Volume 1, Chapter 53: Legendary Detection Core

The rubble above froze into ice.

Zhang Wei did not waste energy fighting the debris pressing down upon him; for now, he only needed to ensure that the stones overhead would not collapse any further.

Once the ice and rubble reached the required level of hardness, Zhang Wei began digging downward.

This part was relatively simple. His mecha's hands functioned like the large claws of an excavator; as long as the strength was sufficient, digging a pit was naturally effortless.

Ten minutes later, Zhang Wei successfully escaped.

"As expected, they all ran off," Zhang Wei sighed as he climbed out of the riverbed. Not a single shadow of a crab was to be seen anywhere now.

However, Zhang Wei felt no disappointment. Tossing aside all regard for his image, he sat down on the river embankment and produced the prismatic source crystal that radiated a mesmerizing glow.

"What kind of item will this yield?"

With an excited heart and trembling hands, Zhang Wei actually hesitated for a moment to unlock this source crystal.

"I hope it turns out to be something good."

"Activate."

"Ding, congratulations on obtaining the Legendary-grade Detection Core."

"A Legendary-grade core? Holy cow!" Zhang Wei exclaimed in surprise.

Detection Core (Legendary): Combat power +50, 2 grid slots, precise detection range of one kilometer, broad detection range of ten kilometers.

"Equip."

The moment the detection core was integrated into the mecha, the imagery within Zhang Wei's vision shifted, and a detection icon appeared in his field of view.

Resembling a car's head-up display, it was prominent yet did not obstruct his sight.

When Zhang Wei shifted his focus toward the detection icon, it would execute either precise detection or broad detection based on his mental intent.

"Precise detection."

The next instant, everything within a one-kilometer radius of Zhang Wei was deeply etched into his mind, clearer than images transmitted by high-precision satellites. He could casually inspect the interiors of buildings, underwater depths, subterranean depths of ten meters, and even the narrowest crevices, exactly as though a nano-camera were flying around everywhere to conduct surveillance according to his will.

"Broad detection."

The detection range expanded to ten kilometers. The visual feed transformed into what a high-precision satellite could provide; the hyper-detailed sensation vanished, and he could no longer probe deeper layers, but much like a person gazing down from high altitude, he could view the detailed conditions of open terrain.

"Oh? Found them."

Zhang Wei stood up swiftly.

During precise detection, he had not spotted the fleeing crabs, but under broad detection, Zhang Wei caught sight of them.

Originally, Zhang Wei thought he had no further affinity with those crabs, but alas, their connection had been forcibly renewed by the Legendary-grade Detection Core.

Since they had been located, what hesitation was left?

Pursue!

Zhang Wei was only about four or five kilometers away from those crabs.

At his speed, it took him less than two minutes to catch up with the migrating group of crabs.

By this time, there were not many large crabs left among the swarm; the majority were tiny ones.

However, Zhang Wei was not picky. From afar, he bestowed upon them a round of Extreme Thunder Heavens, while his floating cannons locked onto the mutant crab and fired continuously.

The swarm of crabs instantly descended into chaos, as they never expected Zhang Wei to catch up to them.

The mutant crab targeted by the floating cannons was both furious and terrified. It turned out he really had caught up; viewed this way, the fallback plan it had prepared in advance should have been useful.

Even so, it still wanted to run right now.

Yet, pinned down by the targeted strikes of the floating cannons, it simply could not escape.

A chill gradually claimed its entire body, and before long, it lost all mobility.

The mutant crab was completely frozen solid.

Since the mutant crab met such a miserable end, the other crabs naturally fared no better.

Zhang Wei picked off the large crabs one by one. Only a tiny fraction managed to escape after perceiving that the situation was turning sour, and most of those escapees were the small ones.

In less than five minutes, the battle was resolved. Zhang Wei did not chase after the fleeing crabs, allowing them a three-kilometer head start.

Zhang Wei arrived before the frozen mutant crab.

He brought his thermal greatsword close to the mutant crab, and the frost melted rapidly.

Once most of the ice had thawed, the mutant crab regained a modicum of mobility.

"I know you can understand me. Speak, why didn't you swallow that Legendary-grade source crystal?"

This was the sole reason Zhang Wei had spared the mutant crab's life.

Because Zhang Wei could not fathom why the mutant crab had not directly devoured the Legendary-grade source crystal.

If this crab had consumed the Legendary-grade source crystal, it would likely have advanced to become a King-grade crab by now.

What reason could have made it resist the temptation of ascending to the King-grade?

"Humph!" The mutant crab evidently had no desire to communicate with Zhang Wei, choosing to meet his question with icy indifference.

"If you don't talk, I will exterminate your entire race. Every single one of those fleeing crabs will die."

"Impossible, you won't find them," the mutant crab stated with absolute certainty.

So what if the large crabs couldn't escape? Those small crabs could hide in any random crack to survive; where on earth could he look for them?

"You don't believe me? Then take a look at this." Zhang Wei chose to share the detection feed.

This was a capability unlocked only after equipping the detection core, allowing him to share data not only with other mechas but also with any mechanical lifeform.

"This..." The mutant crab was rendered instantly speechless.

No wonder this fellow could locate them so swiftly.

In the face of such a method, all forms of concealment were utterly useless.

"Will you talk, or won't you?" Zhang Wei pressed forward, unwilling to grant the mutant crab too much time to ponder.

"Fine, I'll tell you. I did it for the sake of my clan." The mutant crab ultimately chose to compromise.

"Your clan?"

"Yes, a Legendary-grade source crystal continuously emits energy, which can accelerate the evolution of the clan. Once the population multiplied to a certain scale, it wouldn't have been too late for me to devour the crystal then."

The mutant crab's explanation was simple and easy to understand.

Zhang Wei understood the moment he heard it.

To put it bluntly, the mutant crab's ambitions were simply too grand.

Dissatisfied with the current size of its clan, it wanted to utilize the energy of the Legendary-grade source crystal to nurture more subordinates.

With a sufficient number of subordinates, it could seize a larger territory and thereby acquire more resources.

Through such a virtuous cycle, this mutant crab might genuinely have become an overlord of a region.

Unfortunately, it had been nipped in the bud and ground to dust by Zhang Wei.

"So that's how it is. No wonder; even when the rat swarm birthed a Rat King, they didn't enter this reproductive phase, yet your crab swarm has already begun breeding—all because of the Legendary-grade source crystal."

"Does an Epic-grade source crystal possess this function?"

Zhang Wei genuinely lacked this knowledge, having never heard of such a thing in his past life.

"I don't know," the mutant crab answered with complete honesty.

It had never obtained an Epic-grade source crystal, so how could it possibly know whether an Epic-grade source crystal had such an effect?

"Very well, any last words?" Zhang Wei showed a fair bit of respect to the mutant crab, seeing as it had cleared up his doubts.

"None. I've told you my secret; you must not hunt down my clan."

"Agreed."

Zhang Wei nodded without hesitation.

There were only a few small crabs left anyway, so killing them held little significance.

After all, ordinary source crystals no longer caught Zhang Wei's eye.

"Kill me then." The mutant crab spoke to Zhang Wei with utter indifference.

This time, Zhang Wei was genuinely taken aback.

Mutant lifeforms possessed awakened intelligence.

No intelligent being was truly unafraid of death.

Yet the crab before him was actively seeking death—what was the meaning of this?

When unusual things happened, there was bound to be trickery afoot.

However, Zhang Wei had no time to investigate what kind of trick the mutant crab was playing. With a single slash of his sword, the mutant crab's skull flew up into the air.

"What the hell? Where's the source crystal?" Zhang Wei stared at the fallen corpse of the mutant crab, his mind filled with utter bewilderment.