Chapter 30 Settlement on the Seventh Day
After weighing the meat at home, Qin Ziwen went downstairs to complete the transaction.
The instant noodles that the man with the slanted eyes brought for the transaction were classic packaged pickled pepper beef noodles.
Looking at the familiar packaging, Qin Ziwen felt a little sentimental. He used to love eating this flavor of instant noodles when he was in school. Back then, he was growing and had a big appetite, and one pack wasn't enough to fill him up, so he would buy a side of mushroom and chicken noodles to cook together.
Putting the two seasoning packets together, the taste was not bad.
But perhaps because he ate too many instant noodles, he rarely ate them after starting university, except for the occasional spicy chicken noodle.
Looking at the sky, Qin Ziwen said to Deng Wen, "Xiao Wen, go and call your dad, we need to go set the trap."
"Okay."
A moment later, Deng Guang and Deng Wen went downstairs together.
Just as they reached the south gate, a group of disheveled and ragged people were limping back.
Qin Ziwen immediately recognized Wang Jun, who was at the head of the group.
Compared to his previous confident demeanor, Wang Jun's hair was disheveled, covered in twigs and leaves; his clothes were torn, his trousers were covered in burrs, and he had a scratch on his face.
Not only him, but most of the group behind him looked the same.
"Brother Wang," Qin Ziwen said, putting his arm around Wang Jun's shoulder.
Back in the familiar neighborhood, Wang Jun, who had been tense, finally relaxed, leaning against Qin Ziwen.
Qin Ziwen asked with concern, "What happened to you guys?"
Wang Jun forced a smile, but it looked more like a grimace.
Patting Qin Ziwen's hand, Wang Jun said, "Brother, if you're going to the western grasslands, be careful. A pack of more than twenty wolves is coming. Those wolves are even bigger than Alaskan Malamutes."
After a moment, Wang Jun straightened up, sighed, thanked Qin Ziwen, and slowly left.
After walking a few steps, he turned around. "By the way, I caught two more rabbits this time, the ones you asked for last time. Let's talk about it later, I'm going back to rest first."
The others in the group who returned with Wang Yun were mostly silent and downcast, the atmosphere heavy.
After watching them leave, Qin Ziwen glanced behind them; the shadows of the forest were dark and menacing.
"Let's go."
No matter what, what needed to be done had to be done.
As darkness deepened, there were practically no people left outside the residential area.
Qin Ziwen and his group were very careful along the way, not only wary of possible crocodiles in the river but also observing the surrounding bushes.
They walked downstream for several dozen meters to the backwater where they had fished during the day.
Deng Guang threw the tigerfish's innards into two fish traps. A rope was attached to the side of each trap; he tied the rope to a tree on the bank, then placed the traps in the river and covered them with dry branches and weeds for concealment.
After finishing, the two went back.
Deng Guang said in a low voice, "Come early tomorrow, preferably around 5 a.m., otherwise there might be too many people."
"Okay, then we'll leave early tomorrow." Qin Ziwen understood what he meant. Around 5 a.m., it was just getting light, and there weren't many people out at that time.
It was easier to collect the fish traps or catch fish at this time, as it would be more discreet. If they waited until it was brighter, they might be spotted by others.
After returning home to the apartment complex, he took out the fresh tigerfish from the cellar, cut three pounds of fish meat, thought for a moment, then took a band-aid and went to apartment 801 in building one. You'll never believe why I moved to… SukkurMy life in emojis: ✈️, 🏄, 🍣, 🚵♂️ Lin Yi, Wang Jun's wife, opened the door. As soon as Qin Ziwen entered, he smelled a strong odor of smoke in the living room.
Wang Jun stubbed out his cigarette, stood up from the sofa, and forced a smile: "Sit down. We've run out of fruit, so I have nothing to offer you. Please excuse the smell."
Qin Ziwen sat down next to Wang Jun, placed the bag of meat on the table, and then took a band-aid from his pocket and placed it in front of him. "You injured your face, so I brought you a band-aid to prevent infection."
A hint of gratitude flashed in Wang Jun's eyes, and he didn't stand on ceremony. "Thanks."
Then he sighed, "Last time you said that if we had extra live rabbits, we could continue trading, so I set up more traps. Today, when I went to check, we caught two female rabbits. We also saw some muntjacs and wanted to try hunting them, but unfortunately, we encountered a pack of wolves, and three of our team members were killed."
Qin Ziwen recalled that when he saw Wang Jun that afternoon, there seemed to be fewer people behind him than last time.
Wang Jun called out, "Wife, bring out those two rabbits from the bathroom."
Lin Yi carried a cardboard box out of the bathroom, containing a gray rabbit and a white rabbit.
Judging from their size, they were slightly smaller than the two rabbits from last time, but they seemed to be in good spirits.
Qin Ziwen said, "Brother Wang, the bag contains the fish I caught today, probably tigerfish. You should eat it soon, otherwise it will get fishy."
Wang Jun was taken aback. "Tigerfish?"
He turned to look at the bag, then let out a long sigh. "This godforsaken place really has everything. Tigerfish are social animals, so try not to go into the water.
Many animals here are generally larger than those on Earth. But for now, these wild beasts are alright. As long as you're careful, survival shouldn't be too difficult. If one day some ancient or even prehistoric behemoth suddenly appears, that would be a real disaster."
After a pause, Wang Jun said, "Brother Qin, I'm planning not to go to the west side tomorrow. It's too far from the neighborhood. If we encounter a pack of wolves again, we won't have time to run back. I plan to explore the north and east sides of the neighborhood in the next couple of days and draw a simple map. Do you want to come along?"
Qin Ziwen thought about it and felt that such an exploration was a bit risky. If they really encountered a large wild beast, relying on that composite bow wouldn't be safe. Real combat is different from shooting at a stationary target.
So he shook his head and politely declined, "I want to catch more fish while there aren't many people fishing now."
Although Wang Jun was a little disappointed, he respected Qin Ziwen's choice.
Qin Ziwen carried the box home and put the two rabbits into the cage.
Looking at the four wild rabbits in the cage, he couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment.
Now he had four, how far was forty, four hundred!
Nothing happened that night.
The next morning, after waking up, the first thing Qin Ziwen did was check yesterday's daily settlement.
"You have successfully survived safely in the wilderness for seven days. Today you caught a tigerfish and expanded the scale of your rabbit herd. Overall score: 13 points" "
Rewards: [Recruitment Card] Common·Tamed Adult Harpy Eagle *1, Ground Cage *3"
Looking at the rewards, Qin Ziwen's heart pounded.
Another type of card that he had never seen before appeared—the Recruitment Card.
Sure enough, the range of cards is not limited to inanimate objects; there are also recruitment cards that can obtain living creatures.
However, he quickly thought of a problem: what if a harpy eagle suddenly appeared in his house, and someone saw it? How should he explain it?
Thinking about this, Qin Ziwen couldn't help but frown. These didn't seem like building cards and resource cards hidden at home.
If they were recruited, they should naturally be put to use; otherwise, simply keeping them at home would only waste food. It was better to store the cards, which would save food.
(End of Chapter)