The message went out in the afternoon, and by evening, they had a report.

Someone had spotted traces of a Desert Giant Worm north of the eastern dunes.

That night, Qin Ziwen led the others to the location with the Car-Mounted Crossbow, but their stakeout for the Desert Giant Worm came up empty.

The next day, Qin Ziwen returned to the location to continue the stakeout.

Several days passed, and the dust in the air had thinned considerably.

The sun blazed overhead, and even the wind that blew was warm.

After a morning-long stakeout, the Desert Giant Worm finally emerged.

Sand churned as a Giant Beast appeared.

This time, however, the Desert Giant Worm didn’t emerge directly like the last two. It stopped within the sand dune, revealing only the top half of its head as it cautiously surveyed its surroundings.

Cao Biansheng’s expression was grim. "This one seems more cautious than the last two."

Qin Ziwen shook his head. "An animal is still an animal. It won’t be able to wait long."

No sooner had he spoken than the Desert Giant Worm, after observing for a few minutes, finally lost its patience and slowly emerged from the dune.

It then crawled toward the bait left outside.

It opened its flower-like maw and slowly swallowed the prey.

What it failed to notice, however, was a chain running from inside the prey, extending out of its rear, and tied to a large rock nearby.

The Desert Giant Worm held the prey in its mouth and lay still, secreting an anesthetic fluid to paralyze its meal.

Even though the prey already appeared to be dead, too many animals in the Gobi Desert were skilled at feigning death, so it didn’t let its guard down.

What it found strange, however, was the group of humans standing not far away.

’It had eaten two of them not long ago. They didn’t taste very good.’

’But it wasn’t a picky eater.’

THWUMP!

The Desert Giant Worm suddenly heard a low, muffled thud.

The next second, its head exploded.

Even though it wasn’t the first time he’d seen such a sight, Luo Gang still sighed with emotion. "When will the next batch of Car-Mounted Crossbows be ready?"

"In two more days."

ROAR!!!

Suddenly, an earth-shattering roar echoed from the side.

It was like a clap of thunder across the open plain.

Everyone’s faces fell as they whipped their heads toward the sound.

A huge, hulking dinosaur was jogging toward them from the mouth of a valley.

"A Tyrannosaurus."

Cao Biansheng’s breath caught in his throat.

This Tyrannosaurus was heading right for them.

It was a behemoth, fifteen meters long and weighing over seven tons. Its appearance was remarkably similar to the Tyrannosaurus Rex humans were familiar with.

The monster was so tall that their Long Spears would struggle to reach its head or heart. They could only strike its feet, but given the Tyrannosaurus’s anatomy, hitting its feet meant getting right under its belly.

"Go!" Luo Gang urged.

"Retreat!" Qin Ziwen said decisively.

"Wait, wait." Sweat beaded on Cao Biansheng’s forehead. He watched the approaching Tyrannosaurus, then turned, reloaded a bolt into the Crossbow, and aimed it at the Desert Giant Worm!

"It just needs one more hit! Captain, you guys go first!" Cao Biansheng muttered.

’I absolutely can’t let this damned Tyrannosaurus steal my kill.’ He was so close to completing his Level 2 Task; he refused to retreat now.

He slammed the trigger mechanism.

BANG!

The bolt from the Giant Crossbow shot out like an arrow loosed from its string, striking the Desert Giant Worm hard.

The Desert Giant Worm’s body shuddered violently.

Then, its body burst with countless small white motes of light, which coalesced above it into two Cards.

"Hahahaha." Amid his wild laughter, Cao Biansheng was dragged away by Qin Ziwen.

The Tyrannosaurus charging from the east paused when it saw the Desert Giant Worm. It turned its head to glance at the humans, a cunning glint in its eyes.

It eventually walked over to the Desert Giant Worm, used its forelimbs to pry open the worm’s head, and stuck its snout inside.

It didn’t tear at the flesh. Instead, it pressed its massive nostrils close and began to inhale deeply, forcefully.

"Rooo..."

A low, satisfied rumble, completely different from its earlier roar, rolled from deep within its throat.

As if that wasn’t enough, it extended its rough tongue and began greedily licking every corner of the worm’s brain cavity, as if savoring an exquisite delicacy.

Watching this scene from a distance, a chill ran down everyone’s spines.

"What is it doing?"

"Are the worm’s brains really that good to huff?" Qin Ziwu muttered to himself.

Wang Yun guessed, "Could it be huffing the anesthetic fluid from the worm’s brain? Like how some dogs like to lick toads."

"Let’s pull back for now," Qin Ziwen said, glancing at the Car-Mounted Crossbow.

The thing was heavy. They could push it, but not with a Tyrannosaurus right there.

They would have to leave it here for now.

Qin Ziwen took two steps back, his expression flickering.

Just as the last Desert Giant Worm died,

he received a notification.

[Completed Hunting Celestial List Level 2 Task: Hunt Adult Desert Giant Worm x3]

[Reward Obtained: Human Physique Enhancement Card (One Star), 4 Points]

[Challenge Task Completed. Current Progress: 1/10]

[Esteemed Level 3 Authority Resident, you have obtained partial information for the next stage’s map.]

[Next Stage Map: Island]

[Next Stage Duration: 45 Days]

[Next Stage Reinforcements: None]

[Next Stage Type: Competition]

’So no reinforcements for the next stage, and the type has changed to Competition.’

’This stage’s challenge was a Hunting Celestial List task against Giant Beasts. So, will the next stage’s competition be among our own Gated Community, or between different Gated Communities?’

He pulled his thoughts back to the present. The next map was still a long way off. The main priority now was to figure out how to complete the ten hunting tasks.

It was already the tenth day since they’d been transported to the Gobi Desert.

They had only completed one of the ten tasks.

’We have to pick up the pace.’

The group retreated several hundred meters and watched the distant Tyrannosaurus.

After huffing for quite a while, the Tyrannosaurus shook its head, staggered to its feet, and lumbered back into the canyon, its thick tail swinging behind it.

Only after it was far in the distance did Qin Ziwen return to the worm’s corpse and retrieve the two Cards.

He noticed that the rewards for hunting the same type of beast diminished with each successive kill.

That evening, Zou Jianghe brought important news.

They had found a Desert Raptor on a cliff to the east. However, this one was larger than any they had previously encountered.

It was likely a Leader Level individual of its species.

"This is our target? Let’s find another one," Qin Ziwen suggested.

Du Yu shook his head. "Sir, tomorrow is the last day. We might not find another suitable target. At least compared to that Tyrannosaurus, this one is a much better fit."

"Hmm," Qin Ziwen nodded. At least against the Leader Level Desert Raptor, Du Yu still had a chance to win. Against the Tyrannosaurus... that chance was practically zero.

...

...