Nightmare Points: 4

"Survival countdown: 4 days, 23 hours, and 23 minutes."

"Task 1: Survive for 6 days, adapt to the nightmare space, and obtain at least 4/50 nightmare points before the mission ends."

"Mission 2: Kill 3/10 normal goblins, 0/5 fire goblins, and 0/5 ice goblins."

"Mission 3: Kill 0/5 jungle zombies, 0/2 hungry zombies, and 0/1 Kalzak."

The next day at noon, Lin Feng pulled the embers out of the ground, rekindled the campfire with dry grass, and stuck some venison on it.

'That goblin actually counted as a kill...'

'The combat strength of ordinary goblins is within an acceptable range, and with the aid of the Demon Hand, they can be easily killed in a one-on-one fight.'

Recalling what happened last night, Lin Feng ate a piece of slightly charred venison. After thinking for a moment, he divided the roasted meat into five portions and hid them in the treehouse.

In such a place, the primary task is to ensure a sufficient supply of food and water. The bucket of water outside the tent is enough for him to use for several days, but considering the possibility of spoilage, it would be best to find a water source.

After finishing the meat in his hand, Lin Feng carefully counted the task prompts on the panel, his brows furrowed tightly.

'One goblin is worth 1 point. If fire goblins and frost goblins are worth at least 2 points each, you can earn 30 points upon completing the quest.'

'Assuming this, the jungle zombie gives 1 point, the hungry zombie gives 2 points, and Kalzak gives 3 points, so completing the mission will give you 12 points.'

'42 points in total, plus 8 more goblins to kill.'

'Also, this forest isn't a game; there's a high chance it contains different monsters like minotaurs, centurion goblins, vampire cat demons, and dark curse cat demons...'

Lin Feng knew that there would be no regional dungeon divisions in reality. Once he encountered those more powerful monsters, he would have nowhere to retreat, so he had to make full preparations!

"In four days, I need to first find out the distribution area and number of monsters, and ideally, I should be able to determine the location of the main targets, goblins and zombies."

"After dark, you can use a dagger to make some spiked wooden sticks."

“A few of those extra tents can also be dismantled, and some simple traps can be set up using ropes.”

“These treehouses are not safe. If a large number of monsters appear... there is no way we can retreat without that priest taking action.”

The idea slipped out unconsciously. Lin Feng, carrying a tattered cloth bag he had scavenged, stood on a broken stone pillar and carefully examined each of the surrounding treehouses, one by one.

After a long while, Lin Feng shook his head inwardly. He didn't have any good ideas. The terrain here was open and the buildings were dilapidated. There were no defensive measures. If they didn't evacuate quickly when they encountered danger, they would be courting death.

After climbing down the stone pillar, Lin Feng took a few steps toward the clergy's tent, then immediately turned away and headed toward the forest.

As he stepped into the primeval forest once again, Lin Feng drifted alone among the boundless trees, his breathing gradually becoming heavy and oppressive.

Monsters, forests, diseases, mosquitoes, silence—everything that could induce panic relentlessly invaded his mind.

"Step one hundred..."

After reading the numbers, Lin Feng hung a noticeable piece of cloth on a branch of the big tree in front of him.

The trees in this primeval forest are so similar that it's impossible to tell which way is which; you need something to lean on to orient yourself.

After hanging it up, Lin Feng looked up at the huge tree in front of him, which was as thick as three people could hug.

Rows of mottled tree bark exuded a primal aura, constantly sending obscure information into his mind, squeezing out his remaining sanity. Amidst this remnant, only the newly left mark offered a sliver of security.

A few minutes later, Lin Feng exhaled a breath of stale air, took a step forward, and continued walking into the forest, following the obvious craters and holes made by wooden sticks. There was a reason for choosing this direction; the three goblins from last night had come from this direction, and they had left many traces along the way, making them easy to identify.

As the exploration accelerated, Lin Feng stopped, wrapped scraps of cloth around a branch, squatted down, and took out a map to draw another square within the rough coordinate system drawn with charcoal.

One hundred steps to the left, one hundred steps to the right... He had already searched the general area in this direction.

The trees along the way showed signs of having been felled, and there were bottles and jars scattered in the grass. Lin Feng was lucky enough to find some wild strawberries and immediately marked their approximate location on the map.

This will greatly help his survival in the future.

After carefully putting the map away, Lin Feng changed his direction and began exploring and recording the surrounding environment.

After roughly demarcating several safe zones, Lin Feng noticed a significant increase in signs of damage around him and immediately slowed his pace considerably.

Click!

Hearing the unusual noise, Lin Feng lowered his body and slowly crept towards the direction of the sound.

Five goblins were fast asleep in the middle of the grass. The goblin closest to Lin Feng had a tree branch under its arm. It reached out and groped around for a bit, then broke off some blades of grass and threw them away.

A quick glance revealed thorny clubs similar to those the goblins had carried the night before, lying casually around them. The goblin in the center wore a small round shield on his arm, and there was a pile of leftover wild fruit at his feet.

"Goblin"

The prompt that appeared before Lin Feng was the same, but the goblin with the small round shield was definitely not an ordinary one.

After quickly scanning the surrounding area, Lin Feng returned to his previous spot: 'The area is temporarily safe; there are only these five.'

In terms of appearance, these five are much stronger than the three that appeared last night. They are all about one meter tall. Among them, the round shield goblin has very obvious muscle lines, and its weapon, a wooden club, is a dark color and is placed very close to the palm of the hand.

Seeing this, Lin Feng lowered his body and gripped the woman's dagger tightly.

Based on the results of last night's battle, a Demon Hand formed from 6 points of Demon Power can forcibly control a goblin for three seconds. If used properly, 2 points of Demon Power can also cause considerable interference to them.

He could launch a sneak attack while they were asleep, forcibly killing two, controlling one, and taking the opportunity to knock down another... dying in the encirclement.

'no!'

Lin Feng dismissed the crazy idea that arose from gaining power.

As for assassination, he didn't think he could do it silently. Goblins were very close together, and monsters had a keen sense of smell and hearing. He wasn't sure if he would be discovered.

But we can't just let them go. This place isn't far from the defense line, and they'll probably patrol there sooner or later. If we run into them again, we won't have such a good opportunity next time.

Lin Feng chose to wait, slowly retreating to a safe location and hiding behind a tree.

Ten minutes, half an hour, an hour...

The mission's survival countdown made Lin Feng aware of the passage of time.

Gradually, the sun moved a great distance in the sky, and a sleeping goblin just entered the range of sunlight.

A few minutes later, the goblin scratched its sunburnt cheeks, groggily got up, glanced around, looked at the sunlight beneath it, rolled over to the shade of a nearby tree, and continued to doze off.

This distance...

Lin Feng's eyes flickered for only a moment, and soon a goblin woke up scratching its body, picked up the tattered cloth hanging from its crotch, and walked outside.

The other goblins were awakened by the footsteps. After glancing at the sound with their eyes, big and small, they scratched their heads and changed their positions to continue lying down.

The goblin walked a few steps outside, seemingly choosing a direction with a purpose, and came to a bush about ten meters away. He lifted the tattered cloth from his crotch, squinted his eyes, and urinated.

Swish...swish swish...

A dozen seconds later, the goblin shook his body. Just as he sleepily looked down at his crotch, a figure rapidly approached from the right.

The goblin, having just finished releasing his prey, was unaware of the approaching danger. However, his enormous ears seemed to hear the sound of grass and trees being trampled. Just as he was about to turn around, a large hand suddenly grabbed his face, firmly covering his mouth and pressing him to the ground.

"Hmm!"

The goblin's struggle lasted only a moment, and in that same instant, Lin Feng's dagger pierced its neck. The fleeting terror was quickly replaced by the light in the goblin's eyes being completely suppressed by Lin Feng's legs.

Nightmare Points +1

Lin Feng twisted the goblin's neck downwards, and blood gushed out along the edge of the dagger. Eventually, the goblin lost its vitality and slowly flowed into the soil.

This reminded him of the time he used to slaughter pigs with his grandfather in the village. To ensure that not a drop of pig's blood was left in the bucket, the angle and force of the knife were crucial.

To put it nicely, it's called anatomy; in rural areas, it's called the technique of slaughtering pigs.

But that wasn't the end of it. Lin Feng covered the bleeding wounds on the corpse with mud, then hesitated for a moment before reaching out and tearing the tattered cloth from the goblin's crotch.

The rag had a very strong smell, a characteristic of someone who hadn't bathed in almost his entire life, which was evident whenever Lin Feng approached. His arrogance and wildness seemed like invisible fingers, digging into his nose.

After repeatedly suppressing his disgust and quickly getting used to the smell, Lin Feng calmed his breathing, turned around and stomped a few times on the spot where the goblin had just urinated. He then rubbed the cloth on his body, hung it around his waist, and returned the way he came.

In the short time that followed, the goblin who had rolled under the tree to sleep woke up, scratching its nose and ears from time to time, but refusing to open its eyes.

The other three goblins sat up, flaring their nostrils and looking lazy.

A little while later, the round-shield goblin in the middle finally noticed its missing companion. In just a few moments, after failing to find its target, it immediately stood up: "Wow?!"

The goblin's language sounded like a strange, syllableless cry. The round-shield goblin cried out a few times, and the goblin next to him, with half-closed eyes, casually turned his head and responded with a "Wah!"

Growing increasingly uneasy, the round-shield goblin stretched its neck, and after searching again with its bulging eyes without finding anything, it grabbed the goblin next to it and lifted it up.

The goblin, annoyed at being disturbed, grabbed a stick with its nose-picking hand and cried out in response, remembering the sound its companion had made when it left. It then turned and followed its memory outside.

The goblin lying under the tree chuckled softly, its already ugly hooked nose and squinting goldfish eyes making it even more repulsive.

Finding another opportunity, Lin Feng immediately followed, decisively using 2 points of demonic power behind a large tree that had lost sight of him, and took down his opponent. This time, he didn't linger. He had just turned around and walked past a few trees when he heard the round shield goblin's anxious shouts.

A bead of sweat slid down Lin Feng's cheek; the afternoon forest felt especially sultry at this time.

'There are still 3 goblins...'

After rounding a few trees, the round-shield goblin in the distance chased another goblin to his feet. The two of them grabbed their weapons at the same time and shouted a few times at the goblin lying under the tree: "Wah, wah!"

"Wow..." The goblin under the tree scratched its belly and uttered a few words in a low voice, seemingly agreeing readily, but its hand slowly reached for the wooden stick that had been thrown some distance away.

Click... The goblin, who had just gotten up, seemed to hear something and smelled a very familiar scent—it was the scent of his departed companion.

"Wow?"

He thought his companions had returned and breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately opened his mouth to call out to the two round-shield goblins who had their backs to him.

“w...a...”

He couldn't make a sound; blood and pain simultaneously gripped his throat. His remaining consciousness only remembered a hand grabbing his head and pulling him back to the tree, and the whole world began to spin.

At this moment, the round-shield goblin, who had walked some distance away, turned around and saw the goblin still lying under the tree, and a surge of anger immediately welled up within him.

Wow! Wow!

The round-shield goblin cursed venomously and was about to grab a stone to throw when he noticed the blood running down the other's neck.