Indeed.
The creature in the picture, if you ignore the monkey that looks like an old man, looks exactly like a bat.
Just as everyone was deep in thought, Liang Xin’an said, "We can summarize three points from the existing information."
"First, this creature has never appeared in the Wuyang Sea before. This has been confirmed by Leader Kong and this Fan Daniu, so there should be no dispute."
Kong Xiangdong and Fan Daniu both nodded at this.
As people who have been working around the Wuyang Sea for many years, they are exceedingly familiar with the creatures of this Snowfield.
So, it’s certain that this large bat has never appeared before.
After all, if such a bizarre creature had existed in the Northern Realm Snowfield before, they would definitely have known about it.
"The second point is that this large bat possesses incredibly eerie abilities. It can shield a person’s perception and control their body, but that’s not the most important part."
"The most crucial thing is that it seems to be able to create an area that isolates people’s perception and attention. Anything happening within this area is hard to detect from the outside, even if it’s right beside you."
"That’s why the previous two missing person cases showed no signs at all, except for a few drag marks on the ground."
Everyone’s expressions turned somewhat grave.
Because this ability is indeed too strange.
Controlling people’s perception and bodies is one thing, but being able to create a space that blocks perception and attention from nothing is downright unimaginable.
If this were used on a battlefield, it would be nothing short of a nightmare.
Imagine, a comrade fighting alongside you suddenly disappears, and you can’t detect anything unusual.
Then a bizarre creature appears next to you, attacking you, while others are equally oblivious.
What a desperate situation that would be.
Putting aside how deadly this could be, the blow to morale alone would be fatal.
Fortunately, what Liang Xin’an said next offered some relief to everyone.
"The third point, and the only good news, is that this creature seems to be strong only in its weird abilities, and its combat strength is not high. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been thwarted by a single punch from this Younger Brother Fan."
After hearing Liang Xin’an’s summarization, everyone present nodded in agreement.
Putting other things aside, this analysis clarified the situation considerably. At least it wasn’t as utterly bewildering as before.
Then Kong Xiangdong, furrowing his brow, said, "The problem is, how on earth do we guard against this thing? Even with lanterns lit all around the camp, it still doesn’t prevent this thing’s sneak attacks."
"That’s because these lanterns have limited illumination!" Liang Xin’an replied.
"From Younger Brother Fan’s account just now, we know this large bat flies in the air, and the light from the lanterns is mostly directed downward, so naturally, it doesn’t have much effect."
"That’s indeed the case!" Kong Xiangdong couldn’t help but admire Liang Xin’an’s keen insight and then asked.
"So, what should we do?"
"If it were anyone else, there might be no way, but don’t forget what we’re here for!"
With that, Liang Xin’an turned to look at Huang Liang.
"Senior Brother Huang, we’ll need your help next."
Huang Liang smiled, "Don’t worry, this minor issue is not worth mentioning."
With that, he turned and walked away.
Kong Xiangdong didn’t understand what Liang Xin’an and Huang Liang intended to do, but the doubt soon cleared up.
In just half an hour, Huang Liang returned to the tent, pushing a small cart.
"This is a mobile lighting cart I just developed with some fellow brothers from the Celestial Craft Department. You fill it with kerosene here and then ignite the wick to provide illumination."
As he spoke, Huang Liang demonstrated, and indeed a large flame appeared on the wooden makeshift cart, brightly lighting up the large tent.
Kong Xiangdong walked around the lighting cart a few times, then raised his head in confusion.
"It’s bright, but what about the wind outside? And it’s just like a lantern, unable to light up the night sky!"
Huang Liang smiled, "Be patient, Leader Kong. Since I developed it with my brothers, it won’t be that simple."
With that, Huang Liang took out a wooden box, and inside it was a large crystal dome.
"This simple thing should have been made of glass, but we were out of time, so we had to use expensive natural crystal instead."
As he spoke, Huang Liang placed the dome on top of the cart, and instantly, the brightness inside the tent increased by at least a degree.
The most important thing was a large and brilliant halo also appeared on the top of the tent.
Furthermore, Huang Liang adjusted a mechanism on the dome with his hand, and the halo began to move slowly with his actions.
"I’ve calculated that using eight of these lighting carts and patrolling specific routes would comprehensively cover the entire camp without any blind spots," Huang Liang said confidently.
Kong Xiangdong instantly became excited, "When can the other lighting carts be made?"
"Don’t worry. As soon as I left, the junior brothers were tirelessly working on them. The key is that this is no difficult task. The first one used crystal for testing, but the others can be crafted from ice blocks and replaced daily if needed."
Indeed.
For those accustomed to constructing various large machines in the Celestial Craft Department, such a lighting cart posed no difficulty, so the remaining seven carts were completed in just over two hours.