Chapter 259 - 159: All for Becoming a Transcendent! The Wasteland’s Anomaly! Entering the Bloodthirsty Vine’s Lair

Chapter 259: Chapter 159: All for Becoming a Transcendent! The Wasteland’s Anomaly! Entering the Bloodthirsty Vine’s Lair

Before the words were even out of his mouth, Sima snatched a piece of the Vine Core and shoved it straight into his mouth.

He bit down hard, tearing off a chunk of the wood-like core fragment.

He chewed desperately, the sound of CRUNCHING filling the air.

The onlookers stared, dumbfounded.

No one had expected their President to be so ruthless as to eat this thing raw on the spot!?

Although the lifeless Bloodthirsty Vine was now withered and gray, its hardness far less than before, it was still comparable to rotten wood.

Chewing it to pieces with human jaw strength was easier said than done...

But Sima, driven by his obsession to become a Transcendent, chewed with all his might.

Sharp splinters cut the inside of his mouth, creating countless tiny wounds. Scarlet blood trickled from the corners of his lips.

The wooden pulp in his mouth, mixed with saliva, was already stained red.

Yet he didn’t stop for a moment, continuing to chew vigorously.

After a long while, he swallowed it all in one forceful gulp.

The act nearly choked him to death on the spot.

If a member beside him hadn’t quickly handed him a cup of water, he might not have been able to get that mouthful of pulp down at all...

"This stuff... isn’t so hard to swallow after all."

Sima forced a pained smile, picked up the fragment in his hand again, and took another vicious bite.

The surrounding members of the Survival Association were completely stunned.

And deeply inspired.

’Those who accomplish great things can’t sweat the small stuff. They have to be bold and take risks. How else could the President be the President?’

"Damn it, if the President is eating it, we’re eating it too!"

"That’s right! As long as we can become Transcendent, anything is worth it!"

"President, I’ll join you!"

"Brothers, to become Transcendent, just eat!"

The twenty-odd members surged forward, one after another, grabbing pieces of the Bloodthirsty Vine from the ground.

The quick ones snatched up fragments of the Vine Core.

The slower ones could only grab some of the withered, ordinary vine pieces.

Those who got the core fragments were lucky; though hard, they were still manageable enough to bite into.

But those who got the ordinary vine pieces were just gnawing on dry wood. It was like chewing on a bone; they could barely pry off a mouthful after a long time.

But seeing everyone else eating, they feared that if they ate too slowly and consumed less than the others, they wouldn’t become Transcendent. So they gnawed even more desperately.

And so, the twenty-odd people, including Sima, sat in a circle around the pile of Bloodthirsty Vine fragments, chewing for their lives.

Every one of them had a bloody face, yet they refused to stop.

Whatever they could bite into pieces, they swallowed with difficulty.

What they couldn’t bite, they threw on the ground or smashed with tools, determined to break off even a small piece to swallow dry...

Fits of coughing rose and fell throughout the room. Some chugged water to wash it down, while others pounded their chests and stamped their feet.

But they never stopped stuffing fragments into their mouths and chewing.

In the end, the group’s jaws were aching from chewing, and they had actually eaten their fill... by gnawing on Bloodthirsty Vine fragments.

After an unknown amount of time, the pile of vine fragments on the ground had shrunk slightly, but the majority remained untouched.

Sima and the others could eat no more. They collapsed to the ground one by one, gasping for air.

"Brothers, rest for a bit, then we keep eating!"

"To become Transcendent, we’ll give it our all!"

Sima’s voice was a bit hoarse, but filled with determination.

"Alright! We’ll listen to the President!"

Everyone was united in purpose, their eyes burning with the desire to become Transcendent.

For this goal, they were willing to do anything, even if it meant eating Bloodthirsty Vine fragments as if they were meals.

As long as they could step onto the Extraordinary path and reach the pinnacle of their lives, it was all worth it!

Scenes like this were playing out all over the school.

These were all students who had managed to grab vine fragments yesterday.

However, compared to the majority who chewed and swallowed them raw, a small minority were more meticulous.

They would pick out and clean the vine fragments, discard the parts too rotten to eat, and then build a fire to boil a soup, stewing them until they were soft—much like making snake soup—before drinking it.

Although the taste was still far from satisfactory, it was at least easier to get down and didn’t leave their mouths cut up by sharp splinters...

...

After leaving the school, Chen Chong and the others didn’t go directly to the cave where the Bloodthirsty Vine had been.

Instead, they first went to the Desolate Grass River Stream to check their harvest...

Even though they weren’t exactly short on food at home now, the more the better. No one would complain about having too many stockpiled supplies.

Besides, the reason Chen Chong valued the Desolate Grass River Stream wasn’t just for food. More importantly, the three types of traps there could all capture live prey.

In the current environment, live animals for breeding were far more precious than simple meat.

The fish harvest was one thing, but if their luck held out and they caught a few more wild rabbits, wild ducks, or pheasants, it would definitely be a huge haul.

At home, the wild rabbits had already borne their young, and the pheasants and wild ducks had hatched their eggs. They were slowly adapting to the new environment and beginning to multiply.

With the help of fences, animal cages, and incubators, their hatching and growth cycles were greatly shortened.

But even so, raising the young to adulthood would take ten days to half a month at the very least.

Before the transmigration, that amount of time was nothing. But now, with the once-a-month cross-ecosystem transmigrations, Chen Chong’s heart was filled with a sense of crisis.

This uncertainty could lead to an accident at any time. If they transmigrated to a place with extremely scarce food next time and couldn’t gather resources on the spot like they did in the primeval forest, they would be forced to live off their reserves until they ran out.

Although their food stores at home were enough to last for a while, the more uncertain the situation, the more food reserves and breeding animals they needed.

Catching ready-made adult wild animals was, after all, more cost-effective than raising young from the start.

Unless they could get their hands on more advanced structures like animal cages in the future to further shorten the growth cycle, only then would the pressure of raising livestock truly be relieved...