Zhou Ziwei estimated that those who had been knocked unconscious by his soul roar would likely not wake up for at least a few hours.
So Zhou Ziwei didn't immediately pay attention to those people, and turned around to walk into the largest cavern where the leaders of the Storm Mercenary Group lived...
Previously, he had only vaguely seen the newly reborn souls rushing towards this direction, passing under the stone wall as if they were in a hurry to be reincarnated. As for where they ended up, Zhou Ziwei had no idea. However, he figured that the rocky walls wouldn't hinder the souls, so they must have been flying in a straight line. So Zhou Ziwei thought back to the angles and directions of the souls flying from different directions. If the directions they took were drawn into straight lines, the final intersection point would naturally be their destination.
However, Zhou Ziwei eventually came to a conclusion: although those souls seemed to have flown into this cave, their final destination was definitely not inside the cave, but rather buried deep within the mountain.
What exactly is inside that mountain?
Zhou Ziwei was very curious, but after studying the cave for a while, he was somewhat disappointed. The destinations that the souls had flown to were inaccessible from inside the cave, and the closest point was about thirty or forty meters away.
At such a great distance, even Zhou Ziwei's soul power was unable to scan that area, so he couldn't see what was inside for the time being.
However, according to Zhou Ziwei's estimation, no matter what else is inside, there must be souls, and besides those that just flew in today, there must have been souls before.
Otherwise, how could Zhou Ziwei have unknowingly absorbed nearly a thousand units of residual soul energy while reciting the Six-Syllable Mantra? It should be noted that Zhou Ziwei's soul power could only scan a radius of twenty meters, yet when he recited the Six-Syllable Mantra, he could absorb and purify all souls within a radius of one to two hundred meters.
It seems that he absorbed all the souls that were originally hidden inside the mountain, which is why the sea of souls was almost burst open.
When Zhou Ziwei thought about how many souls might be in that position, he suddenly felt an irresistible urge to possess them.
You must know that Zhou Ziwei is a complete soul-devouring devil, and the allure of a soul is definitely greater to him than money.
If you were to place a few soul beads and a few pearls in front of him, there would be no doubt that Zhou Ziwei would choose the soul beads and absolutely not the pearls.
Even if those pearls were rare varieties, each one priceless, and even if those soul beads were just ordinary items, Zhou Ziwei could extract them from ordinary souls at any time if he wanted.
However... in Zhou Ziwei's eyes, the allure of the pearl was still not as great as that of the Soul Pearl.
However, the place that is likely to contain a large number of souls is too far away. This nearly thirty-meter-high rock wall is not an easy thing to pass through. Although Zhou Ziwei is very capable, he is not a god after all. He does not have the ability to turn his hand to make clouds or rain, nor does he have the supernatural power to move mountains and overturn seas. Faced with this mountain, he can only sigh.
After thinking it over, Zhou Ziwei was still somewhat unwilling to give up, so he sent all seven fruit flies and one mosquito into the naturally formed cave, instructing them to explore every part of the cave that they could fly through, leaving no place unexplored.
Perhaps there's another hidden world inside this cave, leading to that mysterious place.
Zhou Ziwei had also wondered if the tomb inside was like the ancient tomb he had discovered in the Bat Cave near Tengchong, a tomb left behind at some point. However… after absorbing the memories of the undead, Zhou Ziwei, while not entirely a believer in feng shui, had some understanding of it. He knew that the principles involved were largely the same, and even in Southeast Asian countries, the feng shui surveying of tombs was almost identical to that of ancient China.
Based on Zhou Ziwei's knowledge, this valley is fine for living people, but it is very unsuitable for building tombs. I don't think any idiot would come to such a place to build a mausoleum!
Regardless, Zhou Ziwei was determined to find a way to get inside and take a look. Even if he couldn't do it now, he planned to wait until he had lured the people from the black market assassin network here and was no longer afraid of attracting the attention of others. Then he could use explosives to blast open a passage through the rocky walls.
In fact, the closest point inside the mountain to the cave is only thirty or forty meters away. So, if Zhou Ziwei can blast a cave more than ten meters deep there, he can basically use his soul power to scan the destination.
If there's nothing particularly interesting there, then Zhou Ziwei doesn't need to waste his time. He's not the foolish old man who moved mountains; he has no interest in playing the game of moving mountains. Of course... if there's enough profit to be made, then he wouldn't mind just flattening the mountain.
Zhou Ziwei sent out several Kun pets, leaving only the ladybug by his side. Then, he turned to the cave where he had initially been forced to unleash a soul roar due to the hostage situation with several children, which directly stunned dozens of people.
After entering the deep cave, Zhou Ziwei first picked up the little princess who was being held tightly in someone's arms and carefully put her down on the sofa where the machine gunners were resting near the cave entrance.
Seeing the little princess's tender and adorable face, like a green apple, Zhou Ziwei felt a surge of affection for her.
This little girl is so adorable. I really don't know how those guys from the Storm Mercenary Group could be so cruel to such a cute girl. They actually want to force her to join their ranks and turn such a cute girl into a ruthless mercenary killer.
However, Zhou Ziwei had to admit that if this girl underwent rigorous training and could develop considerable skills in the future, then coupled with her angelic face, she would easily become an extremely terrifying assassin.
At least for now, this little girl seems to be attractive to both men and women. In front of her, probably few people would not be captivated by her charming little face. Even if Zhou Ziwei already knew that this little girl had just been kidnapped, or even if this little girl had already joined the Storm Mercenary Group, I'm afraid Zhou Ziwei would find it difficult to bring himself to harm her!
Zhou Ziwei wasn't so kind to the other three little boys. He casually dragged them to a corner, threw them aside, and then ignored them for the time being.
There were still about twenty mercenary members who were temporarily unconscious. Zhou Ziwei certainly didn't intend to let them go, but... he wasn't in a hurry to kill them all, because... he still needed to conduct some somewhat inhumane experiments on them...
To summon Xiao Mei, they had to work on the Soul Bead, but before the experiment was successful, Zhou Ziwei didn't want to risk Xiao Mei's life.
With so many living people waiting for him to conduct experiments right in front of him, he naturally wouldn't be polite to them.
Zhou Ziwei grabbed a random member of the Storm Mercenary Group and slapped him twice across the face to forcefully wake him up. Then, with a sudden thought, he sent a surge of soul power through the man's body, directly attacking his sea of souls... From beginning to end, the amount of soul power he used and the method of attack were basically the same as when he used it on Xiao Mei.
And so, another new person in a vegetative state was born.
Looking at the bewildered mercenary standing there blankly, Zhou Ziwei realized he felt no remorse whatsoever for what he had done. Yet, why did he feel so distressed after doing the same thing to Xiaomei? Could it be... just because Xiaomei was a beautiful woman? Thinking of this, Zhou Ziwei couldn't help but despise himself.
But so be it! At least Zhou Ziwei found that he could have some affection for a young and pretty girl, which was much better than being interested in a dark and skinny Vietnamese man. If his interests were to reverse, that would be truly terrifying...
First, Zhou Ziwei created a test subject whose condition was similar to Xiao Mei's. Then, he began to think of ways to use the Soul Bead to help this person restore their damaged sea of soul.
He had already considered that the soul sea of ordinary people has a very limited capacity and it is impossible for it to bear a soul bead made from even a single soul all at once. Therefore, he had to divide the soul bead first.
But how can we cut off even a tiny portion of this rice-grain-sized soul bead...?
Zhou Ziwei tried many methods in silence, but to no avail. In his opinion, this Soul Bead was a product between matter and ethereal matter. Ordinary people could see and feel its existence, but... it was not a real physical substance. No matter what you used, you couldn't cut it with a knife or anything else. It felt like trying to cut water with a knife. How could a sharp knife cut through flowing water?
Volume 1, Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 258: Decomposition Ray
Zhou Ziwei tried several methods but couldn't break the soul bead. He was really having a headache. In a moment of desperation, he grabbed the soul bead and threw it forcefully against the cave wall...
Many people probably have similar experiences: it takes almost no effort to throw a small stone more than ten meters away, but it is quite difficult to throw a ball of cotton even one meter away.
Because cotton has such a low weight, it cannot withstand any force.
However, the Soul Bead seemed to have no weight at all, and naturally it was even less affected by force. So... Zhou Ziwei saw that the Soul Bead he threw with all his might only flew forward about half a meter, and then it became slower and slower... until it flew less than a meter and then came to a complete stop, just hovering in mid-air without moving.
Damn... It can't be that weird! It can't even be thrown? Damn it, I don't believe in this nonsense.
Zhou Ziwei was stunned for a moment, then rushed forward two steps, grabbed the soul bead in his hand, paused slightly, and then threw it out again...
A miracle occurred. The Soul Bead, which had previously been slow due to lack of force, did not move as slowly as before. This time, Zhou Ziwei clearly did not exert much force, but the Soul Bead shot out of his palm like a bullet with an incredible speed, crashing heavily into the opposite stone wall...
Zhou Ziwei had to admit that he could be a little childish at times. It was just a soul bead without consciousness, and the reason it wouldn't be thrown out was simply due to some physical reason. But just now, Zhou Ziwei insisted on provoking this soul bead, refusing to believe that he couldn't smash it against the stone wall.
As a result, Zhou Ziwei used a little trick, or rather, cheated on himself, and then he really did it. In fact, it looked like Zhou Ziwei threw the soul bead with his hand, but he didn't actually use much force. Instead, he secretly used his soul power to tightly and securely wrap the soul bead in the middle, and then used his soul power as a guide to drag the soul bead and crash it into the stone wall at high speed.
Although soul power is a form of energy, it is a spiritual energy that is difficult to convert into physical properties. In other words, it is quite difficult to use soul power to move an object physically.
However, it is difficult to define exactly what a Soul Bead is. Although it has color and shape, it has almost no mass.
Therefore, using the power of the soul to drag the soul orb is not a burden at all; at most, it will only bear a little bit of air resistance.
It was precisely this slight air resistance that prevented Zhou Ziwei's released soul power from moving as quickly as usual. Otherwise, with soul power traveling at nearly the speed of light, the soul bead would have flown towards the stone wall like light, making it impossible to detect with the naked eye at such a short distance.
Zhou Ziwei didn't even know why he was being so ridiculous, actually trying to outwit a soul bead. So, when he used his soul power to drag the soul bead into the stone wall, he felt a little proud of his sudden inspiration, but then he burst out laughing at his own childishness.
However, before Zhou Ziwei could even utter a sound, his open grin suddenly froze, and his expression instantly shifted from a playful smile to utter shock and disbelief...
With a soft "poof," the soul bead struck the smooth stone wall like a ping-pong ball. However, after the not-so-loud sound, Zhou Ziwei saw the soul bead burst like a soap bubble. But instead of turning into countless fragments, the shattered soul bead instantly transformed into countless ray-like particles that spread outwards...
The ray did not spread very far. With Zhou Ziwei's keen eyesight, he could observe that the ray only radiated to a distance of one meter before suddenly and completely dissipating. In the meantime, there was almost no decay process; it went directly from extremely strong to annihilated.
The sheer power unleashed by these strange rays truly astonished Zhou Ziwei. The rays that radiated into the air were fleeting and harmless, but the radiation directed towards one side of the stone wall instantly reduced it to dust...
It was pure powder. When Zhou Ziwei tried to pick up a handful of stone powder from the ground, he found that the powder was incredibly fine and extremely uniform. No matter how he rubbed it between his fingers, he couldn't find even a tiny particle in it.
This... could it be that they directly broke down the stones on this wall into the most basic molecules, or even atoms, that make up matter?
Seeing a large amount of stone dust continuously flowing down the stone wall in front of him, eventually revealing a perfectly round and regular hole with a diameter of two meters, Zhou Ziwei remained speechless for a long time.
It seems that he initially threw the Soul Bead against the wall in a fit of anger because he couldn't cut it open, but he never expected that this small Soul Bead would eventually unleash such a terrifyingly powerful force.
Zhou Ziwei believed that if he had simply thrown the soul bead onto the stone wall, it wouldn't have produced such an amazing effect.
The sudden change was most likely because he used his soul power to envelop the soul bead in the middle, and then after an impact... that's why such a violent reaction occurred.
I remember that time when he was on a plane to Kunming, the first terrorist he killed on the plane was because his soul power was severely compressed and mutated, which directly blasted the terrorist onto the roof of the plane... Originally, soul power is a kind of spiritual energy, which is difficult to exert physical attacks, but under certain conditions, the power released after the soul power is mutated is also extraordinary.
Thinking about it this way, the explosion of the Soul Bead just now should be closely related to the mutation of the soul power. In fact, it wasn't just the Soul Bead that exploded, but also the layer of soul power that Zhou Ziwei had used to wrap the Soul Bead was destroyed along with the Soul Bead's explosion.
Zhou Ziwei wasn't quite sure whether his soul power was decomposed by the rays released after the Soul Bead mutated, or whether it mutated along with the Soul Bead, resulting in this terrifying ray explosion... But in any case, the power of this Soul Bead's ray explosion was far more terrifying than the soul power mutation he experienced on the plane last time.
Moreover, even ordinary bombs and grenades are absolutely not as terrifying as the Soul Bead. What kind of grenade could blast a hole two meters in diameter in such a solid cave wall? And the rays released by the Soul Bead completely and thoroughly decompose... It is estimated that no matter what kind of matter is within the range of the Soul Bead's rays, it will probably be easily reduced to the most basic particles. This kind of damage is extremely serious and thorough, and there is absolutely no possibility of repair.
Or perhaps the rays from this Soul Bead also have certain limitations, namely that its killing range is too narrow and the rays it releases do not undergo a decay process.
When the Soul Orb explodes, anyone within one meter of it is certain to die; there is absolutely no chance of survival.
If that person had been standing one meter away from the Soul Bead, he would have been unharmed.
The kill radius is so obvious; it's like going from heaven to hell in an instant, leaving no room for carelessness.
However, it should be noted that Zhou Ziwei had just used only a very ordinary soul bead, the kind that is condensed from a single soul.
So... if Zhou Ziwei detonates a soul bead condensed from two souls using the same method, will the range of its rays double? What if Zhou Ziwei uses a soul bead condensed from ten or more souls? How terrifying would its rays be then?
Thinking of this, Zhou Ziwei felt both shocked and excited.
Since he accidentally condensed the Soul Bead for the first time, even though the Soul Bead was currently useless to Zhou Ziwei, he still insisted on condensing the souls of those who died at his hands into Soul Beads whenever he had the chance.
Now he realized that his choice was really correct. Although the soul power contained in this soul bead was not much, and Zhou Ziwei would have to consume almost the same amount of soul power as a soul bead to successfully refine one, this kind of soul bead could not only be used as pure soul power to replenish his energy at any time, but could also be used as a weapon. Therefore, even if more soul power was consumed when refining the soul bead, it would be completely worth it.
Seeing the circular pit in the rock face, Zhou Ziwei suddenly thought of the mysterious place that might exist inside the mountain, a place that had attracted countless souls to fly into it.
Because the coordinates inside that mountain are inaccessible by any road, the only way to get there is to forcefully break through the mountain and create a passage.
He was initially worried that using explosives to blast a passage little by little would create too much noise and attract outside attention.
After all, although Storm Valley is sparsely populated, it is not a completely uninhabited place like a primeval forest. There are some scattered villages a dozen kilometers away from Storm Valley.
If violent explosions occur frequently here, the villagers in the distant mountains will surely hear them.
However, the explosion of the Soul Pearl was almost silent, so there was no need to worry about it being heard by people outside the valley.
Moreover, using the Soul Bead to break through the mountain is particularly safe. The pits created by the Soul Bead rays on the rock wall are smooth and regular, so there is no need to worry about a collapse.
Without hesitation, Zhou Ziwei immediately returned to the main cave of Storm Valley with a large batch of Soul Beads of various sizes that he had just refined. He then recalled the fruit flies and mosquitoes that had been assigned to explore the cave.
After receiving the memories of these Kun Chong, Zhou Ziwei analyzed them and finally selected a location that he believed was closest to the mysterious place inside the mountain.
Then, just like before, he used his soul power to wrap the soul beads and began smashing them one by one against the mountain wall, starting his mountain-drilling plan.
The soul beads that Zhou Ziwei had just refined were mostly composed of a single soul. Only three were refined because a large number of souls rushed towards him.
Moreover, since it was discovered that if a soul bead refined from a single soul is placed together with a soul bead refined from multiple souls, it will be quickly absorbed by the soul bead refined from multiple souls, Zhou Ziwei has been very careful to keep these soul beads in a separate place.
This is the perfect time to use the soul beads, each refined from a single soul, to blast open the passage...
After detonating three soul beads in succession using the same method, Zhou Ziwei had already carved out a circular passage with a diameter of two meters and a depth of three meters in the stone wall.
This method of excavating tunnels is very fast, but cleaning up the stone dust inside the tunnels is much more laborious.
Although the stone shrank to less than half its original size after being pulverized, a considerable amount of stone dust still accumulated in the three-meter-deep cave. He found a shovel used by the Storm Mercenary Group in the cave and spent half a day digging to clear out all the stone dust.
The location he chose would require carving a passage more than thirty meters deep to reach the mysterious place inside the mountain. The deeper the passage was carved, the more difficult it would be to remove the stone dust inside.
Zhou Ziwei did a quick calculation and estimated that if he continued working like this, he would be lucky to open the passage in three days, which was far too inefficient.
Therefore, Zhou Ziwei decided to simply use two or more Soul Beads fused together to carve out the cave. This way, he could greatly expand the diameter of the cave. With more space, he only needed to pile the decomposed stone powder on both sides of the cave to create a passage for him to walk through.