Chapter 28: Rapid Kill and Life Recovery

Why not use a Cranial Hunter? The primary reason is to save time. Furthermore, if the fired arrows can be retrieved, it is equivalent to zero consumption.

After investing 50 Specialized Crystals, a compound bow appeared, reshaped to be entirely grey-white, folding in half, and featuring an extremely refined pulley module. With a flick of his wrist, as if by muscle memory, the compound bow snapped open to reveal its full form. The fifty-centimeter limb span looked incredibly impressive.

As for the arrows, Mithril-grade would be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, so he opted for a First-Order sublimation. Investing another 50 Specialized Crystals, he sublimated 500 broken arrows into Steel-grade portable compound arrows. While Black-Iron grade was already enough to ignore the larvae's concentrated acid, Steel-grade was completely impervious to it. Now, everything was prepared, waiting only to commence the slaughter.

Rising to his feet, Lu Ming gazed at the window ledge and leaped onto the roof of the dormitory building in a few quick bounds. With the strength of an Ultimate Soldier, skyscrapers were as easy to traverse as flat ground, provided there were edges to grip. Scanning the rooftop, he confirmed there were no nearby threats. Looking down into the factory courtyard, hundreds of agitated larvae stood tall, looking like coral in the sea from a distance.

"Eye of Truth!"

He set up the compound bow on the spot. The Eye of Truth mapped out the core of every Sickle-Owl larva. He drew the string and released. With a piercing whistle, the arrow flashed like light; a Sickle-Owl larva stiffened, then collapsed to the ground with a thud!

One-shot, one-kill!

With the shooting proficiency of Advanced Archery, plus the bonus range, it was far more than just "hitting a willow leaf at a hundred paces"! As long as his eyes could see it, why not hit it at a thousand?

"Continue."

*Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!*

Expertly nocking and drawing, the steel arrows rained down like a storm of blades. Each arrow found its mark, precisely claiming the life of a Sickle-Owl larva. Even more baffling for the larvae in the courtyard was that, from start to finish, they never understood what was happening. In just twenty minutes, the entire factory courtyard had fallen silent; the Eye of Truth detected not a single remaining larva with a core.

Lu Ming glanced at the steel arrows in his pack. Out of 500, only 182 remained, meaning he had killed 318 Sickle-Owl larvae in those twenty minutes. It was a complete return on investment—thoroughly satisfying.

He vaulted off the roof, descending by grabbing the balconies of the windows, and landed safely on the ground. Arriving at the factory entrance, he scanned the interior to ensure no living creatures remained in the courtyard before climbing over the wall and entering. The first thing to hit him was not a visual shock, but an olfactory one. Hundreds of larvae gathered together, constantly in an agitated state, caused the concentrated acid to break down excessively; the stench was fermented like aged spirits.

Lu Ming had thought he was used to it, but in reality, it was still stinging his eyes and nose.

"Greed!"

[Successfully recovered Sickle-Owl larva carcass. Obtained Specialized Crystal x2, High-Purity Xenoprotein x2, Steel-grade portable compound arrow x1.]
[Successfully recovered Sickle-Owl larva carcass. Obtained...]

A single Greed harvest instantly cleared a 40-meter radius. Lu Ming looked surprised. Forty meters? Had the collection range increased that much? He checked Greed: the range had increased from the initial 10 meters to 40 meters. Based on the changes in the specialization level, it increased by 10 meters per level. The key was that it was area-based; because he had been killing and harvesting one by one, he hadn't realized it.

"Greed!"

Since he realized this, jump-harvesting was the most efficient method. In just a few passes, the courtyard was cleared. Seeing the Specialized Crystal count return to 876, the pressure in his heart dissipated. Even the consumed compound arrows were all retrieved—this haul was incredibly profitable.

"Stay calm, stay calm. This is only the beginning."

Calming his mind, Lu Ming put away the Hawk-Eye compound bow and took out a damaged compound bow blank, silently chanting "Ultimate Sublimation."

[Prompt: Please select...]
"Second Order."
[Prompt: Sublimating to Second Order...]
"Confirm."
[Please select form...]
"Precision Hand Crossbow."
[Sublimation successful.]

The compound bow was dismantled and reconstructed into a silver-glowing, intricately patterned hand crossbow with a bolt magazine. The 50 Specialized Crystals he had just gained were spent, but Lu Ming felt it was well worth it. The courtyard was cleared, and next were the workshops on the first floor. In a confined space, long-range sniping would be difficult. He would inevitably enter the spray range of the Sickle-Owl larvae. At that point, a rapid-fire hand crossbow would be an absolute godsend.

The Eye of Truth surveyed the layout of the larvae in the first-floor space, finding that the most crowded workshop had about 50 of them. He decided to be stingy and craft 100 Steel-grade portable bolts. With 10 crystals spent, 100 steel bolts were forged. Lu Ming began loading the magazine. To his surprise, the mere ten-centimeter magazine held a full 50 bolts. Upon closer inspection, he realized the "rapid-fire" description was no exaggeration—the Precision Hand Crossbow’s magazine held 60 rounds.

This wasn't just a hand crossbow; it was more powerful than a submachine gun. The only minor disappointment was the effective range. Even with the 20% bonus from Advanced Archery, it only reached 60 meters. Otherwise, he felt it could replace the Hawk-Eye compound bow as an unbeatable, all-purpose weapon.

With the magazine full, Lu Ming entered the work area. First to be dealt with were the larvae in the main corridor—about 100 of them, including those on the ceiling and in wall recesses. They were stacked in layers, squeezing each other; only the dozen or so in the outermost layer could actually fire. Those behind were completely blocked by the outer ring, with no room to attack.

Pushing open the doors to the work area, a dozen larvae hissed at him with their mandibles bared. Lu Ming didn't panic; the acid spray had a clear buildup motion. As long as he killed them before they could charge, they couldn't spray at all.

*Click-clack-click-clack!*

He pulled the trigger repeatedly, and the bolts erupted. In Lu Ming’s eyes, only the cores of the larvae were flashing. A dozen bolts were fired within two seconds, and the outer dozen larvae dropped dead on the spot.

"Greed."

Clearing the carcasses and retrieving the bolts, Lu Ming sidestepped to the side of the door. The Eye of Truth scouted the location of the next circle of larvae, planned his shots, stepped out, and fired. The second wave of larvae didn't even have time to hiss before they became souls under his crossbow.

"Greed."

Just like that, by shooting the larvae exposed by the death of the front row and using the "Greed" harvest, Lu Ming employed a ruthless, multi-wave strategy. In just five minutes, he evaporated all the Sickle-Owl larvae in the entire corridor.

Reloading the bolts, counting his crystals, and steadying his breathing, he stepped into the corridor. Maintaining the mindset of using his full strength even when hunting a rabbit, Lu Ming reached out and twisted the door handle to the first workshop...