Ninety-Eight Palms It’s Just Good Luck

After the bone meal collection work is completed, we have almost rested here. This is also thanks to the fact that I have enough summoned creatures, so when we are resting, we can have some tireless summoned creatures to help us with the work. If we deal with these things ourselves, we probably won’t have to move for a few days.

After finishing the work here, the next thing is to continue moving towards the goal, and most of this process is very simple. Except for the skeleton demons we just passed, which delayed us a lot of time, the rest Basically it can be said to be very simple. Of course, this simplicity does not come from the difficulty of the mission, but from the overall combat level on our side.

As the saying goes, those who are difficult can't do it; those who can do it are not difficult. It's the same situation in combat. You find it difficult because the enemy is beyond your range of strength, and because we are all the elite among the elite, the troubles encountered in those tasks have become very common for us, and if it were done by a different group of people I believe their feelings about this task are absolutely different from ours.

After successfully completing most of the tasks, we finally returned to the ground. By the way, we have been drilling tunnels since the Skeleton Demon, and we have just left the tunnel network now. When we returned to the ground, what we saw was not the hot spring of the dead before, nor the ice field outside the hot spring of the dead, but the city. A city completely beyond imagination.

This is the ruins of a city that has been abandoned for a long time. We have actually seen several such ruins before, but seeing such ruins this time surprised us. It's not because of the relic itself, but because of the location where it appears.

We were in the Hot Springs of the Dead before, and outside the Hot Springs of the Dead was an ice field, but this abandoned city was actually a desert city. All the buildings in the city are made of large yellow stones, and the ground is covered with a thick layer of yellow sand. As for the outside of the city... we can't see it because we are in the central area of ​​the city now. The scene outside, but judging from the sand on the streets in the city, it is probably a large desert outside. certainly. The most important piece of evidence is actually overhead. The super sun hangs high in the sky with ten times its normal volume, and the heat it emits makes us feel unbearably hot all over.

You must know that the equipment of us people are all very powerful artifact-level equipment. These equipments are equipped with constant temperature control, so under normal circumstances, the impact of extreme weather on us is minimal. but. Now even if there is equipment control. We still felt the heat around us. This shows that the temperature in this place is not just hot.

In fact, the temperature where we are now may be quite low because we are not standing directly under the sun. The location where we emerged from the ground was actually inside a building, but the structure of this building was similar to a huge pavilion. There are no walls at all on the first floor. There are only dozens of support pillars held by three people supporting the top structure. Therefore, we have a good view here. However, because there are things above our heads to block it, the temperature below is actually quite low. , if you really go outside to an area exposed to direct sunlight, the temperature will probably be even higher.

"What the hell is this place?" As soon as Zhenhong came out, she noticed that the situation here was abnormal.

Bing Xin, who was leading us, said: "Do you remember that gap with abnormal light that we passed through before? That was actually a gap in the space fault. We are actually no longer in the hot spring of the dead."

"No wonder. Why is the temperature so exaggerated?" Jin Coin said in a tone that was true, and then he asked casually as if he suddenly remembered something: "Where is this?"

"Venus." Bing Xin replied immediately.

"Oh." Jin Coin nodded clearly, and the next second he suddenly reacted and exclaimed: "What? Where did you say this is?"

"Venus." Bing Xin said very normally: "It's the star you can see every morning."

"We jumped from the Earth to Venus?" Jin Coin asked in disbelief.

Bing Xin nodded again: "It's just that the teleportation distance is a little longer, don't be so surprised, right?"

"Are you calling this too loud?" Jin Coin opened his mouth for a long time before he regained his composure.

Christina didn't have an exaggerated reaction like a gold coin. She asked calmly: "The environment here seems to be able to support our normal activities."

Bing Xin nodded and said: "Yes, the gravity here is the same as that of the earth (game settings, this is not the case in reality), and there is enough oxygen to ensure your normal activities. But basically it is still a very harsh environment. , except for undead creatures and constructed creatures, most conventional creatures cannot survive here."

Rose glanced at the sunshine outside and said, "Yes! With such a strong sun, even a camel would be burned to death."

Bing Xin said: "This is one of the environmental threats here. The surface temperature here is 283 degrees, which is an absolutely lethal temperature for ordinary creatures. Of course, the equipment on your body is too advanced, so it isolates most of the heat. It doesn't feel that exaggerated. However, if you are an ordinary person, you will die within ten seconds if you appear in the landmark area here. Also, the 283 degrees I am talking about is the current shadow environment. If you enter the direct sunlight In the area, the temperature will rise to 830 degrees, which is enough to cook most people. But I know that you can adapt to this temperature, at most you will feel uncomfortable. "

More than 800 degrees, this temperature is indeed within our tolerance range. After all, I can stay in the lava for a long time even if it is more than 2,000 degrees. Christina and the others each have their own methods, and most of them can withstand that kind of temperature. , not to mention that it is only over 800 degrees here, which is still a long way from 2,000 degrees.

Of course, although we will not be harmed at this temperature, we certainly cannot sustain it for too long. At least the battle will be limited to a certain extent, and my magic pet will also be greatly disturbed. It is estimated that only some of them can be summoned, at least Frost and snow will definitely not appear. Her body of ice and snow. When I get to this place, it will definitely turn into water every minute, so this kind of place only allows me to summon some of my subordinates. Fortunately, I have many magic pets, and many of them are not afraid of heat.

Bing Xin seemed to feel that the situation here was not bad enough, and actually went on to say: "In addition to the high temperature, there are a few things that need to be paid attention to. First, the atmosphere of Venus is very simple and it is very close to the sun, so we need to face the super Strong radiation. Although this city is deserted, the radiation shield is still working, so there is zero radiation in the city. But it is not possible to go out. Therefore, I recommend that everyone turn on the screen before leaving the city. Spells, as for warriors, they need to put on their helmets and masks beforehand."

"Tell us about the high temperature, radiation, and other dangerous things in this place!" Jin Coin said.

Bing Xin came here intending to explain it to us first. Naturally, he continued: "In addition to these, there is also the need to pay attention to sandstorms. Because it is too close to the sun, the uneven heating caused by thermal radiation causes a strong air pressure difference. In addition, there are no forests or mountains on the surface of Venus. In order to slow down the wind speed, the storms here are very scary. Typhoons on the earth can only be regarded as majestic blowing here. Here, winds above level 20 are called winds, and even super typhoons with levels over 30 are not Impossible. In this kind of strong wind, the sand and gravel are carried together and move at high speed to form a sandstorm. Once you enter the sandstorm, it will feel like someone is rubbing your whole body with sandpaper. At this time, you need to test This is the reason why Aiorigs and I both have super high defense, because here, people with too low defense will never survive."

"Okay, heat, radiation, super dust storms, what else?"

"Biological threats are also a disaster here. Although the surface temperature and strong radiation have made the environment here extremely bad, it has given birth to some unique creatures. The more common ones are two kinds of creatures, one is the sand scorpion Crustacean creatures, there is also a mollusk called a sand worm. The sand scorpion looks like a genetic mixture of a scorpion and a spider. It is poisonous but agile. It likes to ambush under the sand, and then suddenly jumps out to attack passers-by. Creatures. As for sandworms, they are a kind of monster that can also be seen on the earth. They are very similar to earthworms, but their heads can be opened and there are six full circles of crusher-like teeth inside. Nothing can be swallowed. It’s easier. Moreover, when sandworms attack people, they will suddenly jump out from under your feet and swallow you whole, so it is very difficult to avoid them.”

"Okay, now there is another big bug, this place is simply a purgatory!" Jin Coin sighed.

Bing Xin said: "No, the environment in purgatory is much better than here. Oh, by the way, there is the most important thing to remind everyone, that is, you must always pay attention to the Eye of Heaven."

"What is the Eye of Heaven?"

"The Sky Eye is actually a small burst of energy on the sun. However, this burst will form a beam of directional energy radiation. Its power is so powerful that even we can hardly withstand it, so we must avoid it and don't think about confronting it head-on. , you probably can't stop it. But this one is easier to dodge. When it appears, a bright beam of light will be projected from the sky. As long as you avoid it and don't get hit, you'll be fine. That beam of light doesn't move too fast. , but sometimes it appears suddenly and is quite annoying, and other times it basically doesn’t pose a problem.”

"I suddenly felt like we were being ripped off," Christina said.

"Master will not tell lies." Aiorigos interrupted abruptly.

"Okay, there is a fanatic here." Jin Coin glanced at Aiorigs, and then asked: "So Bing Xin, can you tell us the final mission goal now? The route you told us before ends here. It’s gone, what about the rest?”

"The remaining part is outside in the vast desert, but the location is uncertain."

"What are we looking for?" Zhenhong asked.

Bing Xin looked at Aiorigs, and Aiorigs immediately said: "The crystal core of an earth creature."

"What kind of creature?"

"A creature similar to an earth dragon, a subdragon beast that is good at moving under the sand or on the surface of the sand. The crystal core is in the head of this thing, and you can get it by just prying open their skull."

"Well, at least it's not that difficult if we know what we're targeting."

We all have several giant dragons, so the subdragon beast will naturally not be too difficult to deal with. After all, the combat power of the sub-dragon beast, a hybrid descendant of the dragon clan, has never reached the level of a giant dragon. Of course, there are some particularly powerful ones among them, but those are individual phenomena caused by individual differences, not ethnic characteristics.

Aiorigs explained our goal to us in detail. This kind of creature has no name. Because few people come into contact with this kind of thing, naturally no one thinks of giving them a name. But in general, according to Aiorigs's description, these things in our impression are basically just large lizards. According to Aiorigs, the body length of these guys is generally about fifteen meters, which is basically the length of two buses. Of course this guy is not as thick as a bus. After all, it is a creature, and it is a dragon, so it has a tail and a neck.

This guy's tail and neck are not too long, of course, this is according to dragon standards. Their body shape is similar to an intermediate form between a crocodile and a lizard. Thicker than crocodile. More suitable for walking on the ground. And their tails and heads are dangerous. The huge tail has great power and can easily fly away rocks weighing more than ten tons, and their teeth are also said to be on the same level as dragon teeth. Coupled with their huge biting muscles, they can easily output more than 2,500 tons of pressure between the upper and lower jaws. When this kind of pressure acts on the tips of small teeth, it's really like biting a steel plate like eating crispy noodles.

Of course, as a kind of dragon, you can't run away with thick skin. This creature has a very high defense and can even be immune to some spells. Unfortunately, all spells below level three are ineffective against them, so Christina's Rainbow Jet is meaningless, because the magic bullet used by Rainbow Jet They are all zero-level spells. Fortunately, Christina is not the kind of mage who only knows one kind of magic. Even without the rainbow jet, she can no longer work as an artillery position, but she can still act as a train cannon when using large-scale magic.

After understanding this information, we began to re-plan the mission planning.

According to the descriptions of Aiorigs and Bing Xin, our target creature is actually more than one. On the contrary, there are quite a few of these things. However, because these things are very cunning, it is very difficult to kill them. The most important thing is that the environment on Venus is very harsh. Compared with the threats caused by those sub-dragon beasts, environmental threats are actually the biggest trouble in the mission.

Whether our mission can be successfully completed has a lot to do with our luck. If we are lucky, we can find these things, and then we can kill one and leave quickly. But if we are not lucky, it may take a long time to find them. Moreover, we don’t know until now that Aiorigs and Bing Xin can only exert part of their combat effectiveness on this local basis. Bing Xin is better and can exert 80% of her combat effectiveness, but Aiorigs is miserable. He only has about 10% of his combat power here, and the reason is the big sun above our heads. The radiant energy of this thing is all positive energy, and both Bing Xin and Iorigus rely on negative energy to move, so they will have a situation similar to electric leakage here. Their strength will naturally drop significantly, and if the time is too long, their lives may be in trouble.

In fact, the situation of Iorigus and Bing Xin can only be regarded as a normal situation at the hot spring of the dead, because the undead creatures do not like the sun. A large part of the reason why the evil god who led his own team to do this mission always failed was that the subordinates he could find were all undead creatures, so in this environment that naturally restrained them, most of the combat effectiveness was directly eliminated. If they could accomplish this task, they would be too awesome.

Bing Xin and Aiorigs are actually pretty good like this. Some undead creatures can't stay here for a minute. At least Bingxin and Aiorigs can go out and move around under the sun, which is already something to be thankful for.

Since these two guides have become a burden here, we have to dedicate people to protect them. Bing Xin is okay, at least 80% of his combat effectiveness is still there, but Aiorigs is basically a cripple, and his abilities are too suppressed here.

Although the guide is useless, this is the evil god's contact person, and we can't ignore it, so we can only take them with us. It was okay in the city just now, but after we came out, we finally learned what a bad environment is. We couldn't feel it in the city before, but after we came out, we discovered that the so-called radiation shield actually blocked part of the sunlight. After we came out, we felt that the sunlight here had more than doubled in an instant. Even through the eyepieces, we were still The sun feels unusually strong. The reflection on the ground is even slightly glaring.

In addition to the light, we also experienced the radiation here. Since we started to lose blood since we left the city, the speed was very slow, not even as fast as our own blood recovery speed, but it was indeed constantly losing blood. This is not what makes us lose blood. Pleasant things. Fortunately, although radiation and sunlight have allowed us to understand part of the horrors of this planet, fortunately the most terrifying sandstorms did not appear, otherwise we would probably suffer again.

Although Evil God and the others had not completed their mission before. But at least they have pretty much studied the route. For example, this time we actually know the activity range of those target creatures. So the goal is quite clear, which is why a guide is needed.

I don’t know if it was really our luck. Apart from the extremely hot sun, none of the harmful organisms, sandstorms and solar explosions Bing Xin mentioned happened. At least we didn't encounter it. And after we have just arrived at the activity range of the target creature that the evil gods and others have clearly explored. I actually saw that kind of creature at first sight. And there were two at once.

"Holy shit, are you so lucky today?" Hiding far away behind a sand dune, we found the two target creatures in front of us fighting in a melee. Moreover, the tail of one of them has been bitten off, and the sand behind him is covered in blood. It seems that the winner will be decided soon. This standard scene of a snipe and a clam competing for the fisherman's profit made us sigh for a long time. After all, this luck is really good. According to Aiorigs, the evil god personally led the team here before. When they encountered a sandstorm for the first time, the entire army was wiped out. Only three people returned, and one of them was the evil god himself. The second time, the sun exploded halfway, burning a third of the people to death. The remaining people couldn't stand the pressure and started to run away. As a result, the team collapsed. The third time I went there, I didn't encounter any danger, but the problem was that I didn't encounter any of the target creatures. The Evil God and the others had exhausted their supplies and had to return. As a result, all three operations failed. After that, the evil god organized more than ten missions, and each time some people died. As a result, when the evil god later said that he wanted to find that kind of crystal nucleus, no one dared to go with him. This is one of the reasons why the evil god is looking for us. After all, he has already lost the opportunity to challenge.

Under this situation, the evil god's previous behavior is much easier to understand. He was so polite to us and made such big concessions, not because he became a serious businessman, but because that guy really had no choice. This was a compromise he had no choice but to do, not of his own free will.

After learning about these things, we asked again what the crystal core of that creature was used for, but this time Aiorigs showed his own characteristics and insisted that the evil god told him not to talk about it. , so he refused to say anything. As for Bing Xin... she actually didn't know what this thing could do. Anyway, she knew that the evil god wanted this thing very much and had lost many people because of it, but she just couldn't get it.

We can't ask any more questions about this situation. Guys like Aiorigs will never be able to ask anything anyway. As for those crystal nuclei... Rose and I seemed to have discussed it after winking. I will get one more, and if the situation is good, I will even get a few more. Anyway, since this thing is useful, it will not be wasted. Of course, this is also a gamble for us, because there is a small possibility that this thing is really only useful to evil gods. However, this possibility is very slim, and the reason lies in what Aiorigs revealed before.

Iorigus is a stupid guy who can't lie, so when we asked him what the crystal core of that creature can do, he directly answered us that the evil god told him not to tell others, so he didn't tell us. . On the surface, Iorigus just told us that the evil god issued a gag order, but in fact there is quite a lot of information in it, and the most important one is that this crystal core is 80% very useful, because if this thing is really If it is the kind of thing that is only useful to the Evil God and is useless to anyone else, then why would the Evil God want Iorigus to keep it a secret? Therefore, I think this crystal core must be of great use, otherwise it would definitely not need to be kept secret.

Since I had planned to get a few more crystal nuclei of this creature, after seeing the two creatures fighting, I took advantage of Aiorigos’s attention to be focused on those two creatures. I did some tricks secretly.

A hidden space door opened under the sand, and then the pioneer slipped into the sand silently. Although the sand here is hot, pioneers are creatures of hell. There is a lot of lava there, and the pioneers can adapt to that environment, so the temperature is not a problem.

After the pioneers left, a larger figure followed and slid under the dunes. This was my Black Flame. Although Black Flame is also a negative energy creature, the biggest difference between him and ordinary negative energy creatures is that Black Flame has the ability to isolate the flow of positive and negative energy. In other words, although Black Flame is a negative energy creature, he is not afraid of positive energy. energy. Moreover, because he has mastered energy conversion technology. Therefore, Black Flame can even convert an appropriate amount of positive energy into its own energy source.

After the black flames burrowed under the sand. The sand dune where we were hiding had obviously subsided a lot. Of course, both Aiorigs and Bing Xin noticed the abnormal fluctuations on the sand surface, but because the black flame did not show up, they just assumed that some monster passed below and did not realize that it was actually me who was causing trouble.

In fact, after Black Flame left. Underneath the sand dunes some distance away from us. More familiars began to appear one after another. Hei Yan didn't go out alone just now. In fact, when he left, he still shouted one person, and that was Ling. Ling, who is the leader of my demon pets, can summon the demon pet on my behalf. So after letting Black Flame send Ling out, there is no need to summon a demon pet near me. After leaving the sensing range of Aiorigs and Bing Xin, you can summon your magic pet unscrupulously, and then start catching that strange sub-dragon beast.

In fact, in my opinion, the reason why the evil god is always unable to complete this task is not because of the difficulty of the task, but because he is very unlucky. First of all, the combat soldiers produced in his place are all negative energy creatures. They are all suppressed by the environment here, so not many of them can exert normal combat effectiveness. This resulted in low team strength. These days, the evil god has bad luck and encounters accidents every time, so he always fails. Third, the evil god has no professional counterparts.

According to Aiorigos's account, this kind of sub-dragon beast can move under the sand, so whenever they can't defeat the enemy, they will escape through the sand, and the evil god's men can neither penetrate into the sand to track them. There are no people who can locate the target under the sand. This resulted in the Evil God's team having to try their luck, and his luck was so bad.

Compared with the evil god, my magic pet is much more comprehensive in this regard.

Ling's ability here only serves as an auxiliary and intelligent dispatcher. She is not the real operator. First, we have the Trailblazers here. The Trailblazer's ability is to drill holes, and the desert environment is simply his home field. Because of the characteristics of the sand, the Trailblazer can move at 200% speed here while only consuming half of his usual strength. With the Trailblazer, we can accurately track the opponent's position when the target is escaping and force it out, because the Trailblazer is not only fast, but the vibration sensors on the surface of the body can locate the opponent's position underground. Of course, during the search stage, the pioneers can also drive the targets we find to the ground. After all, the sub-dragon beast can only move under the sand, and it is not good at fighting under the sand. Its tail swing and bite are useless under the sand. Once it is attacked under the sand, it can only run to the ground, otherwise it will only be beaten passively.

In addition to the Trail Blazers, we also have Mira and Black Flame who can move under the sand and participate in attacks. Not to mention Black Flame, it is large in size and has high defense, and its snake-like body can easily travel through the sand, so once the target is found, it can quickly subdue the opponent. Mira's situation is similar. As a ruby ​​dragon, Mira's body is as hard as diamond. With her huge strength, there is absolutely no problem when moving under the sand. Although it is not as fast as Black Flame and cannot be pursued, it is no problem when intercepting. Mira can run in front of the target from the ground, and then burrow into the ground to intercept the opponent, so sooner or later the target can be forced out.

With the above three people, arresting and chasing will not be a problem, and the operatives are enough. There are still a few auxiliary personnel left.

First, we have Xiaofeng responsible for large-scale reconnaissance in the air. After all, although this creature can drill through the sand, this is an escape skill. It mainly moves on the sand surface, so having air units means that it can search for targets in a wide range. This was also the power that the Evil God lacked the most before. It's not that there aren't any undead creatures that can fly, but those that can get here can't fly. This is the biggest obstacle that makes the evil god unable to complete his mission.

also. In addition to serving as aerial reconnaissance, Xiaofeng also plays a role in blocking the opponent's retreat. As a fire phoenix, Xiaofeng has enough power to catch that kind of sub-dragon beast in the air, and as long as Mira and Heiyan can force it out, Xiaofeng can take it into the air, and then Mira can Come up and work with Xiaofeng to keep it flying around in the sky. As long as it doesn't fall to the ground, this thing won't be able to exert any combat effectiveness. After all, this guy can't fly.

Finally, in addition to the action team and high-altitude reconnaissance, we also have an important combat force here-Emenis. The main purpose of using illusions is not to deceive monsters. But to prevent Bing Xin and Aiorigs from seeing our actions. After all, I just asked Black Flame to take Ling to a distant place to summon the magic pets so that Aiorigs and the others would not know that we were secretly collecting crystal nuclei. Of course, Amynis's illusion is not only effective against Aiorigs and the others, it is also effective against monsters. Since those monsters can't see us, our actions will be more efficient. This is inevitable. certainly. Amynis is not good at fighting in high temperature environments. The previous Mira, Black Flame, Pioneer and Xiaofeng are all types who are not afraid of heat, so we need two more magic pets here - Everett and Brigitte. Both of them can be armored into external weapons, but neither Ling nor Amynis are well suited to such high temperature environments. Although there is no danger, in order to ensure combat effectiveness, the easiest way is to let the two of them wear outer armor made of Everett and Brigitte, so that they are not afraid of high temperatures.

With such a combination, catching that kind of sub-dragon beast will definitely be very smooth, so I am not worried at all that I will not be able to get the crystal core. It is just a question of how much.

After Ling took my magic pet to collect crystal cores, the battle between the two sub-dragon beasts we were eyeing also entered a fierce stage. The two guys didn't know what kind of fight it was, but they fought very fiercely. The guy who had his tail cut off before probably lost too much blood. Anyway, he became weaker and weaker with more fighting, and was eventually killed as a matter of course. After this guy died, the other subdragon beast didn't run away, but started eating this guy's body.

On the earth, there are not many creatures that eat the same kind. At least most mainstream creatures do not eat the same kind. However, Venus in the game is set to be a place with an extremely harsh environment. Here, any nutrient is very important, so according to the principle of not wasting it, even if it is the same kind of meat, these guys are absolutely You won't be polite.

Although we have no objection to this guy's behavior of eating his own kind, in this case we had to take action because the guy actually came up and started chewing his head, and the target was obviously the opponent's crystal core. Aiorigs has participated in several missions before. He knows how difficult it is to obtain a crystal core, and now a ready-made crystal core is about to be eaten. How do you think he is sitting there? live?

This guy jumped out from behind the sand dune where he was hiding without even thinking about it. He had no intention of hiding at all. As soon as he jumped out, he started howling loudly, in order to attract the sub-dragon beast over there. Be careful not to let it eat the crystal core. After all, living subdragon beasts can escape through the sand, but dead ones cannot.

After all, we accepted the mission of the evil god and came out to help him find the crystal core. Now that there is a ready-made one, and Aiorigs has rushed out, of course we can't hide it anymore. After Aiorigs rushed out, all we could do was jump out from behind the dune one after another, and then rush towards the two sub-dragon beasts under the dune.

Although Iorigus jumped out first, this guy is a ghost knight, and he is naturally not very fast in a heavy knight armor. In fact, this guy can walk quickly on the sand because of magic, otherwise his weight would have sunk to the bottom.

Although Iorigus can barely move normally with magic, he is incomparable to us. Zhen Honggen summoned his magic pet Shenlong without hesitation, then stepped on the dragon's head and flew down against the sand. When the sub-dragon beast below saw such a large group of people rushing over, it immediately judged that it was no match, then turned around decisively and burrowed into the sand.

Although the response of this sub-dragon beast is fast, it is a pity that the real red speed is faster. Her demon pet Shenlong lowered her head and let Zhenhong face forward. Then Zhenhong squatted down and kicked Shenlong's head, and her whole body was shot out like a cannonball. When she reached a few meters above the target, that The sub-dragon beast has only just penetrated more than half of it.

True Red fell from the sky and punched the sand directly, while shouting: "Come out." With a loud bang, True Red's fist exploded into a golden magic circle the moment it touched the sand. , and the ground jumped violently as if there was an earthquake, and the unlucky sub-dragon beast, which had already penetrated more than half of its body, was suddenly ejected. So much so that the guy was sitting on the ground in a daze, wondering why he came out again inexplicably.

"Hey, let's see where you run this time." (To be continued...)