Chapter 18: Setting Out Again
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As soon as he stepped into the tent, Gu Su immediately pulled up the Graveyard Demon’s upgrade panel.
Rows of clear upgrade requirements appeared before his eyes, instantly answering all his questions:
[Graveyard Demon Upgrade Requirements: Area of 866 square meters (423/866), All buildings in good condition (4/6), One Level 1 Core Creature corpse (Complete), 3000 Gold Coins, 3000 Yin Qi, 100 Wood, 100 Stone, 100 Metal (Three accessory items or special materials may be added)]
Gu Su only needed a single glance to reach a conclusion.
The corpse of the Deceitful Jungle Lion King absolutely could not be touched.
The panel clearly stated that it was the "Level 1 Core Creature corpse" required for the Graveyard Demon’s upgrade. Although the creature had been Level 2, the requirement was marked as "Complete."
It was clearly an indispensable requirement with no room for substitutes, and it was certainly not unimportant.
His earlier hesitation vanished instantly, replaced by a sense of relief.
’Thank goodness I didn’t rashly turn it into a Zombie. Otherwise, I would have missed a crucial step in upgrading the Graveyard Demon.’
At the same time, the upgrade requirements also revealed Gu Su’s next tasks:
Empty Tombs were not counted among the buildings for the upgrade.
Besides hastening the repairs of the Deceitful Tree and Earth-Binding Vein to ensure they were in good condition, he also had to quickly reclaim the land the Graveyard Demon was missing.
Gu Su understood. Under normal circumstances, the area of an initial Graveyard Demon was supposed to be one and a third mu (about 866 square meters), which perfectly matched the area required for the upgrade.
But the Graveyard Demon he had taken over was only about the size of a basketball court, roughly half the required area.
No wonder. After all, this Graveyard Demon had been severely damaged before. Buildings were torn down and resources plundered, leaving everything in ruins and its territory drastically reduced.
By the time it fell into his hands, it was already a broken, dollar-store knock-off.
It was already a stroke of immense luck that he had managed to get it running at all.
But now, if he wanted to upgrade the Graveyard Demon, he had to reclaim and supplement the lost land bit by bit, bringing the total area up to 866 square meters. Otherwise, he could just forget about it.
Then there was the serious problem of resources.
He didn’t have to worry too much about Yin Qi. The Yin Fire Heap had already been repaired and upgraded to Level 1, producing 500 Yin Qi per day. At that rate, he could save up 3,000 Yin Qi in just six days.
As for Wood, Stone, and Metal, although his current reserves were far from sufficient, he had already gotten a good grasp of the supply situation at the supermarket ruins.
He just needed to arrange for the Skeleton Squad to continue scavenging and hauling from there. By slowly accumulating, they would eventually gather the 100 units needed.
But what gave him the biggest headache was Gold Coins.
He currently only had 382 Gold Coins, a far cry from the 3,000 he needed.
Looking back at his past earnings, his only two sources of Gold Coins were opening Treasure Chests and occasionally selling Beast Skins for paltry sums. The efficiency was extremely low, nowhere near enough to keep up with the demands of upgrading.
"Looks like I have to find a stable and efficient source of Gold Coins as soon as possible," Gu Su muttered to himself, his brow furrowed.
’Upgrading the Graveyard Demon is urgent. Reclaiming land, repairing buildings, accumulating resources—each task will take a great deal of time and effort.’ Thinking of this, Gu Su couldn’t help but sigh, "Time waits for no one."
Suppressing his urgency, Gu Su collected his thoughts, turned, and walked out of the tent, ready to immediately issue his follow-up commands to the Skeletons.
He would send a squad to the supermarket ruins to continue collecting resources while also keeping an eye out for sources of Gold Coins.
But just as he stepped out of the tent, his gaze swept over the supply storage area. He froze, a look of surprise and confusion on his face as he blurted out, "Wait, where are my shopping carts? All those shopping carts I pushed back from the supermarket, where did they go?"
He strode to where the shopping carts had been stacked. Only some scattered rust remained on the ground. The dozens of rusted-solid carts had vanished without a trace.
Gu Su’s brow furrowed once more. He looked over at the Skeletons standing guard nearby, his mind filled with confusion.
’They aren’t reacting at all, which means the carts weren’t stolen.’
’So where are all my shopping carts?’
Gu Su beckoned to a nearby Skeleton.
The Skeleton immediately bowed and stood before Gu Su.
"Where are my shopping carts?"
As he asked, Gu Su began checking the log left by the Skeleton. After all, this Skeleton had been standing right here and should have seen most of what happened.
If that didn’t work, Gu Su was prepared to go back into the tent and check the Graveyard Demon’s panel.
Thankfully, he didn’t need to. He quickly found a scene in the log: after he had entered the tent, the Corroding Mycelium had suddenly engulfed all the shopping carts before rapidly disappearing, leaving only the rust behind.
Gu Su paused, stunned, but then he understood.
He didn’t know why the Corroding Mycelium would devour metal shopping carts. After all, the mycelium had previously only shown the ability to absorb corrupting energy and impurities from the soil.
’But looking at it from another perspective, this is probably a good thing.’
’As a core component of the Graveyard Demon, the Corroding Mycelium never consumes resources for nothing.’
’Since it absorbed dozens of shopping carts, it will most likely provide some corresponding benefit later—perhaps by further strengthening the graveyard ground or improving resource conversion efficiency. No need to get hung up on it.’
Having figured this out, Gu Su no longer dwelled on the fate of the shopping carts.
He quickly refocused and began to deploy the next resource-gathering mission.
He raised his hand and pointed at the Ordinary Skeletons. "You lot, take the pickup truck and enough containers, and go to the cold storage warehouse in the mall’s supermarket immediately. Bring back all the remaining sludge, Corpse Oil, and any Metal, Wood, or concrete blocks you can collect from around the warehouse.
Move quickly, stay alert on the way, and don’t make any mistakes."
Several Skeletons moved at once, tossing empty plastic barrels, wooden planks, and other containers into the pickup truck. Working together, they began pushing the truck, their stiff but synchronized steps carrying them quickly toward the supermarket.
A makeshift supply convoy was thus formed.
After arranging the transport mission, Gu Su turned to look at the Skeletons he had previously sent out to scout.
These two Skeletons had brought back two Harpies, which meant there were still enemies nearby. Gu Su wanted to see where these enemies had come from.
By checking their logs, Gu Su learned that there was an abandoned gas station in another direction.
It was occupied by more than twenty Harpies.
The two Harpy corpses had been killed by the Skeletons while scouting the enemy.
Gu Su’s order at the time was to retreat immediately upon discovering the enemy. The Skeletons had killed the Harpies and then simply walked back on their own.
At this discovery, a glint appeared in Gu Su’s eyes, and he gently tapped his palm with his fingers.
’Over twenty Harpies. That’s not a small number right now.’
’If I can kill them all, not only will I gain a large number of corpses to convert into Undead and accumulate Yin Qi, but I might also find extra supplies at the abandoned gas station.’
’More importantly, the Harpies’ feathers and talons could probably be sold for Gold Coins, which would solve my current gold shortage.’