Strike First

Li Fu and Song Mingqian emerged from the woods looking bedraggled, each dragging the Wild Rhinoceros Pig by one ear.

The Wild Rhinoceros Pig stood half a person tall. There was a bloody round hole in its head, shot there when Xia Chujian had raised her hand and fired earlier.

As soon as they came out, they saw Xia Chujian standing in the clearing like a round ball in all her clothes, the muzzle of the Submachine Gun in her arms still smoking...

That showed just how cold it was.

"Chujian, we know your marksmanship is good, but don't show off to this extent..." Song Mingqian shook his head, looking utterly hopeless.

Li Fu blinked, then suddenly laughed and gave Xia Chujian a Thumbs Up. "Chujian, you really saved us a lot of trouble! Look at those shots! Every last one went straight for the forehead! None of these four big tusks were damaged!"

Xia Chujian had only ever seen Wild Rhinoceros Pig ribs before, along with some blurry Pictures on the Star Net.

This was the first time she had seen the full, real body of a Wild Rhinoceros Pig.

It had four long, protruding snow-white tusks and looked nothing like an ordinary farmed pig.

"Huh? Why are all four of its big tusks sticking out?" Xia Chujian walked over curiously, squatted halfway down, and carefully examined the fruits of her battle.

Li Fu waved a hand. "That's why it's called a rhino pig! It has traits like a rhinoceros, except it has two more tusks than one. Let me tell you, these four big tusks are especially valuable! One tusk can sell for a thousand Beichen Coin!"

Xia Chujian's eyes lit up. "What? One tusk sells for a thousand Beichen Coin?! Wouldn't four tusks be four thousand Beichen Coin?!"

She immediately thought of her neighbor, Aunt Chen...

From what she had observed, Aunt Chen entered the Exotic Beast Forest about once every month.

Each time, she would "find" at least one Wild Rhinoceros Pig, meaning she earned at least four thousand Beichen Coin every time, not even counting the money from the meat.

Meanwhile, Aunt Chen's husband only made five hundred Beichen Coin a month.

Aunt Chen earned far more than her husband!

Yet Xia Chujian had heard Aunt Chen's husband beat and curse her more than once, saying that since she ate his food and drank his water, she deserved to be beaten and cursed by him...

Had Aunt Chen been cheated by some unscrupulous merchant when selling Black Rhino Pigs? Xia Chujian asked doubtfully, "Fu Ye, are you sure one tusk can sell for a thousand Beichen Coin? Can you really sell them for that much anywhere?"

Li Fu had given himself the nickname "Fu Ye," but unfortunately, his teammates did not buy into it. They refused to call him Fu Ye and always called him Xiao Fu Zi instead.

Now that he heard Xia Chujian actually call him "Fu Ye," it felt like eating the finest Beichen Star Milk Jelly Ice Cream in the dog days of summer, or the tenderest grilled Black Rhino Pig ribs in the dead of winter!

Li Fu beamed, his voice sweet as honey. "Little Chujian, you've never done this kind of business before, have you? Let me tell you, one thousand Beichen Coin is the standard price. Go to any jewelry store, and as long as you bring out an intact Wild Rhinoceros Pig tusk, the lowest price is one thousand Beichen Coin! If the quality is good and the tusk is large, it can sell for as much as fifteen hundred to two thousand!"

"Really? That much money?" Xia Chujian's eyes shifted as she quickly did the math.

One Black Rhino Pig could earn at least four thousand Beichen Coin. Ten Black Rhino Pigs would mean forty thousand Beichen Coin.

The house her family had sold had only been worth a little over thirty thousand.

Her aunt's hospital expenses were only a little over ten thousand a year.

So, ten Black Rhino Pigs meant a house, or four years of hospital bills! Xia Chujian instantly made up her mind. Once this mission was over, she would secretly come to the Exotic Beast Forest like Aunt Chen and catch Black Truffle Wild Rhino Pigs! But Li Fu seemed to see right through her thoughts. He shook his head and said, "Don't get the wrong idea. These Black Truffle Wild Rhino Pigs only roam the fringe areas of the Exotic Beast Forest near the Land of the Far North. It's a world away from Mulan City!"

"For this mission, we were able to fly here in this Combat Aircraft with advanced power energy."

"Once the mission is over and you return the aircraft, how are you going to get here?"

"Our team's Combat Aircraft uses conventional power. It can't support a flight that far."

"Do the math. The travel costs alone wouldn't be worth it."

Xia Chujian: "..."

Although Li Fu had seen through what she was thinking, Xia Chujian was not angry.

She had only one thought in her mind now.

If Black Truffle Wild Rhino Pigs only lived somewhere this far away, how did Aunt Chen get one every month?!

Aunt Chen was an Ordinary People housewife with no job at all. Could she borrow a Flying Vehicle powered by Small-Scale Controlled Nuclear Fusion too?!

If she had that kind of ability, she would not be living in such a shabby house or getting beaten by her husband so often.

It made no sense at all...

Xia Chujian pondered it for a while but could not sort it out, so she stopped thinking about it.

Aunt Chen definitely had her own secret. Why should she pry into someone else's secrets?

So be it.

Xia Chujian gathered her thoughts and looked at the Black Truffle Wild Rhino Pig meaningfully. "Since we're already here, should we go clear the area? These Wild Rhinoceros Pigs have four long Fangs. They look like vicious creatures. For our own personal safety, we should strike first!"

Strike first, my ass! Song Mingqian was more straightforward and had not yet understood what Xia Chujian meant. He instinctively said, "These Wild Rhinoceros Pigs are herbivores. They mainly grow up eating Black Truffles. They won't hurt people..."

Xia Chujian's face hardened. She stared seriously at Song Mingqian. "Song Mingqian, are you sure, absolutely sure, completely sure that Wild Rhinoceros Pigs won't hurt people? Even if they're herbivores, if they jab you with those four huge Fangs, wouldn't you get hurt?"

Song Mingqian: "..."

I hate the nickname Song Mingqian! But Xia Chujian was not wrong, and besides, why should he vouch for a Wild Rhinoceros Pig?

Even if he saved one, would those pigs automatically give him a pair of tusks? Song Mingqian finally understood Xia Chujian's meaning and said solemnly, "Chujian is right. I really can't guarantee that. How about this? You and Xiao Fu Zi clear the area while Ye Dui and I deal with this pig, then wait for you to come back and grill it?"

"Song Ge is amazing! You've got all the Wild Rhinoceros Pigs within five hundred li arranged nice and neatly!" Xia Chujian gave Song Mingqian a Thumbs Up and no longer called him Song Mingqian.

Ye Shijie had been leaning against the door of the Small Wooden House, watching the whole thing like a show. Only then did he lazily say, "Not five hundred li. Chujian, don't be so greedy. Five li around here is enough. Wild Rhinoceros Pigs aren't that easy to catch. Do you think this Exotic Beast Forest is a pig farm?"

Xia Chujian raised her right hand, made a fist, and pressed it to her left chest in a rather awkward Hunter's salute. Smiling, she said, "Yes, I'll listen to Ye Dui!"

Then she beckoned Li Fu. "Fu Ye, shall we go clear the area?"

Li Fu chuckled. "Got it!"

Xia Chujian put her Gun case, Sniper Rifle, and fully automatic submachine gun in the Small Wooden House. She only brought a Xia Zhi 085 Assault Rifle and a military crossbow. With a bag of bolts on her back and an ammunition pouch slung diagonally around her waist, she entered the woods where the Wild Rhinoceros Pig had appeared earlier with Li Fu.

This place was near the Land of the Far North. It was already bitterly cold here, and heavy snow was falling now.

Xia Chujian studied the towering giant evergreen trees and asked Li Fu curiously, "Fu Ye, it's so cold here, but there are so many huge evergreens. How do you think they survive?"

Based on the little geography Xia Chujian had learned, evergreen trees should be more common in tropical and subtropical regions.

Li Fu held his hunting rifle and vigilantly scanned the surroundings. He glanced overhead and said, "Who cares how they survive? They're alive, their leaves are dense, and they shield us from the wind and snow. Isn't that a good thing?"

The leaves truly were dense enough to blot out the sky, blocking most of the snow. Only a thin layer had fallen on the ground.

Beneath the trees, the forest floor was covered with withered yellow grass, all kinds of shrubs, and various small animals that occasionally darted out from all directions and ran past them.

Xia Chujian thought that made sense and stopped dwelling on the matter. She clicked her tongue. "This place really does seem untouched by people. Fu Ye, look, the animals here aren't afraid of humans at all."

Li Fu rubbed his thick, bear-paw-like hand over his chin and narrowed his eyes. "When Song Mingqian and I came here earlier, we didn't see this many animals."

"...Then how did you catch that Wild Rhinoceros Pig?" Xia Chujian asked curiously.

Right now, she was only interested in Wild Rhinoceros Pigs raised on Black Truffles.

Li Fu plucked a leaf from a shrub and chewed it. Smiling, he said, "Good luck! We were only planning to catch a few Red Sparrow Wild Chickens for a snack! You have no idea how tender their meat is! Especially wild Red Sparrow Wild Chickens—the aroma is beyond words!"

Li Fu gulped down a mouthful of saliva, then suddenly stopped and listened for a moment. "At about three o'clock ahead, roughly ten meters away, there seems to be another Wild Rhinoceros Pig."

Li Fu was a Gene Evolver. His hearing, eyesight, and stamina had long surpassed those of Ordinary People like Xia Chujian.

In a place with such dense woods, only people like them could quickly find hunting targets.

Naturally, Xia Chujian had heard nothing. She only regretted that she could not install a Radar System on herself! She looked at him enviously, silently turned around, and activated the telescopic function of her Helmet's Eyepiece. Sure enough, she saw a Wild Rhinoceros Pig grunting as it looked around.

It was even bigger than the one Li Fu and Song Mingqian had caught earlier!

She immediately stopped, aimed toward three o'clock ahead, and silently released her military crossbow. The bolt tore through the heavy, freezing air and struck the Wild Rhinoceros Pig.

With a Loud Noise, the Wild Rhinoceros Pig crashed heavily to the ground.

The two of them strode over.

That Wild Rhinoceros Pig really was larger. Lying on the ground, it was almost like a small elephant. Its four huge Fangs were half the length of elephant tusks, even whiter and more lustrous, with a faint jade-like texture.

Xia Chujian's military crossbow bolt had struck the center of the Wild Rhinoceros Pig's forehead.

She pulled out the bolt with one hand.

The bolt, tempered from Exotic Metal, was not damaged in the slightest. Not even a drop of the Wild Rhinoceros Pig's blood or brain matter had stuck to it.

Still, Xia Chujian wiped the bolt with a fan-sized leaf from a nearby shrub before returning it to her quiver.

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