Chapter 179: A Treasure Trove of a Giant Worm |
The moment Cao Biansheng thought back to the process of hunting the Desert Giant Worm, his entire body trembled with excitement.
Although it wasn't a close-quarters, hand-to-hand kill, operating the vehicle-mounted crossbow and personally nailing the creature to death was, in its own way, a form of "hands-on participation."
This was the vehicle-mounted crossbow he had personally operated.
If using only pure cold weapons, could he have slain such a behemoth?
Cao Biansheng suddenly understood.
The vehicle-mounted crossbow was still a crossbow, the crossbow bolt was still an arrow. Wasn't this, in essence, another form of archery?
Qin Ziwu was somewhat frustrated, still replaying his second shot in his mind, the one that had missed.
That worm had been constantly moving, making it very difficult to aim.
He felt regretful. If only he had aimed a little better, perhaps it would have been perfect.
"Are there any more worms in the desert?" Luo Gang shouted, covering his mouth.
Because the distance was too great, the sound scattered in the wind. Both sides could only hear scattered, intermittent individual words.
Luo Gang thought for a moment, then took out paper and pen from his pocket. After writing down the message, he asked Qin Ziwen to have the Crowned Eagle deliver it.
Both sides managed to communicate. Those students also didn't know if there were any more Desert Giant Worms in the sand dunes. At the very least, they had never seen two Desert Giant Worms appear simultaneously.
To be safe, everyone waited another half hour before joining forces to drag the Desert Giant Worm's corpse out of the sand.
The Desert Giant Worm's body was lighter than imagined.
With the combined pulling effort of over a dozen people, they barely managed to drag it out, bit by bit, from the sand dune area.
After some testing, they roughly estimated this Desert Giant Worm's weight to be around four tons.
Its skin was very smooth, like the shell of a crustacean, yet with a certain elasticity.
From the torn side wound, one could see its internal structure was a hollow cavity, with only some simple white skeletal framework supporting the entire body.
Its overall appearance resembled stacked tires.
Du Yu stepped forward and retrieved the three cards floating above the corpse.
One yellow, one gray, and one card with a gold base and black border.
[Building Enhancement Card] Random, [Building Card] Blacksmith, [Advanced Resource Card] Dew Fruit Grove.
Ever since the Desert Giant Worm was dragged out, Wang Yun had been examining it.
He was very curious about this novel creature he had never seen before.
After a long while, Wang Yun stood up and reported to Qin Ziwen, "Guild Leader, this Desert Giant Worm's important internal organs are basically concentrated behind its head. Therefore, its primary weak point is likely the head. As for the rest of its torso, at regular intervals, there are acid sacs that can secrete corrosive gas.
During my examination, I discovered its body cavity is filled with this type of acidic gas."
As he spoke, Wang Yun raised his right hand. While examining earlier, his hand had accidentally probed into the body cavity. In just two seconds, the skin on his hand had already noticeably reddened.
"Furthermore, I discovered a special air sac behind its head," he continued to add, "capable of releasing a liquid with anesthetic effects. The teeth in its oral cavity are not its primary means of attack either; their main function should be to assist in securing prey.
When it uses its head and oral cavity to envelop the upper half of its prey, these dense, sharp teeth pierce into the prey's body, securing it. Subsequently, the interior of the oral cavity releases anesthetic liquid, rendering the prey unconscious. It then swallows the prey into its abdomen, finally using the corrosive gas within its torso to decompose the prey."
"Is that so? I thought it used its teeth to tear the prey apart," Qin Ziwen said, squatting down to look at the Desert Giant Worm's chrysanthemum-shaped mouthparts and the dense, sharp teeth inside.
At the very least, these sharp teeth looked quite intimidating.
"Its teeth are indeed very hard, with high strength, but the distribution of its oral structure determines that its teeth are unlikely to become its primary attack method." At this point, Wang Yun said half-jokingly, "Unless its head could rotate at high speed like a power drill. Then its head could become a blender."
Qin Ziwu, standing nearby, laughed heartily, "If it lived in the sea, that might be possible. It could learn from crocodiles and do a death roll."
"So, does it have no meat?" Qin Ziwen was only curious if this thing was edible.
Wang Yun said, "It has some muscle, and its muscle strength is very high. This kind of meat should be very chewy. Guild Leader, the value of this Desert Giant Worm isn't low, but it lies mainly not in the meat, but in the organs on its body.
The acid liquid in the acid sacs inside its body can be collected. Then, the organ capable of releasing anesthetic liquid can also be removed; the liquid inside is a natural anesthetic.
Next is its shell. Its strength isn't low. If made into armor, its defensive capability would be higher than many leather armors.
Given its size, making ten full sets of armor wouldn't be a problem, and there would still be some spare armor plates left.
Guild Leader, don't think just because the crossbow cart's arrow pierced its body in one shot that it's weak. In the face of a crossbow bolt, not to mention leather armor, even iron armor would be shattered by a single arrow."
"Alright, you all handle the processing first."
Qin Ziwen nodded.
He looked towards the depths of the desert. After waiting a good while longer, finally, one student tentatively slid down from the high ground, stepped onto the sand, and began running quickly.
His speed was fast. In less than a minute, he had run out of the sand dune area.
After running out, he was still shaken, his face filled with the relief of having survived a disaster.
He hugged his classmates around him, then came before Qin Ziwen to express his gratitude.
His other classmates had already told him that being able to kill this Desert Giant Worm relied mainly on Guild Leader Qin's vehicle-mounted crossbow.
If not for this new super-weapon, it would have been nearly impossible for them to deal with the Desert Giant Worm in this desert.
Because if the Desert Giant Worm couldn't win, it could run.
With its speed, if it escaped into the sand dunes, everyone would almost certainly be unable to catch up with it.
Subsequently, the remaining students trapped inside ran out one after another.
Their faces all bore expressions of lingering fear.
"Wah—"
At the edge, a student helping to cut up the worm suddenly clutched his abdomen, ran to the side, and vomited violently.
He pointed at the tail section he was responsible for, his finger trembling.
The others thought of something, their expressions turning sorrowful.
Everyone walked over. At the very end of the Desert Giant Worm's tail, they discovered a human corpse.
Judging from the clothes worn on the corpse's surface, it was that classmate who had been swallowed into its belly.
Most of the soft tissue on the body had decomposed. The clothes it wore were already deformed and twisted. The rubber soles of the shoes were sticky, slippery, and blistered. The exposed parts had long been mostly decomposed, revealing stark white bones.
Some classmates covered their mouths and turned away, their stomachs churning.
His few teammates, who had been with him day and night, found it even harder to control their emotions.
Luo Gang sighed. "Bring him out. Bury him on the spot."
Seeing this scene, Qin Ziwen, who had originally wanted to try the Desert Giant Worm's muscle, silently abandoned the idea. Better find an opportunity later to try one that hasn't eaten a person.
However, this thing was indeed suitable as prey. It was strong, but its strength lay mainly in its combat power in special terrain. Once removed from that environment, its combat power didn't drop by a whole tier, but it certainly fell by at least half a tier. Yet, the cards it dropped were very generous—a full three cards.
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