Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Optimization, Taming Wolves, and the Alpha
"Younger Brother Lin is right, we need a direction, not aimless searching."
On the side, Li Hu drank half a bottle of water and agreed:
"The wolf pack’s activity range is about twenty kilometers around here, from the Scorching Sun Forbidden Area behind us, to within ten kilometers in front of Oasis Town. Wherever deserters gather, there’s a possibility of a wolf pack..."
"In such a large area, just depending on us, we’ll wear out our legs running without being able to find the wolf pack in a week, but the longer we delay, the worse our condition will become, while the wolf pack can recover and even grow stronger by hunting deserters."
The Scorching Sun Forbidden Area is behind us, a region irradiated by a giant sun, where ground temperatures reach sixty to seventy degrees, making it almost impossible for large creatures to survive for long.
Only some tiny insects or fungi and bacteria can barely survive dormantly underground.
Lin Feng nodded, looking at the team behind Li Hu.
The two sides had merged not long ago, and after circling around in front of Oasis Town for three to four hours, it was dinner time and they hadn’t found anything, so they had to pause to rest.
They had just joined a passing deserted village squad and inquired about nearby conditions, learning that the rumors of the grey death god originated from the frenzied actions of the desert wolf pack.
Furthermore, due to the influence of the rumors, many deserter squads gathered together during breaks to bolster their courage.
Li Hu’s squad was like on Holy Spring Day, consisting of an iron cart and a modified tricycle for carrying goods.
The team had only twelve members left, including him and Ah Lian, the other ten included four late-stage Level 7-8 Enhanced People, and the remaining six were mid-stage.
Besides them, there were six slaves lying on the cart, ready to be used as bait to lure the wolf pack when tracks were discovered, to cover everyone’s attack.
The half-day of daylight silently passed, and next came the rest time of the cycle between day and night.
Most deserters would stop at this time to gather nearby roots or insects to replenish their state, rest until the next day’s daylight, and continue on their way.
It was a typical day for most deserter squads, except for the likes of the original Chen Shanshan’s party. Due to a lack of supplies and carrying someone like Lin Feng, they were left behind, gradually falling to the back.
Every day they faced threats from the Scorching Sun Forbidden Area behind them.
Exhausted and thirsty, they constantly ran on the brink.
If they rested too long and stopped moving forward, they would be cooked to maturity by the scorching sun behind them.
Therefore, the far rear of Oasis was usually sparsely populated, only during the cycle between day and night would some deserter squads stop to rest. The wolf pack generally wouldn’t appear there.
But the best hunting time is actually now.
After walking over twenty kilometers on foot during daylight, following ten or so hours of long trekking, most deserters are exhausted and have to disperse to collect food.
It’s a perfect opportunity for the wolf pack to launch an attack.
Sure enough, not long after the group finished discussing, the scavenger vulture flock overhead began to converge in a certain direction.
Lin Feng ate the remaining wolf jerky in his hand, stood up slowly:
"Let’s go, if we’re fast, we might catch up."
Chen Shanshan and Li Hu, who also noticed the anomaly in the sky, nodded and returned to their respective teams.
As they set off again, Lin Feng had Liu Mingfei replace Chen Shanshan in pedaling the armored tricycle, to let Chen Shanshan conserve her spirit.
Li Hu did the same, sitting on the tricycle himself to recharge, keeping in the best combat condition.
On the way, Lin Feng had already communicated the combat plan to the members of the team.
Chen Shanshan, possessing a perception superpower, chose her own opponents, while the other four, including Jiang Zhuo, who was still recovering, were responsible for holding up four one-hundred-kilo shields, forming a square formation to protect Lin Feng in the center.
He then served as the team’s firepower output, providing remote support.
This was the situation when facing a proactive wolf pack attack.
Once encountering a defeated and fleeing wolf pack, Lin Feng and Chen Shanshan would take the initiative to hunt the Level 9 Desolate Wolf, while Liu Mingfei led the remaining three to seize the corpses of the wolf pack.
These were the materials required for the mission.
Non-combatant Liu Mingfei just needed to exert himself, leaving the fighting and chasing to experienced Chen Shanshan, and the powerfully armed Lin Feng.
During the journey, in the tricycle compartment, Liu Qian’s ears were filled with the vivid descriptions from the deserters.
More than ten deserted village squads had been wiped out by the scythe-like harvest of the grey death god.
The scene of being stared down by a dozen fierce desert wolves after hunting the rock-horned horse resurfaced in Liu Qian’s mind.
She never imagined participating in combat herself, especially with Lin Feng suggesting that she and Ding Yi, two women, would be responsible for protecting him, a late-stage Enhanced Person...
This incomprehension deepened with the impending unknown fear.
She hadn’t faced such dangerous combat directly before.
Seeing the man in front of her calmly wiping a revolver, Liu Qian summoned the courage to voice her inner doubts:
"Brother Feng, I want to know why you chose to have us form a formation to protect you for output, but then have the courage to hunt alone later?"
"Is this revolver with only six bullets, really your assurance, Brother Feng?"
Ordinary handgun bullets are very weak against late-stage desolate wolves unless they hit the head. And six bullets might not even be enough to completely kill one desolate wolf.
Lin Feng looked up at Liu Qian, falling into deep thought.
He understood their worries.
Because he hadn’t proven yet that he possesses the strength to pierce through the entire wolf pack.
But Ding Yi and Chen Shanshan knew of his abilities and working personality, so they trusted him unconditionally.