Richest Rag-picker

Chapter 494: Chapter 466: The Asteroid Beneath the Magma

[Host’s query detected. The system will now respond. The asteroid is currently 537 meters from the Host. Time remaining until the system’s deadline: nine days, 12 hours, 38 minutes, and 51 seconds. Please retrieve it as soon as possible.]

Fang Chenyi hadn’t expected the system to actually answer him.

The thing never showed up when he actually needed it for something.

But now, when he just casually muttered a complaint, it popped up to respond.

Fang Chenyi shook his head, speechless. However, a question quickly occurred to him: how was he supposed to retrieve the asteroid?

According to the system’s response, the asteroid was clearly at the bottom of the lava right in front of him.

He quickly asked the system in his mind how he could possibly fish something out of the lava.

But no matter how he called out to the system or what questions he asked, its voice never sounded again.

This gave Fang Chenyi the urge to curse. ’Damn it, you go silent at the most crucial moments...’

His gaze returned to the churning volcanic lava before him, and he began to worry. ’What am I going to do?’

Even if he wasn’t afraid of the temperature here, there was a time limit.

With only nine days left, how on earth was he supposed to get the asteroid out of the lava?

Forget the temperature of the lava itself; even the ambient temperature out here was too much for ordinary materials to handle.

Suddenly, Fang Chenyi’s eyes lit up. ’Ordinary materials can’t take it, but what about my trash grabber?’

’That thing isn’t made of ordinary materials! It should be able to withstand the high temperatures here.’

But then Fang Chenyi shook his head again. ’Even if the trash grabber can withstand such high temperatures, what’s the use?!’

After all, the thing was only about a meter long. Forget retrieving the asteroid inside; from where he was standing, he couldn’t even reach the lava below.

It seemed he was stuck in a dead end. Fang Chenyi paced back and forth anxiously, but he really couldn’t think of a solution.

Time ticked by, little by little.

GRUMBLE.

Suddenly, Fang Chenyi’s stomach rumbled. Only then did he realize that, without him noticing, the sky had turned completely dark.

Not only that, but he also hadn’t eaten for nearly seven or eight hours.

At the same time, Fang Chenyi thought of Vajra. If he was hungry, that guy must have been starving for a while now.

Ever since its body was modified, Vajra’s appetite had become much, much larger than usual.

So, Fang Chenyi turned around, planning to check on Vajra first.

But just as he turned, the lava behind him suddenly erupted.

A massive pillar of lava shot toward the sky, spraying more than ten meters out of the cavern’s mouth before crashing back down.

Having already turned to leave, Fang Chenyi sensed a sudden flash of red light behind him. His heart jumped, and when he spun back around, he saw the churning pillar of lava.

But by then, the lava pillar was already falling like a rain of fire, splashing in all directions.

It was obviously too late for Fang Chenyi to dodge.

His heart sank, and he cursed inwardly. ’This is bad!’ Even though he knew he couldn’t escape it, he still pushed off the ground and bolted into the distance.

SPLASH.

The lava fell fast, crashing down in an instant.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

The lava made a series of muffled thuds as it hit the surrounding sand.

Fang Chenyi, who had just run about ten meters away, also felt a series of thumps on his head and body.

But to Fang Chenyi’s surprise, he didn’t feel any heat at all. Moreover, all the lava that had supposedly landed on him had slid off onto the ground.

To be more precise, the lava hadn’t touched his body at all!

He lifted his arm and saw the falling lava sliding away from a position about two centimeters from his body.

It was as if his body was enveloped in an invisible barrier.

The lava couldn’t even touch his clothes.

This scene left Fang Chenyi utterly astonished.

’What’s going on? Could the Water Spirit Pearl actually block lava?’

Fang Chenyi had never considered this possibility. He originally thought the Water Spirit Pearl could only ward off high temperatures, not that it could block physical lava.

At this thought, Fang Chenyi’s eyes lit up.

’The Water Spirit Pearl can separate me from the lava... so does that mean I can go down into it?’

The moment the idea surfaced, Fang Chenyi startled himself.

Everything he had ever known told him that lava was incredibly, incredibly hot. To now have the idea of going into it... that was truly insane.

But on second thought, he relaxed. After all, the existence of the Water Spirit Pearl had already upended everything he’d known his whole life.

Fang Chenyi was the type of person who had to test his ideas. With this in mind, he immediately reached down to grab a piece of the freshly fallen lava from the ground. Even though the lava on the ground had lost its red glow and turned pitch-black, one could only imagine how hot it still was.

However, in the next moment, Fang Chenyi easily grabbed the black lava from the ground.

And yet, he himself didn’t feel the slightest bit of heat.

Looking closely, he could see a faint blue ripple of light between the handful of lava and his palm.

It was this ripple of light that completely separated the lava from his hand.

After seeing this, Fang Chenyi didn’t stop his experiment. Instead, he tossed the handful of lava directly onto his clothes.

But no matter how hard he pressed, that same faint blue ripple of water remained between his clothes and the lava.

Seeing this, Fang Chenyi was overjoyed. ’Maybe this crazy idea of mine could actually work. Maybe I’ll be able to find that asteroid with ease.’

Of course, Fang Chenyi hadn’t forgotten about Vajra.

’I told Vajra to head back along the path we came. I wonder if he actually went back.’

With that thought, Fang Chenyi shook the lava from his hand and, once it was clean, quickly ran toward a nearby sand dune.

When Fang Chenyi reached the top of the dune, he scanned the surroundings using the red glow from behind him, but he couldn’t see any sign of Vajra.

He shouted Vajra’s name into the night sky a couple of times but received no answer.

This made Fang Chenyi breathe a sigh of relief, and he muttered to himself:

"I hope that guy went back."

Still uneasy, he ran down the dune and searched the area. Only after confirming that Vajra was nowhere to be seen did Fang Chenyi return to the edge of the lava cavern, his mind at ease.

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