Chapter 205: Electricity Development

Chapter 205: Chapter 205: Electricity Development

First came the incessant chirping of insects at night. Then, some players reported rats stealing their food.

After that, small domestic animals like rabbits, puppies, and kittens started appearing.

Just when it seemed like things were heading in a good direction, large beasts appeared.

They appeared first on islands with forests. Some areas saw tigers and lions, while others faced mutated elephants and camels.

These animals were incredibly ferocious. The moment they appeared, they attacked players inside their shelters.

That night, Shi Zhile was jolted awake by the sound of a loud impact.

She grabbed her weapon and went to the watchtower. Shining a light down, she came face to face with a massive eye.

It was an elephant, taller than her main gate, its huge ears flapping incessantly.

It was enormous, more than twice the size of an ordinary elephant. It didn’t just look ferocious—it acted the part.

Its trunk was coiled, relentlessly slamming against the main gate.

The gate trembled with every blow. When a few strikes failed to break it down, the beast grew enraged. Its eyes turned red, and it began stomping its front legs on the ground, making it feel like an earthquake.

The more agitated it became, the greater the commotion it made.

Shi Zhile steadied herself and switched to the weapon issued by the base. Before she could fire, she was tagged in the group chat.

She quickly opened it.

[Player: [Image] [Image], location, any players nearby? My shelter is under attack by a tiger and won’t hold much longer!]

[PokingTheGuyAbove: HELP! @Wei Zhan @Contentment Brings Happiness @Wen Changming... a wolf pack is on the move!]

"AHHH!!!"

A scream from the distance instantly broke Shi Zhile’s concentration on the messages.

Beneath the moonlight, Shi Zhile met the elephant’s gaze.

It raised its head, its huge ears flapping wildly as it lifted its trunk high and swung it toward Shi Zhile.

Shi Zhile aimed her gun at its eye. As the bullet pierced the eyeball, she detonated it.

BANG! A mix of brain matter and the stench of blood filled the air. The elephant’s body swayed before crashing straight backward.

At the same time, Shi Zhile received a video call from the Base Leader.

"I heard a huge noise just now. What happened?"

There were too many calls for help in the chat. He’d messaged Shi Zhile earlier but got no reply. The noise just now was too loud, and he couldn’t help but worry.

Shi Zhile aimed her camera at the elephant’s corpse outside. Worried he couldn’t see it clearly, she switched on the light by the gate.

"An elephant was attacking my shelter. I took it out with one shot. I just saw the messages in the group chat—a lot of players are under attack tonight. First tigers, then wolf packs, and now an elephant. It’s clear the large animals have arrived."

Base Leader: "Yeah. We were mentally prepared and had people on standby, but it’s still absolute chaos right now. As long as you’re okay. I’m hanging up."

The chaos lasted for an entire week.

In some areas, so many animals appeared that by the time reinforcements arrived, only bloodstains remained on the ground.

Within a week, over 60% of all players had been attacked by animals, and the death toll was staggering.

Precisely because of the high death toll, the system, which had only recently completed a server merge, made another announcement.

[Survival Tip: Large animals have arrived. As of now, with the exception of extinct species, all animals are now present in the game. An excessive number of player deaths has been detected. The system will initiate the game’s final server merge tomorrow afternoon.]

[This server merge will not be divided by race or sea region, nor will it merge islands. All players will now be able to contact one another. Due to the excessive number of participants, the total player count will be kept confidential. Therefore, the chat channel will no longer display a specific number of players.]

[Special Notice: After the final server merge, the risk of natural disasters will increase. All players, please prepare for survival. We wish you an enjoyable game!]

Shi Zhile stood by the window on the third floor, the sea breeze carrying in the salty, damp air.

’Players participating in the game... an enjoyable game...’

Chuyi had reminded her that interstellar people get one chance to enter the game for the "experience," and if they die, they simply return to their interstellar society.

’In a life-or-death struggle, who could possibly find the game enjoyable?’

’The interstellar people, of course!’

She opened the Teleportation Gate, entered the secret base, and laid out her theory.

"If my theory is correct, then the danger after this final merge won’t just come from animals and natural disasters. It will also come from these interstellar people wearing human skins. We need to prepare. When the time comes, we must capture them alive!"

Wen Changming pressed his temples. "The number of players after this final merge will certainly be huge. Figuring out who’s who will be the most difficult part."

Shi Zhile replied, "We ignore all other nationalities. Prohibit all communication with foreigners. For our own people, we can use cultural tests to screen them, like singing the national anthem or reciting classic poetry. But I’m not sure how effective that will be."

Mr. Wen had just come from his laboratory. He was researching new crop varieties—the yield wasn’t high, but they were suitable for survival in extreme weather.

He held a notebook, which he tapped upon hearing her. "The landmass is expanding. We’ll have to map it sooner or later, and since we have to do it, we should start now. Send the right people to every island. They can draw up maps and test the other players simultaneously."

"Of course, we must secure our own house before dealing with outsiders. The players in our own base must be vetted first."

"As for the interstellar people... if we kill them, they just go back home. So, we’ll capture them and not kill them. Anyone who can get into this game must have some power. Every little bit counts. We’ll let the system devour them."

Shi Zhile nodded. She and Mr. Wen were thinking along the same lines.

’She had also been planning to feed those interstellar people to the system.’

The Teleportation Gate opened, gathering all the senior members from both bases. The group then held another two-hour meeting.

In the end, they decided to proceed with Mr. Wen’s plan.

「The next afternoon, the servers merged again.」

After the merge was complete, the player count in the chat channel changed to 999+.

The flood of messages was the same, filled with countless players looking for relatives and friends.

Players who found their loved ones wept with joy, while those who couldn’t had come to terms with it.

Sometimes, a painful life was not necessarily worse than death.

With so many different languages being run through the system’s translator, players’ speech patterns and word order became a chaotic jumble.

This, however, made it easier for the interstellar people to hide.

After the merge, the two bases each dispatched twenty teams to survey the other players and map the new territories.

All sorts of machinery were transported out from the secret space. The number of players at the base grew, the base itself expanded, and supplies became plentiful.

Shi Zhile’s days fell into a simple, three-point routine: from Stone Island to the secret base, and from the secret base to Jiuzhou Base.

She rushed tirelessly between the three bases, constantly using the Teleportation Gate to transport players.

Even though many players had come to the base, the workforce was still stretched thin. Some were assigned to construction, some to farming, and some to research, while others were out hunting or on rescue missions.

After a month of frantic work, the first wind power station in the survival game was erected, followed closely by a large-scale solar power plant.

With power secured, the next problem to solve was transportation.

There was no shortage of vehicles, but the real challenge was the lack of fuel.