Chapter 125 - Above Wasteland, Below Hell
Chapter 125: Above Wasteland, Below Hell
For the first time, he looked at the whole saltpeter mining camp from the rear angle.
Su Mo once again felt the mighty power of nature.
With the existence of saltpeter mines like this, if they could be continuously mined and only used for ammunition, it would take decades to deplete!
Looking down from the saltpeter hillside, most of the buildings in the camp had been burned even more after a further half an hour.
Some of the small houses were completely burned down, transforming into piles of smoking firewood that continued to release their last embers of heat on the ground.
The air above the camp had been distorted by the fire, and waves of heat were billowing by.
Walking toward the sea of fire, Su Mo was surprised to find that the snow in the camp had already begun to melt, causing the ground to become slippery.
When he stepped inside the camp grounds, the ambient heat made it seem almost as if winter had transitioned to spring.
Looking at Kento Maeda’s safehouse core in the storage space, he found that the option to assimilate it was now available. Su Mo walked briskly and arrived at the center of the grounds.
The position in the center had been hurriedly cleared out in a circle, covering an area of about four to five hundred cubic meters.
At the same time, a small amount of supplies were piled up on the ground.
The first item that caught his eye were the large chunks of saltpeter ores. Like the ones he snatched before, these saltpeter ores were also extremely pure.
As long as these saltpeter ores could be brought back, at least 500 catties of picric acid explosives could be produced!
Near the saltpeter ores, there were scattered piles of food in bags, and some treasure chests obtained by killing the kobolds earlier.
Other than a small group of humans sorting things in place, most of them were still rescuing and collecting supplies from the fiery surroundings.
Occasionally, there would be a burst of exclamation caused by the crackling sound of the wood breaking.
Without disturbing the people who were arranging the supplies, Su Mo circled around the camp and set fire to the remaining houses one by one to ensure that there were no supplies left for the kobolds when they returned.
Because of the dense camp layout, within a short while, the violent fire spread to all the houses, assisted by the light breeze. The flames fluttered in the wind.
After trying and unlocking all the safehouse cores one by one, Su Mo sat in the shadows with satisfaction and waited while the refugees carried and collected the supplies.
Su Mo had his own plans for where these people would go.
At the same time, however, Su Mo also had to determine their personalities.
The kobolds’ would probably take a day or so to return. Therefore, even if there were supplies in the camp, they would only be enough to last a day or two.
They would need to wait for the next squad of kobolds to return and support them, and restock the supplies.
This could be seen from a small amount of supplies found in the camp.
Slowly, everyone returned to the center of the grounds, staring at the “large” amount of supplies placed on the ground, their eyes brightening.
They had not had a full meal for many days. Two days ago, they were attacked by the lion people and fled in every direction. When they finally returned to the camp, they were once again captured for mining.
The group of people had hardly rested, running around in the snowy weather of the wasteland.
Protests of hunger came from their stomachs, and saliva dripped out of their mouths.
The supplies on the ground were extremely tempting. Although they knew that these supplies belonged to the mysterious “Lu Bu”, they did not stop their greedy eyes.
“How about… everyone divides these materials and just leaves. Pick a direction and go all the way. We can always find a human gathering point.”
“Yes, let’s divide these supplies. Anyway, in this world, we won’t live for many days, so why bother feeling miserable and hungry!”
When the first person took the lead in speaking up, the others soon followed up with each other.
However…
While everyone spoke up more fiercely than the next person, when it came to actually touching these supplies, no one dared to do it.
Sitting in the snow, and listening to their rumbling stomachs, everyone looked at each other sullenly and, at the same time, a lightheadedness that was different from hunger and cold emerged.
It was not that Su Mo had left such an imposing image that they did not dare to take anything, nor was it because these people had retained the moral concepts of the civilized era.
Despite everything… Even if they took something, where would they go?
The camp that they had depended on for survival was now in ruins and burnt to ash, and the kobolds who “protected” them had all retreated.
These supplies were enough for them to eat for one or two days.
However, what would happen next?
The blizzard disaster was approaching and, beyond that, further rounds of disasters would strike. There was no place to hide from the disaster. Taking something now was equivalent to cornering oneself into a dead end.
“Shen, do you think that Lord Lu Bu would allow us to join his shelter?”
A middle-aged man asked, his hand on Chen Shen’s shoulder and his face full of anxiety.
The question did not solely belong to him, but was representative of the feelings of all the Huaxia people present.
If it had been a foreigner who came today, then they would naturally not have such a strong desire to join the other party’s shelter…
However, after hearing the name Lu Bu and that he was also a Huaxia native, a sense of comradeship took root in the hearts of the Huaxia people, and they could not help but feel closer to the vicious stranger that they had never met before!
At the same time, after their experiences with evildoers like Ying Xiong, there was a large weight hanging over the hearts of these people. They did not know whether this person would be as cruel as the others!
“Don’t worry uncle. He is so powerful that he should not be the same as the others before. Besides, compared to a bastard like Ying Xiong, how much worse can he be?”
When he said this, everyone was speechless.
Yes, in this desolate, disaster-ridden world, how much worse could it get?
If it had been an ordinary survival scenario, people like them would have some measure of strength. Relying on their hands and farming, they would be able to eke out their survival.
However… There were periodic disasters occuring.
To take them in, one would have to bear their resource consumption and living needs as well. Furthermore, because of the disaster, they could not go out to work either…
The refugees, who were originally excited about killing a bunch of kobolds, suddenly felt their spirits plummet, and everyone sat on the ground quietly in deep thought.
Until…Su Mo walked out of the shadows.
When the refugees, who were still sitting in a daze in the center, noticed Su Mo, they were stunned and at a loss.
Compared to the blood-red crimson armor from before, Su Mo now looked like a “normal person” at least.
Except for bits of uncleaned blood stains in the crevices of the armor on his body that reeked of blood, he did not seem as frightening as before.
Looking at the supplies on the ground, Su Mo first nodded in satisfaction before calling out loudly to the crowd, “Chen Shen, come out! I have something to ask you!”
Being called over by Su Mo, the young man had a surprised expression. He stood up quickly and walked over.
“General Lu Bu, what are your orders?”
“Call me Brother Lu, there’s no need for these nonsensical words anymore!” Greeting Chen Shen, the two walked to the high ground, observing the fire burning below.
After a while, Su Mo spoke again, “Where do you all live?”
The houses burned by the sea of fire were either occupied by Kento Maeda and the traitors, or by the kobolds. He had not yet seen the place where these refugees lived.
Hearing Su Mo’s words, Chen Shen had a trace of sadness on his face, “Brother Lu, come with me!”
The hillsides of varying heights were full of exposed saltpeter mines.
Following Chen Shen all the way, and after making a few turns, Su Mo caught sight of several nests covered with plant fibers.
These nests had not been neatly cleaned up, and when the grass covering above was lifted, an unspeakable stench surged out.
Even with a gas mask on, Su Mo could not stand the smell.
There were a total of three nests and, according to the previous number of people, it seemed about right.
“How many of you are there, and where are the people from before? Where did they go?”
Opening the first nest, Su Mo tried to take a step inside to look around, and at the same time interrogated Chen Shen who was behind him.
“They are all dead. Those who were slow are all dead. There are not many of us left. Before this there were more than 30 Huaxian, now there are only eleven left, and they belong to my Chen family…”
When Chen Shen said this, he was very relaxed, as if it was a chicken that had died, without any emotional expression of grief or anger.
Su Mo was a little silent. He knew it was numbness.
To have stayed alive for so long, one would naturally lose sight of certain things. If one saw death too often, one would naturally also become numb to death!
Stepping out of the first nest, Su Mo opened the second one and went in.
However, after entering this time, Su Mo’s expression suddenly sank.
His aura and movements changed slightly as well, bursting out with an even more shocking aura than before.
In the corner of the nest, a woman was holding a baby who was still swaddled in cloth. She looked at Su Mo who had just walked in and shrunk backwards.
She seemed to be very afraid of Su Mo snatching her child. Seeing Su Mo’s aura explode, she moved and turned the child at an angle, exposing her back to Su Mo. At the same time, she turned her head, expressing an imploring look.
“Why?”
“Why is there a baby?”