Long-Tusked Boar

At this very moment, the Nether Wolf, having finally caught its breath, lowered its head once more as white soul power fluctuations radiated from its body.

"Woo~~"

With a low growl squeezed from its throat, the Nether Wolf lunged fiercely toward the white rabbit lying on the ground.

Yet, just then, the white rabbit, which had appeared dead for some time, suddenly snapped its eyes open. Its soul power erupted, and its curled hind legs kicked out like lightning toward the Nether Wolf's face.

As if it had anticipated this move, the Nether Wolf's charging body jerked to a halt and swerved to the side.

"Awoo~"

The sudden lateral movement seemed to aggravate its wounds, causing the Nether Wolf's body to buckle, and its front legs involuntarily collapsed to the ground.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!"

Seeing that its final kick had failed, the rabbit, lying on the ground with no strength left, cried out in despair.

The sound was sharp, the tail end drawn out long, seemingly filled with boundless resentment.

Shortly after, Zhang Yang watched as the rabbit helplessly breathed its last and transformed into a wooden box.

"Awoo." Seeing the rabbit finally dead, the Nether Wolf let out a short howl before its battered body could no longer support itself; it went limp and collapsed onto the ground.

"Now is the time."

Zhang Yang's figure stepped out from behind the tree, the M14 he held pointed toward the ground rising steadily to aim at the Nether Wolf not far away.

Hearing the urgent footsteps nearby, the Nether Wolf, which had been lying on the ground thinking it was finally over, scrambled up in a panic, but its heavy injuries and excessive blood loss made its reactions more than a beat slow.

That delay was the line between life and death.

"Die!"

Zhang Yang let out a soft shout, his right index finger pulling the trigger sharply.

"Bang!"

In an instant, a large red hole appeared on the Nether Wolf's forehead.

At the same time, its body, which had been in the middle of rising, suddenly froze. Its limbs, which had been trembling as they struggled to support its weight, suddenly curled up together like a sack of grain.

"Thud." The Nether Wolf's body fell from a height of 30 centimeters, hitting the ground like a free-falling object.

A 30-centimeter pure free fall—this was indeed the first time Zhang Yang had seen such a strange sight.

The Nether Wolf's body slowly vanished, turning into a wooden box.

Standing before the Nether Wolf's box, Zhang Yang tapped his personal terminal and let out a long sigh of relief upon seeing that he still had plenty of time.

"Yes~~~~!"

Zhang Yang shouted happily, then reached out to open the Nether Wolf's box.

As a soul beast designated as a boss type, the Nether Wolf's box opened to a 6x6 search interface, which looked significantly higher-tier than Lone Bamboo's.

It was just a pity that the loot was so disappointing.

"Ding."

"Purple, Wolf Tooth Pendant, value 16771."

"Ding."

"Purple, Nether Wolf Serum, value 8000."

"Ding."

Green, apple, value 2441.

"Ding."

10-year soul ring (*1), value 1.

Zhang Yang curled his lip; with only one purple item exceeding ten thousand in value, it was a total waste of its boss status.

Pubarisaide at least would have dropped a few dozen level-four rounds.

Zhang Yang then opened the Soft Bone Rabbit's box.

The search interface was also 6x6.

Zhang Yang paused in his movements upon seeing this.

"6x6? This rabbit was a boss too? Oh! It's the Soft Bone Rabbit I just bypassed!"

Zhang Yang felt as if he had been set up by the system.

Compared to the Nether Wolf, the Soft Bone Rabbit's box was truly generous.

"Ding."

"Gold, Lucky Rabbit Foot, value 69429."

A little gold item.

"Ding."

10-year soul ring (*1), value 1.

In addition, there were several other small blue items worth less than ten thousand per slot.

Back when Zhang Yang was still a Master of Assault, he never even bothered to pick up collectibles worth less than twenty thousand per slot.

He would just have to throw them away later when he looted an operator's crate anyway.

But that wasn't an option now; forget about the small blue items, Zhang Yang even looted the white Bamboo Brush.

There was no helping it; who didn't have to start from the bottom?

After looting the crate, Zhang Yang only had one empty slot left on his entire person.

It couldn't be helped—the beginner mode didn't provide Zhang Yang with a chest rig, and the bot crate he looted didn't have one either.

What kind of beginner tutorial was this? It was just like a budget knife run in Delta Force.

Start with a nine-slot secure container, grab a Longbow the moment you land, eat it, and then suicide with a grenade.

Could this beginner tutorial have been designed by the godfather of Delta Force economics?

Oh my, why is this godfather so wicked?

After organizing his gear, Zhang Yang set off again. Not long after, he arrived at the marked location on the map and harvested two stalks of Crescent Moon Herb.

Crescent Moon Herb (Purple)
Value: 13,600
Uses: 1/1
Effect:
Activation time: 5 seconds
Restores 20 HP/second
Restores 20 Soul Power/second
Restores 20 HP and 20 Soul Power per second for a total of 3 seconds after a 5-second activation time.

Wild red and blue potions?

Zhang Yang glanced at his health and mana bars; they were both exactly at 100 points.

A red and blue potion that restores 60% of his stats over eight seconds?

Good stuff.

No wonder it was a purple-tier item.

Zhang Yang satisfiedly placed the two non-stackable red and blue potions into his pocket slots, discarding the Bamboo Brush that had nowhere left to go.

Although, based on the value of the potions, putting them in his secure container would maximize his profit, Zhang Yang chose not to.

Keeping the medicine in his pocket slots for immediate, rapid access was the true way to maximize his own interests.

After harvesting the herbs, Zhang Yang checked the map and found he still had plenty of time; he could easily take a stroll over to the third boss.

Let's go.

On the way to the third boss's territory, Soul Power was constantly condensing around Zhang Yang.

This was Zhang Yang's latest development for Lord M14.

The reason was that, after the experience of those two shots earlier, Zhang Yang suddenly realized that every time he fired, a brief charging process was required.

The manifestation of this charging process was the consumption of 1 point of Soul Power, after which the trigger would unlock, allowing him to fire a Soul Power bullet.

This process was entirely hidden within Zhang Yang's aiming process, causing no interference.

However, the process was undeniably real.

Thus, Zhang Yang had an idea.

What if he condensed the Soul Power in advance, just like pre-loading a magazine?

Zhang Yang gave it a simple try and found it was indeed feasible.

The time to condense each Soul Power bullet was 0.5 seconds, consuming 1 point of Soul Power.

Lord M14 had a magazine capacity of 10 rounds, so Zhang Yang spent 5 seconds finishing the condensation.

Then, Zhang Yang switched the safety to full-auto mode and fired all 10 bullets in the magazine at a passing, innocent soul beast, the Reckless Bull.

One bullet killed it with a headshot, while the other nine bullets struck the Reckless Bull's loot crate.

The continuous recoil of full-auto fire and the violent damage made Zhang Yang feel poetic.

So satisfying.

The carbon-based lifeform cooler, the power of acute metal poisoning, made Zhang Yang feel a bit carried away.

He really wanted to shoot something right now.

After re-condensing 10 bullets, Zhang Yang opened his personal information panel.

Soul Power: 85/100.

Zhang Yang just stared quietly at the number "85."

Before long, "85/100" suddenly shifted to "86/100." Zhang Yang hurriedly glanced at the match timer in the top right corner.

"21:18"

Zhang Yang quickly memorized the number, then kept his eyes locked on the "86/100."

Not long after, "86/100" changed to "87/100," and Zhang Yang immediately looked to the top right corner again.

"21:03"

Zhang Yang reached a conclusion almost instantly: "1 point of Soul Power recovered every 15 seconds."

At 1 point of Soul Power every 15 seconds, that meant in a standard 30-minute match, Zhang Yang could only recover 120 bullets.

Adding the 100 points of Soul Power he started with, that was 220 rounds at most.

220 rounds, or three and a half stacks of ammo—for someone like Zhang Yang, who loved running solo-trios across the entire map, that was nowhere near enough.

After all, he was a loyal fan of the 50-round drum magazine M14.

50 rounds in the gun, 60 in his pockets, 240 in his secure container, plus 20 rounds of AW ammo—that was his standard loadout for solo-trios.

Furthermore, Soul Power bullets and the bullets in his pockets were two completely different concepts.

Need to find a way.

Zhang Yang thought to himself.

Just as Zhang Yang furrowed his brows, lost in deep thought, a series of grunts drifted from behind the trees not far away.

"Hm?"

Zhang Yang snapped back to reality, held his breath, and shouldered his rifle, peering toward the source of the sound.

Not far off, a wild boar with a shoulder height of over a meter and a sturdy, well-fed build was walking steadily toward him.

Most peculiar of all, this boar possessed a pair of thick, sharp tusks that looked just like ivory.

His personal information panel vibrated right on cue.

But Zhang Yang had no time to pay attention to it right now.

Zhang Yang aimed his rifle, his focus entirely on the Long-Tusked Boar in the distance.