The apocalypse struck, and I became a druid.

Page 59

"Boss, look here."

Xu Ming pointed to a dent inside the transmission box.

"This connecting flange is deformed, and a crucial buffer gear set is missing. Without it, if we force it to start, the vibration will be extremely large, and the drive shaft may break or detach directly, which would be a complete disaster."

"What parts do you need? What are the specific models?" Han Ning asked.

He didn't understand machinery, but he knew that a replacement had to be found as soon as possible.

It is a fact that there will be a diesel shortage in the future.

However, this is a dock with ships everywhere, so there is certainly no shortage of diesel or other oils right now.

Once we have enough diesel fuel, we'll move the boat to a safe location.

Xu Ming flipped through the manual, pointing to a clear drawing on it:

"It's this type of buffer gear set, and the matching flange... We'll have to try our luck on other ships of the same type or similar tonnage, preferably engineering vessels or tugboats, as their transmission systems might be more robust, and the parts dimensions might match."

"understood."

Han Ning nodded, while simultaneously diverting some of his attention to sense the situation on Xuebing's side through the soul link.

Following its master's orders, Xuebing swam towards the outer edge of the dock, towards what should have been the ocean.

About fifty meters from the berth area, underwater visibility became even lower.

Thanks to its underwater sensing capabilities, Xuebing can still clearly "see" its surroundings.

To Han Ning's surprise, the waters were unusually quiet.

Those menacing spiral crabs and strange clamshells vanished without a trace.

The water depth reaches three meters, and the density of monsters underwater is far lower than that in the dock berth area.

Only a few fish, human-faced jellyfish, and some ugly snails swam in the water.

"Keep swimming deeper," Han Ning commanded.

"Whoosh~"

Snowcake swayed its body and swam faster.

When the snow cake swam out to a distance of nearly one hundred meters from the dock.

hum...

An invisible spiritual wave suddenly swept in from afar and struck Xuebing.

This fluctuation did not seem to originate from any particular direction; it seemed to permeate every drop of seawater, omnipresent.

"Woohoo..."

Xuebing became somewhat uneasy.

The tri-colored crystal scale on his forehead shimmered slightly.

"Something's strange." Han Ning clearly noticed Xuebing's emotions and instructed, "Let's explore further outside."

"Woo..."

Suppressing his instinctive discomfort, Xuebing continued swimming towards the direction from which the mental fluctuations were coming from.

The deeper one goes, the heavier the pervasive mental pressure becomes, constantly squeezing Xuebing's consciousness.

The crystalline scales on its forehead continued to shimmer, like a lone lamp swaying in a gale.

When the snow cake arrived at a position approximately 400 meters in a straight line from the dock.

The strange mental fluctuations were so intense that Xuebing refused to swim any further.

But there's no need for that anymore.

"This……"

The scene before them was so shocking that both Han Ning, who shared a vision through a spiritual link, and the bewildered Xuebing were both deeply moved.

The water ahead was completely blocked by a gray-white fog wall that was almost solid.

This wall of fog stands in stark contrast to the relatively thin fog outside.

Behind this suffocating wall of fog, beneath the water's surface, lies a hellish scene.

Dead body.

An endless stream of corpses.

They piled up in layers, like mountains, almost filling the entire body of water and extending into the depths beyond sight.

There are humans with twisted and swollen limbs, and skin that is pale and wrinkled from being soaked in water, presenting a terrifying "giant appearance".

There were various marine creatures, fish, whales, and even twisted and mutated crustaceans, their broken remains mixed together.

There were also many bizarre and unrecognizable remains of native creatures...

Upon closer inspection, these corpses were pierced by countless dark red, coral-like branches.

Those coral branches, like a thicket of thorns growing from the depths of hell, were dense, crisscrossing, and deeply pierced into the interior of each corpse, pinning them to the bottom of the water like specimens, and drawing something from them like nutrients.

On some of the newer carcasses, you can even see the coral branches pulsating slightly, like the blood vessels of a living creature.

The entire underwater world has become a forest composed of corpses and corals.

For some unknown reason, the coral monster that Han Ning defeated escaped from here.

They did not attack the snow cakes.

Perhaps it was the three-colored scales between its eyebrows that had the effect?

"..."

Inside the cabin, Han Ning's expression turned grim.

An inexplicable chill shot up my spine and straight to the top of my head.

He finally understood why there were almost no human corpses in the waters near the Egret Harbor berth area.

You should know that this used to be a resort area, teeming with tourists.

Why isn't the density of other types of monsters in the water as high as one might imagine?

So...it was all here.

The remains of all the creatures swallowed by the flood, whether human or other, from the entire dock and even the wider area, eventually converged in this dead zone isolated by thick fog, becoming a breeding ground for these eerie coral monsters.

This death forest, composed of endless corpses and eerie corals, was far larger and more terrifying than Han Ning had imagined.

The coral monster he had killed earlier was nothing more than a drop in the ocean compared to this mountain of corpses and sea of ​​bones.

"Black Tide... Doomsday..."

Han Ning muttered to himself, an indescribable sense of powerlessness sweeping over him.

Individual strength appears so small and insignificant in the face of such a horrific scene.

"Snow Biscuit... come back, come back right away!"

Chapter 65 Determining the Direction

The situation is bad; reality is harsh.

But life must go on.

Han Ning tried his best to suppress the heaviness in his heart. The most urgent task now was to get this "Wind Chaser Sailboat" really running.

In the time that followed, he protected Xu Ming and conducted a thorough search of the dock.

On their search, they encountered the same resort awakened group searching for treasures in the dock area more than once.

When these people encountered Han Ning, they all chose to back down without exception.

Upon seeing Han Ning arrive, some people reluctantly put down the tools they had just found.

Some left without saying a word, taking their companions with them.

Han Ning was somewhat surprised, guessing that Chairman Wu must have given some kind of order.

Time passed, and a whole day went by.

During this time, groups of two or three monsters attempted to approach the area on more than one occasion.

They were all beaten to death by everyone.

The tuna and coral monster are dead, and the area is safe for now.

Not only Han Ning and Xu Ming, but all the awakened beings in the entire Biyun Resort did not have time to rest.

During this time, a group of even weaker individuals, who were almost newly awakened, came from the direction of the resort.

They started with just over twenty people, and grew to nearly forty, all of whom devoted themselves to the search for ships and parts at the dock.

Han Ning and Xu Ming were only two people; no matter how much they took, they couldn't take all the materials from the entire dock.

Finally, after Han Ning hauled the last few sealed barrels of diesel fuel onto the sailboat, the entire lower deck and deck space were almost completely filled.

Dozens of oil drums of varying sizes were stacked on most of the deck, emitting a strong smell of diesel fuel.

The engine room was filled with boxes of various metal parts, bundles of cables, spare canvas ropes, water pumps and filters salvaged from other ships, and several intact solar panels.

The hooks on the bulkhead were covered with life jackets, fire axes, and emergency lights.

The entire lower deck was like a bloated and cluttered warehouse, with almost no place to put your feet. There was only a narrow gap, barely wide enough for one person to pass through, leading to the engine room.

This method of cargo transport certainly seriously affects navigation regulations, but there was no other way due to the emergency.

Xu Ming recently finished repairing the diesel engine and now he and Han Ning are going to find spare parts for the equipment.

He was so exhausted that he leaned against an oil drum, panting heavily, his face covered in a black grime of oil and sweat.

He was, after all, just an ordinary person, without the powerful physique of an awakened being.

Han Ning really wanted to turn him into an Awakened One, but at present, there seemed to be no other safe method besides constantly nurturing him with the blessings of nature.

As for Yu Na, she stayed by their side the whole time like a secretary, without saying a word or leaving.

……