Mysterious Zone 16 was silent.
Zhang Ming lay in the grass, waiting patiently.
He pretended he was a seasoned hunter, running countless mental simulations, but his tangled thoughts betrayed him.
One crab has strayed from the group. Perfect! Watch me lure it over!
[Mental Value +1 +1]
A little Seashell giving off a sweet scent was tossed out.
But the dim-witted crab noticed nothing. It simply stood there, munching happily on aquatic plants.
After five anxious minutes, Zhang Ming's heart sank. That crab actually went back!
[Mental Value -1 -1 -1 -1]
It came back!
[Mental Value +1]
It fucking ran back again!
[Mental Value -1 -1 -1 -1 -1]
Zhang Ming kept feeling that the crab was deliberately toying with him. His Mental Value rose and fell like a roller coaster, leaving him restless and irritable.
Stop fucking looking at the stats panel!
As long as I don't look, I can pretend this stat doesn't even exist.
Seizing an opportunity, he picked up another little Seashell and tossed it out.
Plop.
A medium-sized crab heard the Seashell hit the water, shifted its body, and swiveled its two black eyes around.
It bubbled away, pretending nothing had happened and it had noticed nothing. When its companions weren't looking, it quietly extended a claw and snapped the Seashell apart.
There was a soft crack.
The crab's two black eyes rolled about in apparent delight as it hurriedly stuffed the Seashell meat into its mouth.
Zhang Ming was thrilled. "So you like keeping the food to yourself?"
"I love that about you."
The crab spotted another little Seashell bouncing out of the grass.
It reached out with a claw again, intending to crack the Seashell!
But at the last possible instant, the Seashell hopped a short step backward!
The crab tried to grab it again, and the Seashell moved another step.
And so the crab wandered farther and farther away, slipping into the grass.
Then its black eyes went wide. What an enormous lump of juicy meat, giving off an irresistibly delicious scent!
Unparalleled!
Deliciousness!
Its bubbling grew louder and louder as it frantically extended its claws, trying to seize that succulent meat.
Beneath a clear blue sky, across a dazzling golden beach.
A man and a crab raced along, one ahead of the other, kicking up clouds of dust.
The man was an ordinary man.
The crab was a monstrous crab.
As for the spectators back on Earth, their feelings varied even more. There were all sorts among them: some worried about him, while others secretly delighted in his misfortune.
"Ah! It's going to grab him!"
"That guy's about to get caught by the crab. Then he'll face the most miserable moment of his life."
"I've launched a public poll. Do you think this gentleman in Zone 16 will die during this hunt? YES/NO?"
A huge crowd actually flocked over to vote, as though this supposedly democratic poll could decide anything.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Simonson, hunting expert and wilderness survival master. I've hunted elephants, rhinos, lions, hyenas, and other prey on the East African Savanna."
"Today, I'll be livestreaming my commentary on the mirage. The big question is: will our buddy in Zone 16 get caught?"
The streamer named Simonson had become the latest beneficiary of the traffic boom. With the internet pushing him along, his audience topped a hundred thousand within minutes, and the numbers were still skyrocketing.
His face flushed as he said, "I don't think so. Look, crabs move sideways. When they launch a sudden attack while moving at high speed, they have to adjust their direction before they can grab anything with those huge claws. That brief delay is enough for our buddy in Zone 16 to get away."
"In fact, I think he's handling this quite comfortably."
"He's using his body to lure that crab into a trap he prepared beforehand."
Someone in the live chat asked, "Simonson, what are his odds of dying? When do you think he'll die? The democratic poll says the crab will crush him!"
Simonson scoffed. "Buddy, the world runs on physical reality. Democratic polls don't help. Whatever grudge you have against him, cursing him is meaningless. If he dares to hunt crabs, that means he's confident."
Zhang Ming was indeed keeping the crab interested, deliberately maintaining a certain distance: neither running too far ahead nor daring to let it get too close.
But calling it comfortable was a stretch.
Strength Burst can increase strength by as much as 5,000%. One pinch from those claws, and it's all over!
Racing to the edge of the boulder, Zhang Ming grunted, drove power through his leg muscles, and leaped high into the air.
That single leap carried him more than four meters up, landing him on top of the boulder.
"Come on! Get up here!"
Zhang Ming kept waving provocatively, even tapping his spear as though itching for a fight, but his expression was intensely strained.
He wasn't sure whether the other crabs would follow.
If the enemy army surrounded him, the gates of the underworld might as well be opening for him.
I have to finish this quickly!
The sideways-walking crab seemed to freeze for a moment when it saw that lump of juicy meat shouting on top of the rock.
Perhaps it couldn't understand why something so ordinary could be so confident.
The noises from its mouth stopped for a second.
But it didn't dwell on the matter. To the crab, its opponent was merely food that could put up a little resistance. It let out another bubbling cry and rapidly climbed the rock.
When the crab reached the halfway point, it saw a huge coconut drop from above.
For a moment... it was stunned!
It frantically tried to split the coconut with its claws, but the coconut's weight had already come down on it.
Under more than three hundred jin of weight, the half-climbed crab lost its grip. With a bubbling shriek, it tumbled to the ground along with the coconut.
The plan worked!
Utterly focused and unsure of the crab's condition, Zhang Ming immediately shoved the second coconut over the edge with all his might.
Three hundred jin, in free fall!
Then came another "thud-
-with a tremendous crash. This time, the enormous coconut hit dead center, and the sound of the hard shell caving in was especially dull.
Suddenly, a piercing cry rose from below. "Beee-!"
This cry was distinctly different, sharp and thin like a shrill whistle. It came again and again, raising goosebumps all over Zhang Ming's body.
What's happening... is it calling its companions? It must be calling its companions!
"I only wanted one of your legs, and now you want my life?"
Sweat broke out on Zhang Ming's forehead, and his heart hammered. As the crab's cries grew louder, a fierce gleam entered his eyes. He leaped straight off the rock, picked up the enormous coconut, and smashed it wildly into the crab's exposed belly!
Strength Burst!
The veins in his arms bulged one by one as tremendous power erupted through them.
He raised the huge coconut high and slammed it down.
Crack!
Strength Burst!
Crack!
Every time the crab let out a piercing cry, an enormous coconut came down to meet it!
He smashed it five or six times in succession.
Repeated uses of Strength Burst left Zhang Ming's muscles aching. In barely a dozen seconds, sweat had soaked his clothes.
Those moments hadn't frightened him. Instead, a savage fury from a primordial age filled his chest, an instinct encoded deep in humanity's blood.
Zhang Ming couldn't help thinking back to the ancient age of slash-and-burn farming. Human ancestors had carved out a place in the primitive world through formidable fighting power, unlike modern people lounging in bed drinking cola, growing fat, and seemingly forgetting their title of "Terrifying Upright Ape."
[Mental: 32/32] (You just went berserk. Surging adrenaline made you forget fear and pain!)
Zhang Ming: ...
The crab lay on the ground with all eight legs pointing upward. Several sections of its belly had caved in, and its shrieking had vanished.
Had it... kicked the bucket?
Surprised and delighted, Zhang Ming still didn't dare let down his guard. He prodded it a few times with the spear he carried.
"I only wanted one of your legs. You brought this on yourself by calling your companions!"
He let out a cheer. He had finally defeated his first creature in the beginner village!
A gigantic crab weighing hundreds of jin. Its roe and rich innards had to taste amazing!
"So much meat..." Zhang Ming rubbed his aching arms in bliss. "I wonder how many stat points it'll give me?"
"Without a refrigerator or cold storage, preserving the crab meat is going to be a real problem."
Although there were crabs everywhere here... wasting food was shameful. Shameful!
"Time to get out of here!"
Holding the dead giant crab, Zhang Ming fled like a shot.
His face was practically blooming with smiles.
He'd struck it rich!
That night, after spending the entire day processing the giant crab.
The translucent slices of crab meat lay spread out thickly, their juices glittering like stars within them. Cooking even drew out a little milky-white fat. As the charcoal continued to roast the meat, its fibers broke apart one by one, mingling with white wisps of savory steam that made his mouth water.
"No boiling today. Straight onto the charcoal."
Zhang Ming happily savored the crab roe and meat with a little instant-noodle seasoning, utterly absorbed in the meal.
"This is truly heavenly!"
Yesterday, he had been so hungry that anything edible would have tasted good.
But today, he wasn't hungry, so he could finally be certain that the crab meat in his hands was genuinely exquisite. The huge chunks spared him the trouble of picking meat out of the shell. Once roasted, their muscle fibers had a coarse texture, and their wild flavor lingered on his tongue.
Zhang Ming ate with shining eyes. "Even the legendary dragon liver and phoenix marrow couldn't be better than this. Back on Earth, it would definitely fetch an astronomical price."
"A million for this bite, and another million for the next!"
As the crab roe and meat entered his stomach, they sent a scorching warmth through his body, generating new stat points.
However, they brought no new abilities.
Presumably, the crab only possessed Strength Burst, so eating any part of it produced roughly the same effect.
"Good evening, listeners. I'm your announcer, Li Xianfeng, bringing you firsthand news today."
"The worldwide earthquake disaster continues. With logistics disrupted, a crisis in global industrial supply chains is now inevitable."
"Due to economic collapse, geopolitical tensions continue to escalate across various regions."
"The defense minister of the African nation of ** stated that, by presidential order, the military has entered its highest state of combat readiness."
"A dam in East Africa has ruptured, with tens of millions affected by flooding. Experts believe the drought following the floods will affect next year's food production and cause an enormous famine."
Life...
Zhang Ming fell silent.
He really couldn't imagine what was happening in the outside world.
In his memory, the world had enjoyed peace for a long time. Though conflicts occasionally arose, peaceful development remained its dominant course.
Yet in just these few short days, the world had changed completely.
Pestilence, war, famine, and death: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse had returned, ravaging the globe with unstoppable might. The power of nature was truly terrifying.
Announcer Li Xianfeng's voice sounded somewhat hoarse, too. His utter exhaustion was audible.
The next news item.
"A draft government budget report from Great Xia's Ministry of Finance indicates that a total of fifty trillion in development funds will be invested in repairing earthquake damage and constructing massive underground shelters, with every effort made to protect the public's lives and property. Resistance to magnitude-eight earthquakes will become the future building standard, and twelve enormous refuge cities will be established in the western plateau region."
Zhang Ming ate his crab roe in a daze. His nostrils suddenly felt hot, and he nearly got a nosebleed. "Enormous refuge cities?"
The subsequent news revealed that not only Great Xia, but the governments of the other major powers were also building enormous shelters.
As the saying went, there was no smoke without fire.
Humanity's leaders must have learned some important information to make the same choice.
Either that... or human warfare really could be coming!
Zhang Ming rubbed his temples, feeling miserable.
War, the best way to redirect conflict!
Why had World War I and World War II broken out? The underlying causes were economic problems and intensifying conflicts within the human race.
Now a global disaster had struck, paralyzing the world economy. The pie was shrinking rapidly, and even the amount of habitable
land was becoming insufficient, bringing with it the possibility of a world war.
Especially countries like Fusang, where volcanoes had made life almost impossible-what would they do without outside aid?
Go to war and seize territory, of course! If they couldn't beat the big countries, couldn't they beat the small ones?
Never assume humanity would work together to overcome its troubles.
In a disaster, the one thing humans would never do was stand united.
Zhang Ming was an outsider, and even if humanity beat one another's brains out, it had absolutely nothing to do with him.
Yet deep down, he couldn't find any peace.
"Hey-haven't you forgotten something?"
"What about me, stranded far overseas? Shouldn't you send a ship to rescue me?"
Zhang Ming felt like crying but had no tears. He looked up at the sky and sighed deeply. "Don't rush off to war! Rescue me first! I've got family, old and young, to look after, and I haven't even got a wife or daughter yet. I want to return to the human world!"
The international news broadcast ended there. No one paid him any attention.
Next came the usual wilderness survival tips.
"Dear listeners, today we'll introduce some methods for storing food long-term."
"As we all know, a person can survive for more than a week without food, but the resulting weakened immune system, weakness in the limbs, and other problems will seriously compromise their ability to survive in the wild."
"In tropical regions, the rainy and dry seasons also affect the availability of food. Storing ample supplies will therefore effectively reduce risks and improve your chances of survival."
"Here, we'll introduce three methods for preserving food long-term: drying, salting, and smoking."
(PS: At readers' request, today's update combines two chapters into one-a lengthy 4,200 Chinese characters.)
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