Chapter 196 - 195: Enhanced Yin Fire Heap

Chapter 196: Chapter 195: Enhanced Yin Fire Heap

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At long last, the dwelling had completed its transformation.

As the Corroding Mycelium dissipated, Gu Su discovered the dwelling had been completely transformed.

The place could now be considered a small yard.

Of course, calling it a yard was a bit of a stretch. It was actually just a small, open patch of ground next to the road, fenced in with white candles.

It was hard to tell where the candles had been scrounged up from. They varied in thickness and length and were stuck into the dirt one by one, forming a low wall.

Some of the candles were already half-burned, the drippings solidified into oddly shaped white lumps. Others were still new, their white shafts glowing with a gentle sheen.

They were packed densely in a circle, enclosing the small hut inside and leaving only a single gap for a gate.

The hut itself was constructed from the original camper body and a heap of old wooden planks, forming a modestly sized L-shape.

The main structure was still the camper body—welded together from a spaceship cabin and sheets of Metal from a Mobile Castle. Eight meters long and three meters wide, it now formed one leg of the L.

The other leg was nailed together with old wooden planks. The boards overlapped, fastened crookedly, and the gaps were stuffed with dried grass and Beast Skins, just barely enough to keep the wind out.

But what caught Gu Su’s attention wasn’t the hut itself, but the rocking chair standing in the small yard.

At the same time, Gu Su had a feeling that he didn’t need to enter the hut—just by stepping into the yard, he could operate the Graveyard Demon’s control panel.

This was excellent news for Gu Su.

At the very least, Gu Su no longer had to go all the way inside the dwelling to manage the Graveyard Demon’s affairs.

Beside the dwelling, right in the center of the yard, stood the transformed Yin Fire Heap.

Now, aside from the ghoulish green flames that occasionally flared up, it bore almost no resemblance to its former self.

The Yin Fire Heap before him now had a diameter of over six meters, and its main body stood about four meters tall.

At its core, a Petrified Heart three meters in diameter was wedged into a Metal frame. Four spiral grooves, brutally chiseled out as diversion channels, snaked down from the organ’s apex. A spectral blue liquid flowed silently within them, transforming what should have been a dead organ into some kind of indescribable Energy Core.

The four chambers of the heart had been pried open and fitted with heavy Metal valves. Crude symbols were etched onto the valves, which were now sealed shut, as if awaiting some future command.

Glowing patterns occasionally surfaced on the heart, pulsing up from its depths and flickering as if it were still faintly beating.

Directly above, the nozzle of a small spaceship engine pointed straight down, locked in a death grip with the aorta at the heart’s apex.

Its titanium alloy casing was a mess of welds, patch upon patch. A Metal ring encircled the nozzle, emitting an incessant SIZZLE of electricity. Blue sparks leaped across the ring’s surface, as if restraining something that should never be unleashed.

A large steam engine at the base wrapped around the lower half of the heart.

Its pistons, forged from brass and cast iron, were each half a meter in diameter. Their surfaces were pitted and scarred, showing years of wear.

Thick Metal pipes had replaced the traditional steam lines. Their walls were riddled with rust, and some sections were wrapped with wire and Beast Skins to crudely seal leaking gaps.

The flywheel had been modified into some unrecognizable shape, and it let out a grating CREAK and GROAN as it turned.

On the inner side of the steam engine, the bonfire that had been there from the very beginning still burned.

Spectral blue flames erupted from the depths of the firebox, several times more vigorous than before. The tongues of fire licked at the stony surface of the heart’s lower half, scorching it to a faint red.

There were no air vents around the flames. The petal-shaped Metal structures that should have served as intakes had long since rusted shut at an odd angle, leaving the fire to heave and gasp on its own.

To the left of the contraption, a cylindrical, transparent canister floated in mid-air. Submerged inside was a crab’s power core—a palm-sized, hexagonal crystal structure slowly rotating in a pale green liquid, emitting a soft, amber glow.

It was an organ extracted from the nervous system of a giant crab, now suspended here to serve as a stabilizer.

The canister’s outer wall was beaded with condensation. Several thick cables snaked from its mouth, plunging into the crystal and appearing to sustain some form of Life that should not exist.

To the right was a sealed Metal box with several long, narrow slits cut into its surface.

A lizard’s metabolic core was stuffed inside. The spiral, tube-like organ was covered in fine scales, and it squirmed slowly within a cloud of cooling gas.

It was a heat-exchange gland harvested from the body of a giant lizard, now serving as the core of the cooling system.

The scales opened and closed faintly with the temperature fluctuations, emitting a soft SHUSHING sound, as if something were breathing inside.

Three smokestacks of varying heights were arranged in a triangular pattern atop the contraption.

The corroded cast-iron pipes were riddled with holes; some were patched with sheet Metal, while others were left exposed. The main stack belched grayish-white steam, a secondary one puffed faint black smoke, and a third was bizarrely positioned directly above the Petrified Heart. No one knew where it led, but it was certainly venting a pale Blue smoke.

A network of pipes snaked around the entire contraption like blood vessels before all disappearing underground.

The network included copper pipes, water lines, and electrical wiring. Gu Su even knew where they had all been salvaged from, and what now flowed through them.

It was the Graveyard Demon’s most vital component: Yin Qi.

Looking at it now, Gu Su could hardly associate this contraption with the original Yin Fire Heap.

Gu Su also realized that from now on, the Yin Fire Heap would no longer be a place to store supplies.

Although the main body of the Yin Fire Heap only occupied a space a little over six meters wide, the surrounding network of pipes left no room to even set foot.

Moreover, the thing was RUMBLING loudly. It was tolerable from a distance, as the Graveyard Demon could somehow muffle some of the noise, but once inside the Yin Fire Heap’s immediate vicinity, the sound was unbearable.

Gu Su felt that you’d have to shout to be heard, even if you were standing face to face.

At this, Gu Su could only be thankful. ’Thank goodness the sound is contained in such a small area. If it could travel, I’d be the first to suffer, living right next door.’

Meanwhile, the Deserted Twisted Corridor to the right hadn’t changed much.

Aside from its footprint changing from five by twenty meters to ten by ten, it had gained two modestly sized Melting Furnaces.

Compared to the Yin Fire Heap next to them, these were simple, old-fashioned furnaces—the kind used for melting down Metal.

Judging by their style and the mud still caked on them, they had been stripped directly off the crab creature.

The Graveyard Demon probably hadn’t known what to do with them and ended up just placing them here.