Global Fog Survival

“Lord…”

“Lord Colin?”

Warm, white, pure, and gentle light shone before him, accompanied by a voice as warm as a spring breeze. Slowly, Colin returned to his senses after his daze.

When he saw Sanna’s glowing fist close by, it was as if he had surfaced from underwater, suddenly becoming “awake.”

Immediately, Colin realized that everyone was looking at him with worried expressions.

“Did something happen that we don’t know about?”

Sanna retracted her hand, her voice like a soothing chant, calming and reassuring everyone, making them feel as if they were bathed in the spring breeze.

Seeing Colin’s face turn strange and his eyes vacant, Shana had decisively used some special power when ordinary methods couldn’t wake him.

After all, Shana remembered that she used to be a member of the Sun Hymn Choir but was later transferred to another department of the Eternal Sun Church, taking on different responsibilities.

Colin rubbed his forehead. For some reason, when he was thinking about the population issue earlier, he suddenly thought of something important and fell into a whirlpool of thoughts, getting deeper and deeper, unable to come to his senses for a while.

Even now, Colin still felt a lingering sense of panic and unease, as if something bad could happen at any moment, something he couldn’t change or prevent.

Everything seemed to become urgent…

But when Colin tried to recall his thoughts from earlier, he found he couldn’t remember what he had been thinking about, as if he had suddenly become forgetful.

“What are we going to do now?”

Sanna’s clear blue eyes looked at Colin, interrupting his thoughts.

“Let’s go to the mine and start mining. No matter what happens next, we need to take it step by step.”

Cllin made a decision. Regardless of what came next, the immediate priority was to increase their strength as much as possible.

And explosives were power!

Soon, they returned to the saltpeter mine, about three meters high and four to five meters wide.

The entrance was pitch dark, obviously home to some mutated creatures, but Colin hadn’t received any warnings about significant danger, indicating that the mutated creatures inside shouldn’t be too strong.

Collin carried a lantern, prepared for anything, while Sanna led the way. The group, tightly clustered, entered the mine.

Inside the mine, it was dark, cold, and damp, the air thick with a musty, decaying smell.

Long-term disregard had left the ground relatively flat, albeit littered with fallen rocks from the ceiling or walls.

The tunnel was supported by large, unnamed wooden stakes that formed long passages about two meters tall, forcing them to duck occasionally.

The deeper they went, the narrower it became. The sound of dripping water deep in the cave made everyone tense.

Due to the mine’s humidity and the nature of saltpeter, it grew colder the further they went, unlike other types of mines, which typically got hotter deeper in.

Fortunately, they hadn’t encountered any mutated creatures yet. After a short walk, they finally reached the mining area.

The walls here were covered with colorless, white, or gray crystalline minerals.

Without wasting time, Colin used some crude iron blocks and wood he had bought from the trade market to quickly craft six iron pickaxes.

Clang, clang—

Number Two immediately led a few men to start digging.

As soon as they broke off pieces, Collin collected them into his backpack and began processing them on the spot.

Others stood guard with axes, ready to fend off any creatures that might attack.

After about ten minutes, there was no sign of any creatures, as if the cave were dead.

The sound of shivering caught Colin’s attention. His guards, dressed only in shorts and ragged shirts, were shaking in the cold cave, eyeing the diggers with envy.

“Miss Sanna, do you have any warming spells?”

Colin remembered that her healing magic had a warming effect.

Sanna looked troubled and hesitated before saying, “Well, I do, but my magic is limited. I can only sustain it for about ten minutes…”

What? Ten minutes is your limit too? Collin thought to himself.

Then he decided against having her use magic, instead shouting, “Everyone, rotate every ten minutes! Dig for ten minutes, then rest for ten minutes! Start rotating now!”

He wanted everyone to experience the honor of labor!

“Yay!”

“Praise the Lord!”

The guards, excited, grabbed the pickaxes and started swinging with vigor.

The only sound was the clang of steel against rock, as each worker put their back into the task, faces full of determination.

Sanna, exempt from the cold due to her constitution and magic, looked at the others’ pickaxes, regretting she couldn’t help. But she understood the importance of safety—her mining would be more efficient, but in case of an emergency, the servant’s lack of strength could lead to casualties, so she had no complaints.

Ten minutes, half an hour, an hour, almost two hours passed…

The mine had become less narrow under Colin’s efforts, significantly more spacious than before.

With increasing proficiency, Collin’s speed at mixing explosives also increased.

His inventory now held nearly two tons of black powder!

“Thankfully, the inventory had compartments and won’t shake, though not as absolutely still as the trade market’s storage. As long as there’s no contact, it’s essentially motionless. Otherwise, if it exploded in my inventory, I’d be doomed.”

The thought of that scene made Colin shiver.

After all, this was two tons of explosives!

Well, now it’s three tons…

The speed of making black powder far exceeded Colin’s expectations.

But at that moment, Colin’s expression turned strange because he saw a notification.

[Through barely perceptible vibrations, perhaps sounds or intuition, you seem to realize that someone is approaching this area.]

[You speculate that they are survivors like you.]