Chapter Ninety-Four: Reinforcements

You guessed that this was an abnormal reaction triggered by the growing nearness of nightfall.

Unknown influences were at work. If anyone unfortunate enough were targeted, and if their shelter was still only a tier-one house, they could briefly leave the cabin by igniting rare tainted blood and use that moment to upgrade their territory...

Once one possessed a tier-two territory, rare tainted blood alone would be enough to avert this crisis.

“It doesn’t look too difficult, but it takes real courage to step outside at night...”

After reading the prompt, Colin let out a long breath of relief. All of his people had already been assigned to tier-two or tier-three territories, so he need not worry about such things.

Even if one of them were targeted, all he would need to do was remind them to light their lanterns.

But the greatest problem lay with those who had not yet upgraded their territories.

At present, more than half the population still owned only wooden cabins.

If any of them were targeted and could not think of a response in time, then death was all but certain.

Horror would not grant them much time to think.

So in essence, this was not a question of whether the method was difficult, but whether one dared to do it.

At times like this, there needed to be someone with sufficient weight and authority to stand as guarantor...

To guarantee that the method could be carried out.

“I need to warn them.”

Colin did not hesitate. He typed the countermeasure into the chat channel, buying everyone a little more time.

Soon, the message, displayed in blood-red text, was frozen across the chat channel for all to see.

Many who saw it could not help but stare.

“To all survivors who still have only tier-one territories: if you can, immediately ignite at least ordinary-grade blood, go outside, and upgrade your territory first.”

“To all survivors with tier-two territories or higher, if you are targeted, simply light a lantern. A tier-one battle wagon is comparable to a tier-three territory in defensive performance, so it can ensure the breach is held.”

“From today onward, everyone should strive to treat tomorrow as if nightfall were imminent.”

“— Colin”

...

“Is it really useful to open the door and go upgrade the cabin at a time like this...”

“I just saw someone proposing a similar solution, but is it really okay...”

“The big shot probably wouldn’t lie to us. Hurry up and act...”

“Please, I already use up every ounce of my strength just earning a little food each day. I really don’t have money left to buy stone. Can’t it be cheaper...”

Because Colin had exposed the materials needed for territory upgrades, building prices began to rise. The increase was not large...

But for some people who already exhausted all their strength merely to survive, it was still far too “expensive.”

However, at that very moment, someone on the channel spoke up.

“Stone and other building materials are now being listed for free. I’m donating ten sets; anyone who needs them may take them, no need to be polite...”

“Since the big shot has spoken, I’ll do something good too. I’m putting up one hundred sets of materials for tier-two territories. Take them if you need them.”

“Damn, brother, how are you this rich?”

“My territory is built in a sulfur mine area, and I got on Colin’s high-speed development train. I had no choice. I didn’t want to be this rich either.”

“Donating twenty sets...”

“Donating two hundred sets...”

More and more aid appeared on the trade market, entirely free of charge.

Those who still had only cabins and truly could not afford stone were moved to tears. With reddened eyes, they accepted the “gifts,” ignited rare tainted blood, and stepped into the darkness to upgrade their territories.

Amid the crushing pressure of the dark terror, these survivors trembled all over, too afraid to look back, too afraid to cast their gaze into the darkness.

Even though they knew that along the edges of the light, mysterious things were constantly trying to draw near...

Still, simply seeing the words in the chat channel on the parchment made things less hopeless.

“Everyone, absolutely do not try to save money on blood! Any blood below rare grade will have its light range suppressed. Only rare blood will be fine...”

“I owe Mister Colin another life...”

“Damn it, damn it, damn it, how is there still some bastard at a time like this snatching gifts from others and then listing them on auction for a higher price?”

“Damn that’s disgusting...”

“Why can’t that stupid system come up with some automatic poverty-relief identification function? We can turn information and matter into each other with this advanced tech, and it can’t even handle this little thing?”

“Who dares to accuse this official in the courtroom? Are you filing a complaint against the magistrate? I mean the system.”

“Shh, watch out for punishment. Also, your meme is not only a bit off, it even has a typo. I don’t even know how a brainwave input could produce a typo.”

Although most people conscientiously refrained from taking the “gifts,” a few discordant voices still appeared.

Still, the general atmosphere remained stable, so Colin withdrew his gaze.

This was all he could do.

“Only by preserving more of humanity’s overall strength will we have any chance of surviving the calamities ahead...”

Colin silently offered a prayer for those people.

Without dwelling on it, he too was about to rest.

Yet at that moment, Colin suddenly looked toward the female figure beside him. “Shana, what are you doing...”

All this while, he had felt Shana making little movements now and then, but he had no idea what she was up to...

“...The wound I carved into my arm earlier has healed, so I was going to carve some words instead...”

Miss Shana held out her pale, slender arm and waved it before Colin’s eyes.

The snowy arm was already free of any wound. The skin had mostly recovered, leaving only a few faint traces...

As she waved it, she seemed to realize that this was not exactly a proper gesture, and quickly pulled her hand back.

“I’m sorry, I disturbed your thoughts...” Shana said, her face full of apology and embarrassment.

...Well, as expected of someone with such high attributes. Barely over an hour, and it was already healed...

Colin thought for a moment and still could not figure out what to say. Then something seemed to occur to him, and he glanced at his own arm...

The wound had healed too...

In the middle of the night, that meant that outside, the Bloodthirsty Stigmata was still “treating” him.

“Give me one too, while you’re at it...”

Colin said, a little awkwardly, and temporarily cut off the healing transmission from the Bloodthirsty Stigmata.

Time passed bit by bit. Through the night, aside from a few more piles of ashes appearing beside Li Chou, nothing dangerous happened in the underground overlapping zone.

It seemed that, just as the prompt had said, as long as one did not enter certain forbidden areas, the underground at night was somewhat safer.

When the ninth hour arrived, Colin lifted his head from the table and opened his eyes.

The surroundings remained as deathly silent as ever, but with a crisp snap of his fingers, a team quickly assembled.

After a brief tidy-up, Colin was ready to move again.

“Three more hours until dawn. Starting now, let’s see whether this so-called safer night is really safer or not...”

Leading his people, Colin slowly approached the ruined town, using the prompt to continuously gather information.

Before long, they once again saw the church that had partly collapsed, and the corpse of the large rat with brown fur.

Even in death, its flattened body was still about as tall as Colin himself. Many of its bones were sunken in, as if it had been smashed into pits before it died.

From a distance, it had looked like a rat, but up close, many things seemed wrong.

Especially its hands...

“Why do they look like human hands with sharp claws?”

Colin muttered inwardly. As his gaze moved upward, his heart gave a violent jolt...

The great rat’s skull looked just like a human head.

A human head with a mouth full of irregular, jagged teeth!