The core industries of the company currently consist of three parts: the Mushroom Forest, sweet potatoes, and peanut fields.

To ensure the stable output of explosive mushrooms in the Mushroom Forest and to further cultivate Monster Attraction Mushrooms to protect the newly reclaimed farmland from harm, we must address the Winter Beast issue.

Zhou Yi specifically asked Sun Chonglai.

Logically, the Bone Man had lived in the Mushroom Forest for 70 years and had a far deeper understanding and knowledge of the region than the inhabitants of Mao Valley Town.

And Sun Chonglai indeed knew some secrets that others did not.

"It's a Guangna Species of great strength, and even the explosion of explosive mushrooms hardly hurts it; it can move on the ground in leaps like a bird or stride quickly, and it can also glide in the air."

"Our main approach is to hide, when winter comes and the Winter Beast arrives, we take shelter inside the body of Jade City underground—back then it couldn't move, and we would come out of Jade City after winter had passed."

The Bone Man said, "There is one thing that is very strange, though."

"When it first descended, the Winter Beast was extremely powerful, gigantic in size, blocking out the sun, but it didn't attack the Mushroom Forest; it just flew overhead. The second winter, however, the Winter Beast assaulted the Mushroom Forest, killing many Black Hand Mushrooms, but Black Hand Mushrooms can't produce Light Seeds, and normally Guangna Species wouldn't do such meaningless things. But it seemed to be unaware of that, it felt a lot dumber, and this time it also indiscriminately slaughtered various Guangna Species..."

"Another thing is, the Winter Beast got a bit thinner."

"My guess is that there are two Winter Beasts, one large and one small. The larger one is the adult, experienced, while the smaller one is still growing, still learning further. The adult has chosen Mao Valley Town as a place to train the young Winter Beast in hunting skills."

The Bone Man concluded, "We can't rule out the possibility that the larger Winter Beast is still out there."

...

We must give our all against the enemy.

Zhou Yi was ready, poised to mobilize Jade City at any moment to engage in field combat with the Winter Beast.

He also reminded everyone in the company to prioritize safety above all, advising the Agricultural Machinery Brothers and the Mushroom Forest team led by the Bone Man to stay out of sight, with safety being of utmost importance.

Red Kestrel would patrol back and forth between the Mushroom Forest and Jade City twice a day to ensure the Winter Beast's tracks could be detected at the earliest opportunity.

Normally, the Winter Beast would arrive within two or three days after the first snowfall.

However, for some reason, the Winter Beast was late this winter.

This made Zhou Yi think of the Red Kestrel.

In the Wasteland Era, neither the new humans nor the Guangna Species seemed to be very punctual.

On the fifth day, Red Kestrel transmitted an unexpected message.

"In the territory of the clawed pigs in the northern region, a Hunter has been spotted."

"It is currently hunting the Claw Pig Group."

Zhou Yi felt a headache coming on.

If they didn't come at all it was one thing, but to come all at once?

No matter.

Deal with this one first.

The feces of the clawed pig were a key ingredient for Monster Attraction Mushrooms, forming a part of the industrial chain; this group was also an important natural resource for the Wasteland Development Company, and their survival had to be ensured.

Zhou Yi immediately ordered, "Target the Hunter."

"Jade City, activate!"

With the command given, the elevator-like towering structure slowly rose, its base supported by a framework of steel rebars intertwined into iron bones, and a large amount of soil enveloping it in a thick sandy boot. This was unlike the previous weightless steps—it was now walking with a grounded wave motion, more stable and efficient.

Jade City initially maintained a constant gliding motion, then quickly began to accelerate, its vast shell transforming into a giant shockwave scorching across the ground, leaving two wide, even trenches in the land.

From inside Room 3101, Zhou Yi watched through the window.

It faced the north, and the sand and stones on both sides kept falling back.

It was a good thing that he could interact with Jade City on a mental level, with minimal delay and high precision. Otherwise, just directing the movement and direction of such a giant would be a serious challenge to one's technical proficiency.

Inside the room, there was only a slight sensation of bumpiness.

If there was one small drawback, it was that Jade City stopped providing water and heating while moving; everything was focused on maintaining movement.

The Sliding Sand Giant reached the scene of the incident, 20 kilometers away, in just 18 minutes. Its peak speed could reach 100 kilometers per hour, about the same as an express train, only it couldn't maintain high speeds for long durations.

Zhou Yi was completely overwhelmed by the full-powered Jade City.

He belatedly realized that land transportation could be completely handled by driving Jade City; aside from the considerable consumption, the speed was quite impressive.

...

Arriving at the location of the target.

Through the camera of Red Kestrel, Zhou Yi saw what the Hunter looked like.

In the guidebook, it resembled a large white flower.

But in reality, this "flower" was much too large, the size of a basketball court.

It hovered in mid-air, its petal-like limbs capturing clawed pigs on the ground. With the dexterity of claw machine gameplay, it skillfully twisted, pulling the skeletons out and stuffing them into its tripartite mouth-like digestive organs.

The discarded skin, flesh, and innards left a trail of blood on the snow.

Clawed pigs were fleeing with all their might, but their speed was just too slow in the presence of the Hunters, who had the ability to fly.

The only thing that was somewhat time-consuming was extracting the Light Seed from the corpses.

Some clawed pigs even went to their deaths intentionally, to buy their companions time and space to escape.

The Hunters enjoyed their murderous journey.

With [Alert] enhancing him, Zhou Yi saw the Hunters' bodies glowing red, signifying extreme danger.

Red Kestrel said, "Hunters are accustomed to honing their skills by killing their prey."

"Besides absorbing Light Seeds, they specifically prey on fresh spines. This species has a somewhat special physiological structure. They are shaped like mollusks, but their entire bodies are covered with a layer of soft cartilage. When they attack, Hunters can twist, harden, and even sharpen their bodies. Their multi-legged limbs can all become sharp weapons."

"They consume the bones of other life forms to further expand and strengthen their bodies."

Zhou Yi immediately made a connection, "Why does this remind me of Bone Fish?"

"Because it is a higher evolutionary direction of Bone Fish."

Red Kestrel said, "This Hunter, whether it is weak or injured, is very unstable in itself and can't fully be considered a B-level creature. It should be the one that was hunting long-necked crocodiles in the northern Dead Sea."

All these observations and communications were completed in an instant.

Zhou Yi's combat commands had already been issued.

Jade City glowed brightly, and around its center, the ground slowly rose, forming the rudimentary shapes of houses. In less than 1 minute, fifteen flying houses had taken form and ascended.

The Hunter also took notice of this architectural life form.

But instead of leaving, it abandoned the clawed pigs and flew towards them.

Red Kestrel deduced, "The mechanical strength of Jade City itself is very attractive to Hunters. They always want to hunt the spines of strong mechanical lives."

Zhou Yi's expression turned cold.

Let's see which of us is tougher, then.

The engines warmed up.

The falling flying houses traced red trajectories, completely sealing off the Hunter's range of movement and detonated instantly.

In the midst of the huge boom, a bright light arose from the center of the explosion.

The light dispersed the concentrated explosive energy in all directions, creating a crater-like radial area on the ground, which produced streaks of glass emitting steam.

In the pit was a glowing spherical object.

The Hunter had transformed into a milky white, huge glass sphere, and its smooth surface now had several cracks, leaking out some kind of light blue slime.

It seemed that being injured only made it angrier, and it sped towards them for an attack.

"This is [Light Prism Outer Bone]."

Red Kestrel analyzed the live imagery for real-time data comparison: "This ability disperses and weakens external energy impacts, with its effectiveness depending on mastery."

Zhou Yi thought it was a pity.

This damage reduction was a bit tricky.

The flying house bombing itself was meant for area coverage. Facing opponents with special defense mechanisms, the lack of single-point breakthrough capability was exposed.

In flight, the Hunter's form quickly changed to a structure resembling a trapezoidal prism.

As it closed the distance, a beam of intense light shot directly from its frontal surface onto Jade City, seemingly attempting to pierce right through this massive Dead Sea Alien. This sudden attack caused ripple-like shockwaves and shadows on the surface of Jade City, along with rising plumes of white smoke.

But Zhou Yi was not panicking in the slightest.

Jade City's least concern was this kind of direct energy impact.

Just as he expected, the point-to-point attack caused limited damage, with a significant portion absorbed into Jade City's body, becoming an energy reserve.

Realizing the attack was ineffective, the Hunter promptly stopped.

But it did not seem to want to give up, circling around Jade City, reverting to its spherical form to continue the standoff.

Zhou Yi was also a bit vexed.

The Hunter had the ability to fly, and [Light Prism Outer Bone] made it good at both offense and defense.

The strength of this nearly B-level creature was still beyond his expectations.

Trouble had come...

He needed to figure out a way to kill this thing.

Unexpectedly, the other party spoke first.

"Why has this monster invaded my hunting grounds? What exactly are you up to? I will not allow you to steal my prey here! Are you trying to instigate a war with our clan?"

Zhou Yi was stunned.

The Hunter could actually communicate directly.

Its hunting grounds?

Meaning... was I the intruder?