Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 588 - 288 Hunting_2

Chapter 588: Chapter 288 Hunting_2

The Night Moon Base rarely went hunting, the most important reason being the lack of bullets, and they also lacked weaponry like the Sniper Crossbow. Light crossbows such as the Rapid-Fire Crossbow had difficulty causing harm to animals, as even a shot to the head could not penetrate the skull. This was because the hardness of the skulls of fierce animals like tigers and lions was several times higher than that of humans.

Lin Wu prepared for every target with two options in mind; if he could assassinate with a steak knife he would go for it, if not, he would resort to using a pistol.

As he approached the hunting grounds, the first thing Lin Wu saw was a berry bush being devoured by a massive brown bear. How massive? By his estimate, it was around 600 kilograms, twice the size of the black bears commonly seen in Left County and North Town. Each movement of the bear caused its muscles and skin to ripple like waves.

Lin Wu instructed Wai to wait where it was, then drew his steak knife and stealthily moved towards the brown bear. Why was Lin Wu so courageous in the face of a brown bear even larger than a black bear? There was scientific evidence for this. Black bears were lighter and smaller, with a higher degree of Agility, giving Lin Wu no advantage in attributes. On the other hand, though the brown bear was stronger, it was less agile due to its weight.

Having come into close contact with Titans many times, Lin Wu was not afraid of large animals. What he feared were animals that possessed both strength and Agility. For example, Frenzy had enough Agility but not enough strength, with weak skulls and predictable behavior, so to Lin Wu, Frenzy was just an appetizer. This brown bear, at most, was a mid-sized dish.

Lin Wu leaped up from behind the bear, one hand bracing against its back, while the hand holding the steak knife precisely stabbed into the top of the bear’s skull. The brown bear froze in place as if jammed. Two seconds later, the gigantic creature collapsed to the ground with a thunderous fall.

After skinning and butchering, he obtained 30 kilograms of bear meat, one 5-kilogram bear paw, and a perfect bear hide.

This resource was unbelievably good! Looking around, he saw wild sheep, water buffalo, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, and packs of lions. The contrast was like some places at the seaside where there was not even marine life, while other areas overflowed with lobsters and all kinds of precious fish.

The most important thing was still the weapon. If one only sought Survival without seeking development, the lack of armament would be felt; without armament, forget about hunting, one could easily become the prey. But how many people had died on the road to development? A-list stars made good money, but how many people chasing the dream of stardom ended up only playing extras for their whole life?

The next unlucky beast was a lion, not that Lin Wu had any intention of provoking it, but it attempted an ambush on him while lying in the grass. The dense water grass made it impossible for Lin Wu to spot the lioness immediately, and various animal scents meant Wai didn’t give a timely warning either.

Just as Lin Wu was attacked and inevitably injured, Wai leaped and pounced without a moment’s hesitation, colliding with the lioness, and after landing, the two began a biting fight. Then the lioness was shot in the head. Looking at the severely injured Wai, Lin Wu slapped it to start healing, while his other hand held the pistol on guard.

Lin Wu was a cultured man; he knew that lionesses usually hunted in groups, while male lions were responsible for guarding the territory and mating. This phenomenon had prompted fervent debates in the college dormitory: were male lions happy or unhappy?

Sure enough, the second lioness appeared from the height of the water grass, then was shot dead by Lin Wu. Lin Wu said, "Where’s your husband? Call your husband out."

After waiting two minutes with no more lionesses appearing, and with Wai now fully recovered and hopping around gratefully for his master’s treatment, Lin Wu skinned the two lionesses. Although he had the Hunter’s skill bonus, because they had been dead for too long, besides 20 kilograms of meat, he only got two damaged hides.

Where there were lionesses, there must be a male lion. Lin Wu tiptoed and looked around, noticing a high ground about five hundred meters away that was very fitting for a male lion, a suitable spot for monitoring its territory.

Before he reached the high ground, Lin Wu spotted two hippopotamuses bathing in the lake, with several unnamed sheep and deer by the river. Hippos were fierce creatures; they had killed more humans than sharks. Lin Wu had the intention to remove such a menace for the people, but the distance was too far to aim for the head, Lock Head. Going into the lake to confront it risked getting eaten. Moreover, hippos periodically submerged underwater, and bullets might not be able to crack their skulls even with a headshot.

Adhering to the principle of harmonious coexistence with nature, Lin Wu decided to maintain a peaceful and friendly relationship with the hippos. He continued towards the high platform, then retreated as a small army of ten hyenas appeared before him. These creatures are not worth much; with little meat or hide, shooting them would be a waste of bullets.

It seemed that the hyenas did not regard Lin Wu as food, but two of them had set their sights on Wai. Seeing the two hyenas approaching, Lin Wu didn’t hesitate to shoot and kill them. The death of the two hyenas and the sound of gunfire caused the rest of the pack to scatter and regroup a hundred meters away. This time, they did not head towards Lin Wu’s direction but instead prepared to cross the lake to attack prey on the opposite side.

The previous text described the lake as resembling a red wine bottle. In reality, it was a stream flowing from above that formed the mouth of the bottle. The water was neither deep nor wide. As the hyenas crossed the river one by one, the more astute sheep and deer had already begun to flee, leaving only the gluttonous and slow-reacting prey to continue eating grass and drinking water.

However, the hunter became the hunted when a hyena passing by a hippo was bitten into a mosaic by the hippo’s huge mouth. Lin Wu was quite familiar with the grasslands, having visited them twice during his college days. Although this was a small grassland, its ecosystem was similar to that of the larger savannahs. Lin Wu made a half-circle detour, avoiding the animal trails, which are frequently trodden by wild beasts, and quietly approached the high platform.

There were fish in the lake and meat on the grasslands. With no zombies in sight daily, these resources were simply heaven in Hardcore Mode, where one could easily live without worries. Perhaps it was the easy access to resources and the environment with low zombie danger that made people lack ambition. Or, it could be said that the locals’ Survival tech tree was different from that of outsiders.

As an outsider, the first priority daily was weaponry. One had to consider the durability left on the cold weapons and the ammunition remaining for the firearms, with skills also focusing on combat. The most stable source of food was farming.

While hunting on the small grasslands, Lin Wu still needed to rely on his handgun when facing wild beasts. Due to the ease of resource gathering, players explored the cities insufficiently, had a lower craving for weapons, and consequently, faced a high difficulty in acquiring bullets. Moreover, with the player bases far apart and the radio nearly useless, information channels were extremely limited, preventing the formation of an experience-sharing network.

Lin Wu’s understanding of Technology City was clearly a misconception. He thrived and saw this place as a paradise of resources because of the attributes and skills he retained after his resurrection, as well as the handgun and bullets that Maya brought with her upon resurrection. Without these two things, the survival difficulty here was not lower than that of North Town in Future City.

Being a thinker, Lin Wu successfully killed a male lion, although he had to use bullets in the process. The lion’s alertness prevented Lin Wu from approaching it stealthily, forcing him to kill it from ten meters away using a physical sight.

Standing on the high platform and overlooking the small grassland, Lin Wu found that resources were limited. Perhaps the regeneration ability of herbivores such as sheep, deer, and rabbits was stronger, but the number of predators was not high.

After spending another hour, Lin Wu gathered ten complete hides and returned to the high point. It was visible to the naked eye that his slaughter had led to a decrease in the animal population, and no one knew how long it would take for the grassland to recover its ecosystem after being scavenged by him. Of course, Lin Wu didn’t care; his main purpose in observing from the high platform was to look for higher-level predators.

Due to being overweight, Lin Wu returned to the base with difficulty, carrying the prey and hides. Maya handed all the prey over to the head cook Hong Yi, while Lin Wu went to the crafting room to process the hides. The system was highly efficient in crafting, so he quickly obtained five S-grade leathers and five A-grade leathers. Whether to mix the ten hides to craft or to make saddles separately was a decision to be made. On this issue, Lin Ma consulted the local expert Hong Yi.

Hong Yi searched for a while in a survival guide published by the local press and answered their question, "It doesn’t say!"

Faced with such an answer, Qinglang and Shuihua laughed themselves silly, adding much lightness to the evening’s atmosphere.

Hong Yi also responded with a smile and continued to busily attend to the roasting oven. With the large amount of meat that Lin Wu had brought back that day, Hong Yi asked for their opinion before deciding to make a roasting oven to dry all the meat and preserve it as dry rations for their future journey home.

After consulting with Maya, they decided to mix the ten hides and throw them into the crafting room. It was agreed that the first saddle would belong to Maya, and the second to Lin Wu. This way, there would be no disputes over differences in quality between the two saddles, and it eliminated any need for false modesty.