Chapter 119: The Missing Statue
At this moment, Colin was using the hints to continuously gather information about his surroundings, ensuring he avoided any terrifying dangers.
They weren’t in a great hurry to travel.
“By the way, what special modifications do Level 5 buildings have?” Colin asked curiously while scanning the surroundings. So far, he only knew about the “portability modification” which reduced the size by fifty percent.
“You’ve got it wrong. It’s not that Level 5 buildings have special modifications, but rather that you can only use advanced blueprints for modifications like portability when you reach Level 5. Otherwise, a Level 5 building is just as it is,” someone corrected him.
“Oh, then never mind.” Colin shook his head. Given how stingy their system was, asking more was pointless.
However, it wasn’t long before the sound of a successfully constructed Level 2 war chariot echoed in Colin’s mind. The upgrader was Li Hang. Since Colin himself wasn’t outside, the upgrade had to be handled by several deputies.
“Congratulations to Big Boss Colin… What’s going on? Why isn’t the boss leading the way? My youth is over,” someone lamented.
“I remember this person. He’s one of Colin’s survivors. The boss must be busy with other matters,” another commented.
“Great, my youth is back!”Someone else cheered.
At the same time, Colin received information about the Level 2 war chariot through the hints.[Level 2 War Chariot]
[Function: Repels gray fog within a five-meter radius of the chariot. Suitable for fifty people. When filled with enough explosives and shells, it can consume 100 fog points to activate the ‘Overheat’ state, enhancing the chariot’s firing rate, movement speed, and other performance attributes for one hour, with a one-hour cooldown.]
[Sub-function: Multifunctional Command Room.]
[Remark: Immune to spiritual damage below lord level, reduces lord-level spiritual contamination by fifty percent.]
[Hint: Its size is three times that of a Level 1 war chariot.]
“Five times the materials, three times the size,” Colin murmured to himself. “But unfortunately, I can’t see what it looks like. I hope it’s reliable.”
At this moment, Russell, who was following alongside, couldn’t help but comment while looking at the parchment scroll, “Tsk tsk, your chat channel is really lively.”
As a “loser,” he couldn’t use the parchment scroll, similar to Sanna and the others.
“What about yours?” Colin asked casually.
“Back in the first few days, our chat channel was unbearable. One-third was ‘Where’s Dad?’ another third, ‘Where’s Mom?’ and the rest was, ‘Where are my siblings?’” Russell replied.
“What about the rest?” Li Chou asked.
Russell chuckled. “The rest were crying out about how hopeless this world was and wanting to go home, or claiming to be chosen ones destined to save the world. There was everything you could imagine.”
Colin couldn’t help but ask, “You had people talking about hopelessness in the first few days?”
Colin felt that with the resources Russell’s group had, they must have been overjoyed, as it was almost like a vacation. Moreover, with firearms in their hands, they could design bullets and make the corresponding gunpowder, ensuring the weapons didn’t become useless.
Of course, the “special talent summon cards” were a different matter. The disasters caused by such a large number of special talents brought nothing but despair. Even if someone like Colin had great influence, it wouldn’t help. Before a disaster, people would only see them as having ulterior motives.
Several hours passed as they traveled.
Through the parchment scroll, Colin learned that his forces had expanded significantly again. They now had one Level 2 war chariot, eighteen Level 1 war chariots, and, excluding the 300 people with Colin, over two thousand people in total. Various plans were progressing in an orderly manner.
At this point, a message suddenly came from the territory direction: “Should we publish the materials needed for the Level 2 war chariot?”
Colin hesitated for a moment and asked, “What’s the price of iron now?”
“It’s doubled since yesterday.”
Double, huh? Colin rubbed his forehead. “Go ahead and publish it.”
Publishing the materials for the Level 2 war chariot would undoubtedly lead to another surge in iron prices. Those who had saved up money, hoping to buy a car or a house, would probably cry again. The prices of “houses” and “cars” were rising faster than their “wages” from killing monsters.
Compared to them, the “cuties” who mined just to fill their stomachs were earning a lot of money, even reaching the “peak of their lives.”
After a brief check, Colin stopped paying attention, as long as everything was progressing positively.
After almost half a day of traveling, Colin and his group stood halfway up a hillside, overlooking a tall building that seemed to be built in a pit. The area looked like it had been forcibly carved out by some terrifying force.
At the center of it all stood an ancient, white stone structure with an obvious religious temple style, divided into inner and outer layers.
[You realize that this is the ‘Ruins of Highgarden,’ the place of ‘Light’ you have been seeking.]
Confirming this, Colin continued to observe. The outer layer of “Highcourt” had already turned into ruins, and the inner city wasn’t much better; it heavily collapsed as if it had been hit by an earthquake.
Strangely, except for the central building with a collapsed dome, other areas looked unusually dark under the light, perhaps due to a “darkness under the lamp” effect.
Suddenly, Colin felt a sense of dread and instinctively looked at a broken gate at the outermost part of the “Ruins of Highcourt.”
A large statue was placed at the entrance.
It was a huge gray stone statue, depicting a merciful mother cradling a crying baby—a classic image.
The compassionate “lady” had her arms in front as if holding a sleeping baby. Although the statue’s face had been eroded by time, it still evoked feelings of “compassion” and “comfort.”
[The style of this statue of the merciful mother does not match ‘Highcourt.’ After a brief contemplation, you realize that this statue should have been placed in the ‘Church of Thorns’ rather than here.]
“The missing statue from the church where the man-faced rat died?” Colin thought in surprise.
When he had explored that church, he hadn’t found anything, not even the statues.
Unexpectedly, it had been moved here.
But there was no time to dwell on this.
Even from a distance, Colin and his group could feel a heavy and restrained pressure emanating from the statue of the merciful mother, as if from a dormant volcano. This pressure wasn’t from the statue itself but from its embrace.
For in the arms of the merciful mother’s statue lay not a baby but a giant beast with antlers, formed from twisted wood, flesh, and bones, appearing to sleep peacefully in her arms.
At the moment Colin gazed directly at it, a condition was suddenly met.
Then, a quest was triggered.