Chapter 151: Day Thirty-One Settlement |
"Although there are some empty units in the residential complex, they aren't that many. Some haven't been renovated, and some have been occupied by other residents. If you want to go there, I'll need to coordinate with those residents on my end. It might take some time," Zou Jianghe said.
"Understood. Thank you so much." Luo Gang bowed.
After chatting a bit longer, Zou Jianghe went back to check on the casualties within the Alliance.
Yuan Ming and Yuan Dajun walked over side by side. Seeing the wounded residents along the way, both of them felt heavy-hearted.
Yuan Ming said quietly, "Captain, you and Brother Du killed them too fast. We didn't even get to tag along for assist points."
"I was nervous at the time too. I didn't have a chance to hold back."
"Captain, that's not what I meant. Those beasts are dangerous. You were right not to hold back. It's just... I feel like we came and did nothing, purely freeloading." Yuan Ming felt it was a bit of a shame.
"Don't worry, you'll have your chance to act later."
Qin Ziwen paused for a moment, then continued, "Besides, wanting to do something isn't that hard, right?"
Yuan Ming quickly nodded, "Great! My mom is forty-eight this year, the perfect age to keep striving!"
Yuan Dajun glanced at his "unworthy son," but thinking about his wife Hu Huilan's personality—she was someone who couldn't stay idle—the Gobi Desert here was different from the forest. There weren't many things to do here. Jobs like gathering and fishing basically had no market here.
Switching to a skilled trade would indeed be a good alternative.
"Captain Qin." Hearing this, Deng Guang also seemed interested. "Can my family members come and learn too?"
"Brother Deng, of course, you're welcome! But why are you calling me Captain too? It doesn't sound right. Just call me Brother Qin," Qin Ziwen said with a smile.
"No, no, no. I'll just use the same title as everyone else," Deng Guang hurriedly shook his head.
This was something his wife had specifically reminded him of during the day. She said that now Qin Ziwen's team was getting bigger and bigger, with more and more members. When everyone else was calling him Captain Qin, he was still using "Brother Qin" left and right. Qin Ziwen might not mind, but that didn't mean other members of the team wouldn't have thoughts about it.
Seeing Deng Guang's somewhat troubled expression, Qin Ziwen thought for a moment and guessed the reason. "Alright, Brother Deng, you can call me whatever you're comfortable with."
"Oh, right, Captain Qin. Earlier today, in the afternoon, several families from our building came to ask me, inquiring if our team was still recruiting."
"What are their backgrounds?"
"They're neighbors from our building."
"Next time they ask, just say yes, but they'll start as ordinary members. There will be screening later, and those who qualify can become core members."
"Understood." Deng Guang nodded.
Zhao Pu came down from upstairs, followed by ten female students. He walked over and said quietly, "Captain, I just had a chat with Teacher Luo. He found out that Unit 202 in our building is empty and wants to send ten students to live there first."
"Let them live there. That's Granny Li's place. If she knew it could help others, she'd probably agree." Qin Ziwen thought of that kind old lady and sighed inwardly. Thinking back, he could still recall the taste of the apple he ate that day.
The ones following were ten female university students.
The girl at the front looked familiar; she was the one who went to the upstairs warehouse yesterday to carry the animal hides.
After a brief exchange, Qin Ziwen also learned her name: Pan Congning.
On the other side, the Giant Hyaenodon King's corpse was carried out. Its massive body drew gasps of astonishment from the surrounding crowd.
This beast king's corpse was huge. Someone gestured from a distance, comparing it. The Giant Hyaenodon King's claws were bigger than a human head.
One slap down would probably crush a head like a watermelon.
Chen Pi was invited down by Qin Ziwu. Looking at the Giant Hyaenodon King's corpse, his eyes lit up.
He exclaimed that being able to skin this beast made his life worthwhile! Even his master's master's master probably hadn't seen a beast this big!
"Captain, I'll take them over there first then," Zhao Pu said softly.
Qin Ziwen waved his hand.
At the same time, Chen Pi's skilled skinning movements attracted many onlookers.
Holding a willow-leaf skinning knife, he skillfully yet somehow unfamiliarly peeled open the hide, as if undressing it, creating a peculiar kind of beauty.
Plastic sheeting was laid under the corpse. Blood flowed from the exposed muscles and tendons, pooling into a puddle of blood.
A middle-aged man with a large mole near his eyebrow walked over, holding a small bowl. He approached Chen Pi. "Old brother, can I collect some blood?"
Chen Pi glanced at him but didn't speak. Instead, he looked back at Qin Ziwen.
Li Yue asked, puzzled, "What do you want the blood for?"
This man said, "It's a great tonic! Things like tiger blood, deer blood are all powerful yang-tonifying tonics. This one is a beast king, so it must be even more potent."
Wang Yun said, "The blood might contain parasites, or possibly bacteria and viruses. We finally managed to curb the infectious disease before. Do you want to start it up again?"
Hearing this, the surrounding crowd began to criticize him.
The middle-aged man quickly scurried away in embarrassment.
After the skin was removed, came the meat cutting. They thought Chen Pi only knew how to skin, but surprisingly, he also had some skill in butchering.
Chunks of meat were separated: the head, the four legs, the belly meat, the shoulder meat...
Chen Pi said while cutting, "The grain of this meat is a bit like dog, and also a bit like bear."
"Boss Zhang, this is your meat. This investment wasn't a loss, right?" Qin Ziwen picked up a large lump, about twenty-something pounds of lean meat, and handed it to Zhang Bo.
Zhang Bo took the meat, a bright smile on his face. "No loss, no loss at all!"
In less than an hour, the meat he'd given out had directly doubled! If there were more business deals like this, he hoped they'd come more often!
"Good. Now I have another business deal. Boss Zhang, are you interested?"
"What deal?"
"Lend me a hundred pounds of salt. Two days. Interest rate: five percent."
Zhang Bo's smile froze. He tentatively asked, "What kind of salt? From my salt well?"
"From your salt well."
"..."
Zhang Bo was slowly getting used to this. He nodded helplessly. "Alright. Have someone come to my place to get it."
Borrowing salt was also out of necessity. Buying fish yesterday had almost used up all the salt he had at home. For this Giant Hyaenodon King's meat, the salt he had on hand was simply not enough.
If left outside for too long, the meat would spoil easily, especially with the high temperatures here.
After dividing the meat, Qin Ziwen distributed some to the team members. They all declined the cards.
"Captain, we didn't participate in anything. Just taking this meat already feels like too much. We really have no face taking these cards."
"Yeah, don't allocate contribution points either."
Several team members spoke up one after another.
Wang Yun said, "A team needs clear rewards and punishments, defined merits and demerits. Only then can it go far."
Seeing everyone say this, Qin Ziwen nodded.
Just the meat from this Giant Hyaenodon King yielded about a thousand pounds, and most of it was lean meat. Its bones were thick and sturdy, especially the skull—large and thick.
An arrow was stuck in its skull, the arrowhead embedded halfway. The thick skull was extremely hard.
Its entire skeleton weighed nearly two hundred pounds combined.
Far heavier than an ordinary person.
On a building not far away, Luo Gang stood on the rooftop, quietly watching the bustling crowd below.
Cao Biansheng stood by his side. "Old Luo, is it really necessary to move everyone to live in the residential complex?"
Luo Gang said, "I'm not forcing them. This will always be their home. It's just that the teaching building really isn't suitable for living. The living conditions in the residential complex are better. They won't have to cram dozens of people into one room."
Cao Biansheng didn't comment on Luo Gang's decision. "You decide. I'm too lazy to think."
Luo Gang said dejectedly, "I'm not a qualified leader. Teacher Yang was more suitable than me. It's a pity..."
"Sister Yang was amazing, but you're doing pretty well too!" Cao Biansheng said.
Luo Gang shook his head. "The classmates trusted me and chose me. But out of over eight hundred people, now only five hundred and thirty-nine remain."
Luo Gang rubbed his temples. "Lately, I often wake up in the middle of the night from the pain. Sometimes, if I think too much, my head hurts. I finally understand why Cao Cao back then wanted to chop someone when the pain hit."
"Why didn't you say so earlier? Then that Internal Injury Treatment Card should be used on you!"
"It's fine. Migraine, an old problem. I had it before the transmigration too." As Luo Gang spoke, he looked at Cao Biansheng. "You focus on recovering your health first. You're the backbone of the hunting group. You can't collapse."
Pausing for a moment, Luo Gang continued, "If one day I'm gone, and you need to choose a new leader, Pan Congning, Wang Sheng, and you are all suitable candidates."
"What about Zhou Xiaqing?" Cao Biansheng asked.
Luo Gang said, "Her personality is too soft, and she lacks decisiveness. She can't manage people. She's only suitable for logistics."
...
After bringing the meat home, everyone divided the work in an orderly manner. Some salted the meat, others worked the forge, everything proceeding systematically.
Only then did Qin Ziwen have time to check the daily settlement.
「You have successfully survived safely in the wilderness for the thirty-first day, traded some supplies... Comprehensive Score: 42 points」
「Rewards Obtained: [Expansion Card] Blank Expansion Card (Micro) 1, Sun Hats 4, Stainless Steel Water Bottles 2, Vehicle-mounted Crossbow Blueprint 1」
The achievements of hunting the Giant Hyaenodon King and obtaining cards weren't counted because these events happened after midnight.
They belong to tomorrow's settlement achievements.
Apart from that, some miscellaneous items were rewarded. It had been a long time since he received miscellaneous items.
Sun hats and stainless steel water bottles would be quite useful in the Gobi Desert.
But what caught his attention the most was this blueprint.
Vehicle-mounted crossbow?
He took out the blueprint. His hand sank slightly as a thin, blue-covered booklet appeared.
On the front, written in small seal script, were the five characters for "Vehicle-mounted Crossbow Atlas."
Opening it, inside were detailed records on how to use wood and iron to create a vehicle-mounted crossbow with wheels that could be moved.
"This is a great item!"
Qin Ziwen's eyes lit up.
If they could make this thing, even if it wasn't a one-shot-one-kill weapon, at least they would have a stable means of attack against those super-large ferocious beasts.
He then found Li Tieshan, handed him the atlas, and asked if he could make it.
Li Tieshan examined it carefully, then said with certainty, "Sir, I can't make it!"
"If you can't make it, why are you speaking so loudly?"
"For the iron parts of this device, I can manage to make them. But there are a few crucial mechanisms I haven't worked on before. I'd have to try, but I'm afraid I might waste some materials. As for the remaining woodwork, it requires a professional carpenter."
"Alright, I understand." Qin Ziwen nodded, then pondered how to get a few skilled carpenters.
The first person he thought of was the old carpenter from Huang Tao's Carpenter's Hut.
Modern people aren't necessarily inferior to ancients. A master craftsman like that would have solid skills. Asking him to innovate from scratch might be difficult.
But if he was given a blueprint and asked to follow it, it should be simple.
The only troublesome part was whether he could be recruited.
...
The scorching sun blazed fiercely.
The next day.
Qin Ziwen and Qin Ziwu, each wearing a sun hat, set out heading south from the residential complex.
Actually, the terrain to the east was relatively complex, and the possibility of finding water there wasn't small.
But last night, that pack of Giant Hyaenodons ran off towards the northeast.
So heading south was still the most appropriate choice.
It could avoid encountering the Giant Hyaenodon pack in open terrain.
The Crowned Eagle flew above everyone's heads. It wasn't very adapted to the Gobi Desert environment. Every time it flew for a while, it quickly found a shady spot to rest.
Its thick plumage here was like wearing a heavy down jacket.
"It's only morning and it's already this hot. By the way, what do those Giant Hyaenodons usually eat?" Li Yue looked around.
"If finding food in this Gobi Desert was that easy, they wouldn't have needed to attack the complex in the middle of the night," Zhao Pu said.
"Hey, there seems to be an animal over there!" Qin Ziwu pointed to the west. In the direction of his finger, there were a few patches of scorched yellow saxaul trees. At the base of a tree, a yellowish-brown, lizard-like creature scurried past quickly.
It crawled very fast, as if flying across the flat ground. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared into the ground.
As they continued south, the plants along the way became more abundant.
Besides saxaul trees, there were camel thorns and white thorns.
Occasionally, there were a few yellowish-green caragana bushes.
The most frequently seen creature along the way was that yellowish-brown, lizard-like species from earlier.
"Doctor Wang, you're knowledgeable. Do you know what that animal is?" Yuan Ming leaned over and asked.
Wang Yun withdrew his gaze. "Don't know that one. But that one I know—it's a gerbil. The meat is edible."
Following the direction Wang Yun pointed, on a small mound stood a small mouse with a yellow back and white belly, standing upright on its hind legs, its two tiny paws held close to its chest, looking around.
(Image: Gerbil)
Hearing it was edible, a group of people all looked at it.
The gerbil seemed scared. It retreated two steps and hurriedly ducked back into the sand hole behind it.
A warm wind blew across the arid Gobi Desert. In the distance, at the horizon's edge, a black thing came bouncing closer.
At first, everyone thought it was some kind of animal. But as it got closer, they saw it was a tumbleweed.
"I've seen this on TV, but it's my first time seeing it in real life." Qin Ziwu glanced at it a couple of times before looking away, finding it nothing special.
Wang Yun, however, had a glint in his eyes. He smiled and said, "Let me show you all something good."
With that, he walked a few steps to the right, positioning himself in front of the tumbleweed. At the same time, he raised the long spear in his hand and said, "Everyone, be careful."
Then, he moved to the side of the tumbleweed, thrust his spear, and stabbed it into the dry, spherical clump of weeds.
He stopped the tumbleweed.
Then, using the spear, he laboriously lifted the tumbleweed and gave it a vigorous shake.
Just like dropping loot, some small insects fell out from inside.
There was even a lizard.
...