HIDDEN THREATS AND NEW HOME

"Boss, look, there's a person with a raft. Plus, they're heading towards a place we weren't initially planning to settle," said one of the three people watching Fer leave on the raft towards Herbivore Island.

"Yes, boss, it's likely this guy will take the place we were originally planning to establish as our base. If he has an affiliated tribe with many members, it'll be very hard for us to take over where he settles with just the three of us," said the person on the right. He was shorter than an average man, with a slightly higher-pitched voice. He was almost bald, except for a three-centimeter-long white crest that fell to one side of his head.

The person in the middle stayed silent, listening to his subordinates talk. He was already thinking about a way to kill the guy steering the raft toward Herbivore Island. He knew that this island was probably the safest place in this land full of dinosaurs. Before becoming a gangster and getting involved in the dangerous world of drugs and street life, he used to play video games occasionally to cure his boredom. One of those games was ARK: Survival Evolved. He hadn't expected that one day he'd be teleported into a game he used to play on his PC with some of his subordinates. That experience helped him survive in the face of the dinosaur threat.

Thanks to having two subordinates, he was able to make survival a little less dangerous, but he knew he was fortunate not to have appeared in any extremely hazardous areas. The greatest danger they had faced was a Dilophosaurus that nearly killed one of his subordinates with its venom. It was sheer luck that the Dilophosaurus was only level 25 and not incredibly powerful; it left his subordinate on the brink of death. If they hadn't attacked it simultaneously and managed to kill it, survival would've been much harder without another set of hands to help.

That experience with the Dilophosaurus taught him to be more cautious of his surroundings. When he first saw that person ride a raft to Herbivore Island, he instantly thought that this guy wasn't easy to provoke. He knew that making a raft required level 15, which was high for him at the moment—his current level was only 9, and his subordinates were level 7 and 8, respectively.

However, no matter how cautious he was, he knew he couldn't just give up on Herbivore Island as a place to settle. With the constant dinosaur threat, he, more than anyone, wanted to establish his base in the safest location possible. But since he wasn't currently strong enough to face that person, he had no choice but to devise a plan to get rid of him by studying the person's behavior on the raft.

This type of situation was familiar to him. As a gangster who made a living by extorting others, sometimes he had no choice but to get rid of people who were strong enough to challenge his leadership. Since he wasn't stronger than those who challenged him, he always found ways to deal with his enemies using traps, poison, or other methods that required only his brains.

"Hmph, for now, we won't make any move against this guy. First, we'll observe his movement pattern, and when the time comes, we'll ambush and kill him. If he has any tribe companions, we'll know when we've been watching him for a few days," the leader said, his brow furrowed. His tone exuded the confidence a leader should have.

The two people who heard this showed expressions filled with respect and admiration for their leader.

"CEO, you'll be in charge of watching this guy on the raft for any movement. In a few more hours, LEO will replace you to take over. While you're on watch, the two of us will try to level up and get stronger, and we'll do the same when it's your turn to switch," said the leader in an authoritative tone that left no room for opposition.

"Yes, Boss, we will carry out your orders!" both subordinates responded in unison, their voices filled with enthusiasm.

…

Unaware of the plan forming behind the scenes, Fer, who was calmly steering the raft, had no idea that three people a few hundred meters away wanted him dead to take his resources and the spot where he intended to settle for a long time.

The distance between him and Herbivore Island was at least 10 kilometers, and at the raft's speed, it would take him about half an hour to get there.

Surprisingly, the journey was calm and without any disturbances. As the raft moved forward, the view of the island became clearer little by little.

Fer realized that Herbivore Island was much, much larger than it was in the game. The original width of the island was around 250 to 300 meters, but compared to what he was seeing now, that was just a small fraction of the island in front of him.

Fer gazed at the island with anticipation. He could see long necks rising from the forest, and every now and then, some trees would fall to the ground.

Even though he was still far from Herbivore Island, Fer could recognize at a glance that these were brontosauruses over 30 meters tall and 10 meters wide, appearing as giants compared to their surroundings.

Instead of being frightened by these massive creatures, Fer felt a surge of excitement. He wasn't afraid of them attacking or harming him. For one, his speed far surpassed these giants, and secondly, brontosauruses were neutral creatures, so as long as he didn't actively attack them, he'd be safe.

…

Half an hour later.

As he drew closer and closer, Fer noticed that the shape of the beach was exactly as he remembered, only much, much bigger. The forests were denser and more extensive, and the plains were vast. The hills had become mountains, and what used to be a small central lake had transformed into a small sea. Seen from above, the island would now resemble the shape of a turtle even more clearly than the original Herbivore Island.

After navigating continuously for a long time, Fer finally landed on the beach.

He looked up and around, everything was as he remembered, only larger. The inlet was almost a plain surrounded by rock formations shaped like a semicircular mountain, resembling a "C."

The area was surrounded by wildlife, rocks, plants, and all kinds of dinosaurs, including 9-meter-long triceratops (not counting their horns), 3-meter-wide parasaurolophus, 8-meter-long phiomias, brontosauruses, and 10-meter-long, 3-meter-tall ankylosauruses, among others.

Unlike in the game, seeing the dinosaurs in real life allowed him to truly appreciate their size with his own eyes. The good thing was that all of these dinosaurs were either passive or neutral, so he didn't have to be on high alert all the time. He just needed to be careful not to be accidentally stepped on by the bigger dinosaurs.

"I'll scout the surroundings first, then I'll start building my base and finally settle down after so many days of exhausting travel," Fer said aloud as his eyes scanned the familiar yet unfamiliar surroundings.