Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 74: Family Protectors

"Boom!"

The massive body carried the inertia of its violent charge all the way to Li Wei's front. The intense stench of animal musk mixed with the smell of blood and various white fluids created an extremely pungent assault, even in the darkness of night.

It was only at this moment that Li Wei's brain finally registered fear, disgust, and the urge to vomit. But within just one second, his rationality overpowered his physical reactions. He scrambled backward in a panic, nearly tripping Thomas who had rushed out. That guy reacted incredibly fast, charging out bare-chested while gripping his axe.

Truly worthy of being a Professional Warrior, if you ignored his scrawny ribcage.

Margaret followed closely behind, and surprisingly Leon was third, with Penny and Fila right after them.

Fila had even lit a torch.

The group rushed out of the room and stood in the courtyard, feeling chills run down their spines as the cold wind blew. Old Ox was still howling in its death throes—it wouldn't survive, its spine had been completely shattered.

Li Wei sat on the ground in a sorry state, completely drained of energy. His 170 points of Stamina had vanished entirely.

But half of that was due to sheer terror.

He admitted that when he realized he was facing a bear, the shock had been absolutely electrifying, like being struck by lightning, nearly causing him to collapse instantly. But his willpower and rationality had pulled him back from that brink.And in that brief moment, his Stamina had bottomed out, leaving his legs weak and shaky.

In the torchlight, the bear's corpse continued to bleed profusely. Everyone fell into stunned silence, each feeling a wave of retrospective fear. They all knew that during this season, hungry beasts would expand their hunting territories, but no one had expected a starving black bear to scale the nearly two-meter-high Perimeter Wall and charge into the Cowshed.

In a way, Old Ox had died for them.

Because the black bear's target had been it.

But without Old Ox, the bear's target would have been them.

A hungry black bear's sense of smell was exceptionally sharp, and its aggression would spike by two to three hundred percent!

Without any buffer, their family would have suffered devastating losses!

At this moment, Li Wei finally regained some strength. Supported by Penny and Leon, he stood up as lines of information appeared before his eyes.

[You failed to perform routine Camp patrols, allowing a hungry black bear to scale the Camp walls and kill the family ox, resulting in loss of family property. Your main quest contribution for this month will be reduced by 5 Family Contribution points (this message is public)]

[You killed a hungry adult black bear. You gained 300 hunting experience points, and you also prevented a potential disaster that could have caused more harm to other family members]

[Based on comprehensive assessment, this is a two-star quality Beast. Even after enduring the entire winter, its weight still exceeded 400 jin. Will you donate it to the family? You will receive 100 Family Contribution points (this message is public)]

[Because you possess the Family Savior title, this title will now change to Family Defender. When equipped, you will automatically receive 50 cumulative Family Contribution points. Additionally, since you are simultaneously a Family Elder, any Impeachment or Plot Kill attempts against you must first consume 20 penalty points + 100 regular Family Contribution points to initiate. All voters in favor will be forcibly deducted 20 contribution points (this message is public)]

[You chose to donate this black bear to the family. You gained 100 Family Contribution points. Current total: 368 points.]

[You fully demonstrated your capabilities as a Hunter. Even in unexpected, emergency situations, you perfectly utilized your skills. For killing a two-star black bear, you obtained the Bear Hunter title. When equipped, you gain +1 Strength effect.]

——

Incredible!

368 points? Even after deducting 5 points, that would still be 363 points.

At this moment, Li Wei could almost feel the despair of the others. The end of the month was approaching, and everyone had been confident about competing for the Family Head position. But now, he would remain in power for at least another two months!

Wait a moment?

Li Wei suddenly noticed another message appearing before his eyes.

[Friendly reminder: Current prey level is too high, and weight exceeds conventional limits. Would you like to immediately issue an emergency family main quest to butcher one bear and one ox? Participants can receive between 1 to 5 contribution points based on their respective contributions. If materials of one-star quality or higher are obtained, additional contribution points will be awarded!]

Of course he would issue it. This massive creature weighed close to fifteen hundred jin. If Fila had to handle it alone, it would probably take five days. With current temperatures where the lowest was just below freezing and the highest approaching zero degrees, the meat would just rot and stink otherwise.

As soon as Li Wei issued the quest, Fila immediately sprang into action with renewed vigor, grabbing all her tools and charging forward like a general. As a Professional Butcher, dissecting an adult black bear carcass meant massive experience gains.

Oh, and there was also an ox beside it.

Everyone else, including Thomas, rushed to help.

Because this butchering process would yield genuinely valuable items. Even Li Wei knew that ox horns could be used to make bows and arrows, and ox sinews, even bear sinews, could be crafted into compound bows. Ox hide and bear pelts went without saying—they were essential for making leather armor.

Then there was the meat, organs, ox head, bear paws, and more. The family's wealth was about to increase significantly, and most of these benefits would go to Li Wei, since he was still the Family Head!

Although everyone felt envy and resentment, they didn't delay. Even Thomas chose to accept the quest. As long as they helped, they could share in the experience and contributions—no one would refuse that.

But Li Wei didn't participate. He returned to the room, lay down in front of the fireplace, and couldn't shake off the lingering fear—the aftermath was just too intense.

It seemed Thomas had been quite foresighted about building the Stone Wall. Without a sturdy perimeter wall, they couldn't even sleep peacefully.

For the next day, no one went to quarry stones anymore. Faced with Li Wei's overwhelming advantage, their confidence had been severely shaken. The idea of overthrowing Li Wei's rule by frantically quarrying stones to boost Family Contribution had become unrealistic.

So they needed to change their approach—figuring out how to secure their own interests while accepting that the Family Head position was beyond their reach.

This required cooperation, communication, discussion, and exchange of benefits.

Of course, maybe Fila would give it a try?

After all, no one else knew Li Wei's total contribution. If these guys teamed up to initiate an Impeachment against him, they had ready-made reasons: he failed his patrol duties, resulting in family property damage. No excuses about cold weather or sleepiness would work—since the night patrol was specified in the main quests, the responsibility was his.

Li Wei acknowledged this himself.

Anyway, it remained to be seen how Thomas and Margaret would handle this situation.

Later, with the help of the Four Workhorses, Fila completed processing the bear and ox meat on the first day, mainly through air-drying since there were no other methods—they didn't even have enough salt for curing.

This was when the importance of a Professional Chef became apparent. Fila had her own air-drying techniques and handled all the meat systematically.

Then came preserving all the organs, which also required technical skills.

But the most critical parts were the ox sinews and bear sinews—where would ordinary people even locate these tendons? One wrong cut would ruin them completely.

Only through Fila's incredibly skilled butchering could they be extracted intact.

During this process, including Li Wei and the Four Workhorses, everyone could only stand by watching helplessly, unable to assist.

And when it came to later stages of treating, tanning, and processing the ox sinews, bear sinews, bear pelts, and ox hides, they were even more out of their depth.