Chapter 764 – Three Thousand Mirror Ruins 31

Through everyone’s coordinated efforts, the twenty to thirty red-eyed grasshoppers that had suddenly attacked were quickly eliminated.

The area around the camp was littered with emerald-green insect carcasses and traces of scorching-hot viscous fluid that gave off a pungent burnt smell. The air was thick with the stench of blood and the scent of burning.

After a brief silence, the camp erupted in excited murmurs that could no longer be contained.

“We got them! We got them all!”

Zhou Ming gasped for breath and wiped a smear of green fluid from his face, breaking into a wide grin that showed his white teeth. The tension from facing the onslaught head-on had transformed into the joy of success.

“I never expected actual combat to be this intense!” Xiang Yufan shook out his slightly numb arms, looking at the grotesque insect corpses on the ground, his eyes brimming with the thrill of a first victory.

Ren Miao and Zhu Rao high-fived each other, their faces wearing smiles that mixed lingering fear with a sense of accomplishment.

Bai Wei looked at her faintly trembling hands—she too had stabbed one that slipped through with her dagger—and let out a long breath, feeling both drained and proud.

Chen Xingye watched the green blood drip from his dagger, a barely perceptible glint passing through his eyes.

Zhao Wuchen silently wiped down his curved blade, the corner of his mouth curving in a subtle arc of satisfaction, clearly pleased with his “efficient and effortless” performance.

Lin Yue carefully inspected her singed sleeve while patting her chest with lingering fear. “That scared me half to death! Those bugs are absolutely disgusting! The stuff they spray is scalding hot and reeks! Thank goodness my combat suit is high quality—heat-resistant and corrosion-proof—otherwise I’d definitely be injured.”

Her tone also carried a hint of relief at having made it through.

Wang Jingnan, as team leader, also breathed a sigh of relief but didn’t let his guard down. He raised his voice to remind everyone: “Great work, everyone! But don’t get complacent. Clean up the battlefield quickly, collect any valuable materials, treat your injuries, and remember—the camp still isn’t fully set up!”

“As we agreed, whoever made the kill keeps the loot!” Su Yu could barely contain her excitement.

She had been deliberately trying to kill as many red-eyed grasshoppers as possible, precisely so she could claim a larger share when the spoils were divided. The money she had borrowed for supplies, as well as her cultivation expenses for the foreseeable future, all depended on the spoils from this expedition.

“Anyone who finds fire-attribute beast cores can sell them to me. I’ll pay 150 mirror coins each,” Ding Yan said.

His target mirror beast was the Flame Archer, a fire-attribute plant-type mirror beast. Once he extracted the corresponding skill, he would also need fire-attribute beast cores as everyday casting materials.

The materials from one-star mirror beasts weren’t really worth many mirror coins to most people present, but this was still their first harvest from fighting mirror beasts.

Harvesting spoils after hunting mirror beasts was also a required skill for any Mirror Explorer.

Setting everything else aside, extracting beast cores was something they absolutely had to experience!

One by one, they pulled out their daggers and enthusiastically set about prying open the hard head carapaces of the red-eyed grasshoppers, searching for the fire-attribute beast cores within.

The process was far from easy, requiring both technique and patience.

From time to time, someone would let out an exclamation:

“I found one! It’s so tiny!”

“Hahaha! So shiny, and it’s warm to the touch!”

“Mine doesn’t seem to have one? Or am I looking in the wrong spot?”

…

When it came to extracting beast cores and processing mirror beast materials, no one could match Su Yu’s practiced efficiency.

Even Mo Lan, who had read extensively and had her head full of theoretical knowledge about processing red-eyed grasshopper carcasses, couldn’t compare. While the other students were still struggling to find a place to cut into the hard head carapaces, or rummaging around inside the grasshoppers’ skulls searching for beast cores, Su Yu had already begun her “work.”

Her left hand pressed precisely against the head, while her right hand held her dagger. A slight twist and flick of the wrist, and a triangular plate of armor the size of a fingernail was neatly pried open. A light prod with the dagger tip, and the beast core was flicked out, caught in a specially prepared piece of soft cloth she already had ready, barely stained with any blood.

The entire sequence was fluid and seamless—fast, precise, clean—as if she had repeated it thousands upon thousands of times.

And that wasn’t all.

She quickly stowed the beast core, then moved her dagger downward, precisely slicing open the relatively soft shell at the junction between the grasshopper’s neck and thorax.

Her fingers probed inside, felt around briefly, then yanked sharply. A long, slender, semi-transparent spray gland sac, still retaining traces of searing energy, was pulled out completely intact.

She deftly placed the gland sac into a separate sealed metal case to prevent its energy from dissipating.

With all that done, she immediately moved to the next carcass, repeating the same efficient and precise motions.

Her speed was easily three times faster than everyone else’s, and the beast cores and gland sacs she extracted were remarkably intact.

This astonishing display quickly caught the attention of the nearby students.

“Wow… Su Yu, you’re incredible!” Bai Wei, who was closest to her, couldn’t help but exclaim. She looked at the red-eyed grasshopper in her own hands with only one corner of its carapace pried open, then at the neat little pile of pristine spoils in front of Su Yu. The gap was plain for all to see.

“Your technique… it’s even better than what the textbooks describe!” Zhou Ming said, his face full of admiration.

Lin Yue was even more direct with her curiosity: “Su Yu, how are you so skilled at this? It’s like you’ve specifically trained for it!”

Su Yu, in the middle of collecting a gland sac, paused briefly in her movements. She didn’t look up, and simply replied in her characteristically flat, even tone:

“Mm. I used to be in the ‘Grey Rat’ logistics squad. Processed a lot of mirror beast carcasses.”

“The Grey Rat logistics squad?” Lin Yue had never heard of it.

Wang Jingnan’s expression shifted slightly—the name sounded vaguely familiar to him.

“Grey Rat…” Chen Xingye recalled something. “Is that the well-known civilian organization active in low-star mirror spaces, the one that takes on preliminary material processing and field logistics work for professional Mirror Explorer teams?”

“Mm.” Su Yu gave only a quiet acknowledgment, her hands never stopping. She had already finished processing two more red-eyed grasshoppers and seemed unwilling to say more about this part of her past.

Understanding dawned on the group, and the looks they directed at Su Yu grew more complex.

So she had that kind of background!

Working specifically on material processing in a professional Mirror Explorer team’s logistics squad meant she had likely been exposed to various low-star mirror beasts from very early on—she might have even entered mirror spaces before.

Even for logistics squads, there was a certain level of danger involved. For her, a student who hadn’t even passed her aptitude assessment yet, to have been doing that kind of work…

This also explained why her combat style was so fierce and reckless, and why her material processing skills were so jaw-droppingly proficient.

Those were survival skills forged in a genuinely life-or-death environment.

After a brief silence, everyone tacitly chose not to press further, but their understanding of her had deepened considerably.

“Are none of you taking the spray gland sacs? A fresh spray gland sac can sell for at least fifty mirror coins!” Su Yu, seeing that everyone else was only going for the grasshoppers’ heads, couldn’t help but remind them.