BXBX NOVEL Chapter 77 - “Locust Calamity 2”
Last time on Apocalypse Lord: Hey, where’d all the food go? cricket noises
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Chapter 77 – Locust Calamity 2
Day 312.
You Qing Wen bought equipment for her team members, and took them out to level up.
Someone said, “Didn’t our team open a hundred pieces of farmland? Why are we still going out risking our lives? Isn’t it good to stay in the territory, and just retire?”
You Qing Wen asked in response, “With the game’s previous conduct, will it let you pass so easily?”
That person stilled and was speechless.
“I keep on feeling that the game will not finish so easily.” You Qing Wen had a serious expression. “While there is still time, level up, increase stamina, and do not act in order to deal with all changes.”
Zheng Ming Yue nodded. “I think the same.”
Since the leader and deputy said this, the members did not object.
One warrior was wearing a Fire Feather Cloak, and a Mer Belt with Combat Boots. They were very full of energy and alert. “As long as we can pass, this will just be a game! Everyone, relax and play, no need to restrain yourself.”
A female mage murmured to herself. “I have never played a game until I wanted to vomit…… Apocalypse Calamity has managed it.”
Her words were tinged with helplessness and despair.
You Qing Wen coughed softly. “There are still the autumn and winter seasons, everyone, hold on. Think of the cold coke, the hot pot, the happy life in your home.”
The members became refreshed, and felt very motivated.
Seeing them get energized, Zheng Ming Yue chose a direction, and they walked off.
It was silent on the way.
For a whole fifty minutes, they did not see any crops on the way. Other than trees, there was only grass.
You Qing Wen’s heart was heavy. “No wonder everyone is saying that the autumn of the third year is lacking in food. Before I came out, I thought they were exaggerating.”
After coming out, she found that this was true, and the situation was more grave than they had described.
“There are no resource points, and no shadow of the locusts. Where should we go next?” You Qing Wen thought.
“Quick, look over there!” A shout came from the team.
You Qing Wen stilled slightly. She looked and saw a dense patch of locusts surrounding the bushes. In a blink of the eye, they ate all the berries.
“No wonder we cannot find any food, the locusts ate them all!” a member complained.
“Be on guard, prepare to fight,” Zheng Ming Yue said gravely.
The locusts quickly noticed the players.
After eating the bushes clean, they surged at the players.
“They have come at a good time.” You Qing Wen raised her staff. “Poison Fog.”
A large patch of inky green poison appeared on the way.
The Poison Fog was an A-rank skill. Adding on that You Qing Wen had top class equipment, her attack power was super strong. The locusts flapped a while inside, before falling to the ground dead.
Five second later, the Poison Fog disappeared, and the locusts kept on charging.
You Qing Wen looked around quickly, and knew that there were at least two to three hundred left.
“Meteor Shower!”
“Ten Thousand Arrows!”
“Arctic Ice Field.”
The crowd skills were constantly being thrown out.
The warrior found their chance, snickered, and raised a shield, charging into the swarm.
Fire light flashed. The locusts received fire damage, and then died.
The warrior waved the shield, and smashed away all the monsters leaping in. After many attacks, the special effect of the Mer Belt was triggered. The tide appeared, attacking the monsters, and creating water magic damage to the locusts.
Several minutes later, the battle ended.
The warrior was flushed and felt very good. “Cool!”
You Qing Wen looked up and asked, “How much has the durability of the equipment decreased?”
The warrior stilled and went to look. Looking at the numbers, they paled. “The Fire Feather Cloak durability is 36/70, the Mer Belt durability 66/70, the Combat Boots 68/70.”
The equipment had been bought yesterday, they were brand-new. But after a fight, the durability dropped down……
“As expected, the locusts are difficult to deal with, and wear down the equipment greatly.” Zheng Ming Yue had guessed this long ago.
He walked next to the drop items, picking and sorting them. “Copper coins, sweet potato seeds, rice seeds, white equipment,…berries? Sorghum flour?”
“How come food materials drop from killing locusts?!” Zheng Ming Yue was very shocked.
Thinking about the scene before the battle, You Qing Wen guessed, “Could this be the crops they had previously eaten. So there is a chance of them dropping after being killed?”
“Maybe.” Zheng Ming Yue picked up all the items. He found there were 8x berries, 5x sorghum flour, and 3x rice.
While this was not much, it was something.
“Let’s go, keep on fighting monsters and level up.” Zheng Ming Yue waved his hand. The team set off into the distance.
**Other than the Fire Feather Cloak, the Mer Belt, the Combat Boots, and the Ice Banner, other equipment and items also had similar effects.
For example —
[Name: Cold Iron Armor (Equipment)]
Quality: Rare
Durability: 70/70
Equip Effect: +10 Stamina.
Special Effect: Each second, it will create 3 points of ice magic damage to the surrounding enemies.
The equipment was made from cold iron ore, and there was not a lot.
There was also —
[Name: Black Iron Stick (Equipment)]
Quality: Rare
Durability: 70/70
Equip Effect: +12 Strength.
Special Effect: When attacking, 30% chance of triggering the C-rank crowd attack skill “Sweep.”
The iron stick was made from black iron ore, and the production was even lower.
The equipment was rare, the materials were rare, and so the products were also rare. But when many recipes and blueprints were used, there was a lot of equipment and items.
Now, the problem of the locust calamity was solved.
Yun Ling looked at the different kinds of products on the system shop shelves, and felt pride.
At this time, multiple messages jumped out.
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Boss, help!!]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: I lack life skill talents here. I have materials but no equipment, save me!]
Yun Ling calmly responded, “Same rules, you contribute materials, me skill, we split the products in half.”
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: No problem!]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Boss, what materials do you need? Just give me a list.]
Yun Ling said, “Wait a moment.”
She got all the materials she needed and sent it to the other.
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Received.]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: I will immediately check the inventory!]
Yun Ling wanted to close the window, but the other unexpectedly sent a message.
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Right, does Rising Cloud City have water mages? The kind that has C-rank skill “Waterball?”]
Yun Ling said in confusion, “What do you mean?”
Zhao Xin Tong showed the equipment attributes without a word.
[Name: Sapphire Ring (Equipment)]
Quality: Rare
Durability: 70/70
Equip Effect: +10 Intelligence.
Special Effect: When attacking, 40 percent chance of turning the C-rank single target skill “Waterball” to the C-rank crowd attack skill “Tide.”
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: When fishing, I got the sapphire and the blueprint.]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: But Xin Tong Town does not have so many water mages and the equipment is not used even when made.]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Boss, if you have need, we can trade.]
Yun Ling said, “Let’s trade.”
“One for one, any kind of equipment.”
“Rising Cloud City has water mage NPCs, and water players, it will be used.”
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: That is great, I will arrange for people to make them immediately.]
Yun Ling then said, “I have also found sapphire stones here when fishing, but I did not get blueprints. Later, I will give the sapphires to you, I provide materials, you provide skills, we will split in half.”
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong:!!!]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Boss, did you not get blueprints?]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: No problem! With me, it is akin to having got a blueprint!]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: What a good day it is! I finally have a chance to patronize the boss!]
Seeing the messages, Yun Ling unconsciously gave a small smile.
In the wilderness.
Lu Chuan was walking slowly through the forest.
Crack crack. Strange sounds came from afar.
Lu Chuan turned around and found a large swarm of locusts charging at him.
He was not in a panic. He took out three Ice Banners from his Brown Leather backpack and then planted them in the shape of a triangle.
Because they were planted so close, the attack area overlapped.
Lu Chuan stood in the overlapped area, and took out an exploding arrow from his orange quiver, steadily shooting.
Bam. More than twenty locusts fell down.
He took an arrow and shot again. Another sound. Another twenty locusts fell down.
The third time he took out the exploding arrow, the locust swarm had reached him and surrounded him.
Then, a white light flashed across the Ice Banners. In the next second, there was a layer of frost over the locusts. They had clearly received ice magic damage.
Some of the monsters received more than one attack. Before they got near the player, their HP was used up and they fell to the ground.
Lu Chuan held the exploding arrow quiver and waited patiently for a while. When his HP was visibly sliding down, he shot a special effect arrow where there were the most locusts.
In a flash, more than thirty locusts fell down, and his HP rose back up. At the same time, many locusts were wounded by the ice magic and soundlessly fell to the ground.
The battle finished quickly. After a minute, from five to six hundred locusts were killed.
[Congratulations, Player, for leveling up.]
[You have received 3 free attribute points to be allocated at will.]
The system jumped out in due course.
“Pity that the Ice Banner cannot be taken back out after being planted. Otherwise, if I walk around fighting monsters with the Ice Banner, I will level up quickly.” Lu Chuan sighed inwardly in regret.
As he was thinking, he heard a strange “crack crack” sound.
He looked into the distance, and found another wave of locusts were coming.
The battle had just finished, and he was being attacked again. For normal players, this was trouble, and great danger.
But Lu Chuan was happy instead. “They have come at such a good time!”
He fought two waves, and had not wasted his items.
Day 313.
Early in the morning, Yun Ling received messages from players in other territories of S City.
[Basswood Town — He Rui: Look at the materials on the list.]
[Basswood Town — He Rui: 32x fire crow feather, 26x ice silk, 6x flame lion fur, 14x mer yarn, 24x cold iron ore, 18x black iron ore. ]
Yun Ling looked and found that the amounts were right so she agreed to the transaction.
The transaction was completed.
[Basswood Town — He Rui: You have such high prices……]
[Basswood Town — He Rui:- You demand two portions of materials, and only give one piece of equipment. Your profit is 100 percent.]
Yun Ling said, “A tech monopoly is so great.”
Yun Ling said, “This is free trade, I do not force you.”
Yun Ling said, “If you find this expensive, you can find someone else.”
[Basswood Town — He Rui: Other than you, which other high level life skills player do I know!]
[Basswood Town — He Rui: Use the materials well and we must pass.]
[Basswood Town — He Rui: I will think of this as a contribution for all of mankind.]
Yun Ling laughed. “Okay.”
As they finished talking, someone else had contacted her.
[Osmanthus Town — Ding Wen Xuan: Your allies of Osmanthus Town are not able to hold on! Please help, please help!]
Yun Ling just told him directly. “No help, just calmly go to death.”
[Osmanthus Town — Ding Wen Xuan: ……]
Yun Ling said, “If the game is passed, time will go back, and then you will be a man again.
Yun Ling said, “Since you cannot hold on, then do not.”
[Osmanthus Town — Ding Wen Xuan: You are ruthless, you are heartless, you are unreasonable!]
Yun Ling said, “I need to prepare strategic resources for the team, as much as possible. I do not have items to help save other players, not at all.”
“You want simple bandages, high quality bandages, recovery items, and rare purple equipment? Okay, trade with materials.”
“There is no free lunch in the world.”
If they achieved the conditions, time would go back, and everything would return to the start. So what was there to hesitate about? Of course it was to centralize strength, and increase Rising Cloud City’s defenses.
She would let the other players do as they wanted. She did not care about their life or death. In any case, after the game finished, it would be fine.
So Yun Ling refused so crisply, without feeling any guilt.
[Osmanthus Town — Ding Wen Xuan: In reality, I am just shouting about. If I can con some resources, I will, but it is fine if I do not get any.]
[Osmanthus Town — Ding Wen Xuan: You are so hard-hearted, it seems there is no hope.]
[Osmanthus Town — Ding Wen Xuan: Never mind, I am sending the list to you, let’s trade normally.]
Yun Ling:”……”
The players lucky enough to have survived to now all had some special skill. For example, the one in front of her, he was very shameless.
The teams of high level and strength with resources went out as usual. The players who were lower level and weaker stayed in the territory.
They had sowed seed around Rising Cloud City, and then sent people to stand guard, hoping to have a good harvest and resolve the problem of food.
One day. Two day. Three days passed. The seeds had sprouted, and had not encountered danger.
The members took turns to rest and stand guard, going to the sea to cash fish and barely made a living.
On Day 316, the fifth day after the seeds had been sown, a swarm of locusts came close to the territory.
“Enemy attack!!” The players shouted. Then they started throwing skills and shooting arrows.
The system guards quickly found the enemy and quickly walked to the sight of the fight to help.
Some of the life skills players were average in combat, but they had long distance skills so they also helped.
In a blink, the locusts suffered a calamity and all died.
The planting team was overjoyed and could not help but say, “Thank you, thank you everyone for helping!”
One passerby mage picked up the drops, and had a thoughtful look. “Lure the locusts near Rising Cloud City, we will hide in the city and attack. It will be very convenient to attack monsters like this! We will be safe and we can pick up the drops, and take the chance to harvest game materials.”
Hide in the territory and release skills? They were familiar with doing this! The eyes of the residents lit up and they had thoughts.
In a corner of the territory, a team of twenty people were hard at work digging.
[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.]
The team leader did not hesitate to press “yes.”
Then he turned around and promised solemnly, “Everyone purchased the farmland together, so this is the joint property of the team. Right now, it is under my name. When the crops are grown, I will have Aunt Zhao prepare three meals a day for everyone to eat together.”
Hearing this, the members were not concerned. “We already know how you usually are. Leader, everyone has seen this. We know that you are trustworthy, there is nothing to worry about!”
“Hey, it is just a game. If the high level players survive, it is alright if little people like us die.”
“We are brothers who were tested in death. We would doubt everyone over our brothers.”
“We will enjoy good fortune together, and take the troubles as well. We will either live together to the end of the game, or starve together. The person who flees will be a dog!”
The members laughed and did not care.
The leader’s heart felt warm. “Then let’s continue digging!”
“I heard that in the past, during the autumn harvest days, the crops will mature in 5 days. This year, there are calamity days, we need 10 days to get a crop.”
“Since we did not start at a good time, then we can only buy more fields. We need at least thirty pieces to support the entire team.”
The members all responded. “Okay! We were starting to work!”
Day 317.
[Rising Cloud City has 1000 farmland.]
[The territory Farmland has reached a limit and no more can be opened.]
“Another type of building has reached a limit.” Yun Ling was happy as she closed the notification.
Ever since they learned the Apocalypse Calamity was just a game, the residents were in a much better state of mind than before. They did not keep on hoarding equipment, items, and materials. They would sell some of the extra they had.
Also, as the summer season ended, the streams appeared back outside the territory. Drinking water was no longer a problem.
Adding on that everyone had brainstormed, they sowed outside the territory, attracting the locusts, and then attacked them. Now, the residents were living well. They did not worry for water or food, and had new equipment to put on.
“Autumn is finished. Now, only the winter season is left.”
The residents looked forward day by day for the day that winter was going to come.
Day 341.
Last night, Yun Ling found it hard to sleep, full of anticipation. In the morning, just after eight, she slowly woke up, and then eagerly checked the new notification.
[Congratulations, Player, for successfully passing the third autumn.]
[You have received a hint to passing.]
[Guard the safety area, kill all the mutant ants in the city, the game will finish early. (Current Kills 0/10000)]
Yun Ling: “……”
Yun Ling, “???”
She was stunned, and unable to recover for a long time.
In the next second, round dots appeared on the map in the lower right corner. These represented the tracks of the enemy.
At this time, the red dots covered S City, and were evenly distributed.
As she was in her daze, the red dots slowly moved. Seeing them advance, they were clearly moving towards the four surviving safety areas of S City!
“So the last season is a battle between species? The humans must kill the mutant ants in order to survive?” Yun Ling quickly calmed down and started to analyze.
But before she could think deeply, she was bombarded with messages.
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: In F City, Xin Tong Town is the only safety area left! All the red dots on the map are heading to the territory!]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Damn, what does the game want to do?]
[Basswood Town — He Rui: Are you awake? Have you seen the system notifications?]
[Basswood Town — He Rui The nearest mutant ants have reached Basswood Town. Right now, they are fighting the system guards.]
[Basswood Town — He Rui: From my observations, the mutant ants move quickly, have high attack power, and are like the top assassin type bosses.]
[Basswood Town — He Rui: However, it has high defense, high HP, and is very difficult to deal with. With the system guards and the players together, there are more than thirty people and we are barely holding on.]
[Basswood Town — He Rui: The mutant ants react too quickly! Many attacks are dodged, and only a few hit.]
Then the messages stopped, and He Rui seemed to have joined in the fighting, so busy he did not have time.
After about five minutes, the messages came from Basswood Town again.
[Basswood Town — He Rui: The mutant ants have been killed, there are no drops. None of the territory members died, 700 damage was done to the defensive shield.]
[Basswood Town — He Rui: Just one is so hard to deal with. What if they attack together.]
[Basswood Town — He Rui: Right, how is Rising Cloud City? Are you able to hold on?!]
The conditions for passing were that at the end of the third year, any server would have one or more territories and 100 or more players.
If the conditions are met, time will reverse, and everything will restore to the start of the game.
So He Rui did not care whether the players of Basswood Town lived or died, or whether the territory was breached. He only cared about Rising Cloud City.
If Rising Cloud City was there, there was hope, and everyone would be fine.
If Rising Cloud City was breached, there was no hope, and all of humankind would die.
During the time the messages had stopped, Yun Ling had quickly got out of bed, and walked to the side of the territory to look at the situation.
In the bottom right map, there were red dots getting close to Rising Cloud City.
Outside the territory, the mutant ants were attacking the defensive shield.
When Yun Ling saw them with her own eyes, she finally understood what “moved quickly” meant.
The mutant ants created afterimages as they moved around the shield.
The archers aimed, but when they released their arrows, their target was not at the spot. In the end, they could only close their eyes and shoot aimlessly.
At this time, “automatic tracking” showed its power.
When the others were bitterly aiming, Archer G just had to shoot. After shooting, the system would track, and almost hit one hundred percent of the time.
Yun Ling looked and immediately said, “Use crowd attack skills!”
It was easy to dodge single target attacks, but not so easy to avoid crowd ones.
When the words were said, all of the NPCs acted.
The players hesitated, and saw the mutant ants hit by countless skills and die immediately — the NPCs who Yun Ling had hired had high attributes, skills, and good equipment. These people were very strong, better than the remaining players. Once they let go and attacked, the mutant ants could not run away.
The battle finished. The window showed [Guard the safety area, kill all the mutant ants in the city, the game will finish early. (Current Kills 2/10000)]
Just like He Rui had said, nothing dropped after the mutant ants had died.
The messages kept on popping out, almost covering the scene.
[Basswood Town — He Rui: How is Rising Cloud City? If you have the time, respond.]
[F City — Xin Tong Town — Zhao Xin Tong: Damn! 10000 bosses coming after another, attacking Xin Tong Town. Now, I am done for!]
[Osmanthus Town — Ding Wen Xuan: Curses!]
[Osmanthus Town — Ding Wen Xuan: I thought the winter season would be eternal night+ice age. I did not expect it to be a warm winter+mutant ant attack.]
[Osmanthus Town — Ding Wen Xu Xuan: If we are a bit weak and there are not enough players, we are not able to hold on!]
[Osmanthus Town — Ding Wen Xuan: Damn damn damn! The trash game wants to kill the players!]
[Osmanthus Town — Ding Wen Xuan: I won’t waste words. We will do our best to delay, and do our best to kill all the ants. Rising Cloud City, hold on!]
Yun Ling responded to He Rui, “Fighting. If the other territories can hold on longer, there will be less pressure on Rising Cloud City.”
She responded to Zhao Xin Tong, “The four safety areas of S City are having trouble.”
She responded to Ding Wen Xuan, “delay, the longer the better.”
Before she finished responding to messages, the new mutant ants arrived and started to attack the territory’s defensive shield.
Translator Ramblings: This story is reaching its end so fast now.