"The sky is getting dark."
Inside the Qingye Collection campsite, everyone could clearly feel the sky dimming.
Normally, based on yesterday’s conditions, night shouldn’t have truly fallen until around 7:30 PM.
"Forget about comparing it to yesterday—it’s just about to pour."
On his drone’s video feed, he could see that at the far end of the mountains to the east, the clouds were as black as ink, so thick they nearly crushed the ridgeline.
The implication was clear—a massive storm was on its way.
"Tell them not to rush over Cyan Dragon Ridge. They need to be careful!" someone said, hurrying toward the broadcasting room to make an announcement.
"I think it’d be better if they got into trouble. What a bunch of pests," a young Archer grumbled angrily.
The reason for his anger stemmed from a recent incident.
Since dawn, people had been trickling back to the city over Cyan Dragon Ridge.
However, a group of Archers claimed to have cleared a safe "green path" through the forest leading back to town.
When this news reached the camp, it caused a stir among the people.
Rather than stay trapped in this precarious outer camp, it was better to evacuate this place of trouble before the monsters closed in.
Although last night had been uneventful, the camp’s location guaranteed it wouldn’t stay peaceful for long.
What’s more, the central kitchen’s cold storage in the food court supposedly wouldn’t last much longer. There were also rumors that it had been taken over by an allied group from the "Trunk Line Club."
Amidst all the rumors, spurred on by a single organizer, at least a hundred people who were planning to leave went straight to Manager Shao to demand food.
Their reasoning was simple: with supplies in the city under strict control, they had to prepare for themselves.
And people are inherently selfish.
To justify their demands and feel no guilt, they placed themselves on an unassailable moral high ground.
"This frozen food will go bad in a few days anyway. It’s a waste not to give it to us. We’re counting on you for food for our journey back, Manager Shao!"
"You’re just being generous with other people’s things! I heard the owners of the buffet BBQ and another restaurant are dead. Let me ask you, Manager Shao, do you still have the right to control the food from local businesses? How much food from other businesses have you hoarded in that central cold storage?"
One played good cop, the other played bad cop, and they had the advantage of numbers.
Forced into a corner, Manager Shao had to swallow his pride and ultimately agreed.
And just like that, over a hundred people blockaded the cold storage doors, demanding large bags with three days’ worth of food. If not for the limits of their backpacks and concerns for their safety on the road, they probably would have wanted to take everything they could carry.
With the first group as an example, a second group of copycats immediately emerged. But just as they were about to cause trouble, their leaders were brutally beaten by security personnel who had gathered in advance.
This time, Shao Jingchuan showed his iron fist.
No one had forgotten that he had a 23-person security department under his command.
At the same time, thanks to his capable leadership over the past day, many people were genuinely willing to work for him and helped drive off the troublemakers.
Before long, news arrived that was both schadenfreude-inducing and pitiable: the drone footage showed that the first group of over a hundred escapees who had taken the forest "green path" had scattered in a panic.
The path was clearly not as safe as expected. The clearing party had forgotten to look up.
In the dense forest, where the canopy was uneven, a troop of Night Monkeys, accidentally awakened by the noise, attacked them from above.
Some managed to escape and return.
Others perished in the forest.
The former, in their desperation to flee, abandoned their heavy backpacks; the latter simply became food.
A huge amount of food was wasted by that group.
"Memorize the faces of those who returned. Their food rations are canceled."
Upon learning this, Manager Shao didn’t mock or ridicule them; he just coldly ostracized them.
Seeing the dark clouds roll in and the impending rain, he also hurried to arrange for the reinforcement of the outer defenses. After a helpful suggestion, a chainsaw infused with Gold Element Essence became sharp enough that they were finally, slowly, able to saw down a towering ancient tree.
The weather was about to turn nasty.
The many people who had been exploring the forest also began to return. At 4:10 PM, Su Chen reached the edge of the campsite. He didn’t take his original route back, but instead headed toward the resort village on the northern side of the camp.
The most devastated area in the entire camp was, without a doubt, the courtyard resort. Even last night’s watch operation had used the food court as a boundary, effectively abandoning that territory.
Of course, a recovery operation had been underway since morning.
Besides clearing out the lingering monsters, they were also scavenging the abundant supplies within.
Currently, a small team was working at the edge of the woods.
They were felling trees. From their conversation, it was clear they planned to build a wooden palisade for the resort, using the riverbank as a foundation.
The reasoning was simple.
The courtyard villas were all existing steel-and-concrete buildings. Abandoning them in yesterday’s hasty response was one thing, but now, even if only to create a buffer zone, they couldn’t allow monsters to easily charge into the base.
Hence the talk of felling trees to build a wall.
"My Rune Energy is almost bottomed out. This third tree is going to be tough..."
A woman in a black tracksuit wiped the sweat from her face and complained, "Why don’t we just switch back to cutting down Earth-native trees? These ancient trees from the Otherworld are way too hard!"
She gripped a fire axe with both hands. The blade’s surface was wreathed in a highly compressed, arcing luster, and it continuously cut into the ancient tree with high-frequency vibrations.
Although a deep notch had already been cut into the giant tree, causing the trunk to lean noticeably to one side, as her energy depleted, she was ultimately unable to sever it.

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