Chapter 182 - 164: Extreme Mission
"Alright, let’s go home and talk."
Qin Ziwen went home, entered his room, and closed the door.
He took out the dark gold Extreme Breakthrough Card and handed it to Du Yu.
Du Yu took the Card, drew a deep breath, and mentally willed it to activate. The Card in his hand shattered with a soft POP, transforming into a cloud of dark gold motes of light that flowed into his body.
Du Yu closed his eyes. A moment later, he opened them.
"My Lord, the task I received is split into three gears, with each gear representing a different path.
"First Gear is the lowest difficulty. With persistence and courage, it wouldn’t be hard for a normal person to complete. Second Gear is very difficult, almost impossible for a normal person. Third Gear... even for me, it’s a near-certain death."
"What are the specific tasks?"
"My First Gear task is a long-distance migration. I have to walk fifty li in the wilderness without stopping and without stepping on the same footprint twice. Completing it will allow me to break through and become a Migrator."
"The Second Gear task is to single-handedly hunt ten carnivorous Dragon-like Creatures within one week. These Dragon-like Creatures must weigh at least twice as much as me and be in a healthy state. After each kill, I must bathe in their Dragon Blood. Completing this challenge will allow me to become a Dragon Hunter."
"The Third Gear task is to single-handedly hunt a healthy creature that weighs over a thousand times more than me. Upon completion, I’ll obtain an exclusive path."
"A thousand times?"
Hearing the difficulty of the last task, Qin Ziwen couldn’t help but wonder if it was even humanly possible.
After all, the restriction was to hunt it alone.
If a normal person weighed 110 pounds, they would need to single-handedly hunt a fifty-five-ton healthy creature.
That’s equivalent to a single person hunting an Argentinosaurus or an Earthquake Dragon.
But keep in mind, most adult men weigh more than 110 pounds. With regular exercise and sufficient muscle, their weight could easily reach 165 pounds or more.
In that case, even for an Earthquake Dragon, only the absolute largest specimens would meet the requirement.
"Can you use poison?" Qin Ziwen asked.
Du Yu said, "I can, but only if the collection, processing, and application of the poison are all done by me alone. No one else can be involved in any step of the process."
After a pause, he continued, "The same goes for building large traps or tools and weapons. The prerequisite is that everything, from mining the raw materials to the production and processing, must be done by me alone. Furthermore, firearms are prohibited."
At this, Du Yu looked a little surprised. "Sir, what are firearms?"
"Just a little toy from my old home, Earth." Qin Ziwen shook his head and then said, "So, are you planning to do the Second Gear or Third Gear task?"
After a moment of thought, Du Yu said, "Sir, I’ll prepare for the Second Gear task. Third Gear is too difficult. Finding the prey, making the tools, and the hunt itself would all be incredibly hard. In comparison, Second Gear is simpler. As long as I choose the right targets, it won’t be difficult to complete."
Only someone like Du Yu could say that. For anyone else, single-handedly hunting ten dinosaurs that weighed more than twice their own body weight, all within a week, was a challenge of staggering difficulty.
The difficulty was definitely not low.
Qin Ziwen said, "Don’t accept it just yet. Let’s wait until we’ve found suitable targets."
"Yes, Sir." Du Yu nodded. After a pause, he added, "Sir, after activating the Extreme Breakthrough Card, a countdown started. I must make a choice within three days."
"Three days... that’s fine, it’s enough time," Qin Ziwen said. "The most important thing for you right now is to forge yourself a suitable weapon. With three days, I’ll have Li Tieshan teach you. Forging one weapon shouldn’t be too difficult."
Qin Ziwen left the room.
He was planning to find Zou Jianghe and Luo Gang to ask if they had spotted any other carnivorous dinosaurs.
Just as he arrived outside Zou Jianghe’s house, he heard the sound of a woman wailing from inside.
"Who is it?"
"It’s me."
Someone opened the door from inside. Qin Ziwen entered and saw Zou Jianghe sitting on the sofa. Across from him sat a woman, her face buried in her hands, weeping.
The woman’s shoulders shook continuously as she covered her face with her hands.
"You’re just in time," Zou Jianghe said to Qin Ziwen. "I was just about to send someone to get you."
Qin Ziwen glanced at the woman, then looked at Zou Jianghe with a questioning gaze.
Zou Jianghe said, "Let’s wait. I’ll explain when Luo Gang gets here."
Before long, Luo Gang arrived.
Once everyone was present, Zou Jianghe said, "This morning, a Hunting Team from our Alliance Association that was heading northwest was attacked by native creatures."
"The Hunting Team had ten members. Only three came back. The other seven are gone."
"Seven of them are gone?" Luo Gang was in disbelief. ’Even during the Giant Hyena Group’s night raid, we didn’t lose that many people, did we?’
"The terrain in that area is unique; the land has become heavily desertified. According to the survivors, they were attacked in the desert. The attackers came from underground, able to travel beneath the sand. Based on the description of their appearance, they were likely Desert Giant Worms.
"These Desert Giant Worms are about as thick as an ox and over ten meters long. They can drag people directly into the sand dunes. If you aren’t prepared, I’d advise your people to stay away from that area for the time being."
Luo Gang pondered for a moment. "Okay. Can those Desert Giant Worms only travel through sand? Can they get under the Gobi Desert?"
Zou Jianghe shook his head. "I don’t think so. After they escaped the desert area, they weren’t attacked again."
Luo Gang said, "Good. That information is crucial. My students actually discovered that same desert yesterday. They were planning to go tomorrow."
Qin Ziwen, sitting on the adjacent sofa, spoke up. "I also have some information to share. Yesterday, while we were investigating to the south, we found traces of a Duck-billed Beast herd. They entered the mountain ridge to the east, and after crossing it, they continued traveling eastward."
"A Duck-billed Dragon Beast herd?" Zou Jianghe felt a tinge of regret. "Why didn’t you say so sooner?"
Among the many seemingly carnivorous Level 2 Task targets, the Duck-billed Dragon Beast stood out.
As a rare herbivore, he figured it would be the easiest to bully.
Qin Ziwen guessed his thoughts. "It’s not that simple. I ran into them suddenly in the wild. The Adult Duck-billed Dragons are all over ten meters long, and they’re social creatures. There were at least seven or eight Adult Duck-billed Dragons."
Hearing Qin Ziwen’s description, Zou Jianghe now understood.
He couldn’t help but give a wry smile. "It sounds like they’re all pretty difficult."
Qin Ziwen added, "But it’s not all bad news. I had the Beaked Eagle follow the Duck-billed Dragons’ migration path and found a sizable Oasis. That Oasis is about thirty to forty kilometers from our Gated Community."
Hearing about the Oasis, the two men’s spirits lifted, but when they heard the distance, they both fell silent.
Luo Gang said in a heavy voice, "If we can’t find enough suitable task targets around the Gated Community, then we have to go to that Oasis. The task has a one-month deadline, so we need to leave at least half a month for it!"
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