Chapter 937: They Moved Away~ (Fifth Update)

Now that food and fresh water were sufficient for two days, Su Xiao began considering other issues.

Over these two days, his physical condition would remain at peak, and as for recovery supplies, as long as he didn’t engage in prolonged combat, it wouldn’t be a problem—Bubu Wang was an amateur healer, and the Ice Goddess Aura could substitute for part of the recovery supplies.

With the three essentials of survival resolved, Su Xiao wasn’t satisfied with the current situation; surviving five days was merely a prerequisite—if the other six Contracted Ones also survived five days, they’d then have to compete for game points.

Su Xiao didn’t know exactly how many game points he had, but the number was surely substantial—he’d killed many Star-Embedding Crabs during his previous aura release, and even if Alice harbored hostility toward him, she wouldn’t dare arbitrarily alter the game rules.

Whether the remaining six had encountered any windfalls was still unknown; if Su Xiao were eliminated due to insufficient game points, it would be laughable.

Moreover, food and fresh water would only last two days; to maintain peak condition, Su Xiao needed to seize more resources.

“Bubu, I have a good plan.”

After Su Xiao explained the plan to Bubu Wang, Bubu Wang’s dog face twisted in dismay.

“If it succeeds, we won’t have to worry about supplies for the remaining three days—and we won’t have to stress about game points either.”

After a moment’s consideration, Bubu Wang nodded in agreement; the man and the dog began setting up the plan—more precisely, they were setting a bait, they were going to “fish.”

……

Two days later.

Deep within the Forest of the Strong, several shirtless, muscular men trudged forward; they resembled each other—bald, powerfully built, humanoid in form, yet each bore two extra eyes on their foreheads.

These Four-Eyed were “guests,” Alice’s reserve prisoners, ineligible to reside on the first level, with freedom attainable only on the fourth.

Their goals were twofold: survive, and find and kill the Contracted Ones.

“Leader, I think I smell food.”

One bald Four-Eyed sniffed the air.

“I smell it too.”

“Leader, we haven’t eaten in two days—if this continues…”

Several Four-Eyed clustered around their leader; the leader’s pupils were a deep blue, and he possessed double pupils.

“There’s blood.”

The Four-Eyed leader wasn’t tempted by the food.

“Then…”

The other Four-Eyed swallowed hard; the rich aroma of roasted meat accelerated their gastric acid secretion, their stomachs burning as if scorched—his body was sending a signal: urgent need for food.

The Four-Eyed leader was equally famished; after a moment’s hesitation, he led the others toward the source of the meat scent.

As they drew closer, the enticing aroma grew stronger; these ravenous Four-Eyed greedily inhaled the scent through their nostrils, as if it could ease their hunger.

Through the dense forest, a small clearing appeared ahead.

In the clearing burned a campfire; a canine-like creature sat before it, holding a skewer of roasted meat—so repeatedly roasted that its surface was charred.

A dog… was roasting meat!

The Four-Eyed were momentarily stunned.

“Run!”

The Four-Eyed leader shouted, for he spotted a large pit ten meters away, filled with dozens of corpses covered in pungent leaves to mask the bloodstains.

“No food on them.”

A voice came from above; the Four-Eyed leader looked up and saw a man seated on a tree branch.

“We mean no harm—we’re just starving, drawn here by the smell of food.”

The Four-Eyed leader slowly retreated; he had a feeling that if the man on the tree wished to kill them, not one would survive.

“No harm?”

Su Xiao sat cross-legged on a thick tree branch; moments earlier, the Lunhuileyuan had delivered a prompt—his Soul Blade was immune to certain mind-control abilities. The enemy had already acted, discovered it ineffective, and thus lowered his guard.

“Yes, no harm—we’re leaving right away.”

Zzzt~

Pale blue metallic threads materialized, weaving a cage among the surrounding trees.

“Death Gaze…”

The Four-Eyed leader’s eyes glowed with Youguang ; the next instant, he felt the earth beneath him surge upward, a force erupting from below.

Boom!

Flames erupted as the alchemical bomb detonated.

As the fire faded, smoke didn’t disperse; Su Xiao rose, drew his Dragon-Slicing Blade, inhaled deeply, and leapt into the smoke below.

Within the smoke, visibility was less than half a meter; Su Xiao activated his Direct Perception fully and immediately sensed the positions of the Four-Eyed within.

Clashes of blades and screams merged into a chorus; moments later, the forest fell silent.

Su Xiao wiped the blood from his Dragon-Slicing Blade, sheathed it, and began clearing the scene—corpses tossed into the nearby pit, bloodstains erased by igniting a campfire.

Within the Forest of the Strong, there were no “victims”; Contracted Ones and “guests” were in competition.

If a Contracted One survived five days, all “guests” would be purged; thus, the “guests” in the forest would spare no effort hunting down the Contracted Ones.

Su Xiao arrived at a tree hollow; inside were several barrels of fresh water, large quantities of dried meat, dried fruit, fresh fruit, and several plant roots.

These supplies were all obtained by Su Xiao and Bubu Wang through “fishing”—Bubu Wang roasted the meat to lure “guests,” while Su Xiao eliminated them; over two days, the pair had repeated this process many times, luring in two or three groups of “guests” before relocating immediately.

“We now have enough food and water to last five days.”

Su Xiao chose the risky “fishing” strategy to rapidly gather food and game points; once both were sufficient, he’d immediately find a hidden spot.

Su Xiao avoided engaging overly strong “guests,” not out of fear of their strength, but to guard against one person—Alice’s avatar.

If Su Xiao became embroiled in a prolonged battle with a “guest,” Alice’s avatar would very likely appear; then, he’d be caught between two enemies, and his chances of defeat and death would be high.

Thus, Su Xiao chose to swiftly gather food and water, then immediately hide—denying Alice’s avatar any opportunity.

Su Xiao and Bubu Wang headed toward their prearranged hiding spot; ten minutes later, they arrived beside a towering ancient tree hundreds of meters tall.

Midway up the tree was a hollow, discovered by Bubu Wang—no one knew how he found it; when Su Xiao asked, Bubu Wang said he’d stumbled upon it while looking for a place to urinate, decided it was perfect for hiding, and thus refrained from urinating inside.

Su Xiao found this baffling—wasn’t urinating just urinating? Why climb so high?

Bubu Wang had been psychologically scarred by the throne in the Twilight Palace—if the environment wasn’t safe, he simply couldn’t urinate.

The man and the dog climbed into the hollow, two hundred meters above ground; food and water were ample, so Su Xiao leaned back and pulled out his tablet to play games.

Alice’s avatar had restricted his mobility; this was now the optimal choice. As for game points, Su Xiao felt he wouldn’t be first, but certainly top three—he’d killed countless Star-Embedding Crabs before, and after that, once his aura release’s cooldown ended, he’d gone back four times to harass them again: releasing the aura, then riding Bubu Wang away, laying alchemical bombs behind as rearguard.

When Su Xiao went for the fifth time to find the Star-Embedding Crabs, he was stunned to discover—the Star-Embedding Crabs had moved away～

ps: (Sixth update twenty minutes later)