Chapter 320 - 317: Black Sand

Chapter 320: Chapter 317: Black Sand

"Stop..."

Mo Ling closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, a bicycle had appeared inside the Block. It was a black bicycle, and the person who had been on it was gone.

Mo Ling froze for a moment.

"Where’d he go?"

He quickly looked outside. The Black Shadow had vanished. The swirling black sandstorm was rapidly dissipating, disappearing as soon as it hit the ground.

HSHHHHH...

It was like a black rain.

The cyclist wasn’t outside either. Mo Ling searched for a long time but couldn’t find him.

Even after all the sand had settled and everything grew quiet, the cyclist’s figure never appeared.

Only the beat-up-looking black bicycle remained, parked silently inside the Block.

Black dust still fell from its frame from time to time, drifting onto the metal floor and quickly vanishing.

His search fruitless, Mo Ling could only walk over to the bicycle.

Looking at the bike from such a close distance, Mo Ling felt something different.

Even though the bike was a wreck, it possessed a unique sort of beauty.

The edges of the pitch-black dust were sharp and angular. They drifted down continuously, like black feathers.

Mo Ling couldn’t resist reaching out and gently catching the black sand.

However, the moment the sand landed in his palm, a scene flashed through Mo Ling’s mind.

"Station Chief, if we organize a full evacuation now, there’s still time."

A fragmented image flashed past, and the sound of an urgent report suddenly rang in Mo Ling’s ears.

’Is this what happened at the Quicksand Monitoring Station?’

But the image was gone in an instant. Mo Ling hadn’t seen a thing.

He quickly looked down at his hand. The sand that had just fallen there had completely vanished.

His palm was empty. There was no trace of black at all.

But Mo Ling knew the scene just now hadn’t been a hallucination.

He looked at the bicycle, which was still giving off black dust, gritted his teeth, and placed his hand on it.

...

"Station Chief, if we organize a full evacuation now, there’s still time." ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The same scene appeared again, but this time it was perfectly clear, and the urgent report rang out once more.

"We can’t do a full evacuation unless it’s the absolute last resort... The Quicksand Monitoring Station still has a lot of research data, equipment we went through hell to transport here, and precious relics. All of this is the fruit of many people’s hard work."

The man addressed as the Station Chief replied calmly.

However, a hint of anxiety inevitably crept into his words.

"But Station Chief, what should we do? We can’t just sit here and wait to die, can we? The main swarm of those bats will be here soon. The station will sink even faster then, and no one will be able to escape..."

Anxious panting could be heard, and Mo Ling could even faintly hear a heartbeat. He instantly realized that these scenes seemed to be someone’s memories.

And what he was seeing now was from the perspective of someone present when the Quicksand Monitoring Station disaster struck.

’Is this from the cyclist’s perspective?’

’But something feels off.’

’Why am I looking at the Station Chief? Whose perspective is this?’

’Could it be that the cyclist isn’t the Station Chief?’

Many questions flashed through Mo Ling’s mind, but he could only keep watching...

"Xiaozhang, don’t panic. You’re clever and full of ideas. Go to the relic vault and see if you can find a relic that can handle this crisis. With so many relics, it’s impossible that not a single one is useful, right?"

"But Station Chief, there’s no time... Forget it, I’ll go look."

After giving a reluctant reply, the owner of the perspective quickly turned, pushed the door open, and left.

’Xiaozhang... That seems to be the name of the person whose perspective this is.’

And Xiaozhang quickly arrived at the relic vault. People nodded to him along the way, and he returned each gesture.

Upon reaching the relic vault, a Guard saw him and immediately opened the door, letting him in.

"Thanks."

After saying thanks, Xiaozhang charged straight in and began searching the shelves.

The dazzling array of relics was overwhelming. Some of them were still covered in sand, looking as if they had only just been discovered and hadn’t been cleaned yet.

Xiaozhang held an electronic tablet and scanned the relics. He was quick on the uptake; the moment he saw a relic’s function, he could tell if it was useful or not.

Xiaozhang swiped past some relics so fast that even Mo Ling couldn’t get a clear look before they were dismissed.

"This is useless, this is useless too..."

Xiaozhang seemed very anxious. But despite there being so many relics, he just couldn’t find a suitable one.

Just then, a message appeared on the electronic tablet.

Station Chief: "Go to shelf 6, 3rd level from the bottom. There’s a pile of sand. It might be useful."

It was a message from the Station Chief.

Xiaozhang didn’t hesitate for a second. He immediately followed the instructions and found the pile of sand.

It also seemed to be a recently discovered relic. There was a warning sign stuck to it.

Xiaozhang pointed the tablet at the sand, and the relic’s description appeared.

...

[Relic: Frozen Sandpile]

[Cost: Unknown]

[Ability: Use this sand to sculpt a replica of an object. The sand sculpture will then completely immobilize the original object, making it unable to move.]

[Discovery Site: 2nd Floor of the Abyss]

[Discoverer: Not filled in]

...

Staring at the relic’s description, Xiaozhang froze on the spot as if he’d just discovered a treasure. He read it over carefully several more times.

He quickly sent a message to the Station Chief, attaching the relic’s description.

"Station Chief, we can use this relic to immobilize the Quicksand Monitoring Station."

The Station Chief’s reply came back quickly. It was very brief.

"Bring it here."

A short while later, Xiaozhang returned to the Station Chief’s office with the bagged sand.

However, a new problem arose. The researcher in charge of this relic came to the office and reported its limitations:

"You must sculpt a replica of the actual object in person. If you work from a photo or a model, you’ll end up immobilizing the electronic tablet, not the real object."

"In other words, the user has to look at the station while building the sand sculpture to immobilize the entire Quicksand Monitoring Station. But that would take a very long time. The main bat swarm will be here soon, and we don’t have that much time."

"Furthermore, this relic has very high requirements for the sculpture’s details. It has to be extremely precise, and the proportions and other details can’t have any errors. That would take even more time..."

Listening to the researcher, no one spoke. The hope they had just found was shattered.

The few people in the office stood there helplessly for a long time until the Station Chief broke the silence again.

"Forget it, Xiaozhang. Go look again and see if there are any other useful relics," the Station Chief said with a sigh of resignation.

"No, Station Chief! We can’t waste any more time. We have to act now. I can use this relic. Let me do it. For me, there’s still enough time..."

He glanced at the main bat swarm’s arrival time on the monitor and said very seriously.

"Two hours, forty-five minutes, and twenty-eight seconds... There’s still time."

Xiaozhang picked up the electronic tablet and started calculating.

"Ten times the time... that’s almost a day. More than enough."

After a moment of thought, he looked at the Station Chief and said with extreme gravity, "Station Chief, I need a place to build the sand sculpture. The surrounding area must be cleared of all personnel. I also need wind protection, a clear path for me to leave the station, and for the guards to let me pass..."

Xiaozhang laid out a series of requests for the Station Chief, who nodded and carefully noted them down.

"That’s about it. During this time, I won’t be able to communicate with you all. You have to do exactly as I’ve said."

Xiaozhang stepped forward and resolutely picked up the bag of sand.