Chapter 167: The Purple Dragon Elder's Treasure Trove
Cheng Mouren fears nothing on heaven or earth; he would even jump directly into a wormhole tunnel with no visible bottom.
But this kind of deep-water area, which gradually swallowed the light, made him a little nervous.
Fortunately, Cheng Tian clearly knew that this was just a relatively deep swamp lake. No matter how deep or wide it was, it was a limited area. Moreover, he had some idea of what enemies might be inside, so he remained relatively calm when staring into the darkness below.
Because the single-person submarine's paint job was bright yellow, and its searchlights were extremely powerful, coupled with it being nighttime, many phototactic creatures in the water were involuntarily drawn closer.
While the sea level rise caused by the great climate catastrophe destroyed a large number of land creatures, it preserved most marine life. It was a pity that Cheng Tian was not a resident of a coastal area and ate relatively few aquatic products, so he basically didn't recognize these strangely shaped aquatic animals.
It was a good thing the submarine was equipped with waterproof Vulcan cannons; otherwise, he would have had to use a fishing net.
However, as the depth displayed on the dashboard gradually increased, Cheng Tian still hadn't encountered any obviously threatening aquatic dragon beasts, let alone the Mosasaur that had been mentioned earlier.
Could it have been killed by something?
Just as Cheng Tian was wondering about this, the single-person submarine's sonar detected a hole in the inner wall of the swamp lake at a depth of approximately 200 meters. The size of the cave allowed his single-person submarine to easily enter.
In fact, Cheng Tian had already felt that something was wrong when the dashboard showed a depth exceeding one hundred meters. This was clearly not the depth a normal "lake" should have, at least not an inland lake.
Cheng Tian then remembered that this dungeon world had experienced a great climate catastrophe.
The rise in sea level had almost submerged most of the land, and after the seawater gradually receded, dinosaurs, the ancient overlords, returned to the global stage for unknown reasons.
Based on this background setting, Cheng Tian believed that the swamp lake he was currently in was very likely a volcanic lake. Only the central hollow collapse funnel formed after a volcanic eruption could create such a cylindrical structure while also being so deep.
In other words, this so-called swamp jungle was actually the peak of a volcano?
After a brief thought, Cheng Tian still drove into the dark cave.
After advancing about a hundred meters, the cave passage surprisingly started to ascend. Soon, Cheng Tian's single-person submarine emerged from the water and entered an underground cavern-like area.
Without rushing to open the hatch, Cheng Tian used the submarine's built-in instruments to take a measurement and discovered that it was an oxygenated cave.
This clearly meant that somewhere in the cave, there must be a connection to the surface, and the opening must be large enough to allow air exchange between the surface and the underground.
Cheng Tian himself was a little excited because the structure of this cave reminded him of the early part of "Dragon Ball," where young Goku and his friends entered an underwater cave to search for Dragon Balls.
He recalled the submarine, summoning the nine golden feather arrows that had been circling outside it until now to his side. Their golden glow illuminated the pitch-black cave.
Although he was targeted by the dungeon's special condition, causing his damage to plummet, Cheng Tian had gradually mastered the functional aspects of the Sanction Arrows beyond just damage.
For example, illuminating and scouting.
The golden feather arrows could remain suspended without consumption, and when not fired, their maximum controllable range was essentially equal to his Mental attribute * 1 meter, which was currently 21 meters.
By the way, among the 13 dragon eggs Cheng Tian delivered after sweeping the herbivore dragon nests, two were highly mutated herbivore dragon eggs, second only to the Spades Tyrannosaur egg. Using his Kulu-Ya-Ku talent, Cheng Tian directly dug up two identical clone eggs from their corresponding nests. After submitting them, he received a total of 4 free attribute points.
However, considering that he might encounter insufficient usage conditions similar to Irene, Cheng Tian temporarily saved these 4 attribute points.
With a buffer distance of 21 meters and the sunfire mask's bonuses to Strength and Agility at night, Cheng Tian had enough to react promptly in case of an unexpected event.
Of course, Cheng Tian wouldn't choose to walk. The sound of the drill working had already begun to echo in the cave. The lake water was the single-person submarine's specialized area; now it was the drill tank's turn to demonstrate its sky-breaking power in the cave.
Cheng Tian's driving did not hinder the continuous floating of the golden feather arrows, which occasionally shot out to scout the way. However, he consistently encountered no enemies, not even small animals... until Cheng Tian chose the left passage at a Y-shaped fork.
There was no particular reason; he just chose it based on the usual arrangement of public restrooms.
But as he delved deeper, the cave, which should have maintained its primitive appearance, began to show signs of artificial construction. The ground, walls, and the entire cave itself were incredibly smooth. Cheng Tian even saw lit torches on the walls.
Cheng Tian, being restless, controlled a golden feather arrow to extinguish one... and it dropped an Innocent Soul.
Yes, in addition to killing monsters, candelabras, torches, and similar objects destroyed by Cheng Tian also had a chance to drop Innocent Souls. If he hadn't been so restless this time, he probably would have forgotten that the normal source of Innocent Souls was actually candelabras and torches.
Looking at the cave's unique interior, Cheng Tian gradually felt a sense of familiarity.
And when the Diamond Tank reached the end of this fork, and saw a purple dragon beast that looked like both a Stegosaurus and a lizard, with a bifurcated tail like a Nekomata, slowly rising under the light of the golden feather arrows and staring blankly at him, Cheng Tian confirmed that his memory was not mistaken—
This dragon beast was not an enemy of the player; it was a guardian from "Adventure Island 3" responsible for guarding ancient dragon eggs. Players could usually only find it in hidden mountain cave areas.
Sure enough, the purple dragon beast raised its head, first adopting a human-like standing and crossed-arms posture, then stared intently at Cheng Tian with an inexplicable gaze. As if having finished its appraisal, it nodded, and then the ground where Cheng Tian was began to shake slightly.
Three identical two-meter-high tower-shaped bases, each holding a dragon nest, slowly rose from underground. Inside these three dragon nests, a large, pristine white dragon egg was placed, with no visible differences in appearance.
"Come, you may choose one to take with you."
The Purple Dragon Elder actually spoke human language, directly addressing Cheng Tian in his vehicle.
You have entered the hidden area "Purple Dragon Elder's Secret Cave" — You may choose one dragon egg as an additional reward to take with you. The types of rewards within the dragon eggs include "Dinosaur Mount," "Fruit," "Roasted Meat," and "Bonus Life."
When you choose any one, the other two will immediately disappear.