"Alright."

Before entering the water, Xu Xin glanced one last time at the ravaged shore and lake.

The deserted shore and reddened lake; he and Ji Chaoyang had turned the original ’paradise’ into a hellish scene.

Shaking his head, Xu Xin jumped into the water, swam to the lake’s far end, and once again passed through the waterfall, entering this iron room.

Because Xu Xin held the Treasure Pearl fragments in his hand, as he entered the iron room, it was illuminated by white light, and with the smooth iron walls, all directions were reflecting white light.

"Yikes!" Keke felt a little dazzled, lying on Silver King’s back with eyes closed.

Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang squinted, overwhelmed by the sudden brightness.

It’s strange; staring directly at the glowing fragments wasn’t blinding, yet why were these walls so glaring?

Moreover, the brightness showed no sign of diminishing; in fact, it was intensifying, and even the surrounding temperature started to rise!

It’s important to realize that the six sides of this iron room are all smooth metal and all are glowing. Their current situation is like standing inside a light bulb; it’s unbearable!

"Xu Xin, put away the fragment first. Otherwise, we won’t be able to keep our eyes open," Ji Chaoyang said, shielding his eyes with his hand and frowning.

Just as he spoke, the brightness of the room increased a bit more.

"Awoo!" The Silver King had also closed its eyes, lying on the ground with its paws covering its eyes.

"Alright, but be careful. This room is definitely peculiar; without the suppression of this core, there might be some problems," Xu Xin said, covering the glowing Treasure Pearl fragment with his hand, but the light seeping through his fingers made the room even brighter.

It seemed that covering it like this was useless.

Xu Xin immediately put the Treasure Pearl away.

Without the gleaming white light of the Treasure Pearl, the room didn’t immediately dim but remained very bright. Nonetheless, Xu Xin and others could feel the brightness gradually decreasing.

The feeling was as if the energy emitted by the Treasure Pearl was being absorbed by the room.

Gradually, although the brightness inside the room was still very high, they could finally open their eyes.

"Ying..." Keke released its paws covering its eyes and blinked, "Ying? Ying ying!"

Keke hopped onto Xu Xin’s shoulder, pointing a little paw toward the wall facing the entrance, using another paw to nudge Xu Xin’s face.

"What’s there?" Xu Xin squinted toward it. The iron wall was still just as bright, nothing visible, nor any signs of cracking or obvious change.

"Ying!" Keke continued pointing at the wall.

Seeing Keke so insistent, both Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang squinted at the still dazzling iron wall.

Gradually, the brightness dimmed, and Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang’s eyes opened wider and wider.

"This..."

"Is this... Chinese characters?"

Xu Xin quickly looked around; the other walls, the floor, and the ceiling had all turned normally dim, but there was something unusual about this wall.

Although this iron wall also dimmed, it didn’t completely, leaving behind a section of bright characters emitting white light, and they were Chinese characters that Xu Xin and the others could understand!

Soon, the wall had almost completely dimmed, and the characters became clearer.

And the first sentence left both Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang startled.

"...I am the giant guarding this world...?"

Could this be... a message left by the giant’s head?!

They immediately continued to read on.

"My blood has the power to mutate other creatures; all the giant beasts in this world have mutated due to my blood..."

Holy crap!

This is... the progenitor giant beast?! The reason all the giant beasts exist is due to its influence?!

In Xu Xin’s mind, images of the Lake Giant Python, the Riverbed Giant Crocodile, the Blood Pattern Giant, and the Giant Pangolin suddenly appeared.

So, these giant beasts were all affected by it?

"Six months ago, the world was invaded by external enemies. I fought hard to repel them, but the enemy possessed unknown powerful weapons, and I was ultimately defeated, escaping by chance."

Six months ago... Xu Xin’s information indicated it was fifty years ago. It seems this message was left here decades ago.

"Because the enemy’s minions were entirely covered in blood patterns, I called them the Blood Pattern Race."

"After my defeat, the Blood Pattern Race cast a scarlet glow, causing half the planet’s creatures to mutate."

"To prevent them from easily controlling this world, I used the last of my strength, mixing my vital blood into rivers, lakes, and oceans, causing the first batch of mutated creatures to not only gain the Power of Blood Patterns but also acquire giant beast potential."

"This initial batch would be completely controlled by the Blood Pattern Race, but as their giant beast bloodlines gradually awaken, they will ultimately regain their consciousness."

"However, I was thus discovered by the Blood Pattern Race. They couldn’t kill me completely, so my body and core of power were split into twelve parts and scattered worldwide, with my head trapped here, only a sliver of consciousness remaining."

"As consciousness was about to fade, a vague voice told me a group of travelers would come from another world to save this world teetering into darkness."

"This is the only hope for me and this world."

"I condensed the last power within my head into part of the broken core and left this message."

"This room was left by the Blood Pattern Race to suppress my remaining power, but with my core here, the Blood Pattern Race cannot approach; there’s no need to worry."

"This message can only be activated by my core. Although I am near death, the core still contains very strong power, preventing the Blood Pattern Race from approaching. Only those who can truly save this world can activate it."

"I hope those who see this message can find my body scattered across the world, to replenish the core of power."

"When the time comes, I shall be reborn and fight for the world."

"Until then, my power will be at your disposal."

"Traveler, I implore you, save this world!"

The bright text ended here, gradually fading away until it completely vanished, and the iron room fell into complete darkness.

Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang exchanged glances, both seeing the shock in each other’s eyes.

It seemed they had learned something incredible once again?