Trouble

Sizzle~

The crackle of electric current from the abyssal background microwave radiation kept sounding through the receiver. Standing on a forked branch with one arm around the trunk, Tao Yu repeatedly raised his hand and waved it back and forth. Before long, he picked up today's updated broadcast.

"...Sizzle~, those Wish Power Creatures are skilled at hiding, extremely fast, and highly explosive. They pose an enormous threat to you. Perhaps a Space-Time Anomaly is why such high-difficulty Wish Power Creatures have appeared, so form groups as early as possible.

"The ones in the inner city need to organize things properly. Each person must bring at least five people from the outer city from the same batch. The more people you bring, the greater the reward..."

New intelligence came through the broadcast, delivered by the same voice as yesterday. After listening through it once, Tao Yu began filling in the missing parts by listening to the earlier rebroadcasts.

"After one day, I've already reunited with my sister and encountered two others from our batch. We've also discovered that our location should be the boundary between two World Fragments. On our side is an endless grassland.

"Using tree rings and sunlight to determine direction, there is a rainforest west of us. If anyone in the rainforest can find a way to head east and enter the grassland first, we'll light smoke signals along the way as markers..."

The equipment of those twin sisters from the inner city was indeed impressive. They probably had some means of locating and contacting each other as well, allowing them to reunite within a day and even find two scattered people from their batch.

Under normal mission circumstances, those two scattered newcomers would not have been particularly lucky. They might have been treated as cannon fodder and sent to test dangerous situations.

But this time, they had encountered a Space-Time Anomaly. With manpower temporarily in short supply, the twins might care about the number of people they could use.

Their intentions could be seen from the way they had begun issuing orders to those in the inner city through the broadcast.

Whatever their motives, the measures they had taken had at least helped the generally weaker group from the outer city.

"So they really aren't in the rainforest. They're on a grassland, to the east?"

Tao Yu began mulling it over.

He planned to hunt Giant Snakes first, fill in the information for those two skills, then see whether he could find the Blood Orchid. There was no rush to head for the gathering point.

Surviving in the wilderness here was still quite stressful.

Besides, with those two people from the Floating City around, they might bring something suited to this kind of situation the next time they came. Tao Yu would still be living in the outer city after returning, so in the end, he really should move in their direction.

Tao Yu knew he had potential, but the twin sisters from the Floating City definitely possessed overwhelming advantages in both Wish Power and skills.

Combined with that flashy set of equipment, his strength would certainly remain far inferior to theirs for now, and likely for quite some time to come.

Forming a temporary safe foothold around them as the core would be a good choice.

This information also revealed that there was a nimble Wish Power Creature on the grassland where they were, one that posed an "enormous" threat to newcomers?

Tao Yu made a few guesses, but he could not reach any conclusion. There was still too little information.

This once again showed that the newcomer assistance provided by the World Will on Awakening Day was not all-powerful.

The abyss was ultimately an endless land of destruction capable of devouring countless worlds. It could not be judged based on established experience.

After receiving today's information, Tao Yu stood in the tree and looked around, making a simple assessment of the safety of the surroundings before lowering his gaze to Zhang Wei, who was handling the snake carcass and equipment below.

Having a little follower was actually pretty nice. He could dump all the dirty, exhausting work on him, and Zhang Wei would not complain at all. Carrying serpent meat that reeked of blood while walking ahead even made him a human target to some extent.

This was a snake they had killed that morning, the one that had swallowed Tao Yu's backpack. They had even dug the backpack out of its belly, and Zhang Wei was now sorting through the useful supplies.

The more bullets he fired, the more he got. Monsters even dropped equipment. Tao Yu found it rather ridiculous.

It was precisely because their ammunition had become increasingly abundant that Tao Yu grew more confident about finding the Blood Orchid and completing the Giant Snake skill information.

The place was huge, so he might not be able to find the Blood Orchid. But hunting Giant Snakes to complete the information should still be possible.

"Ah Wei, that's enough. Time to leave."

Tao Yu climbed down from the tree and landed beside Zhang Wei.

"Okay, Brother Tao. These are the cleaned bullets."

"Good work."

Tao Yu patted Zhang Wei on the shoulder and put the bullets into his backpack.

Then he picked up a piece of dried serpent meat sprinkled with salt and began chewing on it.

"Brother Tao, did the broadcast say anything?"

As Zhang Wei packed up to continue on their way, he looked at Tao Yu expectantly.

Whether he could improve after returning or not, the abyss would still be here the next time he came. What to do next was therefore crucial.

Because he had previously teamed up with Liu Wen, neither of them had been able to climb a tree this high and receive the broadcast. Zhang Wei had only learned about the Space-Time Anomaly from Tao Yu while resting last night, and it had hit him hard.

"There's some good news. We can confirm the general direction we need to go afterward..."

Tao Yu briefly explained, and Zhang Wei visibly relaxed.

"But I've still decided to hunt Giant Snakes first."

Tao Yu glanced at Zhang Wei. It was both a choice for Zhang Wei and a test.

"I'll listen to you, Brother Tao. I'll just do the work."

Zhang Wei had no objection to Tao Yu's choice and maintained a very proper attitude.

At least, that was how it appeared on the surface.

No matter what, he had to cling to Tao Yu if he wanted to survive.

Offer an opinion? Did he even have the right? It would only increase the other man's dislike of him. There was no need at all!

Having lived cautiously in his aunt's home since childhood, Zhang Wei understood that much.

"Don't worry about it taking too much time either. We ran into two giant pythons in two days, which shows their density is a little abnormal."

After seeing Zhang Wei's choice, Tao Yu smiled and reassured him.

These giant pythons had quite an appetite. Although the rainforest was full of food, two of them appearing so close together likely meant their mating season was approaching.

What Tao Yu remembered most vividly from related scenes in his memories was the image of a group of pythons entwined together into a giant ball. There might not be many of these snakes, but there should be quite a few nearby at this time...

Tao Yu's judgment was not wrong. Over the next three days, while receiving updated broadcast information each day, they successively hunted another four giant pythons. At night, he would also spend one or two units of Wish Power to slightly accelerate his Basic Breathing Technique.

Although the Wish Power expenditure was small, he practiced for long enough and had plenty of meat to eat, so the results were fairly good. He could clearly feel himself improving slightly.

What left Tao Yu somewhat speechless was that one of the giant pythons had actually dropped another person from their batch's equipment from its stomach, increasing their ammunition once again.

"Mm, if I'm willing to spend Wish Power to accelerate it, or spend more time practicing, I should be able to form at least one skill already."

After Tao Yu absorbed a newly acquired python fang, the information fragments inside it gathered with the earlier information like puzzle pieces. He already had the rough outlines of two skills.

By practicing according to that information, he could master them in advance, or spend Wish Power to speed things up.

However, he had only saved up a hundred units of Wish Power so far, and Tao Yu did not want to waste it on this. It would obviously be more cost-effective to absorb another one or two snakes, let the skills naturally become complete, and then enhance them.

"Brother Tao, you're amazing. You can hit their heads even with the explosive speed of these pythons. You completely stunned me before. As expected of B-rank Dynamic Vision."

Zhang Wei cut open the giant python's corpse, searching to see if there was any more "new equipment." Enduring the bloody stench, he praised Tao Yu as he worked.

It was not purely flattery. This giant python had been a little like the one that ambushed Liu Wen a few days ago. It had tried to circle behind them and launch a stealthy attack from above.

But unfortunately for it, Tao Yu's Bullet Time perception was there. His seemingly dangerous dodges and shots had all been expected. He had not even needed to enter an active state; the passive boost had solved the problem.

"It's nothing. In terms of strength, this giant python can leave me far behind, but when I have a gun..."

Tao Yu smiled indifferently, but then his expression froze. Many branches around them began trembling unnaturally again, just like when the giant pythons had appeared before.

More importantly, the commotion this time was much greater, with more movement than during any of their previous encounters!

There was more than one!