51: Chapter 51 Lurking by the Pool

The dagger in Lin Ye's hand never stopped moving.

Wood shavings curled and fell to the ground.

Branches were whittled into wooden spikes one by one and neatly stacked at his feet.

In his ears, the broadcast announcements of Challengers from various countries uploading supplies rose and fell.

Lin Ye glanced at his wrist terminal; the upload time had arrived.

He opened the leaf bundle, which still contained two pieces of Mountain Beast meat.

After weighing them for a moment, he picked up the smaller piece and wrapped it back up with the leaves.

He placed the larger piece of meat on the ground.

A blue scanning light frame shot out, enveloping the entire piece of roasted meat.

Lin Ye knew this piece of meat had scattered gray spots and didn't meet the threshold for "Perfect."

But since he hadn't gone out scavenging today, he would just make do and submit it.

A white light flashed, and the meat disappeared.

The broadcast announcement came through.

As expected.

Excellent quality, 9,000-fold critical return.

Lin Ye shrugged and turned back to continue his work.

He divided the whittled wooden spikes into three groups, with seven or eight in each, and tied them together crosswise with vines.

Three sets of barricades took shape in his hands one by one.

Lin Ye dragged the barricades to the cave entrance and wedged them one by one inside the water curtain.

With the wooden spikes pointing outward, anything trying to force its way into the cave would first have to be skewered into a sieve.

Next, he took out fishing line from his backpack, tied the ends to protruding rock corners on both sides of the cave wall, at a height just near his calves.

Then, he leaned the small iron pot against the fishing line.

Finally, he scooped out wood ash from the bottom of the fire pit and sprinkled it evenly in a circle around his sleeping bag.

After finishing these tasks, Lin Ye crawled into his sleeping bag.

Listening to the sound of flowing water outside.

The campfire flickered, and Lin Ye closed his eyes and fell asleep.

...

The next morning.

Yesterday's battle report rang in Lin Ye's ears.

He opened his eyes and sighed.

Two fewer.

Death continued, and the Void Sea gave people no chance to catch their breath.

Lin Ye pushed aside his sleeping bag and sat up.

First, he reignited the campfire that had gone out in the middle of the night and roasted the last piece of Mountain Beast meat.

He sprinkled salt on it and finished eating it slowly.

After breakfast, Lin Ye picked up his fire axe, put on his backpack, and passed through the water curtain.

Today's task was very clear:

Find food, move wood, and continue to improve the shelter.

Throughout the morning, he shuttled back and forth in the jungle near the waterfall, cutting down wood of suitable thickness.

Every time he gathered a pile, he used the Wind-Chasing Claw to fly up the cliff and transport the wood back to the karst cave in batches.

Great Xia Live Stream.

[Brother Eye is acting as a decorator again. What is he doing today? Underfloor heating or a bathroom?]

[This workload... Is this an internship for the Archaeology Department or the Civil Engineering Department?]

[Other contestants are struggling to survive, while Brother Eye is living life seriously. The scale is different.]

Near noon.

Lin Ye was carrying a bundle of wood and walking toward the Water Pool.

His footsteps paused.

"Rustle..."

From the jungle on the other side of the Water Pool came a very faint rustling sound.

Lin Ye gently put down the wood, fired his grappling hook, and flew onto a branch of the nearest large tree.

Eye of Destiny, activate.

His vision penetrated the layers of branches and leaves, landing on the other side of the Water Pool.

A dozen or so pure green halos were moving slowly deep in the jungle.

Only a few individuals had tiny gray spots attached, which could be ignored.

Excellent ingredients.

Lin Ye used his grappling hook to jump continuously between the branches, quietly circling to a tree on the opposite side of the Water Pool.

From his high vantage point, he had a clear view.

A dozen or so exotic beasts, slightly smaller than goats, were lowering their heads to graze on the tender shoots on the ground.

Their bodies were covered in white fur, and each had two small, branching horns on top of their heads.

Information popped up on the right eye light screen:

[Antlered Spirit Goat]

Lin Ye observed them carefully for two minutes.

This group of Spirit Sheep was very alert; they would jump several meters away at the slightest sound, and their movements were very fast.

"I can't catch them all at once!"

At their speed, if he caught one, the rest would definitely run away.

He narrowed his eyes, his gaze switching back and forth between the Water Pool and the herd of sheep.

A hunting plan quickly took shape in his mind.

Withdrawing his gaze, he quietly retreated to the cave.

He took off his entire Kunlun hunting suit, leaving him wearing only shorts, with a dagger in his hand.

He went back out and slid down the cliff to the edge of the Water Pool.

He broke off a hollow grass stem, put it in his mouth, and blew through it twice.

The airflow was clear.

In the Great Xia Live Stream, the audience was collectively bewildered.

[Brother Eye? What are you doing? Stripping down in the middle of the day?]

[Wait, are you planning to go hunting naked? Is it this exciting in broad daylight!]

[What kind of performance art is this? I don't understand, but I'm deeply shocked.]

[Wait a second! These muscle lines... these abdominal muscle textures...]

[Brother Eye is so pale, no, Brother Eye is so big...]

Lin Ye stepped into the water step by step until only his eyes were exposed above the water surface.

He pressed against a moss-covered rock by the pool, his gaze locked on the direction of the Spirit Sheep.

Time passed minute by minute.

Ten minutes...

Twenty minutes...

Half an hour...

Lin Ye soaked in the water without moving, his blinking frequency even frighteningly low.

Finally, there was movement from the other side of the jungle.

He took a deep breath.

His body sank completely underwater, leaving only the grass stem exposed above the surface.

Four Antlered Spirit Goats walked out of the jungle.

They looked around, and after repeatedly confirming there was no dangerous aura, they slowly walked to the edge of the Water Pool.

They lowered their heads, their tongues lapping up the pool water.

Now!

"Bang—!"

The water surface broke!

Lin Ye burst out from under the water!

His left hand reached out, grabbed the horns of the nearest Spirit Sheep, and pulled hard.

The dagger in his right hand brought up a splash of water as he stabbed it from bottom to top into the prey's lower jaw.

"Squelch!"

The blade pierced into its brain.

He twisted his wrist, scrambling its brains.

The Spirit Sheep didn't even have time to scream; its legs went limp, and it collapsed into the water.

A one-hit kill!

"Baa—baa—!"

The three Spirit Sheep nearby were terrified out of their wits and turned to flee toward the jungle.

"Since you've already come, can you really run away!"

Lin Ye let go of the dead sheep and raised his right arm.

"Boom—!"

The Wind-Chasing Claw fired!

The grappling hook bit into the hind leg of the Spirit Sheep running in the back.

The cable pulled taut.

A pulling force dragged him half a step forward in the water.

"You little thing, you've got quite some strength!"

Lin Ye sneered.

He planted his feet into the mud and leaned his body backward.

Holding the cable with both hands, he gave it a hard tug.

"Bang!"

The Spirit Sheep was flipped directly onto the ground.

"Baa—baa—baa—!"

It screamed frantically, its front hooves digging three furrows into the ground.

But it was completely useless!

"No matter how loud you scream, it's useless!"

Lin Ye dragged it by force, pulling it toward himself bit by bit!

Three meters.

Two meters.

When the distance closed to half a meter, Lin Ye pulled hard with both arms!

"Get over here!"

He took a stride forward, swung his arm in a full arc, and smashed his fist into the beast's forehead!

"Baa!"

The Spirit Sheep rolled its eyes back, sprawled out, and fainted.

The battle was over.

One dead, one fainted.

The whole process took less than half a minute.

The edge of the Water Pool returned to calm.

Lin Ye stood in the waist-deep water, his chest heaving, water droplets sliding down his well-defined muscles.

Great Xia Live Stream.

[Damn! The half-hour wait was worth it! This was so satisfying it made my scalp tingle!]

[One blade to the soul! One punch to the head! A true... wait, not suit-wearing... a shorts-wearing thug!]

[Top-tier physical hypnosis; one punch to shatter sleep disorders!]

[Oh my god! That scene where he burst out of the water, I sprayed nosebleed on my screen!]

[This wet-body temptation! I can't take it anymore, someone bring me water!]

[Brother Eye! Can you come through the internet cable, drag me back, and punch me unconscious? I absolutely won't struggle!]

[Sisters in the front row, wipe your drool! Brother Eye is not your male model!]

Lin Ye took two breaths.

"Two of them, not a bad haul."

He would keep the dead one to eat himself, and as for the fainted one...

Retracting the grappling hook, he raised his left hand.

A scanning light frame shot out, completely enveloping the unconscious Antlered Spirit Goat.

"Upload!"