Chapter 99: Basement Level 1

Chapter 99: Chapter 99: Basement Level 1

Please add to your favorites, recommend, send monthly tickets, and show your support in other ways!

——————————

"I can. This is way easier to fix than the music box. Just give me a minute. As soon as I’m finished with what I’m working on, I’ll get right on it."

Tooth Bone took the Offering Candle from Gu Su. After just a quick glance, he gently touched the rusty charging port and the warped copper wire at its base. He already had a clear assessment, and his voice was full of confidence.

This thing was indeed far easier to repair than that dilapidated music box from last time. After taking that one apart, every tiny gear and clockwork component had to be soaked in wastewater rendered from [Treated Flesh] to undergo a complete aberrant alteration before it could be used.

It was still nowhere near ready for reassembly, a process that was both mentally taxing and time-consuming.

But this Offering Candle was different. Its internal structure was simple, with barely any parts. It was just a matter of repairing the damaged wiring, cleaning the rust from the port, and reinforcing the cracked body. He could fix it with a bit of tinkering. The only real effort required would be figuring out how to preserve its eerie aura.

The rest of it would take almost no effort and wouldn’t get in the way of the experimental tools he was rushing to finish.

"Alright, I’ll leave it to you."

Gu Su had no objections. He turned, stretched lazily, and glanced at the busy Toothbone Squad and the spectating Corpse Witches nearby. He no longer felt any desire to stick around and watch.

He looked up at the sky above the Graveyard Demon. A fine, drizzling rain was still falling, and the distant horizon was starting to turn a faint white.

Judging by the light, it was around five in the morning—that time when the sky is brightening, but the sun has yet to rise.

Since he was no longer sleepy and had nothing better to do here, Gu Su decided to take a walk around the Graveyard Demon, check on the state of things, and start planning the day’s work.

The first place Gu Su headed was the basement entrance, located opposite the Withered Wood Forest.

By now, the entrance had been completely cleaned by the Walking Dead. Not a trace of clutter remained, leaving only a neat and orderly passage leading down.

The Walking Dead had carefully laid flat wooden planks over the entire length of the descending staircase and passageway. Vines held the planks firmly in place. It looked crude, but it was exceptionally sturdy. Stepping on it felt solid, with no creaking or wobbling, and it prevented anyone from slipping on the mud or loose stones.

Along the ceiling of the passageway, two thick vines snaked along the rock walls, emitting an eerie green fluorescent glow. The light wasn’t harsh, yet it was bright enough to clearly illuminate the path underfoot, revealing every corner of the passage.

Slowly walking down the wooden stairs and out of the narrow stairwell, a wide, open basement instantly came into Gu Su’s view. It was completely different from the brief glimpse he’d had last time, as if it were a different place altogether.

The last time he’d come by, the place had been full of architectural debris. All sorts of broken walls and dilapidated structures, their outlines blurry and menacing, were piled up everywhere. He’d had to tread carefully just to make out the path, as one careless step could send him tripping over rubble or splintered wood.

Back then, he had barely taken two steps forward before his path was blocked by a dangling, fractured load-bearing pillar. Withered, blackened vines coiled around it, and a few bleached bone fragments were wedged in its cracks.

Old, dilapidated door panels were embedded haphazardly in the surrounding wreckage, their surfaces covered in a network of cracks. It looked as if they could still, somehow, be pushed open.

The mangled half of a window frame was wedged crookedly in the debris, its glass long shattered to pieces, with a few tattered, rotting black scraps of cloth hanging from the sill. A long-broken handrail dangled in midair, its rust catching the faint fluorescent light with a cold glint, looking as if it might plummet at any second.

Now, however, the Walking Dead had cleared away every last one of those chaotic, horrifying things.

But it was completely different now. The basement before him had been cleaned spotless; it was surprisingly spacious.

The entire basement was a neat rectangle. In the center, a few thick concrete pillars stood firm, supporting the weight of the ceiling. The pillars’ surfaces had also been cleaned, free of any clinging debris, dividing the vast, open space in an orderly manner.

From a distance, the empty expanse almost resembled a completely cleared-out underground parking garage—spacious, uniform, and suffused with a cold, industrial feel.

The construction waste removed from the basement, such as broken concrete blocks, bent steel bars, and damaged bricks, had not been discarded carelessly.

The Walking Dead had either hauled it to a corner of the Graveyard Demon to be piled up, or stacked it neatly against the basement’s outer walls. The stacks were tidy, occupying none of the core space in the middle and creating no mess that might interfere with subsequent construction.

The smell of mold and rust had been significantly diluted by the scent of the rain outside, leaving only a faint, damp scent that was far more refreshing than before.

Gu Su ambled into the basement. His footsteps made soft sounds on the level floor, echoing through the empty space with distinct clarity.

His gaze slowly swept across the entire space. A feeling of satisfaction bloomed within him, and he nodded slightly.

’Now this is what a proper basement looks like. That previous mess, piled high with junk... how could that be called a usable space? It was nothing more than a giant garbage dump.’

Gu Su took a slow turn about the basement, his pace unhurried as he carefully examined every corner. In his mind, he quickly formed a rough assessment and a plan for the space.

He roughly estimated the basement to be about forty-four meters long and twenty meters wide—a spacious rectangle. The total area was substantial, large enough for quite a few projects.

In theory, he could divide this space into four columns, with each column further divided into eleven small rooms. That would still leave enough space for two three-meter-wide main roads down the middle.

This would make each room four-by-four meters, for a total of sixteen square meters—more than enough to serve as a storeroom, a residence for the Undead, or an auxiliary storage space for the Corpse Witches’ experiments.

But Gu Su also knew that things were never that rigid. Planning a space was never purely theoretical; adjusting flexibly to actual needs was standard practice.

Not all the rooms had to be cut into identical, perfectly square shapes. They could be altered flexibly depending on their intended use.

For storing smaller supplies, rooms of eight or even four square meters would suffice.

For large warehouses or temporary assembly points, setting up rooms of thirty-two or sixty-four square meters was also an option.

’As for the space being a little cramped, that didn’t matter at all.’

’After all, his Undead subordinates had never been picky about their living arrangements. More than a hundred of them could make do crammed into a single Gravepile; with a basement this spacious, who would possibly complain that it’s too crowded?’