Chapter 2
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Chapter 2: Who Is the Best at Digging Technology
The cute mole stood still, sniffing around with its big surprising claws and small nose. Its appearance reminded Tasha of an intern from last year who would stand still when she did something wrong, looking at people with innocent big eyes – which was also quite cute, but if you were unfortunate enough to be her boss and expected her to submit an urgent document, you would easily want to cook her.
Tasha was now thinking about how the mole would taste when braised.
She was even hungrier, all because of that mole, summoning it seemed to have drained her energy using some kind of principle. If Tasha was able to eat a whole calf before due to hunger, now she could eat both of its parents. If she still had a body, she would constantly be drooling with a screaming stomach, feeling like she was about to pass out… the last part could happen even without a body, Tasha’s vision flickered like a broken light bulb. She feared that if she didn’t eat soon, she would lose consciousness.
Will she be lucky enough to wake up a second time?
Tasha struggled to stay awake, not wanting to die of hunger just hours after waking up. She stared hard at the mole, hoping that staring would bring it back and fill her unknown stomach. Before evolving from someone who could eat raw worms to a meat-hungry zombie, the intense desire finally broke through a critical point.
The mole emitted a strange fluorescent glow, like a peeled onion exposing a tiny core among the layers of soil. As Tasha "saw" that core, she also "connected" to it.
That feeling was very strange. Tasha felt like she became a computer, with an extra processor in this moment. She could sense a faint consciousness, like a worker ant to its queen, obediently waiting for her command.
"Give me food?" Tasha cautiously ordered.
The motionless mole suddenly crawled up, hopping towards the collapsed tunnel. It lifted its upper body, two big claws swiftly digging the soil, as efficient as a saw cutting wood. Within a few seconds, there was a large hole in the tunnel, and Tasha realized where the dug-up soil and rocks went: they all disappeared into the mole’s mouth.
Tasha widened her eyes, watching the tiny mole eat up a dark tunnel. The pitch-black tunnel did not bother her; her X-ray-like vision could see how the soil and rocks rearranged inside the mole’s body, making its earth element-formed body more solid. It didn’t make sense; how could that tiny body contain so much soil and rocks? Its claws were like a digger, and its plump body acted like a road roller, leaving a remarkably smooth passage as if it were a completed underground tunnel.
Originally, the tunnel was outside the building, beyond Tasha’s perception range. But when the mole finished making the tunnel, it was like lighting a lamp in the mist, suddenly becoming perceptible. She didn’t know where the tunnel led, but the mole seemed to have a navigation system, leading it to its designated destination.
With the final claw, what fell apart was not just soil and rocks.
A piece of blue mineral the size of half a mole’s nail fell from the soil, bounced on the ground, making a clear tinkling sound. It was entirely gem blue, with flowing light that made it look between solid and liquid. It was quite beautiful, but it suddenly heightened Tasha’s hunger, as if she saw a steaming basket of dumplings appear in the sky. The mole, seemingly influenced by its master’s emotion, brightened its eyes and swallowed the Blue Ore whole.
Bang!
The mole shot out.
Every corner of this underground building oozes a spooky angry vibe, enough to scare a living mole to death. The mole-shaped earth creature didn’t suffer much mentally, but its body went through a rough ride. It was caught in an indoor whirlwind: invisible hands lifted it up, threw it back into the hall, slammed it onto the ceiling, and then plummeted it back down, cracking the ground in several places.
Okay, at least I’ve gained a new ability now. After a minute of tossing things around, Tasha calmed down and amusingly thought on the verge of exhaustion and fainting. She realized the last time she was this impulsive was back in kindergarten, proving hunger truly is the enemy of reason.
The mole tumbled into a dried-up stone pool, feeling dizzy from the previous whirlwind, it puffed out a piece of ore with a loud ‘puh’.
The blue ore fell directly to the bottom of the pool.
The stone pool was clearly dry, and the ore was solid, yet its fall resembled a drop of milk into a lake. The gem-blue light diffused as it landed, spreading from the tiny point to the entire stone pool, and even the whole building.
This saved Tasha from the brink of losing consciousness as the black mist that had loomed in her vision vanished, calming her invisible stomach. Busy as she had been in the past, she had even fantasized about pouring some sort of liquid nutrient directly into her stomach. Now, the effects of this piece of ore could rival a nutrient infusion, perhaps even better since it seeped directly into every cell of Tasha’s body, without the need to chew or digest. The overwhelming hunger that clouded her judgment almost disappeared, and she immediately realized the power of the Blue Ore, effortlessly activating the mole again.
The Blue Ore eased her hunger, but one piece was clearly not enough.
The mole got up and quickly ran towards the tunnel it had just dug. This time, Tasha firmly controlled its mind, clearly conveying the message to return the Blue Ore to the pool. Under the strict supervision of the overseer, the mole no longer secretly consumed the ore; it stuffed what it dug up into its mouth and brought it back.
Clearly, this thing was not a mole, as moles don’t have pouches like hamsters.
It dug forward all the way, stuffing seven or eight ore pieces found along the way into its cheek pouches, making its cheeks swell like pockets, and then brought them back in one breath. With just this one trip, the energy spent by the restless throwing mole was replenished at once. The mole’s digging momentum did not decrease at all, repeatedly moving back and forth, pushing the excavation site far away to several halls near the stone pool. The digging and back-and-forth running cycles were getting longer and longer, Tasha thought for a moment and tried to push the energy towards the earth rune.
This time, there was no need to deplete that suspended red core, the energy in the Blue Ore took its place. Tasha could feel the gravitational pull coming from the rune, guiding her to manipulate the flowing energy within the building. It was truly miraculous. After only a short time with this building, she was starting to feel that many parts of her new body were more functional than a human body, as humans cannot control the flow of nutrients within their bodies using their minds.
The familiar feeling of hunger struck again, and the second mole appeared on the rune. Tasha connected to the second mole, giving the command to "dig Blue Ore and bring it back to the stone pool," and the new mole immediately ran out.
She had worried before about whether controlling two moles would be chaotic, but when the second one appeared, she realized she didn’t need to micromanage the process. The more Tasha could control her new body (or soul, who knows what to call it precisely now), the easier it became to manipulate. She just needed to make decisions, and the mole would comply. They were not pets or employees, more like automatic gaming software with a hint of instinctual interference.
This was like a harvesting game, gathering crops to sell, using the money to hire farmers to harvest more efficiently. However, in Tasha’s case, the laborers were moles, money was ore, and she managed the market transformation herself. She first replenished herself to the point of not feeling hungry, and then began systematically creating moles: for each mole made, she stored an equal amount of energy to prevent a sudden depletion of Blue Ore.
By the time the fifth mole was created, Tasha’s mining team had formed an assembly line. Their transportation and digging efforts were coordinated, achieving maximum efficiency, surpassing many city road systems. Like naturally skilled engineers such as ants and bees, these moles seemed to share a mental connection, aiding them in making optimal choices.
Surprisingly, Tasha was not surprised at all.
As the owner of these "worker ants," Tasha naturally understood their way of working. It was as if an architect module had been installed in her brain, blending this knowledge with the human soul, their instincts becoming her skills, as if she had become a master builder overnight.
City planning professionals must surely desire such an encounter, Tasha thought. But for those trapped underground, with no thoughts besides hunger and harvesting… Well, for them, would such skills be useful for the building they are in?
Dozens of Blue Ore were thrown into the stone pool, turning the sandy ground blue. With enough food stored and no longer threatened by hunger, Tasha, who was adapting to her new identity, began to think about her situation.