Su Li nodded slightly, glancing outside at the sky that was nearly dark. Once night fell, all kinds of monsters would emerge, making it ten times more dangerous than during the day. Finding the sea cow beasts today was clearly unrealistic.
"Alright, tomorrow morning, we'll organize a team to search for the sea cow beasts' lair and try to hunt down as many as we can."
Soon, Xu Haishui arrived as well, carrying a statistical list that he handed to Su Li.
The list was densely packed with names—it was the complete roster of everyone in the "Golden Eagle Alliance," with their current levels noted in the back.
"Right now, there are four people at level 7, including you, Brother Su, Sister Gong, Ling Yi, and that Wu Feng," Xu Haishui said, pointing at the list as he explained. "There are 47 at level 6, 53 at level 5, and 17 at level 4."
Su Li looked over the list and noticed that there were still 25 people at level 3 or below, including several ordinary humans.
He wasn't surprised by this. Previously, when he managed the Zifeng Building, everyone hunted and evolved together, so even the weakest had reached level 5. But that was only possible because the group was small. Now, with the growing numbers and the expanding scale of the alliance, along with the division of labor, it was much harder for everyone to go out hunting together and help each other level up.
Moreover, he had already sensed the flaws in synchronized evolution. For example, these three buildings required people to handle daily cleaning, kitchen duties, and various logistical tasks—there were countless trivial matters to manage.
If everyone evolved at the same pace, problems would gradually arise.
For instance, when someone was an ordinary person or weak, they might willingly take on chores like washing dishes or cooking without complaint. But once they grew stronger and everyone reached level 5 or even level 6, who would still want to do these menial tasks? Let alone serve others.
Yet, an alliance organization needed people to fight, hunt, and gather new supplies, as well as handle logistical work. These numerous trivial tasks still required manpower—just like Su Li's decision to build floating bridges between these buildings, which was a significant project needing many hands.
Looking at the list, Su Li realized he needed to change his previous strategy.
"It seems that everyone doing their own job is the most reasonable approach," Su Li mused, deciding that tonight he wouldn't force everyone to go out and hunt monsters. Instead, he would adopt a voluntary principle.
Those unwilling to risk fighting monsters would stay behind to handle various logistical chores.
Those willing to fight and grow stronger would have their main responsibility be combat, searching for new supplies, and protecting the Golden Eagle Alliance when monsters or enemies invaded. They would face greater risks but also enjoy better treatment.
On the list, the 42 people who hadn't yet reached level 5 were mentally assigned by Su Li to the logistics team, while those at level 5 were considered regular combatants.
Those at level 6 were elites or managers.
After dinner, Su Li still led people to hunt on the floating island 300 meters from Golden Eagle Building B.
This time, he didn't force anyone but adopted a voluntary principle. Building B had 65 people, and most volunteered to go, mainly because many of them came from Zifeng Building and had developed the habit of hunting after dinner over the past few days, without needing Su Li's orders.
Golden Eagle Building A and Shimao Center were led by Jiang Shuijue and Wu Feng respectively. They also mobilized, launching nighttime hunts. They chose two other thirty-story buildings closer to them, using the rooftops as battlegrounds to lure monsters up and hunt them.
As Su Li had guessed, not only were they growing stronger every day, but the spirit source beasts were also becoming more powerful.
Tonight, a large number of spirit source beasts appeared, with a noticeable increase in level 6 monsters, roughly matching the number of level 5 monsters. Together, these two levels accounted for over 80% of all monsters. Additionally, level 7 monsters had also increased, making up about 10% of the total. These three levels combined accounted for over 90%, while monsters below level 5 were becoming increasingly rare.
The surge in level 6 monsters meant that the number of level 7 spirit source users born tonight would see an explosion.
Based on Su Li's estimate, among the 146 people in the Golden Eagle Alliance, only four were at level 7. But after tonight, the number of level 7 spirit source users would likely grow to at least ten or even over twenty.
The only thing he found regrettable was that while the number of level 7 monsters had increased, they still made up a small proportion compared to level 5 and level 6 monsters. Moreover, both he and Gong Xiao had reached level 7 and needed to hunt level 7 monsters.
After over an hour of hunting, Su Li obtained 48 effective spirit sources, bringing his total to 71. He still needed 39 more to reach the 110 required for a breakthrough.
"It's a bit of a shame, but I'll definitely reach level 8 tomorrow. Then I can open the blood crystal. I wonder what treasure it holds."
Su Li was fairly satisfied with the 48 effective spirit sources he had gathered tonight.
The next morning, as soon as Su Li finished washing up, Xu Haishui handed him a new list of statistics, recording the updated strength levels of everyone in the Golden Eagle Alliance.
Su Li looked at Xu Haishui with some surprise. This guy was truly talented. In just one day, he had established a new system, assigning a registrar to each building to record changes in everyone's strength levels. Those who leveled up had to report to the registrar for registration. Concealing or failing to report would result in penalties if discovered.
Of course, even so, some might still choose not to register after leveling up, so the list might have slight discrepancies, but overall, it wouldn't be far off.
Su Li looked at the new statistics. There were zero people at level 8, while the number at level 7 had grown from yesterday's four to 19. Level 6 had the most people, reaching a staggering 62. Level 5 had dropped to 24, level 4 had 16 (one fewer than yesterday), and those below level 4 remained at 25.
Scanning the list, Su Li saw that familiar names like Ding Longyun, Xu Haishui, Luo Jun, Jiang Shuijue, and Gu Mingfeng had all reached level 7.
This was expected. With so many level 6 monsters last night, the number of people reaching level 7 was bound to surge.
He praised Xu Haishui a few times, then asked him to send someone to invite Jiang Shuijue from Building A and Wu Feng from Shimao Center.
The Golden Eagle Alliance was facing a severe food shortage, and the top priority was to find food. Originally, he had planned to finish the alliance's affairs today and then head to Huating Community to continue searching for his girlfriend Wang Lan, but that would have to be postponed for now.
Soon, Jiang Shuijue and Wu Feng arrived.
Su Li explained the food shortage and the sea cow beasts that Jiang Shuijue had mentioned.
Wu Feng's eyes lit up. "There are edible sea cow beasts? Then let's head out immediately to find their lair and catch as many as we can."
Su Li said, "I called you here to discuss this. How about this: each building sends ten people, and I'll send twenty from here. Go back and hurry to build a few large rafts. We'll gather and set off in an hour."
According to Jiang Shuijue, each sea cow beast weighed over a thousand jin. Without a large enough raft, it would be difficult to transport them back even after hunting.
"Got it." Jiang Shuijue and Wu Feng immediately left to start preparations.
Su Li also gave orders, and Xu Haishui led the group to work on building large rafts.
Over the past few days, the Golden Eagle Alliance had built many rafts of various sizes, some tied with tires, others with water barrels to increase buoyancy. Now, building large rafts temporarily was simple—they just needed to combine these smaller rafts together.
An hour later, everyone gathered at the floating island on their large rafts.
The ten people from Golden Eagle Building A included Jiang Shuijue, Gu Mingfeng, and Ling Yi, riding two large rafts. From Shimao Center, Wu Feng led a group, including his girlfriend Lin Meimei and nine others, also on two large rafts.
Golden Eagle Building B had the most people, twenty in total, riding three rafts, led by Su Li, including Ding Longyun, Gong Xiao, Xu Xuehui, Luo Jun, Bai Wenwei, Jin Sixing, Ling Tian, Wang Xiaofei, and others.
Xu Haishui was left behind to hold the fort, while Su Li brought Xu Xuehui because of her eyes—they might come in handy at a critical moment.
All forty people were elite fighters at level 6 or 7, with no one below level 6, showing how seriously they took this sea cow beast hunt.
Seven large rafts carried forty elite members of the Golden Eagle Alliance, leaving the floating island and heading east.
Navigating in this endless water was difficult. Jiang Shuijue needed to first find the Jinhui Center Building, then use it as a reference to determine the approximate waters where he had seen the sea cow beast last time.
The distance from here to the Jinhui Center Building was about six or seven kilometers. The weather was good today, and everyone was in high spirits, chatting and laughing along the way.
These forty people were the true elites of the Golden Eagle Alliance. With such a strong group gathered together, they were all confident about this sea cow beast hunt.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the Jinhui Center Building.
The building was now empty. Jiang Shuijue used it as a center point and directed everyone to travel about a kilometer southwest.
"This is the direction toward Zifeng Building," Su Li immediately noticed. The southwest of Jinhui Center Building was where Zifeng Building was located.
"Right," Jiang Shuijue nodded. "Last time, I was in this area, about a kilometer from Jinhui Center, and I saw a sea cow beast. Based on what I know, sea cow beasts don't stray far from their lairs, so the lair should be around here, not far away. But exactly where, we'll need to search."