In the early hours—or rather, at six in the morning.
Around six, as the first extremely faint change in luminosity appeared on the horizon, the impact of the monster tide came to an end.
All that remained was to clear out the remaining monsters; the fact that no more were coming didn't mean those already there would retreat.
However, the pressure had decreased immensely because "daytime" had arrived, causing the monsters' combat strength to plummet instantly.
Although they were still considerably stronger than yesterday morning, they were much weaker compared to during the night.
All combat personnel quickly noticed this change, and their morale couldn't help but lift.
Yet, the current state of the sky left some people confused.
“Why did they get weaker so early?” Yu Jie looked up in confusion, voicing the thoughts of everyone present. “The sun hasn't even come up yet, has it?”
In Guangdong Province at the end of October, daybreak usually occurs around 7:00 AM.
“Because today is the Double Ninth Festival. Nine-Nine Double Ninth is the peak of Yang energy, so the effects of daytime naturally arrive a bit earlier,” Mo Shao explained.
“I see.” Realization dawned on Yu Jie.
Others' eyes gleamed as well, and Wu Yingzhe spoke up directly, “Does anyone know what preparations we need for the Double Ninth Festival?”
Clearly, this occurrence made him trust Mo Shao's claims regarding “holiday effects” even more.
“Climbing high and admiring chrysanthemums?” Little Ka thought for a moment but couldn't think of anything else.
“I'll explain,” Mo Shao took over the conversation. “The preparation we can do right now is to first make some paper kites.”
“If there are still masters in the cafeteria who know how, they can make some Double Ninth cakes and chrysanthemum wine—just the most basic versions will do.”
Climbing high, flying paper kites, admiring chrysanthemums, drinking chrysanthemum wine, eating Double Ninth cakes, and wearing dogwood... these were the customs of the Double Ninth Festival.
After the apocalypse, each of these activities gained its own special function. Unfortunately, there was no dogwood in this school.
Fortunately, while she had been wandering the school earlier, she had seen quite a few chrysanthemums, which had likely been used for landscaping and decoration.
“Understood.” Wu Yingzhe nodded, decisively making up his mind to handle these matters after clearing the monsters.
After all, Mo Shao's performance was simply too persuasive.
By around 6:30 AM, the monsters near the cafeteria had been completely wiped out, and everyone let out a sigh of relief.
Since the elite monsters had all been killed and the morning strength of the regular monsters was weakened, the combat power of their side had increased significantly over the course of the night.
Consequently, the final cleanup work was very simple.
However, along with that collective sigh of relief, an overwhelming sense of exhaustion instantly flooded everyone's hearts.
Once the adrenaline wore off, the fatigue naturally began to set in.
“Do you have anything you'd like to say?” Wu Yingzhe looked at the crowd, who were already swaying on their feet. He didn't speak to them directly but instead asked Mo Shao.
It was clear—he was showing goodwill, inquiring, and testing her.
He wanted to see if Mo Shao had any thoughts about this moment of winning people's hearts before deciding on his own future path.
“You do it. I'm not good with words.” Mo Shao waved her hand, having no intention of engaging in such behavior.
Verbal words were useless; this wasn't the old world. In the apocalypse, it was best to have tangible things.
Moreover, she had acted alone for many years in her past life and didn't really understand how to run such a large team.
So, it was better to let a professional handle it.
It was a good thing if the team grew stronger; at least her journey toward Seven Hills City would be safer.
And once she reached Seven Hills City, she wouldn't need this team anymore.
“Alright.” Wu Yingzhe nodded and immediately took the opportunity to give a speech, expressing praise, encouragement, recognition, and validation to everyone.
He also expressed regret and sorrow for those who had passed away.
He went a step further, taking the blame upon himself, saying he hadn't protected them well enough and so on.
In short, it was a bunch of pretty words spoken with what seemed like genuine emotion... Perhaps he really was moved by the scene?
He boosted morale and distributed benefits...
Most of the various monster drops, aside from the ones individuals could use, were turned in and packed into chests for unified transport.
After all, it was exhausting to carry them yourself, they had no immediate practical use, and turning them in allowed for simple contribution points to be recorded.
He also assigned different contribution points for various combat and logistical tasks. Though the system was still very crude...
At least it was established. Having something was better than nothing.
To be able to set this up so quickly only proved that Wu Yingzhe was indeed a guy with strong leadership abilities.
He might actually be able to build quite a career for himself.
“Everyone will rest for three hours. We are not completely safe yet, and we must continue our journey next!”
At the end of his brief speech, Wu Yingzhe announced the plan.
Since they were Dead-binders, their physical constitution had improved significantly, but even so, resting for three hours was—well, it was completely insufficient.
After fighting all night and not sleeping well the night before, three hours certainly wouldn't be enough to recover.
But there was no other way; time was tight and the tasks were heavy.
They still had to spend over an hour on preparations.
It was over thirty li from here to Dragonspine, and with the various dangers they might encounter along the way, travel would likely take an hour as well.
Counting all the various delays, it would already be twelve o'clock by the time they set out.
And although Dragonspine was barely five hundred meters high, the key issue was that the number and strength of the monsters inside were genuinely quite high.
In addition, there was the freezing environment which was unfavorable for combat. It was impossible to know how much time it would take to slowly push their way up.
In Guangdong at the end of October, it got dark by 6:30 PM. That meant they had approximately five hours of climbing time.
Although the influence of the night would arrive more slowly during the Double Ninth Festival, they also needed time to construct defensive facilities!
Therefore, the schedule was incredibly tight.
Of course, Mo Shao was the exception. With her invisibility and flight abilities, she could be up there in a matter of minutes!
It really was great to be able to fly!
Rate on N.U.
