novelraw Chapter 196: Robbers and Thieves
Chapter 196: Robbers and Thieves
In an instant, all five family members were fighting on their own.
Li Jiao abandoned his plan. Without anyone to coordinate with, even the best crossbowman in the world would be useless.
He dropped down, grabbed his siege crossbow, and sprinted after Liang Yuzhi. They needed to work together — and his siege crossbow was slow to reload, giving him only one shot. That made coordination essential.
In that brief span of time, the three mutated vultures had already peppered the area with over a dozen corrosive smoke bombs. The dark-green clouds looked small at first, but once they spread — especially with a light breeze nudging them along — they expanded to blanket a full two-hundred-meter radius.
The underground parking lot was right in the thick of it.
Fortunately, Li Wei had chosen his hiding spot on the upwind side. Otherwise he'd have been running too.
Then, suddenly, the three mutated vultures dove straight down at speed and vanished into the dark-green smoke.
What were they doing?
The answer came quickly.
[Your temporary camp has been seized by mutated vultures. They are stealing your food!][Warning: your stored food supply is decreasing!]
[Warning: you have been plundered. Due to your failure to protect your food, all of you have been penalized 5 Family Contribution points.]
——
What?!
This was absolutely outrageous.
Who could have anticipated that these seemingly ferocious mutated vultures weren't mindless predators charging in blindly — but cunning thieves with brains, capable of outmaneuvering five players with a simple trick?
In less than half a minute, the family had taken heavy losses. Well — mainly to their pride.
"They'll fly back out. Li Wei, Li Yue — get ready to shoot them down. This is our chance!"
Li Guilin, Liang Yuzhi, and Li Jiao turned back decisively, each taking up a position at the edge of the dark-green smoke cloud, calling for Li Wei and Li Yue to join them.
But five people trying to cover a smoke zone that had expanded to two hundred meters in radius — that was a stretch.
And they had to be careful about the vultures launching smoke bombs outward from inside the cloud...
Li Wei had barely formed that thought when it happened — three smoke bombs shot out from within the cloud in rapid succession, targeting Li Guilin, Liang Yuzhi, and Li Jiao without missing a single one.
Genuinely cunning.
The only reason all three survived was that they were far from ordinary. Three-star strength wasn't a joke — each of them pulled off extreme evasive maneuvers in their own way, barely dodging in time. But there was no opportunity left to line up a shot.
And almost simultaneously, the three mutated vultures — satisfied and well-fed — spread their wings inside the smoke cloud and took off. Except they didn't fly straight up. They ran south along the ground, flapping their wings and skimming low in a gliding run, never giving a clean vertical target.
Li Yue, who had been lurking on the other side of the smoke cloud hoping for an opportunistic shot, didn't get a single opening.
It had to be said — the intelligence these three mutated vultures had displayed was enough to leave most creatures in the dust.
But it was at that exact moment that Li Wei — who had been hiding in the shadows the entire time, motionless from start to finish — finally moved.
The Dog Butcher title was instantly swapped out for the Tracker title.
His Three-Star War Bow was drawn to a full moon in an instant. At the same moment, his Two-Star Blood Crow launched into the sky to provide aerial vision.
With a deep, powerful thrum of the bowstring, a Three-Star Sniper Armor-Piercing Arrow screamed upward into the sky, cutting through the air with a sharp, piercing shriek.
It was a parabolic shot. But not Parabolic Positioning.
Instead, Li Wei was using his current +1 Perception advantage to achieve a better sync with the Two-Star Blood Crow.
The reason archers' parabolic shots were so inaccurate was simple: the target was too far away to see clearly, and the arc of a lobbed shot was completely different from a direct one.
But right now, Li Wei effectively had an extra pair of eyes in the sky — slightly nearsighted, a little blurry, but providing a synchronized view of the target's position from another angle, like artillery coordinates relayed to a gun battery.
That sounded complicated. In practice, it wasn't.
The three mutated vultures were enormous — five-meter wingspans, and there were three of them. Li Wei only needed a rough fix on their position.
Most importantly, his Three-Star War Bow at full draw, using a parabolic release, could reach over four hundred meters at its absolute limit.
Range, accuracy, timing — all three were in his hands.
There was no suspense whatsoever.
He didn't even bother to check the result. He immediately fired the second Three-Star Sniper Armor-Piercing Arrow, then the third.
For the third shot, he activated Parabolic Positioning, binding the Two-Star Blood Crow to the arrow itself. The third mutated vulture — which would have been nearly impossible to hit otherwise — had its skull blown apart and died without question.
By the time Li Guilin, Liang Yuzhi, Li Jiao, and Li Yue had processed what happened, it was already over.
[Family member Li Wei has shot and killed three mutated vultures. These are Level 2 mutated creatures with a two-star kill difficulty. He receives 150 Family Contribution points.]
[Reminder: only a Three-Star Butcher, Three-Star Scholar, or Three-Star Alchemist can properly harvest the acid sacs from these mutated vultures. These are magical materials. Otherwise, only their feathers can be collected, and their carcasses must be buried deep underground or burned with intense fire.]
——
What?
Li Wei immediately thought of the Blood Crow skull from before — similar situation. But who here was a Three-Star Butcher?
"Big brother, are you alright?"
Li Yue came running over, looking genuinely worried, and pulled him into a hug. A little sister worried about her big brother — perfectly natural.
But at almost the same moment, Li Wei felt 50 Gold Coins quietly transferred to him by Li Yue without a word.
Understood.
"Little Yue, don't worry, I'm fine."
Li Wei patted Li Yue on the back, then furrowed his brow. "Little Yue, I think these vultures might be different. There could be something special inside them."
"I think so too, big brother. Once the smoke clears, I want to dissect them and take a look."
"Can you handle that? Little Yue, this isn't like dissecting a frog in school."
"Don't worry, big brother. Your little sister is no slouch."
Li Yue smiled sweetly. The deal was done. Since Li Wei hadn't donated the vulture carcasses to the family, they belonged to him. Li Yue had bought the three acid sacs for 50 Gold Coins — and in doing so, she'd also secured a valuable dissection and dismantling opportunity. That kind of work raised Destiny Grid, and in the long run, that was worth more than the acid sacs themselves.
By the time Li Guilin, Liang Yuzhi, and Li Jiao came rushing over, the opportunity had long since passed.
After that, nobody had any interest in hauling building materials. They needed to wait and see how long the acid smoke would take to dissipate — otherwise they'd have to find a new temporary camp.
Fortunately, in less than half an hour, all the dark-green smoke had evaporated and cleared.
Li Yue immediately moved in and began dismantling the carcasses with professional, practiced efficiency. This was well beyond Li Wei's skill set, so he simply kept watch from a distance.
Li Guilin and the other two assessed the damage the acid bombs had done to the concrete ground. As expected, the substance could corrode concrete to a noticeable degree. A few hits weren't much of a problem, but if hundreds of them rained down at once, no shelter would hold.
[Family member Li Yue has completed the dismantling of three Two-Star mutated vultures. She has perfectly extracted three dangerous acid sacs. These items can be sealed inside a Two-Star Resource Card and carried out of this world, or sold to native survivors.]
[Reminder: since you did not donate the mutated vulture carcasses to the family, she will not receive any Family Contribution for this dismantling.]
[You have obtained 60 Two-Star Feathers, which may be used to craft high-quality arrows.]
Three notifications scrolled past Li Wei's eyes.
The dismantled vulture carcasses then rapidly dissolved into a wisp of black vapor, which evaporated and vanished in the sunlight.
The scene was somewhat reminiscent of the black vapor released when the great witch Luna's body had been thrown into the flames — though on a far smaller scale.
'It seems these mutated vultures don't quite qualify as Magic Zombies. They might be considered early-stage infected?'
Li Wei turned the thought over as he accepted the sixty Two-Star Feathers from Li Yue — already cleaned and prepared. Her eyes were bright and dancing, clearly delighted with the haul. The unspoken message: plenty of room for future collaboration, big brother!
Li Wei gave her an indulgent look, then went to retrieve his three Sniper Armor-Piercing Arrows. Predictably, all three were damaged beyond use. He discarded the shafts and pocketed only the refined steel arrowheads.
Once they had a blacksmith shop later on, he could reheat and reforge them — though that would require at least a Three-Star Blacksmith to do properly.
"Little Wei, Little Yue — I think we underestimated the danger here. You both saw what just happened. Those mutated vultures are no joke. If we keep using the parking lot as our base, we'll end up trapped like turtles in a jar sooner or later. I suggest we move the temporary camp to a higher floor in one of the buildings. That five-story building to the north looks ideal."
Li Guilin raised a new plot point. Given what had just happened, it didn't feel forced at all.
"Exactly — I was thinking the same thing," Liang Yuzhi said immediately.
Li Jiao nodded in agreement as well. Three votes secured. Under the principle of majority rule, Li Wei and Li Yue's opinions no longer mattered.
In fact, Li Yue agreed too.
"Big brother, I also think the underground parking lot isn't suitable as a base. The biggest problem is that there's no way to observe the outside."
"Alright, I didn't think it through enough earlier."
Li Wei conceded gracefully. What he hadn't expected was the notification that followed immediately.
[The suggestion you made this morning caused the family to suffer certain losses and wasted half a day of valuable time. You have been penalized 10 Family Contribution points. Current total: 135 points.]
What?!
That was allowed?
So if Li Guilin's suggestion went wrong next, he'd be penalized too?
The family of five set out toward the five-story building to the north, each one alert and watchful.
Li Guilin led the way, a Refined Steel Tower Shield in his left hand and a mace weighing at least five kilograms in his right, radiating menace.
Li Jiao followed five meters to his left rear, but this time he'd slung the siege crossbow on his back and drawn a two-handed greatsword instead.
Behind Li Guilin on the right was Liang Yuzhi, Three-Star Compound Bow in hand, scanning their surroundings with sharp eyes.
It was a standard triangular formation — ranged, melee, and a tank unit all covered.
Li Wei could feel it: those three were getting anxious.
The business about needing to change camp locations was probably half-true at best. Most likely they were itching to go out and hunt — to level up.
Because at this rate, Li Wei was going to pull so far ahead that the gap would be impossible to close.
They were here to compete for the pioneer lordship, not to be anyone's supporting cast.
Li Wei and Li Yue walked at the rear, trailing about ten meters behind. It wasn't deliberate separation — it was a dispersed formation to avoid being wiped out in a single sweep.
Li Wei had stowed his Three-Star War Bow. His left hand held the Bloodthirsty Spear, his right gripped the three-star dagger. He had a one-star heavy wooden sword in his Resource Card, but there was no need to bring it out.
Li Yue was similarly equipped — hand crossbow in her left hand, dagger in her right. Everything about her screamed close-combat specialist.