As a modern human who was used to the concrete jungle, Xia Chengfeng did feel nervous when he faced the charge of a ferocious wild boar for the first time.
Xia Chengfeng gripped onto his longsword tightly and awaited his opportunity.
The wild boar had charged into the tunnel. It ran on all fours and had a bucket-like body. It was more suited for traveling within the tunnel than Xia Chengfeng was.
However, it did not manage to give Xia Chengfeng a barbaric charge with its head and fangs before it fell into the trap Xia Chengfeng had dug.
The wild boar was furious. It wanted to jump out of the trap. Xia Chengfeng seized his opportunity and thrust his longsword downward.
As this was his first time engaging in actual combat, Xia Chengfeng's sword technique was still unrefined. He did not manage to kill the wild boar with one strike.
"Rooooaaar!" The wild boar let out a wild squeal that attracted the attention of the other wild boars in the cave. A few adult wild boars immediately charged toward the tunnel.
"This sword is not easy to use!" Xia Chengfeng quickly stabbed the wild boar a few more times. The boar finally fell back into the trap. It had a stubborn vitality though and was still struggling within the trap.
By this time, the horde of wild boars had charged into the tunnel. The wild boar leading the pack was the most muscular. It looked like the leader of the horde of boars.
This boar leader was exceptionally ferocious. Its charge was extremely fast, and it directly jumped over the trap Xia Chengfeng had set.
"I'll chop you up!" Xia Chengfeng remembered the basic sword techniques he had learned and sliced his sword toward the head of the boar leader with all his strength.
The sword sliced through the boar's thick hide and made it halfway into the boar's head. The leader boar was immediately injured, but its momentum did not stop. Xia Chengfeng quickly dodged to the side.
The leader boar crashed into the wall of the tunnel, spouting blood. It struggled as it lay on the ground and could no longer battle.
"Fortunately, these are not mutated or magical creatures." Xia Chengfeng heaved a sigh of relief. There was still a chance of encountering dangerous creatures in the early-game caves.
He should have no problems dealing with ordinary creatures.
The wild boars were naturally brutal and violent. Not only did the wild boars not escape when they saw their leader getting killed, but they instead charged toward Xia Chengfeng one after the other.
However, the tunnel was narrow. A few wild boars fell directly into the trap, while the others got cut up by Xia Chengfeng with his sword. The blood of the boars soaked all of the ground.
Xia Chengfeng had had difficulty dealing with the first few boars. However, he slowly got the hang of it.
With the terrain advantage that he had set up, Xia Chengfeng finished off the boars one by one.
Soon, the bunch of mature wild boars had all been killed by him. There were more than 20 wild boar corpses littered all around the trap and tunnel.
The tunnel was now being blocked off by the wild boar corpses. Xia Chengfeng had no choice but to dig a new tunnel to enter the wild boar cave.
There might still be danger in a cave where the grass was overgrown. Xia Chengfeng carefully explored the cave but quickly realized that other than the grass and bugs, any other things that might have existed had all been cleared out by the wild boars.
There was another pit in the cave. Xia Chengfeng looked into the pit and saw a dozen young boars squealing in fear.
"Ha, ha, ha, there are even young boars." Xia Chengfeng was elated. He immediately sealed off the entrance of the pit to prevent any young boars from escaping.
He started to take stock of what he had gained.
"I obtained 21 adult wild boars and a bunch of young boars during this hunt. The grass that grows in this cave must be the feed of the boars. It's a kind of boar grass. I can rear the young boars and feed them with boar grass," Xia Chengfeng said as he took stock.
"As for this much meat, I won't be able to finish all of it myself. I can eat some and save some. I'll use the rest to trade for other resources."
Currently, the food items that many people had found were either berries, carrots, or cabbages. There was not much meat on the market.
Even if someone offered meat for trade, it was usually snapped up in an instant.
With these 20 boars, he could get a good amount of resources.
Xia Chengfeng immediately began his preparations. He first scrolled through the forums to investigate the current situation.
System: Area 2222. 2,740 players left.
The area had started with 3,000 people. To think, 260 people had died during the time Xia Chengfeng had spent exploring.
It was obvious that the crypt world was filled with danger. If not for his divination crystal ball, Xia Chengfeng would not have been able to explore the world safely.
There were now many posts on the forum. Everyone had realized that begging or complaining on the forum was useless. They had to save themselves.
Some people started to post messages about their experiences or ask for advice.
"My experience digging for a cave."
"Omnibus of experience posts: Updated irregularly."
"Tianxun Company recruitment post: Welcome to the large Tianxun family. We can all work together to survive."
"Sector 2222 Mutual Assistance Association: Join us if you want to."
…...
Xia Chengfeng scanned through the posts. The people in this sector had actively started to form organizations. Just as he had thought, a dozen organizations of varying sizes had sprung up based on the companies that had occupied the building in the previous world.
There were managers, educators, and resource allocators within the groups.
They gathered and distributed the extra resources of their members using the trading channel to increase their chances of survival.
One of the largest groups was composed of people from his previous company, Tianxun. Other notable groups included the "Sector 2222 Mutual Assistance Association" and the "Xingyuan Company".
The Sector 2222 Mutual Assistance Association was an organization that had been set up by the players.
Xia Chengfeng knew about the Xingyuan Company. They were another large company from the building where he'd worked. It was even larger in scale than Tianxun.
He had heard that they engaged in Internet loans and loan collection. Xia Chengfeng always saw mean-looking, muscular men who were Xingyuan's employees when he took the elevator. Their boss, Yang Yong, also had a notorious reputation for being merciless.
Their collective might be more ferocious than the rest of the groups.
"These organizations have already gathered a good number of people. Some even have several hundred members." Xia Chengfeng thought back to his transaction with Wu Rui. Wu Rui already had quite a number of good items.
"This won't do. I have to obtain even more resources. Otherwise, this area will be dominated by them in the future."
These were only the beginning stages of the crypt world. It was hard for the players to come into contact with one another. However, the situation would soon change.
If the resources in this area were monopolized by a large group, the situation of individual survivors like Xia Chengfeng would become much worse.
He entered the trading platform and looked through the posts.
There were a few requests to trade with him from his previous posts. However, Xia Chengfeng did not have many berries left and naturally would not trade them.
Most of the other posts were asking for survival resources like food and water.
For these resources, a few players were even willing to trade precious ores and materials.
"Oh? Someone is even selling salt?" Xia Chengfeng saw that a person by the name of "Wei Ziming" was offering salt for trade. His post read, "Trading salt for food, water, and all other resources necessary for survival."
Salt was definitely a necessary resource. Human beings would become mentally weak and physically fatigued if they did not consume salt for a few days. Not eating salt for ten consecutive days might even lead to death.
Furthermore, salt would allow Xia Chengfeng to preserve food. He immediately contacted Wei Ziming and asked him, "Friend, how much salt do you have?"
Wei Ziming replied, "A substantial amount. What are you going to trade me for?"
Xia Chengfeng guessed that the other party must have discovered a salt mine when he read his reply. He thought for a moment, then said, "I want one ton."
Wei Ziming: "?? One ton? Why don't you go and rob a bank? You are too evil. No way."
Wei Ziming was not lacking for food as everyone else had realized how important salt was. They had all traded some food and water for his salt.
Xia Chengfeng took a photo of the corpse of an adult wild boar and sent it over to Wei Ziming. "(Picture attached). One hind leg. I'll trade it with you."
Wei Ziming was moved the instant he saw the picture. It was meat! He had only managed to get some wheat, carrots, and sweet potatoes up till now. He didn't expect someone to be willing to trade meat.
Wei Ziming replied immediately, "All right, one ton. Let's trade immediately!"