Chapter Fifty-Two: The Bomb

Sun Licheng and the spiders faced off for quite a long time. Several attempts at probing attacks were beaten back, and as the number of spiders grew, he had no choice but to retreat from the mine with his two subordinates.

“What should we do?”

Staring into the campfire, Sun Licheng muttered to himself. He had thought recapturing the salt mine would be a simple matter, but now he couldn’t even break through the first level.

He sighed heavily. At that moment, the fire suddenly cracked with a loud pop, startling him. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a pine branch flaring up.

“Combustion, explosion!” Sun Licheng slapped his thigh and shouted, the spark of an idea igniting in his mind.

During this time, Sun Licheng had grown used to solving problems with cold weapons and magic, so when faced with spiders behind a narrow opening, he was at a loss. On Earth, there would be at least ten different ways to wipe them out—the simplest being to throw a bomb.

“Mr. Nimblefingers!” Sun Licheng stood up, patted his cheeks, and called out.

By the campfire, Mr. Nimblefingers listened to Sun Licheng’s idea, pondered for a moment, and said, “Boss, your plan is feasible. As far as I know, there are some materials nearby that would work well. For instance, the resin from ancient giant pines burns for a long time, and if you mix in sulfur, it can create an explosive effect. Also, the bile from those big black fish, once refined, will combust violently when exposed to fire. But the most powerful is that fire-elemental magic crystal—if ignited, it will cause a massive explosion.”

Sun Licheng hadn’t expected to find so many useful materials here. He proposed several weapon designs based on Earth’s technology, which immediately astonished Mr. Nimblefingers.

“Boss, if you’d lived in the era of the Goblin Empire, you’d have been a great hero! The weapons you’ve designed are not only powerful, but also cheap and don’t even require such precious materials as magic crystals,” said Mr. Nimblefingers.

Sun Licheng was a little embarrassed by the praise, scratching his head with a sheepish smile. “Don’t say that, or I’ll get conceited.”

With a clear direction, Sun Licheng led everyone in crafting the weapons.

On the third day, Christina arrived at Salt Mountain with several others, bringing a fair amount of food. After relentless negotiation, the Silver Moon tribe had finally parted with a sizeable portion of their food reserves for Sun Licheng’s group.

Out of caution, Isidore had sent his own son, Luther, to escort Christina and the supplies to Salt Mountain—a clear sign that he intended to keep an eye on them.

“Why is there no one here?”

Christina, travel-worn but full of anticipation, arrived at Salt Mountain, only to find neither hide nor hair of Sun Licheng’s group. Worse, spiders were patrolling the entrance to the salt mine.

“Heh, so that coward Sun Licheng really ran off,” came Luther’s mocking voice at her side.

“That’s not true! Brother Sun Licheng would never run away!” Christina immediately retorted.

“Oh really? Then where is he? And where’s that wolf of his? And the mechanical dog puppet, for that matter?” Luther’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

Luther had his eye on Christina, and her obvious admiration for Sun Licheng only made him resent Sun Licheng more, especially after several previous clashes.

“You—” Christina was at a loss for words, but she turned her head away angrily, refusing to look at the annoying Luther.

Seeing this, Luther was delighted and prepared to say even more, hoping to grind Sun Licheng’s reputation into the dirt.

“Christina, that Sun Licheng—”

Before Luther could finish, there was a rustling in the woods. Sun Licheng appeared, leading the Wolf King.

“What are you saying about me?” he asked. Even if he hadn’t heard the argument, the look on Luther’s face made it clear they weren’t saying anything kind.

“Heh, just that you might have lost to the spiders and run away in fright,” Luther replied, his expression shifting before regaining its aggressive edge.

“Christina, what brings you here?” Sun Licheng ignored the petty jabs and turned to the girl, leaving Luther out in the cold.

“We brought you food!” Christina, ignoring the snubbed Luther, ran over excitedly and took Sun Licheng’s arm, proudly pointing to the baskets carried by her and the other goblins—stuffed full of provisions.

“Thank you. We ran into some trouble attacking the mine and went off to make weapons. We’ve just finished and returned. Perfect timing—I’m starving,” Sun Licheng said, gratitude in his voice.

“Making weapons, huh? More like some people were too scared to fight their way into the mine and used it as an excuse to duck out,” Luther interjected bitterly.

“Heh, we’ll see who’s the coward soon enough. Luther, why don’t you come with us into the mine to fight the spiders? It’s a man’s job,” Sun Licheng shot back.

Though Luther liked to talk tough, when Sun Licheng invited him to join the assault, sweat instantly broke out on his brow. “Uh, well, I’ve got things to do back at the tribe. I need to go back with Christina soon.”

“Coward,” Christina scoffed, making Luther’s face flush red with embarrassment.

“All right, all right, Christina, I’m hungry too—let’s eat first,” Sun Licheng said with a laugh, delighted to see Luther put in his place.

After the meal, it took a great deal of persuasion to send Christina away. As for Luther, Sun Licheng was happy to see him go and paid no mind to any curses the boy might mutter under his breath. As an older man, Sun Licheng knew how to prioritize—business came first.

With their preparations complete, Sun Licheng and his people returned to the mine. Soon, the spiders outside and on the first level suffered heavy losses and retreated in haste.

Back at the cave-in on the first level, Sun Licheng peered across and, to his astonishment, counted more than twenty huge spiders. As soon as they caught sight of him, the spiders spewed great gouts of venom, sizzling against the rock.

“Mr. Nimblefingers!” Sun Licheng called out. He watched as Mr. Nimblefingers took out a round object, swung it, and hurled it through the small opening.

The spiders, seeing something incoming, immediately sprayed it with venom. Instantly, a flash of white light split the air, and with a thunderous boom, an explosion erupted.

This was a special weapon Sun Licheng had created—a bomb made from ancient pine resin, sulfur, and black fish bile. To trigger the device, Sun Licheng and Mr. Nimblefingers had carved a defensive magic array onto the leather casing. When struck violently, the array would release a bolt of lightning, detonating the bomb.

A rush of foul-smelling air hit Sun Licheng from across the cave, the whole mine trembling as sand and stones rained down.

“Run for it—the wind’s blowing this way!” Sun Licheng shouted, turning and fleeing the tunnel. Despite their tests, they had underestimated the bomb’s power in an enclosed space—especially the toxic, reeking smoke.

Staring at the mine, now billowing black fumes like a chimney, Sun Licheng was at a loss for words.

“I’d wager the spiders took heavy casualties,” Mr. Nimblefingers observed, fluttering to Sun Licheng’s side.

Sun Licheng nodded vigorously.

Once the smoke had mostly cleared, they cautiously re-entered the mine.

Inside was utter chaos. Moving aside the rubble, they found the ground littered with mangled, barely-breathing spiders.

“I’d guess most of them died here,” Sun Licheng remarked, then mercilessly led Gou Rou and the others to finish off any survivors.

Thus, Sun Licheng smoothly advanced to the second level.

Their biochemical bombs were devastating. The spiders along the way were either dead or crippled, unable to move. In the early part of the second level, they encountered almost no resistance.

Here, Sun Licheng discovered many skeletons and weapons—likely the remains of Silver Moon tribe warriors. To his surprise, among the weapons were two rusted iron pieces: a broadsword and an axe.

“So these goblins weren’t as primitive as I thought,” Sun Licheng mused, examining the badly corroded iron saber.

As they neared the bottom of the second level, resistance picked up; but by now, Sun Licheng’s trio worked together seamlessly, rendering the spiders’ efforts futile.

After Sun Licheng incinerated one spider with a blazing arrow, the entrance to the third level came into view.

Before he could celebrate, a dark shadow shot out from the third level.

“Prepare for battle!” Mr. Nimblefingers’ emotionless voice echoed in the cave. Sun Licheng quickly raised his great shield.

This spider was much larger than the others, its body gleaming blue-black, eyes fierce, fangs clacking menacingly.

Sun Licheng dared not be careless with such a formidable foe. He fixed his gaze on the beast, gripping his saber tightly in his right hand.

Just as he braced for the spider to spit venom, a dense cloud of smoke poured from its mouth, drifting slowly toward him.

Sun Licheng was dumbfounded—his shield was useless against smoke!