This was far more than just Landorus's blood.
Contained within it was a trace of its origin power over Ground-type energy, which was precisely why it had been able to stabilize the violent Wind- and Electric-type energies within the land.
Compared to this, the so-called "treasure land" was practically worthless.
"Yes. What's inside should be Ground-type origin energy," Oliver said calmly.
Mu Xue hesitated for a brief moment.
She naturally understood what Oliver meant—this resource was clearly intended for his Garchomp.
By normal rules, anything a Trainer personally discovered in a secret realm belonged to that Trainer.
But this was a Legendary-tier resource. There was no way the Alliance would simply ignore it if they found out.
After only a moment of hesitation, Mu Xue turned her head away as if nothing was out of the ordinary and looked around the room.
"I'll check if there's any further passage going down," she said.
She acted as though she couldn't see the glaring golden droplet floating in the air at all.
Oliver watched as Mu Xue walked straight toward the corner of the room without even looking back. A faint smile tugged at his lips.
Ever since the time he revealed Celebi during the New Year—and Mu Xue chose not to report it to the Alliance—Oliver had already sensed something.
Sure enough.
Just one conclusion.
Mu Xue was a real one. Loyal. Trustworthy. Someone you could count on.
At this point, Oliver still hadn't realized Mu Xue harbored any deeper feelings toward him. In his mind, this was simply unshakable comrade-in-arms friendship.
Oliver stored Landorus's blood inside the system space, then loudly declared:
"Wow, how did this statue collapse on its own? I didn't even touch it!"
Mu Xue turned around, glanced at the shattered fragments on the ground, and—despite clearly knowing Oliver had already taken the blood—replied with a straight face:
"Wasn't it like this when we came in?"
Oliver twitched at the corner of his mouth and quickly nodded.
"Ah, right. My mistake. I must've remembered wrong. It was probably smashed by that Rhyperior."
They exchanged a look.
Then both broke into knowing smiles.
After confirming there was nothing else of value left in the ruin, Oliver and Mu Xue climbed back up and exited the ancient site.
The moment they emerged, they saw a squad of Alliance investigators approaching.
The investigators initially intended to question them, but Mu Xue revealed her identity and explained their purpose for entering the secret realm.
The investigators immediately snapped to attention and saluted.
Mu Xue described what had happened inside the ruin—naturally omitting any mention of Landorus's blood. Even so, the investigators stated they still needed to report the situation to higher authorities before allowing them to leave.
That report would eventually reach He Sheng anyway.
He already knew Oliver had come here in search of research materials.
As expected, not long after, Oliver and Mu Xue departed the secret realm under the respectful salutes of the investigators.
As they left, they saw an official Alliance research team entering the secret realm—most likely to conduct a full investigation of the ruins.
Whatever information the Alliance gleaned from the murals had nothing to do with Oliver anymore.
This trip to Luocheng could be considered a perfect success.
Not only had he obtained three Mega Stones, but he had also acquired a Legendary-tier resource perfectly suited for Garchomp.
At that moment, the system notification sounded:
"Detected that the host has uncovered the truth of the ruins. Reward granted: Move Learning Machine — Dragon Ascent ×1."
Nice.
Another excellent reward.
"You're finally out!"
Oliver looked up to see Fan Wenxin, who surprisingly was still waiting at the entrance to the secret realm.
"Why didn't you go home? Isn't your son still waiting for you?" Oliver asked.
"I called Xiaoyang earlier. He won't worry," Fan Wenxin said sincerely.
"But you're my benefactor. How could I just leave you behind and go home? Seeing you come out safely puts my mind at ease."
Oliver glanced at the investigators rushing out behind them and smiled.
"Alright then. We'll head out first. Make sure you get some rest."
Before Fan Wenxin could fully process what Oliver meant, an investigator stopped him.
"Mr. Fan Wenxin, please wait a moment. Since you are one of the few people who has entered the ruins, we need you to stay and cooperate with our investigation."
"…Huh?"
Fan Wenxin turned around and watched Oliver and Mu Xue walking away. In the end, he sighed and accepted his fate.
After all, someone had to cooperate with the investigation.
Besides the Pokémon hunters, only he and those two benefactors had entered the ruins.
So naturally—
That 'someone' could only be him.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 60 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/SwipeSage