Chapter 795: Wriggling Shadows
Wriggling Shadows
After throwing away nearly all his tools, Lin Ye finally cleaned out the bugs in the basement.
Since he wasn't sure how aggressive these bugs were, he kept a safe distance.
He had carefully inspected the basement earlier, but back then there were no bugs and no obvious gaps.
Since these bugs could enter the basement, it meant they weren't harmless.
"The trapdoor moved."
Little Guardian had been keeping an eye on the trapdoor above.
Lin Ye looked up and saw that the trapdoor had been opened a crack, with a row of eyeballs pressed against the gap, apparently observing the situation in the basement.
Those eyeballs swiveled in different directions, looking extremely agile.
Lin Ye hurled his last screwdriver at the gap, and it stabbed straight through one eyeball. The eyeballs pulled away from the gap, and the trapdoor slammed shut.
"There seems to be a bug over there!"
Eura pointed at a corner of the basement.
Lin Ye picked up an empty can from the floor and threw it at the wall. The impact made a loud noise, and a clear echo bounced back.
"...That's a bit of a problem."
Lin Ye didn't continue cleaning up the bugs. Instead, he started thinking about what to do next.
"What does that mean?"
Eura didn't understand what the impact sound represented.
"There are a lot of hollow spaces in the wall. It's probably the nest for these bugs."
It was almost dark earlier, so Lin Ye hadn't noticed this issue.
This was the price he paid for relying too much on his mental energy.
"Then do we need to escape?"
Just thinking about the wall being packed with a bug nest made Eura feel uncomfortable all over.
Like most women, she didn't like bugs.
"No, whatever's outside is probably afraid of the light, which is why it won't enter the basement. Going out recklessly would be very dangerous.
To restore power on the first floor, we'd need to reconnect the wiring there. And to save fuel, we'd have to cut the power on the second floor. We can't possibly do all that in the dark."
If there weren't strange things lurking in the darkness, Lin Ye might have given it a try. But going out now would be no different from walking to his death.
"Then how do we deal with these bugs?"
In those dark corners, some shadows were constantly writhing. Eura retreated to the center of the basement, nervously leaning against Little Guardian's back.
"There are no gaps in the basement. They can get in without breaking through the walls, which means they probably have the ability to move through shadows. And that ability likely has a distance limit. As long as we don't get near the shadows in the corners, they won't be able to affect us... That's the gist of it."
Lin Ye wasn't completely sure either. These were all just his speculations.
"That thing up there is coming back."
Little Guardian had been watching the ceiling.
"It's fine. As long as the light doesn't go out, it won't dare come in."
Lin Ye picked up the screwdriver from the floor and threw it upward, stabbing another eyeball.
This time, the Eyeball Monster didn't flee. It directly used its eyelids to clamp down on the screwdriver and carried it out of the basement.
"Well, now I have no weapons left."
Lin Ye picked up an empty can nearby and used scissors to cut the metal can into strips.
He had already considered this scenario earlier, so he had kept some usable tools.
Lin Ye bent one end of a metal strip into a point, and a simple throwing knife was ready.
The Eyeball Monster, which had taken his screwdriver, opened the trapdoor a crack again. Lin Ye immediately threw three metal throwing knives, stabbing three eyeballs.
This time, the Eyeball Monster didn't dare look anymore. It directly shut the trapdoor and moved away from the area.
After dealing with the problem above, Lin Ye had Little Guardian and Eura take turns watching the trapdoor and the surrounding shadows. He needed to rest for a while. Once he was rested, he would take over the watch shift.
An hour later, Lin Ye opened his eyes. He had rested enough.
"You two can sleep for a bit. I can handle things alone."
Lin Ye observed the surroundings. Those bugs were still huddled in the shadows, and the trapdoor above had no issues.
"Great, I can barely keep my eyes open."
Eura had wanted to hold on a little longer, but the day's experiences had drained a lot of her energy. Even if she pinched her inner thigh hard, she was about to give out.
Little Guardian wasn't in much better shape than Eura. This was her first time truly experiencing exhaustion, and she was completely forcing herself to stay awake.
The two quickly fell asleep. Lin Ye kept an eye on the surroundings while thinking about how to escape this forest.
There wasn't much fuel left in the generator. If they couldn't find more fuel, they definitely wouldn't make it through tomorrow night.
'Hmm? Something's not right.'
Lin Ye suddenly noticed that the shadows in the basement corners seemed to have grown a bit thicker. The bugs piling up in the shadows were gradually increasing, and those shadows looked like wriggling darkness, slowly creeping closer to them.
'So this is how these bugs attack?'
As long as the wriggling shadows in the corners could get close to the shelves, the bugs could move into the shadows of the shelves. Then, through the shadows of other objects, they could gradually move into the shadows beneath them.
'Too bad there's no flashlight here.'
Lin Ye looked up at the light tube above. If he could move the light tube, he could illuminate the shadows in the corners. But doing so came with risks.
If the position of the light source changed, their shadows might shift to the corners of the basement. Then those bugs could follow the shadows to their feet, or even into their bodies.
Lin Ye was seriously considering viable options when suddenly, violent knocking erupted from outside.
Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump!
This time, the knocking was continuous, as if something wanted to smash the trapdoor to pieces.
Little Guardian and Eura scrambled up from the floor. Though exhausted, they both maintained a degree of alertness.
"I'm going to remove the light tube. You two watch the trapdoor for me."
Lin Ye stepped onto a table and twisted off the light tube. But the light tube was connected to wires, and the wires were only long enough for him to pull the tube down a short distance.
'Hope it doesn't leak electricity.'
Lin Ye used the scissors to pry open the base and wall surface, digging out the deeper wires.
The wires were buried in the wall. As long as he dug out enough length, he could freely move the light tube around.
But doing this meant Lin Ye would get close to the shadows on one side of the basement. He had to carefully control the distance to make sure the bugs couldn't get near any other shadows.
As the light approached the shadows on the basement wall, the shadows were illuminated. The bugs in them died in droves, and the remaining ones fled back into the wall.
Lin Ye carefully adjusted the light tube's position, shining it on the dense shadows. Soon, piles of dead bugs filled the corners, and the sound of bugs wriggling echoed from inside the wall.
The knocking from above grew louder. Lin Ye simply used the scissors to prop open the trapdoor and shone the light on whatever was outside.
Whatever it was let out an unpleasant shriek and quickly fled from the basement.
It appeared to be a dark green humanoid figure, and there were many more such figures nearby. Under the light, all of them scattered away.
After dealing with whatever was outside, Lin Ye closed the trapdoor and continued cleaning the bugs from the shadows.