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When he played the game before, Tao Sai clearly remembered that the game had a wide variety of skills. There were skills that increased the character's IQ, clairvoyance, super hearing, invisibility, water control, and even the ability to summon fire from thin air, and there were several similar skills.
She could accept her bad luck, but why! Why! Why did she always draw these damn power skills!
Tao Sai clenched her fist angrily and hammered twice, accidentally causing a dent in the thin steel plate.
Tao Sai: “…”
Tao Sai looked up at the darkening sky, sighed softly, and silently used the [Star Upgrade Card] from the reward on himself.
You used a [Star Up Card], and the character [Taosai]'s star rating increased from (★☆) to (★★).
【Tao Sai [female]
Star rating: ★★
Level: 5
Experience: 8192/32768
property
Intelligence: 6/100
Strength: 18/100
Physical strength: 7/100
Agility: 7/100
Resistance: 7/100
Skill: [Clone Level 1]
After using the [Star Upgrade Card], he gained 5 skill points as compensation, 3 of which were added to strength, reaching a terrifying 18 points.
She feels that she can arm wrestle with the best weightlifters in the world without any risk of losing.
Tao Sai finally set her sights on the most anticipated reward: [Advanced Mall Raffle Ticket x1]. Game items sold in the [Mall] are considered basic items if they cost 100 gold coins or less, mid-level items if they cost 100-1000 gold coins, and premium items if they cost 1000-10000 gold coins. Premium items are those in the 1000-10000 gold range, which is what she could win with this raffle ticket.
Focus on the props.
[You have opened the [Premium Mall Raffle Ticket]! ]
【You have obtained [Electric Light Cannon]! 】
[Electro-optical Cannon Type A] is the most basic weapon for attacking shelter ships. It uses electricity as ammunition and can kill insects after being charged. However, its firing rate is slow, the effective range is only 200 meters, and its power is average.
But it's better to have it than not, so Tao Sai immediately chose to install it, finally filling the gap in the ship's attack system.
"Doctor Liang, you're finally awake!" Guo Xiaoming shouted excitedly when he saw Liang Yuanzhou, who was placed on a cushion, begin to open his eyes.
Liang Yuanzhou pressed the back of his head and looked around.
"Thank God, Dr. Liang, you are okay. It was this girl who saved us!" Guo Xiaoming said, pointing at Tao Sai not far away.
Liang Yuanzhou heard this and nodded slightly in Tao Sai's direction, his face expressionless. Although he had been knocked unconscious during this period and his body could not wake up, his brain had actually been aware of it all the time, especially during the initial period.
Seeing the strange look on his face, the assistant and the intern were very concerned and came over to ask, "Doctor Liang, what's wrong?"
"Yes, Doctor Liang, what's wrong with you? Tell us."
"I'm fine." Liang Yuanzhou shook his head and shifted his gaze to the vast river.
Tao Sai temporarily shifted his thoughts from this because Lan Xiaojia, who had been staring at her phone, suddenly stood up excitedly and said, "Everyone, look at the latest report from Nanzhou City. A drone captured footage of the sky above the city, saying that the insects are no longer moving!"
"Not moving?"
Others quickly gathered around, and several medical staff from the orthopedics department were also refreshing the news on their phones.
Aerial footage from the Nanzhou City News Network shows the insect swarm engulfing a third of the city, including the old town. However, just as the swarm crossed the Yangding River, the insects suddenly stopped advancing, spreading across the ground in a state of absolute stillness. This stillness has persisted for over 10 minutes, with no signs of recovery.
In the comment section of the official blog of Nanzhou City News Network, survivors who evacuated to the safe zone and all netizens who are paying attention to the insect swarm crisis in Nanzhou City engaged in a heated discussion.
The most popular comment came from a netizen nicknamed "Xiaoyangchun," who jokingly commented: "It must be our chemical materials that have poisoned all the insects."
There are also many criticisms under this comment, most of which accuse the host of having no sympathy and no humanity. Countless people died in this unprecedented catastrophe, but he is here trying to be witty.
Some netizens believe that the bugs are currently exhausted and resting, and now is the best time to eliminate them, and a large-scale cull should be launched immediately. Other netizens disagree, arguing that Whale City's current weapons and military are insufficient to compete with such a large number of bugs, and awakening the bugs without being able to deal with them will only cause greater casualties.
The Nanzhou City Emergency Command Center remained vigilant and continued to evacuate residents from the danger zone. However, to quickly uncover the truth, they also dispatched a team of experts to the front lines of the insect infestation to conduct an investigation.
Tao Sai knew very well that the insects had reached a saturation state. The scale of the insect swarm in South City was not too large. After engulfing a certain mass of ground buildings, it would reach a saturation state. This was equivalent to a buffer period and also an excellent opportunity for humans to escape.
Although this time will not be too long, it is enough to provide more possibilities of survival for the citizens of Nanzhou City.
Several orthopedic medical staff were checking the news and making phone calls, trying to get news about their family and friends. Time ticked by, and the calls finally started coming through. The family members on the other end of the line told them that all the medical staff and their families at the Seventh Hospital had been properly relocated to a safe area. After exchanging reports of safety, they finally felt relieved.
In fact, the first victims of the insect swarm, aside from those who died initially from carelessness or those who didn't evacuate in time, were actually the safest. This was because the government had sufficient resources for evacuation, and resources from unaffected areas would also be directed there. However, in the later stages of the disaster, the scale of the insect swarm reached a terrifying level, spreading across the entire region. Rescue efforts were ineffective, and many victims were helplessly stranded on land.
"So you are not the government rescue team?" Yin Wen looked around the boat and did not find any rescue equipment and tools with any markings, no uniforms, and even the crew included men, women, young and old. Only then did he realize the problem.
“No,” Towsey said.
"Oh my God! Why are you willing to risk your lives to save us!" Guo Xiaoming's eyes were filled with even more gratitude.
"It was just a coincidence." Tao Sai lied calmly.
In fact, rescuing them is just a side quest assigned by the system. According to Tao Sai's gaming experience, the people rescued on board will have a greater willingness to join the refugee ship, but Tao Sai observed that the willingness of these people is not very high. However, there is no need to rush. Let them stay on the ship as survivors for a while, and then slowly find a solution later.
The side quests were also completed. According to the planned schedule, they now needed to upgrade the refuge ship and rush to Donghai City as soon as possible. However, since they had not killed enough monsters before, they still needed a lot of experience and gold coins to upgrade.
Tao Sai must be planning to kill enough here. This place is very close to the insect swarm, but the insects are currently saturated. If she throws grenades into the insect swarm, it will definitely wake up the insects. If there are survivors on the edge of the insect swarm who have not had time to retreat, she will become a sinner.
But now they can make some preparations before the insect swarm resurfaces.
Tao Sai studied the offline map in his notebook carefully, and suddenly his eyes lit up.
Six kilometers away from here, on the river bank, there is a terrain similar to a peninsula, with a long piece of land extending into the river. Tao Sai immediately decided to drive the fishing boat over there.
After successfully mooring the fishing boat, Zhou Ning asked in confusion: "Taotao, why do we have to moor the boat here?"
Tao Sai gathered everyone together, zoomed in on the map, and started drawing on it. "I plan to build a fortification here to lure the bugs over here. We can then concentrate our weapons to eliminate them."
"Fortifications?" Zhou Ning was the first to notice the problem. "No, Taotao, bugs are indestructible. We can't get materials hard enough to build fortifications."
Tao Sai pointed to the small peninsula and said, "That's why I chose this terrain. Bugs are afraid of water, and water is our defense. We can use the time now to dig a few small water troughs along the river to isolate large-scale bug swarms. This way, we can keep the density of the bug swarms in this area at a low level. Then, we can make good use of the terrain here to spawn monsters endlessly."
And most importantly, this is the riverside, so we can retreat at any time. Even if the fortifications are breached by insects, we can still evacuate to the refuge boat and escape in time.
After explaining his idea, Tao Sai began to take out tools from the warehouse and the storage compartment of the fishing boat. The strong laborers on the boat were all assigned digging tools.
"Is there anything we can do?" Yin Wen on the side raised his hand.
They listened to the general idea from the side, and although they didn't quite understand it, they believed that there was strength in numbers. Besides, they owed him such a big favor, and they would feel guilty if they didn't repay it.
Of course, Tao Sai wouldn't mind more people joining in. After all, the saturation period of the insect tide is not long. She cannot guarantee that the insects will not revive prematurely before the fortifications are completed. The more labor force there is, the shorter the construction period can be.
Everyone on the refugee boat except Grandma Zhou went ashore with tools and started digging at the riverside with hoes according to Tao Sai's plan.
As for Grandma Zhou, she stayed in the cockpit, using the [Command and Control System - Primary] to monitor the insect tide's direction and provide warnings to everyone at any time. Monitoring the insect tide was simple; it simply required observing the insect tide symbol on the display to see if it was stationary. After Zhou Ning's simple instruction, Grandma Zhou mastered it.
Twelve people on the shore divided the work. Some, armed with their own hoes and shovels, worked tirelessly digging, while others carried soil and rocks to the adjacent open space. Liang Yuanzhou even used the trunk of his car to transport the soil. The trough was to be dug as deep and wide as possible; the deeper and wider it was, the longer it would withstand the insect swarm. The trough would not be connected to the river for the time being; once all work was complete, the connection point would be drilled through, and the river would then fill the entire trough.
Tao Sai had designed the entire fortification as a maze. When the insect swarms approached, most would reroute due to their repulsive nature, while smaller groups would swarm into the maze's entrance. The streams were then divided by water troughs, becoming increasingly smaller and flowing to specific locations. Tao Sai positioned all the crew members at these locations, equipped with insect-poking knives, stamina potions, and disinfectant soda.
Not far from the fortifications, Tao Sai spotted a depression about 10 meters in diameter. She estimated the distance between the two and found it to be around 300 meters. She calculated this and quickly dug a shovel to deepen the depression.
Her idea was that when the insect swarm passed by here, they would definitely accumulate in large numbers in the depression. At that time, she would stand far away in the fortifications, use the [Charge] skill, and throw explosive bombs in. Each explosive bomb would surely fully exert its explosive power.
Over the next few hours, the sky gradually darkened, and the fortifications along the river were being built step by step according to Tao Sai's expectations.
After it was completely dark, Tao Sai took out the searchlight on the fishing boat for illumination. She chose to let some people rest first and work in turns, mainly because there were not enough beds on the boat.
At 11 o'clock in the evening, Tao Sai stood by the river and dug with a hoe. The river water poured into the trough continuously, and the water level rose little by little. The fortifications appeared in front of her in their entirety, exactly as she had imagined.
The workload for the day had already seriously exceeded her quota, and Tao Sai was already so exhausted that her eyelids were drooping violently. When it was finally her turn to rest, she equipped herself with the skill [Quality Sleep] and closed her eyes with a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.
After an unknown amount of sleep, Tao Sai was awakened by a sound of people shouting in her ear: "The bugs are starting to move!"
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