The Miracle Small Fruit Reappears

As the Miracle Small Tree absorbed the white mist the size of a pigeon egg, information surfaced in Lin Li's mind.

"one percent."

What does that mean? Do I have to kill ninety-nine more exotic beasts like this for you before you'll grow another one of those miraculous little fruits?

Although that question rose in Lin Li's mind, no further information appeared.

"Keep at it! It's only ninety-nine exotic beasts. I'll finish soon enough."

After psyching himself up, Lin Li's thoughts shifted, and he left the Mysterious Small Island.

The golden sun on the horizon slowly climbed higher. As it rose, the heat it scattered across the earth gradually intensified, and the somewhat damp wilderness grew dry.

Near noon, on the desolate, uninhabited wilderness, a tall figure was hot on the heels of a short figure.

One fled while the other pursued. Just as the desperately fleeing short figure reached a stream and prepared to plunge into the water to escape, the tall figure chasing it relentlessly caught up.

"Pfft."

The Spirit Artifact Longsword, blooming with pale golden Spiritual Light, shot forward as fast as lightning and pierced straight through the Rabbit Exotic Beast's head.

"Bang."

The Rabbit Exotic Beast had just been preparing to leap into the stream when it died instantly. Its body flew forward from the force of its momentum, slammed into the ground, and rolled several times before stopping.

"Huff..."

Looking at the Rabbit Exotic Beast he had killed with one strike, Lin Li panted heavily and muttered, "This guy sure knows how to run! If I'd been one step slower, it would've jumped into the stream and gotten away."

After returning from the Mysterious Small Island to the real world, Lin Li began searching everywhere for exotic beasts to hunt.

After a busy morning, counting the one he had just killed, Lin Li had slain six Rabbit Exotic Beasts in total.

Killing only six Rabbit Exotic Beasts in an entire morning left Lin Li very dissatisfied.

If he maintained this efficiency in the afternoon, he could kill at most thirteen or fourteen Rabbit Exotic Beasts in a day.

His current goal was to kill ninety-nine exotic beasts. At his present pace, accomplishing it would take roughly a week.

Too slow.

There were too few exotic beasts nearby! He had searched for ages before finding even one.

Should I head a little farther into the wilderness after lunch?

After easily killing several exotic beasts in one morning, Lin Li's confidence had soared, and he couldn't help wanting to break through the one-kilometer radius he had initially set for his activities.

The outskirts of the wilderness had been swept clean by Beast Hunters many times. As a result, most of the exotic beasts living there would instinctively flee deeper into the wilderness at the slightest hint of trouble.

There had originally been a group of especially bold Rabbit Exotic Beasts living in this area. After Lin Li successively slaughtered several of them, many Rabbit Exotic Beasts that caught wind of the danger immediately began fleeing.

That was why it became increasingly difficult for Lin Li to find any Rabbit Exotic Beasts later on.

"That's settled, then. After lunch, I'll go a little farther into the wilderness... five hundred meters. Going another five hundred meters shouldn't bring too much danger."

To speed up his progress, Lin Li pondered for a moment before making his decision.

Then he came to the Rabbit Exotic Beast whose head he had pierced with one sword, extended his right hand, and pressed his index finger against its body.

With a shift of his thoughts, Lin Li stored the Rabbit Exotic Beast on the Mysterious Small Island.

The corpse of a blood-soaked Rabbit Exotic Beast appeared out of thin air on the Mysterious Small Island.

Within seconds of the Rabbit Exotic Beast's corpse appearing on the Mysterious Small Island, it transformed into a cloud of white mist, which the nearby Miracle Small Tree absorbed.

After absorbing the flesh and blood of six Rabbit Exotic Beasts in succession, the Miracle Small Tree, which had originally looked somewhat malnourished, seemed much more vigorous.

Its slightly yellowing leaves began turning green, and a cyan Azure Fruit the size of a grain of rice had actually grown on its brown branch.

Without careful observation, it was impossible to notice the rice-grain-sized Azure Fruit with the naked eye alone.

"Chirp, chirp..."

Beside the crystal-clear stream, Lin Li found a large tree where the cicadas were singing a little more quietly.

He walked beneath the shade, preparing to eat lunch.

After a busy morning, he had not used much Spiritual Energy, but chasing those Rabbit Exotic Beasts fleeing for their lives had consumed a great deal of his stamina. His stomach was already growling with hunger.

With a shift of his thoughts, Lin Li took a black backpack out of the Mysterious Small Island.

He unzipped the backpack and took out a box of self-heating rice.

After tearing open the package, he filled it with some water from the stream, and the rice began heating itself.

A few minutes later.

Lin Li held the heated self-heating rice in his hands, leaning against the lush, leafy tree as he enjoyed the cool breeze of the wilderness and the cicadas singing overhead. He ate the rice, which could hardly be called especially delicious, with great relish.

When a person was hungry, even self-heating rice they normally did not much like tasted like a rare delicacy.

It had to be said that the self-heating rice Lin Li was eating with such relish was something he had bought online half a year ago.

At the time, he had bought three boxes in one go. After eating one box, he had decided the stuff did not taste very good. But throwing it away seemed wasteful... so he had put the remaining self-heating rice in the storage room.

Lin Li had long since forgotten about the two boxes of self-heating rice in the storage room. But now, his entire fortune amounted to only a few dozen yuan.

Poverty had reminded him that he still had two boxes of soon-to-expire self-heating rice left uneaten.

"Burp~"

After eating his fill, Lin Li burped. The taste of self-heating rice lingering in his mouth made him frown slightly.

When he had been hungry, the not-so-tasty self-heating rice had seemed like a rare delicacy. Now that he was full, he found it somewhat distasteful again.

"Damn, I'm already flat broke. If I don't make some money soon, forget about eating—I won't even be able to pay the electricity bill at home."

Lin Li, who used nearly two hundred yuan of electricity per month on average, suddenly remembered that today was the day to pay the bill.

He decided that, for the time being, he should stop providing the Miracle Small Tree with exotic beast flesh and blood. Hunting some exotic beasts to earn money and keep himself afloat was the most urgent matter.

"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."

A stir suddenly came from a thicket over a meter tall in the distance. Then, a nearly meter-tall Rabbit Exotic Beast sprang out.

The Rabbit Exotic Beast had just woken up in its little nest and was a bit thirsty, so it had thought to come to the stream for a drink.

What kind of luck is this? How unlucky.

The Rabbit Exotic Beast had just leaped out of the thicket and was preparing to go to the stream to quench its thirst.

Then it saw a human standing beneath a lush, leafy tree beside the stream. The other party's face was currently filled with delight, and he was staring fixedly at it with a greedy gaze.