Chapter 112: Settlement on the Twenty-Fourth Day |
In addition to this plant, this harvest also included an Advanced Building Card.
With the Celestial Star Arrow Gallery as a precedent, Qin Ziwen was filled with anticipation for the new advanced building.
After taking out the card, he learned that this building required an area of 20*40 meters.
"Do all these advanced buildings need such a large footprint?" Qin Ziwen was somewhat troubled.
He put the card away for now, having no choice but to wait a bit.
The current vacant area wasn't large enough, but if luck was on his side, he might obtain a sufficiently usable Expansion Card tonight.
After Qin Ziwen came out, Liu San reported to him, "Sir, the quality of the salt today is much higher than before. Please examine it, sir."
Actually, he hadn't required Liu San to report to him regularly. After all, the salt well was small, and the daily output was just that little bit, basically transparent.
However, since Liu San was willing, he didn't refuse. "Let me see."
Although it was coarse salt, the fineness of the granules and the purity of the color were already close to the previous green salt.
"Is this coarse salt?" Qin Ziwen was somewhat surprised.
If once-purified coarse salt could reach this level, then what level could twice-purified green salt reach?
"Yes, sir. This is the green salt produced today." Liu San handed over a small bamboo pot containing bluish-white fine salt.
Although the color still carried a hint of pale green, overall, both in terms of fineness and granularity, it was already quite close to factory-produced fine salt.
Qin Ziwen gently pinched some with his fingers, watching the fine salt slip through his fingertips.
"Not bad."
The better the quality, the stronger the competitiveness.
If two families were selling the same salt, they would either wage a price war or rely on a quality advantage.
Qin Ziwen inquired, "By the way, I remember two refugees were assigned to Li Tieshan, right? Did Li Tieshan have any tasks for them today?"
Liu San said, "Reporting, sir, Master Li had them mining at the iron ore mine."
"Mining all day?" Qin Ziwen's expression turned odd.
Liu San gave an awkward smile.
Qin Ziwen nodded. "Hmm, I'll go take a look."
Arriving at the iron mine, the large bamboo baskets placed at the entrance were already filled with iron ore.
The two refugees were sitting on the ground resting. Seeing Qin Ziwen approach, they hurriedly got up, picked up their pickaxes, and pretended to mine ore.
Seeing them slacking off, Qin Ziwen didn't scold them.
Because scolding was useless.
After these past few days interacting with the refugees, he had roughly figured out their behavioral logic.
As long as they were fed, could fill their bellies, they would listen to you and could do some simple, not overly strenuous work.
But if they couldn't fill their bellies, or were under external pressure, their efficiency would drop significantly, and they might even attempt to run away.
Currently, it seemed that if the same refugee received porridge over a long period, their efficiency in carrying out orders would improve.
Qin Ziwen said, "No need to mine for now. Just carry these two baskets of ore to the blacksmith shop."
Hearing this, the two refugees put down their pickaxes with great delight.
Then the refugee on the left seemed to feel this wasn't quite proper and quickly suppressed his smile. Seeing Qin Ziwen wasn't angry, he then laughed out loud again.
Qin Ziwen asked him, "What's your name?"
He lifted his sleeve to wipe his face, only smearing his already grimy face further. "I'm called Little Stone."
"A good name. As tenacious as a stone."
Receiving praise, Little Stone smiled even more foolishly.
"Go on."
Evening, after dinner.
Qin Ziwen went to the rooftop.
There were quite a few neighbors on the rooftop, from both Unit 1 and Unit 2.
He also saw Zhao Shu Huan.
Seeing him, Zhao Shu Huan waved.
"Where's your dad?"
"My dad went to ask for seeds."
"Oh, have you eaten dinner?"
"Uncle Qin, I ate before coming up."
Looking out from the rooftop edge, above the river surface, there were still many Forest Giant Mayflies flying.
Some of these mayflies broke away from the group, rushing towards the water surface. Their light bodies floated on the water, tails extended, wings spread out, drifting with the current.
"They should be laying eggs now." Qin Ziwen looked at the river surface, densely covered with floating mayflies. Some were already dead, some were on their final countdown.
Zhao Shu Huan said, "I heard the Biology Teacher say that mayfly eggs hatch very quickly. Their eggs hatch successfully in less than ten minutes after falling into the water."
Qin Ziwen's gaze fell on the Stone Burrow Ancient Giant Toad quietly crouching by the shore. It still maintained its posture from the morning, seemingly having barely moved.
"How long has it been crouching there?"
Zhao Shu Huan said, "It's been crouching there all day. I'm starting to suspect it came here to escort the mayflies."
Just as the two were talking, the Stone Burrow Ancient Giant Toad crouching on the ground finally moved.
It slowly moved forward.
Until its entire body submerged into the water, only a small portion remaining floating on the surface. From a distance, it looked like a small "island" floating on the river.
The Stone Burrow Ancient Giant Toad swam towards the Forest Giant Mayfly corpses floating on the water surface, opened its huge mouth, and with one bite, a section of the river surface was immediately cleared.
It was like eating at a buffet. The countless corpses floating on the river were its extravagant feast.
At this moment, Qin Ziwen seemed to suddenly understand.
Why the Stone Burrow Ancient Giant Toad came here.
For it, the annual mayfly migration was an opportunity to have a full meal without expending much effort.
This was a unique, peculiar spectacle belonging to this river basin.
There were still three days. The Stone Burrow Ancient Giant Toad would likely stay by the riverbank. After the mayfly emergence and breeding season ended, it would return to its cave.
After chatting a bit more with Zhao Shu Huan, Qin Ziwen returned to his residence, practiced archery for a while, then took a shower, and finally lay down in bed to rest.
"You have successfully survived safely in the wilderness for the twenty-fourth day. Today you obtained a card and also acquired a mysterious plant from deep within a cave... Comprehensive score: 150 points."
"Rewards obtained: [Function Card] Level 1 Insight Card1, [Resource Card] Level 1 Coal Mine1, [Expansion Card] Underground Cave (Small)*1."
The next day, he still checked the daily settlement.
An unprecedented high score. After looking at today's rewards, Qin Ziwen's attention was drawn to the settlement log above.
Interesting. The plant obtained from the Stone Burrow Ancient Giant Toad's cave was actually specifically mentioned. The fact that it could appear in the settlement log was enough to prove this plant was absolutely not ordinary.
Because its priority was placed before actions like raising animals in the Beast Cage, mining stone, and drawing from the salt well.
Subsequently, he looked at the newly obtained Function Card.
With a flick of his palm, a red card appeared.
He silently willed it to activate.
[Function Activated: Level 2 Insight]
[Authority has been upgraded. Current authority: Level 2 Authority (0/4)]
[Level 2 Insight: Can be used on card buildings, resource points, recruited units, and humans to gain insight into their basic rules or attributes.]
[Your authority has been upgraded. You have obtained the Safe House function.]
[Your authority has been upgraded. Those with authority lower than Level 2 cannot use Insight on your possessions.]
[Your authority has been upgraded. You have obtained more information about the next crossing.]
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