I Am Cultivating in the Apocalypse

Chapter 665: Magic Cube Space Upgrade?

Jing Shu simply wanted to know what effect putting the body of an insect related to White Energy into the Magic Cube Space would have. Could it be utilized?

After all, with so many tails lying around, it felt wasteful not to use them.

Ten years into the apocalypse, the scarcity of resources had made Jing Shu exceedingly frugal.

Who knew that this simple act would cause the tails, upon entering the space, to be automatically compressed and transformed into concentrated energy essence, which the jubilant space then promptly absorbed.

There was no room for negotiation. Jing Shu only saw a flash of light, denser than White Energy, before it vanished...

Only when the Magic Cube Space encountered something that could help it upgrade would it act without Jing Shu’s consent, directly assimilating it.

Jing Shu’s eyes lit up. When she had previously put White Energy into the space, she knew it could upgrade it. However, the Magic Cube Space had barely reacted then; whether she fed it the energy or simply stored it, the space had seemed indifferent.

But these insect tails were absorbed by the Magic Cube Space immediately, indicating their energy was of higher quality and purity.

Overjoyed, Jing Shu immediately put all the severed tails into the space. Strands of pure energy, compressed by the space, flashed and then vanished.

Hunger, excitement, more, I need more... The sensations flooded her mind, and Jing Shu knew that the Magic Cube Space’s upgrade this time would likely depend on this.

Jing Shu’s eyes gleamed. She switched to using both hands, chopping with relentless KACHA KACHA sounds. However long the insect’s tail grew, she hacked it off. She even moved closer and chopped off half its head, followed by a frenzy of indiscriminate hacking.

With the hand speed honed by thirty years of being single, her arms became a blur. Whether it was a nose or an eye, she just chopped. When a knife petrified, she discarded it and immediately took out another.

Most importantly, she threw every part of the insect she could into the Magic Cube Space.

Jing Shu discovered that the faster she chopped, the faster the insect regenerated. Satisfied hums continuously emanated from the space, which demanded even more of this energy.

Scouts from the first floor of the building sent word: the rotten mermaids weren’t even sparing the furnished villas. Previously, they had just clumsily bumped around, simply capturing people to eat. But now, they were advancing like destroyers, crushing everything bit by bit.

"I still have a little time," Jing Shu murmured.

To test her hypothesis, Jing Shu reluctantly brought out the hopping zombie boar.

There’s no way I can eat this half-petrified thing. What if I turn to stone myself? Better to use it for an experiment.

As soon as the zombie boar appeared, before it could even hop twice, the insect beneath Jing Shu bit into it.

So it’s not just the tail that can suck blood; its mouth can too.

The several-hundred-pound fat boar was drained dry in just over ten seconds. Blood and flesh gone, only a layer of skin remained. Jing Shu’s guess was correct: the insect’s regenerative abilities had become even more formidable, healing almost instantly after she chopped it.

The insect’s attacks suddenly intensified, forcing Jing Shu to fend them off while simultaneously trying to collect the severed parts into her space.

If not for the years of drinking Spiritual Spring, which granted her immense strength and excellent stamina, Jing Shu would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago, given the speed at which she was wielding her knives.

The rotten mermaid army lingered a little longer on the second floor, as it was the cafeteria and stored food for over two thousand people. They devoured everything edible within minutes, even gnawing clean the chairs and tables that had been intended for Fuel.

This delay also bought some escape time for the others. Amidst the chaos, Li Yuetian had his men carry the last of the provisions upstairs.

Li Yuetian ordered, "Block all stairwells! Set them on fire, or use electricity—whatever it takes, we must stop them!"

As soon as the chaos erupted, Liu had started looking for Jing Shu. He went to her villa, but naturally, it was empty; even her black box was gone. Seeing this, Liu immediately had the driver and other soldiers start moving out a portion of the Insect Cakes.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t move much.

...

Jing Shu was drenched in sweat, engrossed in her painful yet joyful task. She had spent so long fishing outside in the wind and rain, yet the White Energy she’d collected was minimal. It was far less efficient than these few minutes spent directly chopping the insect.

When the insect’s regeneration slowed, Jing Shu knew it was out of energy. Wincing at the loss, she threw out another cow. It doesn’t matter if I have to eat less beef jerky for a while. I need to upgrade the Magic Cube Space quickly so I can take more things with me when we migrate.

Unexpectedly, the insect’s recovery abilities grew even stronger. Almost instantly, its tail lashed out and struck Jing Shu’s skin, sucking a large amount of her blood in that split second!

Jing Shu’s face paled instantly, but her hands didn’t stop; she continued to hack wildly, her speed increasing even more.

Fortunately, this frenzied state only lasted for a few minutes.

The space faintly conveyed a sense of being full and satisfied. Only when the insect’s recovery rate slowed down again did the space finally stop absorbing its energy, instead choosing to store the compressed energy.

Jing Shu slowly exhaled. Gritting her teeth, she consumed another drop of Spiritual Spring, and some color returned to her cheeks.

Just as she was despairing, wondering how this insect was still alive and when it would finally die, a sudden BOOM echoed in her head, followed by a persistent BUZZING. Jing Shu felt dizzy, yet she also experienced a strange sense of mental clarity and openness.

But in that moment of distraction, the insect’s tail snaked out again, pressing against Jing Shu’s neck. It was preparing to suck directly from her carotid artery!

However, before Jing Shu could react, the insect that should have been sucking her blood suddenly shrieked in agony. It struggled violently, as if being forcibly pulled towards Jing Shu. In the next second, the insect continuously shrank until it was the size of a fingernail. Then, as if unwilling, it completely merged into Jing Shu’s neck.

A small, white, tadpole-shaped mark appeared on Jing Shu’s neck.

SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK...

It felt as if tens of thousands of SQUEAKING voices flooded her mind. Unable to bear it, she collapsed to the ground.

The iron fortress was a scene of utter devastation. Of the three people originally there, Da Ji had turned into rubble, Boss Lu was nothing but a flap of skin, and Jing Shu lay collapsed in a pool of blood. Meanwhile, the battle outside raged on...

Jing Shu had only been unconscious for ten to fifteen minutes when she abruptly opened her eyes. Her head still throbbed, and her ears were still ringing. The insect’s earlier shrieks had damaged her eardrums, and the Spiritual Spring she drank hadn’t fully healed them yet.

But in the next second, an expression of delighted surprise appeared on Jing Shu’s face.

My Magic Cube Space actually upgraded?! Just like that? This was entirely achieved by bombarding it with energy!

Previously, with every upgrade, the Magic Cube Space had to shut down, repair, and restart. This time, however, it seemed like none of that had happened; Jing Shu even had the illusion that it hadn’t upgraded at all.

Not good, those things have reached the seventh floor!