Apocalypse: My Apartment Has Traits - Chapter 182 - 155: The Hollow
Chapter 182: Chapter 155: The Hollow
The Su Family’s Old Mansion, the Eight Immortals Table was surrounded by many people.
Many had no place to stand and could only watch helplessly.
Apart from the senior members of Wuyin Village, Xu Zhong and several village leaders shamelessly stayed behind.
“You want to know what the Empty Cavity is, right?” Mengyi held a teacup, sipping delicately.
Though it was just ordinary coarse tea, he drank with relish, showing no sign of dislike.
Su Lin sat upright, his expression solemn:
“Please enlighten us, wise one.”
On the journey back, Su Qi was troubled and had already handed military affairs over to his grandfather and Su Lin.
Su Can further entrusted the leadership to his grandson, evidently trusting his capabilities.
At this moment, the dialogue between the Su Family and the Upper-level Camp was hosted by Su Lin.
“Ah, where should I begin?” Mengyi put down the teacup and vexedly scratched his disheveled hair.
Dao Guan shook his head helplessly:
“Let me explain; those specifics have surely slipped your mind.”
“That’s exactly right!” Mengyi chuckled, happy to be idle.
Dao Guan was accustomed to his unreliability, shook his head again, and turned to Su Lin:
“Regarding the Empty Cavity, our knowledge is limited. But one thing can be straightforwardly told: why is there a restriction on the flow of Qi and Blood to the village-level camp? Why does the upper-level camp sell grain to you through the Shunfeng Travel Group? It’s all related to the Empty Cavity.”
Not waiting for Su Lin to respond, Dao Guan continued:
“These actions are all to control the death toll of the village-level wilderness population.”
“Death toll of the population?” Su Lin’s heart jolted.
“Exactly. The intention is not to let the casualties be too heavy, yet they can’t be entirely prevented. Every so often, there must be an appropriate amount of personnel loss.”
What?!
Everyone’s faces changed drastically, anger and frustration welled up.
Isn’t this treating them like livestock, nurturing them?
Just to open that so-called Empty Cavity?
For a moment, a strong sense of humiliation and panic spread, their life and death seemingly in the hands of others, who knows when they might be sacrificed?
Su Lin’s face was equally grim, suppressing his anger and interrogated:
“The upper-level camp goes to such lengths just to bring forth the Empty Cavity? What’s inside it that merits such pursuit?”
Though he exerted all efforts to retain composure, his initial fondness for Mengyi and Dao Guan had vanished.
Dao Guan glanced at him and shook his head:
“Intentionally controlling the death count is indeed factual, but Donor Su has misunderstood. The upper-level camp’s actions are not to open the Empty Cavity, but precisely to prevent its opening.”
Su Lin was stunned: “How do you mean?”
Whether from Song Yiyi’s information or previous dialogues between Liang Song and Mengyi, the upper-level camp evidently eyed the Empty Cavity hungrily.
“The Empty Cavity does indeed have something worth pursuing, yet its appearance is more detrimental than beneficial to us. You may understand that we covet the Empty Cavity also to mitigate losses.”
Dao Guan snapped open a folding fan, concealing his serious expression:
“The knowledge of the town-level camp about the Empty Cavity is also limited, but one thing is unquestionable: each manifestation of the Empty Cavity signifies the birth of a ’demon.’ This demon, to us, is a great fear!”
Mengyi drank all the tea in one gulp, casually wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and added:
“I suppose you’re unaware of what a demon is. Let’s put it this way: the Black Tide you previously encountered, accompanying the appearance of the Wandering Giants, those pitch-black things, compared to the Black Tide accompanying a demon’s birth, are nothing but a drop in the ocean.
“The birth of a demon can instantly transform the entire village-level wilderness into a silent, deadly Black Tide, devouring all within. If the demon isn’t slain, the Black Tide will persist eternally. And those deceased… become new Wandering Giants.”
Upon hearing this, everyone shivered.
Su Qi couldn’t help but urgently ask, “Can’t it be stopped?”
“If there were a fine plan, as you previously thought, why would we exhaust efforts to control the death count at the village-level camp?” Mengyi spread his hands helplessly.
“…I’m sorry.” Su Lin realized he had misunderstood the two and looked apologetic.
Mengyi dismissively waved his hand:
“No worries, just understand! Later, just bring me a few extra pieces of meat!”
Su Lin forced a smile: “That will be done.”
Then he pursued further, “Is the opening of the Empty Cavity now a foregone conclusion? Once that demon appears, how will the town-level camp respond? Can… it be killed?”
“The opening of the Empty Cavity is irreversible, and the birth of the demon inevitable. As for whether it can be slain…” Dao Guan replied, “At least Zhoushan Town is powerless, nor has it been heard of anyone capable of slaying a demon. When the time comes, neighboring town-level camps will need to send people to establish defensive positions at the edge of the Black Tide, striving to contain its spread.”
Xu Zhong asked, aghast, “What about us?”
If the demon’s Black Tide were to swallow the entire wilderness, wouldn’t their village be doomed?
“You must evacuate within a month, or else you will be consumed by the Black Tide, becoming Wandering Giants that increase the difficulty of defense.” Dao Guan solemnly said, “By then, any village that meets the ascension criteria will be received by a nearby town-level camp.”
One village leader trembled and asked:
“And those who haven’t met the requirements… what then?”
Dao Guan replied, “Either merge with another village, become a wanderer, relocate to other village-level wildernesses and start anew, or… move to defensive positions. However, survival at these positions is even more perilous, as even the safe houses at night must withstand the Black Tide’s assault, you all mostly would find it hard to withstand.”
All the village leaders looked ashen.
Knowing the truth, the sense of despair grew deeper.
Su Lin breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately, Wuyin had found a place early on.
And with those four pieces of Treasure Meat, meeting the ascension requirements within one month was not too difficult.
…
The hour was late, ending the conversation.
Mengyi dragged Dao Guan to find a hidden place in Wuyin Village to temporarily stay clear of the beast tide.
The Su Family politely sent off the worried leaders, and immediately became busy.
The aftermath of the lord’s hunt was extraordinarily heavy, mingling sorrow with joy.
The living creatures brought back needed to be housed in safe houses, or else they would surely fall victim to the Shadow Beast slaughter at night.
These animals brought back from the wilderness could only reproduce for two generations and grew rapidly.
No matter the species, a newborn would basically die of old age within two months.
Time was pressing, they must be made to breed quickly, to produce milk, eggs, fur, and other by-products, then slaughtered at the right time for meat.
Wuyin Village had only found an animal zone once before when the old man was still uninjured.
This time meeting again was a great surprise for the village.
When a long-missed, ordinary egg appeared before them, countless people were moved to tears, sobbing softly.
On the other hand, the aftercare of dozens of sacrificed people also burdened the Su Family.
Many martial artists from the Hunting Group were the pillars of their families, although house title deeds were arranged beforehand to pass on, the passing of house title deeds had two types.
One is complete inheritance, the other is starting over.
Generally, if the inheritor’s strength is sufficient, they can directly completely inherit the original safety house’s level.
But some families losing their pillars would be unable to hold off night-time beast tides, thus can only restart.
Families losing their pillars often can’t hold the night.
Just as Su Can previously secretly sheltered Su Lin, they similarly needed to arrange people to care for these survivors.
Besides, as the Empty Cavity approached, the urgent task for Wuyin Village was to arm themselves, and ascend Zhoushan Town within a month.
This mess, Su Lin didn’t want to manage, and entrusted it all to his second uncle and grandfather.
Returned from this journey, an unprecedented sense of crisis stirred within him.
“Fortunately, this trip fully mastered Divine Speed, otherwise…” Su Lin shuddered at the thought.
He had believed that after becoming Tendon Lock he could grow steadily at a set pace.
Yet the world proved far too dangerous.
His actual strength was far from sufficient to securely preserve his own life.
Though seemingly easily slaying Wandering Giants, realistically without the old man’s effort to stave off the Black Tide, how could he be so composed?
The Black Tide was far more treacherous than giants, only countered with robust Qi and Blood, touching it burst into shreds.
And Tendon Lock Martial Artist’s Qi and Blood were utterly incapable of long-term defense.
And fundamentally…
Empty Cavity, demon, Black Tide… what are these?
Why is it only through moderate death that the descent of an Empty Cavity can be postponed?
He must enhance his strength early.
Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com
