Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!
Chapter 72 Again, the Water Ghost

Chapter 72: Chapter 72 Again, the Water Ghost

There is indeed something in the monster’s stomach.

But when everyone pulled that mass severely eroded by gastric acid to the shore, Chen Jian was somewhat disappointed.

Can’t tell what this thing is at all!

A large dark mass, twisted in shape, like some kind of gelatinous substance, but when washed clean and touched, it had a bit of a brittle texture.

Chen Jian frowned and looked at Shen Yue beside him, tentatively saying:

"Why do I feel like this thing is... plastic??"

"I think so too."

Shen Yue nodded immediately and then said:

"Although it has formed into a large mass, if you pull it apart, you can still see obvious layering."

"Some of the internal parts aren’t even digested yet----is there anything that can digest plastic anyway? Can gastric acid digest plastic?"

"No, it can’t."

Chen Jian shook his head, answering:

"Common types of plastic aren’t easily corroded by acidic or alkaline environments; otherwise, there wouldn’t have been so many cases of wild animals starving to death after eating plastic."

"If it can’t be digested or expelled, won’t it eventually starve to death?"

"But if these things are plastic... where did it eat so much plastic?"

"No, the question should be, why does it eat plastic?"

"That’s what I want to ask too."

Shen Yue looked at Huang Yu waiting on the side and asked:

"What does this monster eat?"

"Mainly fish—-people from the Mechanical God Sect feed it fish, lots and lots."

"As for other things, I don’t know."

"But it appeared frequently in the Yangtze River before the Mechanical God Sect came, it must’ve been fishing, right?"

"Fishing..."

Chen Jian became even more puzzled.

Hundreds of years after the decline of humanity, the ecology of the Yangtze River had fully recovered.

Previously, when taking the Mechanical God Sect’s steamboat to Han Shui and encountering the Blood Skull’s Water Ghosts, they startled schools of fish just by swimming in the water.

If this monster mainly eats fish, then it shouldn’t lack food.

If it doesn’t lack food, why eat plastic?

Chen Jian posed his question, and Huang Yu was puzzled, while He Shuo thoughtfully said:

"If an animal, with ample food, still chooses to eat something indigestible, there’s only one possibility."

"These plastics weren’t eaten on purpose; they were ingested mixed with food."

"So the fish ate the plastic?"

Shen Yue asked inexplicably, and Chen Jian glared at him with a mixture of amusement and annoyance, saying:

"Sometimes you’re slow on the uptake, aren’t you?"

"It ate food packaged in plastic!"

"And the quantity of food must’ve been considerable, and hasn’t deteriorated... where exactly is its nest in the Huangzhou Ruins?"

Upon saying this, Shen Yue finally caught on.

A large quantity of food in plastic packaging undoubtedly relates to disaster preparedness resources.

Combined with various clues at hand, this monster likely consumed a large amount of plastic in recent years, resulting in a decline in its physical condition and entering an inactive state, which the Mechanical God Sect took advantage of.

This implies that the place it found food may have equipment that hasn’t been severely corroded yet.

It must be an important resource point!

Finding that resource storage point would be significant for Yellow Stone City right now.

The group looked at Huang Yu, who shook his head and said:

"I can’t say, but I can take you there."

"Can we make it in time?"

He Shuo subconsciously glanced at his watch, and it was already six in the afternoon.

Chen Jian frowned and shook his head, saying:

"There’s no time."

"According to the map, the nearest Xishui City is less than 30 kilometers away, even if the other party travels slowly, they could reach Yellow Stone and launch a surprise attack within a day."

"If we go now, between searching and reorganizing, it would take over ten hours, we can’t risk that time difference."

"Moreover, if the place indeed stored resources as we speculated, we wouldn’t have time to retrieve them."

"The return from collecting just information is too low; it can wait."

"For now... let’s focus on the immediate crisis."

"Understood."

"Understood."

The group answered in turn, and with a wave of Chen Jian’s hand, the gathered residents resumed action, continuing to disassemble the monster’s carcass to peel off as much of the metal shell on the exoskeleton as possible for use, while useless parts were pushed into the southern waterway of Great Governance Lake, allowing them to flow into the Yangtze River.

This was the most cost-effective disposal method, and before long, aquatic animals active in the Yangtze River Basin would eat it clean.

However, whether fish that consumed the monster’s meat would mutate into monsters for unknown reasons wasn’t something Chen Jian could control...

As night deepened, Lei Jie, who guided the team back to retrieve equipment from 7025, also returned in the deep night.

He brought back not only a large amount of light weapons and ammunition but also various urgently needed supplies and equipment.

The most important among them were large bundles of cables, tools, lamps, diesel generators, and fuel.

After spending over an hour wiring, the first electric light finally lit up in Yellow Stone City.

The remaining residents gathered under the light like pilgrims, gazing in fascination at the object emitting a cold glow.

"This is... an electric lamp."

Huang Yu shielded his tear-filled eyes from the dazzling light, then said:

"The Mechanical God Sect also has lamps like this, but not as bright...."

"This is too extravagant...."

"There’s nothing extravagant about it; it’s just a lamp."

Chen Jian waved his hand, signaled to Lei Jie to turn off the lamp, and instructed:

"Spread the word, the city must manage light sources properly."

"Though Yellow Stone City is a fixed target, with the enemy’s projection accuracy, as long as we don’t expose ourselves, it’ll be hard for them to inflict effective damage on us."

"So be careful----they will shoot at bright spots."

"Understood."

Lei Jie nodded and continued to ask:

"What about these guns? Should we distribute them?"

Chen Jian looked at the piled-up 191s, thought for a moment, then responded:

"All adjust to single-shot mode and distribute them to the city defense team."

"Each person gets 30 bullets now, and shooting practice will be organized tomorrow morning."

"Once combat begins, each person receives 60 bullets; make sure they know to conserve their shots!"

"Understood."

After speaking, Huang Yu, standing nearby, was left speechless.

He looked incredulously at Chen Jian and asked:

"Sir... are you distributing your weapons to us?"

"Is there something wrong with that?"

Huang Yu didn’t know how to respond momentarily and just stuttered, saying:

"It’s not wrong, just... it’s so generous."

"It’s not generosity."

Chen Jian denied, saying:

"It’s just the most rational choice."

"You need weapons, and we have weapons, that’s all there is to it."

"I only hope you can make good use of the weapons in your hands, and bring out their effectiveness."

"You must know, your ancestors’ ancestors once said a phrase."

"One bullet, one enemy!"

"Good!"

Huang Yu, stirred up emotionally, was about to go and inform immediately.

But at this moment, a shout suddenly came from the lookout:

"Someone’s coming!"

"It’s the Water Ghosts!"