Chapter 960: You Should

"Alright, these are all the space rings I have on me."

On the ground, Qiao Lin spread her hands, a large pile of space rings piled atop her pale palms—at least a dozen.

After recognizing Xu Jingming’s strength and realizing escape was impossible, Qiao Lin decisively chose to surrender.

With their captain Qiao Lin no longer willing to fight, the other three—Xina and the rest—felt the same.

Hence, this scene before them.

Besides Qiao Lin, Xina and the other three also obediently handed over all the space rings they carried.

Each person had over a dozen space rings on them; some even had more than twenty.

Combined, the four of them possessed nearly a hundred space rings!

"Where did you get so many space rings?" Xu Jingming was surprised.

"All taken during this period."

Qiao Lin shrugged. "Every psychic who entered the eighth level through the teleportation channel—we looted them all, except those too strong for us to beat."

"You’re clever."

Xu Jingming raised an eyebrow and ordered, "Eva, scan them again. Check if they’re hiding any other space rings."

Though his spiritual force had detected nothing else on them, he still had Eva scan once more for safety.

"Relax, all the space rings are right here."

Qiao Lin sniffed, clearly displeased by his action.

Yet no sooner had she spoken than Eva, having completed the scan, alerted:

"S-class. The other three have no space rings. Only she still has one."

"Oh?"

Xu Jingming narrowed his eyes, smirking at Qiao Lin. "Hand it over yourself. Don’t force me to take it."

Exposed, Qiao Lin’s face darkened instantly, her expression shifting wildly—until finally, gritting her teeth, she said:

"What level of AI is that? Even my hidden space ring can’t escape detection."

She hesitated slightly, then loosened her battle suit slightly at the neck.

Reaching in with her right hand, she fished out another space ring from the full, bulging area of her chest.

This space ring had a simple, ancient design, radiating a deep black metallic luster.

The ring lay in Qiao Lin’s pale palm, visible to the naked eye.

Yet when scanned with spiritual force, the palm appeared completely empty.

"Hmm, this is a space ring forged from Mole metal?"

Su Qingli, beside him, seemed to recognize something and let out a soft exclamation.

"What’s Mole metal?" Xu Jingming asked, puzzled.

He was well-traveled and knowledgeable, but he’d never heard of Mole metal before.

"Mole metal is a metal discovered in the First Civilization era."

It’s visible only to the naked eye—no matter how strong the spiritual scan or electronic detection, it cannot be detected."

"My father once owned a space ring from the First Civilization, forged from Mole metal."

"Though its capacity was less than one cubic meter, he treasured it above all else."

"Because this metal is so rare, most people don’t even know of it. I only learned because of my father."

Su Qingli explained softly.

"I see." Xu Jingming nodded slightly.

Unlike ordinary people, psychics rarely rely on sight; they often use spiritual force for scanning.

A space ring forged from Mole metal would indeed be hard to detect.

"You’ve got some discerning people here," Qiao Lin muttered, visibly disgruntled.

Logically, Xu Jingming could’ve found this ring only by stripping her naked.

Yet somehow, an artificial intelligence had detected it.

But she didn’t know: Eva wasn’t ordinary AI—she was a sentient intelligence.

Only the synergy of spiritual force and electromagnetic scanning could reveal this ring.

No other AI, besides Eva, could ever find this space ring.

Whoosh—

Spiritual force surged. In front of Qiao Lin’s eyes, Xu Jingming erased her spiritual imprint from the ring and replaced it with his own.

Immediately, a space of roughly one cubic meter appeared in his perception.

The contents weren’t many: two martial seals, several rare and precious flowers and herbs, some pill vials, and a wooden box twenty centimeters square.

Aside from the box, everything else in the ring was plainly visible.

Without hesitation, Xu Jingming pulled out the wooden box and opened it.

Inside the box lay a fruit, shaped and sized like a fire dragon fruit.

The fruit was entirely crimson, its surface adorned with cloud-like patterns as if traced by golden threads.

"This... could it be the Red Cloud Fruit?"

Su Qingli’s pupils shrank, her delicate pale face glowing with an unprecedented look of anticipation.

"Yes! This is the Red Cloud Fruit! Teacher Su, your side effects can now be reversed!"

The little girl Eva affirmed.

"Red Cloud Fruit? Your original target was this all along?"

Qiao Lin froze, utterly stunned.

Qiao Lin froze, her face filled with disbelief.

Xu Jingming smiled. "I originally thought I might trade for it once I met you."

"But you tried to steal my space ring the moment we met. I had no choice but to take it back."

"You should’ve told me earlier!"

Qiao Lin looked ready to cry.

Now she’d lost not only the Red Cloud Fruit—but all her accumulated rare pills, flowers, and herbs too!

"If I’d told you, would you have traded it with me?"

Xu Jingming countered. "Even if I had, you’d have refused and tried to steal it anyway—ending up exactly where we are now."

"Since the outcome’s the same, how we got here doesn’t matter."

Qiao Lin fell silent.

She knew Xu Jingming was right...

"Teacher, go test the Red Cloud Fruit’s effect first. I’ll interrogate them for more information."

“Teacher, you go first and test the effect of this Red Cloud Fruit; I’ll interrogate them further to see if I can get any other information.”

Instantly, the iron vine, still clinging to him in plant-armor form, reverted to its true shape.

Then, clinging tightly to him, the iron vine’s combat armor form reverted to its original shape.

Dozens of massive vines erupted from it, rapidly burrowing into the ground.

"Top-tier plant life—Iron Vine? And it’s reached the ninth stage?"

Qiao Lin and the others stared in shock; Xina’s face twisted with bitterness.

Top-tier plant life is equivalent to a human S-class psychic awakener.

With Su Qingli, Xu Jingming now had two S-class ninth-stage experts.

Even if Xu Jingming hadn’t broken through to mid-eighth stage, the four of them likely couldn’t defeat him...

"Jingming, I’ll go down first."

"Alright."

In less than five seconds, the Iron Vine had dug a shaft straight down to the deep earth.

Su Qingli, eyes gleaming with anticipation, leapt down with the Red Cloud Fruit.

Xu Jingming remained on the surface, keeping watch and interrogating Qiao Lin and the others.

Xu Jingming remained on the surface to monitor the surroundings and stay alert, while interrogating Qiao Lin and the others.