Chapter 226 - Polluting Oil
Suddenly, numerous rifts tore open across the sky above the Warring Kingdom Civilization, and thick streams of black oil poured from them.
One rift appeared near Han Wu’s shelter. As the oil hit the sea, it tainted the water. Any living creature that came into contact with the polluted water mutated into a savage beast, driven to slaughter everything in sight. Fish ballooned to ten times their original size, grew limbs, and wielded crude weapons fashioned from fish bones. Shrimp also swelled in size, stood upright, and their antennae transformed into whip-like weapons.
The first to encounter the mutated beasts were the Deeptide Whales and Deeptrench Frogmen. The moment the two sides met, a brutal battle erupted. Fortunately, the fish and shrimp had been weak to begin with, and even after their strength had been amplified by the polluted water, they remained fragile.
The Deeptide Whales and Deeptrench Frogmen crushed the first wave with ease. Once the battle ended, the Deeptrench Frogmen gathered the spoils and handed them over to Han Wu. Alongside useless fish bone swords and shrimp whips, they found a strange material.
The trio examined the countless black crystals, each roughly the size of a grain of rice. Han Wu detected residual energy within them. They experimented but found none of their units could absorb this energy. Instead, the mutated beasts grew stronger whenever they touched the crystals, absorbing their power. Han Wu immediately ordered his troops to collect every black crystal to keep them from empowering the enemy.
Meanwhile, the black oil spread rapidly through the seas surrounding Han Wu’s shelter, polluting a vast area. More animals mutated and launched relentless attacks on the shelter. Despite commanding 30 Eternal Altars and tens of millions of soldiers, the trio grew uneasy under the endless tide of beasts.
The sea teemed with sea creatures that could become potential enemies, and the situation worsened as Han Wu realized he could no longer summon new skeletons from the mutated beasts’ corpses. He knew that defeat would be inevitable if the crisis continued unchecked, especially since none of the larger sea creatures had yet come into contact with the pollution.
Sun Qingnian had something else on his mind. “We need to find a way to deal with the corpses. They’re starting to rot in the water. If this keeps up, we could end up with a plague on our hands.”
His Foxmen were skilled healers, but a full-scale epidemic was beyond their capabilities, especially with their numbers still below the hundred thousand mark.
Qin Shuang let out a quiet sigh as she received word from her Thunder Sparrows. “Many of the life forms in the Warring Kingdom Civilization are being corrupted by the pollution. They’re turning into mindless beasts. If this continues, they’ll start attacking both the native life forms and us. The pollution is wiping out the ecosystem here. No wonder the Will of the Warring Kingdom is spiraling out of control.”
Han Wu stayed quiet for a moment, deep in thought. War was on the horizon, and it came with a host of problems. Some seemed minor at first glance, but he couldn’t afford to ignore anything that could tip the balance of the conflict.
Suddenly, he had an idea. “Order the units to collect the corpses of the mutated fish and shrimp.”
Sun Qingnian looked confused. “What are you planning? Burn them? That’ll take a huge amount of Wood. We might manage once or twice, but it’s not sustainable.”
“Who said anything about burning?” Han Wu replied. “They’re food for my units.”
“Units? Food!” Qin Shuang caught on immediately. She remembered his locusts carried the Gluttony trait and grew stronger by eating. The Dark Cursed Bugs were variants of his core locust race.
“The Dark Cursed Bugs have the Gluttony trait, and I command the power of Famine. With enough of them, they can devour an entire mountain of flesh without breaking a sweat,” Han Wu assured them.
He then ordered his units to gather the corpses and stack them in an empty clearing. Though all of them were dead, their bodies still oozed with black oil. The thick liquid clung to their flesh and dripped steadily, threatening to contaminate the area if left unchecked.
Pinching his nose, Han Wu summoned his Dark Cursed Bugs to devour the remains. Driven by their Gluttony trait, the swarm tore into the corpses with alarming speed. But the black oil proved difficult to digest. Several locusts had to pause, their bodies overloaded and sluggish. A few pushed themselves too far, exploding from overeating as they tried to obey Han Wu’s command.
To solve this, Han Wu unleashed his Famine power, accelerating their digestion rate by several hundred times. They processed matter so quickly they could dissolve digest iron plating within minutes.
The towering pile of corpses shrank quickly as the swarm grew. Their bodies expanded from the size of fists to that of aquariums. Along with their size, their strength increased. Their tough exoskeletons formed sturdy armor, while their muscles bulked up with raw power. Instead of fitting into the Archer caste alone, these locusts now embodied traits of Infantry, Vanguard, Archer, and Heavy Cavalry all at once.
That was when Han Wu noticed something strange. As the Dark Cursed Bugs devoured the corpses, they didn’t fully digest the oil. Instead, the residue gathered in their heads and solidified into uniformly shaped dark crystals.
These crystals had the power to mentally corrupt other life forms, turning them into mindless, violent beasts. Yet they had no effect on the Dark Cursed Bugs. They lacked the intelligence to act on their own and responded only to Han Wu’s commands.
In that sense, the Dark Cursed Bugs were a natural counter to the invading civilization. Their impact was so effective that Han Wu immediately ordered his skeletons to keep piling up corpses for them to feed on.
They consumed so efficiently that even the corpses scattered across the region weren’t enough. Sun Qingnian and Qin Shuang felt a wave of relief to have Han Wu in charge. After all, he had prevented a plague before it could even start. Without him, the growing mound of corpses would have become a massive problem.
Just as they solved that crisis, a new one emerged. After days of pollution, the waters around them had turned completely black. Some Deeptrench Frogmen and Deeptide Whales had been affected by the pollution, and the trio had to put them down.
They understood how dire the situation had become and knew they needed a plan quickly. Without one, they would lose ground and face severe restrictions on their movement. When that happened, defeat would be all but certain.