Chapter 08: Sneaking Back

Over a hundred students entered the underground cave through the tunnel one after another.
The underground cave was pitch black, and its space was not big enough for everyone, so it felt a bit crowded together.
But precisely because of this, it gave people a sense of security. 

After calming down, everyone was overwhelmed by extreme exhaustion, hunger, thirst, and despair.
Two-thirds of these people were females, and the cave resounded with cries of every kind.
There was a palpable sense of melancholy in the air.

However, Xiao Yu didn’t feel anything against that; crying was the best way to relieve mental stress.
People would feel much more at ease after a good cry.
The most important thing right now was to ensure everyone’s safety, as well as addressing the lack of food and water.

In the underground cave, there was a river with drinkable water.
There should be no major problems as long as they are careful enough and tie a container to a wooden stick to get the water.

Xiao Yu called Han Kexin, Jin Shi, Wang Chao, and Jiang Xiaowen together.
They were the strongest amongst the group.
Jiang Xiaowen, the weakest among them, had already killed four goblin slaves.
Among the remaining people, less than twenty had killed goblin slaves, and only a single one at that.
Furthermore, they had known each other for a much longer time, making them the few people Xiao Yu trusted most here.

Han Kexin said worriedly: “There are too many of us, and we haven’t eaten for five to six hours straight.
If this continues, everyone will starve to death!”

Wang Chao was the first to stand up, shaking the fat on his body, and said: “Yes, yes, as you can clearly see, I’m the one who can’t bear hunger the most, so we gotta find a way, so I can get something to eat!”

Xiao Yu nodded: “There are plenty of food sources in this forest.
It is not difficult to find edible wild fruits, and even most monsters’ meat is edible.
But there are so many dangers around, so we need to make weapons, arm ourselves, and form a small group of combat-ready people! We also need to create a batch of tools.
The forest is filled with monsters, the majority of which are not very intelligent.
Some simple traps are more effective than direct fighting and can produce better results as well.”

Jin Shi’s eyes lit up as he said, “Ha, why didn’t I think of that? I’ve read some books and am familiar with various types of traps.
Though I’ve never tried them out, with so many students, everyone’s wisdom can definitely assist in quickly resolving most difficulties.”

Jiang Xiaowen looked at Xiao Yu, her eyes full of happiness.
Allowing her to be here was a kind of recognition for her.
She felt very satisfied in her heart and said in a low voice: “This is a good idea, but don’t we need tools for that? No one really has anything in their hands.”

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Xiao Yu said: “There are very few things in this forest besides trees.
We can cut them down to make simple tools; we can also start picking up stones and polish them to use as weapons.” He put a utility box cutter on the ground, “This utility knife can still be used many times; it should be barely useful for processing a few things.
I will ask the others later and try to find some small knives and tools like scissors and lighters.” 

Han Kexin nodded: “Let’s divide the work first.”

Xiao Yu said: “First of all, we must improve everyone’s physique and fighting power.
There are five or six tunnels around the cave, with a lot of dry skeletons to fight.
Miss Han, you have to go collect all the goblin clubs we own and, choose a group of people who have never killed monsters before, give them the weapons separately.
You personally will lead them to kill those monsters, as the bone piles are limited, and each person can only kill one, try to find people you know or people who seem reliable and honest; no one is allowed to break this rule.”

Han Kexin nodded.

Xiao Yu said to Jiang Xiaowen as well: “Xiaowen, there are some good friends of yours here?”

Jiang Xiaowen nodded: “There are quite a few.”

Xiao Yu continued: “You can bring them to Miss Han later.
I will personally give you the wood and necessary tools, so try and find someone to help process and polish the stones.
For the first batch of people to kill the skeletons, make a batch of weapons for them, like short spears.”

“All right!”

Xiao Yu set his eyes next on Jin Shi and said, “Stone, Miss Han has a map I drew.
I will mark a few places on it later where you can find trees with fruits that are safe to eat.
You organize people who have killed goblin slaves and go gather those wild fruits in the forest.
If you meet students who have fled here, accept them.
There aren’t many monsters in this part of the forest, but you still have to be careful not to go too far.”

Wang Chao couldn’t help but ask, “What about me?”

Xiao Yu said to him: “You fatty were just injured, and you need to rest.
Besides, you are the scariest-looking person among us, with very thick skin to boot.
You are responsible for staying and monitoring everyone.
Now that there is no law, it is inevitable that some people will go out of line.
If you come across such a person, there is no need to show any sympathy; just fix them up.
Among these people, except for me, Miss Han, and stone, no one is your opponent.”

Wang Chao was beaming as he exclaimed, “You really do understand me, hahaha, okay! Leave it to me!”

Xiao Yu said to everyone: “As for me, I will sneak back to the school and try to find some supplies.
Alright, let’s stop here and go focus on our own tasks.”

Hearing the last sentence, Han Kexin couldn’t help saying, “It’s too dangerous for you to go back alone!”

Wang Chao interjected, “whoa, there is a very powerful goblin over there.
Can you beat it?”

“Well… the goblin leader is a ‘First-order’ monster, and I’m sure I can’t beat it.
Besides, there are two hundred goblin slaves and fifty elementary-level goblin warriors.” Xiao Yu paused and continued: “But precisely because of this, I am the best candidate for sneaking back.
It is adequate for only me to go.
If you follow me, my survival chances will be even slimmer.
Please accept my apologies as I mean no offense, but it’s the truth.”

Han Kexin blushed and nodded in understanding.

Wang Chao was unconvinced and wanted to retort, but Jin Shi dragged him away forcibly.

Jiang Xiaowen took a deep look at Xiao Yu, “You must be careful; we all need you.”

Xiao Yu picked up the withered bone blade, stood up, and said, “That’s it; let’s depart now!”

Xiao Yu easily cut a few trees down in the woods with the bone blade.
He chopped them into pieces, processed them roughly, and then handed them over to Jiang Xiaowen, who was tasked to find someone who could polish them carefully.
Han Kexin gathered everyone’s goblins clubs together.
Despite their short length, these clubs were made of hardwood.
They were not too heavy but comparable to iron in toughness.
The best weapons for the immediate situation.
With Han Kexin, who was second only to Xiao Yu in strength, personally leading the team, killing ordinary skeletons would not be too dangerous.

Seeing everything proceeding in an orderly manner, Xiao Yu could finally leave with peace of mind as he exited the cave hurriedly.
On the way back to school, he came by a wetland with stagnant water.
He stopped there, stuck the bone blade in the mud by his side, reached out and picked up a large amount of foul-smelling mud from there, and then covered himself with it, letting it smear on his face, neck, hands, and body.

In this way, his whole body was covered with this foul-smelling substance, which could effectively cover up his body odor, allowing him to travel through the forest more easily.
Pulling out the bone blade inserted next to him, a pair of bright eyes slowly opened on that muddy face; the dark pupils on them turned blood red.

In an instant, the whole world became a hundred times clearer than before, and everything started moving at a slow pace, considerably slower than normal.

The hunt begins!

…………

The forest surrounding the school was littered with goblin activity, and it appeared to have become the goblins’ new territory.
Fortunately, there were no higher-level monsters around, and the strongest one was the goblin leader, a ‘First-order’ monster.
Its strength was far above Xiao Yu’s, and he had no chance of winning in a head-on confrontation.
But although the goblin leader was formidable, there was only one, so Xiao Yu had no trouble evading it.

Xiao Yu stood between the branches of a big tree; the dense twigs and leaves covered most of his body, only revealing a pair of poisonous snake-like red eyes staring closely at the bottom.
At this time, five goblin slaves slowly walked by, and about five meters behind them was a goblin warrior holding a short spear and a wooden shield.
Their eyesight was not particularly good, and as they couldn’t smell any foreign scent, they didn’t have any idea about the human lurking in the trees.

“click, click, click.”

The shackles of the five goblin slaves jingled, and they slowly came right under the tree.

Xiao Yu took out a small stone from his pocket and threw it towards another large tree with his hand; the stone fell on the tree trunk with a muffled bang.

“Ji-gu!”

All the goblins were alarmed as they turned to search for the noise’s source.

Holding the bone blade firmly, Xiao Yu leaped down, split a goblin slave in half with a wave of his hand, and then quickly cut off another goblin’s head before it could react.
At this time, all the goblins had turned their heads toward him.
Xiao Yu rushed forward and kicked a goblin slave five or six meters away with all his strength.
All the bones in its body were shattered, and three streams of essence were then consecutively absorbed into his body.

“Ji-guu!”

The rest of the goblins screamed as they found their enemy; they attacked him angrily.

As a human being with elementary-level strength, Xiao Yu’s speed was naturally extremely fast.
At this time, he had the “eyes of insight” activated; even though this innate skill was not combat oriented, however, it was more precious than most combat skills.
It can allow him to see through his enemy’s strength while also making his eyes sharper, allowing him to readily detect the opponent’s weaknesses, avoid fatal strikes in desperate situations, and even save people from a hail of bullets.

The goblin warrior swooped forward, and the short spear in its hand stabbed four to five times in succession, each blow carrying tremendous force.

Xiao Yu saw through the attacks’ trajectory as he evaded the short spear like lightning, chopped through the thrusting wooden spear, and cut down the final two goblin slaves after pushing it back.
Now only the goblin warrior and he were left.
The monster was an elementary-level being, so Xiao Yu did not dare to underestimate it, but with the Bone Blade in hand, he was one hundred percent sure he could deal with it.

“argh! argh!”

The goblin warrior roared twice angrily and rushed forward again, piercing with its short spear swiftly.

Thanks to his eyes of insight, Xiao Yu could easily see through the attack’s trajectory.
He tilted his head slightly, narrowly avoiding the spear by a hair’s breadth, and grabbed it with his left hand like lightning.
He then proceeded to slash down with his other hand right after.

Goblin warriors were the elementary level monsters, and their reaction time was in no way equivalent to that of goblin slaves.
Its short spear was held firmly, and it could not retreat; hence it raised the wooden shield in time to block the blade.
The wooden shield and the goblin club were made of the same material, so former was similarly tough.
The sharp withered bone blade penetrated into the wooden shield but could not break through.

The two sides were in a stalemate, and they both began to push aggressively against each other.
Xiao Yu had just entered the elementary realm; hence his strength was somewhat weaker in comparison.
His legs moved back almost involuntarily, leaving two deep marks on the ground filled with decaying leaves, as he simply felt overwhelming strength engulfing him.

“bang!”

The goblin warrior forced him more than ten meters back, and his body eventually came to a halt after colliding with a large tree.

Xiao Yu snorted and abruptly yanked back his hand holding the short spear; along with the inertia of the goblin’s body pressing forward, the short spear pierced fiercely into the tree behind him.
The full body of the spear sunk deeply, piercing the huge tree that needed two people to hug; even the goblin warrior couldn’t draw it out in a short amount of time.

He then took a step forward and knocked it away with a shoulder bump.
Taking advantage of the opponent’s shaky footing, Xiao Yu chopped down with both hands holding the blade.
The goblin warrior lost its short spear, so it could only use the wooden shield to block.
The bone blade struck at the same spot, and the wooden shield broke in two with a bang.

The goblin warrior was empty-handed, and a gray-white blade appeared in front of its terrified eyes.

“Crack!”

The sound of bones cracking filled his ears.

When Xiao Yu’s last slash landed on its thick head, half of the blade sunk in, and the skull was severed.
The goblin’s pupils dilated rapidly, and a tiny line of black blood, like an earthworm, ran down from its own brow.

Xiao Yu pulled out his blade, blood gushed out from the top of the goblin’s head, and its body, which had completely lost its vitality, fell to the ground.
In a moment, a Ping-Pong-sized ball of essence flew up and merged into his body, which greatly improved his physique at once.
Elementary-level monsters gave out a great deal of energy for him.