BXBX NOVEL Chapter 75 - “Drought 2”
Last time on Apocalypse Lord: Yun Ling looks for ways to get water in a drying climate.
This chapter has been brought to you by me and Smash10101.
Chapter 75 – Drought 2
In the wilderness.
Lu Chuan found there were sixteen or so water elementals moving around the stream valley.
He guessed the distance, got close, and then stood.
He took out an exploding arrow from his quiver, aimed and shot.
Bam —
The arrow hit the target, and exploded.
The water elementals were shocked, and strode towards Lu Chuan.
A few that were close just opened their mouths. In the next second, multiple water arrows shot out.
Lu Chuan did not dodge, and kept on shooting.
Another exploding arrow came, harming a large number of water elementals. Lu Chuan’s HP clearly went back up.
An ice arrow was shot. One water elemental was frozen at its spot, unable to move for a time.
The penetrating arrow was shot. One water elemental was killed, and fell to the ground.
Strangely, with each special effect arrow being shot, there would be two fine arrows attacking the nearby enemy targets.
The arrows came like rain.
The water elementals kept on falling down, unable to fight back at all.
Moments later, the water elementals were all killed, and the drop items were floating in the air. Lu Chuan, as he had fought, had healed back to his best.
Looking around, Lu Chuan quickly found the items he wanted.
“One, two, three, four…..fifteen water elementals only dropped four portions of water?”
Lu Chuan put one of the waters into the bamboo tube, and just managed to fill the palm-sized bamboo tube.
He took a drink of the water, and sighed in a low voice. “This last year is very difficult, as expected.”
In reality, one needed to have timing to spread science knowledge. In the first few days of summer, it was hot, but most residents had not realized that there would be a drought in the game.
A few people secretly bought wood buckets, filling them with stream and well water, anxiously waiting for the future developments.
Days passed like this.
The players who were low level and had low stamina found, to their shock, there were no more edible plants around the territory. Rising Cloud City’s surrounding were clean, so empty they were despairing.
“Starting tomorrow, we are going to walk far,” one person in the territory said with a serious expression.
“Are you mad?” His companion shouted. “What if we get heat stroke and faint outside!”
“If you starve to death, you are dead. If you are killed by a boss, you are dead. I am willing to go and fight.” That person was expressionless. “If you are afraid, you can stay in the territory, and not go out.”
His companion seemed to be choked and unable to speak. In the end, he gave a long sigh. “Let’s go together, at least, there will be some help.”
The archer at the side was full of regret. “In the end, we have to blame the first and second years for being too peaceful! If we had fought more monsters, leveled up more, we would have better attributes, first class equipment. Would we have to worry about the hot weather? We could just buy iced drinks from the restaurant, and fight monsters while getting buffs!”
The other person was helpless. “What is the meaning in talking about this now?”
Another complained, “If we had known about this, we would have decided to pay to open up farmland in the territory! But people said it was expensive, and that by spreading the seeds in the wilderness, the plants will grow on their own. Now, they have grown, but other people have cut them away.”
“You need 300 copper coins to open a field in the territory. Who was willing to spend so much?” The others sighed. “Also, if the seeds are sown, who would weed and water them? Aren’t they still going to grow on their own?”
“Even more importantly, one piece of farmland is not large. We are not rich people, we cannot buy ten, twenty pieces together.”
“In the end, we are poor, hungry, hot, and can only wait to die.” One member concluded. “Just try to drag out your existence day by day.”
Hearing this, everyone was silent.
In the last few days, You Qing Wen had been running around, busy spending money.
Linen cloth, cotton cloth, bandages……hoarding a lot.
Rice, flour, potatoes…..hoarding a lot.
Mixed grain steamed bun, rice cakes, cornbread, sweet potato cakes……hoarding a lot.
Wood, straw, coal, tree branches and straw were piled up into several small mountains.
She had bought fifty wood buckets and filled them with stream water in one go.
She had salted fish and meat to preserve them.
To avoid running out of storage space, the team members even used up all the nooks and crannies in their stone houses.
You Qing Wen thought viciously, she did not believe that she could not survive to the end of the game like this!
At the same time.
Zheng Ming Yue was in a corner of the territory sweating with the team members.
[You are trying to create farmland at Rising Cloud City coordinates nnn, nnn.]
[Are you willing to pay 300 copper coins to buy the ownership of the land?]
[Note: After the farmland is opened, the players can start planting, and have no need to pay tax.]
Zheng Ming Yue did not hesitate to press “yes.”
This was not the first piece of farmland he was opening, but the seventieth. The farmland was lined up together, and looked magnificent.
Zheng Ming Yue called out to the team members. “Rest, we will continue in a while.”
Hearing this, some people sat down, and drank cold water. Others took out iced drinks from their backpacks.
Someone said, depressed, “Other people are saying that they cannot open farmland because they do not have so much money. Why do I feel that digging the soil is harder than gathering the money?”
“It is.” One member curled their lips. “We opened seventy pieces of farmland! Is this something that normal players do?”
“Save your energy,” Zheng Ming Yue said casually, “There are thirty more pieces waiting for us to dig.”
Everyone felt cold, and did not dare to speak, using the time to recover their energy.
Looking at the vast farm lands, Zheng Ming Yue was proud. He thought, when he had one hundred pieces of farmland, and sown the seeds, what was there to worry about? Just relying on the crops, they could support a whole team!
Day 285.
Qiao Qiao woke up early, and planned to go to the well to get water and cook.
The sky was just getting light, and there were not many players around.
She just picked up the hanging bucket when she found the instructions had changed —
[Name: The Well built by Player “Yun Ling”]
Quality: Normal
Use Effect: Personal property of a player. Other people need to pay 1 copper coin per use.
Note: Influenced by the weather, at most, 150 buckets of water can be pumped from this well each day.
Qiao Qiao was stunned.
There were more than six thousand people in the territory. Washing, cooking, and bathing all required water. One well could only produce 150 buckets of water each day. How how how, how was this enough?
Thinking, she carried the water home, and quietly woke up her grandmother. Soon, grandmother and granddaughter went out with wooden buckets to get water together.
Other than this, Qiao Qiao sent messages to her close friends, notifying them that the territory was going to face a shortage of water.
“There are not enough wood buckets at home. Where will we put the water?” Grandmother Qian was worried.
She and her granddaughter stayed in the territory for a long time, and it had been very long since they went out. Due to this, the summer had been going for a few days, but they had not seen any signs of drought.
When they realized this, they were lacking things and in a mess.
“We will use all the containers at home that can hold water, get as much as possible!” Qiao Qiao said decisively.
Grandmother Qian was very sad. “We can only do this.”
Last night, Yun Ling had taught Zhao Xin Tong to extract fresh water from seawater. They had talked for a long time, and she went to sleep later. As a result, she got up late.
When she came out of the stone house, she saw a long line beside the well. She was stunned. “What is going on?”
The line was very long, more than fifty people. There were players who had heard the news and were coming to join the line.
Yun Ling saw the line growing so long it was almost endless, and was speechless.
At this time, the female player at the very front announced in a loud voice, “The water has run out!”
The people in the line were unspeakably panicked. “Isn’t it 150 times? How come they were used up?”
“No way? I have waited half an hour!”
“What time is it? There is no water from the wells, how will I live the rest of the day?”
The female player said, “In any case, you won’t get any water from the well today, we should leave.”
Then, she left with her bucket.
Some quickly walked away to see if it was possible to get more water from other wells.
Other people did not believe it, and went to the well to check. When they saw the text, they shook their heads, and helplessly left.
Yun Ling was curious and went to the well to inspect.
She saw the window show —
[Name: The Well built by Player “Yun Ling”]
Quality: Normal
Use Effect: Personal property of a player. Other people need to pay 1 copper coin per use.
Note: Influenced by the weather, at most, 150 buckets of water can be pumped from this well each day. (Currently, it is dry. Water can be fetched tomorrow)
“The shortage of water has come, will the drought be far away?” Yun Ling looked into the distance. “I wonder what the streams outside the territory are like.”
The well water had dried up, so the stream water was not much better.
Some players found that all seven wells in the territory had no more water, and called for friends to go to the stream.
But when they got there and looked, where was there a stream? There were just a few small ponds.
But even so, there were still people with wooden buckets, furiously filling them with water, like they were going to take the last few drops of water.
The sea was not affected at all, and was still vast.
“Didn’t we learn how to get fresh water from seawater during middle school?” one person asked with a wood expression.
“We did, but I forgot long ago.” His companion was in despair. “How did it go? We have to boil the seawater?”
Someone else was crying. “What is the use in hoarding so much food? Without fresh water, I will die of thirst in a few days!”
“The weather is so hot, it is the last year as well, there must be a drought! How come I did not think of it earlier?” One person had a depressed expression, and wanted to slap themselves.
“Maybe from the start, the game hoped that the humans would be destroyed,” another person sighed deeply.
Just as everyone was clueless and at a loss, Mo Qi pulled Leng Bai’s clothing and indicated for the members to leave.
“What is it?” Leng Bai asked softly after they were far away enough.
Mo Qi had never had such clarity of mind. “Ice is also water. If we drink iced water, we can make sure we get our basic water.”
“Isn’t there a water mage in our team? Let’s try to drink the water from the water balls and water waves.”
“There is also a system restaurant in the territory. Doesn’t it sell iced drinks? After buying it, drinking it will cool you down, and also relieve the thirst.”
Leng Bai looked in surprise at Mo Qi. “I think the same. Let’s go, move quickly, do not let others get there first.”
The wells had dried up, the streams had dried up, and the mountain streams had also dried up. The situation suddenly grew serious.
The residents were not in the mood to go out, and were running about the territory.
Yun Ling, as the lord, patrolled in the territory in order to get the situation as current as possible.
Moments later, she found that the first five wells that had been drilled could get 150 buckets of water.
The two wells that were recently created could produce 120 buckets of water at most.
There was a difference.
Hu Da Cheng had heard of the wells drying up, and sent a message to explain. “I told you before that some places are good, and the water will be abundant and sweet. Some places are ordinary, there is not a lot of water, and it does not taste so good.”
Yun Ling said, “I understand.”
“Yun Ling said, “Continue to work and drill more wells.”
Hu Da Cheng carefully asked, “After the wells are drilled, can I get two buckets of water first each day, as a worker benefit?”
Yun Ling laughed. “Of course.”
After receiving a promise from the boss, Hu Da Cheng’s spirits were lifted. He felt full of energy. “Do not worry! I will start working immediately!”
Closing the message, Yun Ling wanted to go to the sea to look when she suddenly received a system notification. [Player “Tian Zhe Han” is attempting to drill a well at Rising Cloud Town coordinates nnn, nnn. Do you agree?]
[Player “Zhang Heng” is attempting to drill a well at Rising Cloud Town coordinates nnn, nnn. Do you agree?]
Clearly, residents were worried about the shortage of water, and were planting to drill wells themselves.
It was hot now, and it was good for people to help drill wells.
Yun Ling did not even demand a land tax from them and pressed “yes.”
After doing this, she slowly walked towards the seashore.
Near the sea, many players were helpless facing the vast sea.
At this time, one person set up a metal pot, piled up a fire, and put seawater in the pot to boil.
The water quickly boiled.
The seawater kept on bubbling, and steam rose.
That person put the lid on the top. When the lid was covered in small beads of water, they poured the water beads into a wood bucket, and then put the lid back on the pot.
After doing this many times, other people understood. “Isn’t this the way to get fresh water out of seawater?!”
The other looked to be at ease, and this looked very easy.
If they set up a pot as well, and boiled seawater……the residents were moved, and copied this.
But when it came to their turn, they discovered that getting fresh water was not so easy.
First, they had to go to the blacksmith shop to buy a metal pot. It was expensive, and the number of goods were limited.
Second, firewood was needed to boil seawater. For ordinary players, this was a heavy burden.
Even more importantly, after working for half a day, they could only get a small amount of freshwater. There was a faint layer on the bottom of the wood bucket, not even a third of the way. At this time, they had used up a lot of the firewood, and they were sweating as well.
“Just a bit of water, is it just enough for daily use?” one person muttered.
“You are able to drink fresh water, what are you discontent about?” One person next to him was speechless.
That person changed his way of thinking. “That’s true.”
As long as they were alive, there was hope.
Coincidentally, Lu Chuan also thought about getting fresh water out of seawater. But when he got to the seashore, the residents had already started to act.
People were picking firewood and making fires. Others were focused on the metal pots, ready to gather water beads at any moment.
Seeing this, Lu Chuan understood.
“It seemed that she had thought of this beforehand, and arranged this well.”
Realizing this, Lu Chuan gave a helpless smile. “Why so capable……”
The players of Rising Cloud City had hard days, but the players of other territories were almost driven crazy.
Basswood Town.
Zhou Xin En’s throat was burning.
He had never thought. He had hoarded enough food and materials, but he was facing a problem of lacking water!
In a situation where pure drinking water was absent, no matter how strong, how great the districting attributes and the equipment, it was useless.
In the town, one water mage was at a stall on the street. “I will use a C-rank ‘water ball’ skill for five pieces of sweet potato.”
“You need to pay me three days of food to use a B-rank ‘waterfall’, and two blue equipment that are practical.”
“My MP is limited, first come first served, preorder as soon as possible.”
This was robbery!
Zhou Xin En pressed his lips together and had an ugly expression.
But while he was not willing to be cheated, there were many people who wanted to buy pure water.
After a while, a crowd surrounded the water mage and were fighting to be the first customer.
“Damn!” One person cursed. “Now that summer has come, the water mages are now popular, and they are all so proud. Usually, they are so weak during hunts, and they always have their tails between their legs!”
While he complained, his actions were very honest. Before he finished talking, he strode towards the water mage without thinking and joined the fight.
Zhou Xin En thought, these are not the only water mages in the game! If he could not buy here, could he not go to the market?
But when he went on the market, he saw that the number of territories to trade with had dropped significantly.
Zhou Xin En dazedly recalled, when waking up in the mornings, he would occasionally receive the news that “NN Town has been breached.” Back then, he had just closed it with a move of the hand, and not thought about it at all.
He had never thought that the safety areas who had unlocked the market were also being breached.
“Do I have the effort to care about others now? It is good if I can live.” Thinking like this, Zhou Xin En read through the market posts.
Maybe because the game difficulty had suddenly increased, the players were not willing to sell the practical items they had. They were more willing to hoard to prepare for a rainy day.
Due to this, Zhou Xin En looked for a while, going through all the posts in the market, and did not see anyone who was selling water.
In this summer, would many people die of thirst?
Accidentally, this thought appeared in his mind.
In the next second, the system notification came [Because of the heat, you are slightly dehydrated. -5 strength, -5 agility, -5 stamina, -5 intelligence, -5 spirit.]
The moment Zhou Xin En saw the negative state, he heard an alarm. He could no longer consider the problem of whether or not the water was expensive, charging out of the market and running at the water mage.
Day 287.
[Rising Cloud City has ten wells. The temperature of the city has decreased significantly.]
[The number of wells in the territory has reached its maximum limit. No more drilling can be done.]
“The limit is 10?” Yun Ling felt very regretful. “If it was 20, how good would it have been.”
If there were 20 water wells, the residents could resume their normal life.
Now, it was a bit tight, but the days were manageable.
Zhao Xin Tong had a different view on this.
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: After entering summer, Rising Cloud City has decreased by more than three hundred people. This was controlled very well……]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Xin Tong Town had one thousand and five hundred people. This time, four hundred died. I felt that the death rate was not high.]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: It is drought, if half or more of the residents died, it would be normal.]
Yun Ling said, “This is just the summer, and if the people all die, what to do for the autumn and winter?”
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Nothing. If unable to survive the summer, where is there the energy to consider the autumn and winter?]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: The game is too difficult, the players are dying involuntarily.]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Rising Cloud City is full of talent, and has many high level players. This is an exception.]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: If you look at the ranking, you can see, from the start of the game to now, only Rising Cloud City has reached “city” level. The others are all towns.]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: But the trash game does not allow people to move cities. Otherwise, I would throw away the territory, take the NPCs and all I have to do is go to Rising Cloud City and you.]
Yun Ling: “……”
You are a territory lord player! You can give up your territory?
Under the tree shade, Shi Qing was in a daze. She had a feeling that she had reached the end.
Making fresh water was not as easy as she imagined. There were many difficulties that she only detected when they encountered them.
For example, gathering firewood and tending the fire all needed energy.
There was only so much time during the day. When making fresh water took up a lot of time, foraging and hunting time decreased.
Adding on that she was alone, and she had not had much savings in the first and second years, she was occasionally unlucky and had to eat her saved up food when she did not get so much. After a while, she had used up her savings, and there was nothing else.
“Almost done, just a few more days,” Shi Qng murmured.
Before she finished, a demon boss, a fire elemental boss, and a gargoyle boss surrounded her and completed the attack.
“So tired, I can finally rest.” Shi Qng felt a touch of relief before she lost consciousness.
On the territory window, the number of the existing residents was decreasing slowly, but still steadily going down.
-26
-37
-11
-19
When the summer season ended, the stats had refreshed to —
[Population Capacity: 30000]
[Existing Residents: 4821.]
The summer days had been scorching and too long. Many people had fallen in the last few days, and were not able to welcome the autumn.
“There are the autumn and winter seasons left.” Yun Ling’s right hand unconsciously fisted up.
Day 311.
Waking up in the morning, several lines of characters entered the sight.
[Congratulations, Player, for successfully passing the third summer.]
[You have received a hint to passing.]
[With the city as the limit, the players are automatically divided in different service areas.
The conditions for clearance — at the end of the third year, if any server has > 1 remaining territory, and >100 surviving players.
If the conditions are met, time will reverse, and everything will restore to the start of the game.
If the conditions are not met, the game will end, and the humans will be destroyed.]
“This means,” Yun Ling thought, “if victory is achieved, everything is a poor April Fool’s joke; but if victory is not achieved, the humans will be destroyed without a word?”
“This is worse than back then when the dinosaurs went extinct……”
But thinking about it, she felt it made sense. “There is nothing that is eternal and immortal, including the rules of the planet. The humans are the rulers of the planet, and have been so for a long time. Maybe, there is a mysterious force in the world that has decided to replace humans with a new species to that position.”
Yun Ling’s mind went far away and could not come back.
At this time, numerous messages jumped out.
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Boss!!! Did you see the new clearance notification?!!]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: If the clearance conditions are reached, time with go back, and everything would be restored to the start of the game.]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Ah! I miss lobster, BBQ, milk tea, iced coke, Beijing roasted duck, buffet, teppanyaki, meat buns, cold noodles, hot pot, double skin milk, spicy hot pot, snail noodles!]
Yun Ling: “……”
You are so kind to list so many dishes early in the morning?
She was starving just looking at this.
Translator Ramblings: Getting close to the end now …