Chapter 140: What Matters Is the Attitude!

As for the remaining tombs, there is plenty of time; I shall excavate them later when I have the opportunity. The volcano in the distance will also have to wait for another time.

Having been away for so long, it is time to return to the Saltwater Crocodile territory and distribute the newly acquired spirit stones. Among the hundreds of fragmented, low-grade spirit stones, I can share some with other saltwater crocodiles in addition to the leaders. I believe that before long, dozens more mutated crocodiles will be born.

Within half a day, Lu Chen returned to the territory. To his surprise, he found that except for Crocodile Boss, all the others were missing. Upon inquiry, Lu Chen learned that they were all staying in the Blue Star world, tinkering with their communication devices. As for why Crocodile Boss hadn't gone, it wasn't for lack of desire; it had lost a game of "frog jumping into a well" and was forced to stay behind to guard the home.

Hearing this, Lu Chen was left speechless. These fellows had truly turned into internet-addicted youths. Excessively indulging in the internet is harmful! The internet is a dangerous thing!

In truth, ever since Dong Mingjun delivered the communication devices, Lu Chen had rarely played with them himself. Most of the time, they were used by Crocodile Sister and the others. These guys had incredible learning abilities; they quickly learned how to watch movies and television, listen to music, and even play games—they often argued with each other over who got to play longer. Recently, Lu Chen had been considering asking Dong Mingjun for a few more devices to satisfy the little ones' demands.

As soon as he arrived in the Blue Star world, he saw the two crocodiles and the bird all gathered at the top of the waterfall mountain, playing with their devices and chattering away. However, before Lu Chen could speak, an inexplicable sense of crisis suddenly hit his consciousness. Startled, he looked up toward the sky. Sure enough, several black dots appeared at an altitude of several thousand meters.

"Hiss..." Lu Chen let out a sharp, urgent sound. Hearing his voice, the little ones playing with the devices immediately became alert. Seeing it was Lu Chen, they hurriedly called out to greet him. But noticing the alarm in his tone, they quickly jumped off the mountain top and darted into the subspace. Lu Chen looked back at the black dots in the sky once more, only to see them disappear.

Almost at that very moment, inside a high-security military facility in Madura, a human spoke in frustration: "Damn it, we must have been discovered by the Dragon King. If we had known this, we should have struck earlier instead of letting those other beasts escape."

"Scott, don't be discouraged. Since the Dragon King has appeared once, it will certainly appear again. What we need to do is wait patiently. The other reptiles were too weak, similar to those we captured before; they aren't of much value and weren't our true targets," another white man advised.

"But how long must we wait? There is clearly a subspace present there," the companion replied, unwilling to give up.

"Rest assured, I have a feeling it will appear again."

Lu Chen was unaware of which humans were plotting against him, but there was definitely malice involved. If it were merely high-altitude drone surveillance, he would not have felt such a strong sense of crisis. There was only one explanation for this: he had just been targeted by something. With Lu Chen's current strength, even a long-range missile strike might not be enough to wound him. However, for the sake of safety, he immediately took Crocodile Sister and the others back into the subspace.

Now that he possessed the subspace, Lu Chen was in a state where he could advance or retreat at will, so he had no desire to cause trouble for the humans. Out of sight, out of mind. Furthermore, he had many other things to do.

Next, Lu Chen began sending out the black-spotted bird as a messenger to summon the saltwater crocodile leaders scattered throughout the river for a meeting. Within half a day, over a hundred leaders had gathered. Beside them were other powerful members of their respective tribes. Upon meeting, the group began to discuss things eagerly, and the scene was chaotic.

Seeing this, Lu Chen was not only unbothered but actually felt a sense of gratification. Ever since the saltwater crocodile leaders consumed the spirit stones, their intelligence had improved significantly in just over half a month. Now, they could discuss many topics among themselves, or even engage in idle chatter—such as asking each other what delicious food or strange items could be found in their respective territories.

Just as Lu Chen was observing the leaders, a large fellow over seven meters in length crawled toward him. Upon reaching him, the creature opened its mouth and spat out a foul-smelling stone. The surface of the stone was yellowish-brown and crisscrossed with gullies, looking quite peculiar.

"Hiss, hiss..."

"Great King, this is what I found from the riverbed..." the creature said excitedly.

Hearing this, Lu Chen understood why it had brought him a stone. Last time he summoned them, he had told the leaders to search their territories for any strange stones and bring them to the main territory if they found any. His goal was to discover a spirit stone vein. The subspace was too vast, and relying solely on himself to explore would take an eternity; it was more important to mobilize the power of the masses. He had not expected this fellow to take his instructions so firmly to heart.

Lu Chen was very satisfied. Anyone who could remember a leader's instructions was definitely worth cultivating. It was the attitude that mattered! As for whether this stone had any value, that was secondary.

After praising the fellow publicly, Lu Chen immediately produced a spirit stone as a reward. Seeing the Great King's generosity, the other leaders looked on with envy, jealousy, and resentment, and they all began to contemplate whether there were similar things in their own territories.

Following this, Lu Chen distributed more spirit stones. Although these stones had been used and contained little energy, they were still rare treasures to the saltwater crocodiles. More importantly, the quantity was sufficient this time. In addition to each leader receiving one, the powerful members of the tribes also received half a stone each. As for the one who had contributed the stone earlier, it received another one.

For a moment, the entire scene was in an uproar. Many crocodiles swallowed the stones and underwent large-scale evolution once again. As Lu Chen had anticipated, most awakened water-based abilities. Of course, there were a few exceptions. For instance, a young, strong male crocodile awakened a lightning ability. After stimulating the energy within its body, a powerful electrical field formed within a four-to-five-meter radius, causing nearby companions to howl in pain. Another fellow grew three tails, appearing quite deformed. Lu Chen was speechless, unable to fathom what kind of ability "three tails" was supposed to be.

After the spirit stones were distributed, he picked up the yellowish-brown stone, washed it in the river water, and swallowed it.

"Gold nugget meteorite, provides 2 energy points..."

Well, I'll be—a natural gold nugget. It weighed over two pounds and glittered; clearly, the quality was very high. In the human world, it would probably sell for hundreds of thousands or even millions. This meant there was a gold mine in his territory!

After half a minute of excitement, Lu Chen returned to his calm state. For now, this gold was of little use to him. Two pounds only provided 2 energy points—it wasn't even as good as eating a small fish. However, if conditions allowed in the future, he could try to mine it and trade with the human world. After all, this stuff was a precious metal in the Blue Star, and that remained true even after the Great Transformation.