This stretch of ruins was far larger than Lin Ye had anticipated.

He had initially assumed it was just an abandoned city, but as the Red Frogs ventured deeper into the ruins, he realized it was essentially a massive garbage dump, with no end in sight.

Before long, a Red Frog came hopping back to the truck with materials clutched in its mouth. As long as they stayed within the range of the Parasitism Network, the Explosion Red Frogs could quickly locate spiritual energy materials emitting that distinctive aura.

However, the ruins weren't entirely without danger. Not long after, a ruin creature intruded into the Parasitism Network.

Because these ruin creatures had stable biological structures, Lin Ye couldn't use Alienation or Parasitism to deal with them. He could only rely on the Explosion Red Frogs to attack directly.

But this ruin creature wasn't weak—the Explosion Red Frogs couldn't even harm it. Fortunately, these Explosion Red Frogs had all undergone Spiritual Energy Core Modification Technology.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three Explosion Red Frogs triggered their self-destruction right before being killed. The explosive force was immense, directly obliterating the ruin creature.

After the ruin creature died, a gleaming silver chest appeared near its corpse. When the chest materialized, Lin Ye sensed a faint spatial fluctuation.

'So what the hell is this place? Some faction's garbage disposal facility? Killing these ruin creatures drops treasure chests... Could it be System's territory?'

A Red Frog carried the chest back near the truck. Lin Ye took it—the chest wasn't locked. When he opened it, the chest didn't disappear; inside was just a single blueprint, which recorded some stable biological structures.

The biological structure on this blueprint was different from the one the woman had given him earlier. There were probably many blueprints with varying content here.

Lin Ye quickly finished reading the blueprint. He was quite interested in these blueprints because they could compensate for his shortcomings. In the future, he might be able to create some stable parasitic nodes.

Lin Ye processed the corpse of that ruin creature into a new stable organism. During this process, he also developed another new stable creature: the Explosion Butterfly.

But considering the explosive power needed, the Explosion Butterflies were much larger than normal butterflies.

One by one, human-head-sized Explosion Butterflies flew into the ruined zone. It was then that Lin Ye noticed the first batch of Red Frogs sent into the ruins were already having problems. Due to environmental effects, they could only survive for about half an hour inside the ruins.

'Looks like I'll need to replace the parasitic nodes in time.'

Lin Ye didn't have that many stable flesh materials on hand, but he could maintain the stability of the Parasitism Network by killing ruin creatures.

The Red Frogs nearing explosion began accelerating their exploration of the ruins, searching for ruin creatures they could detonate against before they blew up.

There were all kinds of bizarre ruin creatures inside. Explosions rang out in rapid succession, and soon, some of the relatively stable Explosion Butterflies used their forelegs to carry back the carcasses of those lucky ruin creatures.

Lin Ye quickly processed those corpses. One by one, new Explosion Butterflies and Explosion Red Frogs crawled out from the bodies, entering the ruins to collect materials. When they became unstable, they went looking for their lucky ruin creatures.

This cycle repeated endlessly in the ruins. Lin Ye continuously expanded his Parasitism Network, but when it reached a certain scale, he stopped.

The number of ruin creatures limited the coverage of the Parasitism Network.

Moreover, the materials in this area were almost cleared out. The back of the truck was already loaded with spiritual energy materials.

During this process, Lin Ye obtained many silver chests. They all contained those blueprints—nothing else.

After studying all these blueprints, the explosive creatures he created became increasingly stable, and their survival time inside the ruins also increased.

Lin Ye directed those parasitic organisms to leave the ruin zone. He needed to find a new portal to sell off the materials in the truck.

These materials also contained that power that caused biological instability. Staying with them for too long would have very unfavorable effects.

But Lin Ye only planned to stay here for about half a day, and this dosage couldn't affect his true body at all.

The truck started up. Earlier, while exploring the ruined zone, he had analyzed the area's terrain structure and had already inferred several locations where portals might exist.

Lin Ye drove the truck straight to the first location. Upon arrival, he found that the portal there had already closed. Nearby, the abandoned zone was piled high with a massive amount of spiritual energy materials.

'Probably taken out by the faction on the other side of the portal.'

It seemed that whenever a driver clashed with the faction behind a portal, the portal would automatically close.

Lin Ye drove toward the second location. This time, the portal hadn't closed, but a heavy-duty truck was parked nearby.

"Hello, can I help you with something?"

The truck driver was a middle-aged man with a firm face. Perhaps because of Lin Ye's demeanor, the man was very courteous to him.

"I'm looking for a portal to sell materials. Are there any unused portals around here?"

Lin Ye didn't plan to hijack the man's portal. He was going to sell a lot of spiritual energy materials, which might prevent the man from continuing normal trade with the faction he regularly dealt with.

"Yes, there are plenty of vacant portals nearby. But the factions behind those portals tend to be pretty domineering. If you don't mind, I have a map."

The man handed Lin Ye a hand-drawn map.

"Good. I won't take your map for free. Blueprints or materials—which do you prefer?"

Lin Ye pulled out a stack of blueprints, signaling the man to choose freely.

When the man saw that stack of blueprints, his pupils constricted. He was an old-timer in this area, but he had never once seen Lin Ye before, meaning Lin Ye was likely a newcomer.

He knew very well how difficult these blueprints were to obtain, and what they represented.

"It's an honor to assist you. This is no big deal—I can't accept these."

The man replied with utmost respect.

"Then what do you want? Better hurry—I'm pretty busy."

Lin Ye saw right through the man's intentions.

"...I have a child. Because of an accident, he was affected by a Collapse Bomb. I hope you can give me a method to treat that affliction."

The man bowed his head and answered.

"Collapse Bomb? What's that? A bomb made from these spiritual energy materials?"

Lin Ye asked, intrigued.

"Yes, something like that. I don't understand the principle behind it."

The man kept his head down, tense, afraid to meet Lin Ye's gaze.

"I'll be heading to a nearby portal to process the materials. You can bring your child to see me. As long as it's not an especially troublesome issue, I can handle it."

After saying this, Lin Ye drove the truck away.