CHAPTER 624: CHAPTER 623: EATING SOMEONE ALIVE, I AM VERY SORRY

[Please select the specific contents of the "Drop Treasure Box (Demonized Emperor Crocodile)"]

[Item One: ?]

[Item Two: ?]

[Item Three: ?]

[Item Four: ?]

[Item Five: ?]

"As a Second Tier Three Star monster with a soul point value of seventy-five, the items in the treasure box of a Demonized Emperor Crocodile really shouldn’t be too shabby. My wishes aren’t too much either, just hoping to find a piece of Purple Quality equipment from the Demonized Emperor Crocodile’s Blue Treasure Box that also increases the Physical Recovery Speed would be enough."

Compared to the defensive power bonus provided by the Demon Ape Leg Armor, Zhang Yanhang indeed preferred the Physical Recovery Speed Bonus provided by the Grey Maned Arm Guard, since the Physical Recovery Speed Bonus is significantly more useful to him right now.

The main reason is that his current defensive power is actually sufficient, and even if he continues to increase it, it would no longer enhance his hunting efficiency. However, Physical Recovery Speed is different, as faster recovery directly increases his hunting efficiency.

Thus, from this aspect, the Physical Recovery Speed Bonus indeed proves more useful to Zhang Yanhang, and it’s not just during sleep where it plays a role—that’s just one aspect.

The Physical Recovery Speed Bonus is at work all day; during sleep, it allows him to wake up faster, and while hunting monsters, a faster recovery of physical strength allows him to operate longer without rest; otherwise, he absolutely couldn’t manage thirteen straight hours of work today. Previously, being able to work ten consecutive hours was already quite an achievement.

Therefore, from this perspective, the Physical Recovery Speed Bonus is slightly superior to a mere increase in physical stamina limit, but only slightly, because compared to the stamina limit, the extension of endurance provided by the recovery speed bonus isn’t that substantial.

So, it can be said that both have their own merits. However, because Zhang Yanhang’s physical stamina limit has recently become exceptionally high due to consuming too many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures combined with Talent bonuses, he’s begun to experience the law of diminishing returns lately.

Meanwhile, this is the first time Zhang Yanhang has acquired a bonus in Physical Recovery Speed, which naturally makes it quite pronounced. Normally, physical stamina limit and Physical Recovery Speed increase simultaneously with the growth of the Constitution Attribute.

Regrettably, compared to the part of his physical stamina limit that increases with his Constitution Attribute, he has gained much more from various additional factors, even significantly more.

And those additional gains in physical stamina limit don’t come with a synchronous boost in Physical Recovery Speed, leading to Zhang Yanhang’s current Physical Recovery Speed appearing particularly weak, where even a slight bonus can make a big difference.

Therefore, for others, Physical Recovery Speed Bonus might be comparable to a Physical Stamina Limit Increase, but for the current Zhang Yanhang, the Physical Recovery Speed Bonus is indeed more beneficial, naturally leading him to desire more equipment that can enhance his Physical Recovery Speed.

Like the Drop Treasure Box from this Demonized Emperor Crocodile, from Zhang Yanhang’s experience, if there’s equipment inside, it would definitely be of Purple Quality, and maybe even a mere fusion could enhance it to Dark Purple Quality, which would likely offer significant Physical Recovery Speed bonuses and increase his hunting efficiency once again.

[Item One]

[Option One: 75 Soul Points]

[Option Two: Demonized Bay Crocodile, Green quality, Pet]

[Option Three: 750 Soul Points]

"Hmm? The first item is already a pet? Demonized Bay Crocodile... but why do these prehistoric creatures’ treasure boxes always contain such modern-life creatures that, apart from their appearance, actually bear no kinship to prehistoric creatures? Is it really just because they look alike that they’re lumped together?"

But despite his complaints, Zhang Yanhang still couldn’t help but check the attribute list of this Green Quality Demonized Bay Crocodile, which turned out to be a First Tier Three-Star Demonized Creature. However, like the Demonized Emperor Crocodile, this one is also relatively large in size and mass, but its combat capabilities are not very impressive.

According to the description in the attribute list, adult male Bay Crocodiles can be about five to seven meters long and weigh at least half a ton, with some reaching up to 1.5 tons.

The adult female Bay Crocodile is less impressive; it’s roughly half the length of the male and much lighter, and its combat power is significantly weaker, equating it to a First Tier Two-Star Monster, which is a huge disparity compared to the male Bay Crocodile.

According to Zhang Yanhang’s knowledge, Bay Crocodiles have strong reproductive capabilities, belonging to those species that are far from endangered and even quite prevalent in the Main World. This is mainly because they primarily live in Southeast Asia and Australia.

Southeast Asia, with its tropical climate, is obviously suitable for most animals to thrive.

Moreover, due to the presence of many "Wild Men," literally primitive beings who have been separated from human civilization for tens of thousands of years—to the point of nearly undergoing reproductive isolation—Bay Crocodiles find ample prey there, routinely "eating a person raw, I’m very sorry," earning them the nickname "Cannibal Crocodile."

Though their numbers have declined slightly as Southeast Asian countries have stepped into modern society, in Australia, where the land is rich, the Bay Crocodiles have never been controlled and continue to grow wildly.

Originally dealing a harsh blow to the convicts exiled there, the Bay Crocodiles began to "thank nature’s bounty," but unfortunately, their heyday didn’t last long as the convicts quickly relocated their settlements, distancing themselves from the large number of wild animals.

However, in recent years, the population of Bay Crocodiles has reached hundreds of thousands, gradually impacting the ecological environment. Coupled with their high economic value, people have specifically hunted Bay Crocodiles, although the hunting rate can hardly keep up with their natural reproduction rate.

As for where exactly their economic value lies, crocodile wallets are a good example, and they can also be used to make crocodile leather shoes and a myriad of crocodile products.

Moreover, besides skinning, crocodile meat tastes quite delicious, somewhat similar to chicken but more tender. Just a simple cooking to remove the gamey flavor can make it very tasty, so the meat is also quite expensive, basically reaching the level of Australian Wagyu, selling for around two to three hundred yuan per kilogram.

Additionally, some tastier parts like crocodile legs and tails are more expensive than the belly and neck, reaching prices of three to four hundred yuan.

With such high prices and the crocodiles’ enormous half-ton weight, just hunting one could earn tens of thousands of yuan from the meat alone, with the cost of just a few bullets. Compared to traditional farming, the profit margin is purely a dimension reduction attack.

Of course, the most important thing is to have official and legal sales channels, as selling wild animals without a slaughtering permit is illegal, which can easily lead to being reported and ending up bankrupt and in prison, with a grand view of the jail cells.

[Item Two]

[Option One: Demonized Emperor Crocodile’s upper jaw, blue quality, material]

[Option Two: 375 Soul points]

[Option Three: 750 Soul points]

"The first item is Soul points, and the second item is Soul points again. Although I’m already very used to this, sometimes I really can’t help but complain, even though compared to other assorted options, Soul points are my forever love, I still can’t help but want to complain a bit.

The drop treasure box from the Demonized Emperor Crocodile offers an option worth 750 Soul points; the first option was about Soul points, and this time it’s the second option about Soul points. If all goes as expected, I should be able to get a third Soul points option next, so altogether, I should gain a total of 2250 Soul points."

Although each Demonized Emperor Crocodile’s drop treasure box could provide Zhang Yanhang with 2250 Soul points, equivalent to the total benefit of killing nine hundred ordinary zombies including their drop boxes, unfortunately, this time Zhang Yanhang only obtained one drop treasure box from a Demonized Emperor Crocodile.

Thus, such a high yield of Soul points is not yet sustainable, but although it is this way this time, it might not necessarily be the same next time. After all, after Zhang Yanhang finishes opening the treasure box and resting, he will move on to the third stage of the cleaning plan in the demonized swamp.

And the third stage’s Western Forest is only seventy-five square kilometers in area, considering today’s cleaning speed of six minutes per square kilometer, it shouldn’t take too much time, or rather, by the time he finishes the Eastern Forest, he will definitely still have stamina left.

Therefore, during the day today, he might be able to complete the third stage of the demonized swamp cleaning plan and then also execute the fourth stage, which involves cleaning the lacustrine area towards the northwest. That part of the area is not very large, only about sixty square kilometers.

Although Zhang Yanhang is not particularly skilled at swimming, he is still quite confident about cleaning the lakes, as the monster population there isn’t large, having only the Demonized Emperor Crocodile.

Even if the aquatic environment definitely wouldn’t favor his Movement Speed advantage, causing his hunting efficiency to likely be less than ideal, the fewer the monsters, the faster the cleaning speed would naturally increase.

Thus, for this sixty-kilometer lacustrine area, Zhang Yanhang feels he might actually achieve the same cleaning efficiency as in a normal area.

If he truly can achieve that level of cleaning efficiency, then the seventy-five square kilometers of the Western Forest plus the sixty square kilometers of the lake area, together only totaling one hundred thirty-five square kilometers.

Today he has already managed to clear one hundred thirty square kilometers of the Eastern Forest in one go, and clearing one hundred thirty-five square kilometers of the Western Forest combined with the lake area tomorrow shouldn’t be a problem either, especially since he will keep enhancing his Rhythm Talent after opening the drop treasure box.

With the Talent Level increase, it will naturally also increase his Movement Speed bonus and consequently greatly boost his hunting efficiency, at least decreasing the cleaning time per square kilometer to under five minutes should definitely be achievable.

So, if he can really manage a one-time clean of the Western Forest followed by a rapid cleaning of the lake area, then the situation with the Demonized Emperor Crocodile’s drop treasure boxes could naturally become normalized.

For this bright vision, Zhang Yanhang could only say he would definitely try his best to accomplish it, as to what extent he can achieve, it just depends on how much interference the lake environment would cause him.

[Item Three]

[Option One: Prehistoric Giant Beast, D-Level Quality, Talent]

[Option Two: Demonized Life Form (Maned Tooth Beast), D-Level Quality, Talent]

[Option Three: Demonized Life Form (Emperor Crocodile), D-Level Quality, Talent]

"The third option finally isn’t about Soul points, and indeed, despite it being the third option, it still didn’t reveal anything related to Equipment or Artifact. It seems that new equipment or new artifacts are definitely going to hit rock bottom this time.

But the good thing is there are only two options left, whether the fourth option appears or the fifth option."

According to Zhang Yanhang’s intuition, he feels the probability of the fourth option revealing Equipment is higher. As to whether his intuition is reliable or not, who knows, after all, he’s not a Saint, and hasn’t specifically developed a sixth sense.

Although as a Second Tier Peak Awakened, his special perception is definitely better than ordinary people, intuition is a tricky thing, unless there’s some relevant special ability, otherwise, unreliability is the most normal outcome.

Of course, as an Intelligence Series Awakener with an Intelligence Attribute reaching fifty points, Zhang Yanhang’s intuition is actually quite reliable, at least more so than other non-Intelligence Series Awakeners, and many times the things sensed by intuition do come true.

For instance, sometimes his intuition tells him whether Zhao Yalan is at home when he’s bored, and when he scans to see if Zhao Yalan is indeed at home based on the answer, most of the time it’s accurate.

However, what’s slightly regrettable is that the colors he scans are always so unchanging, with only very few instances where he could detect some purple lace or black lace styles, which compared to the most ordinary pink lace, Zhang Yanhang indeed prefers these rare styles.