Free Web NovelChapter 20: Chapter 20: Attack
After upgrading the Shelter Entrance, the sense of urgency that had plagued Ye Yun for days finally eased considerably.
The [Shelter Entrance (Green)]’s stats completely crushed those of a [Shelter Entrance (White)]. If even this couldn’t withstand the first wave of danger, then he could only resign himself to his fate.
Time flowed by quickly as everyone waited nervously.
Ye Yun had also made sure No. 1 and No. 2 returned to the shelter well ahead of time.
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
The ten-day countdown finally reached zero under everyone’s tense gaze.
The next moment, a faint tapping sound came from the Shelter Entrance.
Ye Yun walked over to the observation window on the Shelter Entrance and peered outside.
He gasped when he saw what was outside.
It was just as everyone had speculated.
The shelter was indeed under attack by mutated cockroaches. ƒrēewebnovel.com
Previously, Ye Yun had only learned about the mutated cockroaches through the simple communication wristband.
This was the first time he was seeing them with his own eyes.
What were once common cockroaches had, after mutating, grown to several dozen centimeters long—about the size of a small dog.
The cockroaches’ carapaces were no longer smooth but had become rough, covered in textures resembling rock fissures that reflected the faint ambient light.
Their eyes glinted with an ominous green light, like two will-o’-the-wisps suspended in the dark.
The cockroaches’ antennae were unnaturally long, waving through the air as if probing for something.
Their once-small mouths were now filled with sharp teeth, which the mutated cockroaches were currently using to frantically attack the Shelter Entrance.
Ye Yun counted them. There weren’t many cockroaches attacking the shelter, just a mere six of them.
After getting a clear count of the cockroaches outside, a puzzled look appeared on his face.
’With such a small number of mutated cockroaches, what kind of threat is this???’
He glanced at the status of his Shelter Entrance.
[Shelter Entrance (Green)]
[Defense Power: 100]
[Durability: 99999/100000] [Repairable]
[Upgradable]
?????
’Good grief. Six mutated cockroaches have been gnawing on the door for nearly a minute, and they’ve only taken off a single point of durability?’
However, Ye Yun quickly realized that without the help of his evaluation system, it would have been impossible to acquire such a large amount of resources through trades.
Ten days was nowhere near enough time for an ordinary manager to gather the materials needed to upgrade their Shelter Entrance.
The fact that his Shelter Entrance was this strong now was a complete fluke.
In a normal game, he’d be the kind of player who exploits a bug for massive resources—the type who gets their account banned by the system.
However, another thought soon occurred to him.
Even when No. 1 and No. 2 encountered mutated cockroaches without any armor, the worst that happened was their durability dropped a bit faster than usual, and they suffered some minor scrapes.
After all, even the most basic Shelter Entrance possessed 10 points of Defense Power and a whopping 10,000 durability.
’So, in other words, a mere six mutated cockroaches couldn’t possibly be a threat, no matter how you look at it?’
Ye Yun couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
He quickly opened the system’s chat function. But before he could even enter his private chat rooms, he saw that the public chat was already blowing up.
[Oh my god, there are over a dozen mutated cockroaches outside my shelter!]
[Those mutated cockroaches are attacking my entrance! The durability is dropping nonstop!]
[Oh god, how did they get here so fast? My androids are still outside, they didn’t make it back!]
[Does anyone know what to do?]
...
Ye Yun scanned the frantically scrolling chat, his brow furrowed slightly.
’So the number of mutated cockroaches outside each shelter is different?’
He did a quick mental tally. Most people had over ten mutated cockroaches outside their shelters, with a small minority reporting more than twenty.
Looking through the chat, not a single person reported having fewer than ten mutated cockroaches.
Ye Yun stroked his chin. ’What could be the reason for this disparity?’
He opened his three private chat rooms.
There weren’t as many people in the private chats, but the discussion was just as heated.
[How many mutated cockroaches are at your shelter? I’ve got 10 over here.]
[I’ve got a few more, 12.]
[Looks like I have the fewest. I got 9 over here.]
[Right, what’s the situation on your end, Brother Ye?]
...
Seeing someone address him, Ye Yun decided to stop lurking.
Ye Yun: [My shelter only has 6 mutated cockroaches.]
Everyone was green with envy when they heard how few mutated cockroaches were outside Ye Yun’s shelter.
[Only six? That’s so few!]
[I’m so jealous. Brother Ye’s luck is insane!]
[I’m starting to think Brother Ye is the Chosen One!]
[Maybe Master Ye is actually the main character of a novel or something. We just need to hang on and ride his coattails.]
...
Seeing the chat was about to descend into mindless praise and bootlicking, Ye Yun quickly stepped in to cut them off.
Ye Yun:
[Stop, stop. This isn’t the time for that.]
[Everyone report in. How many mutated cockroaches are outside your shelter, and what’s your entrance’s current durability?]
Everyone knew this wasn’t the time for joking around and immediately stopped the flattery.
[I’ve got 12. Shelter Entrance durability is 9760.]
[I have 14. Shelter Entrance durability is 9720.]
...
Reading their reports, Ye Yun gasped.
According to their reports, each mutated cockroach inflicted about 10 points of durability damage per minute on an un-upgraded Shelter Entrance.
From what he’d just seen in the public chat, the vast majority of people were dealing with around 20 mutated cockroaches.
An attack by 20 mutated cockroaches simultaneously would cause 200 points of damage per minute, which adds up to 12,000 damage per hour.
’Damn. The seemingly indestructible Shelter Entrance was actually this fragile.’
By this estimate, most people’s Shelter Entrances wouldn’t even last an hour.
Ye Yun shuddered at the thought of twenty-odd mutated cockroaches breaking down an entrance and swarming into the shelter.
However, he quickly realized he had no reason to be overly concerned.
’That one-hour timeframe only applied to the most basic, White-grade Shelter Entrances.’
He glanced at the status of his own Shelter Entrance.
[Shelter Entrance (Green)]
[Defense Power: 100]
[Durability: 99997/100000] [Repairable]
[Upgradable]
Excellent. The cockroaches had been attacking for six minutes and had only managed to shave off 3 points of durability.
