Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 509 - 439: Slight Progress_1

Three days later, Huai Shi discovered he had made a colossal mistake.

He hadn't expected... that an off-road vehicle could consume fuel to such an exaggerated extent!

Once it started running, the US dollars in his pocket flowed out like water, unstoppable!

Just driving from Jakarta to the vicinity of Madura had already burned through more than one thousand US dollars. Part of this was due to the poor road conditions, but Huai Shi had also taken the wrong direction several times consecutively.

The local roads and navigation were a tangled mess. Even with the Astronomical Society's satellite navigation, Huai Shi barely managed. He eventually had to rely on the off-road vehicle's capabilities to travel through wilderness and over mountains.

Then car repairs cost another six hundred.

Poor·Huai Shi·Poor.

Luckily, he took advantage of the night to practice his driving skills in the Book of Fate. He purposefully chose two records with racing experience to engage in a wild drive. He finally managed to raise his driving level to a general standard, avoiding becoming a road assassin. Only then did he realize he had shown off a bit too much. Not only was it not free, but he even ended up paying for the fuel himself.

If only he had chosen the bicycle in the office.

At least that wouldn't consume fuel!

After passing through two villages and confirming the direction to Madura, Huai Shi parked the car on the outskirts of the village, closed the car door, and walked into the woods ahead.

It was time to work.

Casually, he snapped a thick branch off a large tree, peeled away the obstructing leaves, trimmed it straight, and fashioned it into a good cane.

The tree and grass planting over the past two days had at least been somewhat effective.

By now, Huai Shi had gained a further understanding of the numerous types of vitality networks formed by the present vegetation. It was as if he had visited various communities to conduct a census and understand their composition.

It was an eye-opening experience.

Each different type had its unique advantages and deficiencies. For example, the vitality network formed by a plantation, though simple in structure, possessed strong stability, making it resistant to being destroyed by external interference. In contrast, naturally formed forests were more complex in structure. Even though they themselves lacked inherent stability, they could achieve a stable state comparable to artificial ones through the combination and cooperation of multiple species.

Besides these, pine forests, coniferous forests, mixed forests, and so forth, including various pastures, nurseries, and countless types of shrubs in the wilderness...

Along with more complex mixed types, and even matryoshka-like mixed types formed by various combinations. Among them, some had brilliant aspects Huai Shi had never considered, while others inherently had major defects, struggling to withstand disasters, frost, invasive species, or even human logging.

During this process, Huai Shi had not used the Mountain Ghost Ability to catalyze or draw vitality to strengthen himself. Instead, he continually adjusted the vitality balance within his body by referencing real-life cases, further optimizing and rebalancing the micro-ecological structure within.

He felt as if his body were a vast ecological park, where having more species was not necessarily better. The premise was... whether it was possible to establish a stable cycle that could accommodate the vitality of more species?

In just two short days, the Mountain Ghost Stigma had shrunk by almost half. The network of vitality, which had radiated from his chest throughout his body, had now drawn back, recentering in his chest. Its countless tendrils extended from there, reconverging at his back—yet its precision and complexity had increased more than threefold.

He was readjusting priorities, optimizing, and striving for a better balance between circularity, inclusiveness, and stability.

It was like playing a management game; as Huai Shi made adjustments, he eagerly explored the adaptability of each organ to different types of plant vitality.

He endowed his heart with stronger self-healing capabilities, his lungs and respiratory system with better resilience, tried to make his bones harder, and further increased the elasticity of his tendons.

He partially integrated the nervous system into the Stigma to enhance the efficiency of electrical signal transmission, further compressing his reaction time.

Even though the results were not substantial, it still felt like opening a new door, discovering more possibilities...

During this period, Raven maintained her role as an observer, silent.

Neither approving nor disapproving, she quietly enjoyed his waste of time on this rather fruitless task, constantly facing setbacks, probing, giving up, and making new attempts.

He even nearly turned himself into a sufferer of osteomalacia and muscle dissolution.

She neither hindered nor advocated.

Just quietly observing, concealing a slight astonishment and emotion in her heart.

Should it be called overestimation of one's abilities or an ambitious vision? The Fool is already starting to explore the organ etherization process. This is within the realm of the Third Stage...

First Stage·Mercury: within Alchemy's Mercury, Salt, and Sulfur, transforming the Sublimator's body into Source Fertile Soil, forming a vessel that can carry the Stigma.

Second Stage·Gold: the Source Substance gradually metamorphoses from miracles, and the Sublimator's shell and Soul also start transforming toward the miracles and disasters of the Abyss, preparing for the next stage of tempering.

Third Stage·Ether—reaching this stage brings about earth-shattering transformations. A person's organs will gradually change through the process known as 'etherization,' converting into entirely new forms and even acquiring various new functions. This allows Sublimators to be reborn, completely saying farewell to the limitations inherent in the human body and truly transcending humanity.

Currently, Huai Shi's actions were rather presumptuous.

But what's the problem with that?

Consider it as studying ahead for next term's courses.

What delighted Raven was that, without her prompts, Huai Shi had spontaneously started to optimize the structure of the Mountain Ghost and begun exploring the next stage.

This talent was indeed precious.

And this initiative... in the originally content-with-life, fish-like Huai Shi, was as rare as pulling eight SSRs in "Ten in a row".

It was an excellent sign.

He was no longer passively facing the world; he had begun to actively embrace and seek change...

This trip out was really worth it!

She rejoiced inwardly.

After a brief observation, Huai Shi had already made a round on the outskirts of the dense forest, his branch-made cane constantly probing down.

He was detecting the nodes and centers of the vitality network here.

Without needing to use the Mountain Ghost Stigma for sensing, after two days of attempts, Huai Shi had formed a vague blind sense based on experience.

It was like playing Minesweeper.

He skillfully marked the key points.

Then he reached out, grabbed a few grass seeds from his pocket, and casually tossed them into the dozens of small pits poked out by the cane, stepped on them, and that was that.

He had introduced a new neighbor to the community, ensuring that everyone could coexist harmoniously and lend a helping hand during the critical germination phase of the white grain.

He could imagine the sight of the sprouting white grain causing faint ripples in the dense forest's network here, and then leaving a hidden mark here for his successors to handle the subsequent steps.

Regardless of whether he found any traces of the Dragon Oak or not, Huai Shi would plant two batches along the way, purely for practice.

Moreover, he had seen many other Sublimators just like himself shuttling through various places in Indonesia. They were like the peasants in the early game of a real-time strategy game, used for scouting and revealing the map.

He now somewhat doubted that the Indonesian Forestry Association was making such a big fuss solely for the treatment of Dragon Oak.

Probably just an additional task, right?

There must be more important reasons mixed in, but what did that have to do with Huai Shi, an outsider?

Digging into such matters would certainly lead to trouble and waste time; he was too lazy to ponder carefully.

Considering the 'Rome time' this would take, he'd be better off eating two more bowls of rice.

It was time for a meal...

Huai Shi touched his empty stomach, contemplating where to get something to eat next. He was not really accustomed to the local food and had to rely on fast-food fried chicken and cola to get by, which, honestly, he was getting a bit tired of.

Or should he find a set of tools and cook for himself?

While pondering, Huai Shi opened the car door and got in, then paused.

After a moment of silence, he twisted the key, starting the engine and hitting the road.

Soon, the SUV returned to the road, speeding forward, rolling over puddles and through mud, rushing quickly towards Madura.

While driving, Huai Shi raised his hand, yawned, then his raised hand casually pushed to the side.

A muffled bang erupted within the sealed cabin.

Drummer!

A low hum of wind spread, followed by the crisp sound of a skull colliding with the car window.

On the passenger seat, a Little Brag appeared out of thin air, a bewildered expression still on his face, before hitting the car window, his eyes rolling back as he fainted.

The moment Huai Shi got into the car, he had smelled another scent that didn't belong.

Someone was hiding in the car.

He just couldn't see them...

Even without his Death Perception, Huai Shi's nerves remained tense. After a brief pretense, seizing the moment when the other's breathing steadied, he struck decisively!

And just like that, he'd knocked out the invisible Little Brag hiding in the passenger seat!

Luckily, upon contact, judging by the feel and estimated weight, Huai Shi had sensed something was off and retracted most of his strength in advance. Otherwise, that one move would have been enough to send the Little Brag to the ICU.

Whether this godforsaken place even had an ICU was another matter entirely.

Huai Shi stepped on the brake and stopped the car. He turned to look at the little boy in the passenger seat. The boy was about twelve or thirteen years old, with slightly curly hair that looked like it hadn't been cut in a long time. It was messy, yet his clothes and body were quite clean, showing he bathed regularly.

Huai Shi reached out and skillfully patted down the boy's pockets and any other places he might hide a weapon.

No weapons.

No Stigma.

And no sense of malice towards himself.

Huai Shi twisted his neck, and amid the cracking sounds, he revealed a cold smile.

Sneaking onto my car in the dark, and he doesn't even have a single cent on him... Does he really think this is a Group Star free pass, huh!