The thought of eating it was repulsive at first, but after the first bite, he found it didn't have any strange, gamy flavor.
It tasted a bit like roasted quail, but with a wild game flavor that was richer than that of domesticated pigs, cattle, or sheep.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
Just as they finished the roasted rat, a knock came from the door.
Qin Ziwen gave his brother a look, and Qin Ziwu, taking the hint, grabbed a cleaver from the kitchen and positioned himself behind the door.
Qin Ziwen snatched up the wooden stick resting in the corner.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
The knocking from outside continued, followed by a voice. "Is anyone home? I'm from upstairs. Were you guys just grilling something in here? The smell of smoke is really strong. Be careful not to burn the place down; it's dangerous."
Hidden behind the door, Qin Ziwen replied, "The gas is out. If I can't cook in my own home, where am I supposed to cook?"
The person outside said, "In the hallway! Or the rooftop would work too."
Qin Ziwen shook his head at his brother, signaling him to ignore the person.
"Well, I warned you!" the person outside grumbled. When no one inside replied, his footsteps faded away.
Qin Ziwu was annoyed. He pointed to the smoke rising from the balconies of other buildings in the Gated Community. "We're not the only ones cooking on our balcony, and we even cleared everything else off it first. I think that guy was just looking for trouble."
Qin Ziwen said calmly, "I know. Just ignore him. Don't let some outsider throw us off. We'll stick to our plan. There are birds out there that prey on people, so the rooftop is absolutely out of the question. The hallway is no good either—if we cook there, the whole building will smell it."
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
Another knock echoed from the hallway, but this one sounded more distant, coming from the neighbor's door across from them.
"Hey neighbor, you home? Do you have any extra cups? Could we borrow a couple?"
It was the same man as before, but this time he was at the door across the hall.
Qin Ziwen looked through the peephole.
The hallway was dim. His neighbor's door across the hall was shut tight. Two men were standing outside it!
One was knocking, while the other was hiding in a blind spot just out of view, concealing something in his hand.
Qin Ziwen's eyes narrowed. He beckoned his brother over, putting a finger to his lips.
Qin Ziwu got the message. He came over to look, his expression first turning to shock, then hardening into a ruthless glare.
He drew a hand across his neck in a throat-slitting gesture.
Qin Ziwen shook his head.
Qin Ziwu leaned in and whispered, "Bro, was there also someone hiding outside our door earlier? If we had opened it, they would have attacked, right?"
There was no answer from the apartment across the hall, but Qin Ziwen remembered seeing his neighbor return that afternoon. Someone was definitely home.
The man called out a few more times. After waiting a while longer with no response, the two of them turned and left.
"Bro, they just asked a few times and left?"
Qin Ziwen said, "They're probably casing the place. The neighbor didn't reply, which means either no one's home, or they're too scared to make a sound."
Qin Ziwu understood, realization dawning. "So when he knocked on our door, it was just an excuse to try and trick us into opening up. And he was checking to see if there were any adult men here."
Qin Ziwen nodded. "If they're going to make a move, they'll most likely choose early tomorrow morning. The light in the hallway is dim then, making it easy for them to hide. Also, residents will probably be carrying their keys when they leave."
"Why not in a few days, or at night?"
"Breaking down a door at night is too loud. And in a few days, everyone's food will be gone, making a robbery pointless. Surely they're not after the few dozen pounds of meat on our bones."
"Alright, let's get some sleep. Lock the doors and windows tight, just in case. I'll wake you early tomorrow."
As night fell, Qin Ziwen forced himself to stay awake.
As the sky grew darker, the Gated Community fell into a dead silence.
The reinforced concrete buildings stood like monoliths in a cold forest, which seemed to come alive at night.
The occasional howl of a beast echoed from the distance, and the sound of flapping wings reverberated through the night sky.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed. Just as he was growing drowsy and about to nod off, a cold, mechanical male voice spoke in his ear.
"You have successfully survived your second day in the wilderness. You gathered a number of wild vegetables, collected a small amount of river water, and captured one small prey. Overall Score: 8 points."
"You have received your rewards: [Building Card] Level 1 Cellar Grain Storage x1, Folding Water Filter Bag x3."
A golden screen of light appeared before his eyes.
At the very top of the light screen, two large words were displayed: Daily Settlement.
Below were many densely packed squares, but only the first two contained anything: one was a gray card, the other a small, stylized icon of a water filter bag with a "x3" marker in its top-right corner.
"Extract automatically?"
"3..."
"2..."
"No."
The golden screen shrank, becoming a tiny, barely noticeable golden dot in the upper-left corner of his vision.
A single thought would cause the screen to unfurl.
'After trying it a few times, Qin Ziwen readily accepted it. Whatever it was, it was a good thing for him, so why get hung up on the details? He'd already crossed over into another world; there wasn't anything he couldn't accept at this point.'
"Withdraw Building Card."
A weight settled in his palm, where a thin, gray metal card had appeared.
The moment the Building Card appeared.
The space around him stuttered for a moment.
A small sphere of light then lit up in the center of his bedroom, and a white screen materialized before his eyes.
"Survivor detected obtaining Building Card. Activating Resident Identity. Home function unlocked."
"You may use Building Cards, Resource Cards, Expansion Cards, Function Cards, and Recruitment Cards to expand and modify your Home. The bounds of your Home are defined as Riverside Gated Community, Building 8, Unit 2, Apartment 5-2."
A flood of basic information streamed from the small sphere of light into his mind, finally allowing him to understand the situation.
'So that's it. Before obtaining a Card, they were all just considered 'survivors.''
'Only by acquiring a Card ahead of time or by successfully completing the First Stage survival objective could one activate their 'Resident Identity.''
'There were two ways to acquire Cards. The first was to explore supply points in the wild, but those were usually located in high-risk areas. The second was to kill powerful creatures in the current region, which would drop Cards.'
'No... wait a minute.'
'Let me get this straight.'
'So what's the deal with this 'Daily Settlement' thing?'
'Are you two from different departments or something?'
Qin Ziwen got it. The Home system was a "cheat" that everyone in the Gated Community could activate. The Daily Settlement, however, was some rogue element that had snuck in from god-knows-where.
'So I'm playing the cracked version of the game.'
He toyed with the [Building Card] Level 1 Cellar Grain Storage in his hand.
His entire 98-square-meter apartment was now a map he could build on and modify. All he had to do was select a 1x2 meter rectangular area, and he could build a food-storage cellar right inside his home.
Qin Ziwen immediately selected a spot on his bedroom floor, right up against the corner.
"Use."
The Building Card dissolved into a ray of light that sank into the ground, causing the floor to ripple like the surface of water.
The flat floor sank inward, forming a square entryway. Stone steps, shrouded in a thin mist, led downward, the light and shadow twisting at the opening.
When the light faded, a wooden trapdoor with an iron ring handle had appeared where the floor had been.
Its rough, rustic style clashed horribly with the modern decor of the room.
Qin Ziwen hesitated. 'Where does this cellar lead? It didn't just punch a hole into my downstairs neighbor's bedroom, did it?'
He reached out, hooked his fingers through the iron ring, and pulled.
A deep stone staircase descended about five or six meters, flanked by stone walls.
The moment he stepped into the cellar, a wave of cool air hit him. At the bottom was a large, square chamber made of gray bricks, even more spacious than his bedroom. It was clearly not the apartment below, and its style was anything but modern.
He estimated the temperature down here was at least ten degrees cooler than his bedroom. The air was crisp, dry, and completely free of any musty smell.
He knocked on a wall. The sound was a dull thud, with no echo, as if he were truly deep underground.
Qin Ziwen couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "Incredible. This space must be overlapping with reality. From now on, I can store surplus food here."
...
...