Chapter 125 - 117: Tailor Shop
Qin Ziwu and his men rushed up from behind. The moment they saw the wild boar was restrained, they swarmed it.
In just a few minutes, the boar that had been so ferocious moments before lay on the ground, completely unconscious.
Qin Ziwu exclaimed in admiration, "Holy shit, Big Bro! When we came over, we saw you had the boar completely under control."
Li Yue sidled up, and the more he looked at the boar, the more familiar it seemed.
This boar looked just like the one that had charged him before.
By the time the dust settled, dusk was falling. It was a little past seven in the evening when the group carried their Spoils of War back to the Gated Community.
The sight of them carrying in the boar was quite a spectacle, drawing a crowd of neighbors.
"Whoa, that’s a huge boar!"
"Where’d you get that? Can we trade for some of the meat?"
"Do you need the hide? If not, can I have it?"
"Hey handsome, you’re so manly," a man said. He pretended to step forward to touch the boar, but instead secretly squeezed Qin Ziwu’s bulging, muscular arm.
Qin Ziwu’s eyes bulged.
𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
The man shot him a sly grin and disappeared back into the crowd.
Qin Ziwen shouted, "The meat’s not for sale, but we’ll trade! If anyone has fresh fish, you can trade for some boar meat."
They carried the boar all the way up to apartment 602. Qin Ziwen first went to the rooftop to retrieve the Beaked Eagle, then led it down the stairwell.
As its talons clicked sharply on the hard cement of the stairwell, the Beaked Eagle found the surface painfully abrasive. Several times, it tried to spread its wings to fly, but the stairwell was too cramped for it to manage.
Qin Ziwen’s heart ached watching it, so he just scooped the Beaked Eagle up in his arms.
Even though it had grown much larger, its weight wasn’t outrageous.
For their size, birds are relatively light.
Still, at two meters tall with a wingspan of over five meters, it weighed more than many adult men.
Qin Ziwen figured it had to be around two hundred pounds.
Luckily, he was much stronger than before. It was a strain to carry it, but not impossible.
After carrying it home and setting it down, Qin Ziwen wiped a sheen of sweat from his forehead. "If you get any bigger, I don’t think I’ll be able to carry you anymore."
"SKRAW." Back inside, the Beaked Eagle was uncomfortable on the hard floor tiles. Qin Ziwen eventually led it to the sand patch, and it seemed much more content once its talons sank into the sand.
Qin Ziwen mused, ’Looks like I’ll need to build a few perches in here for it to rest its talons on. But for now, this sand patch will do.’
Not far off, by the Salt Well, Liu San and his men saw the massive Divine Bird from a distance, and their reverence for Lord Qin deepened.
Qin Ziwen shouted toward the Salt Well, "Liu San!"
Liu San hurried over. "What are your orders, my lord?"
"Go get ten pounds of coarse salt. We’ll need it to cure the meat."
"Yes, my lord."
Liu San returned a moment later with a bag containing about ten pounds of coarse salt.
After taking the salt, Qin Ziwen let the Beaked Eagle play in the sand on its own.
He then carried the salt upstairs.
He found everyone busy washing the wild boar and butchering the meat.
Everyone’s spirits were high at the prospect of getting a share of the meat.
Qin Ziwen set the salt down and told them to carry on, then returned to his apartment with Du Yu.
Back in his room, Qin Ziwen calmed his mind. He planned to use his Insight ability to inspect every part of his Home.
[Level 2 Coal Mine: Level 2 Coal Purification, Level 2 Reserve Increase]
[Level 2 Iron Mine: Level 2 Iron Ore Purification, Level 2 Mine Safety Increase]
[Level 1 Stone Quarry: Level 1 Stone Hardness Increase, Level 1 Reserve Increase]
Qin Ziwen’s eye twitched as he read the "Mine Safety Increase" part of the iron mine’s description. ’What’s that supposed to mean?’
’Safety can be increased? Does that mean the mine had a risk of collapsing before?’
’So there’s actually a risk to mining my own resource points here in the Home.’
Then, Qin Ziwen went to the Spring Eye.
[Level 2 Spring Eye: Level 2 Water Output Increase, Level 2 Water Quality Purification]
Just as he was pondering this, there was a knock on the door.
He opened the door to find Zhao Pu standing outside. "Mr. Qin, I was hoping you could give me some guidance on how to place this building."
’Guidance?’
Qin Ziwen found it a bit strange. ’Don’t you just use a Building Card on an empty plot of land? Why would he need guidance for that?’
But seeing Zhao Pu’s cautious yet hopeful expression reminded him of how he felt when he got his first Card.
"Sure. I wouldn’t call it guidance, but I can give you a few pointers to help you avoid any pitfalls."
He followed Zhao Pu to his apartment. The room Zhao Pu had chosen was a spare bedroom.
It looked like it had been used as a storage room, but it was now mostly empty.
"The Card says it requires a 3x4 meter area, and this room is just about that size. What do you think, Mr. Qin? Will this work?"
"Hmm... you could, in theory. But have you thought about what happens if the building’s front door doesn’t line up with the door to this room? How would you get in? Are you planning to knock down a wall?"
A look of realization dawned on Zhao Pu’s face. "Oh! Mr. Qin, I thought it was like in a video game, where you can just walk right in once it’s built."
"That’s not how it works. You can think of a building created by a Building Card as no different from a regularly constructed one, except that it comes with some magical properties."
"I understand now! Thank you for clearing that up for me, Mr. Qin."
In the end, Zhao Pu decided to build the tailor shop in his living room.
Like most people, he chose the living room for his first building.
As the white light faded, a small wooden cabin appeared where there was once empty space.
The cabin had a Western feel to it; from the outside, it looked like a log cabin, built from stacked, felled tree trunks.
The gaps between the logs were chinked with a mixture of yellow mud and dry straw.