Chapter 224 - 223: Growth and Harvest

Chapter 224: Chapter 223: Growth and Harvest

Gu Su sat back down under the Deceitful Tree, leaning against its bare trunk. In his hands, he flipped through the already transcribed Mysterious Handwritten Manuscript.

The dense script on the pages hadn’t fully dried yet. The ink varied in shade, and it had smudged in some places, as if it had been written in a hurry.

He flipped through a few pages without reading them closely, then closed the book and rested it on his knees. He raised his eyes to gaze at the Graveyard Demon in the distance.

The Graveyard Demon was getting bigger.

It wasn’t a sudden explosion of growth, but a slow, gradual expansion, pushing outward bit by bit.

The soil beneath the perimeter wall was churning, as if something was heaving underground, pushing the earth up, compacting it, then pushing it up and compacting it again.

The outline of the wall was being pushed outward, inch by inch. It wasn’t fast, but it was noticeable.

The blood-red, mycelia-covered ruins of the manor were disappearing piece by piece. First, the outer wall vanished, followed by the collapsed buildings. Then the field ridges, withered trees, and scattered rubble were all dragged underground by the mycelia, becoming part of the Graveyard Demon.

Gu Su leaned against the trunk and closed his eyes for a moment.

He could feel it. Not see it, but feel it. When the Graveyard Demon devoured something, it would compile a list of what it had consumed and send it directly into his mind.

It wasn’t a series of system notifications popping up one by one. It was more like the entire list slapped into his awareness all at once, perfectly clear. Without even needing to go take a look, Gu Su knew exactly what he had gained.

The list from this devouring wasn’t long, but every single item was useful.

The manor’s main house, servants’ quarters, and slave quarters—all three buildings were in ruins.

They hadn’t been demolished; they had already mostly collapsed. By the time the mycelia dragged them in, the wood and stone were just a scattered pile, impossible to tell apart.

The Graveyard Demon sorted out the usable timber and stone, converting the remaining debris into basic materials and storing it in a corner of the basement for future use.

The Water Tower was intact.

The sheet-metal Water Tower stood in the northeast corner of the manor. It was crooked, and the tank on top was halfway caved in, but its framework was still solid.

The Graveyard Demon moved the entire structure over, placing it at the edge of the Swamp Forest, right next to the canal that channeled water from the Dew Grass area.

The water from the canal would now flow into the Water Tower for storage before being distributed to every corner of the graveyard through underground pipes.

He would no longer have to haul water out jar by jar; now, all he’d have to do is turn a valve.

The granary was also intact.

The granary stood next to the Trading Post. It wasn’t large; from the outside, it looked like just an eight-square-meter room built into the wall.

But Gu Su knew this was no ordinary structure. It could store thirty thousand units of grain.

Grain stored inside wouldn’t mold or attract pests. No matter how long it sat, it would be just as fresh as the day it was put in.

All the mushrooms, chicken, and dry rations Gu Su had wouldn’t even fill a single corner.

Truthfully, Gu Su had been wanting a warehouse for a while.

After all, he was accumulating more and more items. The area around the Yin Fire Heap was full, the basement was nearly packed, and there were even a few sacks of grain stacked in the courtyard of his residence. Now, with the granary in place, his storage problems were solved for a good while.

Gu Su also obtained a new field.

It wasn’t large, just over a hundred square meters, and it was where the manor had once grown its cash crops.

The crops in the field had long since died, but some seeds remained in the soil.

The field was originally used to grow a special type of tobacco called Tibia-thinning Grass. Unfortunately, during the devouring process, most of the plants had withered. Only a few seeds, which had degenerated to the point that their original effects were unknown, were preserved intact.

However, Tibia-thinning Grass had its own unique advantage. It was, indeed, a type of tobacco that grew large, thick leaves when mature, which produced a dense smoke when burned.

More importantly, this tobacco was highly adaptable. If other substances were added to it, the smoke produced upon burning would carry corresponding effects, making it a perfect raw material for creating Poison Gas Bombs. It would surely prove to be of great use in future battles.

As for whether Tibia-thinning Grass had other hidden effects, Gu Su didn’t plan to investigate further. It wasn’t within the scope of his Talent. He would leave the research and exploration to the Corpse Witch, who would surely be able to uncover more uses for it.

In addition, a small stable would be added next to the Doomsday Tavern.

Although the stable only occupied a few square meters, its interior space had been altered by a bizarre power, allowing it to easily accommodate ten warhorses.

Previously, the Death Knight’s warhorse had nowhere suitable to be kept. The construction of the stable finally solved this problem, giving the steed its own dedicated shelter.

As these items were brought in one by one, the Graveyard Demon slowly expanded. The perimeter wall had already been pushed out several meters, and the blood-red mycelia were retracting, revealing freshly turned earth beneath.

The earth was black, damp, and glistening as if it had just been watered. The spire of the Water Tower was now visible, rising from the direction of the Swamp Forest.

Gu Su merely glanced in that direction before lowering his head again to examine the information on the three bizarre creatures recorded this time in the Mysterious Handwritten Manuscript.

It contained information about the strange rabbits Gu Su had fought earlier.

The creature was called the Shige Rabbit—as its name implied, it was a rabbit that could die ten times.

When one died, its flesh and blood would be consumed by the other nine. The final rabbit to emerge would have outrageously high combat power.

However, the Mysterious Handwritten Manuscript also recorded another piece of information.

If the Shige Rabbits were killed according to the rhythm and sequence of a certain nursery rhyme, the final rabbit would be even more powerful than if they were killed randomly.

Therefore, when encountering Shige Rabbits, it was imperative to kill them in batches, never one by one.

The next entry was about a bizarre creature called the Little Butcher.

According to the drawings in the Mysterious Handwritten Manuscript, they were twisted children whose hands had fused with blades.

The deadliest part was one of their Traits, called "Play House."

They genuinely treated combat as a game and their enemies as pigs for slaughter.

This ability manifested with terrifying strength, whether it was in pinning down an enemy or killing them with a single strike.

The method to counter it was also surprisingly simple: just say to them, "Let’s play a game."

More than eighty percent of Little Butchers would agree. At that moment, they would be at their weakest and most vulnerable to attack.

The final piece of information concerned Wisconsin, something Gu Su had been wanting to look into for a long time.

However, likely because Wisconsin’s Level was too high, the Mysterious Handwritten Manuscript didn’t contain much information about it.

At most, it allowed Gu Su to understand the basic nature of this so-called Wisconsin.

It turned out that Gu Su’s initial guess was wrong.

Wisconsin was, in fact, a place name.