freeallnovels Chapter 8: Continuing the Exploration
Chapter 8: Continuing the Exploration
As night fell, Lin Mo did not fall asleep immediately.
He lay on the folding bed with his eyes closed, but his ears were constantly picking up the sounds outside.
buzzing...
That was the sound of poisonous flies, their wings vibrating rapidly, exceptionally clear in the night sky. The sound came from the north, about two hundred meters away, directly in the direction of the lumber mill.
Lin Mo opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.
The poisonous fly is nocturnal; that's its nature. During the day, it finds a place to rest, and at night it comes out to patrol its territory. He had seen it too many times in his previous life; this level-two creature has an extremely strong sense of territory, and any intruder will be attacked.
But Lin Mo wasn't worried. His office was on the second floor, and the doors and windows had been reinforced so that poisonous flies couldn't get in.
The buzzing sound lasted for about ten minutes, then gradually faded away.
Immediately afterwards, gunshots rang out in the distance.
Bang, bang, bang—several shots rang out in quick succession, like something being shot at. Then came an explosion, a deafening roar, and a flash of light from the southeast illuminated the gap in the curtains.
Hammer sat up from the sofa, his face tense: "What was that sound?"
"Gunfire, explosions," Lin Mo said calmly. "There's a fight going on outside."
Lin Mo closed his eyes and continued listening.
Gunshots rang out intermittently from all directions of the city. Some were near, some were far, some were dense like popping beans, and some were sparse like scattered stars. Occasionally, screams, cries, roars, and the hiss of some creature were mixed in.
This is North America.
A place where everyone has access to "truth".
Before the game arrived, there were over 300 million guns circulating among the people. After the game arrived, the survivors dug out weapons from their homes, shops, and police stations and began to fight back against the low-level monsters.
Lin Mo knew that firearms were still somewhat effective against level one and level two creatures. A single shotgun shell could shatter a poisonous spider. A lizardman could be killed with an empty pistol magazine, and there was a very high probability of that.
However, firearms are insufficient against creatures of level three or higher.
Gargoyles' exoskeletons can stop rifle bullets, vampires are so fast that people don't have time to aim, and as for more advanced creatures, such as cyclops, manticores, and dragons... ordinary gunshots are like tickling them.
The new rules of this world boil down to just two things: hero professions and military strength.
Heroic profession, originating from the territory.
Once a territory is established, the "Hero" status will be automatically granted.
With the identity of a hero, one can possess exclusive talents, strategic attributes, and most importantly, military strategy books.
The military treatise is a magical item; any number of troops can be stored in it and released when needed. Moreover, the military treatise has an incredible function: troop strength can be stacked.
Multiple creatures of the same type can be stacked together, and their attributes will increase exponentially with the number of stacked creatures.
In theory, if a thousand skeletons were stacked together as one, a single sword strike would be enough to kill a black dragon.
Lin Mo touched the talisman for the dead on his chest.
He is not yet a hero, he has no territory, and he cannot yet use military strategy books.
But he'll be here soon.
We already have the gold coins, and the wood and stone are just one step away.
Outside the window, the gunfire gradually subsided.
Some people died, and some people lived.
Lin Mo turned over and continued sleeping.
It's none of his business.
......
The next day, when Lin Mo woke up, his mana had been restored to the maximum of 60.
He moved his limbs and his body had basically returned to normal.
The symptoms of air poisoning have completely disappeared, breathing is smooth, and limbs are strong.
He did twenty push-ups, his heartbeat was steady, and he felt no discomfort.
Hammer also woke up, and his complexion was much better than yesterday. Although he was still a little weak, he was able to stand up on his own.
"How are you feeling today?" Lin Mo asked.
"Much better." Hammer stretched his shoulders. "But I still don't have much strength."
"You should be mostly recovered today, and fully recovered by tomorrow."
Lin Mo rummaged through the pile of supplies and found some food. After the two finished breakfast, they began to organize their equipment.
Today's goal is clear.
With more troops at his disposal, plus Hammer as an ally, Lin Mo planned to expand the search area to a radius of one kilometer to look for treasure chests and resource points.
In addition, the natural next step is to find as many corpses as possible that can be used for necromancy, and increase the number of skeletons to the current maximum.
Finally, we need to find an opportunity to seize the lumber mill.
Lin Mo counted the troops.
There are currently seventeen skeletons with 60 mana. Six new skeletons can be summoned, and the ring's additional mana regeneration increases mana regeneration by 10 after nightfall, which creates the seventh skeleton.
In other words, if everything goes smoothly today, we will accumulate twenty-four skeleton soldiers.
Of course, summoning requires a corpse, and corpses won't just come to you; you have to go out and find them.
He decided to go out first, and summon any corpses that met the conditions he encountered along the way, accumulating them as he explored.
"Let's go." Lin Mo slung the AR-15 over his shoulder. "You'll be with me today, so learn something."
Hammer nodded, picked up the shotgun, and followed behind him.
Seventeen skeleton soldiers marched out of the manager's office in a grand procession.
Hammer stared at the mass of white skeletons before him and couldn't help but swallow hard. Although he had seen them several times before, he still felt a chill run down his spine every time he saw so many skeletons moving together.
"They... won't get out of control, will they?" Hammer asked in a low voice.
"No," Lin Mo said without turning his head. "They only obey my orders. Without my orders, they're just a pile of bones."
The two went down to the first floor along the fire escape and walked out of the supermarket through the back door.
The air outside still carried the smell of ozone and rotting flesh, but Lin Mo had completely adapted. Hammer frowned, feeling somewhat uncomfortable, but showed no signs of poisoning.
"The adaptation period to the air will probably take three to five days," Lin Mo said. "Your body has already weathered the most dangerous period, and it will only get better from here on out."
Hammer nodded.
The two walked east along the street.
Lin Mo held a hand-drawn map in his hand, marking the areas he had explored and the resource points he had discovered the day before. As he walked, he observed his surroundings, his gaze sweeping over every building and every alleyway.
"What are you looking for?" Hammer asked.
"Treasure chests, resource points, and corpses," Lin Mo said. "These three things are the most valuable right now."
Hammer couldn't help but ask, "What can you get from the treasure chest?"
He was clearly very curious about all of this.
Lin Mo replied, "Gold coins, Hero's Blessing, or random treasures... Gold coins are the most practical, Hero's Blessing is the least useful, and random treasures depend the most on luck."
Why is a hero's blessing the least useful?
"Because the slight improvement in physical fitness is negligible at this stage," Lin Mo said. "No matter how good your physique is, can you withstand a bite from a poisonous fly right now? Can you withstand a vampire's claw? No. But if you have a considerable number of soldiers, then when you encounter danger, you won't need to take the hits or charge into battle yourself."
Hammer seemed to be thinking about something, then nodded.
The two walked for a while and passed a three-story apartment building.
Lin Mo stopped and looked at the entrance of the apartment building.
There was blood there.
Fresh, dark red bloodstains stretched from the doorway all the way to the stairwell.
The bloodstains were not completely dry, so the time of death should be within an hour.
Lin Mo gripped the AR-15 tightly, signaling the skeleton soldiers to be on alert.
He led Hammer into the apartment building.
Two corpses lay in the lobby on the first floor.
A middle-aged man and a young woman, both with multiple lacerations on their bodies, as if they had been bitten to death by something.
Their eyes were still open, their pupils dilated, and their faces were frozen in fear.
Lin Mo squatted down to check.
The time of death was approximately forty minutes.
Within two hours.
Available.
He gripped the necromantic amulet tightly, and a gray light surged forth. Two corpses were sacrificed, and two skeleton soldiers emerged from the crack.
[Mana Points: 40/60]
Total number of skeletons: 19
Hammer watched this scene with a complicated expression, but said nothing.
He's used to it.
The two continued searching the apartment building. They did not find any monsters on the second and third floors. Although they did find some corpses, they had all been dead for more than two hours, and some of them had already begun to decompose.
The two walked out of the apartment building and continued walking east.
After walking about 300 meters, a street corner park appeared ahead.
The park wasn't large; it had lawns, benches, a children's slide, and a fountain. The fountain had dried up, and the bottom of the pool was covered with dust and fallen leaves.
But Lin Mo's attention was not on the fountain.
He was looking at a few people across the park.
Five people, all white men, aged between twenty and forty.
They were dressed in civilian clothes and carrying guns: two AR-15s, a shotgun, and two pistols. What caught Lin Mo's eye the most was a tall, burly man holding a very unusual wooden shield.
The wooden shield was small, about half a person's height, with rough runes carved on its surface, emitting a faint blue light.
Lin Mo's pupils contracted instantly.