Nightmare Battle Cloud

A palm-sized cloud, pitch-black all over, appeared before Chen Fan.

On closer inspection, he could make out faces twisted in agony appearing on the cloud from time to time.

Chen Fan examined it and found that the Nightmare Battle Cloud was a multipurpose artifact.

First, it was a flying artifact.

He could ride the black cloud through the air, and it was quite fast.

Second, it offered a measure of protection and concealment.

The Nightmare Battle Cloud could spread out, protecting the area beneath it from attacks to some extent. Although it could not compare to a dedicated defensive artifact, its protection was still considerable.

With the Golden Light Glazed Shield he already had, Chen Fan had no worries about defense for the time being.

More than its defensive power, its ability to conceal things came as a pleasant surprise to Chen Fan.

Once the Nightmare Battle Cloud spread out, everything within its range would be shielded from outside observation.

It created a concealed area that outsiders could not see into, hear, smell, or easily detect.

Over breakfast that morning, he had been thinking about crafting an artifact to counter Nie Shufeng's ability to see and hear over great distances.

He had never expected to stumble into a solution like this.

Chen Fan held the Nightmare Battle Cloud in his palm, controlling it as it darted back and forth, and smiled.

Brother Shu, don't blame me. This is the will of heaven...

Besides flight, protection, and concealment, the Nightmare Battle Cloud also had an offensive ability.

In fact, this was its main ability.

It could produce the Breath of Nightmares, which spread out and invaded the human body.

Anyone invaded by the Breath of Nightmares would have nightmares every night, and the Breath of Nightmares could also control those nightmares to some extent.

Each invasion of the Breath of Nightmares added another layer. After seven consecutive invasions built up seven layers, the nightmare would be one of great calamity, killing the dreamer outright.

Chen Fan could have the Breath of Nightmares build up all seven layers in a short time, or stretch the process out.

At most, he could extend it to seven days, slowly tormenting the target to death.

"Interesting..."

Chen Fan played with the Golden Light Glazed Shield and the Nightmare Battle Cloud for a while, then took them both into his body.

He was getting a little addicted to crafting artifacts.

His soul was not strong enough to upgrade mid-grade artifacts yet, so the origin artifact materials were of no use sitting there. He might as well craft more low-grade artifacts while he was in the mood.

Every kind of low-grade artifact had a different special ability. With enough of them, they could still greatly improve his strength.

In the reflection of the car window, Chen Fan saw his scruffy figure and his greasy hair hanging in strands.

His filthy face.

There was a sour smell about him.

He looked nothing like the way he had imagined he should.

After all, he was an [Immortal Master of the Artifact Dao].

In his imagination, he should have been an immortal master in elegant robes, radiating an otherworldly aura.

How could he look as down-and-out as he did now?

At that thought, Chen Fan pulled out an unopened bottle of mineral water.

Water was just as scarce in the apocalypse. The reason so many survivors were so scruffy was that there was not enough water.

They were afraid they would not have enough to eat or drink, so who could spare water to wash themselves?

So what would happen if he refined this bottle of mineral water into an artifact?

A smile appeared in Chen Fan's eyes as he chose to refine it!

[100 points consumed...]

In his sea of consciousness, the Artifact Refining Furnace opened and closed, a faint white light flickering within.

Suddenly, Chen Fan felt a swelling ache in his soul.

The Artifact Refining Furnace fell still.

The refining stopped.

Chen Fan clutched his head and shook it, trying to shake away the swelling pain.

Something's wrong...

After checking, Chen Fan felt helpless.

Floating in his sea of consciousness were the Artifact Refining Furnace, the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, the Endless Black Coffin, the Spirit Refining Sword, the Golden Light Glazed Shield, and the Nightmare Battle Cloud.

Not counting the Artifact Refining Furnace, which had been born with his supernatural ability, he now had five artifacts in his sea of consciousness.

And with the current strength of his soul, he could control five artifacts at most.

If he wanted to refine and wield more artifacts, he would have to wait for his soul to grow stronger.

Chen Fan gave a self-deprecating smile. "In the end, only being strong yourself makes you truly strong. But that makes sense. A first-tier supernatural like me attacking with hundreds or thousands of different artifacts at a wave of my hand isn't realistic either..."

As the convoy moved forward, the sun gradually rose higher.

Nie Shufeng's voice came over the walkie-talkie.

"Turn right at the fork ahead and there's a gas station, but another convoy is also approaching from another direction. Let's vote on whether to go."

After hearing that, Chen Fan used the other walkie-talkie to ask Qian Lei a question.

"Qian Lei, is it safe to turn right up ahead?"

Qian Lei had already traveled far away from the convoy.

Chen Fan could no longer see him and had no idea where the kid had gone.

Qian Lei's voice came over the walkie-talkie.

"Captain, I'm at the fork right now. I get the feeling the orders on the right pay well, but they're all rush orders and hard to deliver. On the left, there aren't any orders, and it's easy to get stranded. Going straight is about the same..."

Chen Fan was somewhat speechless. "Speak plainly!"

Qian Lei cleared his throat. "I mean there are risks and rewards on the right. There's no danger going left or straight, but there's nothing to gain either."

Chen Fan then asked Sun Hong, "Old Sun, how much gas do we have left?"

Sun Hong glanced at the fuel gauge. "Captain, the tank's half full. It looks like a lot, but it won't actually last very long. This vehicle burns a lot of gas, and we don't have any spare fuel left..."

Chen Fan nodded. Without much hesitation, he picked up the walkie-talkie and said, "The Mortal Convoy votes to go refuel."

After that, the others' voices came over the walkie-talkie one after another.

Nearly everyone agreed to go refuel.

In the apocalypse, vehicles and fuel were of the utmost importance.

After food, the next most important things were vehicles and fuel.

The latter two were also the key to obtaining supplies.

Without a vehicle and fuel, they could only fall to the very back of the convoy and struggle on the edge of life and death in the apocalypse.

The Fairness Convoy had also been traveling for a long time and had consumed a great deal of fuel.

When the vote ended, everyone had unanimously agreed to head to the gas station.

So when the convoy reached the intersection, it turned right without hesitation.

By then, Qian Lei had already gone on ahead toward the gas station.

"Qian Lei, don't go in by yourself when you reach the gas station. Be careful and wait to regroup with the main party."

Chen Fan made sure to remind Qian Lei over the walkie-talkie.

"Don't worry, Captain, I'm not that stupid. I just came ahead to take a look. If there's danger, I'll run right away."

Qian Lei had arrived alone at the roadside gas station on his electric scooter.

The gas station was deserted. The ground was somewhat littered, and several horribly disfigured corpses lay there.

At the sight before him, Qian Lei could not help feeling a little scared and swallowed.

But his supernatural ability did not give him a strong sense of danger.

That meant the place was safe for the time being.

Qian Lei picked up a gas nozzle at the station and squeezed it, but found that not a drop came out.

That was only natural, though. The apocalypse had been going on for so long that the station's power had long since been cut off, and the pumps had naturally stopped working too.

Qian Lei began riding his electric scooter around the gas station.

He wanted to look for the fuel storage tank.

Once he found it, he would know whether the station still had fuel. If it did, they could pump it straight out of the tank.

Qian Lei was being so eager because he also wanted to prove his worth.

When the Fairness Convoy had treated him to breakfast that morning, he had felt that everyone else's awakened supernatural abilities were stronger than his.

He also knew he had little fighting power.

As for supernatural perception, his ability had no advantage over the perceptive abilities of people like Nie Shufeng and Wang Bing.

That left him a little afraid that he would become useless to the convoy.

So he wanted to be more thorough and do better at certain things.

What he lacked in ability, he would make up for with effort.

After all, surviving the apocalypse was not easy for anyone.

The electric scooter stopped outside the gas station convenience store. Looking at the dim interior, Qian Lei swallowed and chose to play it safe. He quietly left the store behind and wandered around a while longer, until his eyes lit up.

"Found it!"

He really had found the entrance to the fuel storage tank.

He opened it to check and found there was still fuel inside.

That made Qian Lei even happier.

He was just about to get the walkie-talkie from his scooter and report to Chen Fan.

Then he heard a sound from the road.

He looked up, and his pupils immediately constricted.

More than a dozen unfamiliar vehicles drove into the gas station.