Cave Refuge-Chapter 320 - 294: Visitors from Kyoto_2
The transport aircraft in the sky seemed to have sensed the earthquake as well, so the figure that was slowly descending began to ascend again, hovering mid-air waiting for the earthquake to end.
Dong Tianyu, who hadn’t paid special attention to the calendar, also forgot how much time had passed since the earthquake began, but in his sense, the time definitely exceeded half a year. By all common sense, this meant the disaster was nearing its end, and the survivors were about to welcome a period of stability.
Just as Dong Tianyu was about to enter the Cave to check the calendar, the ground’s shaking grew increasingly intense. An earthquake of this magnitude had only occurred a few times in his past experiences, but each time it had a significant impact on the survivors.
The last time there was such a severe earthquake, Dong Tianyu was in Saxon County. Although the survivors were well-prepared and the fierce earthquake didn’t cause any casualties, after the quake ended, the previously rare Giant Scorpions began appearing frequently, and they attacked the camp where Dong Tianyu was staying every now and then.
Watching the growing ferocity of the earthquake, Dong Tianyu had no idea what new crises the end of the earthquake would bring to the survivors.
Just as Dong Tianyu had retracted the vehicle beneath him back into his storage space and used the Art of Controlling Objects to make himself float unaffected by the earthquake, suddenly, several wooden pillars broke through the ground. To his astonishment, small and large branches began to grow from the tops of the pillars, and within mere seconds, the branches were covered with lush leaves.
If Dong Tianyu hadn’t watched the entire process with his own eyes, no matter what anyone said, he would never believe that the wooden pillars that shot up from the ground could turn into towering trees in just a few seconds.
This phenomenon didn’t just occur where Dong Tianyu was; it happened throughout Pengcheng and even in Saxon County. Whether in urban ruins or rural farmlands, this was happening everywhere.
If the survivors managed to dodge in time when the wooden pillars broke through the ground, they were essentially safe from harm. After the towering trees finished growing, hiding under the canopy would also protect them from any new pillars breaking through the soil.
The situation below frightened the helicopter pilot. When anomalies first appeared below, the pilot promptly maneuvered the aircraft to ascend to a higher altitude.
Once the abnormality below ended, looking down from the sky, one could see that the previously dilapidated urban ruins were now completely obscured by the lush tree canopies—nothing on the ground was visible from above.
Because of this, the originally reserved landing spot was now hidden by the tree canopy, and the transport aircraft had to find another place to land.
Fortunately, when this helicopter was constructed, such possibilities had been considered, so the helicopter not only could take off and land vertically without a runway but could also land on water if no suitable landing spots on land were available.
It was precisely for helicopter water landings that the craft’s exterior looked different from traditional planes that conform to aerodynamics.
As the second-largest lake in Pengcheng, Grand Dragon Lake certainly had enough area for the transport aircraft to descend, and there were also pleasure boats in the lake that could conveniently transport the various supplies carried by the helicopter.
Although the massive tree canopies obstructed Dong Tianyu’s view of the sky, it did not hinder him from using Divine Sense to observe his surroundings. With the appearance of these giant trees, it was easier to hide his presence than in the once open city ruins.
Using the Art of Controlling Objects, Dong Tianyu could easily walk atop the giant trees’ canopy and swiftly reached the crown of a large tree by the shore of Grand Dragon Lake.
At this time, the Officials here were arranging for the pleasure boats on the lake to approach the aircraft that had landed on the water, and then to everyone’s surprise, they tied ropes around the helicopter’s lower sling points. It looked like they intended to tow the transport aircraft, which had stopped at the center of the lake, to a position closer to the shore.
This task was actually not difficult to achieve. Although the aircraft was heavy, being on the lake surface essentially reduced the friction of dragging to the lowest level, and the slight resistance generated during pulling was negligible for the Officials, who had numerous Martial Artists, given that this place was not short on them.
The dragging process did not encounter the kind of accident often depicted in films and TV; it went very smoothly.
When the transport plane approached the shore, Officials somehow produced a pontoon bridge that connected directly to the aircraft’s tail, enabling the cargo bay to open and reveal the crammed full goods.
Zachary used Divine Sense to see through the external packaging and discovered that the contents were husked rice. Looking at the pure white rice, Zachary found it hard to believe. Could there have been a harvest of crops in Kyoto during the earthquake?
As Officials swiftly arranged for people to unload goods from the tail of the transport plane, Zachary felt skeptical and used Spiritual Sense Scanning on each bag, only to find that besides rice, there were also other crops with short growth cycles and high yields, such as potatoes, cabbages, and sweet potatoes.
Recalling the situation in Kyoto before the disaster, Zachary guessed that these grains were not from Kyoto, but rather things Kyoto had acquired from other places.
After all, as the only city capable of air transport now, Kyoto could freely gather resources from any part of China.
Once the Martial Artists arranged by the Officials had cleared all the goods carried in the tail of the transport plane, a group of people from Kyoto crossed the pontoon bridge to shore. They exchanged brief pleasantries with the representatives from the Officials and then left the lakeside.
The Martial Artists did not rest after unloading the goods from the cargo bay but instead brought out many boxes from nowhere, loading them into the tail of the transport plane, one by one.
Zachary used Divine Sense to see past the external packaging and discovered that the boxes contained bottles of nutritional supplements. Despite the size of the boxes, they were filled with a lot of padding material, and each box actually only held five bottles of the supplement.
Besides the nutritional supplements, many of the boxes were filled with dried meat. Although he didn’t see it with his own eyes, through analysis of the meat’s shape and the patterns on it, the dried meat seemed to be made from the flesh of the Giant Scorpions found in Saxon County.
It appears that the military base in Saxon County must have been in frequent contact with the Pengcheng Government; otherwise, the Officials here wouldn’t have such a large quantity of Giant Scorpion dried meat.
But then again, it made sense, as the military force stationed in Saxon County was there to occupy and protect the farmland on behalf of the Pengcheng Government, so it was quite normal for the Officials to have the dried meat.
After learning about the situation here, Zachary did not continue to stay up in the treetops to watch the Martial Artists load and unload goods. Unlike Ye Liuyun, he wasn’t interested in the specifics of the trade ratios.
Just as Zachary was contemplating whether to get close to the Officials to learn more about what the people from Pengcheng were discussing with those from Kyoto, a warning voice suddenly came from below the tree, "Whoever is up there, come down immediately or I’ll have to shoot."
Hearing the sound from below, Zachary realized he might have been discovered by the Patrol Team, but he was not panicked. Noticing that there were no members of the Patrol Team around, just a survivor relieving himself at the base of the tree, Zachary directly entered the Cave.
Upon hearing the shout, the nearby Patrol Team quickly arrived. They were skeptical when told someone was hiding among the tree canopies, considering the towering trees had just recently emerged.
Each tree’s trunk was thick, but due to the straightness of the trunk, there were no good footholds. Even a Martial Artist would need some kind of tool to climb it.
This area was part of a crossover patrol zone. The Patrol Team had already passed through here once, and if there had been someone hiding in the trees, they would have been found then. However, since the person insisted someone was in a tree, although the Patrol Team didn’t quite believe it, they still retrieved professional tools to climb up and check the situation.
