Chapter 181: Familiarity |
If coincidence is ruled out, it's unlikely for two identical place names to appear simultaneously.
Li Tieshan might be from the same place as this Home.
Qin Ziwu sighed with emotion, "Then aren't we standing on top of a Home that once existed?"
He felt a bit wistful; this feeling was hard to describe, a kind of disorienting sensation.
After learning that this place was once a Home, everyone became very interested and enthusiastically launched a major scavenging operation.
But unfortunately, perhaps too much time had passed, almost everything left here had already decayed and become useless.
Even places that could originally be identified as card-based structures had long been abandoned.
Perhaps it was the death of the Home Master that caused these buildings to lose their original miraculous power, gradually weathering and rotting away under the passage of time.
While everyone was searching, Qin Ziwen sent the Crowned Eagle back to the complex to bring Li Tieshan here.
Everyone thoroughly searched the entire small town but didn't find anything of value.
Afterwards, everyone dragged the Desert Raptor's corpse to the edge of the sand dune.
They found a narrow, long corridor located between two houses.
They placed the corpse inside to serve as bait.
Then they positioned the two vehicle-mounted crossbows to the side, aiming at the Desert Raptor corpse's location.
Now they just waited for the fish to take the bait, then fire the crossbow bolts.
After quite a while, the sand dune churned, and a Desert Giant Worm slowly poked its head out.
The upper half of its body exposed to the air swayed slightly, as if trying to discern the source of the bloody scent.
Finally, it confirmed the location.
It slowly began to swim forward....
"Thud!"
One left, one right, two large bolts almost simultaneously struck both sides of its head.
After dissecting one before, Cao Biansheng and Qin Ziwu both knew the location of the Desert Giant Worm's vital organs.
After being hit, the Desert Giant Worm's body trembled.
It shook violently.
It contracted its body, trying to retreat back into the sand dune.
But the terrain limited its ability to turn around, its thick head crashing against a nearby wall with a loud, clattering sound.
Large amounts of sand and dust splattered.
"Shoot!"
Two more large bolts were fired.
The Desert Giant Worm's body was struck.
Its bodily movements became increasingly frantic, until finally, as if experiencing a final surge of energy, its body gave a violent shudder.
It stretched taut forward, then abruptly fell.
"Boom~"
Its massive body collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Qin Ziwen raised his hand, making a gesture to halt.
He simply watched the fallen Desert Giant Worm calmly.
This guy... was still pretending to be dead.
No cards had dropped from its body, indicating it hadn't completely breathed its last.
But he wasn't in a hurry. If it wanted to play dead, let it continue.
Because Qin Ziwu and Cao Biansheng had also finished loading—though what they loaded were crossbow bolts.
Firing at a stationary target, the hit rate was obviously much higher.
The two of them adjusted their aim for quite a while, then fired two bolts.
In an instant, the Desert Giant Worm's body erupted with a large amount of white light.
This Desert Giant Worm endured a full six giant crossbow bolts before dying; it was practically a legendary endurance king.
It dropped three cards. Qin Ziwen only took two, giving one of them to Cao Biansheng.
"Ah, for me?" Cao Biansheng was somewhat surprised.
"Mhm, you've performed well recently," Qin Ziwen said lightly. "If I tell you to take it, just take it."
"Okay." Seeing this, Cao Biansheng stopped being polite.
The other two cards Qin Ziwen kept were respectively: 【Enhancement Card】 Animal Constitution Enhancement Card (One Star), 【Building Card】 Level 1 Field.
He planned to use the Animal Enhancement Card on Chitu.
The stronger the horse, the faster it can run.
It's fine if you can't win a fight; being able to outrun the opponent is enough.
"Caw~"
The Crowned Eagle flew back.
Chitu trotted closer with Li Tieshan on its back.
As they got near, Chitu snorted, and Li Tieshan hurriedly dismounted.
He clasped his hands in a fist salute, "Master!"
Only when addressing him, Li Tieshan's peripheral vision kept involuntarily glancing around, his eyes somewhat dazed and unfocused.
"Follow me." Qin Ziwen led Li Tieshan deeper inside.
Arriving before the stone tablet, Qin Ziwen pointed at it.
"Do you recognize the characters on this? This place used to be Yangzhou City's Iron Workshop, the same place as your hometown."
Li Tieshan squinted his eyes, looking carefully. After quite a while, he shook his head, "Master, I can't remember. But this place does feel familiar, like I've been here a long time ago."
After pausing for a moment, Li Tieshan looked back towards a certain spot and said, "I also don't know why the Iron Workshop would appear here. I only have memories from my time in Yangzhou City. My home seems to be over there."
Li Tieshan pointed towards the east, the area buried under the sand dunes.
He felt somewhat regretful and also found it strange—how could the home from his memories appear here?
While Li Tieshan was still puzzled, Qin Ziwen thought of a possibility.
"I always thought Recruitment Cards recruited people with identities like Du Yu, Liu San, and others. Now it seems that might not be the case. You all might have another layer of identity."
But this speculation was too bold.
Qin Ziwen didn't dare to be certain unless he could find more supporting evidence.
But even if it truly was as he suspected, those who were recruited and revived had forever lost the qualification to touch cards and could never become Home Masters.
Everyone returned to the residential complex. Shortly after returning, Luo Gang sent someone with both good news and bad news.
The good news was that they had found a target matching Du Yu's hunting standards.
The bad news was that this target was a bit overpowered.
"We've discovered traces of a Tarbosaurus. It probably migrated from the North Side. It's currently in the Eastern Canyon, killing left and right; all the slightly larger beasts have suffered. Its size is enormous, its body length even more exaggerated than the Desert Giant Worm's, and its body is all muscle, completely different from the Raptor's skinny dog-like build."
Luo Gang kindly reminded them, "Recently, you all should avoid going to the Eastern Canyon area. This Tarbosaurus's destination is probably the Oasis further away. Since there's no water source here, it should leave soon."
Qin Ziwen pondered: Could the vehicle-mounted crossbow kill a Tarbosaurus?
There should be a chance.
But the Tarbosaurus was different from the Desert Giant Worm. It moved faster and could charge over quickly. Moreover, with such a large size and the ability to run at high speed, its muscles were probably very hard.
To kill it, they'd need to prepare at least six vehicle-mounted crossbows, firing multiple volleys simultaneously, to have a chance.
"You're not thinking about how to deal with it, are you?" Luo Gang noticed Qin Ziwen was deep in thought.
"You don't want to?" Qin Ziwen retorted.
"Killing it would directly complete a Level 2 mission. Who wouldn't want that?" Luo Gang laughed heartily. "But now is not the time. We need more vehicle-mounted crossbows."
Qin Ziwen nodded, "I'll urge them to speed up the progress as much as possible. By the way, we've already killed two Desert Giant Worms. We're only one short of completing the Level 2 Hunting Ladder mission. If you have any leads, please tell me as soon as possible."
Luo Gang was impressed by Qin Ziwen's efficiency. It had only been two days since the crossbows were produced, and a Level 2 mission was about to be completed.
"Alright, I'll increase manpower and search more diligently for worm traces."