Cave Refuge-Chapter 301 - 286: Distress Flare

For the Black Car stuck in the mud, Zachary was not too concerned. Not only the Black Car, but most of the vehicles they had driven there were in the same situation.

After all, these vehicles were quite heavy, and during the seismic shaking, the soil was in a loose state, so it was normal for them to sink into the ground.

With so many martial artists present, especially several at the Inner Breath Realm, it was quite simple to pull these vehicles stuck in the mud out of the deep pits.

No tools were necessary, simply by grabbing at leverage points on the car body, a few martial artists could easily drag the vehicles out of the mud. Even for slightly lighter vehicles, a single Inner Breath Realm martial artist could handle it.

Although the Black Car had been turned into a Magic Artifact, its weight had not been reduced much. Since there were outsiders present, Zachary could only ask Robinson William for help to pull the Black Car out of the mud.

The recent rollover of the Earth Dragon had left not just the collapsed factory buildings in a precarious state, but the other buildings were now also looking vulnerable to collapse.

The magnitude of the earthquake had been considerable, loosening the foundations of these buildings. Despite repeated reinforcements by the survivors in the camp, the visible cracks on the buildings’ surfaces were a sign that these structures had become dangerous and could collapse at any moment.

This area was formerly an industrial zone, and when it was constructed, the factories were also intended to be used as warehouses, so the roads were built to be sturdy, with reinforced load-bearing capabilities.

Although the earthquake had been intense, once it had subsided, the ground inside the camp remained relatively level despite the new cracks.

The vehicles from the convoy had not been parked in the camp but on nearby land, which is why they ended up sunk in the mud.

The reason for not parking in the camp was simple: to provide a safe space for the survivors when an earthquake struck.

Why else would there have been no subsidence in the area where the survivors were located? It was because the ground had been hardened during construction.

However, although there had been no issues during this earthquake, now that there were cracks in the ground, even if it were patched up with cement mortar, it would not be as earthquake-resistant as before.

Besides, there was no cement mortar available in the camp now, so they could only gather mud from the surrounding land to fill in the cracks on the ground—a mere temporary fix.

The two collapsed factory buildings were a lost cause, and the other buildings, now dangerous, could no longer be used for housing. They would have to be torn down and their materials used to construct new shelters.

But with frequent tremors, the newly built structures could no longer be as tall as before; the estimated height for new buildings was only about two or three meters.

While the survivors in the camp were busy tidying up, the martial artists at the Inner Breath Realm faintly heard the sounds of gunfire and explosions in the distance.

Although the survivors now had firearms at their disposal, having become familiar with the Giant Scorpions’ mode of attack meant that they seldom used guns when hunting them.

First, it was quite difficult to kill a Giant Scorpion remotely with ordinary firearms, since damage could only be inflicted if a shot hit the joints between their armored plates.

Second, because there was no longer a steady supply of ammunition, although Pengcheng had many military bases, it did not have a military factory producing ammunition.

Pengcheng Heavy Industries was a military factory, but it mainly manufactured large military machinery and did not produce bullets.

So even though they were not short on bullets, all the ammunition consumed needed to be purchased from other cities.

It was only because trade routes between cities had normalized, and Pengcheng had something as universally useful as nutrient supplements, that they enjoyed a considerable stockpile of ammunition.

Even with an ample supply of ammunition, after Robinson William had thoroughly understood the information about the Giant Scorpions in Saxon County, he shared it with the troops stationed around guarding the farmlands. Otherwise, solely through Ye Liuyun’s connections, the stationed troops would not have allocated so much prime farmland to the camp.

Thus, since Robinson William had shared the information about the Giant Scorpions with the local troops, the sound of gunfire had been rare in Saxon County.

Only elite troops would be stationed here to protect the extremely precious grain fields at a time like this, because food was life itself.

After sensing the situation over there, the martial artists who had attained the Inner Breath Realm were not fools; they could roughly guess that the other side must have encountered some trouble, or else they would not have resorted to gunfire or even explosives.

Just as they had speculated, not long after the sounds were heard, a red flare burst open in the sky.

Robinson William looked up at the bursting signal flare in the sky and said, "There’s trouble over there."

Zachary’s face was grave as he simply grunted in acknowledgment and said no more.

"Should we arrange for some people to go and take a look?"

Though Zachary was not part of the camp’s management, Robinson William wanted to hear his thoughts to broaden his own perspective.