With enough food and water to last two days, Su Xiao began considering other matters.
For the next two days, his stamina could stay at peak levels. As long as he didn't engage in prolonged battles, his healing supplies would suffice. Jars of butter, with its Snow Goddess Aura, could substitute for some of the healing supplies.
Having secured the three essentials for survival, Su Xiao wasn't content with just surviving for five days. If all six contractors managed to survive for five days, then the game would come down to points.
Su Xiao wasn't sure how many game points he had, but he suspected it was quite a few. His previous aura burst had killed many Parasite Crabs, and even if Alice was hostile towards him, she wouldn't dare to arbitrarily change the game rules.
There was no telling what kind of fortuitous encounters the other six participants might have had. Su Xiao couldn't afford to be eliminated due to insufficient game points, which would be quite embarrassing. Additionally, the food and water supplies were only enough for two days. To maintain his peak condition, he needed to gather more resources.
"Bubtters, I have a good plan," Su Xiao said, explaining his plan to Bubtters. Butters looked puzzled.
"If it succeeds, we won't have to worry about supplies for the next three days. Not only that, but we also won't have to worry about game points."
After some consideration, Butters nodded in agreement. They began setting up the plan, which essentially involved laying bait to 'fish' for enemies.
Two days later.
Deep in the Forest of the Strong, a group of ragged men trudged through. These four-eyed beings resembled humans but had two extra eyes on their foreheads.
These four-eyed beings were 'guests,' reserve prisoners of Alice who had a chance at freedom on the fourth floor.
Their objectives were twofold: survive and find the game participants to kill them.
"Chief, I think I smell food," one of the four-eyed beings said, sniffing the air.
"I smell it too," another agreed.
"Chief, we haven't eaten in two days. If this continues..."
The four-eyed beings gathered around their leader, whose pupils were blue and double-irised.
"I also smell blood," the leader said, undeterred by the food.
"Should we..."
The other four-eyed beings swallowed hard. The enticing smell of roasting meat was accelerating their stomach acid production, burning their insides with hunger.
The leader, equally hungry, hesitated for a moment before leading his six companions towards the source of the smell.
As they got closer, the aroma became stronger. The starving four-eyed beings inhaled deeply through their noses, hoping to alleviate their hunger.
They emerged from the dense forest into a small clearing.
In the clearing, a dog-like creature sat by a campfire, holding a skewer of roasted meat that had been overcooked to a charred blackness.
A dog... roasting meat!
The four-eyed beings were dumbfounded.
"Run!" their leader shouted upon seeing a large pit filled with dozens of corpses covered in pungent leaves to mask the smell of blood.
"No food supplies," a voice came from above. The leader looked up to see a man sitting on a tree branch.
"We mean no harm. We were just drawn by the smell of food," the leader said, backing away slowly, feeling that if the man wanted to kill them, they wouldn't stand a chance.
"No harm?" Su Xiao asked, squatting on a thick branch. Moments earlier, he had received a notification from Reincarnation Paradise that his Mind Blade had been immune to some kind of mental control ability. The leader had already attempted to use an ability, but upon discovering it was ineffective, he had changed his approach.
"Yes, no harm. We'll leave right away."
Zzz!
A pale blue metal wire formed, creating a cage by weaving through the surrounding trees.
"Death Conden..." the leader began, his pupils glowing ominously, but he was interrupted as the ground beneath him erupted with force from below.
Boom!
A flash of fire erupted as an alchemical bomb detonated.
When the flames died down and the smoke began to clear, Su Xiao stood up and drew his Dragon Slash. Taking a deep breath, he leaped into the settling dust cloud.
Visibility was less than half a meter, but Su Xiao's direct sense ability was fully active, allowing him to detect the positions of the four-eyed beings within the smoke.
The sounds of slashing and screams merged into one, and moments later, the forest fell silent.
Wiping the blood off Dragon Slash, Su Xiao sheathed his blade and began cleaning up the scene, throwing the bodies into a nearby pit and lighting a campfire to burn away the bloodstains.
In the Forest of the Strong, there were no 'victims.' Game participants and 'guests' were in direct competition.
If the game participants survived the five days, all the 'guests' would be purged, prompting the 'guests' to relentlessly hunt the participants.
Su Xiao approached a tree hollow containing several barrels of fresh water, a large amount of dried meat, dried fruits, fresh fruits, and a few root vegetables.
These supplies had been gathered over two days of 'fishing' with Bubtters, who had been responsible for grilling meat to lure in 'guests,' while Su Xiao took care of eliminating them. After attracting two or three groups, they would immediately change locations.
"Food and water reserves are enough to last five days now," Su Xiao said. He had taken the risk of 'fishing' to quickly gather supplies and game points. Once these were sufficient, he planned to hide away, avoiding any confrontation with Alice's clone.
Su Xiao wouldn't engage too powerful 'guests,' not out of fear but to avoid drawing Alice's clone. If he ended up in a tough fight and Alice's clone showed up, he'd be attacked from both sides, significantly increasing his chances of dying.
With sufficient food and water, Su Xiao and Bubtters headed to a predetermined hiding spot. Ten minutes later, they arrived at a towering ancient tree hundreds of meters tall.
Halfway up the tree was a hollow, discovered by Bubtters. When Su Xiao asked how Bubtters had found it, the answer was surprising: Bubtters had found it while looking for a place to relieve himself but had decided against marking the spot upon realizing it would be a good hiding place.
Su Xiao was puzzled. Did Bubtters climb such a high tree just to pee? The shadow of the throne in Dusk Palace had left it paranoid about finding a safe environment.
Once settled in the tree hollow, Su Xiao and Butters felt secure. With ample supplies, Su Xiao leaned back in the hollow and pulled out a tablet to play some games.
Alice's clone had limited his movements, making this the best option. As for game points, Su Xiao felt confident he was in the top three, if not the highest. He had killed countless Parasite Crabs and, after the cooldown for his aura burst ended, had repeatedly attacked the crabs, using the aura burst before riding Bubtters away, leaving alchemical bombs to cover his retreat. He had done this four times in total.
On the fifth attempt, Su Xiao discovered that the Parasite Crabs had relocated.