Chapter 24 Battle Against the Spectral Rhinoceros

In the morning light, Ah Chen arrived at the east end of town five minutes earlier than agreed.

Everyone else was there except Jason. As soon as Jason saw him, he greeted him with a smile: "Hey kid, you're here pretty early. I was worried that you'd be sleepy, and I was just thinking of going to the hotel to wake you up."

“My mother said that punctuality and trustworthiness are essential qualities for a person, otherwise no one will want to be my friend in the future,” Achen said earnestly.

"Haha! Not bad, not bad! It seems your mother is a knowledgeable person, Chaoyang." Captain Zeng Daxiong's voice came from behind.

A day and night on Silverwing Star is 18 hours long. Sunrise is around 5 a.m., and the agreed departure time was 4:30 a.m. The other three team members arrived almost right on time.

Ah Chen's impression of the team improved a bit; at least the teammates were relatively punctual, which increased their credibility in his mind.

Zeng Daxiong took out a land glider from the space button. Its appearance was somewhat similar to an ordinary flying vehicle, but there were two metal rods on the bottom that looked like leech nails.

When it encounters a smooth road, it relies on its internal power to glide forward. When the sensor detects that the road conditions ahead are poor, such as potholes or muddy and difficult to travel, it will automatically float up.

This mode of transportation is more energy efficient than aircraft and was newly developed after the Apocalypse virus pandemic.

The downside is that its maximum flight altitude is only about two meters, so it's impossible to shake off large predators.

However, this thing is more suitable for use in forests. After all, in places with dense trees, flying too high makes it easier to get tangled in branches and leaves.

Ah Chen was seeing this kind of land-based glider for the first time and couldn't help but be curious. Jason, seeing this, laughed and said:

"You city kids, have you never seen anything like this before? It may be a bit slow, but it's very agile and much easier to navigate through the forest than an aircraft."

"Yes, this is indeed the first time I've seen one. How many contribution points does one cost?" Ah Chen nodded honestly.

"Because it's energy-efficient, durable, and not easily damaged, it's not cheap either. Our team only has one for the captain, and it cost a whopping 12,000 contribution points back then," Jason said.

After hearing this, Achen had a general idea of ​​the income of the people in Soren Town, estimating that most people's savings would not exceed 10,000 contribution points.

It is clear that Aunt Shirley was willing to spend 200 contribution points to buy him a box of cookies, partly because cookies were rare, and partly because she felt sorry for him.

There was also Uncle Mark, the hotel owner. Although he had ripped them off a bit, he gave them two bottles of hemostatic medicine, allowed them to stay for nine days, provided them with a large suite, and even included their meals.

Compared to truly heartless people, they are at least somewhat conscientious.

Ah Chen had a good impression of the whole town of Solon, which reduced his worries about his mother a little.

The sun finally rose, shining through the dappled shade of the trees onto the lush green grass.

Ah Chen took a deep breath of the forest air, which was filled with the fragrance of grass. He saw his teammates roll up their sleeves, exposing most of their arms, without any concern for the dangers of high radiation. Ah Chen was deeply moved.

He lived in the middle radiation zone from childhood to age six, and a radiation protection suit was an essential part of his life when he went out. Later, when he moved to the central radiation zone, he was finally able to stop wearing the protective suit.

However, people still habitually avoid direct sunlight at noon, because even in low-radiation areas, the midday sun's radiation level is close to the lower limit of intermediate radiation.

However, although Silverwing Star carries the risk of infection from the Wither Virus, at least the sunlight here only brings warmth and poses no harm.

If he could cure his mother and escape his status as a wanted slave, he would truly be willing for his whole family to live on Silverwing Star from then on.

"Today's target is a Radiant Rhinoceros. It is a medium-sized beast with a combat strength of C+ level, but because its hide is relatively thick, its defensive capabilities are almost at the B- level, making it difficult to deal with."

The luminous rhinoceros is a nocturnal creature whose body can reflect moonlight to illuminate its surroundings, giving it daytime vision and allowing it to hunt at night.

However, this advantage disappears when the sun rises, and because it has a large appetite and must hunt all night, the early morning is when it is most tired.

We can exploit this weakness to attack it. Gavin had previously used his stealth tracking ability to locate the nest of this Glowing Rhino and marked it on an electronic map.

Most importantly, this Radiant Rhinoceros was severely injured in a life-or-death battle two days ago with a nearby C+ level Shadow Beast over territory.

On the way, the captain explained the details of today's hunting target to Achen, and did not ignore him just because he was a child.

"Since it was seriously injured two days ago, why didn't you surround and kill it then?" Achen asked.

"That day we surrounded and wiped out a nest of Rock Beasts. One of the adult female beasts was a C-level beast. She fought desperately to hold us back, allowing the two cubs to escape."

We were quite exhausted at the time and had no energy left for another big battle, so we had to come back to rest and recover our strength.

However, we predict that this Radiant Rhinoceros won't recover from its injuries too quickly. Furthermore, we've gained new teammates, increasing our combat strength, so we should be able to handle it.

The captain looked at Achen and Xiaobao, who was nestled beside him, with hope, clearly regarding them as vital forces.

Ah Chen: Should we have such high hopes for a seven-year-old child and a fluffy animal?

However, since he had chosen to join, he wouldn't just do it half-heartedly. He nodded and said, "Yes, my little treasure and I will do our best."

When Zeng Daxiong's land vehicle approached within about 300 meters of the luminous rhinoceros's nest, he ordered the team members to get out of the vehicle and then sprayed a kind of medicine on each of them.

This potion is light green and smells strongly of fresh grass. It is said to be able to mask the scent emanating from living people, preventing nearby beasts from noticing their arrival.

The group moved through the waist-high, dense grass, trying to make as little noise as possible. The closer they got to the nest of the Spectral Rhinoceros, the more quietly they walked, even slowing their breathing.

Xiao Bao was extremely clever. He slowed down on his own without A Chen having to remind him, which made Zeng Da Xiong very happy.

Such intelligent war beasts are rare; usually, only war beasts specially trained by high-level superhumans can exhibit such behavior.

Gavin, the teammate who had scouted out the Spectral Rhinoceros's lair beforehand, activated his stealth ability and approached the entrance to the Spectral Rhinoceros's cave.

Jason lit a pile of half-dried firewood, and thick smoke immediately billowed out. He then used his wind-based ability to blow the smoke into the cave entrance.

Soon, coughing sounds came from inside the cave, and then a huge creature, more than ten meters long, sprang out of the cave entrance.

As soon as it was exposed to the morning light, its scales began to shimmer, making it look like a divine beast clad in silver armor—it was incredibly beautiful.

However, its right hind leg was clearly injured and had not yet healed, so it limped when it ran.

As soon as it showed itself, everyone concentrated their supernatural powers to attack it.

It was only then that Ah Chen realized that their team's fighting style was not very sophisticated. Although everyone was trying their best to attack, the parts they attacked seemed disorganized and chaotic.

Some were shot at the head, some at the legs, but no firepower was concentrated on the most vulnerable spots.

Using this method to attack a beast of the same level is only possible if you have a large number of people and the opponent is injured; otherwise, you have absolutely no chance of winning.

"Xiao Bao, suck up its scales and break its defenses!" A-Chen decisively ordered.

He couldn't call Xiaobao "uncle" in front of outsiders anymore, otherwise it would sound strange and he would have to go through the trouble of explaining.

Although Xiao Bao is intelligent, it is still somewhat lower than that of humans. After A Chen gave it instructions, it immediately followed them.

Upon emerging from its cave, the luminous rhinoceros was immediately attacked, realizing that a human hunting party had its sights on it.

It never expected that even though it had been very careful and hadn't left the cave once since being injured, it would still be targeted by them.

It was both terrified and furious. Without hesitation, it spat out several fireballs, each aimed at the human who attacked it.