376: Chapter 376 The Wind Wall Breaks, an Oasis Appears!

Lin Xiao recalled almost instantly the event card he had activated back in the deep sea.

[Billions of Stars, Billions of Turrets]

It was because of this event card that the Astral Express unlocked [stardust Power Mode], allowing him to use the energy converted from killing Calamity Creatures to build the seventy-six naval guns he had today.

And with that, he had saved up quite a substantial fortune!

But after the event card's effect ended, [stardust Power Mode] went dormant.

Besides being able to consume stardust to fire the guns, he could no longer use energy to build or upgrade turrets or shells.

Had this function been reactivated now?

Lin Xiao's mind stirred, and a new panel unfolded before his eyes.

[Trait <Devouring Stardust> Activated]

[Energy: 999 / 1000]

[Capacity: 10000 / 10000]

[Upgrade Options Opened >>>]

[Turret Count: 19 (Each turret contains four naval guns, consumes 2,000,000 stardust to upgrade)]

[Naval Gun Level: 5 (Each level increases attack power by 10%, currently Level 10, consumes 1,000,000 stardust to upgrade)]

[Shell Level: 10 (Each level increases penetration and blast radius by 10%, currently Level 10, consumes 500,000 stardust to upgrade)]

[Current Shell Consumption: 1900 stardust/round]

Lin Xiao quickly scanned the data on the panel.

That was it.

This was the function panel from when [Billions of Stars, Billions of Turrets] was first activated.

While that event card's effect was active, he could quickly convert energy by killing Calamity Creatures and use that energy to build turrets and upgrade naval guns.

Now, the event card's effect had long since ended, but the upgrade system itself hadn't disappeared.

Instead, the trait [Devouring Stardust] had reactivated it and grafted it onto the core function module.

Compared to the previous mode, all construction and upgrade options now consumed stardust instead of energy!

Energy had a limit.

But as for stardust, he was definitely not lacking in that!

Lin Xiao glanced at his current stardust reserves: [29,971,820].

Nearly thirty million.

He could take another ten million and dump it into strengthening the naval gun system.

The shells he fired could continue to kill bugs, and killing bugs would produce more stardust.

Once this positive feedback loop started, the investment costs would be earned back twofold in no time!

Without any hesitation, Lin Xiao opened the upgrade interface directly.

Accompanied by the consumption of a massive amount of stardust, the naval gun level was rapidly raised to Level 10.

This was the most cost-effective option because any new turrets built afterward would directly inherit the naval gun and shell levels.

The second round of shelling arrived right on cue.

Energy shells whistled out from the roof of the Astral Express, trailing thicker and brighter streaks than the first round, and slammed fiercely into the surface of the wind wall.

Fragments of carapaces and yellow sand were kicked high into the air by the shockwave, and the remains of the Insect Swarm fell back to the ground like rain.

The density of the Scarab Beetles was meaningless before the shelling; every light shell that landed created a blank area with a diameter of several tens of meters.

[Killed 21,995 Scarab Beetles, Current Base Physique Attribute: 143 (+22↑)]

[Trait <Devouring Stardust> Activated, all Insect Swarm corpses within the effective kill area of this round have been converted]

[Overflow stardust has entered the backpack: 989,775↑]

Then, the third round of shelling followed in quick succession.

The naval gun system, after inheriting the new levels, displayed power completely different from before.

The increase in penetration allowed the light shells to detonate more of the surrounding Insect Swarm before they even struck the wind wall.

And the expansion of the blast radius turned every energy release into a small storm of destruction.

Those black Scarab Beetles had originally been frantically besieging Lin Xiao's team; the ring-shaped high wall that had blotted out the sky just minutes ago was now being forcibly torn open with jagged gaps.

Soon, the impenetrable wind wall cracked.

After being repeatedly bombarded by the naval guns, that layer of high-speed rotating airflow finally suffered structural damage.

Two long, narrow rifts extended from the top of the wind wall all the way to the ground.

The airflow at the edges of the rifts twisted unstably, emitting sharp whistling sounds.

Immediately after, a dense wave of water vapor gushed out from the rifts.

Standing not far from the rifts, Lin Xiao sensed the rich water elements.

Moist, abundant, and carrying the fresh scent unique to soil and vegetation, it formed a stark contrast with the air outside the wind wall, which was so dry it could almost scorch one's throat.

Upon contacting the dry sand dunes outside, the water vapor quickly condensed into a thin mist.

The area for several hundred meters around the rifts was shrouded in this layer of mist.

On the surface of the sand grains dampened by the mist, changes began to occur, visible to the naked eye.

A small patch of emerald green turf sprouted from between the sand grains, and tender shoots emerged from the moist sand layer at an extremely rapid speed.

In just a few seconds, it had covered an area several meters wide around the rifts.

"Is this... a desert oasis?"

Xu Shan, standing behind him, let out an astonished question.

Lin Xiao did not answer.

Because his attention had already shifted to another direction.

The Insect Swarm that had just been frantically besieging the passengers suddenly ceased all offensive actions.

All the Scarab Beetles hovered in the air, then, as if receiving a unified command, simultaneously turned and swarmed frantically toward the two wind wall rifts that were gushing water vapor.

The first batch of Scarab Beetles that rushed into the rifts were directly shredded into fragments by the high-speed rotating airflow.

The crisp sounds of carapaces shattering were so dense they merged into one, and fragments of insect corpses splattered everywhere.

But the Insect Swarm showed no signs of stopping; the bugs behind stepped on the fragments of their predecessors and continued to charge forward.

After those insect corpse fragments shredded by the wind wall fell to the ground, their surfaces began to wriggle.

New insect bodies grew rapidly from the fragments, and before their elytra had fully hardened, they opened their mouthparts and continued to sprint toward the rifts.

The Insect Swarm was using their corpses to pave the way, and the rifts in the wind wall were being torn wider and wider.

A few minutes ago, they were just two narrow openings less than a dozen centimeters wide; now, they had been forcibly expanded several times over.

Water vapor poured out from the widened rifts like a breached dam, forming a thin curtain of water mist around the exterior of the wind wall.

The first Scarab Beetle broke through the wind wall.

Half of its carapace had been shaved off by the airflow, exposing the wriggling fleshy structure inside, but it still struggled and landed on the grass inside the wind wall.

Then came the second, the third...

The Insect Swarm that broke through the wind wall formed a black torrent in the air, charging straight toward the main temple building.

Just as the lead Scarab Beetles were about to collide with the temple's outer wall.

A blinding, intense light flashed from the top of the temple.

It was an extremely pure white light, shining from the very top of the twelve-story pavilion.

Subsequently, with the light as the center, a ring-shaped light curtain blooming with iridescent colors oscillated in all directions.

The moment the light curtain contacted the air, it emitted a low hum.

The Scarab Beetles that had already rushed into the wind wall had their bodies frozen in mid-air by the light curtain, and then, as if crushed from within by some force, they shattered into black ash.

Blown by the airflow stirred up by the light curtain, not even a trace was left behind.

The light curtain did not stop; it continued to spread outward, carrying terrifying power.

It swept across the grass, across the water pool, and across the Insect Swarm that was currently pouring in through the rifts.

Thousands upon thousands of bugs charging in the front row were shredded completely clean in an extremely short amount of time.

But the Insect Swarm did not retreat because of this.

After seeing their companions wiped out by the light curtain, they did not pause in the slightest and continued to swarm frantically toward the rifts.

New insect eggs constantly divided and hatched on the remains of the Insect Swarm corpses.

The more bugs that were killed, the more new individuals hatched.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao stood outside the wind wall rift, observing the situation at the temple through the twisted airflow.

After completing a round of clearing, the light curtain slowly retracted to the top of the temple, re-condensing into a translucent sphere of light.

At this moment, it was slowly rotating at the very top of the pavilion, as if accumulating power for the next wave.