Chapter 197 - 196: Basement and Main Tomb Area

Chapter 197: Chapter 196: Basement and Main Tomb Area

Please support this novel with subscriptions, recommendations, monthly tickets, and more!

————————————

Aside from the tremendous changes to the Graveyard Magic Wall and the surface area, the underground levels had also undergone a radical transformation.

The size of the Graveyard Demon’s basement had always been equivalent to its surface area.

This time, the ground footprint had expanded by two to three times, and the underground space naturally extended outward with it. The once cramped and crowded subterranean level was now so spacious it felt almost unreal.

But the basement’s structure didn’t simply replicate the surface layout. Due to the presence of the Dark Erosion Cave and the Deployment Pods, it had been completely reconfigured.

The entire basement was now divided into inner and outer rings.

The outer ring was a loop structure, corresponding perfectly to the area beneath the outer wall.

This entire area was now allocated to the Deployment Pods. The vehicles, once packed so tightly it was hard to even turn around, could finally be parked with ample space.

Five SUVs were arranged in a neat line, three vans were parked side-by-side on the other side, and five pickup trucks were parked against a wall, each with plenty of room to spare.

In the innermost section, the two heavy trucks finally had their own parking spots and no longer had to sit with half their chassis sticking out.

The Walking Dead in charge of vehicle repair was squatting in a corner, tinkering with something.

Meanwhile, the other Walking Dead, who handled vehicle maintenance, had moved the [Twisted Fuel Processing Machine] to this outer ring of the basement. It was squatting by the machine, intently focused on modifying it.

Gu Su had originally purchased the [Twisted Fuel Processing Machine] to solve the problem of fuel shortages, preventing his vehicles from becoming inoperable.

But later, Gu Su learned the Five Ghosts Spirit Communication Technique and used this Magic to modify all his vehicles, allowing them to run on the Graveyard Demon’s Yin Qi. As a result, the fuel processing machine had been gradually mothballed and would likely remain useless for a long time.

The Walking Dead clearly thought otherwise. Since there was nothing to modify on the vehicles for the time being, it decided to take on a new project.

With nothing else to do, it simply dismantled the fuel processing machine, tossing the outer casing aside and spreading the internal pipes and gears all over the floor.

Piled nearby were various materials collected from the recent battle: special flesh dismantled from the crab Mobile City, organic tissues extracted from the body of a giant lizard, and some unidentifiable miscellaneous parts.

The Walking Dead was squatting there, holding up a transparent tube taken from the crab’s body against the machine, seemingly contemplating how to fit it in.

Although its modifications hadn’t yielded any results yet, this particular Walking Dead was convinced it could use the [Twisted Fuel Processing Machine] as a foundation to build an entirely new machine.

Inside the outer ring, the main basement area was divided into three sections arranged in parallel, like the strokes of the character "目."

The three sections were roughly equal in size and weren’t connected to each other; each could only be accessed by its own dedicated staircase.

The middle section was the new location for the Dark Erosion Cave.

The entire Dark Erosion Cave had been moved here intact, with its entrance now facing the section of the wall nearest to the Withered Wood Forest.

The section of the basement near the main gate was still empty.

It had been intentionally left vacant to serve as a temporary warehouse.

Judging by the battles of the last few days, Gu Su was sure to have substantial gains in the days to come.

Basic materials, corpses, flesh, wreckage fragments, and all the miscellaneous junk salvaged from the battlefield—he needed a warehouse to store it all.

This was the perfect spot. Later, he could even install a gate here, allowing vehicles to drive in directly so that cargo wouldn’t have to be left on the surface.

Finally, there was the section near the cockpit.

A downward passage there led directly to the third and final area of the basement.

’Back when I was designing the basement layout, I originally wanted to divide the Dark Erosion Cave into several functional zones, separated into blocks just like this.’

’But the Dark Erosion Cave had a mind of its own and insisted on growing the way it did, so that design concept was never put to use.’

’I didn’t expect to use it here, though.’

Gu Su followed the passage down, and the scene before him made him pause in surprise.

This underground space had been partitioned into several cubicles with wooden planks. The rough boards were nailed together neatly, dividing the once-open hall into smaller, distinct functional areas.

A complex odor hung in the air—a mix of blood, rotting flesh, and a sour tang reminiscent of the leather tanning process.

The scene here made it clear that the Mobile Cities Gu Su had devoured were not small-scale Mobile Castles.

These were proper cities with many buildings. After all, once Gu Su’s Graveyard Demon had finished binding and upgrading, it had been divided into several distinct construction zones.

How could a crab that large, or that three-headed giant, not have had any buildings of their own?

So, all of those buildings had been moved down here.

Every last one of them was crammed in here, waiting for Gu Su to sort them out.

Among these compartments was a workshop for processing Beast Skins, its overall style clearly bearing Lizardman characteristics.

There was also a building filled with numerous wood carvings that, at a glance, were clearly in the Undead style.

But the most important of these was a building located in the deepest part of the basement.

The building had an obvious Hunter-style design, and inside were many weapons like Javelins, Bows and Arrows, and Long Spears.

It had a feel very similar to the style one would expect to find inside the crab Mobile City.

It was similar to Gu Su’s own Combat Outpost.

[Mire Hut (Level 1): Consumes Yin Qi, Gold Coins, Metal, and other materials to transform common Undead into Swamp Hunters (Undead).]

[Cost: 15 units of Yin Qi, 5 Gold Coins, 1 unit of Metal, and 1 unit of Wood (a small amount of Leather can be added). Transforms one Skeleton into a Swamp Hunter.]

[Swamp Hunter (Level 1, Summoned Creature): Experience (0/50), Attack 6, Defense 3, Life 13. Traits: Undead Creature, Lurking, Ranged Attack.]

[Note: Slower-moving Undead, such as Walking Dead, are not suitable for transformation into Swamp Hunters!]

It was just that when the Graveyard Demon devoured things, it didn’t bother with such details.

It simply moved all the buildings inside first, regardless.

The rest was left for Gu Su to deal with.

Gu Su hadn’t even come down to the basement yet, so he had no idea he had lucked into such a huge boon.

Right now, Gu Su was near the Main Tomb Area, checking on the status of his Undead.

With the Graveyard Demon’s expansion, the biggest gains were naturally in the Main Tomb Area, the Withered Wood Forest, and the Swamp Forest.

Because the Graveyard Demon had expanded, the amount of graveyard space Gu Su could use had also greatly increased.

The increase here was far more than just threefold. Between the main graveyards on the left and right sides, there were now a total of 12 Level 1 Tombs, 8 Level 2 Tombs, and 4 Level 3 Tombs. Additionally, a Level 4 Tomb was in the process of generating.

Even though he didn’t know if it would successfully form, the effects were already clear.

At the same time, the number of grave plots beneath the Withered Wood Forest had also increased; two new plots had been added there. Over in the Swamp Forest, there were now a total of five grave plots.

Similar to the Withered Wood Forest, the upgrade path for the grave plots in the Swamp Forest was also fixed.

They could only follow the Gravepile upgrade path, and the Undead they produced were also quite unique.

They primarily produced two types of Undead. The first was the Ghoul, a common unit for forest-type graveyards and a specialty of the woods, mainly responsible for Woodcutting.

The other type was a swamp specialty: Slimes and Corpse Rat Swarms.

The Slimes were a gray variant, with numerous bones clearly visible inside their bodies. One corpse could only be converted into a single Slime, giving them no advantage over Bone Dogs, other than being suited for underwater and swamp combat.

The Corpse Rat Swarm, on the other hand, was quite formidable. A single corpse could produce six to seven Corpse Rats. And unlike the non-combatant White Crows, Corpse Rats were capable fighters. They could coordinate with each other in battle, their combat effectiveness growing with their numbers.

[Slime (Level 1, Summoned Creature): Experience (0/200), Attack 3, Defense 2, Life 15. Skills: Strong Acid Attack.]

[Corpse Rat Swarm (Level 1, Summoned Creature): Experience (0/100), Attack 1, Defense 1, Life 1. Skills: Group Combat.]