The giant bird was as fast as the wind, as sudden as a torrential downpour.
The air pressure churned the lawn. Its broad wings blotted out the sun, casting a massive shadow.
About ten meters ahead, a person sitting on the ground was lifted by the shoulders and snatched into the sky.
Her screams echoed from above.
She struggled desperately. The giant bird released its talons, letting her freefall for a moment before snatching her up again.
Only after the giant bird had flown far away did the people hiding in various spots gather back under the sun, staring after the distant creature and at each other in dismay.
Qin Ziwen said in a low voice, "This thing is really treating this place like an all-you-can-eat buffet."
The closer you were, the more you could feel the immense pressure from the giant bird.
Just like the alpha male crocodile in the river.
Zheng Yuan's face was grim. "It's come a second time, which means there'll definitely be a third and a fourth."
But against a flying opponent, they had no idea how to deal with it.
Huang Tao stepped forward and asked the crowd, "Who was that just got taken? Did anyone get a clear look?"
"Don't know her..."
"I wasn't paying attention, but from the sound of it, it seemed to be a woman."
"The bird was too fast, couldn't see anything."
A murmur went through the crowd.
The atmosphere was oppressive. No one knew if they'd be the next target. Against a flying predator like this, the only option was to stay away from open areas.
Someone cursed at the sky, "Fuck, there are crocodiles in the river and man-eating fucking birds in the sky. This goddamn world."
"Cuifang! Cuifang!" An old man ran out, gasping for breath, and shouted into the crowd several times.
Hearing no response, the old man looked around in panic.
He anxiously yelled at the surrounding crowd, "Luo Cuifang! Luo Cuifang, where are you? Have you seen my Cuifang? She was right here a moment ago! She sprained her ankle and sent me home to get her some liniment."
"Now that I think about it, I think a woman was carried off by that big bird..." Qin Ziwu started to say, but couldn't bear to finish and turned his head away. The woman who had just been taken by the bird had only recently lost her son.
The old man's mouth hung open as he stood frozen in place.
His chest heaved violently, and the bottle of medicinal wine in his hand fell to the ground with a CRACK.
"AHHH—"
He collapsed to the ground, wailing at the sky.
He had seen the giant bird overhead on his way here and had run the entire way, worried about his wife's safety.
He never imagined the worst would still happen.
The old man's hands trembled as he got up and looked around at the crowd.
Everyone did their best to avoid his gaze.
In a single day, his son had died, and now his wife was dead too.
He stooped his back and shuffled away.
...
「Evening came, and the sky began to darken.」
CRUNCH! The hydraulic cutters clamped down hard, snapping the connection point on the guardrail. Zou Sheng let out a long breath and rubbed his sore arms. "These damn railings are pretty tough."
Qin Ziwen picked up a broken piece of railing from the ground. "Tough is good. We don't want the crocodiles to just snap them."
He pressed the pad of his finger against the railing's diamond-shaped tip. "Not sharp enough. The ends will need to be worked on."
Yang Chuhe picked up a dismantled guardrail, weighing it in his hand with a satisfied expression. "The quality of this zinc-steel is decent. Forget stabbing crocodiles, you could use this to hunt wild beasts. Looks like the developers of Yujing River City didn't cut corners. In ancient times, this would have been considered a Divine Weapon. A real Sharp Weapon. Stabbing a crocodile with this will be no problem at all."
Hearing these words from President Yang, the eyes of many people in the crowd glinted strangely.
Huang Tao glanced at the dozens of dismantled iron railing bars on the ground and said with a wry smile, "I can't handle all this by myself. There's too much. I'll have to ask everyone to put in some hard work tonight to help sharpen them."
Hearing this, the others looked conflicted.
After digging mud all afternoon, everyone was exhausted and just wanted to go home and rest.
Qin Ziwen volunteered, "Give some to me. I can work some overtime tonight."
Seeing Qin Ziwen be so proactive, Huang Tao was secretly pleased, and the look he gave Qin Ziwen grew even friendlier.
'With him acting like this, how is anyone supposed to slack off?' someone grumbled internally, thinking that Qin Ziwen was just trying to show off.
Zheng Yuan stepped forward. "I'll take some back to sharpen, too."
Qin Ziwen waved his hand and said with a smile, "No need. I haven't been sleeping well lately. I go to bed late, so it's perfect to have something to do."
Seeing his firm attitude, Zheng Yuan couldn't argue with him and just took a few Long Spears from Huang Tao to bring back.
He and his younger brother carried the dismantled iron railings back home.
Qin Ziwu didn't understand his older brother's actions. "Bro, nobody else is doing it, so why are we bringing them back?"
"You go to bed early. I'll do it myself tonight."
Qin Ziwu thought his brother was angry and quickly said, "I'm not saying I won't do it! I just think that with so many people, if everyone took one back to sharpen, it wouldn't take long at all."
Qin Ziwen shot him a sidelong glance. "Go find me two rough, hard stones."
Of course, he couldn't explain to his brother that he was doing it to get a higher score.
'I'm starting to get the hang of how this daily settlement score works.'
'Gathering supplies, mapping the area, hunting prey—as long as it's a positive action for survival, I can get points for it.'
He predicted that if they succeeded in hunting this alpha male crocodile, he would definitely get a lot of points.
'So, does bringing back so many of these alloy rods count as gathering a large amount of materials?'
'In this primitive-like environment, zinc-steel alloy is definitely an extremely rare material. This stuff is incredibly sturdy.'
'Whether it's used for traps, made into spear-type weapons, or used as the frame for a shield, it's a top-tier material.'
'Even if bringing back these zinc-steel alloys doesn't count as gathering materials, by processing them myself, my 'contribution' to the crocodile hunt will surely be higher, right?'
「Night fell. The curtains were drawn open.」
Under the bright moonlight, the young man was crouched on the floor, gripping a zinc-steel Long Spear with both hands and scraping it against a stone.
"GRIND... GRIND..."
Late into the night.
A voice sounded in his ear.
"You have successfully survived in the wilderness for a fifth day. You hunted a crocodile as part of a team and were allocated some raw meat. You have seen the alpha male crocodile of this watershed. The threat of the giant croc has forced the Gated Community residents to cooperate and prepare traps. You participated in setting up the traps, but it seems you have forgotten something. Overall score: 19 points."
"Reward received: [Building Card] Level 1 Farmland, Rabbit Feed x4, Hatchet x1."
'Forgotten something...'
Qin Ziwen looked at his rewards, his gaze falling on the rabbit feed.
"Shit! I forgot to feed the rabbits today!"
Qin Ziwen hurried over to the animal cage.
Before leaving this morning, he had put a few wild vegetables in the feeding trough, but the wild rabbits hadn't touched them.
Now, the trough was empty, and the two rabbits looked a little lethargic.
Qin Ziwen took out a portion of rabbit feed.
His hand felt heavy as a large, twenty-pound bag of rabbit feed appeared in it.
He tore open the package and poured the dry pellets into the trough. As he poured, he smelled the rich, fresh fragrance of dried grass, along with the faint, sweet scent of baked grains.
After catching the scent, the two rabbits hesitated for a moment before hopping eagerly to the trough and gobbling up the feed.
Perhaps the smell was just too fragrant, as they even ignored the large human hand gently stroking their backs.
...
...