Cave Refuge

Of course, everyone understood that if one were to restrain themselves by the principles of propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame, it meant letting the strong sacrifice their own interests to help the weak. Although this behavior could be considered a moral coercion, in the eyes of the older generation of Chinese people, it had already become a deep-seated recognition.

For the Chinese people, if everyone abided by such a recognition, then when people offered help during others' hardships, they could expect to receive assistance when they themselves encountered difficulties.

Moreover, when faced with death, most Chinese people, though they might take valuable items from the deceased, would at least leave their clothes behind and even simply dig a hole to bury the body, as for most people, the saddest thing after death was to be abandoned in the wilderness.

It was because of such deep-rooted values that when facing such choices, especially when it involved their own children, the vast majority of parents would choose to ensure the safety of their own bloodline first.

Compared to the desperate struggles of others in the camp, at this moment, a family of three was comfortably taking a nap inside Dong Tianyu's Companion Spiritual Treasure, unlike the Companion Spiritual Treasures of others in the camp.

Firstly, Dong Tianyu's Companion Spiritual Treasure had chosen the evolutionary branch of Submersible Navigation, so the cabin was naturally fully enclosed and inherently capable of adjusting the cabin temperature.

Most importantly, unlike others who had not evolved the ship material at all or had only evolved it once, Dong Tianyu's Companion Spiritual Treasure had undergone multiple evolutions with Blood-Colored Mysterious Cores.

In fact, when Dong Tianyu learned that Dark Green Trick Nucleuses could be mass-produced, he even considered whether the Blood-Colored Mysterious Cores could also be mass-produced and even planned to purchase a large number of them, wishing to endlessly improve the material of his Companion Spiritual Treasure.

Unfortunately, until the floods receded and the Blood-Colored Ghost Ship vanished, Dong Tianyu had not managed to acquire many Blood-Colored Mysterious Cores.

As the sun gradually disappeared from the horizon, the temperature, which had been like a furnace, started to return to normal, and when night fell, the outdoor temperature finally returned to the slightly cool temperature of the previous days.

It was at this time, those survivors who had insisted on using their Inner Strength to protect their children from the high temperatures, one by one, exhausted and powerless, collapsed onto the ground. Although they looked disheveled at that moment, they were fortunate to have preserved their children's lives.

Of course, there were also more self-centered survivors who, under the scorching sun, chose not to protect their bloodline but instead to protect themselves. When night fell and the temperature normalized, their children had long since stopped breathing...

The next day, as the first light of dawn appeared, a spring breeze swept across the land, and unexpectedly, a light rain began to fall from the sky. Unlike the torrential rain of the previous days, which seemed to pour from the heavens, this gentle drizzle was like a thin mist, so fine that even standing in it, one would not feel any discomfort.

After the high temperatures of the previous day, the survivors who had taken shelter inside the Companion Spiritual Treasures noticed the misty drizzle outside and tentatively emerged from their cabins.

Once they confirmed that the outside temperature had dropped and become refreshing, most of them immediately left their cabins after the scorching heat of the previous day had cracked their skin.

The misty rain falling from the sky at that moment seemed to hydrate their skin, almost like a moisturizing facemask, and in an instant, the profound comfort that reached deep into their souls made many unable to resist letting out a moan.

While most survivors in the camp were enjoying this natural skin therapy, no one noticed that outside the camp, the ground that had been cracked by the high temperatures was being soothed by the misty rain, as if nourished, slowly healing, and even gradually converting back into fertile black soil.

This misty spring rain, like the Healing Spring in games, offered the survivors, who were extremely weary from the past few days, a chance to relax thoroughly.

But as the old saying goes, "To take, one must first give."

While everyone in the camp was immersed in the comforting haze of spring rain, the land outside, which had previously only a scattering of plants, was now sprouting new shoots one after another.

With the appearance of these shoots, the once dark land was gradually covered in greenery. The majority of the shoots grew into common flowers and grasses, but some grew taller and taller, eventually becoming saplings of various trees.

The survivors in the camp were still basking in the pleasant coolness brought by the misty drizzle, while outside the camp, a scene full of vibrant life unfolded.

With the misty drizzle, all the plants seemed to have turned on a switch to accelerate growth, with each plant visibly changing in size every second.

When the sun was high in the sky and the misty drizzle gradually dispersed, the survivors, who had been seemingly addicted to the weather, started to wake up. As some of them realized something was off with their addict-like behavior from before and began to check themselves thoroughly.

Only then did they notice, after being cleansed by the spring rain, their martial cultivation had unknowingly greatly improved. This improvement wasn't only in terms of realm; some of the martial arts bottlenecks that had been holding them back had disappeared without notice after the spring rain.

Moreover, they mysteriously felt that both their talent and comprehension had been somewhat enhanced. Although this kind of enhancement did not have a clear standard like Inner Strength, it gave them a certain intuition, which everyone instinctively acknowledged as true.

After everyone sobered up from this seemingly all-beneficial baptism, Ye Liuyun contacted everyone through the communication equipment, instructing them to return to their posts, although the high-temperature camp had been completely shut down for a day.

But this was after all just a small camp with no special structures, so even if it had been shut down for a few days, it wouldn't really affect the survivors much.

However, when a guard climbed the city wall earlier than usual and saw the lush view beyond the camp, he first thought he might have been heat-stricken the day before and was still hallucinating, so he rubbed his eyes and looked again at the area outside the camp.

After several double-takes, when the scene outside the camp still did not change in his eyes, he suddenly let out an incredulous cry.

The other guards, who had been chatting and hadn't come over yet, heard the cry and thought something had happened, so they immediately dashed up the wall. When they saw the primordial forest-like scenery beyond the wall, their first reaction was to doubt their own eyes.

But when they realized the others around them reacted the same, they confirmed they weren't seeing things; the external view was indeed as such.

Even though everyone saw the same view, they couldn't believe that just a few days ago, the outside was a barren stretch, and after only two or three days – which also included a few severe weather conditions – the area outside the camp had undergone such a dramatic transformation.

"Shall I go out and check?"

Hearing this voice at his ear, the other members of the Guard Squad instantly looked towards the person who had spoken. Before anyone else could say a word, the captain made a decision.

"The changes outside are too drastic; we definitely aren't opening the gates now. If you want to go out, you'll have to jump down from here. But since you want to go, tie on a safety belt to go across. That way, if anything unexpected happens, we can quickly pull you up by the safety belt."

In fact, the person who had spoken had only spoken subconsciously and wasn't truly resolved to go out.

Perhaps the captain saw through his thoughts, but the captain was actually very interested in the situation outside. So when he heard someone volunteer, he swiftly went with the flow and gave the order. Before the volunteer could react, a safety belt was already fastened to him, and he was pushed to the edge of the city wall.