YM778.TV Chapter 74 - “Drought 1”
Last time on Apocalypse Lord: The game announces that, for the rest of the game, every day will be a calamity day. Oh, and there’s also a drought.
This chapter has been brought to you by me and Smash10101.
Chapter 74 – Drought 1
After walking about 40 minutes, a player suddenly said, “I have received a system notification.”
[Because of excessive activity under the hot sun, you have heatstroke. -3 strength, -3 agility, -3 stamina, -3 intelligence, -3 spirit.]
[Your Base Recovery Speed has changed to: 1 HP/5 minutes, 1 MP/5 minutes.]
[Rest for 2 hours (avoid the sunlight for 2 consecutive hours, and do not work) to recover your health.]
“Heatstroke already? So soon after we came out?” The members of the foraging team did not believe it. “How much are your stamina attributes? Did you not add to them?”
He could not be blamed for doubting, but this was far weaker than his imagination.
If other people were like this, how could the team go out to explore and forage? They probably could only stay near Rising Cloud City.
“I fear that I will disappoint you.” The player with the negative state had a dark expression. “With each level, there are +3 free points. No matter how I add the other two, I will add one to stamina.”
“Last year when going out in the summer, if you are low level and your stamina is not good, you can wear a bamboo hat and walk under the sun for more than an hour.”
“The bamboo hats have been used up, and there is no sun protection right now, but my attributes are much higher than last year. Considering all this, I have reason to believe, the weather this year is hotter than last year. Compared to last year, everyone’s free time may decrease greatly.”
The members of the foraging team looked at each other and did not speak for a time.
At this time, one person’s eyebrow twitched, and they reached out with a hand. “……I also have heatstroke.”
“My equipment is the same as last year, and I am three levels higher now, but I did not put my free points on stamina.”
“In other words, with the same stamina, the same sun protection, I can only last about forty minutes this year. If I remember correctly, last year, it was almost an hour.”
As they were speaking, one player stumbled. “Strange, why, why am I suddenly dizzy?”
Before he finished, he fell to the ground with a “bang” and was unconscious.
Yun Ling: “……”
The other players, “……”
They had almost forgotten. Some people only got a negative status if they got heatstroke, while others would faint.
If one fainted when they were fighting, what good outcome would they have? They likely would get eaten by the boss!
Yun Ling was helpless. “Let’s find a place to rest first.”
Nearby, there were old trees that towered up and gave shade.
The players sat down under the trees, resting their feet and drinking some water.
Yun Ling ordered the NPCs to take care of the ill, while she stood at the side and thought with her head down.
“Fire, fire!”
“The trees are on fire!”
Not two minutes after sitting down, a player shouted in a panic.
Yun Ling looked over, and saw a cypress tree burning fiercely, and the fire was spreading in all directions.
“Quick, leave!” She was prompt to make a decision.
The NPCs quickly moved away, and the players ran a short distance. Only three people were too panicked and did not look when they were running, they moved in the direction away from the team.
When they realized this, they found they were close to the fire but far from the team.
“Let’s quickly go back.” One person’s heart jumped and they said anxiously, “The wilderness is very dangerous, and we cannot be alone!”
Saying it like this. They had not done it on purpose……hadn’t they just not looked when running away.
The other two people did not argue, striding towards the team.
“Do not be too nervous, we should be fine, it is just a few steps.” One player had a calm expression, and was not worried.
Before he finished speaking, a man-eating flower came close in a flash, opening its wide mouth and swallowing him in a gulp.
The other two people, “!!!”
One was angry. “Do not jinx yourself!”
The other person’s knees were trembling and they almost fell to the ground. “The monster has a name, it is a boss! Run!!”
Two vines reached out and tied them up firmly.
“Save me!!”
The shouts rang through the forest.
Yun Ling decisively ordered, “Rescue them.”
In a flash, fire burned, arrows flew, and the attacks killed the tree monster and the man-eating flower who had just appeared.
The two foraging team members were pale as they ran back to the team. Someone asked in concern. They answered, their teeth chattering, clearly still afraid.
Yun Ling sighed softly. “The bosses are attacking, the temperature is high, there are fire disasters, and there may be a drought. This is going to drive the players to die……”
**
At dusk, after returning to the territory, Yun Ling went to mention this to Zhao Xin Tong.
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong:???]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Boss attacks + high temperature + fire disaster + lack of water + drought. Do we even play? We should just raise the white flag!]
Yun Ling said, “You cannot kneel, if you do, you will die.”
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: …… Living is too hard.]
After saying this, she did not say something for a long time, like she had given up.
Yun Ling was just about to close the chat window when she saw a message from the other.
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Boss, let’s brainstorm and discuss a plan ]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: I thought so hard and only thought of hunting water elementals, so pure water sources may drop.]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: My unlocked buildings are fine, but the territory does not have any extra building slots.]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Right, some of the skills of the water mages can create drinking water.]
Skills could create drinking water?
Yun Ling stilled. It was the first time she had heard of this.
She reminded, “You can purify seawater.”
“You can melt ice.”
“You can drill water wells.”
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: !!!]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: This makes sense.]
She thought of the problem mostly from the view of the game, but the boss had novel thoughts, and always came from the perspective of daily life. As a result, her mind opened up.
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: The market and the communication ability is so useful! I hope that more territories will upgrade markets to level 3, join the net, and trade game experience.]
To this, Yun Ling thought,, “I do not hope that more territories join the network, just that Xin Tong Town is not breached.”
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: It was so hard to get connected, but being the only user……I understand this feeling.]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: I will not embarrass Boss! I will find someone to make fresh water now!]
Seeing this, Yun Ling got busy as well.
In the stone room, Yun Ling found Mage D for an experiment. “Use a B-rank water ball skill, throw it at the wood bucket.”
“Yes, Lord.” Mage D was very cooperative, and threw a basketball sized water ball at the bucket.
With a splash, the wood bucket was a third full.
Yun Ling tasted the water, and found it clear and sweet, very much like the normal drinking water from the stream.
“So this water is also drinkable.” She was reassured, and had a bright smile.
**
Ever since the water wells were drilled, “Hu Da Cheng” was a corpse in the friend list, and they had never been in contact.
Now, facing a drought, Yun Ling sent a message. “Are you free recently? I want to drill more wells.”
The other instantly responded. “Yes, very free!.”
Yun Ling guessed that because of the shortage of materials recently, Hu Da Cheng’s malt sugar business might not be able to keep going, and he urgently needed another job to support his family.
Think of this, she briskly quoted, “Same rules, each well, I will give you 500 copper coins. During this time, I will take care of your three meals, and also provide heat relieving drinks. In order to speed up the drilling, I will send some strong young people to help you.”
Hu Da Cheng negotiated, “Can you give me 200 copper coins, and the rest in food and sun protection equipment?”
Yun Ling said, “Okay.”
Yun Ling said, “If you do the work well, we can negotiate the payment.”
Hu Da Cheng was overjoyed. “Great! I am going to see you now, we can immediately start!”
Hearing that there was work to do, Hu Da Cheng was very excited, and ran to the meeting place.
Yun Ling introduced the strong young manpower — the NPCs who had points on strength and stamina. She also said, “Order them around as you please, the faster the drilling, the better.”
“Understood.” After a few words, Hu Da Cheng rolled up his sleeves, and hurried to work.
The workshop.
The wood house had been transferred to Zhang Heng’s name long ago. Each day, he would work and sleep in here.
“Do you know how to make fresh water from seawater?” After meeting, Yun Ling headed for the main topic.
“This is simple!” Zhang Heng was full of confidence. “The most common is by distillation. Heat up seawater, and the water will become steam. Then, have the vapor condense in order to get fresh water.”
“The salt in the seawater will not evaporate with the water, and will be left at the bottom, so the fresh water and the salt will separate.”
“What equipment is needed? How much drinking water can be made each day?” Yun Ling asked.
“It is not hard to distill water, and I can do it with simple equipment. But this production…..” Zhang Heng said haltingly.
Seeing this, the daily output would not be high.
Yun Ling directly asked, “Is there any way to increase production?”
“We need professional equipment.” Zhang Heng carefully chose words. “It is very hard without the right equipment.”
Yun Ling looked deeply at Zhang Heng, opened the window, and then worked.
Zhang Heng’s hair stood on end because of the look. “What is it?”
Yun Ling did not say directly, just saying, “Wait a moment.”
After a while, she closed the window and told Zhang Heng, “Take a container with seawater, and then heat it up with fire. When the water is boiling, cover the water with a plastic film or something else.”
“This way, when the steam forms on it, they will form very small beads.”
“After a while, gather the water beads into a container, and you will get fresh water.”
Zhang Heng, “……”
This way was much more simple than his original plan.
“Boss, are you good at chemistry?” Zhang Heng said carefully.
“If I was, I would not have come and asked you.” Yun Ling glanced at him. “I asked someone else.”
She had opened her friends list, found You Qing Wen, and asked for “a simple way to get fresh water.”
Not long after, the other copied a large section of text for her, clearly having gotten it from the researcher.
Zhang Heng looked down, slightly embarrassed.
Yun Ling knew long ago that her worker could not compare to the researcher that You Qing Wen knew. In any case, he could do normal things and basic things. This was enough.
In any case, the salary was linked to his contribution. The more he did, the more he was paid. If he did less, he got less.
“Take in the experience of others, and change the way to get water, try to increase output,” Yun Ling ordered.
“Yes.” Zhang Heng solemnly responded, and started to think.
“Okay, you are busy, I am going.”
Walking out the door, Yun Ling’s thoughts turned. She opened the friend list again, and found You Qing Wen. “Spread the way to make fresh water, best if all the residents of the territory know.”
Soon, You Qing Wen answered, “No problem.”