44: Chapter 44 Soaring Oil Prices

After upgrading Cloud Top Fortress to LV4, it ushered in a long-lost peace.

The freezing winds of the polar night still raged outside the fortress's energy shield, freezing the outside world into a dead, silent glacial hell, but inside the fortress, it was as warm as spring.

Zhou An handed the fortress's cruise mode over to the high-level AI steward EVA, set a conservative avoidance route, and ceased to worry about it.

After the treacherous eight-hour battle royale in the "Ancient Judgment Arena," the three of them tacitly agreed not to mention searching for any hidden encounters again.

The impression left by the previous encounter was still too profound.

Those eight hours were simply a maniacal meat grinder, with thousand-meter-tall ancient colossi crushing everything indiscriminately, coupled with that terrifying mental corruption that almost caused him to completely lose his mind and have his body mutate into a tentacle monster.

Thinking back on it now, Zhou An's back still felt faintly cold.

Encounters are good, but one only has one life. At this stage, stabilizing the strength just achieved through the breakthrough and digesting those massive resources was what mattered most.

Over the next two days, life inside the fortress was regular, even somewhat comfortable.

Every day, Zhou An sweated in the gravity fitness area on the first floor. Accompanied by the teeth-grinding friction sounds of the equipment, he was diligently adapting to the terrifying power amplification and extreme control under the effect of [ Last Stand ].

Li Muzi, meanwhile, would dive into the cultivation chamber, meticulously caring for the sprouting high-tier seeds; the entire greenhouse was filled with the refreshing, delightful fragrance of plants.

As for Luo Ning, ever since she got that exclusive laboratory with blast-proof walls, strange explosion sounds and maniacal laughter would occasionally drift out. As long as the system didn't sound the highest-level red alert, Zhou An couldn't be bothered to manage her.

In his spare time, Zhou An sat in the spacious circular cockpit on the second floor, holding a cup of hot tea, and opened the regional chat channel.

[ Current Region (997) Remaining Survivors: 493,120 people. ]

"Nearly another ten thousand people gone." Zhou An narrowed his eyes slightly.

Among those ten thousand vanished people, not only were there those wiped out by hidden monsters and sudden natural disasters, but more likely, many had frozen to death inside their cabins because they ran out of fuel and couldn't withstand the harsh environment of the polar night.

At this moment, the chat channel's atmosphere was anxious. It was no longer filled with mutual insults and idle chatter, but with a full screen of purchase requests.

"Fuel! High-quality fuel! I'll bet everything I have to trade for 10 units of fuel! My engine is about to stall!"

"I beg you big shots, please have mercy! Without solar power, my batteries have been drained. If I don't generate heat soon, my vehicle is going to freeze and crack!"

"My speed has already dropped to 50, and the Black Fog radar alarm keeps sounding! Who can sell me some fuel! I'll trade Tier 3 materials for it!"

Zhou An watched these messages, then thoughtfully opened the price trend chart of the Trading House.

In this sunless polar night, solar energy reserves were completely useless. To maintain cabin temperature and resist violent air currents, all vehicles' fuel consumption rates were rising linearly. Zhou An keenly realized that in this extreme environment, fuel had vaguely become the most hard-currency "anchor" in the region.

"I remember when everyone was at LV1 at the start, the exchange rate of basic materials for 1 unit of fuel fluctuated between roughly 30 to 50 to 1."

Zhou An slid his finger across the virtual screen, watching the current real-time exchange rate, and couldn't help but gasp, "Now... the ratio of Tier 2 materials to one unit of fuel has actually been forced up to 75 to 1?!"

This was simply terrifying inflation! This meant that to trade for a meager amount of fuel to stay alive, the lone survivors were almost emptying out all their reserves!

Zhou An subconsciously switched to his system warehouse. His high-quality fuel reserves totaled over 60,000 units.

"Should I take this opportunity to sell a batch at a high price?"

This thought flashed through his mind, but it only lasted for a second before he ruthlessly extinguished it.

"No, I can't sell." Zhou An took a sip of hot tea, his eyes calm. "It's only just begun; the real period of resource depletion is still ahead. The current 75 to 1 is definitely not the ceiling. When we reach the second half, and those lone survivors' fuel is completely bottomed out, 100 to 1 or even 200 to 1 is possible. Good things should, of course, be held in one's hands until the highest point before selling; letting them go now is purely a loss."

Just as the lone survivors fell into despair due to the fuel crisis, those vampire-like Great Guilds "timely" cast their bait.

[ Hongyan Pavilion Recruitment Office ]: "Frost of the polar night, Hongyan by your side! Sisters, are you still worrying about fuel? Join Hongyan Pavilion! We have large fusion reactors for heating! Those with their own aircraft can use mechanical arms to attach directly to our mothership's armor and follow along! No need to consume any personal fuel!"

[ Tianqing Guild ]: "Sky Engine Fleet 'Docking Seats' are now open for sale! As long as you come, we will provide the most solid shelter and energy sharing!

Membership conditions: Sign a contract, turn over 70% of your total resources! And the turned-over resources must not have a converted value lower than 3,000 units of Tier 3 materials!

Or, pay a one-time fee of 6,000 units of Tier 3 materials to directly purchase a [ Primary Shelter Seat ]!"

Once these harsh conditions were released, the channel instantly exploded.

"70% of our property?! And a minimum of 3,000 Tier 3 materials?! Why don't you just go rob someone?!"

"6,000 Tier 3 materials for a seat? If I had that kind of money, I would have upgraded to LV3 and bought a high-tier fuel furnace myself long ago; would I still need to be your hanger-on?!"

However, cursing was one thing, but facing the deadly fuel crisis and the Black Fog closing in step by step behind them, some people finally couldn't hold on anymore.

"Big shots of Tianqing... if I pay those 6,000 materials, how long can you let me dock? Is it permanent?"

[ Tianqing Guild Recruitment Office ]: "Of course it's permanent docking! As long as our Sky Engine fleet doesn't sink, you can stay safely on our deck. But I'll say the ugly part first: after the polar night passes, you need to follow the guild's arrangements and participate in frontline team construction and ruin exploration work. That's reasonable, right?"

"Reasonable my ass, isn't this just paying money to become high-level cannon fodder!"

Immediately after, the other Great Guilds, like sharks smelling blood, entered the fray to snatch people, and the channel instantly devolved into a scene of blatant hunting and insults.

[ Blood Blade Guild Recruitment Office ]: "Tianqing's hypocrites, stop pretending to be good people! 6,000 materials for a deck ticket? Do you really think everyone is an idiot! Brothers, come to our Blood Blade Guild! As long as you dare to take up a blade and fight for your life, we'll waive the basic docking fee! We split the loot 50/50! The polar night doesn't keep idlers; we only want vicious wolves who dare to go out in the dark night to hunt mutant monsters!"

[ Divine Domain Guild Recruitment Office ]: "Divine Domain Guild is opening elite recruitment. We don't take trash; we only accept survivors with vehicle level LV2 and above. The base tax rate is 50%, but we promise to provide complete LV3 upgrade guidance and internal material discounts. Those who want to be cannon fodder go to Blood Blade, those who want to be beggars go to Tianqing, and those who want to truly survive and become stronger, come to Divine Domain."

[ Four Seas Chamber of Commerce ]: "Friends, lone survivors, don't be impulsive! If you sign an indentured contract, you'll really become slaves! Four Seas Chamber of Commerce proudly launches the 'polar night Heart-Warming Loan' service! No need for docking, we directly loan out high-quality fuel! Daily interest is only 30%! We support using future blueprints and special materials as collateral! Keep your freedom; surviving the polar night is not a dream!"

"Pfft! 30% daily interest? Four Seas Chamber of Commerce, why don't you just go rob a bank?!"

"Blood Blade wants your life, Tianqing wants your money, Four Seas wants your debt! These Great Guilds are all fucking vampires that eat people without spitting out the bones!"

"Divine Domain's threshold is too high, LV2... I haven't even gathered enough Tier 2 materials, how am I supposed to survive this polar night..."

Watching the sky-filling curses in the channel and those lone survivors forced into a dead end, Zhou An sneered.

He leaned back against the chair, his slender fingers tapping lightly on the table, keenly sensing something wrong in all of this.

"Although these Great Guilds have deep foundations, with a fleet scale of tens of thousands of people, in this sunless polar night, the fuel consumption is a terrifying astronomical figure. How could they dare to be so arrogant and recruit 'hangers-on' on such a large scale?"

"When things are abnormal, there must be a demon."

Zhou An's eyes flickered slightly, and several reasonable speculations emerged in his mind.

"Either they dug up a massive energy reserve in some high-tier ruin."

"Or... it's that within the core leadership of these Five Great Guilds, someone has awakened a perverted, god-level talent similar to 'Infinite Energy Conversion,' or 'Group Energy Saving/Recovery'!"

Only with such heaven-defying trump cards to support them would they dare to open their bloody maws so unscrupulously in this snow-covered polar night, frantically devouring the remaining inventory of those lone survivors.