Chapter 341 - 193: Stocking Up from the Primitive Jungle! An Unimaginable Harvest

Chapter 341: Chapter 193: Stocking Up from the Primitive Jungle! An Unimaginable Harvest

"Looks like the rain is a lot heavier than yesterday..."

Feeling the raindrops burst against his body, Xu Jun instinctively pulled his poncho tighter to avoid getting soaked.

Unlike yesterday’s constant drizzle, today’s rain wasn’t a downpour, but the dense drops fell heavily, significantly hampering their visibility.

"The river’s water level has risen a lot, too," Zhang Meng said, watching the current grow more turbulent. "If this keeps up, who knows how hard it’ll rain tomorrow, or how much higher the water will get?"

Jia Wen glanced around. "It’s not stopping the people from school from going out to find resources, though. Looks like they also got the news about the rainy season arriving. They’re all trying to stockpile as much food as they can..."

The ceaseless rain didn’t stop students from coming to the Primitive Jungle. In fact, compared to the last two days, there were even more of them by the river today.

The entire riverbank was practically swarming with students. They were either using homemade fishing rods and nets to catch fish, or turning over stones on the half-submerged banks, searching for shrimp, crabs, snails, and clams.

On their way here, Chen Chong and the others had also seen quite a few teams hunting in the jungle.

Everyone was racing against time, searching for any edible resources they could find...

"Brother Chong, I’ve already sent Huang Mao and his men to check the three types of traps by the stream. Any birds or fish they catch will be taken back to the apartment for you to tally when you return."

"Sir, I’ve also taught the team members how to make the small traps for wild rabbits. From now on, I expect we can just sort through the hunting parties’ daily haul for small game. We won’t need to waste any more time on it ourselves..."

Chen Chong nodded slightly as he listened to the reports from Zhang Meng and Wang Biao.

When he had first arrived in this world, the Desolate Grass River Stream had been one of his primary sources of food.

It had not only provided him with pheasants, wild ducks, and wild rabbits, but had also yielded a large haul of fish to stock his pond.

But as time passed, the yields from the Desolate Grass River Stream had become less and less impressive. Combined with its distance from the school, making a special trip out there every day was honestly a waste of time.

Furthermore, with the arrival of the rainy season, the stream’s water level had risen, and the number of fish they could catch had dropped significantly.

The same went for the bird nets. Whether the pheasants and wild ducks had grown wise to them or something else was at play, for a long time now, they had only been catching birds the size of his palm.

As for the traps, the wild rabbits in the desolate grasslands had been nearly all caught. The few that remained had likely sensed the danger and fled.

Therefore, the probability of catching small game with traps in the grasslands had dropped to almost zero. It was better to have the team members learn the craft and hunt elsewhere. Since they had to turn in a portion of their daily harvest anyway, it was a much more efficient system.

In the time since their arrival, many students, including members of his own team, had actually acquired trap-type Cards.

These weren’t just limited to fishing nets, fishing rods, and bird nets; quite a few had even gotten various kinds of animal traps.

After all, these types of Cards were usually low-level. While it was difficult for students to acquire high-level Ability Cards, the drop rate for low-level, resource-gathering trap Cards was quite high.

Even the students who didn’t get any had wised up, learning to imitate and craft their own traps, which were still effective for catching prey.

Catching prey with traps was hardly a patent exclusive to Chen Chong.

The only reason his own yields had been so bountiful was that he had chosen a good spot. Compared to most parts of the Primitive Jungle, the Desolate Grass River Stream was a treasure trove of resources, which was why he had enjoyed such a substantial daily haul in the beginning.

However, due to the intense trapping over this period, combined with the arrival of the rainy season, those returns were now sharply declining.

While it still yielded more than most other places in the jungle, he had to admit its importance in his mind was steadily diminishing.

That was why, to increase efficiency, he had handed over the task of setting and checking the traps at the Desolate Grass River Stream to Huang Mao.

The arrangement was for Huang Mao to check the traps once a day in his spare time. The vast majority of the catch was for the group, while a small portion was to be Huang Mao’s payment for his efforts...

"Traps aside, we should use this rainy season to set up a proper training system and improve everyone’s combat abilities."

"Even if they can’t become Transcendents, their bodies are much stronger than a normal person’s after eating the meat of Extraordinary Creatures. We have to capitalize on that advantage, otherwise all that meat they ate was for nothing."

"Whether it’s for day-to-day hunting or potential conflicts with other groups after another world-shift, we need to improve our combat strength as much as we can. It can only help."

Wang Biao nodded eagerly. "I understand, Sir. Jia Wen and I will get started on implementing that tomorrow."

Jia Wen added, "Don’t worry, Sir. I’ll write up a proposal for the training grounds tonight for you to review!"

"Good. Let’s go. We only have today left to hunt. Time to cross the river..."

...

Although the river’s water level had risen and the current had grown turbulent, it posed no difficulty for Chen Chong and the other Transcendents in his party. They swam across with ease.

Zhang Meng, a fairly strong swimmer himself, crossed with them as well.

The countless students on the bank watched this unfold, their expressions a mixture of shock, confusion, and anticipation. For some, however, it seemed perfectly natural...

"Holy crap, the heavy rain has made the river surge, and they still dare to swim across? Aren’t they afraid of being swept away?"

"Seriously. The rainy season is here. Instead of using what little time is left to find more food in familiar territory, they’re running off to explore the other side of the river. They must have a death wish. I have no idea what that team is thinking!"