Chapter 14: One-horned Armored Rhinoceros

Lin Lei posed like a thinker for a long time, and surprisingly, he actually noticed something strange about the environment.

Was the ground surface around here a bit too damp? If this were deep in the jungle, one could attribute it to the shelter of the plants.

But where he was sitting now, the surrounding plants were sparse, and the star’s light could shine directly onto the ground. After six hours of scorching sun just now, the ground was actually still wet, so wet that even the lichen looked dripping, appearing to have a very high water content.

Lin Lei felt motivated. Looking at this situation, if he dug a well, how could it not produce water? Although he lacked handy tools, he wasn’t digging a professional one; just digging a big puddle. Being tired didn’t matter, as physical strength was what Lin Lei lacked the least right now.

He acted as soon as he thought of it. Lin Lei jumped up and ran straight toward the Tree House, where the tools were. Besides, to dig a well, naturally the closer to the living quarters, the better.

Lin Lei had the digging tools—the pair of claws from the Shadow Beast. That pair of claws was far from as exquisite as the Komodo Beast’s, but they excelled in being rugged and wild, which was essentially returning to their old trade for digging soil.

Didn’t he see that when the Shadow Beast ambushed Lin Lei back then, it drilled out from a pit in the ground? Where would a pit come from out of nowhere? It must have been dug by that Shadow Beast, which was now in heaven.

Truly a good beast. No wonder it could go to heaven after death, Lin Lei thought idly as he held the two large claws.

The ground under the Mushroom Tree was equally wet, which delighted Lin Lei. He randomly picked a spot and began digging with both claws.

The soil here was not soft, and as soon as he dug down, plant roots were densely spread out, greatly increasing the difficulty of Lin Lei’s digging.

It wasn’t until the third solar eclipse occurred in the sky that Lin Lei had dug less than two meters deep, and the water output was far from ideal.

When will this ever be finished? Lin Lei sighed as he looked at the small puddle of muddy water at his feet. He had no interest in drinking this water.

Lin Lei thought of the plastic bag again. Oh no, this time it was transparent plastic film. Given the moisture of this soil, if he dug a pit and covered it with plastic film, after the sun baked it tomorrow, wouldn’t it all be evaporated pure water?

He stopped thinking about those useless things; the more he thought, the sadder he felt. Lin Lei snapped out of his daydream and continued his effort. Perhaps the next moment, he would get lucky and dig open a spring.

Lin Lei kept scooping soil out of the pit with his claws, occasionally throwing out some tree roots.

The center of this pit was already nearly four meters deep, but there was still only a small puddle of water. It was enough for drinking, but it didn’t meet Lin Lei’s expectations.

At this time, the large blue planet, the guardian of Blue Rain Star, had begun to appear on the horizon. A bit impatient, Lin Lei took one last deep scoop with his claw, preparing to give up.

Anyway, there was enough water to drink. Was he going to extravagantly wish for clean water to bathe? Dream on.

Unexpectedly, this final strike was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. A stream of clear water came gurgling out. Clearly, Lin Lei had actually dug into a spring.

Oh yeah, wonderful spring water! A wonderful life! Lin Lei was ecstatic.

He scooped up the clear water and washed his face. Just as he was about to drink, he stopped. There wouldn’t be harmful substances in it, right? Although the possibility was small, he should let the System check for safety.

“Surface groundwater. The water contains various minerals, with content within the acceptable range for the human body.”

Hmm, that was good. Lin Lei, having the System with him, wasn’t afraid of the water being poisonous, but having the System process toxic water might consume energy. Energy should be saved whenever possible, so this situation was the best.

The water from the spring flowed faster and faster, quickly filling the bottom of the pit. The deepest part was about one meter or more.

Lin Lei lay comfortably in the clear water, with just one word in his mind: “Nice.” He didn’t consider the strange aspects of it and just decided to enjoy it first.

After soaking in the water for a full hour, until his skin wrinkled, Lin Lei lazily climbed up the Mushroom Tree to rest. This was the aftermath of digging for over ten hours straight.

Lin Lei didn’t ask the System to relieve his fatigue, because he knew that after every exercise, the human body itself would undergo metabolic compensation and strengthen the body.

And the System’s repair would cancel this process. How could he be greedy for temporary comfort! On this strange planet, he needed to be as strong as possible.

He couldn’t just passively wait for the System to strengthen him. He was still a long way from the second reinforcement.

Lin Lei gnawed the remaining leg of the Komodo Beast clean. After instructing the System to automatically digest it, he fell asleep.

He had a good sleep. When he woke up, the blue planet in the sky was hanging right in the middle of the sky. Everything was shrouded in a dreamy blue halo, appearing exceptionally mysterious and beautiful.

This scene was very similar to when Lin Lei first arrived yesterday. It was like time rewinding, leaving Lin Lei, who had just woken up, in a daze.

Lin Lei smiled bitterly. A day on Blue Rain Star was 36 hours, which didn’t match his biological clock at all. It seemed he needed to set a schedule, otherwise everything would be in chaos, which would definitely be bad for his body in the long run.

Although the System maintained him, the body was his own. If it broke, the System wouldn’t be responsible. Who would he cry to then?

Lin Lei checked his energy reserves. 3.5%. Hmm, quite satisfactory.

He looked at the reinforcement permission that only had 5 points and sighed. Alright, it was time to go hunting.

When Lin Lei climbed down from the Tree House, he saw that the water in the pit he had just dug had risen again, leaving less than one meter from the original ground level.

Looking at the spring water, which shone like a night pearl under the planet’s light, Lin Lei had a smile on his face. This was the result of his day’s labor. Not bad, it wasn’t in vain!

Lin Lei tightened his gear and set off on his hunting trip, full of ambition.

Traces of wild beasts passing through the jungle were everywhere. Lin Lei had no interest in animals that were too small. Wasting half a day for just a bite of meat was pointless. If he was going to do it, he would go for a big job.

Lin Lei searched for a long time before finding footprints of a large animal more than twenty kilometers away from the Tree House.

By estimating the size and depth of the footprints, Lin Lei guessed that this beast was probably about the size of a wild bull on Earth.

It was indeed a big guy. If he could hunt it successfully, he wouldn’t have to busy himself for a while.

Lin Lei followed the fresh footprints and soon spotted the fellow under a large Mushroom Tree.

Clearly, this big guy didn’t have the Shadow Beast’s sensitivity to danger or its perverted stealth ability.

This fellow was about the size of a wild bull, but it didn’t look like one at all. It had a single horn on its head, about half a meter long, flashing a chilling cold light. One look and you knew it was a deadly weapon.

Its entire body, including its face and legs, was densely covered with a scaly cuticle layer. What was more exaggerated was the neck, which was directly protected by a large ring of cuticle layer.

In other words, this seemingly clumsy fellow was wrapped in armor all over. One couldn’t even see what its face looked like. This made Lin Lei feel powerless. How was he supposed to fight this? With the tooth blade in his hand that was less than twenty centimeters long? It felt like a joke.

No wonder it was so careless, so leisurely. Even after seeing Lin Lei’s figure, it just glanced at him slightly and then turned back to gnaw on its tender mushrooms.

The contempt was very obvious. It didn’t think the skinny-looking Lin Lei posed any threat to it at all.

Lin Lei continued to observe. He wasn’t prepared to give up so easily. This was a big guy he had finally found.

Lin Lei walked around it in circles and found three very unobvious weak points, all places not covered by the scaly cuticle layer: the mouth, the eyes, and the abdomen.

These three were weak points that weren’t really weak points, because the beast guarded them tightly. Looking at the beast’s structure, Lin Lei could guess its attack method.

It would definitely be like an armored chariot, using the horn on its head to stab its opponent. And it didn’t need to consider defending its body at all. Once it lowered its head and stabbed forward, needless to say, even the weak points of its eyes and mouth would be hidden.

And with such a terrifying fellow chasing him, who would have the time to risk their life to grab its eyes?

Lin Lei’s actions made the big fellow impatient. It shook its head and neck in dissatisfaction, slightly adjusted its body direction, and pointed that sharp horn toward Lin Lei.

The sharp gleam on the tip of the horn flashed so brightly that it hurt Lin Lei’s eyes. He dared not take the risk anymore and ran far away, preparing to ask the System for a countermeasure. He was completely out of ideas.

“System, provide target information and combat methods.”

“Target: One-horned Armored Rhinoceros (Blue Rain Star specialty).”

“Weight: 1500 kilograms!”

“Body Length: 3.2 meters!”

“Physical Energy Level: 5.0 Standard Energy Level!”

“Maximum Burst Energy Level: 1.3 Standard Energy Level!”

“Combat Plan One: Use the Destructive Force Field, and stab with the tooth blade from the side during its charge. Repeat this several times.”

“Plan Two: The difference in combat power is too great. Advise giving up the target.”

“System, is there a permission reward for using the Destructive Force Field?” Lin Lei was most concerned about this.

“Using the Destructive Force Field means the Host no longer completes the battle independently. No permission reward will be granted.”

Even the System advised Lin Lei to give up the target. Lin Lei, who should have just given up, instead felt a surge of unyieldingness. He was going to take this guy down, to see what this narcissistic fellow would say!

Fortune favors the bold. The permission provided by the System now was the fortune Lin Lei dreamed of. For the Level 2 Reinforcement, Lin Lei was ready to do it!