Chapter 155: We Are the Disaster

[The Purifier]
[Task Content: Some external contamination is spreading among the survivors. For the safety of all personnel, the system has evaluated the situation and decided—it's you.]
[Task Duration: ...]
[Task Reward: You will instantly gain a special perception ability regarding "infection".]

"This perception ability practically overlaps with my own. Besides, they couldn't even bother to give away a few black breads to brush me off; this is too much..."

Colin casually dismissed the task, and through the now-restored regional channel, sent a message reporting that he was safe.

Then, enduring a wave of intense fatigue, he swung his legs off the bed and walked toward the door.

What needed to be done now was to restore order as soon as possible, consolidate existing resources, prepare to face whatever was coming in three days, and soon initiate external exploration and organize rescue operations.

Shortly after, taking a few deep breaths behind the door to make himself look less exhausted, Colin pushed open the bedroom door.

Almost subconsciously, Colin looked out the window and felt that something was amiss.

After staring for a few seconds, he averted his gaze with a peculiar sense of heart palpitations, confirming one thing...

The flow speed of the gray fog seemed to have increased...

Although the acceleration was not very obvious and somewhat hard to detect, it had indeed become faster...

At that moment, a thought suddenly struck him. The "system" had once stated that the only thing capable of combating the "unknown" was the "unknown"...

At the time, he had no idea what this "unknown" referred to...

But now, he abruptly realized that the gray fog right before his eyes was itself a deeply bizarre entity...

Though uncertain, Colin vaguely sensed that the retreat of the "night" was likely related to the gray fog to some extent.

Furthermore, Colin recalled asking the system a question back then...

What exactly was the "gray fog wall"...

The "system" had replied that no such thing existed, and that everything was simply a hallucination-like effect it induced through certain methods to prevent survivors from wandering into overly dangerous areas.

However, following this incident, as the influence of "night" and other "unknown" entities began to recede, those things that had once hidden away would become active once again.

"This aligns pretty well with my own guess..."

Shaking his head, Colin slightly reined in his related associations.

Immediately afterward, he noticed the battle-wagons outside the window—still uncleared, hanging with monster limbs, and looking utterly battered—alongside the numerous servants lying on the ground awaiting medical treatment...

All survivors had received the "Recovery Card" sent by the "system", but the servants had not...

At this moment, with a massive number of wounded individuals having nowhere to go, they could only lie one by one on the ground of the territory, waiting for further wound care.

The pressure on the medical front was immense...

[You realize that as long as bleeding can be stopped and food replenished, through a few days to a month of recuperation, most servants will be able to recover their health.]

"Phew, that's a relief."

Colin knew that the servants possessed incredible vitality and fairly good learning talents.

Yet the specific reason why this was the case remained unclear; the "system" had not given a definitive answer, only telling him that the "template" of the "servants" had been optimized...

Though what was optimized was not the system itself...

"I just hope there aren't any more traps hidden in this..."

Colin silently prayed in his heart, feeling as though malice permeated every corner of this world.

Just then, shortly after he sent out his message and stepped out of his bedroom, a flurry of hurried footsteps sounded from outside.

Before long, a sharp knocking echoed on the door.

"Come in."

As his voice fell, Colin saw Li Hang and several others walk into the room.

"Mr. Colin, you're finally awake..."

Li Hang wanted to say something, but upon seeing Colin's face, his voice suddenly faltered.

Right now, Colin's face bore a sickly pallor, and his eyes conveyed an unmasked frailty and exhaustion.

Yet, contradictorily, his expression carried his usual smile, as if completely unaffected.

"Haven't seen you guys in a few days, you've changed quite a bit." Colin spoke first. Perhaps due to the experiences of the past few days, he distinctly felt that the temperament of Li Hang and the others had undergone a earth-shattering transformation, becoming much more resolute.

Without wasting time on polite pleasantries, he continued, "Ask whatever questions you have."

Li Hang nodded and said, "Well, we aren't sure if you've read that report, but we mainly wanted to ask what you know about the 'Lord-class aberration'..."

Although surviving a disaster was something to celebrate, if the questions lingering here remained unresolved, they simply couldn't find joy in it.

After pondering for a second or two, Colin replied:

"What I can tell you is that the Lord-class aberrations on the island are all dead, but..."

Without concealing his speculations, he shared everything he knew.

Something is tracking us... Li Hang and the others felt their hearts sink.

Observing the worried looks on their faces, Colin shook his head and said, "Don't worry too much about this right now. Let's wrap up the aftermath of this battle first. What is the situation like currently?"

Roger, the administrator standing nearby, took over the conversation. "The wounded are mostly stabilized. The servants have very good self-healing capabilities, but there are many disabled individuals who, even if they recover, will likely be unable to serve any useful purpose in the future..."

In this battle, a great number of people suffered extremely severe injuries, with missing limbs accounting for at least a fifth of the total...

However, resources were limited and could not be distributed to everyone.

What should be done with those people then?

Abandon them?

One must remember that taking care of these individuals also required manpower...

Servants in the recovery stage consumed roughly twice as much food as usual.

Faced with this somewhat ruthless description, Li Hang, who had consistently led the servants in battle, furrowed his brow.

Roger ignored him, however, and continued, "Our resources might look abundant, but in reality, they won't last very long. The aberrations on the island have basically been dealt with. In three days, we will face some unknown disaster again—wasn't that what you said?"

Roger spoke bit by bit. This was a very realistic problem, and he didn't have many solutions.

Moreover, trouble was coming in three days—this was according to the message Colin had transmitted...

Yet the threat of an attack by unknown creatures hadn't been verified yet, because when Colin sent that message, there was absolutely no one around him.

The servants who suddenly received the information had no way of verifying its authenticity.

When they finally noticed someone in the room, they only saw Colin in an extremely poor state, sleeping like a vegetative person.

"Indeed, I said it... but it's not time to abandon these people yet."

Colin continued in a calm tone, "The food allocation for this group can be reduced, just enough to keep them alive...

"The food saved from that can be given to those with moderate and minor injuries so they can recover quickly and become useful..."

"Understood! I get your meaning, I know what to do."

Li Hang hurriedly cut in, wanting to prevent Roger from rambling on any further. But a second later, his expression hesitated. "However, regarding supplies..."

Though he didn't want to abandon these people either, the reality was right in front of them; if this matter wasn't handled properly, they would be dragged down...

Because even with reduced food rations, they couldn't hold out for long.

Before he could finish, however, Colin waved a hand to interrupt him.

"In three days, a disaster is indeed coming. But the difference is—we are their 'unknown disaster'."