Death… And Me

Chapter 4389: Dig!

While Rean continued mourning the state of his beloved airplane, Roan allowed his Crystal Void Weapon to dissolve back into energy and carefully observed the surroundings. The Guardian Cores that had managed to avoid being buried were now all trapped within the same enclosed space as their group. So, Roan kept his guard up, unwilling to lower it until he fully understood what was happening.

For the moment, however, the cores showed no signs of aggression. They simply drifted through the air, moving aimlessly as if searching for an exit that no longer existed.

Once he was satisfied that no immediate danger was present, Roan turned toward Rean, who was still looking ready to burst into tears again.

"You can repair your airplane later," he said flatly. "Just make sure it can still fly. More importantly, was it the disguise array that stopped the attacks?"

Everyone else immediately shifted their attention toward Rean as well.

Rean rubbed his eyes before letting out a long sigh. He clearly wasn’t in the mood to explain anything, but there wasn’t much choice.

"Yes..." he admitted reluctantly. "The disguise array worked in the end. Fortunately, the Godly Pressure signature of these guardian cores is different from that of actual Godly Creatures. Because of that, even though it is at the level of a Godly Predator, it can be used. Even better, maintaining the disguise consumes very little energy for the same reason."

He motioned for everyone to follow him.

"Come inside. It’ll be easier to explain."

The group entered the airplane once again, gathering around the temporary setup Rean had assembled in its center. Numerous arrays had been hastily connected together, surrounding the guardian core suspended in the middle of the structure.

Instead of explaining immediately, Rean pointed toward the core.

"Take a closer look with your Celestial Senses."

Everyone did as instructed.

It only took a moment before they noticed what Rean had wanted them to see.

"The core..." Harksha murmured. "Is it Godly Energy? There is Godly Energy entering it..."

"Exactly," Rean confirmed with a nod. "Even though the core lost whatever allowed it to receive commands, its innate functions are still intact. It continues absorbing the ambient Godly Energy from the ruins exactly as before."

He pointed toward several connected arrays surrounding the core.

"The Godly Energy it absorbs becomes its own identification signature. So, like with the Godly Crystals, I split the core’s energy and use the Godly Pressure. In other words, the disguise array is making us appear as this guardian core itself."

Rean looked around at everyone before concluding.

"To every other Guardian Core outside, we’re no different from another one of them. That’s why they stopped attacking as soon as I activated the array."

The explanation made immediate sense to everyone present.

Even so, Rean quickly raised a warning.

"Don’t get careless. The disguise array only covers about twenty meters around the airplane. The moment you leave that range, you’ll no longer carry the disguised signature. If that happens, every guardian outside will immediately recognize you as a foreign target."

Harksha subconsciously glanced outside the airplane.

Darkness filled nearly every direction. They were buried deep beneath countless tons of earth and rock, with only the airplane’s internal illumination providing any meaningful light. Celis’s enormous roots supported the unstable cavern above them, preventing the entire place from collapsing.

Still...

Her gaze shifted toward the airplane itself.

It wasn’t exactly a small vehicle.

"So..." Kentucky scratched his head. "Do we just... dig?"

Rean shrugged as if the answer were obvious. "If you have a better idea, I’m all ears. Otherwise, that’s exactly what we’re doing."

He pointed toward Celis. "Fortunately, we have him, and we still have plenty of Godly Crystals. As long as he can keep restoring his roots, he’ll continuously reinforce the tunnel while we excavate a path wide enough for the airplane."

Roan immediately connected to the airplane’s terminal. A new three-dimensional terrain map rapidly formed before them as the airplane scanned the surrounding rock formations.

Underground, the scanners could only penetrate roughly five kilometers of terrain, but that was already sufficient.

Roan studied the map for a few moments before giving his conclusion. "The tunnel we entered through has collapsed for a little over three kilometers."

He shifted his attention toward the opposite direction. "As for the other side... the scanners can’t even detect where the collapse ends. Digging toward the entrance is still our best option."

Harksha scratched the back of her head with an awkward smile. "That’ll take... quite a few hours."

"Then we’d better begin immediately," Rean replied.

He looked around the damaged interior of the airplane before letting out another helpless sigh. "You guys start digging. I’ll stay behind and repair the airplane."

He paused briefly before adding, "Actually, don’t rush. Take your time. Rest if you need to. Even if you somehow finish digging today, it won’t matter. Repairing the airplane enough for it to fly again will take several days, not just a few hours."

His eyes swept across the damaged arrays covering the aircraft. "I just hope I brought enough replacement runes..."

There was little else to discuss.

Everyone exited the airplane once more, and Harksha joined forces with the Aura Gods to carefully lift the damaged aircraft using their combined Godly Energy. Since the disguise array only protected a twenty-meter radius, they moved it as close as possible to the collapsed tunnel wall they intended to excavate.

Meanwhile, Rean stepped outside and began inspecting the airplane’s damaged Light Bending Arrays.

Celis truly hadn’t left a single usable plate attached to the airplane. During the battle, he had stripped away every one of them to redirect the guardian lasers.

Fortunately, many of those plates were still scattered throughout the surrounding debris. Quite a few had shattered beyond repair, but others remained mostly intact. Recovering and restoring them would still save a considerable amount of work.

After gathering every usable Light Bending Array Plate he could find, Rean thoroughly inspected the remaining array runes before checking the reserve array runes stored inside his Spatial Ring.

Several minutes later, he frowned.

"Not enough..." He narrowed his eyes while looking over the available materials. "Not nearly enough to restore the complete light-bending system."

Turning toward Harksha’s group, he raised his voice. "Is anyone here an Arrays Master? I need someone capable of manipulating energy outside their body. Several of these repairs require at least Level Two proficiency."

Harksha immediately turned toward the Spirit. "Fohui?"

The Spirit immediately rejected the idea. "No, no. Don’t look at me. I studied arrays for a while out of curiosity, but that’s all. Calling me an Arrays Master would be generous. At best, I barely qualify as a Level One Arrays Master. You’re asking for Level Two work."

"That’s enough," Rean replied without hesitation.

Fohui was taken aback. "What?"

"You don’t actually need to know how to design the arrays," Rean explained. "I’ll handle all the difficult parts. You just need to manipulate the energy exactly as I instruct you. These Light Bending Array Plates aren’t particularly complicated to repair."

He gestured toward the others. "The rest of you can continue digging."

Fohui still looked unconvinced, but before he could refuse again, Harksha stepped in.

"Just give it a try," she said. "Like Rean mentioned, the airplane won’t be ready for several days anyway. We lose nothing by helping."

Seeing no way out of it, Fohui sighed and reluctantly walked over to Rean. "I’m warning you in advance," he repeated. "You shouldn’t expect much from me."

"Yeah, yeah," Rean dismissed him with a wave. "You’ll be fine. Come on."

The two had barely taken a few steps before Rean suddenly stopped.

One of the Guardian Cores happened to drift past him.

Without any hesitation—

*Grab!*

The surrounding Aura Gods instantly felt their backs grow cold.

Up until now, none of them had dared touch the Guardian Cores directly.

Yes, the disguise array prevented them from attacking, but physically grabbing one was an entirely different matter. What if direct contact somehow bypassed the disguise? What if the core suddenly reacted?

Yet Rean displayed not the slightest hint of concern as he calmly examined the floating core in his hand. "Interesting..."

He gently rotated it while observing its behavior. "Now that it recognizes me as another guardian, it doesn’t even try to escape." A smile gradually spread across his face. "We’ve got plenty of Godly Crystals, but repairing the airplane and excavating our way out is going to consume a ridiculous amount of them."

He lightly tossed the core once before catching it again. "Might as well put these big guys to work instead."

Not far away, Celis was extending fresh roots to reinforce the tunnel walls when he noticed what Rean was doing. "I’ve already tested that," he warned. "The Godly Energy inside those cores can’t be used for cultivation. It’s completely different from the Godly Crystals produced by actual Godly Creatures."

Celis’s expression became unusually serious. "Don’t absorb it into your body. It’ll act like poison instead. At best, it’ll severely damage your cultivation foundation."

Rean raised an eyebrow. "Even you can’t use it?"

Celis nodded without hesitation. "Not even I can."

That answer alone was enough for Rean to abandon any dangerous ideas.

"Very well," he said, putting the guardian core under one arm. "Then I’ll only use them as an energy source for the airplane’s equipment."

Finally, he looked back toward Fohui. "Come on. Let’s get to work."