Silent world, Cao Xing’s exploration method. (6200)

Cao Xing turned around almost without hesitation, returned to the lord's castle, and locked the main gate tightly.

Then, he pulled the curtains shut, turned off all the lights in the room, and left only the stove burning with coal.

After doing this, he immediately pressed the communication device on his ear and said, "Everyone, extinguish your light sources, stay honestly in your respective rooms, and remember not to make any sound."

Upon hearing the order, the lighthouses across the entire territory were instantly turned off.

Even the residential houses had their windows tightly closed and curtains drawn.

Even the energy tower at the center of the territory entered a low-power state.

Fortunately, most Survivor territories had upgraded their bonfires to furnaces by now, and furnaces do not emit very bright light.

Otherwise, in this extreme low temperature, not being able to use a bonfire for warmth would freeze people to death!

And as the lights went out, the entire world fell into silence and darkness.

Whether it was the various buildings in the territory, or those machines, cattle, and sheep—including the beasts and insects in the valleys outside the territory, nothing made a sound anymore.

Thus, it became a truly silent world!

Survivors in other territories were curled up in their rooms at this moment, waiting with anxiety and unease. Many people had watched the live stream during the day, yet they never saw how that Survivor died.

They didn't even know what the creatures inside looked like, and the unknown is what makes people feel most afraid!

Everyone dared not even breathe loudly, for fear of attracting the monsters in the mist and ending up like that Cai Ze, dying in an inexplicable way.

Under this oppressive atmosphere, the first half of the night gradually passed.

Just as the time passed 00:00, Cao Xing suddenly felt something approaching his territory rapidly.

Crawling sounds and buzzing wing sounds reached his ears.

Previously, these sounds only wandered in the snow outside the territory, but now it seemed they were climbing directly onto the city walls, heading toward his territory.

It wasn't just him; almost most Survivors in the chat channel had this feeling.

They dared not make a sound, sending text messages one by one to ask, "Damn! Brothers, did you hear that sound? It seems like something has entered my territory!"

"I heard it too, but why didn't the arrow tower's defense mechanism trigger when these things came in? It's too strange!"

"Is there any brave brother who can go out and see what exactly those creatures outside are?"

However, no one responded to this question. Although everyone was very curious about what was moving in the territory right now, no one dared to go out and court death, staying honestly in their rooms.

Cao Xing was also very curious about the movement outside, so he slowly climbed up from the bed.

Beside him, Liu Muxue gently tugged at his sleeve, a look of worry appearing in her eyes.

Cao Xing made a gesture, signaling her not to worry. He wasn't stupid enough to go open the door and have a direct confrontation with these unknown creatures now.

Then, under Liu Muxue's worried gaze, Cao Xing slowly walked to the window and gently lifted a corner of the curtain. Through a small gap, he looked outside.

However, Cao Xing could only see darkness and endless thick fog, as if it had completely enveloped the entire territory.

Cao Xing thought to himself, "Can I see nothing?" He wasn't surprised by this scene. After all, the creatures in the thick fog were too mysterious; even an indigenous person like Old Mel, who had lived for decades, didn't know what those creatures were.

After observing for a while without result, Cao Xing pulled the curtain back. Then he returned to the bed, pulled Liu Muxue into his arms, and crawled into the warm quilt together.

Outside, the fog was thick, and the cold wind howled. At such a time, only the person beside you could provide a trace of warmth and comfort.

Just when Cao Xing thought he could spend the night safely, in the second half of the night, he suddenly heard a knocking sound.

"Thump— Thump, thump, thump—"

"Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump—"

The knocking was irregular, just like the sound of gravel hitting the door in the night wind. However, this sound carried a hint of seduction, as if it were inducing you to open the door!

Cao Xing remembered what Old Mel had said during the day. So he quickly pressed the communication device on his ear and whispered inside the quilt, "Everyone, pay attention. Do not make any sound, and do not open the door."

"Just pretend you didn't hear anything, and didn't see anything."

No sound came from his ear; everyone was staying honestly in their rooms, and they did not reply to Cao Xing's message.

But the chat channel became lively again in the middle of the night. Survivors were constantly sending various messages, their text filled with intense panic!

"Damn! What the hell is knocking on the door? This is too strange, right?"

"Oh my god, I'm so scared— Sob, sob—"

"WTF, my cabinet moved. I'm not playing anymore!"

"Brothers, listen to my advice, definitely do not go out and open the door, and do not make any sound."

And just then, one person suddenly said, "Damn! You said it too late. I thought it was another villager knocking, and now I've already opened—"

This person's message stopped abruptly before it could be finished. This scene made a chill rise in the hearts of all the Survivors in the chat channel!

For a time, everyone dared not even breathe loudly. Under this oppressive atmosphere, the night time was extremely agonizing for everyone.

Moreover, various crawling sounds and crashing sounds kept coming from outside the door, making it impossible for anyone to sleep peacefully. This situation lasted for several hours.

Until 6:00 AM the next day, when the dawn light shone on the earth from the horizon, that strange crashing sound gradually dissipated.

[Survivors, please note! You have passed the fifteenth day of the development period. The Sinking Haze Fog Disaster will continue to exist. Please be prepared.]

[Today's weather: Heavy fog, minimum temperature -58°C to -63°C, not suitable for going out.]

The moment the prompt appeared, in the chat channel, many people with sleepy eyes let out a sigh of relief. "It's finally over— Fortunately, we made it through this night without any danger."

"Damn, it was really agonizing!"

"Don't let your guard down. This heavy fog will continue. We must use the daytime to prepare."

"Well said! Everyone, as long as you don't leave the territory during the day, it's safe."

For a time, the Survivors all took action.

After seeing the system prompt, Cao Xing quickly pressed the communication device on his ear and asked, "Report the headcount. Is anyone missing?"

Hearing the voice, all territory members responded one after another.

After confirming that everyone in the territory was present, Cao Xing breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he ordered, "Alright, continue as yesterday. Those who need to work, go to work; those who need to train, go train."

Hearing the instruction, all the staff got up and acted according to yesterday's development rhythm.

The staff went to the cafeteria to eat breakfast and immediately started their day's work. Those building the city wall continued building; those upgrading the lighthouse continued upgrading.

Daytime passed quickly. As night fell, the thick fog surged again by a large margin.

With the experience of the first night, the Survivors closed their doors and windows tightly as soon as it got dark and entered a quiet state.

However, Cao Xing wanted to test what the creatures in the fog really were. To reach this conclusion was simple: send a friendly creature to stand in the fog. If it died, he could see what creature was attacking it through the system prompt.

Of course, he certainly wouldn't use the staff or combat personnel in the territory for the experiment. He used the skill—Summon Frost Spirit.

"Click! Click!" The cold air in the air was mobilized, and with a wave of Cao Xing's staff, two summoned creatures, about one meter tall and made entirely of frost, appeared.

Then, under his control, these two Frost Spirits quickly left the lord's castle and walked toward the outside of the territory.

Cao Xing's current mental power allowed him to control these Frost Spirits to act within a range of about two to three kilometers. Very quickly, these two Frost Spirits walked to the buffer zone outside the territory.

And Cao Xing, standing in the lord's castle at this moment, pressed against the window, heard the dense crawling sounds again, and the buzzing sound of wings.

The creatures in the mist started to move again, surging toward his territory. However, Cao Xing heard those crawling sounds climbing over the city wall and already appearing near the lord's castle.

And the Frost Spirits outside didn't seem to be attacked, still standing in place intact.

"Huh? Could it be that the existence in the fog doesn't attack these summoned creatures?"

Just as he felt strange, a large string of combat information suddenly started to scroll crazily!

[Your summoned creature: Frost Spirit was attacked by '???', received 178 damage.]

[Your summoned creature: Frost Spirit was attacked by '???', received 185 damage.]

[Your…]

At this moment, Cao Xing's gaze suddenly turned serious. These damage numbers didn't look high. However, what if you were told that this was thousands of messages, and it was thousands per second?

In less than two seconds, these two Frost Spirits, which had 1.2 million HP, directly turned into piles of ice sculpture fragments and disappeared.

[Your summoned creature: Frost Spirit has died.]

Seeing these two death prompts, Cao Xing sighed in his heart. "It's a bit terrifying. A Frost Spirit with 1.2 million HP can't even last two seconds."

"And more importantly, until now, I don't even know what kind of creature is inside. This fog is too weird."

"It seems that listening to the system was indeed correct. It's better not to go out easily."

Cao Xing did not continue to test. This night, everyone stayed honestly in the territory, and no one acted like the first day, actively courting death.

The next day—As the dawn light arrived, the thick fog was dispersed a little. Those unknown creatures also retreated one after another.

Next, it was always this rhythm. During the day, everyone stayed in the territory as much as possible to make some preparations, or used the resources on hand to exchange some coal and wood with others, and prepared some supplies needed for the night in advance.

Then, as soon as it got dark, they immediately shrank back into their rooms.

Third day—

Fourth day—

Fifth day—

This fog disaster had already lasted for a full seven days, and there was still no sign of it dissipating.

It was not until nightfall on the seventh day.

Many Survivors complained in the chat channel.

"Damn it—this fog disaster has lasted way too long, right? A whole week has passed, and there's still no sign of it clearing up."

"Yeah, such a long fog disaster is practically testing our territory's reserves."

"I'm done for. The coal and wood in my territory are running out; at most, they'll last another night before being completely exhausted. Does anyone have any coal to lend me? I'll trade iron and copper for it."

"Brother, what are you thinking? Don't you know how high the prices of coal and wood have soared right now? Even if you offered high-level materials like Mithril, no one would trade with you!"

"Trading 100 units of wheat for 100 units of coal, is anyone interested in trading?"

In reality, most Survivors did not have many resources stored up.

After all, they didn't have many workers, and the resource points that refreshed weekly in their territories were limited; what they mined was barely enough for their territory's development.

The seven-day fog disaster had nearly depleted the Survivors' supplies, especially food and coal, which were in extremely short supply.

For a time, everyone began to worry about resources.

The next day—that is, the eighth day of the fog disaster—this situation became even more severe.

More and more Survivors saw their territory's furnaces go out due to a lack of fuel, causing temperatures to plummet drastically.

There were also some people who, due to a lack of food, didn't feed their workers, leading to chaotic situations within their territories.

"Damn it! These unruly people, I didn't feed them for just two damn days, and they're all acting like they want to rebel. In such heavy fog, where the hell am I supposed to find food for them?"

"My territory's furnace went out. These Arctic People and commoners don't have strong constitutions; they couldn't stand the cold and said they wanted to leave my territory to find other safe places. As a result, they ran into the thick fog and all died!"

"It's good that they died! Damn it, at least it solved our food problem."

"I have some frozen meat here. Does anyone have any coal to exchange with me?"

This fog disaster was somewhat sudden, and everyone was simply unprepared to deal with a long-term disaster.

Eight consecutive days of fog disaster had nearly exhausted the foundations of most territories.

However, Cao Xing's territory had quite sufficient resource reserves.

Whether it was food or coal, there was still plenty.

Most of the million kilograms of grain that the Baron had helped him collect earlier had been consumed, but there was still a significant amount stored in the basement.

As for coal, it went without saying.

When Da Zhuang and the others were mining the Ratman Mine and the Lamprey Grotto—those two large mining sites—they had extracted quite a lot.

The current reserves were still in the hundreds of thousands, enough for him to use for several months.

Moreover, his energy towers were now using energy crystals; coal had already become a low-level energy source.

However, this also gave Cao Xing a different idea.

Of course, it wasn't the idea of taking advantage of this opportunity to exchange coal and food for the precious materials in the Survivors' hands.

There was no need for that, because if he wanted to, he had many methods to get the good things out of their hands.

After all, Cao Xing still had a large amount of Saber-toothed Tiger meat and Lizard Overlord meat in his backpack that hadn't been sold off yet.

What Cao Xing wanted to do was to let more people survive the fog disaster.

Only when the strength of other Survivors improved could they obtain more precious resources and become good, sustainably developing leeks.

Cao Xing thought to himself: "In these eight days, the resource points have almost refreshed for a round."

"And these resource points refreshed by the system are never too far from the territory; the furthest is only about two kilometers away, and the closest is even just one kilometer away."

"Last time, through that Cai Ze's live stream, it could be seen that when he was near his territory, he didn't encounter any danger."

"Until he foolishly stepped into the depths of the fog."

"In other words, we can actually try to mine these ore veins during the day."

Of course, doing so carried risks, and there had to be an insurance measure.

Cao Xing quickly thought of a method.

That was to use a long rope, tie it to these workers, and then have another group of people hold the other end of the rope, ready at any time to pull the people outside back to the territory.

He decided to give it a try.

Consequently, Cao Xing quickly went to the blacksmith shop and took out dozens of Face-Tree vines.

These Face-Tree vines had extremely strong toughness and were long enough; connecting them together turned them into a rope that was two or three kilometers long.

After doing this, Cao Xing came to the territory wall again and scanned his surroundings.

At a glance, he saw a faint, looming mining site about seven or eight hundred meters away.

On the other side, a kilometer away, there was also a small grove.

These were all resource points refreshed by the system.

"Next, let's test this method."

So, he raised his staff again and summoned two Frost Spirits.

Anyway, these were summoned creatures; there would be no loss if they died.

Then, he wrapped one end of the vine around the neck of one of the Frost Spirits.

With a thought, he controlled it to walk towards the distant fog.

The Frost Spirit floated and gradually entered the fog, then continued until it reached the mining site area.

Cao Xing still did not stop.

After advancing for nearly two kilometers, he quickly made the Frost Spirit turn back.

The moment he saw these two Frost Spirits appear completely unscathed, a look of pleasant surprise appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

"Haha! It really works."

"As expected, as long as you don't go too far from the territory, you won't encounter any danger!"

"In this way, we can mine resources during the day."

Cao Xing didn't really value these small resource points too much.

The purpose of doing this was just to test the feasibility for other Survivors.

If it worked, those territories short on resources could resolve their urgent needs.

At the same time, more Survivors would be able to survive this fog disaster.

So, he called Du An over and asked: "Du An, how is the work progressing these past few days?"

"Reporting to you, Lord, the two types of buildings you asked me to construct, the War Research Institute and the Imperial Knight Training Camp, have already been completed."

"Including the lighthouse, which we have also upgraded to the expert level."

"Now, we have nothing to do; please give us more tasks."

This Arctic Person reported respectfully.

Cao Xing nodded in appreciation: "Well done, your efficiency is as high as ever."

Hearing the Lord's praise, this Arctic Person looked a bit embarrassed, with a simple and honest smile on his face.

At this moment, Cao Xing changed the subject, straightened his expression, and said: "Du An, I have a task to entrust to you now."

"This task might involve danger; are you willing?"

Du An's expression immediately tightened, and he said solemnly: "Everything I have was bestowed by you, Lord. As long as you give the order, Du An will carry out your will to the end!"

Cao Xing nodded slightly, quite satisfied with the loyalty of these Arctic People.

Then, he stated his idea.

And when Du An heard that Cao Xing wanted him to go into the fog, there was not a trace of fear or hesitation in his eyes.

"No problem! Respected Lord!"

"As long as I can contribute to the territory, Du An is not afraid of danger!"

Under the loyalty level of die-hard, Cao Xing's orders were everything.

"Very good."

Cao Xing picked up the vines from the ground and tied them to him.

"Now go out of the territory and take a look, head to that mine, and try to dig up a piece of ore."

"If there is any situation, immediately call for help, and I will use the vine to pull you back."

"Yes!"

After saying this, the Arctic Person gripped his hammer and rushed into the thick fog without any hesitation.

"Swish."

The vine at his feet began to extend, leading all the way into the depths of the fog.

Watching Du An's back gradually disappear.

Cao Xing gripped the vine in his hand tightly, ready to provide support at any moment.

About five minutes later, a figure returned from the fog, with a pitch-black ore carried on his shoulder.

It was Du An.

The Arctic Person jogged to Cao Xing's side, then said with a face full of surprise: "Lord, I succeeded!"

Seeing this scene, Cao Xing also laughed.

"Well done, Du An."

Next, he called a few more Arctic People over and tested this method again.

Without exception, all these Arctic People returned safely.

This also confirmed this point for Cao Xing.

During the day, it is possible to move around near the territory.

As long as protective measures are taken, one will not get lost in the thick fog.

So, Cao Xing opened the chat channel and announced his discovery.

After seeing the information Cao Xing posted, it immediately caused a sensation among the Survivors.

"It's actually possible to mine resources in the thick fog, is this true? Great Lord Cao Xing?"

Cao Xing replied: "I just tested it. Using this method to collect resources during the day, as long as you don't go too far from the territory, there shouldn't be a problem."

"Remember to tie the rope securely to prevent getting lost, and you must return to the territory before dark."

After receiving confirmation from Cao Xing, a chorus of exclamations immediately rang out in the chat channel!

"Great! Finally, we can go out to collect resources!"

"I had long seen that small grove that refreshed next to my territory, but I never dared to go out. Now, finally, there is wood to burn!"

"Great Lord Cao Xing actually tested this method specifically for us; he is truly a great person!"

As for Cao Xing's words, they could be said to have no doubts at all.

After all, having walked this path, this person's character was obvious to all.

For a time, a large number of Survivors successively expressed their gratitude to him in the chat channel.

At the same time, they felt a bit fortunate that in their large region, there existed someone like Cao Xing, who was strong and also thought of ordinary people.

Although there were many experts in other regions who might have found some special methods, they were all selfish and unwilling to share them.

It was precisely because of this action by Cao Xing that it could be said he indirectly saved who knows how many people.

Survivors from the four major regions successively published this method to the world channel or forums, and specifically noted that it was tested by Cao Xing.

For a time, his reputation in the four major regions and even worldwide skyrocketed by a large margin once again!