Armed with new equipment, Kuang Xin turned and once again headed straight for the pitch-black forest.
At this moment, it must have been night in the game world, with a cold, solitary moon hanging among the dim clouds overhead.
She exerted all her strength but could only see through the faint misty light.
Resulting in very low visibility for Kuang Xin.
This certainly wasn't the best time to hunt, but no matter!
The difficulty was the same for everyone, but the effort was visible only to herself.
"I've got to work quietly through this night, and roll over those stinking fools."
Venturing deeper into the forest, Kuang Xin tread lightly.
In the silent woods, only the crisp "crunch" of footsteps beneath her feet broke the quiet.
Kuang Xin's gaze was sharp, alert, spending every ounce of concentration on observing everything around her.
Branches cast tangled silhouettes against the somber backdrop, a gentle breeze whispered through, and the devil's minions seemed to whet their claws in the shadows.
Every moving shadow could not escape her watchful eye.
He, Kuang Xin! The top-level hunter in the whole of Galaxy Online!
Tonight, he would hunt to his heart's content!
"Squeak, squeak~"
An oblivious little creature sought food on its home turf at night, its soft, tender, pink nose sniffing inch by inch along the ground, trying to find the roots buried deep underground.
Utterly unaware that the top-level hunter had already crept up behind it.
20 meters! 15 meters! 10 meters! 8 meters!
With one experience under his belt, Kuang Xin's movements were even more professional and lighter this time.
Holding the pistol... after hesitating for a long while, Kuang Xin ultimately did not fire the last bullet, but instead tucked the pistol into his waistband.
The first shot felt good; out of 5 bullets, 4 were fired.
But who knew that obtaining resources in this game was so difficult?
The first mission was so tough, and the black currency for buying more bullets seemed an eternity away, not to mention Hans never mentioned it.
Now with only one bullet left, Kuang Xin decided to hold on to it and not to fire again until he was faced with real danger.
7 meters! 6 meters! 5 meters!
Seemingly sensing the approach of the hunter behind it, the little creature turned its head warily. In the corner of its eye, the moment it detected Kuang Xin's shadow, it exploded with wild strength and shot away in an instant.
"Don't run!"
Kuang Xin gritted his teeth and yelled, lunging forward.
He swatted away obstructing branches with his hands, uncaring of the spider webs and debris that grazed his cheeks.
However, the forest was still not a human's domain, and the creature, unimpeded, swam through the woods with ease.
Kuang Xin, with his strength at 11, could only follow clangingly behind, watching helplessly as the creature got farther and farther away.
Anxious, Kuang Xin wasn't paying attention and got tripped by a vine stretching from a large tree, tumbling to the ground in a heap.
"Damn it! So hard to chase!"
Lying on the ground, Kuang Xin gasped for air, his gaze at the rustic gun he pulled from his waist was full of complexity.
"Just one left."
Without bullets to injure first, it was indeed difficult to catch those wild little ones in this kind of place.
Bullets... bullets...
Where on earth could he get more bullets...
Hmm~ it's a bit cold.
Lying on the ground, Kuang Xin shivered, feeling the chill seeping from the ground spread throughout his body along his spine.
So, he sat up with a fish-flop motion, still muttering to himself—
This game is really realistic; they even managed to capture the sensation of goosebumps.
Hmm~ seems like someone was watching him?
As though possessed, he turned his head, and saw erratic, dim red glimmers flitting in and out of sight beneath the grey curtain...
"..."
In the dim light, the red glints slowly moved out of the shadows into Kuang Xin's view.
Fur like steel needles glistened with a dark sheen, and the blood-red eyes were filled with a murderous intent.
Wolves?
High-level creatures!
But he couldn't fight them off.
One bullet, obviously not enough to kill so many creatures he saw before him.
Run!
Kuang Xin scrambled to his feet in a panic and turned to run.
Death penalties in Galaxy Online were severe; players could be gravely injured, left with a single drop of health, but they could not truly die.
To die here meant to start over, with no save points, no chance of revival.
You could only change characters and start from scratch.
There was also a cooldown for changing characters, once every three days.
This meant that even if there was a chance to start over, you could only die once in three days, die one more time...
Without Galaxy Online to play, I'd be dead!
Even though he had just started playing the game not long ago, the rich feedback and realistic interaction system in Galaxy Online had already completely captivated Kuang Xin.
Of course, he had heard that there might be some means to evade death at higher levels, but that was clearly not something to consider right now.
Seeing the prey expose its back, the ruthless hunters stopped probing and boldly made their move.
"Bang!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Gunshots suddenly rang out from a direction a bit farther from his side.
The trembling of the earth seemed even more violent compared to his own side.
Kuang Xin, utterly focused on fleeing for his life, had no time for other concerns and even hoped that the others could draw away some of the monsters for him.
"Huff~Huff~"
The growling from the throats of the sprinting hunters sounded like death knells stealing souls.
The prey in front of them emitted the fragrance of food, and that fresh taste of flesh and blood drove them to madness.
Kuang Xin gritted his teeth and sprinted desperately, occasionally even feeling like the barbed tongues of those monsters had licked his butt.
"Why the hell are they all chasing me!"
Luckily, the chase hadn't gone too far into the woods, and the trunks in front of him were becoming sparser.
Hope was within sight, and Kuang Xin put all his energy into it as if his life depended on it.
[You have surpassed your physical limits through intense exercise, stamina +0.1.]
Kuang Xin, practically leaping out of the forest, gasped for air and felt like he had never pushed his limits this much in his life, except maybe after the middle school's 1000-meter test.
Standing in place with his hands propped on his knees, Kuang Xin made up his mind to give up.
He wouldn't run anymore!
Hell, he wouldn't run even if his mother came for him today!
It's either a do-over or death! Who was he afraid of!
Under the shadows of the shrubs, those crimson eyes seemed to fear the world outside the Black Forest.
Those places had terrifying, upright-walking beings, and for just two pieces of meat... it didn't seem worth the risk.
Fixedly staring at Kuang Xin standing there as if he was bait, the wolf pack, like a receding tide, silently withdrew.
"Ha~Ha~"
He was alive!
How great!
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Suddenly, laughter erupted over the empty land.
Kuang Xin looked up and spotted several figures as ragged as himself standing on the clearing outside the woods.
"..."
The feeling of narrowly escaping death suddenly didn't seem so lovely.
"Damn it!"
"Hey, guys, did you all come here for a quest?"
Meeting jerks in a strange land was definitely not good news.
But since everyone was a player who had just entered this unfamiliar game not long ago, perhaps they could exchange some information they each had.
"Yeah... I was supposed to pick some mushrooms, but I couldn't see anything in the dead of night!"
"Hey! My quest was even more absurd, I had to dig up some grass roots, but after all that digging, I didn't find anything."
"What rewards did you guys get?"
The atmosphere fell silent for a moment.
"Ah ha ha~"
"Nothing much, just a little bit of experience."
As they were talking, another figure approached from the direction of the gathering area.
The newcomer, looking puzzled, asked respectfully, "Excuse me, guys, is this the Black Forest?"
"Yeah! Are you also here for a quest?" a panting player responded casually.
"Yes... Are you also players?"
The newcomer seemed pleased, as it was difficult in this game to differentiate real players from NPCs without floating names above their heads.
"Of course."
The newcomer looked around and then asked, "So, what are you guys doing here...?"
A player resting with his hands on his knees waved his hand nonchalantly as he said,
"Oh~ we're just taking a break... we just finished fighting a BOSS, and we have no bullets or energy left. There's a BOSS inside, badly injured."
Badly injured?
The eyes of the newcomer lit up, "I see... then I'll go have a look."
"Hey hey! That's the BOSS we weakened!"
The newcomer didn't utter a word as if he hadn't heard, and without looking back, he dived into the woods.
"..."
The other players who had been chased out by the wolf pack sniggered covertly, keeping a tacit silence, waiting to see a joke unfold.
But just a moment later...
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah! Help!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha!"