Chapter Ninety-Three: The Third Night

After a bit more casual conversation, Colin learned that they would probably be able to teleport over the cannon barrel by tomorrow morning, so he said nothing more.

Of course, it could be sent over now as well, but to be safe, they would carefully inspect the problems in the design draft tonight.

Using Mist Points allowed the system to optimize the original design, but people at present generally did not trust the system much. They would use the optimization function, but never rely on it entirely.

Whatever they could solve themselves, they would solve themselves.

After confirming that the other arrangements had not run into any major problems for now, Colin routinely opened the other chat channels.

Regional channel remaining population: 397.

"Not bad. Hardly anyone died today..."

Compared with the dramatic mass death of the first day, the mortality rate in the following days had finally stabilized.

But after glancing through the regional chat logs, Colin's expression turned strange.

"Brothers, keep pushing the public quest!"

"Sure, serving under Colin might keep you alive, but are you really willing to spend your life living under someone else's roof?"

"You say you're afraid? Who the hell isn't afraid? But if we don't work hard now and keep up with the new era, we'll only become less and less important, and in the end we'll just be discarded and wait to die."

"Did you see those people who turned in their parchment scrolls today? They have no future anymore."

"Charge, charge, charge. Fight like hell. Only then can we carve out the same future with our own hands."

"I've already decided to throw my life on the line. Honestly, whether it was before or after the crossing, I don't have much to lose. If I die, I die. Better than dying like a coward. I've had enough."

Then another person replied, "Holy crap, that's hype. Big bro, what level is your territory now? I'm planning to fight alongside you...."

"Level one territory..."

A silence fell.

"...I've thought it over. I think I'll just hand over my parchment scroll and take refuge under Boss Colin after all. I heard that today two territories got their war wagons upgraded for free. Though ownership was confiscated, they still kept usage rights..."

"+1."

"Me too. If I can lie down, why should I go solo?"

"Bro, go work hard on your own. Handle your own problems."

"In any normal group, no matter how you look at it, at least ninety percent of people have to be useless. Since there are so many useless people, why can't I be one of them?"

"Now that's the right attitude from the person above!"

"That's right, we're useless!"

"You're all just kneeling to survive!"

"Kneeling to survive? Plenty of people want to kneel and survive, and don't even get the chance."

"Bro, are you here to be funny? Colin is already the regional overlord. Cannon war wagons, a level-three territory, over a thousand people. What the hell are you trying to compete with? If they don't strip you down to your underwear, they're being merciful."

"Wait, holy crap, this guy is an insider. I heard from some backdoor source that there'll be another war wagon expansion plan tomorrow. He's deliberately lying to us so we'll go fight and reduce the competition, then he'll hand in the three-piece set afterward..."

"Really, this guy suddenly went silent!"

"Damn it, I let my guard down. These days, does even being useless require internal competition..."

"Why are these people so cheerful..."

Colin chuckled and shook his head. After taking a quick look, he opened the World Channel, where the flashing activity was even more frequent.

Compared with the regional channel's scheming and calculation, the content in the World Channel at this moment was much more pure.

Pure nonsense.

"Brothers, today I alone drove around and explored zero point one percent. Am I not amazing?"

"Amazing, amazing. So jealous of the big shot with a car..."

"Mist exploration progress has reached six percent. Keep it up. Maybe tomorrow or the day after, we can finish the first stage of the public quest!"

"No idea what the effect of the armband is. I'm looking forward to it."

"It probably won't be very strong. Just an auxiliary item, but better than nothing..."

"Brothers, explore carefully. Just do your best."

The time near evening was also when the silly internet crowd was most active.

At this time, everyone tacitly avoided talking about those horrifying experiences, and simply posted some jokes or blessings.

The world outside was already oppressive enough. At least at a time like this, one should relax a little...

Of course, there was another reason they became active at this hour: the once-a-day world megaphone posting was there to be used.

Just as Colin was enjoying the antics of the internet clowns, he suddenly felt his heart sink.

Night had arrived...

At the same time, Colin felt as though he had dazed off for an instant, but the searing pain on his arm immediately snapped him back to his senses.

Without hesitation, he grabbed an axe and hurled it toward the shadow beside Li Chou, slicing straight into a strange entity that had not yet fully formed.

As the terrifying scream came to an abrupt end, this split was stopped...

"Looks like tonight won't be a proper rest," Colin muttered.

After checking with the prompt that the headcount was correct, he looked up at the sky again.

Oppressive and dark...

When night fell, this underground space instantly became eerily silent.

[You realize that perhaps in this space, night is safer.]

"Safer at night?"

Colin had not expected to receive such a prompt.

In the end, he could only shake his head helplessly. No matter what, he had to rest first.

They could try something in the latter half of the night.

For now, he needed to seize the time and rest.

Just as he was about to put away the parchment scroll and climb onto the table to catch a little sleep, a message caught his attention.

"Help, help, help! Something is smashing into my door! Wuwuwu, the door is almost unable to hold it back anymore! Help..."

Anyone who saw this message could not help but hold their breath.

Then they quickly entered the message thread to leave comments.

"What happened? Bro, what's going on over there? What is knocking on your door?"

"Could this be someone pulling a stunt? But this isn't how you do it. Being funny is fine, but don't go straight to the underworld with it. At least finish what you were saying..."

"Could he be dead already..."

"Don't talk nonsense. I'll open the door and see what's outside. A level-two territory shouldn't have much to fear..."

"Bro, don't do anything stupid..."

Even so, everyone, including Colin, was waiting for his reply.

Generally speaking, not opening the door at night was already common consensus.

Especially after the horror countdown began, even fewer people dared to open their doors at night. Even Colin would not do something so reckless.

And yet, less than thirty seconds later, the message that person sent made everyone's heart tighten.

"Don't open the door! Don't open the door! Don't open the door! My yard has been overrun directly! Something is slapping my front gate, my windows, damn it..."

"Bro, don't leave us hanging halfway through!"

"It's over, it's over. I'm still in a wooden hut, not even a level-two territory..."

Panic spread rapidly.

This message surged onto the top of the topic list in an extremely short time, causing the atmosphere in the chat channel to turn grim in an instant.

But then, at that moment, the man spoke again.

"I'm alive, I'm alive! At the critical moment I lit an oil lamp and was saved... Those of you being knocked on the door, hurry up and light an oil lamp! The best is rare tainted blood. The higher the blood grade, the more useful it is!

"Only the light of rare blood can stop it! Also, if a level-two territory has already been targeted, it's basically beyond saving! Lighting a lamp can only weaken its power..."

"Then what do we do? We can't upgrade now..."

"What if I don't have money..."