Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

At this point, someone might ask—

"What about that red and green machete?"

"..."

Chen Hao paused for a moment.

"...The damage from that knife is too abstract."

It feels like it's no longer as simple as a regular rating.

"Isn't that even more powerful than a divine artifact?"

"Could it be a bug in the forbidden area?"

After all, the forbidden area had given my elder brother some inexplicable things before...

Chen Hao's tone became somewhat subtle, "In short, that machete will not be included in the regular equipment system for the time being. Treat it as a kind of—uh—special tactical tool."

Leng Ruolan finally couldn't stand it anymore: "What tactical equipment? That's Big Brother's exclusive equipment!"

Alexander laughed heartily: "Who else but him could pull off such an eye-catching color scheme?"

"really."

"really."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

*

Dinner was served around the campfire and was much more elaborate than usual.

Alexander and Hassan jointly prepared an extremely lavish victory celebration—

Grilled fish, grilled wild boar ribs, grilled mutated deer leg, wild vegetable salad, pickled wild fruit platter, and a large jug of fruit wine.

The fruit wine was just delivered by the monkeys this morning; it smells amazing.

"It's here, monkey wine!"

"What, brother, you've had it?"

"It's nothing, I often see this kind of liquor when I'm reading novels. Now I'm drinking it myself..."

"..."

Nine people raised their cups at the same time.

"Cheers——!"

Even Leng Ruolan, who doesn't usually drink much (because no one dares to drink with her, so she's too lazy to drink herself), picked up a glass.

The giant tortoise also received a half-meter-long grilled fish.

Of course, for its size, this amount was only an appetizer, but it was still very satisfied with the meal. After finishing, it slowly crawled back to the river bend, leaving behind a string of heavy and wet footprints.

Storm Blackhawk and Frost Roc still haven't arrived.

But the little coal ball stayed.

But we still don't know where it went off to.

"Are there many female Storm Hawks around here?"

Upon hearing Alexander's report, Ou Yun muttered to himself.

I've heard that the Stormhawks are all very fond of romance...

Chen Hao, however, surprised everyone by saying, "They might not be the same race."

Leng Ruolan: "It doesn't necessarily have to be female."

Ou Yun: "Alright, you guys stop talking."

*

After the meal, the nine people sat around the campfire to review the day's battle.

Chen Hao was the first to speak.

He drew out the three phases of today's operation on the tactics board.

Air strikes, ground assault, core destruction—and then the advantages and disadvantages of each stage were analyzed.

"The overall performance during the air strike phase was excellent. Our decoy tactic was very effective, successfully diverting the attention of flying defensive creatures for at least two minutes!"

Chen Hao was in the best spectator seat at the time, so he was naturally the top analyst.

"These two minutes are crucial to the entire bombing window. Without these two minutes, our missiles would likely have been intercepted before they even hit their targets."

"And the ground penetration phase—"

Chen Hao continued speaking.

"The biggest problem is communication delay. There's about a five-second delay between the data transmitted from the helicopter and the arrival of the ground troops. Five seconds might not seem like much under normal circumstances, but it can be fatal in that kind of high-paced combat."

"What? Even the communication stone has a delay?"

"No, but it's not enough."

"Oh……"

"so!"

When it comes to researching new things, Chen Hao's eyes light up like a sound effect.

"I plan to use a sound transmission stone and a communicator to create a hybrid relay system to reduce the latency to less than one second."

"In addition, I suggest that all personnel carrying out assault missions wear a simple head-mounted camera so that I can see the real-time footage from behind, which will make the analysis more efficient."

"Okay, let's start tomorrow."

Leng Ruolan's reaction was as normal as eating, drinking, or looking at the sky.

"And then there's—Big Brother."

Chen Hao turned to Ou Yun, his tone becoming exceptionally serious.

"Could you please not jump straight out of a helicopter next time? Even though that knife caught you, what if? What if? What if?!"

Ou Yun rolled over in the hammock.

"Okay, next time I'll bring a parachute."

"???"

Is this some kind of parachute problem?!

"Brother! Are you really not afraid of dying?!"

"He's not dead, is he?"

"..."

Chen Hao turned his gaze to Leng Ruolan.

Mom, look at him! .jpg

Leng Ruolan shrugged and spread her hands.

Is it my fault?.jpg

"..."

*

After the debriefing session ended, the atmosphere around the campfire gradually quieted down.

Nanbei lay on its back by the campfire, its four paws curled up in front of its chest, its tail twitching occasionally, probably chasing some prey in its dream.

The mung bean dumpling was next to it, and it gently sucked on one of the north and south ears, just like it did when it was a child.

Ivan was leaning against a rock, already dozing off.

He was originally supposed to be Chen Hao's substitute, but he ended up doing physical labor for a while and was extremely exhausted.

Although I managed to doze off for a while on the return flight, it wasn't nearly enough.

Allen sat by the campfire, leaning on his trekking pole, chatting with Hassan about everyday things—what the desert in Pakistan looks like, how heavy the snow is in Canada, and why the sky in the forbidden area is always the same color.

Leng Ruolan and Ou Yun, who had been forcibly shaken awake by Leng Ruolan, sat on the watchtower with a pot of unfinished monkey wine between them.

The starry sky overhead was as dazzling as ever, with the Milky Way stretching across the sky and stars so dense it looked as if someone had scattered a handful of diamonds across the heavens.

Leng Ruolan looked at the starry sky, "Seven districts, six left."

"Um."

"What's the next district?"

"I don't know. The forbidden area hasn't said anything yet. But based on past experience, there should be new information after the third phase is completed."

"So what do we do next? Stay in the camp and wait for the others from Phase Three to arrive?"

"No, I don't think so."

Ou Yun shook his head. "Now that the Forest Lord is dead, the abyss energy network in the forest region will begin to disintegrate...? Anyway, something strange is bound to happen."

However, in his view, the threat posed by this area to them will definitely be greatly reduced—and even the threat to other players will be reduced at the same time.

They would have an easier time getting deep into the forest and finding the pillar, the basin, and the traces of their battle with the lord.

Leng Ruolan just looked at him quietly, "So what you mean is..."

"Before the other players can react, let's find out the boundary between the forest area and other areas."

Ou Yun drew a line in the air with his finger. "With the lord dead, the energy supply to the west will cease. If that 'city' in the west truly exists, they will definitely notice the anomaly in the forest area. They will then send people to investigate—"

Or, send some monsters over to investigate.