Chapter 350: The Edge of Shattering
Chapter 350: Chapter 350: The Edge of Shattering
Cole Kensington naturally used his ability to merge with shadows, darting back and forth inside the small train and occasionally lending Bella and the Master a hand.
He zipped from the rear car all the way to the engine.
While others were screaming their heads off in terror, there were always a few who were having an unusually good time.
Like the green-haired guy sitting in the engine car.
He could even force Cole Kensington to emerge from the shadows.
Perhaps the only one with a normal reaction was Zephyr Sterling.
He used every trick in the book to dodge the sudden attacks in the cramped train car. And even though he’d used an Immobilization Talisman, he still had to struggle to keep himself steady.
When the small train finally descended and landed smoothly on the ground, he let out a huge sigh of relief. He hadn’t even realized he was afraid of heights.
The group of five disembarked safely. Faye Yardley looked at Zephyr Sterling’s pale face and asked, "Mr. Zephyr Sterling, are you all right?"
"I’m fine, don’t worry. What should we ride next? Maybe we should just pick one you’ve been on before."
Master Veridian nodded as well. "Let’s just do the rides you’ve done before. At least you’ll be familiar with them."
"In that case, let’s go on the Crazy Oak Barrels."
Each oak barrel could only seat one to three people, so the five of them split into two groups.
「While Faye Yardley and her group were having a blast in the Dungeon, the islands belonging to Jay Jonas and Logan Langdon outside had begun accepting their first groups of arrivals.」
Both men were bold, taking in 100,000 people all at once with no intention of staggering their arrival in batches.
Meanwhile, Ethan Yardley’s recruitment drive was also buzzing with activity, drawing in a crowd of applicants.
"Boss, we could totally afford to be selective and just pick the best of the best."
Ethan Yardley shook his head. "Outstanding ability alone is useless. We have to pick people who pass the character test. In the future, these will be the brothers and sisters we entrust our lives to. If we’re all just suspicious of each other later on, our guild will fall apart sooner or later."
Graham Quinn considered this and had to agree, but he truly couldn’t bear to let those experts go.
But from the look of it, Ethan Yardley truly didn’t care about having the highest combat power.
’Thinking about the boss’s own combat power, not to mention his sister who outclassed the entire server,’ Graham Quinn thought, ’I just can’t think on their level. The reason I see things so differently is probably that I’m not strong enough myself.’
"Graham, go help Donovan out. Keep an eye on things over there."
"Got it."
Over on Zachary Pierce’s end, recruitment was simpler in some ways but came with more headaches. Everyone involved was a brother-in-arms; choosing who to accept and who to turn away was far more difficult than recruiting strangers.
Not to mention the unbearable heat, the mere fact that August was ending and September was about to begin was enough to keep them on edge.
If it were another Marine Debris Collection Contest, they could probably manage by stocking up on enough wood. But what if the Otherkin arrived?
The last time the Otherkin descended, members of the Serpent Clan had used ordinary people as parasitic hosts.
Besides, the total death toll from the Otherkin’s relentless waves of attacks was even higher than from entering the Fairy Tale World.
Fortunately, they had the extra island. Once the first group had made significant progress on construction, they could take in another batch of people.
The blueprints for a residential complex designed to house 100,000 people required an enormous amount of basic materials, and the current shortfall was staggering.
Even so, construction had already begun on three separate complexes on the island simultaneously.
Eleanor Jonas came over. "Pierce, regarding the food consumption for the 100,000 people, we can only supply ten days’ worth for now. Any more than that will start to affect our own operations."
"That’s fine," Zachary Pierce said. "Our support is only meant for emergencies; they ultimately have to rely on themselves. We’ve distributed fast-growing vegetable seeds and prepared farm tools. They’ll need to clear their own fields and get a crop planted right away." He wasn’t too worried about the people who had already gone to the island; they had all been mentally prepared to endure hardship before they left. He was more concerned with the personnel selection on his own side.
"Pierce, could we borrow some resources from Yardley?" Eleanor Jonas asked. "I haven’t been able to reach her all day, though. I wonder if she’s on her island."
Eleanor didn’t have an All-World Communication Phone yet, so when Faye Yardley wasn’t on her raft, the only way to contact her was through Zachary Pierce.
Zachary Pierce shook his head, rejecting the idea outright. "Her island is also still under construction. Plus, she’s doing it all by herself. We haven’t given her any help, so how can we turn around and ask her for some? There are so many of us. Many hands make light work. It’ll be fine. We just have to tighten our belts, and we’ll get through all these problems."
"...Fine."
’Zachary Pierce could be a bit too rigid sometimes,’ she thought, ’but he wasn’t wrong.’
Eleanor Jonas felt she was the one who needed to do some self-reflection. ’Have I really given it my all?’
’Relying on others isn’t the way to become self-reliant.’
"Oh, right, prepare a batch of feminine products for Yardley’s island. They don’t have a factory for that over there, and the women will need them. Thorne has already called me twice about it."
"I’ve already packed and sent a shipment to Yardley, but she hasn’t claimed it yet. I sent her a message to remind her."
"Thanks for all your hard work. Any new developments from the lab here at the garrison?"
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Faye Yardley discovered that if anyone touched the turntable in the center of the oak barrel, it would accelerate—no matter if it was spun forward or backward.
What was really wild was that if a second person touched it, they would experience the "joy" of double acceleration. If a third person happened to brush against it, then congratulations were in order for the players inside, who would get to experience the "super fun" of triple acceleration.
But to compensate for the super-high rotational speed, the barrel’s durability seemed to have been enhanced ever so slightly.
After all, besides going SPIN SPIN SPIN, the oak barrels also loved to go BUMP BUMP BUMP. Then, severed heads and dismembered limbs would occasionally drop in from elsewhere, and the barrel would react as if cheering for a delicious meal.
It wasn’t just the Master and Zephyr Sterling getting attacked; the assault on Faye Yardley and her two companions was even more ferocious.
Amid the frantic spinning, Faye Yardley saw someone get thrown clear out of their barrel, only for a whip to shoot out, wrap around them, and yank them straight into hers.
The moment the barrel’s occupancy was exceeded, Faye Yardley felt a terrifying pressure descend. Less than a second later, she struck, eliminating the newcomer.
When forced to choose between her own people dying and someone else dying, she had decisively chosen the latter.
Bella was instantly guilt-ridden—she hadn’t expected such an outcome. But after "swallowing" a whole person, the oak barrel shot away from the spinning zone with a WHOOSH and headed straight for the exit.
’As expected,’ Faye thought. ’The clown must have put a lot of thought into encouraging people to kill each other.’
Faye Yardley and her two companions got out of the oak barrel and waited for Master Veridian and Zephyr Sterling to emerge.
When they finally appeared, their oak barrel was covered in cracks, looking like it was on the verge of shattering at any moment.