Surviving the Long Night: Starting from the Gas Station and Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 73 Shortcomings: Ruins and Fungal Infection

The warehouse lock uses a purely mechanical structure. As Lu Sheng turned his wrist, both he and Meng Lingshi heard a crisp click of the lock tongue.

The two pushed open the door and entered. After the two containers were combined into a warehouse, the contents stored inside also changed.

The quantity and quality have not changed; rather, they have been carefully divided and arranged according to size and type.

"That's amazing. If it were me, I mean the old me, it would take at least a few hours. Boss, you finished it in the blink of an eye."

Everyone has their strengths, and I also have my weaknesses.

Lu Sheng gave a casual reply, knowing full well that his abilities only appeared to be those of a builder, and that there was actually a significant gap between his skills and those of a builder.

For a builder to transform materials into a creation, they must first understand the structure of that creation.

Selecting the appropriate materials according to the structure, and then disassembling and reconstructing the materials according to the structure, requires a high level of knowledge and experience.

Therefore, a young architect often goes to academy to study, choose a field, learn about all the constructions in that field, and understand why they work.

Beyond that, one needs to practice diligently day after day to improve the accuracy and speed of one's construction.

All of these processes are skipped when mainland students upgrade.

Lu Sheng had a decent impression of Meng Lingshi, but they weren't close enough to be confidants. The best way he could think of to deal with the curiosity of this legitimate architect was to brush it off.

"Everyone has their shortcomings, which makes their strengths stand out; this is something I read in a book."

Meng Lingshi seemed oblivious to Lu Sheng's perfunctory attitude, and instead encouraged him:

"No matter how weak you are, as long as you have this method of rapid construction, your future is limitless, boss. In the future, the Lu family's Lu may very well be the Lu of Lu Sheng."

Lu Sheng looked at her in surprise; he didn't remember telling this girl about his background.

"Lin Ran told me."

Meng Lingshi chuckled:

"Doesn't the boss have confidence?"

"Confidence isn't something you can just talk about; let's wait and see."

Lu Sheng waved his hand, checked the situation inside the warehouse, and since it was another sunny day, he didn't plan to just wait for the materials to be delivered.

"Ling Shi, are you busy later?"

"Boss, if you didn't arrange anything for me, then it's fine."

"Then come with me out of the camp to collect some materials and scout out the situation of these ferocious beasts. You don't need to turn into a weapon; if we get surrounded, just carry me away."

"Okay, I'm ready."

Later, Lu Sheng rode an electric trolley and led Meng Lingshi out of the camp through the northeast gate and into the ruins.

He hadn't been here for several days. Because of the intermittent rain over the past five days, there were many puddles of water on the ground, which would splash up whenever the electric cart passed by.

"Boss, these pliers are well-made."

Meng Lingshi picked up the electric hydraulic pliers and kept opening and closing the jaws, as if he were cutting the air.

"I modified it with my abilities, so don't mess around with it. This is your work tool for a while."

Meng Lingshi, who was in the car, found this a bit strange:

"My work tools?"

"Or should I take you out to play?"

"You're exploiting child labor!"

"Sister, you're just short; your age is written on your file."

"I...that was because the researchers cut corners to embezzle funds. When I was alive, I was incredibly tall, 1.8 meters tall, with legs that were 1.2 meters long!"

Lu Sheng was too lazy to comment on the bizarre human proportions.

"Alright, I was just joking. We both need to work in a bit. I need tools, you can just use your hands. Don't let it run out of power."

"Okay, okay."

A little later, Lu Sheng stopped at the foot of a small hill made up of abandoned cars.

He didn't recall seeing anything like that in the ruins, and it couldn't have been the work of humans.

The abandoned cars that were originally parked on the side of the road were piled up one by one. It was clear that these cars were obviously deformed, indicating that the things that moved them were very powerful.

Lu Sheng raised his bracelet and contacted Zhao Cai:

"Zhao Cai, am I still within radar range? What's the situation around me?"

Zhao Cai quickly replied:

"Boss, there's no indication of any ferocious beasts around you. I suggest you don't go any further for now; you've already reached the outer edge of my radar."

Even within the detection range, radar accuracy decreases beyond a certain distance.

"I understand. Don't worry, I have guards with me."

After replying to Zhao Cai, Lu Sheng waved to Meng Lingshi beside him:

"There are no ferocious beasts around. Let's climb this mountain and see what's going on deep inside the ruins."

"Uh-huh."

A few minutes later, Lu Sheng was pulled by Meng Lingshi to the top of the abandoned car mountain, where they looked out over the ruins.

The view from above was very expansive, and he could immediately see the ruins of buildings such as bus stops, train stations, airports, shopping malls, and hotels.

In this sea of ​​concrete and steel, he suddenly noticed something very out of place.

A nest.

Like birds bringing twigs to build their nests, deep within the ruins, in a place perfectly concealed by the tall, uncollapsed buildings, a massive black structure made of steel and concrete appeared.

The building was a mess, clearly not made by human hands, and its interior shimmered with a ghostly green light.

"It looks like the lair of some ferocious beast. Meng Lingshi, do you recognize it?"

"Phosphorescent ants are ferocious beasts that spontaneously combust and charge at their prey. Given the size of this nest, if they send out soldier ants to attack, our walls won't be able to stop them."

Meng Lingshi said:

"They are very fragile, but the problem with ant-like ferocious beasts is that they are numerous, and most importantly, they will explode when they get close to their prey."

"This lair is too close to the camp, boss. We need to make arrangements soon."

Lu Sheng nodded and continued looking in other directions, discovering several more places that appeared to have been built as dens of ferocious beasts.

Following Meng Lingshi's explanation, he learned that those nests corresponded to the Ironjaw Insect, Iron-Footed Spider, Flame-Patterned Tiger, Silver Wave Tiger, and Dark Mist Leopard, respectively...

"Wait, how can this place support so many ferocious beasts?"

Lu Sheng didn't understand.

"Boss, the textbook you're reading must be based on the theory of mutation. That's a bit outdated. The more mainstream textbooks now are based on the theory of fungal parasitism."

Meng Lingshi explained to Lu Sheng:

"In the old world, there was a highly sought-after Chinese herbal medicine called Cordyceps sinensis."

In summer, fungi infect larvae, grow inside them, and cause them to die. However, because the larvae's bodies combine with the mycelium, they become rigid and do not rot.

When summer comes the following year, fungi will grow a part called summer grass from the head of the insect's corpse.

Lu Sheng recalled this theory and also remembered that Su Caiwei had mentioned the presence of a fungal infection during her observation of the recovery team's wounds.

"You mean, these beasts of the night aren't mutated wild animals at all, but rather corpses controlled by fungi?"