CH 19

Chapter 19 Dark Rock Incident(7)

Day three night, the haze began to worsen.

Day four, the sky grew even darker, and the process of photosynthesis in plants started to fail, causing a decrease in oxygen levels in the air.

— Although it sounds unbelievable, that’s the reality.

At the moment of the eruption of the dark rock volcano, the erupted material was estimated to be measured in units of millions and cubic kilometers.

The overwhelming volcanic ash covered most of the sunlight, and the portion that fell firmly covered the surface of the plants. The thick dust made even breathing difficult.

At the same time, the acidic substances contained in the volcanic ash would corrode the leaves. Within just one day, the plants started to wither extensively.

The issue of masks was not resolved, and suddenly the surrounding environment changed dramatically.

Most of the players lived in peaceful times and had never seen such a scene before.

While feeling stimulated, the players were filled with anxiety.

At times like this, Qian Yue, who could leisurely boil water in her cottage, clearly became a unique existence.

“The progress of the event has indeed been accelerated…” Qian Yue murmured as she slowly peeled the fruit.

Beside her, a small pot resembling a coconut shell was boiling water, with two pieces of fish brought by Qian Yue from the previous instance floating inside.

Further inside the house, several relatively intact giant fan leaves were spread out, and on top of them was a bed for insect protection and warmth.

Although the whole house looked very crude, compared to the outside world, Qian Yue’s life was incredibly comfortable.

As she watched the trees outside turn yellow one by one, she was momentarily stunned, but quickly accepted this setting.

“It’s indeed a game. No matter how fast the changes come, they won’t surprise anyone.”

In fact, a real dark rock event doesn’t happen this quickly; just the eruption itself lasts for tens of thousands of years.

The dust is continuously propelled high into the atmosphere, gradually covering the entire planet.

By that time, the majority of sunlight will be blocked by dust, and the planet will almost enter a state of eternal darkness.

Plants and marine algae, unable to carry out photosynthesis without sunlight, will die in large numbers in the heavily polluted, low-oxygen environment.

At that time, the organisms that will take over the planet will be rapidly multiplying bacteria, and whether on land or in the ocean, a strong stench of decay will permeate the world.

Meanwhile, due to the lack of sunlight, the surface temperature of the planet will continue to drop, and the seawater will gradually freeze, eventually entering a special ice age.

The whole world will resemble a glacial wasteland, with only a few places fortunate enough to survive.

Those who manage to survive in such extreme conditions will become the ancestors of various life forms in the future.

Just the thought of it made Qian Yue feel particularly excited.

She crunched on the fruit and muttered to herself, “If nothing unexpected happens, the next few days should be acid rain and eternal darkness, right?”

The eternal darkness is estimated to last until the end of the instance, accompanied by low temperatures. Before that, she probably needs to stock up on more fuel.

As for how long the acid rain period will last, she doesn’t know.

When the acid rain arrives, players and all kinds of creatures will have to scramble for shelters, undoubtedly leading to chaos.

This instance is different from the previous one. There are no other artificial buildings here, so unless the stone house is damaged,

Qian Yue doesn’t plan to move halfway.

Therefore, for the sake of her quality of life, she may need to do some additional defensive engineering.

Qian Yue murmured, “I hope they have some common sense and don’t come over here.”

But unfortunately, some people lack common sense.

“Ugh, what is this darn weather?”

In the mountains, a team of four is advancing.

Three men and one woman. From their conversation, it appears that they know each other in real life.

The one who is currently talking is a young man walking at the end of the team. He looks young, probably around sixteen or seventeen.

He complained, “This is ridiculous! Not wearing a mask irritates me, but wearing a mask suffocates me. I can hardly fit all the debuff names in my status window!”

The other two men remained silent, but the girl in the middle turned back and comforted gently, “Hang in there, we’ll be there soon.”

During the conversation, the other two suddenly stopped and looked in the same direction.

Yu Lu, “What’s wrong?”

Yuan Dongqi, “Looks like there’s someone ahead.”

“Someone?” The baby-faced Du Yuanlang became nervous. Could it be that someone else has set their sights on the same place as them?

At this moment, most people are fighting fiercely to seize the cave at the foot of the mountain. While guarding against players, they also have to beware of dinosaur attacks.

The reason why they are heading up the mountain is because this area is rarely visited and conflicts are less likely to occur.

But now it seems that another player has already rushed up the mountain ahead of them.

Yu Lu frowned slightly, her voice as gentle as ever, “If there aren’t too many of them, maybe we can negotiate with them.”

Yuan Dongqi didn’t say anything and turned to look at the last person who hadn’t spoken.

“Second Brother Du?”

That person was about 1.8 meters tall, with a sturdy build. Although he was dressed as a player, he inexplicably exuded an intimidating aura that made others reluctant to make direct eye contact.

At this moment, the man squinted his eyes and looked ahead, as if pondering something.

After a two-second pause, he spoke in a deep voice, “Dongqi, go and take a look.”

Yuan Dongqi also had this intention and walked into the woods. He returned in less than two minutes.

Although he still had that carefree appearance, his expression was somewhat subtle.

“It’s a woman, she has a black face mask tied around her face, and she’s alone. But it seems like she noticed me.”

“She noticed you?” Yu Lu was startled and immediately asked worriedly, “Are you okay?”

“…”

Yuan Dongqi didn’t like the woman’s overly sensitive tone, but since the other two were present, he didn’t say anything.

If he hadn’t failed to find Qian Chi’s group after entering the game, he wouldn’t have teamed up with the Du brothers.

In his opinion, this three-person team is a typical one plus two.

Du Yuanlang is a simple-minded person who only knows how to charge forward. Upon hearing this, he immediately said, “If it’s just one person, then there’s nothing to worry about. With so many of us, we can just go over.”

As he spoke, he was about to move forward but was pulled back by someone grabbing the back of his collar.

Du Yue, “Change of route. Let’s go up the mountain.”

Du Yuanlang immediately expressed dissatisfaction, saying, “Second Brother!”

Du Yue ignored him, turned around, and walked in another direction.

Du Yuanlang and Yuan Dongqi quickly caught up.

Du Yuanlang was torn between stopping and continuing, wearing a sullen expression.

In the end, Yu Lu approached and comforted him, finally persuading him to move on.

“Your Second Brother just doesn’t want to get into conflicts with others. The mountain is vast, and taking a different route will be the same,” Yu Lu explained.

Du Yuanlang complained, “He’s being overly cautious. If we keep dragging on like this, my health stat points will be depleted!”

Du Yue graduated from a military academy, although he didn’t join the army, he had a set of skills for wilderness survival. That’s why Du Yuanlang had shamelessly convinced him to join the game.

However, he did not expect that although he was carried along, he also lost his freedom of choice.

The route they had initially chosen was the easiest one, but Du Yue didn’t want to get into conflicts with others, so he insisted on changing the path. The rest of the group had no choice but to follow obediently.

Du Yuanlang muttered, “If I had known, I wouldn’t have brought him…”

Before he finished speaking, two objects smashed into him from the front— unexpectedly hitting Yuanlang.

“Use healing items when you’re losing health, eat when you’re tired, and keep your mouth shut,” Du Yue scolded him.

Du Yuanlang remained silent.

Seeing the situation, Yu Lu wanted to persuade, “Brother Yue…”

Du Yue’s tone was distant, “Miss Yu, you don’t need to worry about him. Leave him be.”

Yu Lu’s expression stiffened, and she could only give Du Yuanlang an apologetic smile and silently walked in the midst of the group, refraining from speaking any further.

She had developed a good relationship with Yuanlang in order to get closer to Du Yue. Now that Du Yue himself had spoken, she naturally obediently complied.

The group continued in silence. However, before they could reach the cave they had previously spotted, they came across a stone house.

Yuan Dongqi said, “It should belong to that person.”

Du Yue glanced at it, a hint of surprise flickering in his eyes.

Although he knew a lot about wilderness survival, building a shelter in such extreme conditions was clearly not part of his expertise.

After all, it wasn’t needed on the battlefield.

Anyone capable of constructing a refuge in such an environment was definitely not an ordinary person.

Yu Lu noticed the admiration in his eyes and approached him at the right moment, gently asking, “Shall we go and take a look? Let’s consider it as an early greeting to our new neighbor.”