Chapter 40: A Successful Defense

After the sixth goat died, an excited barking echoed in Yun Qing’s mind. Following the shadowy black dog, she saw Liu Liu standing guard over the fallen meat, yelping and jumping with glee.

Yun Qing mused, “It really is a dog—it actually barks.” Then she smiled wryly. This little creature had suffered much since following her—either starving for days or never getting to eat what it liked.

She couldn’t retrieve the meat from within the cave dwelling, so even if Liu Liu craved it, Yun Qing had no way to feed it. The goats were respawning faster and faster; if she couldn’t kill each with a single arrow, it would pose a real threat to her sanctuary.

With a thought, Yun Qing slung her bow onto her back and gripped the dagger she’d just drawn. As a former butcher, she scoffed at the idea of using a bow to kill goats. Even without a cleaver, a dagger would suffice.

Watching the red dot approach the attack zone, Yun Qing sprinted forward. As the goat materialized, she seized its horns with one hand and plunged the sharp dagger into its throat, slicing forcefully to sever its windpipe.

Contrary to her expectation, no blood spurted out—she merely watched the goat’s health bar empty.

Combat experience +40.

The goat’s body vanished, leaving behind a pile of silver coins.

Obtained: 4 taels of silver.

It was even easier than slaughtering a real goat—the struggle when grabbing the horns was nothing compared to the genuine article, where every goat fought desperately for its life.

Yun Qing practiced her one-strike kill melee skills on the goats right within her cave dwelling. Every time a goat appeared, she slew it; together, she and Liu Liu dashed tirelessly from east to west, north to south. Though Yun Qing was left breathless, the swelling piles of silver made her forget her fatigue. In fact, she wished the monster siege triggered by her hate value would last even longer.

It was a nice thought, but with a hate value of only 100, the siege didn’t amount to much.

After killing a dozen goats or so, the grayish expanse only held five red dots. But these five were advancing together into the attack zone.

As soon as the five red dots entered the battle area, Yun Qing saw their levels: three chickens, each level 5, and two goats, each level 10.

Fortunately, the monsters were coming from a single direction; had they appeared from all sides, she doubted she could hold them off.

With stones in hand, she threw one—one level 5 chicken fell. Another stone, another chicken down. She threw a third, but the last chicken survived; a level 10 goat had surged forward, blocking the attack for it.

No matter. It wouldn’t last long. As the goat charged, Yun Qing rushed to meet them.

Twisting her body, she struck—the last chicken fell to her stone just as she came face to face with a goat.

Seizing its horns, she drove her dagger into its neck. Another goat dissolved into experience points.

After dispatching it, Yun Qing looked up to see the other goat had already reached the base, stamping its hooves on the floorboards.

It was too far. If she ran, who knew how much damage the goat would do? Stones wouldn’t kill it, and bamboo arrows would take two shots.

A thought flashed through her mind—a metal-tipped arrow appeared in her hand. She drew her bow to full moon, sighted at the goat’s throat, and released.

Whoosh! The speed and power of the metal arrow far surpassed bamboo.

-160.

Combat experience +40.

As she’d expected, the metal arrow vanished along with the goat’s corpse.

Yun Qing winced for a second over the lost arrow, but the sight of five fresh piles of silver drove all regret from her mind.

Worried the final boss might arrive soon, she had no time to gather the silver carefully. Sprinting like an athlete, she scooped up every pile:

Obtained: 4 taels of silver.
Obtained: 2 taels of silver.
Obtained: 2 taels of silver.
Obtained: 2 taels of silver.
Obtained: 3 taels of silver, plus 1 pack of fertilizer.

Once she’d collected the last pile, Yun Qing looked around, expecting the boss to emerge—but none appeared. Instead, a countdown began in the air, signaling the end of the monster siege.

“Liu Liu, where’s the boss?”

“The lowest-level monster siege has no boss.”

“Well, that’s a relief—gives me a break.”

As the countdown hit zero, words appeared overhead: “Congratulations! You have successfully defended your cave dwelling from the monster siege. Rewards: Level 1 Energy x200; Combat Experience +600; Crafting Experience +600; Gathering Experience +600.”

“Congratulations, your combat level has increased to 21.”
“Congratulations, your crafting level has increased to 19.”
“Congratulations, your gathering level has increased to 21.”
“Congratulations, your character level has increased to 19.”

After a cascade of notifications, the gray mist returned to shroud her surroundings, and the minimap disappeared.

She now had over a thousand points of level 1 energy, 105 taels of silver, three cuts of goat meat, and three packs of fertilizer.

At that moment, she was standing near the floorboards.

She noticed then that one board showed: “This floorboard has been damaged by attack. Repair requires: Level 1 Energy x10. Repair now?”

Yun Qing examined the board closely but couldn’t see any obvious damage.

She grumbled inwardly, “Apparently, even floorboards can suffer invisible injuries.”

This was the only board the last goat had reached—who would have thought a few goat hooves could do such harm?

It had to be fixed. Yun Qing commanded silently, “Repair!”

A repair countdown appeared: one hour and fifty-nine minutes.

“Liu Liu, these floorboards are way too fragile. My cave dwelling offers almost no defense. When I build a house and furniture, will they be just as easy to break?”

“In the future, you can put a fence around your homestead and fields. Only after breaking through the fence can monsters get in to do damage.”

“That makes sense. How do I build a fence?”

“Building a fence is no cheaper than building a wooden house. Are you sure you want to make a fence first?”

“No, my goal is to build a house and a bed, so I can sleep inside the cave dwelling.”

She’d think about fences later. After checking around, Yun Qing found no other damage. Passing a sapling in her field, a prompt appeared: “Use 1 pack of fertilizer? Fertilize now?”

Fertilizing increased yields; Yun Qing chose to fertilize one of the trees.

She didn’t need to touch the fertilizer—just silently command “Fertilize,” and a progress bar appeared. When it finished, one pack was deducted, and the job was done.

After spending energy on repairs, she still felt richly rewarded.

The sense of accomplishment was intoxicating. Looking at her new gains, Yun Qing sighed with satisfaction, “Liu Liu, this monster siege triggered by hate value is amazing. I really want to rack up more hate and trigger another.”

Liu Liu responded enthusiastically, “Let’s go out and eat some meat first!”

Yun Qing: …Such ambition!

With a thought, Yun Qing returned to the relief station room. A slab of goat meat appeared in her hand, which she tossed to the eagerly watching Liu Liu.

Liu Liu jumped up with excitement, caught it in one bite, then lay down with his front paws hugging the meat, gnawing away. His wagging tail told all of his joy.