Chapter Sixty-Four: Colin’s Countermeasures

The car came to a halt outside the church’s main entrance.

However, Colin had no intention of getting out just yet.

“If we don’t delve too deeply, and assuming there’s no deception in that warning, then in six days there will be a major operation targeting us ‘outsiders’—the aim, plainly, is to kill us…”

Wrapped in his ‘meditation headscarf’, Colin’s mind raced, swiftly arranging his thoughts.

At the same time, he used the hint system to verify whether his speculation was correct.

[Based on what you know, you think things are more or less as you imagine.]

“More or less”… so there must be something hidden.

Colin considered this, then decisively shook his head and discarded these extraneous, dangerous threads of speculation.

“I’ve clarified its primary intent, but its underlying motives remain unknown—for now, that’s not important.

“Since its main aim is largely confirmed, my own course of action isn’t complicated; I simply need to do the opposite. If it wants to kill, I will save…

“My only option now is to raise the collective strength of all survivors as much as possible, so that humanity as a whole will have a better chance of overcoming the disaster when it comes…

“One more thing: given the ‘nature’ of this ‘game’, every countdown should start from a whole number…”

This time, the blood-red countdown seemed to have already been running for a while when it appeared, which suggested it hadn’t only just begun—it had been there for some time.

It must have been concealed until he defeated the lord-level aberration, triggering certain conditions, or perhaps for reasons still buried too deep to understand; only then did it become visible…

And then, it was forcibly hidden again…

Had Colin not grown so rapidly and defeated the lord-level aberration, if everything had proceeded at a slower pace…

Everyone would have been caught completely unprepared!

They might even have been wiped out entirely!

Moreover, the system’s tendency to withhold crucial information was nothing new—most survivors had guessed as much.

For example, there were none of the usual “personal panels,” “health bars,” or “complete quest descriptions” one would expect in a game.

Especially quest descriptions—if not for the hints, Colin always felt as if half the information was missing.

Now it seemed it wasn’t that they didn’t exist, but rather that they were hidden…

This inability to accurately assess their own or the monsters’ combat strength had already led to significant casualties among the survivors.

Nonetheless, Colin dared not dwell on this too deeply, nor could he fathom the reason behind it.

Besides, this wasn’t something he should be focusing on right now.

At present, now that he’d grasped the enemy’s intentions, how did the saying go?

What our enemies oppose, we support…

Following this logic, Colin quickly began to consider how to strengthen humanity as a whole, how to improve the collective power.

After pondering for more than ten minutes, an idea gradually took shape in his mind—a plan with multiple benefits.

He would publicly distribute “common tainted blood,” and issue small amounts of the “rare tainted blood.”

Firstly, those with surplus resources and ability, upon receiving the common blood, would certainly expand.

This would effectively preserve the human population, stabilize the price of initial thralls, and keep their numbers in check, at least for the short term, so they wouldn’t exceed the system’s price.

Secondly, this would drive up the price of thralls, giving desperate survivors a last chance; the more resources they could trade for thralls, the greater their chances at a comeback.

Thirdly, the two new quests—“Civilization Investigator” and “Mist Explorer”—would be completed more rapidly.

Especially the rewards for the first quest: the “Civilization Investigator” title and the “Mist Explorer” badge.

Colin was convinced that once these were attained, the entire population would see a small leap forward.

Therefore, making the method for obtaining higher-grade blood public had become a necessity in Colin’s plan.

Secondly, he would publish the synthesis formulas for Level 3 territories and Level 1 war vehicles.

He’d already seen others post these, so he wasn’t worried about repercussions—the impact seemed minimal…

Still, even with previous postings, many people remained unaware of the formulas.

With billions online in the global channel, if there weren’t a pause function for the feed, most people would see nothing but a blur as messages scrolled by.

These two measures were, for now, the only counter-strategies Colin could devise.

Whether they would be effective was unknown, but he couldn’t just sit and do nothing.

As for selling black powder and the like, that wouldn’t change the overall situation.

Besides, he had, in fact, been selling black powder—supporting hundreds of people came with considerable expenses.

Later, Colin gathered the survivors for a discussion to refine the details. At the same time, he opened the global channel and joined the new trending topic: “What Will Happen in Six Days?”

At the moment, the feed was filled with wails and pessimism.

“What are we supposed to do? This game is clearly designed to kill us. It’s only the second day, and already something this dangerous is happening.”

“We’re finished, I can feel it—everyone will die…”

“This game is impossible. All we can do now is mine and do our daily tasks. One black bread a day—how can we survive six more days?”

“Exactly… I don’t even dare to walk a kilometer from my house, afraid I’ll get lost…”

“Hah, just go out and kill monsters. If you had an item like mine—‘Thousand-Jin Battle Axe: wielder’s attacks are doubled; each strike has a chance to inflict ‘Severe Wound’ on enemies with Strength or Endurance below 5’—you wouldn’t just be complaining.”

“Here’s the free recipe for Level 3 territory materials—well, I haven’t upgraded mine yet, so accuracy not guaranteed.”

“Guys, I’ve put common blood on the trading channel. Go get it and improve yourselves…”

“Anyone in the same zone as Colin the Great? Go ask him for help…”

…

There was optimism and pessimism in the chat feed, but to Colin’s surprise, someone had already started taking action.

“Looks like others have had the same idea as us,” Colin murmured as he scrolled through the messages—he barely needed ten seconds to get the gist.

A survivor agreed, “True, but sadly, there are too few of them. We’ve only seen one or two so far…”

Someone else in the temporary discussion room added, “That’s how it is when you have no influence.”

Indeed, some were selling blood, even at very low prices.

But such people were rare…

Not everyone was willing to share their gains; more often, people tried to seize as many resources as possible before others could catch up.

As for those lucky enough to be helped…

Most of them… weren’t exactly eager to pay it forward, either.