76: Everyone should accept their fate

Half an hour later, Qin Shi estimated that they had reached the center of the forest, so he told Zhang Xiaoli to take out the small drone.

Zhang Xiaoli held the remote control, climbed up a large tree, and then launched the drone, letting it fly up into the sky through the gaps in the foliage.

After leaving the treetops, the drone flew along the tips of the trees for a distance before ascending to take several photos of the surroundings.

Then, it prepared to fly west for a closer look.

“Whoosh!”

Just then, an eagle's cry rang out, and the Great Peng Bird appeared in front of the camera.

Then the screen went black, and the drone's signal was lost.

The Great Peng Bird fired several golden orbs in the area where the drone disappeared, destroying over a dozen giant trees before flying off into the distance.

After waiting for a while and not seeing the Great Peng Bird reappear, Zhang Xiaoli climbed down from the tree.

She pulled out the photos and showed them to everyone, saying, “Mr. Qin didn't lie to us; there are no good places to leave this forest on any side.”

To the east, where they entered, outside the forest were some fields, and in some places, there were even some barren small hills. Those low trees could not block the sharp gaze of the Great Peng Bird.

To the south was a rapid river, and on the other side of the river was a large group of zombies. In the photo, the Great Peng Bird seemed to be attacking those zombies.

To the north, the trees on those small hills were also relatively sparse, so it was not a very good escape route.

To the west was a stretch of fields, beyond which were continuous mountain ranges.

“According to Commander Luo, as long as we leave this dense forest, we will be exposed to the Great Peng Bird's sight and attract its attack. Now we have angered it even more, so its surveillance of the surroundings will likely be even tighter,” Qin Shi said, frowning.

“Can we sneak out at night under the cover of darkness?” Zhang Qiang suggested.

“Probably not, otherwise Commander Luo and his group would have already left,” Qin Shi said, shaking his head, indicating it wouldn't work.

“We also heard eagle cries at night, which means they are also monitoring during the night,” An Qian added.

“The largest Great Peng Bird can't monitor twenty-four hours a day. If we can instantly kill a smaller Great Peng Bird when it's on watch, we should be able to seize the opportunity to leave,” Zhang Xiaoli also said.

“Difficult. Those smaller Great Peng Birds fly so high; it's impossible to kill them before they send out a signal,” Qin Shi had no solution for the smaller Great Peng Birds that were out of range.

Everyone sat together, discussing how to avoid the Great Peng Bird and escape.

Qin Shi checked all his equipment and skills, wondering if he could refresh an entry that could cope with the current situation.

He first took out the Jinghong Sword, which already had a fixed 'Sturdy' entry.

“Do you want to refresh the entry?”

“Refresh.”

Sharpness (Green): Slightly increases the sharpness of the Jinghong Sword.

Nourishment (Red): Before the Jinghong Sword is unsheathed, elemental energy can be input for nourishment. As time increases, the power of the first strike after unsheathing will continuously increase.

Invisible Sword (Red): After inputting a certain amount of elemental energy, the sword body enters an invisible state, lasting for three minutes.

Nice!

Both were good entries. Qin Shi considered it carefully and still chose the 'Nourishment' entry.

With a flash of red light, the 'Sturdy' entry was overwritten by the new 'Nourishment' entry.

While inputting elemental energy into the Jinghong Sword for nourishment, he took out the 강화석 (Reinforcement Stone) to refresh, but unfortunately, no surprise occurred.

Subsequently, several items did not refresh with entries exceeding green.

Qin Shi then refreshed himself.

The first refresh yielded three green entries: Self-Healing (Green), Berserk (Green), and Spear Master (Green).

From the description, he knew that 'Berserk' would temporarily cause him to lose his mind, so he discarded it.

Spear Master did not match the weapon he used, so he also discarded it.

He had no choice but to temporarily select the 'Self-Healing' entry.

Immediately, he felt a tingling sensation throughout his body, and his injuries were rapidly recovering.

Skills that had already been learned could not be refreshed, so Qin Shi's strongest offensive weapon now was only the rocket launcher.

After one round of refreshing, no top-tier entries appeared.

Qin Shi had a flash of inspiration and took out the last remaining rocket.

“Do you want to refresh the entry?”

“Refresh.”

Double Power (Green): The explosion power of the rocket is doubled.

Armor Penetration (Green): The armor penetration ability of the rocket is greatly enhanced.

Spell Breaking (Red): The rocket ignores the interception and attacks of abilities.

Qin Shi felt a bit helpless. Was he supposed to carry a rocket while performing sword techniques?

He ultimately chose the 'Spell Breaking' entry.

Still unwilling to give up, Qin Shi refreshed himself again.

Jungle Envoy (Green): When the host is in the jungle, all attributes will be enhanced, and he will have keen observation skills for everything in the jungle.

Hunter (Green): Easier to learn hunting skills, stronger traps, and a certain improvement in archery.

Sea King (Red): A born little white fish in the waves, a darling of water, more adapted to life in water than fish, with a fifty percent bonus to water-attribute combat techniques or abilities.

Looking at the 'Sea King' entry and then at the rapid river to the south on the remote control, an idea suddenly popped into his mind.

However, it could not be implemented for now.

This was because five of the six entry fixation attempts had already been used.

And overwriting an existing entry required consuming two fixation attempts.

Now, he could only wait until after midnight to fix the 'Sea King' entry.

Just then, Commander Luo and his group cautiously walked towards them.

Luo Hongyi walked up to Mr. Qin and said, “Mr. Qin, we have all decided to break through at dusk. Are you interested in joining us?”

Qin Shi asked doubtfully, “Have you found a way to avoid that giant bird?”

Luo Hongyi shook his head, “We don't have much food left. Staying here, we'll starve to death sooner or later. At that time, everyone will break through simultaneously from the east, west, and north. As for which one that giant bird chooses to pursue, that will be up to fate.”

Qin Shi frowned. They were completely gambling with their lives.

The east and west of the forest were about ten kilometers apart, and the north was only a few kilometers away.

Running from this forest to the next suitable hiding spot was about three to four kilometers.

If the Great Peng Bird pursued the people to the north, the people in the other two directions would run for their lives, and they might just reach the next hiding spot.

By then, they would be out of the Great Peng Bird's monitoring range, and perhaps they would have a chance to escape further away.

“We run quite fast. Should we also go with them?” An Qian turned to Qin Shi and asked.

“No, we'll figure out another way,” Qin Shi shook his head, refusing Luo Hongyi's suggestion.

Ma Yulian glanced at Qin Shi and said coldly, “Commander Luo, ignore them. Just let them starve to death here.”

Luo Hongyi glared at Ma Yulian, thinking, 'This stupid woman, what are you talking about now?'

This kind of plan required more people to escape together to increase one's own chances of survival.

Once the giant bird spent more time chasing others, it also meant he had more time to escape.

That's why Commander Luo took the initiative to bring this up to Mr. Qin.

Seeing that Mr. Qin and his group were resolute in their decision, they had no choice but to continue walking west.

Qin Shi thought for a moment and still followed them from a distance, hoping to observe the Great Peng Bird's attack methods again.