Chapter 128: Settlement on Day 27 |
"You..." Mother Yuan looked at her son, and finally let out a long sigh.
He was already such a grown man. If he really didn't want to, could she really tie him up and drag him over?
But Mother Yuan felt the Alliance was currently the largest organization within the complex. Zhang Liang was also an old friend they'd known for many years and a captain of a hunting team. He had privately told their family that he only had this one daughter, no sons at home. The two families knew each other's roots well, and Zhang Liang had watched Yuan Ming grow up. Yuan Ming's character was fine, so he was willing to help bring the two families' children together.
"Mom asks you, what do you think of Zhang Zihan?"
"Mom, please don't play matchmaker. I don't have that kind of feeling for her." Yuan Ming was helpless. They were peers; who didn't understand each other? Zhang Zihan had two completely different faces—one for the adults and one for him.
Mother Yuan was still preparing to speak when Father Yuan, who had been silently sitting on the sofa, suddenly spoke up. "Alright, since he has his own thoughts, let him go. I can still move; this family can hold itself up. Yuan Ming, I just hope you pay attention to your safety outside, put your life first. Your mom waits for you to come home for dinner every day."
A smile appeared on Yuan Ming's face. "I know, Dad."
Hu Huilan was both amused and exasperated by this father-son duo. "So I get to be the villain, right! Yuan Dajun, you let me say all the harsh words, then you come in with the nice ones!"
Yuan Dajun coughed, stood up with his hands behind his back. "I'll go make dinner. You comfort your mom properly."
Pulling his mother to sit down, Yuan Ming said, "Mom, my current team is really good. I can't go into specifics, but I will let you and Dad live a good life."
Hu Huilan was silent for a long moment, then grabbed Yuan Ming's hand. "Mom doesn't expect any grand life. I just hope you're safe and sound. Seeing you hurt breaks my heart."
...
"Bro! Bro! Come quick, she's pregnant!"
Just after finishing his shower, Qin Ziwen was pulled excitedly by his younger brother to the front of the Beast Cage.
"Who's pregnant?"
"These two rabbits should both be pregnant. Look, their bellies are bulging." Qin Ziwu pointed at the Beast Cage. Inside, five plump rabbits were quietly squatting. Compared to before, their sizes had basically more than doubled.
Two of them had swollen abdomens, huddled in a corner, keeping a certain distance from the other rabbits.
"So fast." Qin Ziwen sighed. He had been quite busy these past few days, just hurriedly adding food and water before leaving.
Looking now, he noticed two rabbits' bellies were indeed starting to show.
"Looks like it should be soon." Qin Ziwen was somewhat expectant. Once this batch of baby rabbits was born and grew up, they would quickly enter a period of rapid population explosion.
Seeing people approach, the field mice in the neighboring cage scurried over, their pitch-black noses poking out from the cage gaps, sniffing incessantly.
Due to recent feeding, these field mice were no longer afraid of people, even showing a bit of closeness. Whenever someone approached the cage, they would come over.
But they still had something they feared: the Crowned Eagle that wandered aimlessly around the room after finishing work each day.
Every time they saw the Crowned Eagle, these small animals would shrink to the very center of the cage.
The Crowned Eagle didn't eat them either; it just liked to patrol occasionally.
Qin Ziwu was puzzled. "Bro, why aren't these field mice pregnant?"
"Because all three of these are females."
"Ah!"
"Ah what? We need to bring back at least one live male mouse before we leave."
"Got it, big brother! Bro, let me tell you, I've been practicing archery lately, and I feel my accuracy is getting better and better. Shooting at the head from forty-five paces, I can hit six or seven out of ten." Qin Ziwu said proudly.
"Not bad." Qin Ziwen expressed approval. This rate of improvement was much faster than his own had been back then.
Of course, this was all thanks to the Celestial Star Arrow Gallery's divine power. He himself had recently been practicing the Consecutive Shot technique. The double-shot was already showing quite good results. According to Du Yu, there was no special trick to the Consecutive Shot; the core was just two things: speed and accuracy.
Fast hand speed, accurate shooting.
Using a special arrow-holding technique, after shooting one arrow, nocking and shooting a second arrow. After mastering the technique, one could quickly shoot a third, fourth arrow.
This technique was mainly to allow archers to shoot as many arrows as possible before the enemy closed in. If one blindly pursued speed and neglected accuracy, that would be putting the cart before the horse.
Ding-ding-dang-dang sounds of metal striking came from the adjacent Blacksmith.
Ever since returning home, Li Tieshan hadn't shown his face.
Qin Ziwen entered the Blacksmith. Li Tieshan was bare-chested, his bronzed skin gleaming with an oily sheen under the firelight.
After striking down heavily with his hammer, Li Tieshan let out a long, hot breath. "Sir."
"Doctor Qian said you've been busy all day today."
Li Tieshan raised his head, speaking excitedly. "Sir, the iron ingots forged in that Furnace Bunker are indeed much better material than before. Today, I forged a new set based on the spearhead you currently use. You just need to replace the old ones."
"Alright, you take it and replace it. Get some rest." After offering some encouragement, Qin Ziwen returned to the Master Bedroom.
The night passed without incident.
The next day.
「You have successfully survived safely in the wilderness for the twenty-seventh day, harvested five cards, successfully hunted a mutated cave ancient Giant Toad... Comprehensive Score: 387 points」
「Rewards Obtained: 【Function Card】 Level 1 Layout1, 【Expansion Card】 Height Expansion Card (Small)1, 【Building Card】 Level 1 Tailor Shop1, 【Building Card】 Level 1 Blacksmith1, 【Building Enhancement Card】 Bountiful1, 【Building Card】 Fish Pond1」
After reading the rewards, Qin Ziwen fell into silence.
First was the Function Card: Layout.
Qin Ziwen directly chose to use it.
【Function Activated: Level 2 Layout】
【Permissions have been upgraded. Current permissions: Level 2 Permissions (1/4)】
【Level 2 Layout: Can be used on any building, resource point, or expanded area within the Home. Can re-plan expanded areas. After re-planning, that area and the corresponding building (resource point) cannot be moved again for 7 days】
After reading the new function, Qin Ziwen had only one thought: his chaotic, jumbled-up expanded areas could finally be properly planned and organized.
Moreover, this time he could move the lower expanded areas along with them, so there was no longer the restriction that original buildings had to be moved to blank areas.
Next was the Height Expansion Card (Small).
The previous Height Expansion Card (Micro) could only raise the height by 0.2 meters, while the small expansion card reached a full 2 meters.
Choose to use.
Going outside the expanded area and looking back at the house, from the outside, the original house now looked like a "small bungalow" encased indoors, with an extra 2.2 meters of space added to the top.
The entire Home's height had been raised to 5 meters.
Looking around, it no longer felt as oppressive as before.
"Hmm?" Qin Ziwen noticed a change in one of the buildings at home. The Celestial Star Arrow Gallery was originally only three meters high, its roof touching the ceiling. But as the Home's height increased, it had now become five meters tall, with the roof still positioned at the ceiling.
But looking at it, this fifty-meter-long building appeared much more harmonious than before.
Other than that, the other buildings hadn't changed.
Perhaps this was a unique characteristic of advanced buildings.
...