Chapter 601: Chapter 423 Night Event_2
Looking at even a single headless skeleton’s body, which was much smaller than the bones of ancient creatures, the amount of special energy obtained after decomposition was nonetheless significantly greater.
Zachary casually channeled this energy into the isolated space within the Cave, speculating that this type of energy might be the "undead force" often mentioned in novels that allows undead creatures to keep moving ceaselessly.
Although undead creatures seem to never tire and possess endless stamina, they do experience some consumption during their activities. The energy they consume is what is known as the "undead force."
Speaking in more down-to-earth terms, the "undead force" can also be called death qi. This substance typically appears in graveyards or mass burial grounds. When living people come into contact with death qi, their bodies become weakened. With prolonged exposure, there will be tremendous changes in their spiritual demeanor.
This kind of change is hard to describe with words, but any normal person, even without any reference, can spot the difference between a person enveloped in death qi and a regular person at first glance.
However, while death qi is very harmful to the living, the method to eliminate it is quite simple. If it is accidentally contracted, one needs only to bask in the sun more to rid themselves of it.
Of course, if one wishes to eliminate the death qi more quickly, or if the death qi contracted is particularly dense, one could go to places with a strong yang energy, such as watching a sports competition with a large number of participants. Otherwise, one could visit crowded mountains during the tourist peak season.
If one really dislikes physical activity, making more visits to temples bustling with incense offerings to worship can also work. Although the monks and Daoist priests in temples nowadays don’t exclusively reside there and are on eight-hour work certificates, the power of the incense burned by the devout worshippers in the temple is also one of the bane’s of death qi.
After speculating that this energy might very likely be the undead force, Zachary casually took a live chicken from the farm and directly threw it into the isolated area to see how long the chicken would survive there.
To ensure that the chicken would not die a normal death, Zachary specially prepared plenty of feed and an ample water source for it.
After sorting his affairs, Zachary’s consciousness left the Cave, and observing that there was no longer any trace of the skeletons on the ground, he shook his head with a wry smile. He decided not to search for the escaped skeletons elsewhere but instead headed straight home.
Although Zachary had noticed something was amiss with the ancient creature’s skeleton that had been gnawed clean by skeletons, he had overlooked the Hunting Team members who had been injured in the fight with the Skeleton Army.
Zachary had not considered that the remnants of a devoured clean skeleton would be contaminated with undead force. Those wounded by undead attacks, how could such wounds not become infected? Just like rabies, if there’s a wound, there is inevitably a risk of infection.
By the time Zachary arrived home, those Hunting Team members had long since returned to their base in Kyoto. After disinfecting and treating the injured team members’ wounds again, they did not pay much attention to it, as getting injured was a common occurrence for members of an outgoing Hunting Team.
Although those Hunting Team members had escaped from the pursuing skeletons, the skeletons did not go back to their original location but continued to hunt in groups, preying on other creatures living in the forest.
Thanks to their ability to burrow underground and their undead vision, these skeletons hunted not only the ancient creatures living on the surface but also did not spare the Bug Race hiding underground. This indiscriminate hunting significantly strengthened the undead, and soon many of the undead’s eye sockets displayed purple Soul Flames.
The emergence of this color in the Soul Flames was a sign that the skeletons had successfully evolved again that night.
The change of color in the skeletons’ Soul Flames, indicating different forces among the skeletons, was information that got successfully reported by the Hunting Team members upon their return.
Thus, the surveillance drones in the sky, observing the skeletons with high-definition cameras, also recorded the changes in the skeletons on the ground after their hunt.
Since the earthquake disaster ended, after so much time has passed, and with the discovery of many new types of mineral deposits, survivors not only rapidly advanced in their martial cultivation but also made significant strides in technology.
At the very least, the emergence of new kinds of mineral reserves offered an alternative energy source to the outer regions, providing humanity with more choices for energy reserves. Moreover, some cutting-edge laboratories have successfully converted these into military equipment.
The unmanned drones used at night to monitor the skeletons are equipped with this new energy storage device, which is not only two-thirds smaller than the batteries used in pre-disaster small drones but also extends the flight time to about a week.
It is because of these new technological supports that, at this moment, Kyoto’s surveillance of the Skeleton Army far surpasses the monitoring of ancient creatures and the Bug Race of the past.
When dawn arrived, the skeletons that had been hunting at night did not return to their original battleground as before but instead buried themselves right where they were, underground.
Small snowflakes continued to drift from the sky, and after a while, the snow once again erased any traces left behind by the skeletons.
The drones hovering in the air, after confirming the complete disappearance of the traces left by the skeletons on the ground, recorded the current coordinates and then began to return to base.
Watching the unceasing snowfall, Dong Tianyu used a small spell to clear the snow accumulated in the courtyard.
Although the sky was still sprinkling light snow, as time went on, the amount of snow on the ground became thicker and thicker. Initially, in Kyoto, the snow was pushed from the center of the roads to the sides, but as the snowfall continued, the thickness of the snow in many places had exceeded one meter.
Upon realizing this, Kyoto immediately arranged for professionals to conduct a major clean-up of the accumulated snow throughout the city.
Awakeners with fire abilities used their powers to melt the snow piled on both sides of the roads, turning it into rainwater that flowed into the city’s underground drainage system.
Due to the earthquake, Kyoto was devastatingly damaged. However, during the reconstruction, despite lacking the help of construction machinery, the addition of Martial Artists and Awakeners meant that the speed and quality of rebuilding far surpassed pre-disaster levels. Some key buildings even used new materials discovered after the disaster.
The underground drainage facilities, a critical part of the city’s infrastructure, were especially prioritized in the reconstruction, especially since survivors had to take refuge underground from several previous disasters.
Thus, when the underground drainage tunnels were initially designed, they followed standards suitable for inhabitable air-raid shelters, ensuring that even a substantial amount of snowmelt flowing into the drainage system wouldn’t cause water accumulation in a short time.
As Kyoto’s rapid clean-up operation continued, the snow that had been covering the ground of the city instantly turned into meltwater, flowing into the underground sewage pipes. As the snowwater entered the drains, it took the dirt and dust from the surface down with it, leaving most parts of Kyoto much cleaner after the snow disappeared.
Dong Tianyu moved the deck chair from the yard to the living room. Even though he immediately began cultivating after returning last night, and it was already morning after he finished cultivating, he did not feel very tired at the moment. He was just idly lounging in the rocking chair, browsing through novels he’d downloaded before the disaster.
While Dong Tianyu was contentedly swaying in the rocking chair and enjoying his time, the hunting team members who had been injured last night found their bandaged wounds beginning to fester.
Yet, even though their wounds had begun to fester, the injured members of the hunting team had no inkling of it. And outsiders wouldn’t know about the changes in their wounds unless they unwrapped the bandages.
