Chapter 248: Return to the Forest |
But after running just a few steps, it felt the sky darken above its head.
The Crowned Eagle pressed down, pinning it onto the sand.
A few minutes later, the Island Monitor Lizard gradually stopped moving, lying quietly on the beach.
However, a large amount of blood flowed out from beneath its body.
Qin Ziwen glanced at the Hunting Ladder task; it still showed 1/10.
This meant it wasn't dead yet.
Compared to the thick-headed arrows, the conical-headed arrows had better armor penetration, but their killing width was insufficient. Against such large-sized prey, it was difficult to achieve a one-hit kill; they could only slowly bleed it out and wait for it to die on its own.
It seemed a wider head was still better.
The thickness of the arrow shaft was justice.
They wisely hid back inside.
But other parts of this beach still had a continuous stream of lizards coming up to lay eggs.
Qin Ziwen considered himself a merciful person. Before hunting these Island Monitor Lizards, he would wait for them to finish laying their eggs before taking action.
Through his testing, the thick-headed arrows had the greatest power, but they had higher distance requirements, and beyond fifty meters, it was difficult for thick-headed arrows to maintain accuracy.
Next were the conical-headed arrows. As long as they hit a vital area, even if the target didn't die immediately, it would be severely wounded afterwards, with its combat power greatly reduced.
The weakest, or rather, the least suitable for hunting these Sea Beasts, were the broad-headed arrows.
The broad-headed arrows had the strongest blood-letting ability. Their flat arrowheads were like shovels.
After hitting the prey, the spinning arrowhead would churn and tear open the prey's body, creating a larger wound and causing continuous bleeding.
But for large-sized prey, unless multiple arrows could hit simultaneously, relying on a single wound to make it bleed out quickly was still too difficult.
Perhaps what broad-headed arrows were more suited for was actually people.
For the size of a human, the wound volume torn open by a broad-headed arrow was just right.
After an hour of hunting.
The task to hunt Island Monitor Lizards was successfully completed.
[Completed Hunting Ladder Level 1 Task: Hunt Adult Island Monitor Lizard *10]
[Reward Obtained: Level 2 Ordinary Building Card *1, 1 point]
After completing the task, Qin Ziwen originally wanted to look for Elephant Birds.
But after searching for a short while, he saw many people on the island raising torches, rushing towards the beach.
Qin Ziwen chuckled. It seemed they had guessed someone was here competing with them for the task.
After all, they had been here for two days; it was impossible they didn't know what animals were on the island.
It was even possible they had already started hunting, trying to complete the task.
"Let's go."
Qin Ziwen patted the Crowned Eagle's head. Since they were coming, he could leave first.
Anyway, one task was already completed; the objective was achieved.
On the return journey, Qin Ziwen casually took out the card. He wanted to see what card he had obtained this time.
[Building Card] Level 2 Residence *1
A Level 2 Residence?!
The corner of Qin Ziwen's mouth lifted.
Residence cards were somewhat scarce, not very common.
With a Residence, the Home could recruit more people.
In his plan, buildings like Residences held a very important position.
.....
Returning to the Armory Department.
Li Yue and the others were still working overtime at this hour.
Seeing Qin Ziwen return, Li Yue wiped his hands and came forward. "Boss, I just saw a task on the Ladder leaderboard was completed."
"I completed it. Your crossbow is good, just a bit heavy. Ordinary people might find it quite strenuous to use." Qin Ziwen placed the hand crossbow on the table.
He told Li Yue about his experience using it. "Changing arrows might be difficult for ordinary people. Either two people cooperate, or use foot/waist/abdomen strength."
Hearing this, Li Yue sighed. "No choice. The strength of the available materials can only achieve this level. Unless we could have metal with hardness and toughness no worse than this, but also lighter in weight, then we could reduce its weight."
"But even if such metal really existed, it would be more suitable for making armor. Using it for a crossbow would be somewhat wasteful."
Qin Ziwen thought of the Resource Upgrade Card he had traded from Luo Gang.
Should he gamble now?
The Iron Mine was only Level 2 now; upgrading would drop it to Level 1.
But this was a gamble.
If the new vein wasn't a metal with properties like iron.
Then most of the industries in the Home would have to shut down.
After much hesitation, Qin Ziwen still put the card away.
He would consider advancing it after he had another Level 2 Iron Mine as a backup. After all, advancement was random.
Afterwards, he went to the ghost shipyard.
When Tao Fu saw Qin Ziwen, it was like seeing a savior. He hurried over. "Master, the shipyard is short of wood."
"How much is needed?"
Tao Fu said, "The more, the better. The wood in the Home is almost used up. We don't just have this one ship."
Qin Ziwen pondered, thinking about where he could quickly get more wood.
Suddenly, he thought of a place.
The initial Forest map!
The backtracking function, activated but never used, was perfect to try returning to the Forest first.
The Forest might not have much else, but it definitely didn't lack big trees.
It was just that time was a bit tight, only 6 hours.
So the number of people cutting trees couldn't be few.
It would be best to send more people. In six hours, they should be able to cut enough wood for several ships.
After thinking, Qin Ziwen decided to wait until tomorrow morning to act. At this hour, most people were already asleep.
He found Jia Liangcai and gave the instructions.
The next day.
Inside the Home, a long line formed.
Many people carried axes, saws, and some other tools. Some prepared them themselves, some were issued by the Home.
Standing before the crowd, Qin Ziwen activated backtracking.
[Please select backtracking map: 1. Forest 2. Gobi Desert. After opening the channel, the channel will be maintained for 6 hours. Those who fail to return on time will be lost within the map.]
Qin Ziwen looked at the final two words: "lost".
He had thought about it before: after this backtracking period ended, if someone hadn't returned through the channel, what would be the consequence?
Would they be permanently left in the original map, or forcibly brought back, or perhaps there was another punishment mechanism?
This "lost" here was probably the punishment for failing to return on time.
His thoughts turning, Qin Ziwen silently chanted in his heart: Forest.
Instantly,
Behind him, a bronze metal door, four meters high and three meters wide, abruptly materialized. It stood there quietly.
Then, untouched by anyone, the door automatically swung inward. A dazzling ray of light shone from behind the door onto the ground.
Inside the Home, many people watched this shocking scene.
When the bronze door fully opened, through this door, many people saw familiar grassland, familiar forest.
Some were stunned, their eyes suddenly reddening.
Others' breathing became rapid.
Only after experiencing the latter two maps did many realize how "gentle" the very first map was.
No lack of water, abundant supplies.
The surrounding animals also seemed so "harmless."
Even the final Giant Toad that appeared didn't cause any casualties. As long as you didn't disturb it, nothing would happen.
"Time is limited. Act quickly. Let's go." Qin Ziwen waved his hand and was the first to step through the door.