The group’s atmosphere was congenial as they enjoyed the sumptuous late-night meal.
During the meal, a staff member enthusiastically drove over in a shuttle cart and delivered five large bags of frozen food: two bags of beef rolls and three bags of original-recipe crispy fried chicken.
After unloading a case of water, he asked if they needed any more food.
Everyone, however, declined the offer.
"General Manager Shao is a really great guy," Pang Peng of the eight-person group from the Jingcheng University Archery Club said admiringly. If you had to pick the most talkative person there, it was definitely him.
With such an optimistic chatterbox livening things up at the bonfire, it didn’t take long for the conversation to start flowing.
"The central kitchen’s cold storage is in the food district. The Cross-Country Club has already taken over almost half of it. I’m just worried they’ll get some bad ideas," a young man responded.
"If they really dare to take over the central cold storage and hoard all the supplies for themselves, then they can’t blame us for getting nasty. It would be the perfect excuse to take their RVs."
A pot-bellied, middle-aged man’s expression turned fierce as he said resentfully, "The power is never coming back. Forget about air conditioning. Only those guys in their RVs are living comfortably."
Solar panels on the roof are pretty much standard for RVs. Otherwise, you can’t power the fridge, air conditioning, and other appliances inside.
"I don’t think it’s that serious."
A young woman disagreed, "I used to watch videos from their RV alliance and even donated to their charity drives. I doubt they’re that bad. Honestly, I’m more worried about the owner of that archery range. He shot an arrow at someone tonight.
That’s just ridiculous. For all he cares, there’s probably no difference between people and Wild Beasts in his eyes. He must really think he’s invincible and can do whatever he wants."
In this apocalyptic world, people inevitably grew more suspicious of one another.
The trust between people had become dangerously fragile.
The situation at the campground had improved. They had successfully weathered the nocturnal animal attacks, using their equipment advantage to solve the problem of invisible ambushes.
Yet, there was something that required even more vigilance than the monsters: humanity itself.
Casualties were unavoidable during the intense nightly defense. More and more people were coming to realize a terrifying truth: it wasn’t just monsters that dropped essence upon death. Humans, too, would release all the Rune Essence they had acquired.
That truth was enough to break anyone’s spirit.
As the old saying goes: when you meet a friend from back home, watch out for a shot in the back.
Some people lacked the courage to face monsters head-on, but they likely had the guts for a cowardly ambush to kill a person.
As they discussed this issue, the mood around the camp suddenly grew heavy.
The brazier continued to crackle, its flames illuminating the many grim faces, some of which also held a sense of uncertainty about the future.
But Pang Peng tried to smooth things over. "It’s true that the human heart is easily tested," he said. "But right now, everyone in this base is working together to fight off the monsters. We were strangers, yet here we are, sharing a meal. Isn’t that a testament to the truth, goodness, and beauty that still exists in the world?"
You had to admit, the simple, sincere young man did much to ease the tension.
Soon, the topic shifted to the eight-person group from the Jingcheng University Archery Club.
It was only natural. As one of the country’s top universities, Jingcheng University was bound to attract attention.
After some chatting, everyone discovered that the majors these eight were studying were practically tailor-made for the apocalypse.
Their group included students majoring in chemistry, agriculture, material science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and biology, as well as two medical students.
"You guys are skilled with bows, too. That’s the perfect configuration for an apocalyptic squad. Maybe I should just join up with you," someone in the small group said to Yan Ziqian with a laugh.
From their interactions, most could tell that the gentle, bespectacled young man was the true leader of their group.
"Times have changed. Magic is more useful now," Yan Ziqian replied nonchalantly.
"Fair enough."
Many people agreed. One of the older men chuckled and said, "Just the miraculous healing from Wood Element essence is probably enough to give a medical student an existential crisis."
Just then, Su Chen, who had been silent the whole time and focused only on eating, put down his utensils. He looked at Yan Ziqian with a hint of interest and asked, "Can you make explosive charges by hand?"
The earlier mention of Yan Ziqian being a master’s student in chemistry had reminded Su Chen of the ore vein he’d discovered during a drone survey. This sparked an idea about blasting the mine, prompting his out-of-the-blue question.
Yan Ziqian pondered for a moment before giving an ambiguous answer. "Perhaps."
Su Chen had only asked on a whim and didn’t think much of it.
In fact, even the seemingly loose-lipped Pang Peng hadn’t revealed the full story. Yan Ziqian wasn’t just a master’s student; he was a Gold Medal winner in a chemistry competition.
He had already gathered the materials for black powder. After finding potassium nitrate fertilizer and the sulfur powder used to acidify soil in a garden shed, the rest was easy.
As for charcoal, that was even more plentiful.
He had already scouted out the equipment in a barbecue restaurant and a gasoline generator earlier that evening. If he wanted to, he could indeed produce black powder quickly.
But he wasn’t being overly humble about one thing: for now, gunpowder wasn’t necessarily as effective as rune magic.
Still, it was better to be safe than sorry, and some backup plans needed to be prepared in advance.
Meanwhile, Gong Jun, the team’s material science expert, was going to try his hand at crafting barrels for iron cannons. The guy wasn’t preparing to make ordinary firearms; he was moving with the times and wanted to create Rune Guns and Cannons.
"By the way, there’s an important piece of information I need to share with you."
Yan Ziqian looked at Su Chen with a sincere expression. While he couldn’t reveal certain secrets, he was more than willing to share a valuable piece of intel they had accidentally obtained, along with his group’s analysis.
’There was no particular reason. He just knew that in this apocalyptic environment, there was no downside to befriending a powerful lone wolf like him.’
Seeing Su Chen’s eyes on him, he didn’t beat around the bush. "The concept of Elemental Affinity is common knowledge by now," he said directly, "but there’s another important concept that’s just been discovered and hasn’t spread yet: ’Soul Capacity.’"
Yan Ziqian broke down the definition. It was actually quite simple: the number of Runes a person’s consciousness can hold is not infinite. They knew of one person who, after absorbing four Runes, could not absorb any more.
This led to the theory of a limit to one’s Soul Capacity.
"You can think of it in simpler terms as having a limited number of ’Magic Slots,’" he added.
With such a major limitation, it meant people couldn’t just absorb Runes limitlessly as they pleased. From this point forward, they had to be mindful of their Magic Construction.
The problem was, with no one willing to share combination formulas, building a proper set of abilities wouldn’t be easy. Exploring on your own not only came with a high cost for trial and error but also risked filling up all of your precious, unknown number of Magic Slots with useless abilities.
"Thanks," Su Chen said, genuinely appreciative.
"Don’t mention it," Yan Ziqian said. "We only know thanks to someone else. I’m just passing it on."
This "someone else" was Feng Yuanjie, the son of the archery range owner. His experience had sparked a small-scale discussion, but the news hadn’t fully spread yet.
Their conversation hadn’t escaped the notice of the others under the canopy. It slowly dawned on them that for Yan Ziqian to treat him with such importance, the tall young man—the only one there by himself—must be an extraordinary individual.

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