Desert Island Survival Arc (7)

Desert Island Survival Arc (7)

Zhang Heng glanced at his Character Panel and found that the number of skills had finally increased from two to three, though the harsh evaluation below remained unchanged.

Ever since Shorts Kid taught him how to make bows and arrows, Zhang Heng had gained another daily activity.

He marked out an area on the beach specifically for archery practice.

Although he had used the knowledge Ed and Shorts Kid taught him to solve his food and freshwater problems, and had even moved out of the bird-dropping-filled cave into a tiled house he had built himself.

A new crisis soon emerged after his material living conditions improved.

Ed had once said that for those who mastered Wilderness Survival skills, the greatest enemy was never unpredictable nature, but oneself.

Once their basic survival needs were met, most people would enter a state of confusion. After losing their goals and motivation, being alone on a deserted island, they would soon be swallowed by overwhelming loneliness.

Thus, Zhang Heng had to find something else to do, keeping both his body and mind busy so he would have no time to think about the fact that he was stranded on a deserted island.

Considering that he still had more than four hundred days to survive here—based on what he had learned from Shorts Kid—Zhang Heng set himself a new goal.

He decided to explore the center of the island.

So far, his activities had been limited to the island's outskirts. The farthest he had gone was a short distance into the rainforest while looking for wood that could be used to make fire. There, besides seeing wild chickens, he had also found some animal bones on the ground, which seemed to prove the existence of predators.

From then on, he had carefully kept his range of activity under control and stayed away from that rainforest. After all, the resources by the beach were already enough to keep him alive.

But now, in order to fight this dreadful loneliness, Zhang Heng needed a goal to support him and keep him going.

I'll go see what's at the center of the island.

After setting his goal, Zhang Heng threw himself into it wholeheartedly and began working toward it.

Considering the presence of predators in the forest, he first needed to gain as much ability to protect himself as possible.

Shorts Kid had taught him how to make two ranged weapons: bows and arrows, and slings.

The latter was easier to make, but far harder to use. The angle and timing of a throw had extremely strict requirements. Release a little too early or too late, and the stone you threw would end up miles away from your target.

Landing four or five hits out of a hundred was already no easy feat.

Bows and arrows, on the other hand, were more accurate and easier to control. Moreover, Zhang Heng himself already had some Archery basics. At the training course, the coach had taught him proper posture, how to exert force, and breathing techniques.

All he lacked was practice.

There was no shortcut for that. He could only grind it out over time. Even if a day in the real world became 48 Hours, there were too many things to do for him to devote much time to a single hobby.

But now, on this deserted island with no one but himself, time was the one thing he did not lack.

Going from a recurve bow sold in a sporting goods store to a handmade primitive bow was undoubtedly a complete downgrade in consumption.

Compared with the former, the latter's accuracy and durability were rather worrying. Drawing it required more strength, and the bark rope Zhang Heng used as a bowstring risked snapping after more than a hundred pulls, with an average lifespan of around one hundred and fifty arrows.

He set himself a practice standard of three hundred arrows a day, which meant replacing the bowstring twice daily.

On the one hundred and seventy-second day after arriving on the deserted island, Zhang Heng could basically hit stationary targets without fail within ten meters. At thirty meters, he still had a seventy percent hit rate. Beyond that distance, the threat posed by the crude bow in his hands dropped sharply.

Soon afterward, he received another prompt: his Archery skill had risen from lv0 to lv1.

Yet Zhang Heng was still not satisfied. His goal was to raise Archery to lv2 before venturing deeper into the rainforest. That way, he would have enough ability to protect himself.

Besides practicing archery, Zhang Heng had not been idle during this period. He had moved from the cave into the tiled house, though it was only at the edge of the forest. After transferring all his belongings, he fired another batch of pottery. At last, he was living a life where he could eat from bowls.

Relying on his Archery, which had already reached lv1, Zhang Heng went a little deeper into the forest, arriving near the place where he had last searched for firewood. Sure enough, he encountered one of those things that looked like wild chickens again.

It seemed to be mocking Zhang Heng for being unable to do anything to it. After the two met, it let out two strange, taunting cries, then spread its legs and darted into the bushes.

The next moment, however, a wooden arrow descending from the sky savagely pierced through its body.

At the same time, another prompt sounded by Zhang Heng's ear.

Hunt successful. Game Points +3. Relevant information can be viewed in the Character Panel...

Zhang Heng's palms were covered in sweat. There were only seven meters between him and the animal that resembled a wild chicken, a distance he was fairly confident about. But once the other party started running, his accuracy would drop sharply.

So he had fired this arrow more hastily than usual, and his breathing had been somewhat unsteady when he released it. Fortunately, his diligent practice paid off, and the chicken was rather fat, so the strike did not miss.

That Thing flapped about a few more times before, still unwilling, it finally went backstage to collect its boxed lunch.

Zhang Heng walked over and retrieved his arrow before crouching down to inspect his haul.

It was a somewhat strange-looking creature. Zhang Heng had initially thought it was a wild chicken, but upon closer inspection, he found that its beak resembled a duck's more, though the tip curved like a hook. It was also much larger than a wild chicken, with bluish-gray feathers, short wings, and two thick little legs beneath it.

This thing looked kind of ugly...

Zhang Heng had rolled a bird field guide before, but he could not find this creature in it either. Still, since it ate fruit and seeds, then theoretically, probably, maybe, it should... be edible too, right?

During his time on the island, Zhang Heng had not gone without meat. But no matter how fragrant fish, shrimp, crabs, and other seafood were, they could never compare to meat that ran on land.

Ever since seeing this wild-chicken-like creature last time, Zhang Heng had set his sights on it. Unfortunately, he had had no way to deal with these creatures that ran all over the place back then. Now that his Archery had begun to take shape, he could not wait to extend his demonic claws toward these innocent little lives.

In the end, Zhang Heng's first hunt was a fruitful one. Besides this fifteen-pound "wild chicken," he had unexpectedly found a patch of wild potatoes on his way back.

They were rich in starch and could serve as a staple food. They also had a high yield. Zhang Heng could not bear to eat too many of them, so he kept only the two largest ones to stew with the chicken that evening. As for the rest, he dug them up and carefully placed them in a woven basket, planning to clear a vegetable garden beside the tiled house when he returned.

They grew very quickly. As long as he handled them properly, he would have an endless supply of potatoes in the future.

Thank you all for the tips... You noticed the contract status had changed before I did. Sweat.