Post-Apocalyptic Survival Modpack

Chapter 88, Section 87: An Unfixable Bug
The fungal infection has been temporarily resolved.

Even after confirming that everything here had turned to ashes, Wang Ji remained vigilant.

In mid-air, Wang Ji opened the synthesis table and found that there were indeed some new recipes.

These new things all emerged alongside fungal infections, including methods for dealing with fungal infections.

In many modules, disaster and hope always appear together.

Fungal infections cannot be solved by brute force alone; there is a relatively easy way to resolve them, namely by creating a CDU (low-temperature distribution device). This device can target and disinfect fungal organisms over a wide area and purify the environment.

The cost is low, requiring only some iron and a small amount of amethyst, with the fuel being ice pots made of blue ice.

Wang Ji rubbed one, threw it into the conversion table, and then wholesaled a whole bunch of them, filling the nearby area with them, and started it working.

Repeated disinfection is necessary to prevent any residue or resurrection.

Only after doing all this can I finally relax.

Looking at the village ruins gradually being covered by the ice and snow distributed by CDU, Wang Ji felt complicated.

The losses are getting worse.

Small villages like these used to be places of leisurely living away from the hustle and bustle.

But that's no longer the case; now, being remote is basically equivalent to being at risk.

Although the magic network covers the entire world, allowing any obvious anomalies to be reported immediately, it still requires a clear situation to be detected.

No one can monitor every minute change in every corner of the world at all times, not even a king or a grand mage.

The location of apocalyptic disasters is always random, or they may even cover the entire world, catching people off guard.

It's better to be together; at least we still have the strength to fight back, and we can get support immediately.

If one wants to survive safely, then living separately and scattered becomes inevitable.

Gathering people from different areas to form strongholds is currently a more prudent approach.

It can greatly enhance defense capabilities and improve security, and also enable systematic monitoring and division of the region.

As seen on the map, the scattered, star-like settlements have transformed into a series of relatively bright clusters.

"Hopefully, there won't be any more tragedies."

After taking one last look at the village ruins, Wang Ji teleported away, leaving CDU to continue operating there without intending to reclaim it.

On the one hand, these things aren't expensive; on the other hand, if there are any undiscovered people who happen to come here one day and find these CDUs, they might be able to get shelter.

There's never too much hope; if it can stay, then stay—it can't hurt.

Next…

three days left.

In three days, the next disaster will strike.

This time, Wang Ji didn't want to open blind boxes anymore; the controllable disasters he chose were always better than random ones.

Moreover, most modules actually provide solutions, so there is hope.

Just like the fungal infection that was just resolved, it not only comes with its own solution, but also has a way to use the fungus to make equipment from the materials dropped by infected monsters, and the strength of the equipment is even quite good.

It's just that it looks a bit heavy.

If one can accept holding a sticky, pulsating weapon made of fibers, armor, and flesh, then it is indeed worth using.

Without paying much attention to the fungus, after issuing a spore infection warning to prevent any oversight, Wang Ji began preparing for the next disaster.

He already has a choice for the next one.

"Hidden Tribe".

This is a module that can infect any creature it encounters into a twisted, elusive mutant.

"A relentless force from the ancient past, an insatiable devourer, it will try to use its power to assimilate and infect all life on earth."

It sounds impressive, but it's not that powerful; it's just a variant of the Scourge that can assimilate the creatures it kills.

Let alone a community, even an empire might be able to suppress it.

Furthermore, it comes with a solution: the recipe for the "Pure Heart," which can eliminate the source of infection.

There was one thing that really troubled Wang Ji: the recipe for the Pure Heart required a Heart of the Ocean, and he really didn't know where to get that.

This is something that only exists in the true 'main world'.

But there was nothing we could do.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

In just a few days, various decisions were implemented rapidly, especially those concerning the concentration of people.

After experiencing the previous undead calamity, even without advancing, many people spontaneously chose to relocate and gather at the most powerful stronghold in the vicinity -1 to jointly resist the threat.

Meanwhile, in a new area of ​​a bustling city in the west, the first mega-building was completed. It was highly defensive and had its own self-contained ecological cycle, making it a veritable miniature world.

However, it is not yet in use; its role is more as a last resort rather than a mandatory measure to be implemented at this stage.

People always yearn for freedom, including Wang Ji. If he had a choice, he would certainly not want to be confined to a room in a high-rise building, isolated from the outside world.

Even the space inside high-rise buildings is not small. They have natural ecosystems, inexhaustible resources and systematic production lines, more convenient facilities and more centralized networks, as well as entertainment and social venues, and the safety level is off the charts.

But ultimately, there was no vast sky or land.

Various disaster response measures are being implemented continuously.

On this morning, which was the ninth day since the first disaster, after instructing all settlements to be on high alert and prepare for the emergence of a new disaster, Wang Ji used his Doomsday Knowledge Points.

[Doomsday Cognition Points - 1]

The Hidden Tribe became a reality.

With adequate preparation and vigilance, the source of the hidden infection was discovered in no time.

The location of the discovery surprised Wang Ji.

It turned out to be underground in his hometown.

Or rather, deep underground at his 'original birthplace'.

This is a characteristic of the Hidden One; it will generate at the world's origin, which is the coordinates (0, 0, 0). Obviously, the place where Wang Ji was born was determined to be the world's origin.

Fortunately, the villagers had already evacuated, so they were spared from the disaster.

Upon discovering the presence of the lurking infected creatures, Wang Ji immediately led his men to control them, eliminating all the infected creatures. They then dug through the soil and rock layers and skillfully located the source: an indestructible structure, as solid as the bedrock—an ancient skeletal brain nodule.

Even if Oswald came this time, he wouldn't be able to deal with this thing by force alone.

He could indeed crush the structure of this thing as easily as he crushed bedrock, but as he said when he first met Wang Ji, in essence, the thing in front of him had not changed; it was other things that had changed.

However, judging from the result, it appears as if it has been damaged.

Ultimately, the source of the spore infection was not resolved. Even though it appeared to be shattered, it was still functioning, continuously releasing a worm-like 'spore spreader'.

While it cannot be completely eradicated for the time being, it is not without solutions.

Wang Ji took out the bedrock and the guardian glass, directly surrounding the source of infection and the surrounding area with two layers, and then made an automatic execution device.

If an infected monster spawns, execute it. This also applies to soil infection; if a few spawn, burn them down.

The Hidden Infection Roots were thus turned into a mob farm. These monsters couldn't destroy bedrock or teleport through walls, so they could only be imprisoned.

In this way, we can say that we have contained this new disaster and reduced its threat level to the minimum.

If we send in more people to monitor in real time, there shouldn't be any problems.

perhaps.

Just as Wang Ji breathed a brief sigh of relief, another alarm sounded from the gathering place.

"What the hell?"

Looking at the new message, Wang Ji couldn't help but feel a little confused.

Another source of fungal infection has been reported, but the infection site is not highly developed.

Because the small villages and towns that were easily breached in various places were gathered together in these days, they were united as one.

This newly discovered infected organism had nowhere to collect biomass and could only try its luck by looking for wild animals.

But wild animals had already been almost wiped out by the previous global undead calamities, and very few survived.

This resulted in it not even developing a rudimentary form of consciousness, and Wang Ji was not reminded of this.

It is too weak, and its range of activity is also very small due to its low level of development.

The exposure was due to Wang Ji issuing a warning order, and it was discovered incidentally during a thorough search for the hidden infection.

"Did it appear from the beginning, or is it a new appearance?"

Wang Ji wasn't entirely sure, but that didn't stop him from cleaning it up.

The same formula remains: kill all monsters and thoroughly eliminate them using the CDU device.

However, things turned out to be somewhat unexpected.

On the same day that the newly discovered fungal infection was resolved, another new infection site was discovered at another location.

“We checked this place before and were quite certain there were no signs of infection.”

Upon hearing the report, Wang Ji frowned slightly, harboring some vague suspicions.

This time, instead of eradicating it completely, he left the nascent infected mother form intact, enclosed it with bedrock and guardian glass, modeled after the Hidden Infection, and created a monster-spawning execution device for containment.

No new infection sites were discovered until the next day.

"In other words, there has to be at least one source, otherwise a new one will just appear?"

"Still conceptual..."

Wang Ji's mind was a bit confused.

Doesn't that mean there's no solution?
But this isn't fun at all.

Bizarre rules and anomalies might be interesting to listen to as an observer, but it's not so interesting if you actually participate in them or even fight against them.

Wang Ji's smile gradually faded.

According to the pattern, there will be one more doomsday in a day, but the doomsday awareness points have already been used up.

What happens next?

This matter is unknown and cannot be predicted.

As Wang Ji himself said, we can only meet force with force and water with earth.

Fortunately, the world is now relatively prosperous and unified, and all the disasters that have occurred so far have been resolved.
But how long can this resistance last?
So much has happened in just ten days.

While I don't want to repeatedly criticize empires, if it were an empire from the past, the world would have been destroyed several times over.

Even if it wasn't destroyed, even if Auschwitz held on, the population would still suffer heavy casualties.

In contrast, the community is still thriving and making progress, but how long can this prosperity last?

Various disasters will continue to occur.

Following the pattern of once every three days, there will be over a hundred more varieties in another year.

This number is chilling.

Flying above the city, gazing at the bustling scene before him, Wang Ji closed his eyes and took a breath.

Day 12.

[Doomsday Points +1]

Wang Ji opened his eyes wide and looked at the prompt.

"Sure enough, it's here."

With a sigh in his heart, Wang Ji immediately chose a module that was relatively easy to solve.

There are many doomsday modules that can be controlled using existing methods.

Infected organisms such as flesh, decay, and necromancy can be contained through certain methods. By continuously eliminating derivatives, the parent organism can be kept under control at a certain stage, preventing it from growing into its final form and becoming a true threat to the end of the world.

Even if something doesn't need nutrients and can grow on its own over time, there are still solutions.

At worst, you can kill it before it grows to a threatening stage, then spawn another one, control it again, and kill it before the new host grows to a threatening stage, and so on in a continuous cycle.

It's a bit of a hassle, but it's manageable and won't cause any major chaos.

It's like fixing bugs by taking a shortcut. Since you can't solve the root cause of the bug, you keep fixing the symptoms in order to get closer to a complete fix.

As long as it keeps running, that's good.

The world is riddled with holes, and Wang Ji is constantly patching it up.

"Come on, let's keep going..."

Looking at his Doomsday Points, which had once again returned to zero, Wang Ji felt as if he were holding something in his hand.

Even if it eventually comes out, it must be molded into a familiar shape and have some ingredients added according to Wang Ji's idea before it can come out.

As long as Wang Ji's understanding is sufficient, it cannot be free.

But all of this is predicated on having sufficient knowledge.

Wang Ji couldn't help but worry again.

The modules we use to understand are finite, but the passage of time seems endless.

If one day the modules are all realized, will we still be able to continue to hold the apocalypse in our hands and control it like this?

Hard to say.

Amidst a jumble of thoughts, Wang Ji went to the old capital and found Oswald.

During the days he advocated for handling the containment of various infected apocalypses, Oswald locked himself in the tower and did not leave the house except for the one time when Wang Ji called him out.

Wang Ji came over at this time, also wanting to discuss things with someone and try to get some ideas.

Wang Ji cut to the chase, saying, "I have a feeling that things can't continue like this. The apocalypse and disasters show no signs of ending, and they will only become more and more difficult to deal with in the future."

Even now, with the Transformation Table in hand and the ability to wholesale all sorts of magical artifacts, Wang Ji still felt somewhat troubled when he thought of certain dung monsters he knew.

(End of this chapter)