NOVEL NEXT Chapter 84: Finding Camp
The process of butchering was much harder than I thought, and some of the videos almost made me retch. I still went at it because I thought learning it would be a good thing. This is not because PVP played later but because I think cooking in this game would have benefits that other games typically had in the Mass multiplayer games in the days of old. Small buffs to powerful buffs, depending on the skill. Butchering and various other things may become useful later, maybe in making armor when reaching a higher level.
Imagine killing a large monster and skinning it for armor that could be stronger than most synthetic materials. Maybe that was a thing. Maybe not; no one knew except the developers at Gaben Corporation, and their lips were sealed. None of the employees leaked anything; the only information was from other players.
Still, it took a whole day of me logging off and on, leaving my new bounty in their cell.
I logged off and ate something before getting something bright, colorful, and tight. I had my pansexual flag latex outfit that was just in the colors. I wore that to bed, and the outline of my body seemed to be bringing more people into my sleep stream. Without engaging with them, I got up and shut down the stream before getting back to work.
I took some time to work out before showering and logging back in after being harsh on my body. I got in, and I started to go over cleaning up and feeding Ka' Tar before I went back outside and decided that I should hunt one more animal and butcher it before cooking. Then, I would interrogate Ka' Tar about the possible gang location for the Unique Quest.
What I did not expect after checking if the coast was clear and heading out into the jungle again was how much easier it felt to track things. It was like my sight automatically started to look for the signs after the last couple of days of looking out for them. Sure, not all of them were right or new, but I felt like I could see more than just the colors of the forest. Foliage and mold had a use other than being something in my eyes. There was information to be read as I walked in the forest, and I found it easier to navigate through it.
I never expected to get these things when doing this tracking. Soon, I found a beast that was thick in the center and with four tusk-looking things on the front, almost like a boar. It was digging at something. I decided to wait, and I lay in ambush. Suddenly, something came out of the ground, and the thing shook its body in triumph just before I put a bullet in where I assumed its heart was.
The thing squealed in some hoarse pig squeal then dropped to the ground. What a disappointing hunt, but the hunting itself was the reason I was out here at this time. I decided to pick up the corpse, and whatever that thing was, that was, the pig or boar thing, it dug out of the ground. I put it in my pack, and I started to drag the heavy corpse back to camp. It took me about as long to hunt down this thing as it took me to carry it back, and I did the same as I did with the other beast, strung it up, and cut the neck to drain the blood before I got to work talking with Ka' Tar.
It took a bit of talking with her, but she happily gave out the details of where things were located in the forest. There were three major gangs, and it seemed the area I was in was contested territory in the forest. Many of the smaller groups have been in the area, although further west than I was because there were more animals in that direction to hunt.
People seemed to be avoiding the area that I was in, and Ka' Tar’s group had been looking to try their luck in the area that was not as contested to see if there were bounty hunters. There was Me!
The gangs did not really call themselves anything. There was the Eastern Gang, headed by a boss who had a lot of influence around Saints Forest. The other gangs often traded with the eastern gang. Then, there were the northern and western gangs. These gangs were the main reason it was unprofitable to clean the forest. They lead the criminal town in the middle of the forest, but they also have a series of tunnels in the parts of the forest. They would be so entrenched that it would take a full complement of marines to clean them out.
Basically, the reason was that they were lazy and that the three forests on this planet actually were an economic benefit. Bounty Hunters would visit the planet to get slaves in the forests and to train their skills. Many would die, leaving their things to the planetary government. In Death Forest, the most dangerous of the three Bounty hunters have died and left Space ships for them to collect from them.
That made a lot more sense, and I was surprised by Ka' Tar’s depth of knowledge. When I asked about it, she sneered, “I have lived on this damn planet my whole life. I went to school to try and live a better life, but I lost everything just before I achieved my dreams. I know the political situation better than most.”
I shrugged, and I decided to get started. I contemplated what to do with Ka’ Tar and I smiled as I decided, and I tossed in enough food for five days. “Ration your food; I am headed out.” I told her, “I should be back in a day or two, and there is enough food for five days. Eat all of it in a short time, and I will not be happy.”
With that, I left her alone in the cavern after loading up a backpack and bringing my guns along. I locked her up, and I headed out, knowing the grim reality of her fate if I died out there. I did not plan to, but that would not be my problem if I did. I walked out into the valley once more after checking the clearing, and I was on the southeastern side of the forest. I took my tablet with me, and I started to head north.
Now, it was time to expand my area, and I started to trek out and mark some trees along the way in case I got lost. I used a simple symbol that pointed in the exact opposite direction from the valley. It was a stupid pathing system, but it was better than nothing.
I started in the morning and headed out with all my night gear, hoping to reach my destination at night. I wanted to find the eastern gang, and I continued to trek, looking for signs of people until I came across something. I found tracks of a large group of more than ten heading toward the valley I came from. The tracks were days old, and I smiled brightly and started to follow them the way they came.
To be honest, I did not understand why I did not look for something like this from the Valley out into the deeper forest, but that is on me. I was still learning and enjoying the experience of learning everything. Following these tracks was much easier than following animal tracks in this purple and blue landscape, and I decided at some point to stop and start to cover myself with foliage. I wanted to blend in, and no matter what, I planned to hide most of the time.
It took time to make my guns look dirty on the outside and tie some branches and leaves to my rifles in a way that did not block my scope or anything. Once I was done, I was heading again deeper into the forest. Hours later, I moved through the forest and wondered what Gabin Corporation thought about these types of battles that would happen in PVP in the future. I wondered if they would have PVE battles, too.
That would be interesting. We could compete to kill some massive raid boss together. My mind seemed to wander as I continued to scope out their tracks, and the day started to turn dark in the forest. And I stopped to eat and realized that my character was starting to get tired. I decided to press on as I knew the SleepyWonder could be up for a lot longer. I wondered if there would be stamina in the main universe as this felt like real life. You could stay up for three days straight, but you would be better off not doing that.
Darkness settled over the forest, and I continued following the obvious tracks for hours till I found signs of a camp. It was an old one, and there was trash left around. I signed and decided if this was a good spot for them, it would be for me, too. I wanted to sleep in the trees but could not find a good one nearby. So I layered up with what I had tied it close, laid it in the underbrush, and passed out.
When I awoke, I felt much more refreshed after trekking for a day, and I looked over myself, checking for any insects or pests. I found nothing, which was a relief even after stripping and taking my time to dress and put foliage on myself in even better condition. Then I started to head out, and it was only an hour later that I started to hear signs of people.
Instantly, I got to the ground and started to map out my way to where I heard the signs of the camp. I moved, heard someone curse to my left, and rolled into the underbrush. This was my go-to way of hiding, and I pulled my feet up and winced as I felt a stick pressing against my breast as I saw a Human walk out.
“Boss has increased patrols all around Jav. Stop complaining about it, or the boss will hear.” I heard a man speak.
“You know this damn well sucks, and if you don't tell him, then who will?” Another male voice snapped.
“Someone who damn well walks by! You haven't shut the fuck up about it for hours. I know you want to plow that new gang member, but you are going to have to wait till you are off shift.”
“Why don't the women damn well have to do rounds?” I heard him complain.
“Because they are better off letting our steam off. You know, I know, and the ladies know that it is better off this way. There is a third of them to all of us, and they willingly open their legs for us in return. You don't get those fucking rapey eyes I have seen with the new prisoners. Seriously, Jav. You will get yourself in trouble if you keep it up. I don't damn well mind because I like when they fight, but I also don't damage the merchandise like you do.”
“Fuck you, but yeah, I guess your right,” I heard them as they walked by and felt vile in my throat at the casual rape talk and sneered. I would love nothing more than to firebomb this damn camp. It seemed that what Emma said was true. She opened her legs because she had to do so for these stains of conscious beings. I was surprised that this was a Gabin Corporation game, and then I remembered that we were dealing with bandits. These were the shit stains of society, and I nodded to myself and started to move forward when I heard them off.
What started was a long crawl, and I counted the number of patrols walking around. There were five patrols, and they were circling something at a leisurely pace that took almost an hour to go around. That means every twelve minutes, there was a patrol walking around. They seemed to not really be expecting anything despite whatever their bosses were saying. Once inside their encirclement, I quickly found a large area cut into the forest. Instead of cutting the trees people were living in, they seemed to incorporate them into their designs. There was one massive building, and that seemed to be the central focus but not the most defended. That happened to be one with a bunch of solar panels aimed at a crack in the forest cover.
This was the Eastern Gangs base, and with a massive amount of their power going to that one place, I highly suspected what was tracking anything coming in was that building sucking up power. Over twenty solar panels are hooked up to it, and all the other buildings need only one; I could see no exception.
The question was, What was I going to do?
I was in a thick foliage bush just past the edge of the camp. I was between the patrols and heard the general noise from the camp. It seemed that the numbers were more than I had been expecting. So I put aside my pack in my bushes slowly, settled in, looked through my scope, and started taking in as much information on the camp as possible before nightfall.
It was scouting time, and I had to plan my attack perfectly.
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