Chapter 274: Chapter 247: Snatching the Mission

As he stepped onto the grounds of their Home, Jia Liangcai, dressed in a long robe, approached them.

Around the Node entrance, two to three hundred people lay in ambush, arranged in a fan formation. They had also brought over eight Car-Mounted Crossbows, all aimed at the Node.

Qin Ziwu’s eye twitched as he saw the Car-Mounted Crossbows aimed at the Node.

’If one of those things accidentally goes off, it’ll be no laughing matter.’

Fortunately, there had been no accidents.

Jia Liangcai was all smiles, seemingly unsurprised that Qin Ziwen and his men had returned victorious.

"Liangcai, make the arrangements. Everyone performed exceptionally well today and deserves a reward. Each person gets two pounds of fresh meat and two liters of water from the Healing Spring."

Hearing this, the many who knew about the Healing Spring looked excited.

Those who didn’t know began asking the veterans, and once they learned of the Healing Spring’s uses, they too grew eager.

Someone shouted, "Long live the Guild Leader!"

"Furthermore, anyone injured in the battle will be provided with the Healing Spring free of charge by the guild until they are fully healed."

Qin Ziwen’s gaze fell on an injured man nearby; this last part was meant mainly for him.

His injuries looked the most severe, as he needed someone to support him just to walk.

"Where are you hurt?"

The injured man looked embarrassed.

The men beside him tried to stifle their laughter but eventually burst out laughing.

"Guild Leader, he lost his footing coming downstairs and sprained his ankle," someone revealed.

The crowd erupted in laughter.

Qin Ziwen was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head with a smile. "Well, it’s good that it’s not serious. Just be more careful next time."

Besides him, seven others had sustained various external injuries.

They were mostly minor wounds to their cheeks and hands, with no damage to bone or muscle.

The Leather Armor was thick and well-made, with vital areas reinforced by several layers of beast hide.

One man took off his armor and looked at a gash on it, a wave of fear washing over him in retrospect.

Some of them hadn’t thought twice before charging in. In the heat of the moment, they had simply followed the man in front and rushed forward.

Cao Biansheng took off his Zha Armor. Its surface bore seven or eight "wounds," most of them shallow. Some were slashes from Sharp Weapons, while others were dents the size of a grain of rice.

He had relied on his armor during the melee, not thinking too much and just charging straight ahead.

He’d been struck several times, but the armor had blocked every blow.

’When you’re armored and they’re not, you just have to protect your face and eyes, then go straight for their vitals.’

"Guild Leader, we found a Bed Crossbow in a room on the third floor of their building. We couldn’t take it with us, so I set it on fire. It didn’t seem to have wheels; it was fixed in place."

"Burning it was the right call." Qin Ziwen was quite satisfied.

After the battle, the crowd gradually dispersed.

Qin Ziwu said, "Brother, I feel like that victory was a little too easy."

Jia Liangcai explained with a knowing smile, "Young Master Wu, victory in war hinges on timing, terrain, and unity. We were well-prepared, attacking an unsuspecting foe. A great victory like this was simply the natural outcome."

Jia Liangcai then turned to Qin Ziwen. "My Lord, was the goal of our expedition achieved?"

"Yes," Qin Ziwen nodded. "Their shipyard is gone."

"Congratulations, my Lord!" Jia Liangcai’s face lit up. "Out here on the sea, without a large ship, they’ll be trapped on their lonely Island."

"Indeed. Without a specialized, advanced-level shipyard, a simple, ordinary dock won’t be enough for them."

Qin Ziwen knew this from personal experience. Before he had constructed the Ghost Ship Dock, shipbuilding had been a time-consuming and laborious task, even with a master shipwright like Tao Fu.

With Ordinary Level shipbuilding structures, it’s nearly impossible to achieve any real speed unless their Level is extremely high.

Besides, they can only be used to build small boats; large ships are out of the question.

Without ships, it would be almost impossible for the enemy to complete missions.

Qin Ziwen thought about the two Elephant Bird carcasses he had seen hanging in the trees earlier.

After a moment of thought, he decided he could use the cover of night to visit their Island and complete one or two of their potential hunting missions before they could!

’Then, with no ships, they won’t be able to hunt the Sea Beasts in the ocean. At that point, the situation will be settled for good.’

With this thought, Qin Ziwen went to the Military Equipment Supervisor and picked up the One-Handed Crossbow that Li Yue and his team had finished making. "I’m taking this out for a field test."

"Sure thing, Guild Leader! If you run into any issues with it, just let us know," Li Yue said. He then retrieved a total of fifteen newly forged arrows of three different types from a nearby storeroom.

There were five Thick-Headed Arrows for hunting Giant Beasts, five Wide-Headed Arrows for causing bleeding, and five Tipped Arrows for piercing armor.

He mounted his Beaked Eagle and flew to the enemy’s Island, staying low along the edge of the beach.

Based on his encounter that morning, the Elephant Birds seemed to favor the wooded areas near the coast.

That meant their nesting grounds should also be somewhere nearby.

But after searching the area, he found no trace of them.

’Are they deeper in the forest? Did they just come out this morning to forage?’ Qin Ziwen wondered. Suddenly, the Beaked Eagle beneath him halted.

Qin Ziwen scanned the area and spotted a target on a reef near the shore.

Under the moonlight, waves crashed against the reef.

A massive lizard, nearly four meters long, emerged from the sea, its black scales shimmering in the faint light.

It came ashore, shook the seawater from its bristled back, and then swaggered onto the beach.

Once on the sand, it scanned its surroundings.

It selected a spot and dug a hole with its claws. Then it turned around, lowered its rear, and settled the base of its tail into the pit.

Then... it began to lay its eggs.

Qin Ziwen, who had raised the One-Handed Crossbow, slowly lowered it.

He silently watched the Island giant lizard finish laying its eggs and waited for it to fill the pit back in with its hind legs.

Only then did he raise the One-Handed Crossbow again, aim for its head, and pull the trigger.

THWACK!

The Island giant lizard’s head visibly burst open.

A chunk of its head was instantly blown away.

It died instantly.

"These Thick-Headed Arrows really work," Qin Ziwen remarked. He took a new Tipped Arrow from his quiver, single-handedly drew back the Crossbow String, loaded the new arrow, and began searching for another target.

It seemed tonight was the egg-laying season for the Island giant lizards.

One after another, more Island giant lizards crawled out from among the reefs and onto the beach to lay their eggs.

He quickly selected another target.

The advantage of a Crossbow was its ease of aiming, especially at close range.

Aside from the effort required to reload, firing it was nearly effortless. He could hold his aim indefinitely, unlike with a Bow where one has to struggle to hold the string taut.

This meant that even an ordinary person without great strength could, with some basic training in aiming and reloading, single-handedly hunt an Island giant lizard. Even if it was a low-tier target, it was still a four-meter-long beast. If this model of One-Handed Crossbow could be mass-produced, the implications would be immeasurable.

It would give ordinary people the ability to complete hunting missions on their own.

He raised the One-Handed Crossbow, waited until the target was within forty meters, and pulled the trigger.

The Tipped Arrow sank completely into its head in an instant.

HISS—

The Island giant lizard’s first instinct upon being hit was to flee.

It scrambled on all fours, racing madly toward the sea.

...

...