Wasteland Development Diary

Ye Zhao discussed the distribution of the local monsters.

This area had the Oasis Side as its core region. To the north lay the territory of the clawed pigs, to the south was the ever-expanding Mushroom Forest, to the east was the Dead Sea where various monsters might appear, and to the west was the Death Dune dominated by Antlions.

Unlike the social clawed pigs, Antlions were solitary. They were huge and created sand pits and quicksand terrains in the dune areas to hunt passing creatures.

They spent most of the year sleeping in the sand, each marking their own hunting territory.

During the day, Antlions sometimes emerged from the sand to bask in the Sun and the Death Light, absorbing power. By night, they rested beneath the sand and would wake to hunt if they sensed any creatures approaching the dunes.

"Our clawed pigs are also hunted by them."

Unable to help himself, Ye Zhao complained, "Compared to Antlions, we are much more disciplined. Clawed pigs only defend their territory and attack invaders. Our main aim is to find a living space, and we bear no particular animosity towards humans; in fact, often coexist in the same areas with them."

"Because humans are present, it shows that there are no super monsters active nearby. After all, we rank at the bottom within the Guangna Species... not much better off than ordinary humans."

"But Antlions are completely different. They transform the soil, turning whatever land into a desert to facilitate their hunting. They create baits and enjoy hunting humans, becoming so frenzied they even kill their own kind. They are dangerous monsters that, when grown, can reach D-class strength."

Zhou Yi mounted the vehicle and led the team straight to the dune area in the west.

It was an endless desert.

Under the sun, it appeared particularly empty and desolate.

Zhou Yi surveyed the surroundings and suddenly spotted a person slowly emerging from the sand not far away. The person shook off the sand from their body, looked around, then staggered deeper into the desert.

"Master, that's an Antlion's bait."

Ye Zhao said from beside him, "There will always be people who fall for it."

Zhou Yi looked at the remote control in his hand.

Zooming in, the sand walker was merely a skeleton-like humanoid.

Its skull and chest cavity contained barbed thorns, covered in clothing. The humanoid bait, manipulated by the spiked thorns, moved every inch, difficult to identify without close observation.

Antlions had long spiked tentacles on their bodies, their limbs, and like a Puppet Master, they operated the baits to lure other creatures closer.

From the daytime high-altitude perspective, one could see several such baits in the desert; walking humanoid baits, clawed pigs with hollowed-out bodies, vehicles stuck in the sand, and boxes that appeared to contain something.

Getting close to any of these baits would lead one into an Antlion's trap.

Zhou Yi looked at the humanoid bait closest to himself.

You start cutting to test the strength.

"Switch to ranged weapons."

At his command, the samurai crabs quickly drew various knives from their weapon harnesses, including traditional cleavers, square-bladed knives, pointed fruit knives, serrated knives, and more.

"Target, humanoid bait."

"Mind the range and tension, free projectile attack."

Upon receiving the order, twelve shell warriors immediately took position, their pincers aiming at the target.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Various knives glistened under the sunlight.

Driven by the samurai crabs' wild might, the blades whirled and chopped the bone bait thirty meters away, reducing it to pieces with a volley of cuts.

The severed spiked tentacles writhed in pain, finally pulling the Antlion's body out from under the dunes, first revealing a pair of spike-covered mandibles, then more barbed tentacles crazily surged from the sand, rapidly slithering towards them.

The samurai crabs split into two groups, swiftly moving sideways and continued throwing all twelve knives they carried until finished, then retreated without looking back to a safe area behind.

This revealed the Antlion's weakness. It was an expert at positional warfare, but once its traps were detected and it was forced into a movement battle, its rigid, powerful body, spiked tentacles, and suction to the sandy terrain were of no use.

After chasing angrily for a distance, it eventually gave up, its tentacles retreating back beneath the desert.

But soon, the Antlion began to thrash wildly again, causing the entire dune to churn with boiling sand, reducing the visibility nearby.

Ye Zhao, astonished, "What's gotten into it?"

"Failed in hunting and went insane because of losing mental balance? This state doesn't seem right..."

Zhou Yi rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a can of Coke.

Two samurai crabs immediately opened two umbrellas to block the sand dust flying towards them.

Zhou Yi pulled the tab of the can and took a sip.

"We'll know soon."

The movements of the Antlion became slower and slower, and a few minutes later, it stopped moving altogether.

The dust gradually settled.

The samurai crabs confirmed the death of the dune killer, dug its body out from the sand and laid it on the ground.

Then, Zhou Yi finally saw the full appearance of this creature.

The Antlion, about six meters long, had wide, shield-like yellow-brown exoskeletons, four similarly armored legs with trident-shaped hooks at the tips, a small head with large pincer-like jaws, and spiny tentacles on both sides of its body. These seemed more like flexible limbs and natural weapons, with some fragments of white bones hanging on them.

By then, it had become completely stiff.

The samurai crabs did another round of stabbing at its neck, chest, and abdomen to confirm its death, then began retrieving the kitchen knives they had thrown earlier.

"Why did it suddenly die?" Ye Zhao's small eyes were full of confusion.

Zhou Yi did not explain, thinking to himself, obviously, it died because it ate my poisoned kitchen knife.

He placed his hand on the hard shell of the Antlion, and the monster's body emitted a faint glow, gradually forming a white sphere of light which he gently grasped.

This was the "Light Seed."

By integrating it into his own system, he could use this highly condensed energy to directly enhance strength.

Among life, defense, and energy, Zhou Yi chose to replenish energy.

"Energy +40"

His body energy recovered to 1732 points.

Since both life value and defense had reached relatively high numbers, Zhou Yi had started to convert the harvested Light Seeds into energy.

He had explored the point allocation mechanism for a long time.

Increasing life value had the most immediate effect. One Light Seed could increase life value by 10 points, but the part lost after being attacked would not self-recover. It could only be replenished by acquiring Light Seeds or by slowly absorbing the power of the Dead Sea.

In terms of defense, one Light Seed could bring a 0.01 increase in defense value. If damage couldn't exceed the defense value, it wouldn't be able to harm Zhou Yi's body. At least the samurai crabs were no longer capable of breaking through Zhou Yi's defenses.

But there were special means by which damage could bypass defense, such as poison.

The kitchen knives equipped by the samurai crabs were coated with a toxin derived from a small monster of the Dead Sea, the Jumping Snake. It would spring off the sea floor like a spring when scared and frightened, and would spray poison liquid when terrified. Large monsters could be severely damaged if they were exposed to enough of its toxin.

Zhou Yi had managed to collect quite a bit of Jumping Snake poison liquid and combined it with the kitchen knives to create a ranged weapon, which had been effective in combat.

The last essential element of the body was energy, which was also key to keeping the body running.

As the commander and doctor of the Samurai Crab Army, Zhou Yi confirmed through extensive combat that whether in battle or survival, the energy of the Guangna Species could naturally deplete, maintaining their powerful physiological functions. Especially those Guangna Species with special abilities, like the Red Kestrel, could not use their skills without sufficient energy.

Thus, maintaining a certain level of energy reserve was crucial to treat and resupply the samurai crabs, keeping them combat-ready.

If life value represented the current survival state of the body, the energy bar was the fuel and electricity that kept the Guangna Species running at high speed, a lifeline for maintaining competitiveness.

Even powerful high-level monsters would become mere food for the Bone Fish once they exhausted their energy.

...

The samurai crabs began to clear the battlefield of trophies, especially dismantling the exoskeleton of the Antlion, which was a material with decent resistance to impacts. They carried away the pieces after splitting them up.

After a successful trial run, Zhou Yi also got a real sense of the environment around his new home.

He could hold his own against the native monster groups from all directions, providing a basic guarantee of safety.

Seeing that the time was about right, he rode his bike towards the beach of the Dead Sea, waiting for the young Ajin.