Thriller Paradise

The reward that Feng Bujue received after he returned to the castle surprised even the man himself. After knocking on the door for one minute, Ivan came to answer it. When reentering the castle, he had another conversation with the general. He attempted to borrow something like a torch to help light his way, and the general very generously handed him a dagger and a flashlight. It was also coupled with the general's advice to stop wasting time and start running.

In this scenario, the player only needed to ask, and the boss would provide them with those two things with no strings attached. One was to help ease their travel through the jungle and the other to help with lighting.

As the players' level grew, such tools would become more common in game. This was because normal quality items like that would start to lose their value in the later part of the game, and they would become more or less like consumables. At level twenty, every player would be armed with at least one or two excellent quality pieces of equipment. Even if they could not find any from the scenarios, they could purchase some using the skill points and game coins that had been collected. After all, Thriller Paradise provided many means for the player to obtain gear.

After gaining the dagger and flashlight, Feng Bujue started his journey through the jungle. Based on his prediction, the closest circle around the castle would not have any dangerous beasts. Since animals acted on instinct, they should realize that the area around the castle was the territory for the king of beasts. Of course, I'm referring to General Zaroff, not Tamao Serizawa from Crows Zero.

Therefore, Feng Bujue did not practice caution at the initial stage of his movement. He moved very fast and did not stop even when his legs were cut by the brambles. He navigated through brush above one meter tall, skipped over mud pools, and scaled steep cliffs. Other than stepping into a pile of what appeared like wolf scat, everything went smoothly.

"Notice, General Zaroff has departed from the castle." When the system provided this notification, Feng Bujue glanced at the quest tab and saw a timer. "Time until sunrise: 240 minutes."

It was also around then that Feng Bujue officially came into contact with the beasts inside the jungle. He had no idea when, but there were leeches gathering on the back of his neck. He only noticed their presence when he saw his Life Points steadily dropping. When he used the dagger to peel those blood-suckers off, his Life Points plummeted even further. Thankfully, the game manual had explained that, during such a situation, the parasite would not have drilled under the clothes; they would only attack the player's exposed skin. If not, Feng Bujue would have had to go naked to inspect every inch of his body to peel off the buggers.

Then, he realized the sacrifice for moving fast. The effect of the warm atmosphere started to show. His Stamina Points were dropping at a worrying rate. The effect of Jazz Shoes was limited due to the rocky terrain, and the clothes that he was wearing felt like a moving sauna. But the lesson from the leeches meant that he did not dare roll up his sleeves.

After another half an hour, the jungle revealed its more dangerous side. The canopy was thick, and the underbrush was dark. When the trees around him thickened, Feng Bujue would need to climb up the tree to look around him, or else he would gradually lose his direction.

The deeper he travelled into the jungle, the greater the danger the environment posed. The canopy at some parts was four to five layers thick, and it was like a tent, eclipsing the light of the moon. The flashlight became Feng Bujue's only source of light.

"When I was watching the wilderness survival show, I was saying that the host must be exaggerating, but now that I'm in his shoes, I realize how impossible it really is. No wonder they say it's easier to critique than to commit. The difficulty of traversing through the jungle is not something that can be fully expressed through the camera lens."

Feng Bujue sighed in his heart. He was reminded of a discovery channel repeat that he had seen not too long ago. The host in the show had given him the impression that it was not too difficult to survive in the wilderness. But at that moment, he understood that the ability to move through such terrain of incivility with just a small dagger was not possible for everyone.

Suddenly, coming from the darkness to Feng Bujue's right side came the sounds of an animal. It sounded like heavy breathing mixed with a squealing sound. Feng Bujue believed that it was a wild boar.

Feng Bujue's first reaction was to climb up the tree. He had no interest fighting a four-legged monster when he could barely see the ground before him. The sound was approaching, following the crunch of the leaves under the creature's feet and the sound of its large body brushing against the tree bark.

Feng Bujue soon reached the top of the tree and aimed the flashlight in the direction that the sound came from.

"This doesn't feel right… There appears to be a second sound…" Feng Bujue caught the sound of a second animal, and he soon understood why a wild boar was rushing through the trees in the middle of the night.

Several seconds later, the wild boar appeared in Feng Bujue's sight. Its legs were stumpy and its body powerful. Black spindly fur covered it skin, and it was barreling powerfully forward. It was not wrong to call it a black mini tank. Part of the fur around the boar's neck was standing on end, and it was kept making those grunts. All these signs pointed to the fact that it was highly agitated. It appeared like it had run into a very powerful predator.

After the wild boar showed up, the predator that was hunting it revealed itself not long after. It was a giant anaconda. Even though it was not as large as the one in the northwestern part of the island, it was still quite large.

Most people would have a hard time imagining how large a creature an anaconda could swallow. A five-meter-long anaconda could swallow a two-meter-long crocodile while an eight-meter-long anaconda could swallow an entire zebra.

And the beast before Feng Bujue's eyes was exactly eight meters long.

Perhaps the wild boar was too panicky to find another escape route, or perhaps the system wanted the player to witness the murder. In any case, something that should only have happened in cartoons happened before Feng Bujue's eyes—the boar rammed into a tree.

However, the snake did not ram into the boar. Instead, it slithered forward, unwinding its length. It formed a semi-circle to surround the boar and the tree. The tree trunk was very thick. Perhaps two adults would not be able to hug its circumstance, and it became an obstacle to stop the boar from escaping.

The anaconda arced its head up and looked down on its prey. The boar probably realized that escape was not an option, so it rallied one last time and charged at the snake. It aimed its upturned tusks at the coil of the snake.

Before it could make contact, the snake's head swept down like a torpedo to clench itself around the wild boar. It flicked the prey around in midair before slamming it heavily on the ground. The snake's jaw unhinged and clicked together the next second. The speed was so fast that Feng Bujue almost missed it.

The wild boar officially entered the snake's mouth, and the predator started its feast. The 'feeding' process could last for hours depending on the size of the prey.

Feng Bujue blocked part of the flashlight's ray, afraid of disturbing the snake's meal. Then he slipped down silently from the tree. He was not going to stay to wait for the anaconda to finish its meal. He prayed that the snake would be too consumed in its meal to pay him any attention.

After climbing down the tree, he did not race toward the southeast but chose to get away from the location and introduce some distance between him and the monster.

However, right at that moment, the sound of a different animal travelled into Feng Bujue's ears, one that represented a much more lethal threat.