Chapter 171: Chapter 164 Red Sea
Cheng Zhenyong’s cry of alarm imdiately caught everyone’s attention. Zhao Yaqian quickly walked over and stood atop the small hill, she too was petrified by the sight before her.
About one or two kiloters away, the land extended into a sea, a blood-red sea resembling plasma.
To call it sea water was just because it was boundless, spreading out indefinitely, connecting with the bizarre red canopy of the sky at the horizon.
The sea was churning heavily, viscous as if it was plasma, and amidst the tidal waves, nurous bubbles surfaced.
This was definitely not normal seawater!
An instinctual perception made her heart swell with endless dread, even though she hadn’t felt danger yet, this feeling was just too unsettling.
“There’s sothing wrong with this sea area…”
Zhao Yaqian warned everyone, even if they were to explore this place, they had to be extra careful with every step.
However, before she could finish her sentence, the red sea water began to surge, and a figure struggled to erge from the thick sea.
It was as tall as a person, its shape twisted, the viscous sea water gradually converged, shaping its form.
A low growl sounded, the distorted figure began to move stiffly, and soon the excess blood sea water slid off its body, revealing its face.
It was clearly a Gray Inferior Demon.
Zhao Yaqian and the others turned pale with shock, their eyes wide with astonishnt; the Gray Inferior Demon had already noticed them and was roaring as it charged towards them.
“Be careful.”
Zhao Yaqian aid her rifle directly at the Gray Inferior Demon and with a bang, the shot shattered its head.
The bullet pierced through, creating a massive blood hole in the head of the Gray Inferior Demon.
The corpse fell to the ground with a crash, and the growling stopped instantly.
But as they looked at that one corpse, Zhao Yaqian and the others couldn’t calm down for a long ti.
“Elder Bai, Elder Tian, we must retreat first, this exploration ends here for now. We’ll re-enter after further observation is complete.”
Zhao Yaqian made a decisive call. All around them was the boundless Red Sea, and no one knew if there were still monsters lurking within.
They had to be cautious and remain on high alert.
Yet Bai Qiuwen and Tian Jiaxuan were already stunned, the only thought in their minds enduring: those monsters weren’t popping out of the sea, but were bred by the Red Sea…
—————–
At the campsite in the encirclent zone, under Su Han’s tal Control and Zhang Dahai’s reinforcent, more robust walls and gates ford.
Approximately 10 ters tall, the walls had a thickness of about half a ter, and the tal gates were slightly thinner but still more than ten centiters, extrely robust.
To open the gate required several guards or the Vine Giant Rats to pull it open.
Of course, there was also a much quicker way, which was direct control through the vines of the Mother Nest Ancient Tree.
Since Zhao Yaqian and her group last visited, Su Han, although not venturing out himself, cycled the Scorpion Spider Demon and the Blood-winged Alligator Dragon following Zhu Xiong and Guo Gang to sweep up materials.
Herds of monsters were slaughtered by them, and a large amount of flesh was brought back and buried under the roots, slowly nourishing the Mother Nest Ancient Tree.
In terms of the Essence of Flesh Fusion, the Mother Nest Ancient Tree had already reached LV5, and it needed plenty of flesh materials for fusion.
After accumulating for several days, clearing the surrounding neighborhoods of Flesh Corpses and Crawlers, they gathered more than ten thousand monster bodies, along with higher-grade monster flesh, to finally upgrade to LV6 Essence of Flesh.
Following the fusion, its shape naturally grew larger, and its strength also leaped to Third Order Interdiate.
The effects of LV6 Essence of Flesh were not weak, bringing two skill upgrades to the Mother Nest Ancient Tree: LV2 Blood-winged Tiger and LV5 Tree-born Worm.
The number of Blood-winged Tigers increased to 50, and their range extended to 5000 ters, suddenly becoming the kin with the farthest activity range.
Among the Blood-winged Tiger kin, due to the skill upgrade, individuals of First Order Upper Grade erged, their overall strength not to be underestimated.
The number of Tree-born Worms similarly skyrocketed: the kin could reach 800, with a range of 4000 ters, among which powerful individuals also possessed First Order Upper Grade strength.
Both kin, depending on their range and substantial numbers, beca potent forces in accumulating monster bodies.
Besides, there were changes to the vines of the Mother Nest Ancient Tree; they reached approximately 1500 ters, already extending beyond so encirclent zone checkpoints and even capable of reaching Shanhu Villa near Sumr Garden Avenue, though they still couldn’t cover every area.
……
“These past few days, Old Zhu and his team have been continuously searching the surrounding area for resources. Survivors found, either actively or passively, have joined us in large numbers. The camp’s population has already reached over 4000 people. Most have been placed in the encirclent zone, tasked with reconstruction.”
Yan iyu was reporting the situation to Su Han; not just her, Bai Qilan, Zhu Xiong, and others were present as well.
“However, the patrol team is a bit stretched thin, especially since we also need manpower to protect Yunling Mountain.”
Zhu Xiong interjected, “The scouting team as well, recently there have been fewer Flesh Corpses to kill, but for so reason, the monsters have beco more agitated and stronger, with a new kind of monster appearing. Between killing and transporting them back, we’re short on people.”
He paused, then suggested, “Actually, I think we can establish a reserve force to handle transportation, escorting, and support duties, serving as backups for the patrol and scouting teams. We can assess loyalty, and recruit the best.”
As everyone accumulates rits, the injections they exchange for are increasingly nurous.
Especially the First-level Interdiate injections, these can co from the Vine Giant Rat, Tree-born Worm, and other such large-base kin.
Among the combat personnel, the speed of accumulating contributions isn’t slow, thus many have already reached First-level Interdiate strength.
With significant disparities in strength within the teams, it’s not conducive to operations, therefore adding a transportation-based reserve force, mainly comprising First Order Inferior, and having team leaders and squad leaders who are First-level Interdiate and Upper Grade Contractors respectively, will make the system more rational.
Moreover, the Apostles contracted by the reserve forces, whose origins mostly co from the Mother Nest Ancient Tree, are undoubtedly more reliable.
Su Han pondered, as the camp expanded, the advantages, and disadvantages naturally beca more apparent.
The more people there were, the more chaotic the managent beca. The initial practices could not perfectly adapt to the camp as its population gradually increased.
Of course, more people ant stronger overall strength and faster accumulation of resources, which could not be compared to fighting alone.
Therefore, Su Han did not resent the current changes, but further detailed arrangents were required. Holding a eting with the core mbers and bringing up these issues were due to such considerations.
Currently, the camp was essentially divided into several major sections, governance, research, and military force.
Governance was the most complicated. However, stripping away those miscellaneous functions from before the apocalypse, the core responsibilities were actually animal husbandry, the distribution and exchange system of materials, manufacturing, and basic infrastructure. Everything else was incidental.
The research was separately managed by Bai Qilan.
As for the military force, it was comprised of the search team, patrol team, and the proposed reserve forces.
He contemplated for a mont and then nodded, saying, “It can be established.”
His gaze swept over everyone and said, “Forming the reserves primarily from the transportation team, with Guo Gang as the commander, and Ye Kailing serving as the chief training officer.”
“The camp’s ard forces will thereafter be divided into four parts: patrol team, search team, Sky Cavalry Squad, and reserves. Gan Xinglei will command the patrol team, with Xia Ning as his deputy, responsible for the camp’s order, defense, and so rotational combat missions.”
Gan Xinglei promptly straightened up at the ntion of his na, imdiately responding, “Yes.”
“Search team, Zhu Xiong will serve as the commander, with Zhao Yimin as his deputy, responsible for searching for materials, hunting monsters, and exploring the environnt.”
Zhu Xiong responded loudly, “Yes.”
“Another one, the Sky Cavalry Squad, will be led by Ye Kailing as the commander, a special team responsible for various support tasks. I’ll discuss it with her when she returns.”
Su Han turned to Yan iyu and said, “You continue to be in charge of governance, overseeing animal husbandry, material distribution, base reconstruction, production, and manufacturing, with Zhang Dahai as your deputy, commanding the construction team and taking charge of camp defense when necessary, while Bai Xiao’e is the second deputy.”
Governance was complex, so Su Han appointed two deputies to Yan iyu. However, as the first deputy in charge of the construction team, Zhang Dahai’s rank was not much lower than the rest, also being part of the first-tier sequence.
Zhang Dahai grinned and said, “Understood.”
Yan iyu nodded, replying, “Yes.”
Su Han instructed, “Rework the contribution and accumulation systems for each sequence as soon as possible.”
“Understood.”
Turning to Bai Qilan, Su Han said, “You will take charge of the research sequence with Elder Cao Yubao as your deputy. If a more suitable candidate arises later, we can reconsider.”
Bai Qilan nodded, saying, “I have no problem with that.”
With clear job divisions, all sequences would soon fill up with more staff; even if the camp’s population continued to grow, order managent could still be maintained.
“Is there anything else to discuss?”
As Su Han’s voice arose, Bai Qilan slightly lifted her head, looked at him, and said, “I’ve found sothing unsettling in the materials provided by South City and on the Gray Inferior Demon corpses brought by Old Zhu.”
No sooner had she finished, than everyone’s gaze converged on Bai Qilan.
She went on slowly, “The creatures known as Gray Inferior Demons, their bodily structures have a connection with Spiritual Energy… it’s sowhat different from the mutated flesh corpses.”
“How so?”
“Their compatibility with Spiritual Energy is very high. Their Spiritual Energy structure is unlike that of any monster we’ve discovered so far, and… no original form has been found.”
Since the apocalypse had begun, no matter how monsters mutated, even if it ca to Su Han’s Apostles and their descendants, they still had so similar Spiritual Energy structures and so genetic resemblances.
But the Gray Inferior Demons were different, as if they just suddenly sprang into existence.
Though not strong, they were indeed unusual.
Everyone frowned slightly. Bai Qilan added, “Also, the docunts indicate sothing explicit—alternate dinsions.”
The docunts highlighted the source of fog and Spiritual Energy, speculated on the principle of tidal forces, along with the subsequent corrupted beings twisted by an abundance of Spiritual Energy, suggesting a subtle trail of clues behind it all.
Bai Qilan might not have known what these clues specifically implied, but she did have so suspicions.
“Qilan, are you saying these creatures co from so kind of alternate dinsion?”
Zhu Xiong furrowed his brows, asking, “How did those creatures co here?”
“I don’t know.”
Bai Qilan calmly replied, “Perhaps through wormholes, or maybe from the sky, or could they just suddenly erge from the fog? There are too few clues; they have given us too little to go on, but South City must know sothing.”
She glanced at Yan iyu and finally fixed her gaze on Su Han, saying, “I heard that a few days ago, when they ca to deliver the generator and the Lamp Tree Crystals… they seed in a hurry.”
Of course they were in a hurry; both Su Han and Yan iyu had noticed this.
Otherwise, they would not have sent Ye Kailing to investigate the clues.
He tapped on the table lightly and said, “Considering the ti, Kailing should be coming back… ”
He stopped, his gaze shifting outdoors, adding, “Kailing is back.”
The Mother Nest Ancient Tree had already sent him a signal. Ye Kailing was flying back on a Second Order Bat Wing Beast.
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