Cave Refuge

Accompanied by the gradual retreat of the accumulated water, those black snakes seemed to possess the same burrowing ability as earthworms, and as the water receded, they all burrowed into the deep mud. It was because of this that even though Zachary had discovered their location at that time, he still let them be.

After all, if there were only a few black snakes lurking deep underground in the camp, the survivors might spend a considerable amount to capture or kill them in order to eliminate potential hazards.

But once the survivors knew that there were countless black snakes deep beneath the campsite, they would probably choose not to spend more to exterminate those underground black snakes, but rather to move away from there. If temporarily unable to move, they basically chose to ignore this matter.

Only when the hidden dangers deep underground reemerged did people face the dangers they were about to encounter.

At that moment in the camp, after the earthquake occurred, the vast majority chose to leave their Companion Spirits and find open areas to take shelter.

If this situation had occurred before the Natural Disaster, leaving buildings immediately after an earthquake to find open areas would have been a perfectly correct self-rescue decision.

However, now, after the Natural Disaster had struck, not only for those like Mrs. Thompson who had opted for branched evolution with their Companion Spirits but even for those unevolved Companion Spirits, despite being made of common wood, their sturdiness absolutely exceeded that of ordinary reinforced concrete buildings.

Thus, at this time, choosing to stay in one's own Companion Spirit was a very correct decision.

Especially since many people, in order to stay in open areas, retracted their Companion Spirits back into their Sea of Consciousness, as if that would create more space.

Their choice wasn't wrong; indeed, because of this idea, the streets and parks once crowded with Companion Spirits suddenly became much emptier. The Companion Spirits originally stationary swiftly retracted into their owners' Sea of Consciousness.

Just as those people in the open areas awaited the end of the earthquake, suddenly numerous black snakes continuously crawled out from the cracks that appeared in the ground during the shaking.

Watching the black snakes sweep over like a carpet, everyone's expression turned extremely ugly; although they didn't yet know the strength of these black snakes, the sheer number of them alone let them know the severity of the situation they were about to face.

Among those staying in the open area, someone unconsciously glanced at a Companion Spirit nearby that hadn't been retracted into the Sea of Consciousness. He thought about whether he could jump onto its deck to temporarily take shelter.

After all, like that famous internet saying goes, when facing a tiger in the wild, apart from potentially sliding in to feed it, so long as you run faster than your companions, the danger won't fall upon you.

That person's thought was similar. Rather than staying with others here facing the attack of black snakes from all sides, he would rather jump onto the Companion Spirit. After all, the V-shaped hull of the Companion Spirit might be able to block the black snakes' climbing.

Even if those black snakes, with their strong climbing ability, reached the deck, the number of black snakes he would face on the narrow deck would be far fewer than what he would face on the ground.

Just as he hesitated whether to pull a few friends and run over there, or to board his own summoned Companion Spirit, someone nearby had already taken action.

Facing such a vast number of attackers, relying solely on the cold weapons or firearms in their hands was extremely limited in lethality.

Even though both cold weapons and firearms could lethally strike the small black snakes, individually killing them was too slow. By the time one black snake was killed, more would pounce on their bodies.

So someone had a sudden idea and released their Companion Spiritual Treasure that had been staying in their Sea of Consciousness. The moment the Companion Spiritual Treasure appeared and touched the ground, it instantly crushed many of the black small snakes that were under it.

Most importantly, the sudden appearance of the Companion Spiritual Treasure not only crushed countless small black snakes below but also, like a sluice gate, instantly severed the ongoing 'black tide' that was pouring towards them relentlessly.

If initially, someone had a sudden thought to try using the Companion Spiritual Treasure to massively kill the small black snakes, during the continuous process of summoning and withdrawing the Spiritual Treasures, someone noticed that after the Companion Spiritual Treasure had descended, other than the black snakes directly crushed beneath it, the rest in the vicinity would actively stay far away from the Companion Spiritual Treasure.

Even those black snakes that narrowly escaped being crushed by the Companion Spiritual Treasure turned to flee rapidly as if struck by a terrible fright when the Companion Spiritual Treasure landed and blocked their path.

As more and more people noticed this behavior, someone in the crowd said, "Those black snakes seem afraid to approach the Companion Spiritual Treasure, let's use it to surround the area around us."

Normally, summoning and retracting the Companion Spiritual Treasure didn't consume much energy, but after the repetitive actions akin to swinging a sledgehammer, coupled with the high alert due to danger, their energy was significantly drained.

Thus, upon hearing someone propose using the Companion Spiritual Treasure as a protective wall around them, some people, regardless of who made the suggestion, immediately acted on it, no longer retracting the released Companion Spiritual Treasure back to the Sea of Consciousness for a second attack.

Seeing some comply with the suggestion and use their Companion Spiritual Treasures as walls of protection, others followed suit, keeping their Spiritual Treasures deployed.

After all, Companion Spiritual Treasures were not like factory-made furniture that fit seamlessly together; their forms were mostly different types of ships and even if perfectly aligned end-to-end, gaps would inevitably exist.

Luckily, there was no rule that they had to use the Companion Spiritual Treasures to form just a single protective circle. With many people there and enough Companion Spiritual Treasures, they were able to form three layers of protective walls.

With the protective wall of Companion Spiritual Treasures created, the survivors at the center were naturally no longer subjected to attacks from the black small snakes outside.

After killing all the black small snakes that had been inside the circle and closed in on them, even though no more black snakes approached from the outside, some people still doubted the proposal to use the Companion Spiritual Treasures as a protective wall.

Even though results were evident now, there were still some nitpicky people in the crowd who raised doubts about the suggestion.

While everyone present regarded the survivor who jumped around doubting the proposal as a monkey show, the matter ultimately concerned their own lives and warranted absolute prudence.

Thus, many people seeing the doubts raised conveniently took the opportunity to step onto the protective wall made of Companion Spiritual Treasures, going to the outermost deck to carefully observe the real reactions of the black small snakes below.

After seeing for themselves the behavior of the black small snakes on the ground below, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, just as some had speculated, there was an unusually clear space between the Companion Spiritual Treasure and the black small snakes.