"I hope there are no more casualties this time..."

As Buttercream fled, her mind was filled with worry. The team she had brought had been through hardships and had already lost nearly a quarter of its members before even catching a single pet. She could hardly bear such a loss.

As it turned out,

life was full of drama, and the outcome always took people by surprise.

After the players had escaped a hundred meters, they did not see the so-called quicksand appear, which made them suspect, could it be... was Smokey deliberately lying about the military situation?

"Why are you all looking at me? I saw the Firebird’s body sink into it with my own eyes. Who knew this damn thing would stop!"

Seeing the players looking at him, Smokey was extremely embarrassed and blurted out some swear words in urgency, "I’ll go check again, there’s definitely something fishy here!"

"Smokey, be sure to be careful when you go!"

Youtong showed her sharp canines with a smirk as she looked at Smokey.

"..."

Smokey looked at Youtong speechlessly; would it not kill him to not play this out? He had just mentioned it casually earlier. It was a dangerously risky place, and he was the last person who wanted to go there, but now he was being pushed into it...

He really didn’t understand what Youtong was thinking. If he were to die, wouldn’t she become a widow?

"Youtong, for you, I won’t die easily," he said.

Seeing the hopeful eyes of everyone, Smokey could only bite the bullet. He took a deep breath and walked slowly towards the front, observing his surroundings with trepidation, fearing the yellow sand under his feet might suddenly sink, which could be a deadly trap for him!

"Damn, you guys come and see!"

Finally, when Smokey reached the spot, the scene in front of him widened his eyes dramatically, and he excitedly called out to the large troop behind him, "Come over here, there’s no danger!"

"Buttercream, Smokey seems to be calling us."

Gu Yue looked at Smokey waving his hands towards them and couldn’t help but be speechless, complaining, "What era is it now, doesn’t he know to send a message instead of shouting? Isn’t he afraid of ruining his own throat!"

"Exactly, he really seems foolish coming up like that. I feel anxious for his intelligence!"

Youtong sighed and took the lead toward the front, "Buttercream, let’s go and see, Smokey seems to have found something."

"Let’s go."

Buttercream was also very curious and led the players towards the front.

Before they reached Smokey, he impatiently shouted, "You guys come and see, this area of the desert has dramatically changed!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked and showed incredible expressions. They were amazed to find that the five-square-meter area in front of them had turned blood-red, and the accompanying strong stench of blood was nauseating.

"Smokey, what’s with this stench of blood?"

Buttercream sensed something unusual and did not dare to go further, carefully surveying the surroundings, while some braver players, undeterred, ran up front to closely observe this rare sight, some even posing skillfully for selfies.

"It might be because of the Firebird corpse. After it sank into the ground, this place turned into this mess."

At this moment, Smokey was also confused, but after seeing several players stepping on the blood-colored sand without any danger occurring, he finally relaxed, walked forward, and tapped the bloody sand with an iron rod, and a thudding sound unexpectedly came.

"Wow, such hard sand!"

It was only then that Smokey discovered that this blood-dyed area’s sand grains felt unified and were exceptionally hard, like stepping on stones, very uncomfortable on the feet.

"Who has the mining skill? Come and try, there might be treasures underneath!"

The heavy smoker’s expression started to become excited, pacing back and forth in this blood-colored area. Wherever he went, his iron rod would strike, and without exception, a thud would follow.

"Haha, here I come!"

Upon hearing about the treasure, Youtong’s eyes lit up, and she rushed forward gleefully and began digging without a second word. Along with her, dozens of players stepped out of line, each wielding a hoe and striking the hard, bloody sand.

Before long, the constant clanging of mining rang out, messy and unsystematic sounds, but the players’ minds were already focused on the treasure—such noise was nothing to them!

"Things can’t be this simple."

The cream-faced beauty looked very serious at this moment, watching her teammates dig fervently. She felt more and more that something bad was going to happen, but she couldn’t fathom why.

"Sister Cream, did you find something?"

Gu Yue, who was close, heard what the cream-faced beauty had said and grew curious, hoping to get some useful information from her.

"I don’t know why, I just feel like it’s dangerous here."

The cream-faced beauty watched her teammates busy mining, her eyes full of worry.

"It’s not that mysterious, is it? Sister Cream, maybe you’re overthinking it. We’ve been here so long without any incidents; that proves it’s safe here."

Gu Yue smiled reassuringly, "Think about it, after the Firebird was defeated without dropping a single piece of equipment, this Blood Sand must be a gift for us."

"I hope so."

The cream-faced beauty let out a soft sigh, just about to say something else when she was interrupted by an excited shout.

"Haha, I dug up a Blood Crystal Sand!"

The lucky player holding a freshly dug piece of gravel was so happy, he couldn’t close his mouth.

"Whoa, a special item! What properties does it have? Share it so we can take a look too!"

The heavy smoker excitedly crowded closer to look at the Blood Crystal Sand, clearly envious.

"Haha, it’s nothing!"

This player, feeling the excited gaze of everyone on him, was immensely thrilled, waved his hand grandly, and shared the properties of the Blood Crystal Sand.

[Blood Crystal Sand]（Special）

After use, grants ten seconds of physical critical strike state, increasing critical hit chance by 30% and critical hit damage by 30%, with a tiny chance of causing confusion.

"Top-quality item!"

"This is a warrior-specific treasure, buddy, you’re made!"

"If this Blood Crystal Sand goes to the auction house, it will definitely spark a fierce bidding war among warriors, fetching a high price isn’t hard!"

The players looked enviously at the Blood Crystal Sand, especially the heavy smoker, whose eyes were nearly bulging out.

"Cut it out, it’s not as mystical as you make it sound, only effective for ten seconds and it might even cause confusion, selling it for a high price might be difficult!"

This player, slightly disappointed after seeing the properties of the Blood Crystal Sand, said, "Go on with what you were doing, with this spare time you might dig one up too!"

"Boom."

Just then, the desert trembled, and a huge crack opened up. The group of players hadn’t even reacted when they were sucked in, even the heavy smoker couldn’t escape, falling into the desert crack, their fate unknown.