Return to the Gas Station

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In the desolate woods outside the gas station, the humus soil mixed with a faint smell of blood and oil.

Gu Su leaned against a half-withered old tree, a piece of fragrant roasted wild chicken held between his fingertips. Grease dripped down his fingers, forming a small dark stain on the ground.

He chewed the tender wild chicken meat, his gaze fixed on the dilapidated gas station not far away. His deep eyes held no trace of relaxation, only calm scrutiny and calculation.

Surrounding him at this moment was all the fighting strength he could muster.

Apart from the ten ordinary skeletons left behind in the ruins of the mall on the supply line, responsible for scavenging and transporting materials, the remaining elite skeletons and most of the ordinary skeletons had all been brought here.

The wind in the woods rustled dry leaves as it passed. A faint spectral fire flickered in the empty eye sockets of the skeletons. Their bodies were stiff but orderly, waiting silently without a single clatter of bone.

Ten elite skeletons were arranged in a semicircle around a crackling bonfire.

In their dark skeletal hands, they held iron weapons Gu Su had hastily crafted.

Rusty iron cleavers, sharpened iron spears. The blades and tips were densely wrapped with torn plastic scraps.

Between the plastic and iron, a small amount of solidified corpse oil adhered, making them highly flammable.

They stood silently by the fire, ready to turn their weapons into deadly fire-based armaments the moment Gu Su gave the order.

And in front of Gu Su, another squad of skeletons was fully prepared, arranged in a neat single file.

The skeletons in the front row each held a torch in their hands. The dry firewood was wrapped with cloth strips and soaked in corpse oil, burning intensely. Orange flames flickered in the wind.

The few skeletons following closely behind carried heavy fur pouches on their backs. White crystals were faintly visible from the mouths of the bags – industrial salt that Gu Su had scavenged from the supermarket ruins.

At the end of the line, a slightly shorter skeleton steadily pushed a rusty shopping cart. The cart was filled with viscous white mycelium.

No one would consider these skeletons the main force charging into battle.

Gu Su himself knew they were test subjects, pawns to probe the weaknesses of the Oily Monster, and cannon fodder destined to be sacrificed in this battle.

Their mission this time was simple and brutal: to take the materials in their hands and charge headlong towards the gas station, using their own bones to verify whether the methods to deal with the Oily Monster were effective.

Gu Su casually tossed down the chicken carcass he had gnawed clean and raised his hand, repeatedly wiping the grease from his fingertips on the rough bark of the tree beside him.

When he looked up, his gaze swept over the nearby branches. Seeing the small animal carcasses hanging from the branches, reduced to mere bones, the corners of his mouth curved into a smile.

He remembered that when he first arrived in this forest, the branches were still adorned with mostly dried corpses – rabbits, sparrows, and the bodies of several unknown small beasts, densely packed, exuding a strange, dead silence.

Now, those dried corpses had been completely devoured, leaving only bare skeletons.

Without needing to think, Gu Su could guess that these were food specifically prepared by the Harpy for the Oily Monster.

Just like a herdsman stocking up on fodder for livestock, the symbiotic relationship between the Harpy and the Oily Monster could be glimpsed from these dried corpses.

Gu Su gently stroked his chin, silently calculating his escape routes.

If the three methods he had prepared – fire, industrial salt, and corrupting mycelium – were all ineffective against the strange Oily Monster, then he would have to find another way.

The hanging bones before him might be the best breakthrough.

With this thought, Gu Su directly commanded, "Move out."

The moment the order was given, the skeleton holding two torches moved.

Its body was stiff but its movements were swift. Its dark skeletal hands gripped the torches tightly as it charged forward rapidly.

The distance from the edge of the woods to the gas station was only a few dozen meters. The road was covered with gravel and weeds, with discarded car parts scattered about.

The skeleton stepped on the gravel, its bones clattering crisply. It sped along, surprisingly smoothly, without triggering any abnormal reactions.

The gas station was silent, as if it hadn't heard anything.

Until the skeleton approached the main entrance of the gas station, a sudden change occurred!

From the previously empty gas station, a mass of black, viscous liquid suddenly surged out. The liquid, as if alive, instantly coalesced into a giant black wave, carrying a pungent smell of oil and decay, and shot up from the ground, pouncing towards the skeleton holding the torch!

The skeleton holding the torch did not hesitate, nor did it show any fear.

It had no consciousness; only Gu Su's orders were etched deep within its bones.

The moment the Oily Monster surged up, it fiercely threw one of the burning torches towards the mass of black, viscous liquid.

The torch, with its orange flame, cut through the air and accurately struck the Oily Monster.

However, the expected conflagration did not occur. The torch landed on the Oily Monster's viscous body with a dull thud, extinguishing with a muffled "poof."

The flames were instantly engulfed by the oil, extinguished, leaving not even a spark, as if it were just an ordinary piece of wood, causing no substantial damage to the Oily Monster.

Instead, the enraged Oily Monster suddenly swelled, its black body like surging tides, instantly engulfing the skeleton still holding the other torch.

The crisp sound of shattering bones was drowned out by the gurgling sound of the Oily Monster's flow. In just a few seconds, the skeleton was completely corroded and dissolved by the viscous oil, leaving not even a complete bone fragment.

In the woods, Gu Su watched this scene, his brow slowly furrowing. He let out a soft sigh, his tone devoid of surprise, only a hint of pre-expected calm: "Fire is useless, inside and out."

He had long suspected that the Oily Monster, being a strange creature with oil as its essence, would naturally guard against fire, its greatest weakness.

Although he didn't know the specifics, fire was likely useless for now.

Without much pause, Gu Su's gaze immediately shifted to another skeleton in the squad. He pointed his finger, his voice cold and decisive: "You go."

The skeleton immediately responded. In its skeletal hands, it carried two bulging animal skin pouches, tightly bound with hemp rope. They were heavy, emitting a faint rustling sound as it walked.

A large bundle of industrial salt, wrapped in plastic sheeting, was also wrapped around its torso. The plastic sheeting was tightly bound with hemp rope, as if to prevent it from scattering during the run.

Its mission was exactly the same as the skeleton holding the torch just now.

To use its own bones and life to test whether salt had any effect on the strange Oily Monster.