"Did it wander off from its herd?"
Jiang Cheng felt a stir in his heart. He quickly climbed down, returning to the tree hole.
"Jiang Cheng..." Tong Xiaorou greeted him with joy when she saw him, seeming to cling to him more after last night.
"There's a lone bison below, I'll go check it out. Don't come out or make a sound," Jiang Cheng whispered before swiftly climbing down.
'A lone bison?' Tong Xiaorou was thrilled. She wanted to cautionJiang Cheng, but she held back, remembering his warning.
Under the giant tree, Pan Wei'an and his family slept soundly, knowing that other Wildlings would likely steer clear of the area after Jiang Cheng had awakened. However, they were awakened by the sound of light footsteps.
"Shh..." Jiang Cheng motioned for them to stay quiet. After landing, he picked up the Tang Dynasty Sword and walked toward the direction of the green bison.
Pan Wei'an's family of three had no idea what was happening, but when they saw that Jiang Cheng, an Evolver, was so prepared, they became nervous.
Jiang Cheng proceeded as quietly as possible, stepping lightly.
However, because of the weather, the dead leaves on the ground were quite brittle, making it impossible for them to remain silent.
Therefore, the green bison detected Jiang Cheng's presence when he was only twenty meters away.
As Jiang Cheng was worried that the bison might escape, he quickened his pace. He could not afford to let hundreds of kilograms of meat delivered to his doorstep slip away. But he was overthinking it. An evolved beast, even if it was an herbivore, would get provoked easily.
Moo...
Seeing that a two-legged creature dared to charge at it, the green bison immediately howled and stomped on the ground with its front foot. Then, it swiftly lowered its head and charged forward.
Both sides sprinted simultaneously. One was a Class-1 evolved beast, and the other was a Rank-1 Evolver, both in the early phase. The distance of 20 meters was covered in the blink of an eye.
At that moment, Jiang Cheng focused all his attention on the bison. His intense concentration made him feel as if everything around him had slowed down.
Right before colliding with the bison, he utilized his explosive strength, which spread from his feet to his waist. He changed his center of gravity and moved half a meter horizontally, while turning his body sideways. He held the sword with both hands, and the moment he brushed past the bison, the Tang Dynasty Sword in his hand slashed down.
THUD!
A massive resistance came, but the Tang Dynasty Sword managed to slice down with without difficulty.
SLASH!
Half of the bison's neck was split open, and its shin bone was broken.
The green bison fell to the ground and rolled around due to inertia, crushing many dead branches and weeds. It seemed to want to scream, but it was no longer capable of making a sound.
"Phew-" Jiang Cheng panted heavily. The instantaneous outburst just now had exhausted a lot of his stamina.
As he looked at the dead bison in front of him, memories of the previous bison he had struggled to defeat flooded his mind, but this time he felt excitement. The two bison were about the same size, and their auras were similar. However, he knew he was no longer the same person as before. In just one day, he had made significant improvements in his skills, thanks to his hard work and the enhanced quality of the Tang Dynasty Sword. Now, he could easily split the bones of this evolved beast with his sword.
Tong Xiaorou and Yaya cheered and hugged each other excitedly on the giant tree behind them. Meanwhile, Pan Wei'an's family of three were somewhat stunned below.
"He killed it with just one strike..." Pan Wei'an was shocked.
He recalled the previous morning when a herd of bison had attacked their temporary camp. One of the bison had charged into the crowd, knocking seven or eight people away. Two had died on the spot, and the rest were severely injured. Although people had scattered, they couldn't outrun the evolved beast. If it weren't for the people on the Terrawheeler firing their machine guns in time, the bison would have caused even more casualties.
But now, Jiang Cheng had killed one bison alone with only one sword strike. Pan Wei'an knew that Jiang Cheng had killed a bison yesterday, but he was not present at the time and did not see it with his own eyes. Even when Jiang Cheng killed the Wildlings who tried to take his water, he had repelled and killed them by hurling logs at them. It was difficult to gauge his true strength. Only this time did they witness it firsthand. With just one slash, he had killed an evolved beast that posed a significant danger to them.
"So Evolvers really are that powerful!"
Pan Wei'an was a little upset. While he admired Jiang Cheng, he could not help but feel jealous. 'Why couldn't I become an Evolver despite struggling through multiple counts of life-and-death situations?' But when he was reminded of his wife's advice, he hurriedly suppressed his emotions.
The skinny woman beside Pan Wei'an, Liang Xin, looked at Jiang Cheng who was wearing a white shirt in front of her in a daze. Then, she looked at her own man and shook her head secretly. She could not help but think, 'As expected, comparisons would lead to unhappiness.'
In the past, Liang Xin had thought that her husband was not bad. At least he had never flinched when facing the Wildlings. However, compared to Jiang Cheng in front of them, her husband was far inferior.
"Son, did you see that? That's his strength as an Evolver. In the future, you have to maintain enough respect for him, understand?" Liang Xin took the opportunity to brainwash her son.
"Understood." Pan Xiaoan came back to his senses. He looked at his mother, who was as skinny as a bag of bones, and replied with a strange look in his eyes.
Jiang Cheng was standing beside the dead green bison. He did not rest. He first gave Tong Xiaorou and Yaya a reassuring look, then looked at Pan Wei'an's family of three.
"Sir, what do you want us to…" Pan Wei'an's spirits were lifted, and he hurriedly wanted to go over.
"Don't approach him. Let's turn around instead." Liang Xin hurriedly pulled her husband back as Jiang Cheng's expression was obviously telling them not to look.
Pan Wei'an was confused, but he was used to listening to his wife's orders. Although he was puzzled, he still pulled his son and turned around.
Jiang Cheng looked at Liang Xin in surprise and thought, 'I haven't even spoken yet, but she... How interesting. It seems that the real leader of this family of three is this weak woman who has no fighting strength.'
Jiang Cheng did not waste any time and immediately used his Gathering skill to collect materials.
[Bison Meat +2]
[Bison Bone +1]
...
Fine cracks quickly appeared on the dead bison in front of him.
Three minutes later, with a poof, the entire bison had become a pile of blood and meat residue.
'Three hundred and fifty-eight… Not bad.' Jiang Cheng smiled in satisfaction and left, returning to the giant tree.
"Sir…" When Liang Xin and the other two heard the commotion, they turned around again. At the same time, they saw a large pool of blood and meat residue in the distance. Immediately, Pan Wei'an and Pan Xiaoan became excited. Jiang Cheng seemed to disdain that kind of residue, but they wanted it.
However, Liang Xin was indifferent. She only lowered her head respectfully and pinched her man and son's arms tightly, telling them not to do anything. Jiang Cheng looked at the skinny woman, feeling intrigued. For the first time, he sized her up carefully. Of course, he was not looking at her face. Instead, he was using his perception to sense her state. Something unexpected happened. He could tell that Liang Xin was like a person on the verge of death.
If ordinary people's vitality was also measured based on HP, Liang Xin's HP was at most 0.1.
Jiang Cheng thought, '0.1?! That's basically means she is on the verge of death.' Back then, when his HP dropped to 0.4, his vision kept turning black, and he was at risk of fainting at any time.
The strange thing was that eventhough Liang Xin's HP was highly likely to be only 0.1, which was already close to zero, she did not show any abnormalities besides looking terribly thin and feeble.
Jiang Cheng was deep in thought, but his face was expressionless as he said, "You can have them. In the future, you can take the leftover waste, but ..."
Immediately, not to mention Pan Wei'an and Pan Xiaoan, even Liang Xin's breathing quickened.
There were hundreds of kilograms of waste. Although they definitely couldn't eat that much and those leftover waste would rot very quickly, at least they could eat their fill for the next few meals!
"From now on, we'll obey you!" The skinny Liang Xin hurriedly said.
"We'll see about it." Jiang Cheng didn't say anything else. He didn't immediately decide to take in the family of three. He wanted to see what was going on with Liang Xin first.
When Jiang Cheng started climbing the tree, Liang Xin said, "Hurry up…The weather will stink if it's late. Let's eat something fresh today!"
The family of three excitedly rushed towards the pile of meat residue and blood.
At the same time, Jiang Cheng, who had just climbed to a height of five meters, suddenly turned his head and looked at a power armor that was approaching quickly. He stopped in confusion and was secretly on guard.
Soon, the power armor stopped under the giant tree. It looked at the flesh residue in the distance and opened the helmet. It was Yang Kuifeng.