Chapter 247: Robbery Mission |
Stepping onto the ground of Home, Jia Liangcai, wearing a long gown, came forward to meet them.
Around the node entrance, two to three hundred people were lying in ambush, forming a fan-shaped encirclement. They had even brought eight vehicle-mounted crossbows, all aimed at the node direction.
Seeing these vehicle-mounted crossbows pointed at the node, Qin Ziwu's eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
If these things accidentally went off, it would be no joking matter.
Fortunately, no incidents had occurred so far.
Jia Liangcai wore a beaming smile, seemingly not at all surprised that Qin Ziwen and the others had returned victorious.
"Liangcai, make the arrangements. Everyone performed very well today and deserves a reward. Each person gets two jin of fresh meat and can also collect two liters of spring water from the Healing Spring."
Hearing this, many who knew about the Healing Spring showed excitement on their faces.
Those who didn't know asked the other old-timers. After learning about the uses of the Healing Spring, they too became somewhat expectant.
"In addition, for those injured in the fight, the Guild will freely provide Healing Spring water to aid recovery until they are fully healed."
Qin Ziwen's gaze fell on a wounded man nearby; this latter part was mainly said for his benefit.
His injuries appeared the most serious, as he needed someone to support him just to walk.
"Where were you injured?"
The wounded man looked embarrassed.
The few people beside him stifled their laughter, finally unable to hold it in and bursting out laughing.
"Guild Leader, he missed his step going downstairs and sprained his ankle," someone revealed the truth.
Everyone around erupted in uproarious laughter.
Qin Ziwen was speechless for a moment, then shook his head with a smile. "It's best that it's not serious. Walk slower next time."
Apart from him, seven others had suffered varying degrees of external injuries.
They were mostly on areas like cheeks and palms, with no damage to bones or tendons.
The leather armor was thick and substantial, made from sturdy materials, and vital areas were layered with several hides.
Someone took off their armor, looked at the gashes on the leather, and felt a bit of belated fear.
Some among them hadn't considered much when charging forward; the atmosphere had reached that point, so they just charged ahead mindlessly following the person at the very front.
Cao Biansheng took off his armor. His lamellar armor surface bore seven or eight "wounds," mostly shallow. Some were slash marks from sharp weapons, others were dents the size of rice grains.
Relying on having armor, he hadn't thought too much during the slaughter, just charged straight ahead.
He had been hit several times on his body, but the armor had blocked them all.
Armored versus unarmored, as long as you protect your face and eyes, you just need to stab directly at the enemy's vital spots.
"Guild Leader, we found a ballista in a room on the third floor opposite. We couldn't take it away at the time, so I set it on fire. That ballista didn't seem to have wheels; it was fixed in place."
"Burning it is fine," Qin Ziwen said with considerable satisfaction.
The battle over, the crowd gradually dispersed.
Qin Ziwu said, "Big brother, I feel like we won a bit too easily."
Jia Liangcai, smiling broadly, explained, "Young Master Wu, in war, the heavens, the terrain, and human unity are paramount. We honed our weapons and prepared our horses, attacking the unprepared with full intent. Achieving such a great victory was only natural."
Jia Liangcai then turned to ask Qin Ziwen, "Master, was the purpose of this trip achieved?"
"Yes, their shipyard is gone," Qin Ziwen nodded.
"Congratulations, Master!" Jia Liangcai's face lit up with joy. "On this sea, without a large ship, one can only be trapped on an isolated island."
"Yes, without a specialized advanced shipyard, relying solely on ordinary shipyards simply won't work."
Qin Ziwen understood this deeply. Before the Ghost Shipyard was built, even with a senior shipwright like Tao Fu, shipbuilding was a time-consuming and laborious task.
Ordinary-level shipbuilding structures, unless their level was very high, basically couldn't work fast.
And what they could build were only small boats; large ships were basically impossible.
Without ships, it's basically impossible for the other side to complete tasks.
Qin Ziwen thought of the two Elephant Bird corpses previously hung in the tree.
After pondering for a moment, he felt he could still take advantage of the night to go to the island and complete one or two of the hunting tasks available on the opposite island ahead of them!
Then, with them having no ships and unable to hunt the sea beasts in the ocean, the overall situation would be basically settled.
With this thought, Qin Ziwen went to the Armory Department and took the hand crossbows that Li Yue and the others had finished making. "I'll take them for a practical test."
"Alright, Guild Leader. If you encounter any issues during use, please provide feedback promptly," Li Yue said, then took out a total of fifteen forged arrowheads from the adjacent warehouse.
One type was thick-headed arrows for hunting giant beasts, another was broad-headed arrows for causing blood loss, and the last was conical-headed arrows for armor penetration, five of each type.
Mounting the Crowned Eagle, he arrived at the opposite island, flying close to the edge of the beach.
Based on the morning's encounter, it seemed Elephant Birds liked to occupy wooded areas near the sea.
So their resting and sleeping places should also be near such terrain.
But after searching around, he saw no trace of Elephant Birds.
"Could they be inside the forest, coming out in the morning to forage?" Qin Ziwen pondered. Suddenly, the Crowned Eagle beneath him stopped moving.
Qin Ziwen observed for a while and spotted the target on a rocky outcrop near the sea.
Under the moonlight, waves crashed against the rocks.
A nearly four-meter-long lizard with black scales that reflected a faint gleam, its massive frame, swam out from the sea.
It came ashore, shook the seawater from its scaled back, then strode towards the beach with a swaggering gait.
On the beach, it surveyed its surroundings.
Choosing a spot, it used its claws to dig open the sand, then turned around, lowered its rear, and settled its tail base into the pit.
Then... it began laying eggs.
Qin Ziwen lowered his right hand, which had raised the hand crossbow.
He silently watched this Island Monitor Lizard finish laying its eggs, waiting until it used its hind legs to fill in the sand pit.
Then he raised the hand crossbow again, aimed at its head, and pulled the trigger.
"Thud!"
The Island Monitor Lizard's head visibly exploded.
A small chunk was directly missing from its head.
It died on the spot.
"This thick-headed arrow is indeed effective," Qin Ziwen said, taking a new conical-headed arrow from his quiver. He drew the crossbow string with one hand, loaded the new arrow, and continued selecting targets.
Tonight seemed to be the breeding season for Island Monitor Lizards.
On this beach, one after another, Island Monitor Lizards kept crawling out from the rocky areas, coming onto the beach to lay eggs.
Soon, he picked another target.
The advantage of a crossbow is its ease of aiming at close range.
Apart from the effort required when reloading arrows, firing it requires almost no exertion. You can keep aiming without having to hold a bowstring balanced.
In other words, even an ordinary person without great strength, as long as they receive basic training and master the skills of aiming and reloading, could also single-handedly hunt prey like the Island Monitor Lizard, which is at the bottom of the Level 1 Hunting Ladder targets.
But even at the bottom, it's still a four-meter-long giant lizard. If this hand crossbow could achieve mass production, its significance would be immeasurable.
It could enable ordinary people to potentially independently complete hunting tasks.
He raised the hand crossbow, waited until the target came within forty meters, and pulled the trigger.
The conical-headed arrow instantly buried itself completely in its head.
"Hiss—"
After being attacked, the Island Monitor Lizard's first reaction was to flee.
It spread its limbs and ran frantically towards the sea.