Surviving a time-traveling adventure in a school, I can synthesize everything!

Chapter 12 The Archery Club's Great Harvest

In a depression in the shallows, a bull calf, no bigger than an adult mongrel, had its head submerged in the water, greedily sucking up the cool river water.

Its skin had not yet developed a stratum corneum, and its pinkish skin shone brightly in the sunlight.

"collapse."

Another bowstring trembled.

The cub didn't even have time to let out a scream.

An arrow pierced its left eye, carrying immense kinetic energy as it went straight through its skull, the tip of which emerged from the back of its head, dripping with a sticky, red and white liquid.

The cub's body convulsed violently twice in the water, then went limp and drifted slowly with the current, turning a small patch of the river water around it a light pink.

"Beautiful!" On the riverbank, the boy who had been shooting arrows excitedly waved his composite bow, turned around and high-fived his companion. "See? I told you to go for the smaller ones! And here it was!"

"That's ruthless." Zhong Chengyu lay in the grass, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, his voice tinged with a complex envy. "That's a whole cow, even the small one has more meat than that rat you just caught."

Jiang Ming stared at the floating corpse of the cub.

Although this method is cruel, morality is the cheapest luxury when it comes to survival.

The cub didn't have the monstrous defensive capabilities of an adult bull, making it the best prey that the archery club members could handle at the moment.

"Their arrow has at least solved their food problem for the next two days."

Jiang Ming withdrew his gaze, his fingers unconsciously stroking the unused [Paralysis Stone] in his pocket.

This is the advantage of long-range weapons.

You don't need to risk your life like they do; you can reap lives from a safe distance.

If only I could get my hands on a bow, and pair it with special arrowheads crafted from paralyzing smoke stones...

"Look! More animals are coming!"

Zhong Chengyu's tall roommate suddenly pointed excitedly to a patch of bushes upstream of the river.

The bushes parted, and a group of creatures covered in white curly hair emerged, bleating as they went.

Those were a dozen or so sheep.

Unlike the mutated bulls with thick, horny hides, these sheep looked much like domesticated animals on Earth, except that they were slightly larger and had unsettling blood-red eyes.

"These guys are incredibly lucky." Li Bin adjusted his glasses, a hint of sourness in his voice. "How come we run into mutated giant rats, while they get roasted whole lambs delivered right to their doorstep?"

The archery club members on the riverbank had obviously also noticed the group of uninvited guests.

Zhao Yanzhi quickly made hand gestures.

The dozen or so people immediately dispersed, drew their bows again, and aimed their arrows at the flock of sheep that were drinking water.

"put!"

With a low shout, more than a dozen arrows pierced the air.

This indiscriminate volley required no high precision. A dense rain of arrows covered the shallows.

"Pfft pfft pfft!"

The dull thuds of sharp blades piercing flesh continued one after another.

Four adult sheep that were drinking water were instantly shot through the body, their pitiful screams echoing across the riverbank.

Two lambs were hit in the leg by stray arrows and rolled in pain on the pebbles.

The remaining sheep instantly panicked and fled frantically into the distant woods.

"Don't let them get away! Keep shooting!" Zhao Yanzhi shouted, drawing his composite bow to its full extent once more.

Several more sheep were hit by arrows, but they did not fall.

With arrows stuck in their buttocks or backs, they stumbled and rushed into the dense forest, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"Damn it! My arrows!" a boy yelled in exasperation. "I only had ten carbon arrows! And three of them have already been taken!"

Although the salvo just now was quite effective, the losses were also considerable.

At least seven or eight arrows disappeared into the depths of the jungle along with the fleeing sheep.

In this godforsaken place where ammunition cannot be replenished, every single arrow is a non-renewable resource.

Jiang Ming looked at the mess on the ground and calculated the difference in combat strength between the two sides.

There were five of them on their side, and all they had were simple weapons such as fruit knives, mop handles, and dismantled iron frames.

Let alone those wild bulls, even if you tried to leave one of those frightened, crazy sheep alive, someone would probably get hurt.

This is the generational gap in equipment.

"Tsk tsk, it's like the saying goes, 'Some are dying of thirst, others are drowning in water.' Li Bin shrank back behind the bushes, plucked a blade of grass and put it in his mouth. 'This time, they'll have hundreds of pounds of meat alone. And that calf...'"

Zhong Chengyu and his two roommates looked at each other, their expressions even more unpleasant than if they had eaten bitter melon.

Originally, he came out with Jiang Ming hoping to pick up a stray monster or team up to hunt down a lone monster.

Upon seeing this scene, the archery enthusiasts were immediately promoted to official positions, leaving the scattered soldiers with fire pokers with no chance.

"Old Jiang, are we just going to sit here and watch?" Zhong Chengyu swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "How about... we go into the woods and look for those wounded sheep that ran away? Maybe we can find one?"

"Don't even think about it." Jiang Ming immediately poured cold water on the idea. "Injured beasts are the most ferocious, and the smell of blood will attract other predators. With our equipment, going deep into the forest would most likely be suicide."

Zhong Chengyu slumped to the ground in frustration, tossing aside the half-table he was holding: "Then what did we come out for? To watch others have a bumper harvest?"

"Who says we can only watch?" Li Bin suddenly spat out the grass root in his mouth, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes behind his glasses.

He turned to look at the bushes behind him, where their three electric vehicles were hidden.

"It's not too far from the school, but the roads are all terrible. We struggled to push the cart here, let alone carry hundreds of pounds of game back." Li Bin pointed to the archery club members on the riverbank, who were struggling to move the game. "Look at them, all so delicate and frail, how can they possibly carry that?"

Jiang Ming instantly understood what Li Bin meant.

On the riverbank, several boys from the archery club were tentatively trying to lift the fattest adult sheep.

That sheep must have weighed at least a hundred pounds; it was incredibly heavy.

The two men were red-faced from carrying the load, and had to stop to catch their breath before they had walked even ten meters.

And this is just one.

There were three or four sheep and a calf lying on the ground.

What if the smell of blood attracts other wild animals...

If they don't move their spoils quickly, this feast could very well become their last supper.

"Should we go and be their laborers?" Although Zhong Chengyu was a bit slow on the uptake, he finally realized what was going on. "Use our cars to transport their goods?"

"This isn't hard labor, it's helping out," Li Bin corrected. "It's also the only way we can get a share of the profits right now."

Zhong Chengyu's bespectacled roommate hesitated, "There are so many of them, and they even have bows and arrows. What if they don't want to pay us and just steal our car?"

"They wouldn't dare," Jiang Ming interjected, his tone certain.

He stood up and patted the mud off his trousers: "Zhao Yanzhi is a smart man. At this critical moment, if he steals our bikes, we'll need someone to ride them and someone to push them through the mud... Besides, it's not worth fighting with five grown men over a few broken bikes."