That night, everyone split into three shifts to take turns on night watch.
Each shift was two hours, and the first shift happened to be Chen Bugu and the Lin Sisters.
Originally, Lin Lin was not planned to participate in the night watch, as she had no combat ability and would not be able to join the fight immediately even if she discovered an enemy; it was better for her to rest well.
But perhaps to accompany Lin Xiaoxiao, Lin Lin insisted on participating in the first round of night watch. Seeing her persistence, the others did not stop her and began to rest.
The rules for night watch were proposed by Chen Bugu, and no one raised any objections.
After all, after the frank confession just now, everyone knew that Chen Bugu understood this forest better than them, so they accepted his suggestion.
In the dark forest, there were no insects or birds, just silence, with only the sound of fire burning branches.
Chen Bugu and the Lin Sisters sat back-to-back by the bonfire, ensuring they could observe the surroundings in all directions.
Yan Kuan and the others lay down around the bonfire and quickly fell asleep, as everyone had been exhausted both mentally and physically throughout the day.
“Oink~ Oink~”
“What was that sound!?”
Lin Xiaoxiao suddenly sprang up, her hand already gripping a wooden stick, ready to respond to combat at any moment.
“Oink~ Oink~”
Lin Xiaoxiao looked in the direction of the sound, and her face instantly darkened.
She put down the wooden stick, dropped her guard, and walked over to Wang Bin, gently nudging him with her foot.
“If you’re going to sleep, don’t snore!”
Chen Bugu and Lin Lin exchanged glances, both finding it a bit amusing.
They smiled at each other, and the night passed without further incident.
The next day, when Chen Bugu woke up, it was just dawn, and light filtered through the branches and leaves, dispelling the darkness.
Seeing everyone wake up one by one, Yan Kuan and Lin Ye stopped adding branches to the bonfire; they were the last shift on night watch.
Everyone took out the half-eaten chocolate and almond shortbread from yesterday and swallowed it, which served as their breakfast for the day and their last food.
Afterward, everyone set off together.
Their mission today was: to find food.
This time, their direction was north!
Chen Bugu’s plan was simple: plunder Goblin squads!
Based on the information Chen Bugu revealed, everyone already knew that Goblins were indeed a race with low intelligence.
Moreover, Goblins also possessed a simple social structure.
The ordinary Goblins they first encountered were at the bottom of Goblin society, mainly serving as laborers and soldiers. Their strength, combined with their weapons, could at most be considered Black Iron One Star.
The Goblin Berserker they fought hard against yesterday belonged to the powerful warriors in Goblin society, basically serving as patrol squad leaders, camp guards, and other roles. Its inherent strength was at the peak of Black Iron Two Star, but due to its weapon and the berserk state amplification from the “Bloodlust” skill, its strength could temporarily reach the peak of Black Iron Three Stars.
In addition, Goblins also included Goblin Archers, Goblin Blacksmiths, Goblin Shamans, Elite Goblins, and even the Goblin King.
As Chen Bugu had previously hinted, Goblin weapons were indeed processed and produced by themselves, all being the masterpieces of Goblin Blacksmiths.
However, Goblin Blacksmiths were rare, and not every gathering place would have a Goblin Blacksmith.
But legend has it that killing a Goblin Blacksmith would also yield unexpected wealth and inheritance.
Chen Bugu’s plan was simple: hunt ordinary Goblins patrolling outward around the periphery of the Goblin gathering place.
The Goblin squads they encountered yesterday were mostly heading north, presumably teams that had finished patrolling and were preparing to return to the gathering place, so they carried no supplies at all.
But if they could encounter a squad that had just set out on patrol, they might be carrying some food and water.
Fortunately, Goblins’ eating habits were largely similar to humans’.
Therefore, this “robbery” operation received everyone’s unanimous approval.
As for the method of operation, it would still be Old Liu using Floating to scout ahead. If a Goblin squad patrolling outward and carrying supplies was found, everyone would swiftly kill them.
If they were returning and looked impoverished, everyone would avoid them in advance to conserve stamina.
Wang Bin also asked why they didn’t directly attack the Goblin gathering place, as there would surely be food there.
But Chen Bugu only mentioned one point, which made everyone abandon this idea.
That was, even a small Goblin gathering place would definitely house no less than a hundred Goblins.
Moreover, there would inevitably be Black Iron Grade intermediate Goblins guarding it, corresponding to human Awakeneds, at least Black Iron Five-Star, or even most likely Black Iron Six-Star level.
Chen Bugu, of course, knew that Goblin gathering places would not only have ample food reserves but also many good things, but they were not something they could covet at the moment.
Three hours later, following Chen Bugu’s method, everyone successfully found and killed two waves of Goblin squads.
After the battle, Yan Kuan successfully broke through to Black Iron Three Stars, and his speed in forming Earth Elements became faster.
Everyone already understood that the higher the level, the more energy required for upgrading.
And the upgrade from Black Iron Three Stars to Four Stars, and Six Stars to Seven Stars, corresponded exactly to the low-to-intermediate and intermediate-to-high upgrades for magical beasts, and the energy required for these two levels often increased exponentially.
Yan Kuan’s breakthrough did not attract everyone’s attention because something else was more surprisingly good.
After killing the second wave of Goblins, they found seven or eight palm-sized pieces of dried meat and a bag of clear water in a beast-skin pouch.
The texture and color of the dried meat were quite peculiar, faintly appearing blue, clearly not from a creature they were familiar with; it should be the meat of some magical beast.
Although everyone was already famished, their last bit of rationality prevented them from eating it casually, and they looked towards Chen Bugu.
Chen Bugu saw everyone looking at him, so he took the lead and took a bite.
Seeing this, everyone showed joy and divided it among themselves to eat.
Chen Bugu naturally recognized the origin of this dried meat.
This was dried Luo Beast meat.
Luo Beast, a Black Iron low-grade pig-like magical beast, not particularly strong, and relatively docile in nature, but its meat was exceptionally delicious and never tasted bad, no matter how it was prepared.
Therefore, Luo Beast naturally became one of the creatures at the bottom of the food chain, only surviving extinction due to its strong reproductive ability.
Outside the Initial Forest, some people even deliberately raised Luo Beasts as a food source.
In his previous life, Chen Bugu’s team had accumulated a large amount of food precisely by encountering a rare herd of Luo Beasts in the Initial Forest.
“What kind of meat is this? It’s so delicious!”
Lin Xiaoxiao, biting a piece of dried meat, was so excited she was almost in tears.
“Luo Beast, a pig-like magical beast. If we can encounter one, we won’t have to worry about food for a while.”
“It’s just a pity that within the Goblin territory, most Luo Beasts might have been hunted or raised in captivity.”
Chen Bugu explained.
“I wuv Gobwins! Not fair!”
Lin Xiaoxiao, with a large piece of meat in her mouth, spoke indistinctly, making it hard to understand what she was saying.
“What are you saying?”
Chen Bugu was puzzled.
“She said, she and Goblins are irreconcilable enemies!”
Bai Ting explained expressionlessly while biting into a piece of dried meat.
Chen Bugu was full of questions.
No, why can you understand her?
After everyone finished eating the Luo Beast meat, their hunger was relieved.
Although it wasn’t enough to completely fill their stomachs, even dried Luo Beast meat still contained some of the magical beast’s energy, replenishing everyone.
After eating, everyone continued to search for Goblin squads in the same manner as before.
Old Liu still used Floating to hide about seven or eight meters high in the trees, using the cover of branches and leaves to scout.
Soon after, Old Liu discovered another Goblin squad. After confirming that they carried a beast-skin pouch, he was about to return to the ground to relay the message to everyone.
Unexpectedly, the moment he turned around, a cold light rapidly expanded in his pupils…
