Chapter 238 Having Tasted the Flavor of the Hunt

Lu Xingfeng laughed and said, "Why would I scare you?"

Ning Yao still looked incredulous. "Uncle Lu, you're talking about... people! Treating people as prey... hunting and killing them?"

Lu Xingfeng explained, "That's right. Compared to hunting animals, hunting humans is the most difficult, so it gets the highest score."

Ning Yao's face turned pale. "So...the people participating in the hunt will kill each other? Is this a hunt or a battle royale?"

Lu Xingfeng was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, bending over backward.

"Hahaha! You think we're the ones hunting each other down?"

"Otherwise what..."

Hahahaha!

Lu Xingfeng laughed until tears streamed down his face, leaving Ning Yao completely bewildered.

After Lu Xingfeng explained, Ning Yao realized that she had misunderstood.

Contrary to her assumption, participants could not only hunt animals but also their own people to gain points.

Instead, they hunted the indigenous tribes of this land.

Even so, Ning Yao was still deeply shocked. She could not understand or accept treating living people as animals and killing them at will.

Even the uncivilized indigenous tribes of more than two thousand years ago were still living, breathing people.

How can you compare them to animals?

Is this something a modern civilized person would do?

“Miss Ning, you don’t need to treat them like human beings,” Lu Xingfeng advised. “In front of us, they are not much different from monkeys, baboons, and apes. You’ll see when you get there. At most, they are a bit more cunning and cruel, and their intelligence is a bit higher than that of animals.”

Ning Yao waved her hands repeatedly, "No, no, I can't accept that no matter what. Uncle Lu, the people here often organize hunting activities and even capture the natives like animals. Does their leader know about this?"

Lu Xingfeng smiled and said, "Of course I know."

Ning Yao stared wide-eyed and asked, "Isn't the person in charge going to take care of it?"

“Not only do we ignore them, we actually support them,” Lu Xingfeng said. “In this world, besides the various undeveloped, harsh, and dangerous environments, as well as all sorts of dangerous plants and animals, the biggest threat is the indigenous tribes. The more we clean them up, the more beneficial it will be for our development efforts. Why not?”

Ning Yao was stunned for a few seconds. "Then... what about my dad? Does he know about it too? Doesn't he object?"

Lu Xingfeng looked at her trembling eyes and said, "The people working here can get entertainment and the development team can benefit, which will allow the entire project led by your father to proceed smoothly and efficiently. What reason does your father have to stop it?"

Ning Yao was completely stunned, her mind went blank.

Such a cruel thing is something she will find hard to process in a short period of time.

"Can't we... use the local natives as labor?" Ning Yao's voice trembled slightly. "They are still human beings. Even if they are... even if they are barbaric, backward, and ignorant, they can at least be used to help with the work, right? Why kill them?"

“Little girl, you are really naive and kind,” Lu Xingfeng said earnestly. “Our era is not short of labor. With all kinds of high technology, why do we need to waste time and effort to make natives with different languages ​​and backward civilizations do the work? Wasting time and resources to tame a thousand natives is not as useful as a soldier with modern equipment.”

Ning Yao fell silent.

Lu Xingfeng continued, "Your father told me that about four hundred years ago, waves of Europeans crossed the ocean and set foot on the North American continent. In the following centuries, they slaughtered the local natives, seized land, and plundered resources until they established the United States. You see, that's how the United States developed. What did they call it again... oh, colonization. Now the United States is just following in the footsteps of their ancestors. Miss Ning, aren't you now a citizen of the United States? Just do as the Romans do; you have to adapt eventually."

Ning Yao was completely speechless this time.

“Let’s go hunting,” Lu Xingfeng said. “With me here, I guarantee you’ll come in first place.”

Ning Yao was still looking forward to hunting, but she couldn't accept killing, so she said, "Uncle Lu, I only hunt animals, I don't want to hunt natives."

Lu Xingfeng narrowed his eyes slightly. "No problem. It's not like you have to hunt down natives to get points. Besides, there aren't many natives around here anymore. It's not hard to run into one."

Afterwards, Lu Xingfeng and Ning Yao changed into outdoor sportswear for easier movement, wearing clothes and shoes of US special forces, as well as night vision helmets specifically designed for nighttime operations.

Besides these modern equipment, hunting uses cold weapons such as crossbows and knives.

Their mode of transportation was also changed to horses.

She had specialized training in horseback riding and archery, and was quite skilled at them.

As for Lu Xingfeng, he only brought a dagger for self-defense and was responsible for carrying Ning Yao's weapon.

Everything was ready, and there was only one hour left before the hunting season ended.

Ning Yao couldn't wait to ride her horse into the primeval forest under the cover of night.

The jungle is filled with tall trees and lush vegetation. Fortunately, the terrain is relatively flat, and various animals are very active at night, making it a suitable place for hunting.

Only when she was far away from the camp and could no longer see the modern buildings and equipment did she finally feel like she had entered another world.

The air was filled with the scent of pristine nature.

You can hear the chirping of insects in the grass and the rustling sounds of some unknown animal. In the distance, you can hear the cries of unidentified birds and the occasional low growl of a wild beast.

In addition, the surroundings were completely dark, so night vision goggles were the only way to observe the environment.

Everything made Ning Jinli feel both nervous and scared, yet also incredibly new and excited.

Suddenly, a wild rabbit darted out of the grass not far in front of her and ran to the other side.

This was the first prey Ning Yao spotted. She immediately raised her crossbow and quickly pulled the trigger.

Swoosh—

The crossbow bolt was as fast as lightning, piercing the rabbit through the neck.

The hare struggled desperately, but it was all in vain.

"Hehe! Gotcha!"

Ning Yao couldn't wait to dismount and dash off.

She crouched down, staring at the wild rabbit that was convulsing and on the verge of death.

At first, she felt sorry for the rabbit.

But after watching for a few seconds, the blood oozing from the rabbit and the increasingly strong smell of blood gave her a strange sense of excitement.

Especially the feeling of watching her prey gradually lose its life before her eyes gave her a renewed sense of control.

What could be more fascinating than holding the life or death of a person in your hands?

Ning Yao's brief moment of sympathy was quickly forgotten.

She placed her hand on the hare, touching the warm blood, greedily feeling the hare's life slip away completely in her hands.

Only after the hare had completely died did she reluctantly pull out the crossbow bolt, ready to show Lu Xingfeng her first trophy.

"Uncle Lu, look!"

She happily turned around, holding the rabbit.

But the next second, she saw Lu Xingfeng, a few meters away, raise his arm and throw a sharp dagger at her.

"Uncle Lu! You..." Ning Yao was so frightened that she froze on the spot.

Swish—

The dagger flew past her and embedded itself in the grass beside her.

Then Lu Xingfeng leaped off his horse and rushed to her side in two steps, protecting her behind him.

It was only then that Ning Yao noticed something in the bushes beside her.

Upon closer inspection, half of its fluffy tail was vaguely visible.

"Uncle Lu, you scared me to death! I thought you..." Ning Yao patted her chest, still shaken.

Lu Xingfeng laughed and said, "I'm sorry, Miss Ning, that thing was too close to you. I didn't have time to call you, so I had to take action directly."

"What's that?" Ning Yao peered cautiously.

Lu Xingfeng walked over and parted the grass.

A fox over a meter long appeared before the two of them.

The dagger struck its chest cavity, the blade, more than ten centimeters long, piercing deep inside.

Although it was not yet dead, it had lost the ability to move and was clearly not going to survive.

Ning Yao was no longer satisfied with watching her prey die on its own, so she reached out, grasped the hilt of the dagger, and slowly began to spin it.

The fox convulsed in pain, let out a mournful howl, and died in agony.

"So, how was the hunting? Wasn't it fun?" Lu Xingfeng asked.

Ning Yao's face was full of excitement. "This is fun! It's even more interesting than I imagined. Uncle Lu, let's continue!"

Since hunting was merely for fun and to compete for rankings, there was no need to rely on these prey for food and fur.

Therefore, all you need to do is cut off the tail of the hunted animal and use it to calculate the score when you return to the camp.

This also makes it easy to carry.

For the next half hour, Ning Yao carried out a massacre on the surrounding animals.

The area is extremely rich in animal resources.

The common varieties are so easy to find that you hardly need to look for them.

After shooting several rabbits, Ning Yao quickly leveled up to be able to hunt foxes and wolves.

With Lu Xingfeng's help, they even wiped out a wolf pack of eight adult wolves, found the wolf den, and killed the dozen or so wolf cubs that had not yet opened their eyes.

Faced with modern humans dressed in special operations protective suits and equipped with night vision goggles, these beasts have virtually nowhere to hide.

Although Ning Yao's main hunting tool was a crossbow, it was made with modern technology.

In terms of both accuracy and lethality, it far surpasses the stone weapons made by the natives of this world.

Once Ning Yao discovers them, they won't even have a chance to escape.

Ning Yao's great interest and amazing talent in hunting also surprised Lu Xingfeng.

In just half an hour, Ning Jinli was no longer satisfied with hunting wild wolves.

She asked Lu Xingfeng to help her find more challenging wild beasts.

Lu Xingfeng naturally wouldn't refuse, and soon led her to find several more leopards.

Without a doubt, they were all killed by Ning Yao with her crossbow bolts, albeit without serious injury.

When they first started hunting leopards, Lu Xingfeng needed to assist them. Later, however, Lu Xingfeng no longer needed to help. Even cutting off the leopard's tail was done by Ning Yao herself.

"Uncle Lu, how many points do I have now?" Ning Yao asked, wiping the sweat mixed with blood from her face.

“One hundred and twenty-three points,” Lu Xingfeng praised. “That’s very good. You know, in the first hunting competition, only the soldiers from the United States could get a hundred points. The others didn’t even catch a single hair.”

Ning Yao was somewhat dissatisfied. "I remember on the leaderboard, the first place score was as high as 500 points, and the tenth place score was more than 200 points. I only have 123 points, which is far too low. I can't even get on the leaderboard."

Lu Xingfeng laughed and said, "There aren't as many animals around here as before, so you might be one of the top hunters this time."

Ning Yao pouted and said, "No way, I want to leave my name on the leaderboard! Uncle Lu, didn't you promise me that you'd let me get first place? I want to be number one on the leaderboard!"

Lu Xingfeng slowly put away his smile and said seriously, "I'm afraid there's not enough time. It's very difficult to find a large beast with a higher score than a leopard. In more distant areas, tigers and brown bears occasionally appear, but beasts of this level are more elusive and fewer in number. Oh, there is a herd of wild elephants, but the weapons you brought this time are only the most basic version of crossbows. Hunting elephants is too difficult."

After speaking, he looked intently into Ning Yao's eyes.

Ning Yao's expression was somewhat complicated, as if she was hesitating.

A few seconds later, she took a deep breath. "The natives here... they have the highest scores, right? How many points per person?"

Lu Xingfeng revealed a meaningful smile, "Whether they are children, adults, or the elderly, they are all perfect."

"One hundred points! Such a high score?" Ning Yao's eyes widened, her pupils dilating rapidly. "If I can hunt four... wouldn't I be able to surpass the first place winner of the last hunting competition!"

Lu Xingfeng didn't bring up Ning Yao's initial resistance to hunting the natives; he simply nodded slightly.

Ning Yao clenched her fists and paced back and forth twice. "Uncle Lu, can you take me to the natives?"

Lu Xingfeng said, "You've come to the right person. There are a few natives hiding in a secluded valley nearby who escaped the previous hunting expeditions. No one else has discovered them, but I know about their existence. Do you want to go?"

A glint of excitement, tinged with a bloodthirsty glint, flashed in Ning Yao's eyes. "I want to! Take me there now!"

Before long, Lu Xingfeng led Ning Yao to a rock wall.

The ground was too steep to ride a horse.

The two approached on foot.

Lu Xingfeng parted a patch of weeds taller than a person, revealing a narrow crack just wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways.

"Inside?" Ning Yao asked.

Lu Xingfeng nodded and lowered his voice, "Go through this crack and you'll reach the valley. Follow behind me and try to keep quiet, or you'll disturb the natives inside."

Ning Yao quickly shut her mouth.

Lu Xingfeng was the first to enter the crevice in the rock wall, and Ning Yao quickly followed.

After walking for a few minutes, Ning Yao felt a little out of breath.

It wasn't because the crack was too narrow, but because the pressure from the rock wall made it hard for her to breathe.

In this environment, the immense sense of oppression makes people feel extremely stressed.

She found it increasingly difficult to walk, fear welled up in her mind, and her heart pounded faster and faster, as if it were about to jump out of her throat.

Just then, a strong hand gently grasped hers in the darkness, and Lu Xingfeng's deep voice rang out, "We'll be there soon."

Ning Yao instantly felt at ease and unconsciously tightened her grip on Lu Xingfeng's hand.

After walking another ten steps or so, the space suddenly opened up ahead, and you could vaguely see the faint glow of a campfire in the distance, as well as the rough outline of a thatched hut.

Ning Yao's heart started racing again.

Lu Xingfeng released her hand, turned his head to signal her not to move, and made a shushing gesture.

Ning Yao was tense all over and stood obediently in place.

Lu Xingfeng slowly moved to the right side of the crack's exit, then bent down gently without making a sound.

Although Ning Yao didn't know what he was doing, she couldn't help but hold her breath...