Chapter 34: A New Day
The next morning, Gu Su slowly opened his eyes in his tent.
The simple wooden bed was hard, as expected, leaving his back a little sore.
But last night, he had replaced the hay on his bed with down from the Harpies’ nests. The soft fluff had enveloped his body, warding off the night’s chill. He had slept quite comfortably, and most of his fatigue had vanished.
He recalled how last night, after a flurry of chores—nurturing the Deceitful Tree, building cultivation racks, and marking the Empty Tomb—he had collapsed into sleep without a second thought.
In the middle of the night, faint rustling sounds had drifted from outside the tent—perhaps the footsteps of patrolling Skeletons, or the sway of branches. But there were no jarring noises to disturb his rest.
Clearly, his Skeletons were doing a fine job. They had guarded the territory tightly, allowing nothing unusual to approach.
Gu Su stretched, working the stiffness out of his limbs. His bones gave a few soft pops.
He then lifted the door flap and ambled out of the tent.
Just as he stepped outside, he ran into a returning team.
The Skeleton Squad, sent to the shopping center to gather materials, was pushing a pickup truck loaded with supplies through the Gravepile’s main gate.
Five Skeletons marched with stiff, synchronized steps, pushing the pickup truck steadily forward without a hint of sluggishness. The truck bed was piled so high with supplies that it was about to overflow, and even the cab was packed to the brim.
Gu Su walked over for a look. Besides the Metal, Wood, and Stone he had specifically instructed them to gather, there was a jumble of other things he hadn’t expected at all, chaotically yet neatly packed.
In the cab alone, he spotted several relatively intact plastic chairs. Their surfaces were coated in a thin layer of dust, but they were undamaged and still usable.
Next to them was a plastic mannequin, the kind used in clothing stores for displays. Its head was askew, one arm was broken and lay beside it, and its whole body was caked in mud. It had an inexplicably eerie look, yet it had been carefully placed in a conspicuous spot to avoid being damaged.
A bag of assorted plants hung from the mannequin’s hand, with leaves, flowers, grasses, and roots all clearly sorted.
’Herbs, I suppose.’
He had never ordered the Skeletons to bring any of this back, yet here it all was, packed up and hauled in without a single stray piece left behind.
Gu Su raised an eyebrow, musing to himself. ’Looks like there’s been some kind of change within the Skeleton Squad. Given their usual rigid nature, they’d never have brought back a single unrelated item otherwise.’
He lifted his gaze and scanned the territory, and this time, he noticed even more changes.
In just one night, the Gravepile had actually expanded, now covering a good third of an acre—a significant increase from its original basketball-court size.
There were new developments in the Withered Wood Forest as well. Two more withered trees had joined the sparse grove. Their bare branches stabbed straight up from the ground, bark cracked and dry, exuding a faint Death Qi. Apparently, the Corroding Mycelium hadn’t been idle during the night, stealthily expanding the territory and adding more deadwood.
Beneath the withered trees, a few logs of Wood had appeared—the daily yield from the Withered Wood Forest, which no one had collected yet.
Meanwhile, there were also changes under the Deceitful Tree, not far from his tent.
Many branches of varying lengths and thicknesses were stuck into the ground beneath the tree, arranged in a staggered pattern. Skinned rats, snakes, and lizards hung from each branch. The carcasses were still warm, a clear sign they had been recently prepared.
With his keen eyesight, Gu Su could clearly see faint black qi wafting from the creatures’ bodies like wisps of smoke. It was being slowly absorbed by the Deceitful Tree’s trunk, replenishing the essence it had lost during its recent restoration.
The Deceitful Tree’s trunk also looked richer than it had yesterday. Its inky leaves trembled slightly, and he could faintly sense a gentle breeze stirring, sending the Big Leaf Lily seeds scattering.
Looking up at the Deceitful Tree’s branches, he saw several fist-sized skeletal crows. They tilted their bare skulls, staring right at him. A faint red light glowed deep within their dark eye sockets, but they remained perfectly still, looking quite docile.
Gu Su paused for a moment, then it clicked. These were the new troops he had marked at the Empty Tomb in the Withered Wood Forest yesterday.
’Scout White Crows. I can’t believe they hatched after just one night.’
His gaze shifted to the area near the fence. A few rough logs had been fashioned into a simple rack, where several Beast Skins were stretched out to dry. The skins had been scraped clean, free of any impurities, and were carefully stretched taut, swaying gently in the breeze.
This technique for drying Beast Skins was methodical and practiced—definitely not something he had taught the Skeletons.
The Skeletons were only capable of rigidly executing orders; they wouldn’t perform such a meticulous task on their own.
One anomaly after another left Gu Su filled with questions.
’What on earth happened last night? How did the territory change so much while I was asleep?’
’The Skeleton Squad, the Deceitful Tree, the White Crows, and these drying Beast Skins... something feels off about all of it.’
Suppressing his confusion, Gu Su walked over to the newly returned Skeletons. He pointed at the plastic chairs and the mannequin in the pickup. "What made you decide to bring this stuff back?" he asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice. "I never gave that order."
As he spoke, Gu Su prepared to step forward and read the Skeleton’s...
The lead Skeleton immediately stopped what it was doing. It made a strange noise and was the first to answer Gu Su’s question. "Lord Bone Ash said this stuff might be useful, so he had us pack it all up and bring it back."
"Bone Ash?" Gu Su repeated, surprised. He had never heard the name before, and his confusion only grew.
What shocked Gu Su even more was the fact that the Skeleton could speak. ’When did they learn to talk? Are these still the same brainless Skeletons?’
The Skeleton, its expression still blank, slowly added, "Lord Bone Ash is the Minion of our Skeleton Squad."
At that, it finally dawned on Gu Su.
He had forgotten that once the Gravepile reached its population cap, one of the Undead would automatically be promoted to Minion, responsible for leading the squad and helping to carry out orders.
’So, this Bone Ash must be the new Minion.’
Understanding this, Gu Su’s confusion eased somewhat. He pressed, "So where is he now?"
"In response to Milord, Lord Bone Ash is exploring the third floor of the shopping center. He had us bring the supplies back first," the Skeleton replied matter-of-factly, its tone perfectly flat. Clearly, that was all it knew.
Gu Su nodded, a plan already forming in his mind. He instructed the Skeleton, "All right, I understand.
When you go back, tell Bone Ash I want him to return."
"Yes, Milord." The Skeleton gave a stiff nod.