Ashen God
Chapter 299 - 298: Cleaning the Core Area

Chapter 299: Chapter 298: Cleaning the Core Area

Because the maximum limit for a Thermo-baric Bomb was only ten at any time, Zhang Yanhang simply fused a single Thermo-baric Bomb +3. However, he hadn’t anticipated the immense power of the Thermo-baric Bomb +3; it ended up enveloping the entire cave.

Zhang Yanhang had originally thought that a Thermo-baric Bomb +3 might cover an area of a hundred meters or so, which is why he had intentionally aimed at the Crimson Iron Flying Ants and the Crimson Iron Soldier Ants at the back. His plan was to use the Thermo-baric Bomb +3 first, then follow up with regular Thermo-baric Bombs to blast the Crimson Iron Worker Ants.

But to his utter surprise, just one Thermo-baric Bomb +3 took care of all the Crimson Iron Flying Ants, Crimson Iron Soldier Ants, and Crimson Iron Worker Ants.

"Now that I think about it more carefully, maybe a regular Thermo-baric Bomb could already cover a hundred meters, but the Thermo-baric Bomb +3 covered thousands of meters, engulfing the entire cave."

During his treasure box gathering, Zhang Yanhang had also made a point to observe the epicenter of the explosion. He found that part of the ceiling had been blown open, forming a massive hole several meters deep and dozens of meters wide, with dense, narrow cracks spreading all around it.

After seeing the hole created by the Thermo-baric Bomb +3, Zhang Yanhang felt he could deeply appreciate the level of impact that the Crimson Iron Flying Ants and the Crimson Iron Soldier Ants must have experienced.

You see, a full-force punch from Zhang Yanhang would at most fracture a half-meter deep layer of Crimson iron ore in a wall, and that too within a very confined area.

Yet, the blast from the Thermo-baric Bomb had created a vast crater several meters deep and tens of meters wide, indicating the explosive impact was far stronger than Zhang Yanhang’s fist.

For common monsters with the strength of First Tier Two Stars like the Crimson Iron Flying Ants and the Crimson Iron Soldier Ants, even a casual punch from Zhang Yanhang would obliterate them, let alone when facing a Thermo-baric Bomb that was significantly more powerful than his punch.

It was a completely futile resistance, like a sandcastle on the beach facing a wave, destroyed upon contact.

"It should be said that the Thermo-baric Bomb, this sub-nuclear weapon, truly lives up to its reputation. With enough yield, it can be regarded as an environmentally friendly, pollution-free version of a nuclear weapon, but if someone else were firing this Thermo-baric Bomb, it probably wouldn’t have been as powerful."

Zhang Yanhang felt that the reason the Thermo-baric Bomb was more potent than he expected was probably because he had forgotten about the 150% Remote Attack Power Bonus provided by his Gun Master LV.MAX. Once this bonus was factored in, the exaggerated power actually seemed quite normal.

If it weren’t for the various bonuses he had, Zhang Yanhang’s initial estimate of a hundred-meter coverage would have been a normal outcome, not resulting in the current situation where a single warhead covered an area of a square kilometer.

"Since the Thermo-baric Bomb +3 is so powerful, I feel like I should stock up on more of them in the future." At this point, Zhang Yanhang had to mention an important matter—that Thermo-baric Bomb +3s did not share the maximum existence limit with regular Thermo-baric Bombs.

In other words, even though a Thermo-baric Bomb +3 had been fired, there were still ten full Thermo-baric Bombs left in his Waist Bag.

At first, Zhang Yanhang was quite surprised by this. He thought that even if he could fuse Thermo-baric Bomb +3s, he could only store up to ten at a time. Ultimately, he hadn’t expected that the Thermo-baric Bomb +3s, produced through Alchemy, would not be considered in the same category as regular Thermo-baric Bombs.

"I always feel like I’ve somehow stumbled upon an inexplicable BUG with these Thermo-baric Bombs..."

Though, to some extent, a warhead like the Thermo-baric Bomb +3 that disregards the existence limit is indeed a huge bug, in the real world, there are no programmers to patch such loopholes. Thus, for Zhang Yanhang, faced with this bug, the only thing he felt was ’existence is justified.’

"Since I found this BUG and could circumvent the quantity limit, it would be remiss not to hoard more Thermo-baric Bombs."

The power of the Thermo-baric Bomb +3 was somewhat beyond Zhang Yanhang’s expectations, so he believed it was indeed something worth stockpiling. In case he encountered any unbeatable monsters or enemies in the future, he could simply unleash a barrage of Thermo-baric Bombs.

Besides, the Rebirth in Pure Bliss Realm Prison Suppression Cannon would automatically generate a Thermo-baric Bomb every hour, and once it reached full capacity, it would stop producing. So, rather than letting the chance to generate Thermo-baric Bombs go to waste, it would be better to fuse them into Thermo-baric Bomb +3s, especially since there was no cost to automatic generation.

"Wasting resources is a crime. Since fusing them doesn’t take too long, I should keep the Rebirth in Pure Bliss Realm Prison Suppression Cannon’s auto-generation function running continuously. If it doesn’t stop every hour, I can get three Thermo-baric Bomb +3s per day.

"Even better, I could reallocate the production capacity meant for High Explosive Armor-Piercing Bullets entirely to Thermo-baric Bombs. Then, in a 24-hour day, I could get six Thermo-baric Bomb +3s..."

Zhang Yanhang thought this was a great idea, but the actual implementation would have to wait until after he disposed of the Crimson Iron Ant King and the Crimson Iron Ant Queen; he didn’t have the time for it right now.

Regarding the Core Area where the Crimson Iron Ant King and the Crimson Iron Ant Queen resided, although Zhang Yanhang hadn’t visited it during his first exploration of the Crimson Iron Ant Nest, he had taken the opportunity to check it out alone during the time pause provided by the slot machine. He discovered that this Core Area was fairly secluded.

Normally, the core would be situated centrally and would have a connection to the central region where Zhang Yanhang currently was, but the place he was heading to was at the very right of the inner regions, the smallest of the five areas inside, approximately just 0.5 square kilometers.

Within that smallest inner area, there was a rugged, narrow passage that inexplicably formed a C-shape, connecting to the backside of the wall in the central region where Zhang Yanhang had been earlier.

"The nearest area was where I was before. Why couldn’t they just open a passage there? Why insist on this detour..." Zhang Yanhang now surmised that the Crimson Iron Ant Queen must be somewhat abnormal; otherwise, she would never have done something like this.

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