017 End of the Protection Period: Jurassic World 1.0 Officially Arrives

Two days passed quickly, and it was now the one hundred and eightieth day since entering the game.

With twenty minutes left until noon, on the western side of the Northson Plains, at the west slope of Horseshoe Mountain Heights, Yang Jie patrolled the defensive line on the town’s western flank, dressed in a rough hemp coat. The sun blazed overhead, and the coarse fabric felt no better than a cement sack pressed against his skin.

Uncomfortable as it was, it was still better than nothing.

The gentle five-hundred-meter slope ahead, after two months of forced labor and overtime, had finally been transformed into a five-meter-high city wall—though “city wall” was not quite accurate.

It was more like two platforms with a five-meter elevation difference. Where they met, a wall had been built from clay, stone, and inferior bricks; it was about a meter wide, just enough for two ratmen to walk shoulder to shoulder. From the outside, the whole wall looked as if it had been piled up with yellow earth, no different from a rammed-earth rampart.

At the center of the wall stood a gate tower, five meters tall and eight meters wide, blocked by wooden planks. Outside the gate, a two-hundred-meter-long gentle slope marked the meeting point of Horseshoe Mountain Heights and the Northson Plains.

But don’t think opening the gate meant enemies could charge in at will. Past the gate lay an inner compound of about three hundred square meters, enclosed on all sides by five-meter-high earthen walls. Within, a five-centimeter-thick gate panel blocked passage; only by breaking through this panel could one reach the outskirts of the town.

Old Sha followed Yang Jie eagerly, explaining every detail of the defensive works’ construction with great enthusiasm, as if afraid he might be replaced at any moment.

Within the inner city stood two tall arrow towers, each about ten meters high, flanking the gate and pressed right up against the wall. Each tower could hold a maximum of five rats at once, and from within, the entire slope outside was in full view.

Inside the walls, two hundred ratman warriors stood in neat formation, fully alert. After Yang Jie’s modern military training, the army’s appearance had been completely transformed.

One-Eye stood at the head of the ranks, with his deputy Hank at his right, and the instructor Shuke to his left.

The two hundred ratmen stood in perfect order. Despite the blazing sun, the entire force exuded a murderous aura and remained immovable.

Behind them, another detachment of about two hundred reservists stood ready. These were elite auxiliaries selected from all walks of town life, prepared to rush into battle at a moment’s notice.

Yang Jie stood at the very center of the gate tower. To his left was Twitch, a legendary hero who had reached level nine, and to his right, the town’s administrative second-in-command, Wendy.

“To your positions!” Shuke’s command rang out, and the entire force instantly dispersed—shield-bearers and spearmen rushing up the wall, crossbowmen climbing the arrow towers or waiting in place atop the inner wall.

Gazing at the well-trained ratman army and the solid fortifications, a smile appeared on Yang Jie’s lips. He was filled with confidence for the coming siege.

Noon arrived, and the system chime sounded as expected.

“Attention, all lord players! The protection period has ended—Jurassic Park 1.0 officially begins. Please prepare your defenses.”

On the western bank of the Tam River, a kilometer west of Horseshoe Mountain Heights, a ripple of energy flashed in the air, and fifty powerful adult velociraptors materialized out of nowhere.

As a beta tester for “Tower Defense and Civilization,” Yang Jie knew these velociraptors’ stats inside and out.

An adult velociraptor measured about three meters from snout to tail, weighed between 120 and 160 kilograms, but most importantly—its speed. On open ground, it could outrun even a cheetah.

A hunting cheetah on the African plains could cover a hundred meters in about 6.5 seconds; by comparison, the velociraptor was undeniably a formidable predator of the Jurassic era.

Yet these fifty were merely the first wave in tower defense mode—among carnivorous dinosaurs, they were the weakest.

In the mobile game’s previous iterations, the system adjusted the monsters’ strength according to each player’s civilization level. For instance, a lord still in the Stone Age would face only half the usual siege difficulty.

Yang Jie knew his greatest advantage lay in this five-meter-high wall—the reason he’d ordered Old Sha to finish it at all costs.

Encountering a pack of velociraptors in the open would spell disaster; if the ratmen’s formation broke, it would be a slaughter. These dinosaurs were nothing like the clumsy brontosaurs; the ratmen had no advantage whatsoever.

Not just Yang Jie, but every lord in the game now had to withstand three waves of dinosaur sieges. Failure meant total annihilation of their tribe, but surviving all three waves and earning a high rank promised incredible rewards.

Yang Jie had prepared all this time with the top prizes in mind—the rewards were simply too tempting.

3...

2...

1...

[Countdown over. The first wave of dinosaur siege has begun!]

The velociraptors, previously standing idle, instantly charged toward the city gate at the center of the northern wall.

They moved with terrifying speed, closing the distance with each second.

Just as they came within three hundred meters of the gate, a system notification sounded, freezing Yang Jie’s elated expression in place.

“Congratulations to Lord Tao Changkong for becoming the first to complete the first wave. Clear time: 37.64 seconds.”

Yang Jie: $¥$&》......

“Congratulations to Lord Jiang Yuan for becoming the second to complete the first wave. Clear time: 38.11 seconds.”

As the system announcements kept coming, Yang Jie stared at the approaching raptor horde, pinched his thigh, and wondered if any of this could possibly be real...

“System, I want to report someone for cheating!”

[Report invalid!]

...

One minute earlier—

On the west side of Charka Basin, the minotaur chieftain Kamu, now at level seventeen, stood at the head of his tribe’s ranks—almost face-to-face with the spawning velociraptors.

The minotaur patriarch Tao Changkong had chosen not to play it safe; he led his people directly to the monster spawn point.

As the countdown ended and the fifty raptors prepared to move—

Kamu, the five-meter-tall minotaur chieftain, let out a thunderous roar.

He lifted his right foot and stomped the ground with tremendous force.

This was Kamu’s signature skill: War Stomp!

With a violent tremor, every raptor within a ten-meter radius was instantly stunned.

Without pause, Kamu gripped his giant battle-axe with both hands and brought it down in a sweeping arc!

A faint shockwave tore straight through the entire raptor pack.

Shockwave Strike!

Then, with unstoppable might, the minotaur chieftain became an onrushing locomotive. Amid the earth-shaking roars of his kin, he charged into the densest part of the raptor horde.

The lead velociraptors were sent flying more than thirty meters, their bodies shattering, dead before they hit the ground.

The last surviving raptor was unceremoniously smashed into paste by his mighty axe—ending the siege in just 37.64 seconds.

...

Meanwhile, for Yang Jie, things would clearly take much more effort...