Energy fluid is the power source used by various interstellar tech products that require power. Energy fluid is used for small appliances, while large machinery requires energy stones, which are further divided into primary, intermediate, advanced, and even special grades. All these items are available in the store.
Lu Xuan didn’t have anything that needed energy fluid for the moment, so he only played with it in his hand for a moment before storing it in his spatial ring.
He opened the system store and took a look, finding that with the completion of another achievement, several new items had been unlocked, including various styles of clothing, shoes, trauma medical kits, hiking poles, single-person tents, and daily necessities like insect repellent and hand sanitizer.
Many of these were items useful for mountain travel, and the prices weren’t high—at most one or two hundred points—so he could fully afford them.
However, he didn’t plan to purchase them yet. After taking a look to get a sense of the costs, he closed the system and returned to his room.
He spent the time pondering his itinerary for the next day and reviewing his planned hoarding strategy. Only when sleepiness finally took over did he close his eyes, his breathing gradually slowing into a steady rhythm.
Early in the morning, while the sky was still dim and only a few households in the village had begun preparing breakfast, Lu Xuan set off.
To put Lu Qing and Lei Yan at ease, he still carried his basket, filled with the rice, flour, dried rations, cured meat, herbs, and machete that Lu Qing had prepared for him. But once he reached the mountains, he stowed everything in his spatial ring to travel light and, incidentally, opened the livestream.
Soon, the livestream channel was flooded with viewers who had set notifications.
[The host is so early today!]
[Disaster is imminent, so of course he has to have some sense of urgency. What’s the plan for today, host? Are you going to start hunting like crazy as soon as you hit the mountain?]
Lu Xuan stretched his limbs to warm up. “Not necessarily ‘hunting like crazy,’ but today I can indeed find an opportunity to show you all a trick.”
[? Didn’t you already show us? What else do you want to show off?]
[I haven’t been watching long, but the host doesn’t seem like the type to talk big. I’m looking forward to it! Show off whatever you want! I’m only worried you won’t show off! The more stimulating the content, the better—I love it!]
Lu Xuan smiled and didn’t answer the viewers who were pressing him for details, simply speeding up his pace as he ran into the mountains.
The deep mountains were overgrown with weeds and crisscrossed with tree roots; those unaccustomed to the terrain could easily be tripped. Even if they managed to steady themselves, their speed would drop drastically. Lu Xuan, however, was different. He seemed long accustomed to the rugged mountain paths, jumping over obstacles with ease. Sometimes he would even leap onto the trees, weaving through the branches. Not only did his speed not decrease, but he actually grew faster, almost leaving a motion blur in his wake.
The livestream viewers watched the scenery whizzing past on their screens: I, I’m getting a little dizzy.
After running for nearly an hour, Lu Xuan finally slowed his pace and gradually came to a halt.
The place reached after an hour of sprinting at Lu Xuan’s speed was a depth that ordinary people might not reach even after walking for half a day—truly deep, old-growth forests rarely visited by human feet.
The surrounding trees were visibly taller and more lush than those at the foot of the mountain. Thick humus soil had accumulated on the ground; stepping on it, one’s lower leg would almost be buried. If one pricked their ears to listen carefully, they could hear the indistinguishable calls of many wild beasts in the forest.
Without needing further explanation, the viewers in the livestream knew that the danger level here was far higher than the areas Lu Xuan had roamed the past two days.
Sure enough, before they could offer any commentary, a massive wild boar appeared in front of Lu Xuan as he walked slowly forward, followed by several others grazing nearby.
It was a wild boar pack!
And unfortunately, because Lu Xuan hadn’t deliberately kept his footsteps light, the boars had already spotted his figure and were all staring at him.
The most aggressive boar seemed ready to charge and attack.
Chat:
[Whoa! He actually ran into a wild boar pack right away!]
[Previous boars were all encountered alone and taken down one by one. This time he’s facing six or seven at once—can the host still handle it? Please don’t tell me he’s already hit a crisis just after entering the mountain.]
[He promised to show us a trick, and now he’s about to crash and burn?]
Lu Xuan gave a light snort and said coolly, “Crashing and burning is impossible. Keep your eyes peeled and watch closely.”
He stretched his limbs and curled a finger at the largest boar opposite him. “Come on.”
The boar seemed to perceive his provocation and let out a low, aggressive grunt, then charged like a cannonball.
The other boars, as if receiving an order, attacked at the same time. The onslaught of beasts, weighing several tons in total, caused slight tremors in the ground nearby—a truly imposing display.
Facing an encirclement that would horrify an ordinary person, Lu Xuan didn’t even frown. When the leader boar was about to pierce him with its sharp tusks, he vaulted deep and easily dodged it, simultaneously raising his leg and delivering a powerful roundhouse kick to another boar closing in.
The livestream system’s excellent audio pickup allowed the viewers to clearly hear the sound of the air being sliced. Immediately after, the boar was kicked flying. Whether by coincidence or design, it happened to land on the sharp, broken branch of a nearby tree, impaling it instantly.
Bright red blood flowed down the branch onto the ground, and the boar let out a miserable shriek, its piercing intensity making the viewers’ scalps tingle.
The boar’s wretched state seemed to trigger something. Next, Lu Xuan wove calmly between the multiple boars, kicking, grabbing tusks to toss them away, or using a machete he’d pulled from nowhere to slash viciously at their heads.
With each swift movement, the massive boar heads were literally severed by his blade!
As time passed… more and more boars lost their ability to fight. From the appearance of the boar pack to the end of the battle, the entire process took less than ten minutes.
When Lu Xuan stood still again and the livestream’s shifting perspective stabilized, the boars were all lying on the ground without a breath, every one of them dead. Half of them had been decapitated by Lu Xuan, their heads separated from their bodies.
The livestream camera happened to freeze on one of the gruesome, snarling pig faces, and many viewers who had been holding their breath involuntarily gasped in shock.
[Oh my god! You scared the life out of me! Can you give a high-intensity warning next time!]
[I almost had a heart attack; that pig head is too scary!]
[Taking down eight wild boars in one go without getting a single scratch—too badass! I’m bowing down!]
[If only the mutated beasts in the Interstellar era were this easy to hunt.]
[Don’t talk as if it’s easy; it’s not like we haven’t seen other ancient-era livestreams. Boars in the ancient period really count as fierce beasts. Is it that hard to admit the host is strong?]
[The host really wasn’t talking big—he absolutely showed off!!!]
[This man is damn charming!]
It wasn’t that they hadn’t watched battle livestreams of mutated beast hunters; the content was certainly exciting, but those battles always involved abilities, firearms, or mechs, which always felt like they were lacking something.
But Lu Xuan’s style—filled with primitive wildness, the collision of flesh and bone, showing the ultimate potential of human beings—made the viewers even more excited; it was a visceral, cathartic experience.
Many people excitedly shared the livestream with their friends and family. The number of concurrent viewers increased visibly, many passersby who dropped in clicked “follow,” and the gift-givers came one after another.
As for Lu Xuan, the protagonist of the event, after the battle, his clothes were only slightly disheveled, and he hadn’t even broken a sweat.
Seeing the viewers howling in excitement, he raised an eyebrow and corrected them: “This counts as a warm-up at most; it can’t be called ‘showing off.'”
Viewers: ??? This doesn’t count? Then what do you want?
With their shallow understanding of the ancient era, they assumed reaching Lu Xuan’s level was the limit for an ancient human. What other new tricks could he possibly have up his sleeve?
[Let’s stop chatting for now, host. You killed so many boars at once, the smell of blood must be strong. For safety, you should quickly store the prey and change locations.]
The viewer who offered the kind reminder felt a bit suspicious after the initial excitement.
Clearly, the last two times, Lu Xuan had used stones to get the job done, and the prey he hit almost didn’t lose much blood. Why had his fighting style changed so much today, making it so bloody?
Was it to increase the watchability of the livestream and stimulate more spending?
“No rush.” Lu Xuan walked unhurriedly toward a boar he had kicked to death. He picked up the pig head with one hand, nimbly spun the machete twice with the other, and then aimed precisely at the boar’s neck for a clean slice. The blood, not yet congealed, sprayed out like a water jet.
Lu Xuan said nonchalantly: “Boar meat is naturally coarse; if you don’t drain the blood in time, the taste will be even harder to stomach.”
After draining the first pig, he turned to slit the throats of the other boars one by one. His movements were skilled yet casual, his expression never changing once, as if he were doing something utterly trivial.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the branches overhead, leaving mottled shadows on Lu Xuan’s face. Paired with the rustling of leaves in the forest breeze, the scene had an inexplicably eerie quality.
[Hiss… the host feels like a psychopathic killer right now—I’m scared!]
[Why be scared! It’s so exciting!]
[Not a psychopathic killer, a psychopathic pig-killer, hahaha.]
[Are you guys stupid? Is this really the time to say that! Host, put the wild boars away first! We don’t know how many fierce beasts are in the mountain. The smell of blood is so heavy here; it’s going to attract more vicious beasts soon!]
[Exactly! The host clearly made an effort to find a water source the last two days to wash away the smell of blood. Why is he suddenly acting like an idiot today!]
[Host, you’re being foolish!]
The other viewers, who had been slower to react, finally woke up to the danger under the reminders of the others and began to urge Lu Xuan to run away quickly.
Lu Xuan acted as if he didn’t see the screen full of advice, continuing to drain the blood and store the boars—now decapitated and drained—into his spatial ring. His movements showed no sign of rushing, and the viewers were practically dying of anxiety.
They wanted to keep persuading him, but suddenly, they heard a dense rustling sound coming from the grass all around them.
Oh no! It was probably too late; something was coming!
The things hidden in the grass slowly poked their heads out. After seeing the true faces of these creatures, many viewers couldn’t help but gasp for air in their own rooms.
It was wolves! A pack of wolves had arrived—!