Super Gene Hunting Ground

Chapter 279: Chapter 279: Desert Underground River (Three More)

Yang Xiao rode the Flame Horse back to the Genetic Store outpost in the middle of the desert.

It had just passed noon, but Yang Xiao found that there was no one around the Genetic Store, not even his Giant Eagle was in sight.

”What’s going on?”

Yang Xiao rushed to the Genetic Store.

”Old Gu, where are all the people around here? Why is there not a single person?”

The store owner laughed and said:

”I heard that about fifty kilometers from here, a large area collapsed, and an Underground River emerged from the sand. In that river, there are many Mutated Desert Fish.”

”Desert Fish?”

Yang Xiao was stunned, he had never heard of fish in the desert.

”These Desert Fish usually live in the Underground River and have strong drought resistance capabilities. It’s rumored that many Desert Fish with at least Enhanced Gene Primary Level are in the river. These fish are easy to hunt and can burst out a lot of Genetic Balls, with each fish producing at least 10 Genetic Balls or even more. Hence, everyone has gone there to catch fish.”

Yang Xiao was dumbfounded upon hearing this, fishing in the desert, that truly sounded like a jest.

”When did this happen?”

”The day before yesterday.”

”Ah, will they come back tonight?”

”No need, there’s a Genetic Store about ten kilometers from that Underground River where they can rest overnight.”

”Oh, I see. Do you know where my Giant Eagle might be?”

”It was probably taken by the friend you entrusted.”

”If I rush there now, can I make it to that Genetic Store outpost before it gets dark?”

”With the Flame Horse, of course, you can.”

Yang Xiao checked the location on the map in the store’s lobby, then walked out of the store, jumped onto the Flame Horse, and sped away.

In this desert, there is a Genetic Store about every fifty kilometers, but these Genetic Store outposts in the desert are not accessible by Transmission Array; they require Hunters to travel on foot. Why there was such a strange arrangement, Yang Xiao didn’t bother to ask.

The Flame Horse moved swiftly, and whenever they encountered Mutant Monsters, Yang Xiao would just ignore them, as he could easily dodge by riding the Flame Horse.

No other creature could keep up with the speed of the Flame Horse, which surprised Yang Xiao. He guessed that the Flame Horse was only at the Enhanced Gene Primary Level, but its Agility Attribute might be extremely high, much higher than that of general Enhanced Gene Advanced Mutant Monsters, especially when the Flame Horse used Flame Cloud, its speed was astonishing.

As someone with only Enhanced Gene Primary Level, Yang Xiao could run the fifty kilometers in one hour by himself. However, if he encountered Mutant Monsters along the way, it wouldn’t be easy to escape, and he would have to fight to the death. If he came across a group of Monsters, it would indeed be problematic.

Moreover, running fifty kilometers at a stretch was also a big issue, as the physical exhaustion was immense, and encountering Mutant Monsters would be very dangerous.

Overall, the Flame Horse significantly enhanced Yang Xiao’s mobility and survival ability in the desert, which was why Yang Xiao was willing to spend one million Crystal Coins to redeem it and bring it out of the desert.

In about half an hour, Yang Xiao arrived at another Genetic Store marked on the map.

It was still early, and there were not many people here, just two or three teams resting nearby.

Yang Xiao dismounted from the Flame Horse and approached a group of people, asking:

”Brothers, could you tell me where the nearby desert underground river is located?”

The group looked up at Yang Xiao and laughed:

”Coming to pick up some fish as well? But you’re late, the underground river is already crowded, and the desert fish there must have been almost caught clean.”

One of them glanced at the Flame Horse behind Yang Xiao, looked slightly surprised, pointed towards the distance, and said:

”Head straight in that direction for about ten kilometers, and you will see a large crowd. If you hurry, you might still be able to find a few fish that slipped through the net.”

Yang Xiao thanked them and mounted the Flame Horse to race away.

After more than ten minutes, Yang Xiao indeed saw a crowd in a patch of the desert, twitching, with at least two to three hundred people there.

However, the atmosphere seemed a bit off, as if a group was fighting.

Fighting over prey in the desert is not uncommon.

Yang Xiao charged over on the horse.

...

For some unknown reason, the desert terrain here had collapsed, sinking about ten meters, revealing a section of an underground river about five to six hundred meters long and forty to fifty meters wide.

The flow of the underground river was slow, the water clear. Along both sides of the river, about two to three hundred people were crowded, each holding weapons, staring at the water. If mutant desert fish emerged from the upstream portion of the underground river, they would immediately kill them with various cultivation techniques and then drag them ashore.

These desert fish were not instantly killed in the water; usually, they were severely injured and incapacitated before being pulled out of the water and finished with a sword, which then caused a large number of genetic balls to burst forth.

Yang Xiao saw, on both sides of the underground river nearby, thousands of desert fish piled up like a small hill, generally about three meters in length.

Due to the large number of desert fish killed in a short time, nobody bothered with the bodies of the desert fish anymore, and after collecting the genetic balls, they tossed the bodies onto the nearby desert.

The desert has a large temperature difference between day and night, around minus ten degrees during the day and minus twenty at night, freezing the fish almost into ice pops.

Because it was subterranean flow, the water here did not freeze but instead carried geothermal heat, with the water temperature around four to five degrees above zero, emitting a white mist.

The underground river only exposed a section of about five to six hundred meters in length, and the water flowing out quickly entered another stretch of the underground river and continued its course downwards.

To catch the desert fish in the water, most of the people concentrated around the upstream portion of about a hundred meters.

Yang Xiao, riding the Flame Horse, stood outside the crowd, unnoticed as everyone’s attention was on the desert fish in the river and the ongoing fight upfront.

Yang Xiao walked slowly forward from behind the crowd and surprisingly found Zhou Jian and others fighting with a group of people.

...

This underground river appeared the day before yesterday, discovered by a group of hunters from Qingyun City.

The group was stunned when they found this suddenly emerging underground river.

At that time, the entire river was filled with golden-skinned desert fish. These fish were not very aggressive, only the sharp teeth in their large mouths posed a threat.

The eight people from Qingyun City immediately took action, hunted many desert fish, and obtained thousands of genetic balls.