Chapter 137: The Fall of an Apex Predator

"Crack! Crack!"

As the Magma Crab’s shell shattered rapidly, the creature soon lost all its defenses. Ye Da delivered one final, brutal punch directly to the crab's head. In that instant, the Magma Crab’s beady, darting eyes filled with terror, yet it was helpless. After all, its pride-and-joy shell was broken, its numerous legs were gone, and even its massive, formidable pincers had been knocked aside by the group’s onslaught. As a predator at the top of the food chain, it had never encountered such a dire crisis in its entire life.

At this moment, it regretted coming out so early. When it first spotted the three moving "delicacies," it shouldn't have rushed out to devour them all at once; it should have waited until one of them was isolated. But now, it was far too late.

"Boom!"

As its small skull shattered, the Magma Crab etched the image of these demons deep into its soul. Perhaps because the Magma Crab was exceptionally large, it dropped six glowing orbs at once.

"Lord, what a huge harvest!" Chu Ping exclaimed with delight. "As expected of a Tier 3 monster, it dropped so many rewards!"

Compared to Chu Ping’s excitement, Zhang Ya’s expression remained indifferent. "Do you need my help carrying anything?"

[Loyalty: 80% (Wah! Crab, crab, big crab! The boss is so amazing, he actually killed this giant crab. I wonder if there’s crab roe inside? I really want crab roe rice, and grilled crab meat. Ahhh, just thinking about it makes me hungry!)]

When Ye Da read Zhang Ya’s inner thoughts, he couldn't help but scoff. *Nice try, you almost fooled me. I thought you didn't want to eat crab!* Still, her mention of it made him curious to see if the crab had dropped any roe.

[Beast Core +1]
[Crab Pincer +2]
[Crab Leg +8]
[Crab Roe +20]
[Crab Meat +100]
[Crab Shell Fragment +10]

There really was crab roe, but what were these shell fragments for? Ye Da picked up the ten units of [Crab Shell Fragments], curious about their purpose.

[Crab Shell Fragment: A special kind of shell. When crushed and fired, it can be turned into calcium carbonate, which can be used to produce cement.]

Ye Da had initially thought they were crafting materials for equipment and almost discarded them to save inventory space. The material was so brittle that his punches had shattered it instantly. To his surprise, it was actually a valuable resource for making cement, and since it needed to be crushed and fired, the brittleness was a benefit.

"Lord, there’s so much stuff, do you want us to help you carry some?" Chu Ping asked when he noticed Ye Da had fallen silent.

Ye Da nodded. "Sure. Chu Ping and Zhang Ya, each of you take one of the pincers. I’ll handle the rest."

"Can you really carry all of that by yourself?" Zhang Ya asked skeptically. Not to mention the mountain of crab meat, even the eight legs were quite bulky. Her doubt was justified.

"I can." Ye Da didn't explain. He simply placed his hand on the pile of meat and silently commanded, *Collect.*

In the next second, the pile of crab meat vanished. Zhang Ya’s eyes widened. "Where did it go? Where did it disappear to?"

"Wait!" Chu Ping interrupted. "Lord, you didn't put all that meat on the trading market, did you? That would cost a fortune in transaction fees! That’s a huge waste!" He sounded genuinely worried.

Ye Da gave a rare explanation. "I didn't put it on the market. Don't worry."

"You didn't?!" Zhang Ya looked skeptical.

Chu Ping, however, spoke up with a smug look. "The Lord really didn't use the market, because the Lord has a storage backpack! Have you ever heard of one? It’s a magical bag where you can just think 'collect' and store items inside! How about that? Envious, right?"

"What?" Zhang Ya rolled her eyes. "Do you have a storage backpack? Why are you the one bragging?"

"I..." Chu Ping blushed, embarrassed. "I don't have one, obviously! Can't I be proud for the Lord?"

"No!" Zhang Ya retorted. She didn't say more, but her look of disdain was clear: *If the Lord had a storage backpack, he could show it off, but what are you boasting about when you don't even have one?*

"I'm just happy for the Lord, so what!" Chu Ping, stung by her contempt, grew angry. "It’s useless to be jealous!"

While they bickered, Ye Da had already finished stowing the loot. Hearing their back-and-forth, he chuckled. "No need to be envious. I’ll try to get each of you a storage backpack by tomorrow morning!"

"What?" Both Chu Ping and Zhang Ya were stunned. Items like storage backpacks were clearly rare, requiring either immense luck or great strength to acquire. For Ye Da to promise one to each of them was unbelievable.

"This..." Chu Ping, despite his loyalty, couldn't help but doubt. "Lord, is that possible? We can get them by tomorrow? Aren't these things found in treasure chests? When I worked under Long Yi, I saw him open plenty, but I never saw him get anything like that. To get a storage backpack, you need more than just strength—you need incredible luck!"

Zhang Ya nodded in agreement.

Ye Da smiled. "If you're relying on opening treasure chests, then yes, it’s all about luck. But I don't intend to rely on chests. Instead, I..." He paused.

The more he hesitated, the more impatient Chu Ping became. "Instead of what?"

"Instead, I was going to take you to... wait, what is that?"

Ye Da was about to explain when his gaze caught a bronze treasure chest not far away, soaking in the hot spring water and shimmering with a distinct metallic luster. Because of the bright bronze color, it sat in the water like an alluring, naked beauty, waving a handkerchief and beckoning to him...

*Customer, come here! Come over to me!*