Ark Journey

Chapter 81: A sudden downturn (two in one)

Because the town was preparing to start building houses, Xue Zhi, who had nothing to do, went to visit several important places after her patrol.

At the entrance of the village's brick kiln, Xue Zhi, who had replenished a large number of various raw materials, was chatting with several apprentices.

"Hey guys, are you sure the bricks are okay?"

"Deputy Mayor, don't worry. So many have been burned. According to probability, all that is burned now is good."

These words made Xue Zhi laugh.

"The learning progress is quite fast, but this is not how probability is used."

"Ah, is that the wrong way to use it?"

"The deputy mayor said you used it wrong, so you used it wrong. Please listen carefully in class tonight."

"Alas, we are already this age, is it useful to learn these things?"

Xue Zhi, who was about to leave, turned around and said with a smile after hearing this:

"It's useful. Don't underestimate these things. It may not be obvious now, but you will realize it someday."

Basic education is very important. Even the combined strength and wisdom of a group of people who have only received nine years of compulsory education should not be underestimated. One of the reasons why India, a large Eastern country, cannot develop is that it does not have enough educated people.

After walking here, he ran to the newly built cement kiln factory.

The skills of those guys are quite good and there is no problem with the cement they make.

He then piled up the large amount of stones and clay obtained from digging the canal in the warehouse and left.

In the tent, W, who was struggling with the test paper, saw Xue Zhi coming back and put down his pen and asked:

"Have you finished your lap? Do you see any problems?"

"It's not a big problem. If we work overtime over there, we can almost get started here."

"By the way, what kind of house are you planning to build?"

Xue Zhi didn't even think about it and blurted out:

"Matchbox."

This was the most secure arrangement he felt at the moment. Although there were enough bricks, cement and other things here, there were not many steel bars and trees that could serve as main beams, so he could not build a house of too rich a style.

Although the missing materials have been ordered from those merchants, this channel is not sufficient at present.

W is easy to satisfy.

"Matchbox? Not bad, it's a house after all."

A few days later, after preparing the general materials needed for the first house, the construction began.

After everyone's discussion, the first cement house in the town was finally decided to be the restaurant that Xue Zhi had been to several times. It seemed that the mercenaries were very satisfied with the taste of the food, and the meals were provided.

It didn't take much time to lay the foundation, mix the cement, mark the positions with ink lines, and lay the bricks, and several walls were built.

The restaurant owner designed the style of the house himself. It was a two-story building that combined living and business, which was very common in rural areas. Many mercenaries consumed here, and he had saved enough money to buy a lot of steel bars.

It is worth mentioning that he even left space for water pipes that will be there in the future.

Xue Zhi comes here every day to check on the progress. The people who know how to build houses bring a large number of apprentices who are interested in this and the project proceeds rapidly at a faster pace every day.

Without looking further, he turned and left. There was still a lot he needed to do here.

He has to personally replant the saplings that have been eaten away and observe the situation of pests and diseases, and now there is almost no free manpower.

Late at night, when the entire settlement fell into a deep sleep, the starry sky that was originally visible was suddenly blocked by a sudden appearance of dark clouds.

Thick clouds were slowly swirling above the settlement, with tiny flashes of lightning looming in the clouds. Heavy rain was falling quietly, covering everything below in a hazy curtain.

A strong wind swept in, and many newly grown saplings could not stop swaying in the wind, making rustling sounds.

Thunder then occurred, and several younger children were awakened by it, crying and seeking comfort from their loved ones.

Several lights were lit in the settlement, and the light they emitted seemed extremely unreal under the refraction of raindrops.

Is this an ordinary downpour, common in summer?

Xue Zhi, who was sleeping, suddenly woke up. He heard the sound of raindrops falling on the tent, and an inexplicable worry appeared in his heart and woke him up.

Pulling open a corner of the tent, looking at the heavy rain outside that almost merged the sky and the earth, Xue Zhi whispered:

“It’s raining really hard.”

"The drainage channels and waterproof mats are well prepared, don't worry too much, Xue Zhi."

W stretched out his little hand from the thin quilt and placed it on Xue Zhi's shoulder. Her fair and plump skin could still be seen in the dark night. She coiled around his arm like a snake. The weather was obviously suitable for holding her to sleep.

He knew the arrangements had been made, but the worry grew.

Then, a word suddenly popped up in his mind.

[Natural disaster?]

Gently tapping the red corner of W, Xue Zhi asked:

"W, do you feel anything?"

Feeling Xue Zhi's uneasy heart, W calmed himself down and began to carefully sense the situation outside, but this time he felt nothing. The only sounds outside were rain and wind.

"Feel anything? Nothing."

Just as she said this, a huge and chaotic energy source seemed to appear out of nowhere and descended over the settlement.

As W concentrated his attention, the hairs on his body stood up in an instant and his heart began to beat wildly.

It's a natural disaster!

"Xue Zhi!"

Faced with the mighty force of nature, the only thing she could do was shout Xue Zhi's name, but Xue Zhi's figure had long disappeared, and only the echo of her words remained in the tent.

"Don't worry, I'm here."

W lost her support and fell onto the blanket, but her violent heartbeat gradually calmed down. Xue Zhi's calm tone gave her strength.

Xue Zhi appeared out of nowhere above the settlement. The extremely low clouds gave him the illusion that he could touch the lightning by raising his hand.

The high-speed camera-like eyes captured the small Originium crystals falling along with the raindrops.

Xue Zhi cursed inwardly: "Damn it!"

Then, a huge amount of magic power evaporated from his body, forming a cloud that covered his body, and a large number of magical effects began to appear around him.

Layers of thick, curved ice shields started from his feet and quickly spread out in all directions, as if the air was frozen. Dots of glowing golden runes clung tightly to the ice, providing additional protection.

All the falling objects stopped strangely in mid-air. A telekinetic field that was almost the same size as the scourge cloud blocked the deadly Originium crystals to buy time for the defense that was being built.

The solid ice penetrated into the ground, completely covering the entire settlement under this white dome. It even continued to extend underground, with the golden light following closely behind.

The turbulent water flow in the canal was cut off, and the water with nowhere to go jumped out of the river channel and flooded in all directions.

Under the settlement, the entire sky closed in here. If Xue Zhi wanted, he could even take the entire settlement away directly, but if he did so, all the energy invested here before would be wasted.

The loud noise woke up everyone in the settlement. They walked out of their tents and stared in amazement at the gigantic ice crystal dome that completely covered the sky.

There was a sudden flash of light somewhere, and a large amount of golden light and runes escaped. The bright light penetrated the ice. It was caused by a lightning bolt that suddenly hit the ice shield from outside.

W stood outside the tent. She watched this scene and for the first time, she prayed for Xue Zhi's safety in her heart.

The magic power of the weather core penetrated deep into the clouds like Xue Zhi's clone, and from a special perspective, a large number of chaotic and disordered energy vortices filled his field of vision.

This is almost like one person fighting against the whole world!

Begin to act with a unique orderly energy to destroy those who caused the natural disaster.

Touch, dissolve, assimilate, expand, and then continue. The magic power released by Xue Zhi is like a drop in the ocean compared to the energy in the natural disaster cloud, but their extremely high efficiency clears out those strange energies like a massacre.

After only half a minute, the size of the disaster cloud had shrunk, bright moonlight shone down, and the wind became gentle.

Looking at the natural disaster that was successfully resolved, Xue Zhi, who was standing on the ice, breathed a sigh of relief, and the magic cloud surrounding her body also became much thinner.

But this is only the first step. He opened his hands, and all the objects that were controlled in the air by telekinesis flew here.

The rain was directly evaporated, and a large amount of Originium fragments gathered in his hands and then quickly disappeared.

After clearing all the Originium in the sky, Xue Zhi looked down around. Many of the Originium crystals that had fallen earlier had already taken root in the ground. The energy brought by the natural disaster made them grow rapidly. There were even Originium crystal clusters that were more than one person tall. Fortunately, this process had stopped.

Looking at the eye-catching dark green in the newly reclaimed farmland, Xue Zhi sighed heavily and cursed, "Damn God!"

The town had just shown some signs of development when it encountered this situation. It was hard for him not to be angry.

After putting on his clothes, Xue Zhi took out an Originium radiation detection device and scanned the surroundings a few times before confirming that the environment was filled with high-dose Originium radiation, which made him sigh again.

"Hopefully useful."

A tube of purified water was poured out, and the liquid that shone with a bright light quickly seeped into the moist earth. Under Xue Zhi's whispered prayers, the concentration of Originium in the environment began to drop at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Is it really useful?"

Xue Zhi opened a small hole in the ice shield and walked in. She soon found Hedley who was distributing potions and directing people to deal with the Originium crystal clusters in the settlement.

When a cluster of Originium crystals suddenly appeared on the ground, they realized what was happening.

After handing several bottles of purifying water to the mercenaries in front of him, Hedley noticed Xue Zhi who suddenly appeared.

"Xue Zhi, are you okay?"

There was no doubt as to who had made the dome above his head. Hedley had only seen Xue Zhi, who possessed such power.

W, who was helping, realized his presence earlier. She didn't say anything, but threw herself directly into Xue Zhi's arms.

Seeing the orderly and calm crowd, Xue Zhi, who was hugging W, suddenly felt much better. Natural disasters are terrible, but as long as there is still hope, it will not be a problem.

Smiling and rubbing her smooth white hair, Xue Zhi shook her head and said:

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

He then said nothing more, but joined the team distributing the potions and told the mercenaries:

"After cleaning up the Originium, sprinkle it directly on the ground. It will also have some effect on alleviating the spread of Originium and Originium radiation."

The last mercenary who came to collect the potion left, and Hedley said to the people around him:

"Everything has been distributed. Let's go take a look around."

Xue Zhi pointed in the direction of the newly reclaimed farmland.

"Let's go outside the dome. The situation there is more serious."

"Ah."

Several people followed Xue Zhi through the ice shield. The huge amount of Originium radiation in the external environment immediately made Ines feel obviously and seriously uncomfortable. Even dots of Originium began to appear on her exposed skin, and the other people also showed uncomfortable expressions.

W, who was less affected, winked at Inès:

"Ines, go back first. The environment here is not suitable for you."

After drinking a tube of high-concentration purified water, Hedley also said:

"We need some guidance inside too, Inès. I'll leave it to you."

"Damn it, you guys better pay attention."

For the first time, Inès hated her own race so much that she returned to the dome.

Grabbing the tools they had brought with them, they walked towards the Originium crystal clusters in the farmland with heavy steps. W, who was in the best condition, still had some energy left to ask a question:

"Xue Zhi, how did you block the radiation? Ice alone won't work, right?"

Invisible power was loaded onto Xue Zhi's body, and the rune shield was activated automatically, turning into golden light that stuck to the surface of his clothes and skin. He pointed at his body, and then at the ice dome behind him that was glowing with the same brilliance.

"It's a special spell effect, but it's easier to cast on inanimate objects. The personal version can only block part of it."

The blocks activated by the guardian core can block the radiation after the explosion of nuclear bombs and nuclear reactors in IC2. Xue Zhi used it with a try-it attitude, and fortunately, this core worked.

"Your Yan Country's technical strength is truly terrifying."

A voice came from the side. Xue Zhi remembered that he was a teacher who studied physics and now taught mathematics.

"Dayan Technology is number one in the world. But now is not the time to discuss this. Everyone, I have plenty of mineral disease inhibitors. Tell me immediately if you are short of them. Don't die here."

A dull voice sounded, but it contained unrivaled determination.

"Yes!"

Large Originium crystal clusters were destroyed one after another, and several people fell down due to the sudden increase in Originium radiation. Fortunately, the people around them gave them purified water in time, and these people continued to work after a short rest.