After Xu Yuan and Barbecue Sauce parted ways, he walked alone toward the depths of the dense forest.
This was also the first stop he was going to explore, the dense forest region.
Seeing Xu Yuan's departing figure, although Barbecue Sauce felt a bit lonely, he quickly adjusted his mindset.
Flapping his wings, he flew toward the cobbler villager.
At this moment, in the northern plains region of the dense forest, Notch, who had just refused an invitation to team up from a group of solo players, was sitting on a raised grass block, thinking about his next move.
The task assigned to him when he entered the Trial Grounds was to act as an observer.
This also coincided with his original intention in entering the Trial Grounds.
As a game developer, he naturally wanted to study this suddenly appearing and unofficial dungeon in detail.
This was also the reason why he refused the invitations from those solo players.
Although teaming up with other players could improve survival chances, if he did team up, players would most likely just survive in a fixed area.
If it was only to survive but he lost the meaning of exploring, Notch felt it would be better to adventure alone.
Just as Notch was thinking about his next plan, several "gurgle gurgle" sounds interrupted his thoughts.
The source of the gurgling sound was Notch's stomach.
Seeing this, Notch opened his backpack, trying to find something to eat and fill his stomach, but to no avail.
Looking at his soon-to-be-zero hunger bar, and the backpack with nothing to eat, Notch finally understood the reason behind the 1% pass rate shown on the initial test signboard.
"No way? A dignified game developer is actually going to starve to death?!"
Having been in the Trial Grounds for a while now, Notch naturally had come to understand the unique food spoilage mechanic here.
At first, Notch had found it quite interesting and thought this feature was clever. But at this moment, when hunger hit himself, he no longer found it interesting.
Seeing the situation, Notch immediately began searching the map for food.
After circling the nearby area, he finally had some gains.
Not far away, a little pig was leisurely strolling on the grass. Seeing this, Notch couldn't help but swallow his saliva.
Then he took out a stone axe and slowly approached the pig. When he got close to the pig and was about to swing the axe, he suddenly noticed the pig looking at him.
In that moment of eye contact, Notch couldn't help but freeze slightly.
"Emmmm... You… if you can understand me, grunt twice?..."
Notch naturally knew that many sentient animals had entered the Trial Grounds. This was also the reason he didn't act immediately.
As a game creator, he could empathize more deeply with these sentient beings. Naturally, he couldn't bring himself to harm another living creature just to survive, even though he clearly understood that death in the Trial Grounds didn't mean real death.
The pig in front of him didn't respond to Notch's words, nor did it attack Notch. It just turned around and ran off into the distance.
Seeing this, Notch was a bit confused. "This… does it have awareness or not?..."
Though unsure of the situation, Notch still chased after the pig.
Not long after chasing, Notch saw a llama emerging from the nearby grass.
Watching Notch's departing figure, the llama quickly chased after him too...
After following the little pig for a while, the pig finally stopped.
Notch, who had caught up, instinctively slowed down and began observing the surroundings.
When he clearly saw the surroundings, he was a bit stunned.
"Is it… leading the way for me?..."
Looking around, scattered across the grassland were many yellowish-orange ripe pumpkins.
The pig had just arrived at one of the pumpkins and immediately began to feast.
Seeing this, Notch became even more confused. At this moment, it was even harder to determine whether this pig had consciousness or not.
If it had awareness, it didn't seem to understand Notch's words.
If it didn't, its behavior didn't seem like that of a mindless creature either.
Notch looked at the stone axe in his hand, then at the pig happily eating in front of him.
In the end, Notch chose to aim the axe at the tasty pumpkins on the ground.
Notch's ultimate goal was to find food.
He couldn't be sure whether the pig had consciousness or not, but at least he could be sure that these pumpkins didn't.
Since the hunger problem could be solved, there was no need to harm the pig. Notch picked up his stone axe and immediately began his harvest journey.
"Leaving three pumpkins for the pig should be enough, right? From the remaining five, eat two first… the rest make into pumpkin seeds..."
While harvesting pumpkins, Notch was also making plans.
Just then, a "puht" sound was heard.
As the sound rang out, Notch felt something wet at the back of his head, followed by a wave of pain. His health immediately dropped by half a heart.
Notch immediately turned around, only to see not far away, a brown llama had appeared without him knowing when.
At this moment, it was raising its neck, throat swelling as if charging up an attack.
Seeing this, Notch didn't have time to think and quickly lifted a pumpkin he had just chopped to block in front of him.
Just as the pumpkin was raised, he heard a burst of machine-gun-like spitting sounds.
He saw saliva "bullets" spraying from the llama's throat like a rapid-fire gun.
"Puht puht puht puht…"
Luckily, Notch used the pumpkin in time to block, barely avoiding a fatal "saliva" attack.
Seeing that its attack had been blocked, the llama adjusted its position. Once again, it raised its neck high, Adam's apple moving rapidly, as if preparing for a second round.
Seeing this, Notch was jolted and hurriedly tried to lift the same pumpkin again. But he found the pumpkin in his hand had already been riddled with holes from the last round of spit.
At this moment, that sound rang out again, "Phuuh..."
Hearing it, Notch knew it was already too late. With a resigned heart, he lifted the battered pumpkin once more in front of him.
Just as he braced for the "saliva" onslaught, what greeted him wasn't the familiar "puht puht puht" machine gun of spit. But a few dry coughs.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Hearing these coughs, Notch was stunned. "Huh? Choked on phlegm?!"
Seeing the llama choke, Notch finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But he didn't let down his guard. Seeing the llama didn't intend to leave, he quickly put down the pumpkin and pulled a wooden block from his backpack to shield himself, still maintaining a defensive stance.
Seeing Notch's actions, the llama was a bit surprised.
Notch's behavior was too strange. Notch clearly had a weapon. When it was choked on phlegm, Notch had enough time to take it out and counterattack.
But Notch still stayed in defense, showing no sign of attacking.
'Could it be that he's too cautious and afraid I have a backup move?' Thinking of this, the llama shook his head, denying his own guess.
'His strength test showed a 95% pass rate! He must know just now was the best chance to turn the tide...'
This spit-attack-specialist llama was named Stephen, and he was a member of the Biological Association.
Although he knew about Notch's test results, his encounter with Notch was purely accidental.
Stephen had originally come to the plains hoping to meet other animals to form an alliance. But unexpectedly, he encountered Notch here.
Before entering the Trial Grounds, Stephen had done some homework.
When doing the pass rate test, he intentionally ranked himself later, so he could learn the results of other contestants in advance.
Notch's pass rate had clearly caught his attention. Naturally, Notch's unique appearance was also firmly remembered by Stephen.
After meeting Notch, Stephen planned to ambush him. Clearly, Notch belonged to the player camp, and he had such a high pass rate. If he could eliminate Notch, it would mean one less powerful player for the opposing side.
That would be advantageous for Stephen's animal faction.
Seeing Notch about to attack the pig, Stephen prepared to launch his own attack. But Notch's movement suddenly stopped.
Stephen thought Notch had detected him and didn't dare to act rashly. But to his surprise, Notch followed the pig.
Although he didn't know what was happening, Stephen didn't want to waste the opportunity. So he followed along.
After catching up, he discovered Notch didn't kill the pig but instead started harvesting pumpkins.
Seeing Notch had almost finished collecting the pumpkins and was about to approach the pig, Stephen finally couldn't resist launching an attack.
/AmbitiousTranslator The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the ɴovel(ꜰ)ɪre.nᴇt
🥳Joining keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through .