Chapter 392: Double-Tailed Cloud-Piercing Whip |
This gecko's vitality was rather exaggerated. Even after being shot full of arrows like a hedgehog, it was still struggling tenaciously.
Its tail was still swaying, and a pool of blood had accumulated beneath its body.
The members of the exploration team raised their bows in unison, ready for another volley.
After the second round of concentrated fire, the gecko was completely finished.
It lay motionless on the ground. Du Yu stepped forward and used his spear to smash its head.
Someone sighed, "This thing's skin is really thick. It took so many arrows and still almost didn't die."
Qin Ziwu stepped forward to examine it. He lifted the gecko by its tail. The tail was thick and long, thicker than an adult man's arm.
Lifting it required considerable effort. "This isn't an ordinary animal. It must have already broken through to the Superhuman level. It's a Superhuman Beast."
Hearing it was a Superhuman Beast, many found it quite novel.
"Did I just help kill a Superhuman then?"
"I heard Superhumans are very powerful. This thing is rarer than that Tarbosaurus."
"Hard to say. I heard breaking through to Superhuman means surpassing the racial limit. The more powerful the beast, the more terrifying it becomes after the breakthrough. This gecko isn't very large in size, so it probably isn't as strong as an ordinary Tarbosaurus."
"Hmm, then if we humans, weighing only a hundred or so pounds, break through to Superhuman, wouldn't we still be at the bottom of the food chain?"
"Not necessarily. We can still use weapons."
"Gotta admit, concentrated bowfire is the way to go. Turned it into a porcupine right away."
Qin Ziwu ordered people to lift the lizard's corpse onto the pushcart.
Once this lizard was brought back, it could be transformed into a Hunting Weapon.
He hoped this time there would be a weapon suitable for him.
When the teams from the rear caught up, the few who had stayed behind handed the lizard's corpse to them, asking them to help transport it back to the residential complex.
Inside the residential complex, Qin Ziwen and Jia Liangcai were stationed at the south gate entrance.
This large-scale development of the underground forest was very important. If they could secure this route, the Qin Alliance could then get properly on track.
They would have a continuous source for both firewood and game.
At regular intervals, someone would bring back intelligence from the front lines.
They also brought back various novel materials for Qin Ziwen to appraise.
"These two types of mushrooms are inedible, slightly poisonous." Qin Ziwen put down the two mushrooms in front of him. The one on the left looked like a big red umbrella, the one on the right like a small white cap.
"Note it down. These two mushroom types are inedible!" Someone beside him took notes with pen and paper.
"Guild Leader, the central exploration team sent back the corpse of a Superhuman Beast." Zhao Pu hurried over.
"Oh? I'll go take a look." Qin Ziwen nodded.
After all he had experienced, he could now face news of a Superhuman corpse with equanimity.
Not far ahead, on a pushcart, lay a yellowish-gray gecko. Due to its large size, a small section of its tail hung down naturally.
But despite being dragged along the ground for the journey, the skin on the tail's surface showed no discoloration at all.
"Impressive defensive power." Qin Ziwen pinched the tail, gently rubbing it. Although dead, through the skin membrane he could still sense the strong, resilient tail muscles inside.
Worthy of being a Superhuman Beast. The sheer physical toughness was not something ordinary beasts could match.
Even ordinary lions or tigers would only be prey to be casually hunted before it.
Yet, even such a Superhuman Beast was easily surrounded and killed by ordinary people using weapons.
Its back was full of arrow holes. Although the arrows had been pulled out, one could still vaguely imagine the scene of it being shot into a hedgehog.
He estimated internally. It seemed that even a human who had broken through to Superhuman, if they hadn't awakened a defensive-type trait, wouldn't fare well facing concentrated crossbow fire either.
"Carry it back."
After the others left, Jia Liangcai said, "Master, it seems this underground forest holds quite a few dangers."
"Dangers are normal. I actually hope for more pleasant surprises."
Qin Ziwen turned to Mogu behind him. "Mogu, if there's any danger that becomes overwhelming later, I'll need you to make a trip."
Mogu said, "Leave it to me."
It wasn't until evening, five hours later, that the first phase of the large-scale forest development finally concluded.
This underground forest was rich in species. Just the discovered underground creatures numbered over thirty types.
These underground creatures varied greatly in size.
The large ones included a nearly ten-meter-long earthworm. It could burrow. It shed a four-meter-long section of its tail and successfully escaped by burrowing into the ground.
The small ones were only the size of a fingernail, a type of moth. They were timid, as if forgotten leftovers from the evolutionary trend of underground creatures growing larger.
They fed on vine sap. Their numbers weren't large, but their distribution was relatively wide.
As for Superhuman creatures, only this type of gecko was discovered. A total of five were found. Two escaped, three were hunted.
Additionally, a new Altar was discovered near the southern wall of the underground forest.
From the Altar, they obtained one [Breakthrough Card] - a Limit Breakthrough Card.
The price of an item has always been related to supply and demand.
As more and more people within the Qin Alliance reached the five-star level, the price of Limit Breakthrough Cards had been climbing steadily.
After this card was placed in the Qin Alliance's public exchange warehouse, its price was exorbitant.
It was successfully exchanged within less than ten minutes of being stored.
Qin Ziwen knew who exchanged it — Wang Yun.
Since joining the Qin Alliance, Wang Yun, while not being particularly flashy, had consistently served as the captain of a hunting team, and his hunting results were consistently among the top.
He basically stayed stable within the top five.
He also had a recruiter, Yang Cunshen, who held a position within the Qin Alliance, earning him quite a few Contribution Points.
Plus, he approached Yuan Dajun and Yuan Ming, asking Qin Ziwen to act as a guarantor, and borrowed a sum of Contribution Points.
In the end, he successfully exchanged for this Limit Breakthrough Card.
"Guild Leader, the distance between these two Altar locations is about one kilometer. One is to the east, one to the west. The path between the two Altars is basically cleared."
"Mhm. Don't waste these insect corpses... send them all to the feed processing plant. Store the excess firewood. Try to see if these vines can undergo Rough Processing to increase their burning efficiency. If it requires fine processing, forget it. The cost isn't worth it."
After handling these matters, Qin Ziwen carried the gecko corpse to the Ancient Hunting Mausoleum.
The corpse wasn't large, so a pit was quickly dug and it was buried.
The Mound of Earth trembled slightly.
A clump of soil slowly bulged upward, as if something was pushing its way up.
A soil particle rolled down the slope, revealing a section of something grayish-white.
Soft, thin, like some kind of root that had been buried for a long time.
This grayish-white section continued to push upward, growing longer and longer, until it finally stopped.
It was a grayish-white long whip.
The whip's body was entirely grayish-white, like the dried skin of a lizard.
The tip of the whip forked, one prong long, one short. The end was inlaid with a barb.
[Hunting Weapon] Twin-Tailed Cloud-Probing Whip
[Level] Level 1 (0/1000)
[Category] Lizard/Tendril
[Hunting Expansion]
First Stage: Severing Birth
Second Stage: Not Activated
Third Stage: Not Activated
Seeing the gecko transformed into a long whip, Qin Ziwu was somewhat disappointed.
Qin Ziwen stepped forward and picked up the whip. "The transformation of these prey into weapons is entirely random. If the Hunting Expansion is suitable, you can use it for now, and change it when something more suitable comes along."
"I know, but it's a whip. If it were another weapon, fine. Even a staff I could reluctantly use. But a whip is just too niche." Qin Ziwu shook his head.
"Are you sure?" A strange glint flashed in Qin Ziwen's eyes.
After picking up the whip, Qin Ziwen learned the effect of its Hunting Expansion.
This weapon's Hunting Expansion was rather interesting.
As he finished speaking, Qin Ziwen gave a gentle flick of his wrist. The Twin-Tailed Cloud-Probing Whip in his hand suddenly lengthened a section, and the whip body became exceptionally agile. With a light flick, it wrapped around Qin Ziwu beside him.
Then, with a vibration of his wrist, the long whip in his hand actually broke automatically, just like a gecko shedding its tail, splitting into two.
One section remained wrapped around Qin Ziwu.
"Snap!"
Qin Ziwen flicked the Twin-Tailed Cloud-Probing Whip in his hand against the ground. The severed section actually grew a new forked tip, returning to its original form.
Seeing this, Qin Ziwu's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
He tried to struggle, but the whip section wrapped around him was exceptionally tough. It took considerable effort to break free.
"This whip's killing power isn't as great as other Hunting Weapons, but its Hunting Expansion effect is special. It can play some useful roles at critical moments. It mainly depends on how you use it."
"Brother, this is good stuff, really good stuff!" Qin Ziwu took the Twin-Tailed Cloud-Probing Whip. Who would have thought that after the whip wrapped around something, it could automatically detach and turn into a rope to bind the target?
If the first-stage Hunting Expansion had such a miraculous effect, he wondered what ability the second-stage Hunting Expansion had.
There seemed to be quite a few of these geckos left in this underground forest. If they hunted more, perhaps they'd have a chance to awaken the second-stage Hunting Expansion.