Chapter 49: Partnering to Kill a Cow

Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Partnering to Kill a Cow

Jiang Jing took it and put it in his backpack. "Seeing blood first thing in the morning is bad luck."

He squatted down, meeting the man’s terrified gaze, and slowly reached out with both hands.

Shi Zhile heard a SNAP, and the man on the ground convulsed once before going still.

Shi Zhile’s eyes grew even brighter.

"Hey, friend! Comrade! We’re all on the same side here. What do you say you teach me how to do that?

From now on, you’ll get first dibs on all my eggs and vegetables. Just teach me that neck-snapping move you just did."

Jiang Jing pulled out a rope and deftly tied up the other three.

"Deal. Come on, start by feeling their necks. Get familiar with the human skeleton."

Shi Zhile got right to it. She mimicked Jiang Jing’s earlier move, making the player scream in agony.

"He’s still not dead!"

Jiang Jing’s mouth twitched. "Twisting left and right is no different from them just turning their own heads. Use more force. Like this."

He gave the player an apologetic smile and then swiftly snapped his neck.

Seeing the man was dead, Shi Zhile stopped him from touching the others, no matter what.

She crouched down to study the body, then tried again and again. After several attempts, she successfully snapped the necks of the remaining two players.

The moment they died, two black backpacks dropped to the ground.

[Detected: Deceased Player’s Backpack ×2.]

Shi Zhile immediately squatted down and opened them.

[Purified Water ×2, Homemade Pistol ×1]

[Compressed Biscuits ×4, Homemade Bow and Arrow ×1]

There weren’t many supplies, but this was the first time Shi Zhile had ever gotten a drop like this.

"So killing players makes them drop their backpacks. Is this mechanic random?"

[No. Only players holding special weapons will drop a backpack upon death.]

’So that means I can target players with weapons to kill from now on.’

The cold wind scraped against her face like a knife. The snow had stopped. Shi Zhile rubbed her cheeks.

"You did the killing, so the supplies are all yours. But you have to teach me how to shoot a gun and use a bow."

Without a teacher, it would be too hard for her to hit an enemy with a bow and arrow.

’As for learning to shoot a gun...’

She had her Water Gun.

The sun wasn’t up yet, and it was too dangerous to go out to sea.

So Jiang Jing decided to teach her some warm-up boxing routines.

After two run-throughs, Shi Zhile could perform a complete set of punches.

She was very strong. Starting out clumsy, she became more and more proficient with practice. Her rate of improvement was faster than Jiang Jing could have imagined.

"Have you learned boxing before?"

Shi Zhile spoke while stretching. "No, I used to be paralyzed. The only things I have going for me are my strength and good aim. Jiang Jing, I want to learn archery."

"You need to balance training and rest. The sun’s up; we should head out to sea soon."

The twelve-square-meter raft was launched, and the two of them lay back on their deck chairs.

Jiang Jing said, "I thought this instance would be about leveling up and fighting monsters, but it’s still just sea fishing."

He lifted his fishing rod, pulling a sea fish from the water.

Shi Zhile’s rod hadn’t moved in a long time. Her Wish Drifting Bottle was bobbing in the sea, and she quickly scooped it up.

She whispered, "Today’s wish: triple my supplies."

A cold prompt sounded: [Due to the excessive number of times the player has made this wish, this wish will be permanently disabled.]

Shi Zhile: "...A blessing of luck, then!"

[Insufficient energy. Please wish for one item within ten minutes. After ten minutes, the Wish Drifting Bottle will become inactive.]

Shi Zhile took a deep breath, her mind racing.

She didn’t lack water or food right now. If she had to choose one thing, she’d choose something to eat.

"I want beef!"

She needed to build her strength and fortify her body. Aside from her raw power, her body was too weak.

A golden light flashed, and a tiny island appeared before them.

It was lush with vegetation, and they could faintly see something moving on it.

Shi Zhile rubbed her eyes. "Is that a new island? Am I seeing things?"

’I clearly asked for beef. What’s the meaning of giving me an island?’

Jiang Jing stood up. "You’re not seeing things. It’s not far from Desert Island. Let’s get on it before someone else beats us to it."

The raft stopped at the shore, and the two of them, fully armed, set foot on the island.

A loud moo echoed from the island. They exchanged a look and moved toward the sound.

Parting the tall grass, they saw a large, sturdy black bull.

Both of their eyes lit up at the same time.

Shi Zhile took out the cow tendon bow and the matching Arrow Fletching. "What are the chances of killing it with this?"

Jiang Jing weighed the bow in his hands. "The bow is a good bow, but the bull is huge. The chance of killing it with a single Arrow Fletching is zero. But we can blind it first. You hide. I’ll go."

He drew the bow taut, and an Arrow Fletching shot toward the black bull. In a flash, it pierced the bull’s eye.

His eyes shone with a startling brightness. He shot another Arrow Fletching at the bull, but this time, because the bull was rampaging, the Arrow Fletching only grazed the corner of its eye.

The bull charged at them. Jiang Jing put away his bow and pulled out an axe. "Get back!"

Shi Zhile took out her axe as well. She sidestepped the bull and brought the axe down on its leg with a backhand swing.

Their movements were synchronized. Exerting force at almost the exact same moment, they hacked through the bull’s two front legs from the left and right. The bull let out a pained bellow and collapsed to the ground.

Jiang Jing looked at the axe in his hand and sighed deeply. "The axe is damaged. It’s useless now."

Shi Zhile stepped forward and, with all her might, swung at the bull’s neck, tearing a deep gash in its artery.

Blood sprayed all over them. Jiang Jing wiped his face and quickly took out a plastic basin to collect it.

[Wild Bull: A bull whose every part is a treasure. Deceased. Disassemble?]

"Yes!"

The black bull was instantly disassembled, and large chunks of beef and bone fell to the ground.

[Obtained: Beef ×50, Beef Bones ×20, Beef Tendon ×1, Cowhide ×1.]

Shi Zhile picked up a piece. She could still faintly see the leg muscle twitching.

"You’re the one who shot its eye out, but I provided the tools. Let’s split it fifty-fifty."

Jiang Jing had teammates to support, and she still needed to learn archery and boxing from him.

So, while she wouldn’t take advantage of him, she wouldn’t let herself be taken advantage of either.

Jiang Jing nodded. "Okay. Do you have enough space in your backpack? If you do, you can hold on to it for now."

Shi Zhile readily stored it all away.

"This island isn’t small. Where there’s one bull, there’s bound to be another. Want to keep going?"

Shi Zhile’s eyes lit up. "Let’s go! It would be great if we found a dairy cow. I could catch one and put it in the Breeding Space to raise for milk."

Jiang Jing smiled. "One won’t be enough. How can a cow give milk if it doesn’t have a calf?"

Without a bull to mate with, a cow can’t have a calf.

They followed the hoof prints inland. After about a quarter of an hour, they found new prints on the ground.

These prints were smaller, clearly not from the big black bull they had just killed.

A moo carried on the wind. They followed the sound and soon spotted several more cattle.

Zhile pointed to a pregnant cow at the edge of the herd. "Don’t startle them yet. I’m going to try and get it into the Breeding Space first."

She was about to get up when Jiang Jing held her back.

Jiang Jing pointed to the bull next to the cow. "They obviously look like a couple. Get them both so they can... have calves."

Shi Zhile nodded and carefully crept forward.

There was a patch of grass at the edge of the clearing. Using it for cover, she placed her hands on the lower legs of the two cattle.

"Into the Breeding Space!"