Chapter 57: Huge Success for the Slingshots!

The house in the provincial capital was bought by Tang Zhen for his younger sister, and he had no intention of returning there anytime soon. Returning to the somewhat dilapidated old house, he parked his car in the courtyard, locked the courtyard gate, and then slowly walked indoors.

Taking off his jacket, Tang Zhen put on his leather armor and cloak. The defense provided by this cloak could save his life at a critical moment.

He took out his handgun, checked the magazine, and changed into a pair of lightweight military boots. Holding a military knife in his other hand, Tang Zhen took a deep breath and activated the teleportation function.

With a blur before his eyes, Tang Zhen appeared once again in that bizarre giant vine forest.

The instant his vision cleared, Tang Zhen immediately scanned his surroundings, his nerves tense to the absolute limit. Fortunately, he did not spot any trace of the four-legged bone-snakebird; instead, he saw the mutilated corpse of the bearded man.

Like a broken ragdoll, it had been torn to shreds by the enraged four-legged bone-snakebird.

Seeing the gruesome state of the bearded man, Tang Zhen did not dare to hesitate for a moment longer. He immediately broke into a sprint, dashing out of the giant vine forest like the wind.

He had witnessed the strength of the ostrich-like monsters firsthand. Once targeted by such a creature, his life would definitely be forfeited right here.

He did not encounter the four-legged bone-snakebird all the way until he ran out of the giant vine forest, and Tang Zhen silently considered himself lucky.

Emerging from the giant vine forest, he saw the remains of the wanderer he had killed scattered among the grass, except that they were now mangled and incomplete, obviously having been gnawed on by some monster.

The massive carcass of the four-legged bone-snakebird had been hacked to pieces. Naturally, the brain bead was gone, and there was not a single valuable material left on its entire body. Judging by the blade-cut marks on its body, it should have been the work of a passing wanderer.

Feeling disgusted, Tang Zhen looked away and stopped watching. He then continued his journey straight toward the wanderer town.

Passing by the building where he had encountered the ghouls last time, a sudden thought struck Tang Zhen. Since he now possessed the super shooter application assistant, could he hide in a high vantage point and leisurely snipe monsters?

Although it was useless for leveling up, he could harvest brain beads. After all, a Tier 2 brain bead was worth one hundred gold coins.

Tang Zhen made up his mind that after dealing with matters over this period, he must find an opportunity to come back here. He always felt that deep within these ruins, a huge secret was hidden.

The return trip was not entirely smooth. During this time, he was once attacked by a flock of death birds. Facing these fragile yet frenzied strange birds, Tang Zhen nearly fell victim to them.

In the end, he activated the map teleportation function to escape the encirclement in a disheveled state.

With lingering fear, Tang Zhen did not yet know that once scratched by this kind of strange bird, a person would stiffen and die, subsequently turning into a disgusting zombie.

However, no sooner had he broken free from the death birds' encirclement than he encountered another wave of zombies. These zombies dragged their maimed limbs as they charged toward Tang Zhen, some even wielding weapons in their hands, moving quite swiftly.

They were merely Tier 1 zombies. As long as Tang Zhen handled them with care, they posed no real threat to him. The only thing that puzzled him was that the tattered clothes worn by these zombies were very similar to those of wanderers.

After finishing off these monsters and extracting the brain beads, Tang Zhen continued on his way. During this period, he also crossed paths with a few groups of wanderers, but these wanderers wore gloomy expressions and looked preoccupied.

Arriving at the gates of the wanderer town, Tang Zhen found that the entire town had entered a state of martial law. The defensive walls were crowded with temporarily conscripted archers, as well as rogue cultivators using throwing stones and slings, looking toward the sky as if facing a formidable enemy.

Puzzled, Tang Zhen handed over his pass and headed straight for the market.

On the street, he saw Qian Long selling goods. When the two met, they exchanged a glance, neither saying anything out loud, though a flash of relief crossed Qian Long's face.

After meeting up with Qian Long, Tang Zhen went straight back to the cave, where he happened to run into Murong Ziyan and his two younger sisters cleaning two death birds at the cave entrance.

Seeing this, Tang Zhen asked, "What is going on with these strange birds? I see them everywhere in the wilderness."

Murong Ziyan was delighted to see Tang Zhen return safely. Knowing the reason for Tang Zhen's departure, his safe return proved that the matter had been settled, and Tang Zhen himself was completely unharmed.

"These are death birds. Being scratched by them causes stiffness and death, followed by transformation into a zombie. Black Rock City is extremely troubled by these monsters and has recalled all its cultivators for defense. The wanderer town has also conscripted a batch of archers to defend against the attacks of these strange birds."

Murong Ziyan's words brought sudden enlightenment to Tang Zhen, resolving all the doubts he had along the way.

One had to admire the scheme of the Spirit Brain Corpse King. By using merely the physically fragile death birds, it forced the cultivators of Black Rock City to cower back into their stronghold. Deprived of unified command, these scattered rogue wanderer cultivators posed virtually no major threat to the corpse clan.

Moreover, the wanderers also needed to guard against these death birds. Over the recent period, thousands of rogue wanderer cultivators had been killed and turned into zombies, not to mention countless ordinary wanderers without cultivation!

Recalling the physically fragile nature of the death birds, an idea flashed through Tang Zhen's mind. Perhaps the large quantity of slingshots and rubber bands he brought along could also become a bestselling commodity!

Such slingshots were useless against most monsters, but they were an excellent weapon for dealing with death birds. After all, death birds attacked in densely packed swarms covering the sky, and under such circumstances, one could hit them even with eyes closed.

As a result, even the elderly, the weak, women, and children would gain the ability to attack and defend against death birds.

Thinking of this, Tang Zhen immediately ran into the cave and teleported back to his home.

Driving around to tour the hardware stores and fishing tackle shops across the city, Tang Zhen bought nearly a thousand pounds of steel balls, a pile of slingshots, and a woven bag full of slingshot rubber bands.

Stowing these items into his spatial storage, Tang Zhen teleported back to the wanderer town.

Calling Dashan over to act as manual labor, Tang Zhen had these items delivered to Qian Long's blanket stall, offering them for sale at prices ranging from one to five brain beads each, while throwing in a complimentary pack of one hundred steel balls.

A rogue wanderer cultivator saw these slingshots and stepped forward to inquire. Upon being told that these slingshots could be used to shoot down death birds and could be used regardless of whether one had cultivation or not, the rogue wanderer curiously bought one.

At that exact moment, another flock of death birds swept in. Countless archers occupying high vantage points within the town immediately began shooting in defense. For a moment, arrows rained down like a storm, and death birds fell from the sky from time to time.

Wanderers lacking ranged attack capabilities were all hiding away to avoid the falling arrows and death bird carcasses. However, Tang Zhen, Qian Long, and the rogue wanderer who had just bought the slingshot simultaneously drew their slingshots and fired wildly into the sky.

Under these circumstances, the advantages of the slingshot instantly became apparent: simple to operate, effortless, and highly effective at inflicting damage on the death birds.

Unlike those archers and sling users who were left gasping for breath and suffering from sore, aching arms after shooting a dozen arrows, the rogue wanderer who bought the slingshot found his eyes growing increasingly bright—the slingshot's effectiveness against death birds was surprisingly exceptional!

Other rogue cultivators hiding nearby saw this scene, and immediately someone rushed over, dropped a brain bead, and excitedly grabbed a slingshot to join the ranks of shooting down death birds.

More and more rogue wanderer cultivators risked being injured by stray arrows and missed death birds to run over and buy slingshots, with some wanderers even purchasing dozens at a time.

With the participation of an increasing number of rogue wanderer cultivators using slingshots, the death birds in the sky were quickly cleared out, leaving the ground of the wanderer town littered with arrows and death bird carcasses.

Many people had just witnessed the rogue cultivators using slingshots to shoot down death birds. Upon inspecting the carcasses on the ground, they found that many had been killed by steel balls. Soon, nearly ten thousand wanderers within the wanderer town learned of this novel weapon called the slingshot.

They swarmed toward Tang Zhen's stall to buy slingshots, and even the administrative personnel of the wanderer town came over, curiously picking up a slingshot to fiddle with while placing an order for two thousand slingshots on the spot!