The Strong Man Player saw that it was Wang Yu and immediately grinned.
"Kid, I didn't expect to run into you here. I was just about to come looking for you."
Wang Yu asked, "What do you want with me?"
The Strong Man said, "Hand over everything in your [Backpack]."
As he spoke, the Strong Man brandished the Entrenching Tool in his hand, ready to attack Wang Yu.
The Strong Man was incredibly brazen, trying to rob him the moment they met.
Wang Yu: "?"
At that moment, Wang Yu understood what gave the Strong Man the confidence to act so arrogantly.
The Strong Man was wearing a full suit of rattan armor, with only his eyes exposed, and he was also carrying a huge Wooden Shield.
This gear...
The Crossbow in his hands probably couldn't pierce the other man's rattan armor.
Wang Yu understood. "After we met last time, you prepared all this gear just to defend against my Crossbow?"
The Strong Man laughed. "That's right."
"Kid, you can see it for yourself. With all this gear on, that Broken Crossbow of yours can't hurt me at all."
"Hand over everything in your [Backpack]. You took the 'Newbie Benefit' here too, didn't you? Hand it all over."
"You'd better know what's good for you. If I catch you..."
As he spoke, the Strong Man charged at Wang Yu.
Wang Yu shook his head. As the saying went, you brought it on yourself.
"Summon Giant Stone Technique."
With a thought from Wang Yu, a huge rock suddenly appeared over the Strong Man's head, then dropped down.
"Ah!"
Wang Yu heard the Strong Man let out a terrified scream.
"Thud!"
A rock over three meters tall and more than two meters wide landed right on top of the Strong Man, then crashed to the ground with a tremendous bang.
And that was that.
The Strong Man was crushed beneath it and disappeared.
Wang Yu walked over to check. There wasn't a trace of the Strong Man left on the ground.
The rock was too big. Wang Yu tried to push it, but it didn't budge.
"What a pity..."
Wang Yu had wanted the things in the Strong Man's [Backpack], too, but with the rock on top of him, there was no way to get them.
He wondered whether killing a Player made their items drop.
Then,
Wang Yu checked the [Game Map]. The 'Newbie Benefit' icon, 13.7 kilometers away, was still there.
After thinking it over, Wang Yu decided he wouldn't be able to claim the 'Newbie Benefit' even if he went. There were probably plenty of Players near that icon already. By the time he got there in two or three hours, it would be too late.
In the end, Wang Yu had no choice but to give up and head back to the shelter.
He hadn't gone far when he saw another light up ahead.
"So fast."
Wang Yu was startled to see the light rapidly approaching him.
Soon, Wang Yu could make out who it was: the female Player from upstream of the creek.
The woman wasn't holding the cat. Instead, she was riding a Silver White Big Cat, a majestic feline two or three meters long and even larger than a tiger.
Had that cat grown bigger?
Wang Yu warily watched the woman on the cat's back, ready to use Summon Giant Stone Technique at any moment.
But the woman merely glanced at Wang Yu, then turned her Big Cat around and left.
She moved incredibly fast, heading toward the 'Newbie Benefit' icon 13.7 kilometers away.
Wang Yu breathed a sigh of relief and continued back to the shelter.
After more than two hours, at one o'clock in the afternoon, Wang Yu returned to the creek near the shelter.
He didn't go straight back to the shelter. He needed to check the 12 Animal Traps. He'd left in a hurry that morning and hadn't checked them. Now that he'd returned with the 'Newbie Benefit', he naturally had to inspect all 12 traps.
Wang Yu quickly finished checking all 12 Animal Traps.
[Wild Rat Meat 360g]
[Wild Rat Skin*1]
[63 Copper Coins]
The 12 Animal Traps had caught three more Wild Rats.
Wang Yu got Wild Rat Meat 360*3, 3 Wild Rat Skins, and 189 Copper Coins.
Another great haul.
This was very different from the previous few days. Could it be a benefit before the Newbie Period ended?
After baiting all 12 Animal Traps with Water Snail Meat again, Wang Yu returned to the shelter.
When passing through the woods, Wang Yu released the three large rocks still left on the Dice.
Two of them covered the two tree stumps that had been left uncrushed yesterday. Wang Yu placed the remaining rock twenty or thirty meters from the shelter.
The first Defense Line around the shelter was a sprawling Loose Rock Maze in the woods. The second was a 'wall' Wang Yu planned to build around the shelter.
After releasing the three rocks, Wang Yu returned to the shelter.
It was noon. Wang Yu lit a fire in the first-floor fireplace and began making lunch.
He planned to eat roasted mutton.
Now that he had salt, the roasted mutton would taste even better.
Wang Yu also took out today's spoils: two 200g packs of Edible Salt, 20 White Rabbit Creamy Candies weighing 3.6g each, and 5 Amoxicillin Capsules.
He planned to use Dice-Increased Quantity on all of them. After increasing their quantities, he would store the White Rabbit Creamy Candy as a strategic resource. The Amoxicillin Capsules would greatly improve his safety, while the Edible Salt would raise his quality of life by a whole level.
He also took out the two Poison Fangs and set them aside. He could coat the Crossbow bolts with poison when he had time.
If he ran into another armored Player like the Strong Man, all he needed to do was hit him with a bolt. The poison would kill him all the same.
The mutton skewers were ready. He sprinkled them with salt, and they tasted so much better.
"Delicious."
After lunch, Wang Yu didn't rest.
The Game Tips said the rain would begin at midnight tonight and continue for seven days.
Wang Yu understood. This was an extreme natural disaster in the wilderness.
He had to prepare.
He opened the 'Weather Forecast' and saw that it would rain heavily every day for the next seven days.
Wang Yu couldn't imagine what seven days of heavy rain would be like.
Flooding, mudslides, and leaks in the shelter were all dangers he needed to guard against.
As for flooding, Wang Yu had accounted for it when he built the shelter. Its location was relatively high, and there were no Steep Slopes nearby, so there was no risk of mudslides.
What Wang Yu needed to consider was the possibility of water leaking into the shelter.
He climbed the stairs and went up onto the giant stones, inspecting all the stones around the shelter.
There was still a risk of water seeping through the joints between the four giant stones. Also, the shelter's roof was still unfinished. He could finish roofing it today, since the firewood on the second floor was already fully stocked. The original plan had also been to put a roof on the shelter soon.
Wang Yu had already found the large stone slabs for the shelter's roof. They were beside the creek not far away. With those slabs covering the shelter, leaks wouldn't be a problem.
He didn't need to worry about the shelter's roof. What he needed to consider was the risk of water seeping through the joints between the four giant stones.
Before you continue