Chapter 153 - 141: 30th Day Settlement, Second Traversal
That evening, Zhang Bo came by personally, bringing ten lengths of wood for bow-making.
Among the ten pieces of wood, seven were Zhe Wood and three were Mulberry Wood.
"I’m all out of Zhe Wood. If you don’t want the Mulberry Wood, I can give you some of the salt back," Zhang Bo said, holding onto the three pieces of Mulberry Wood.
"No need. Mulberry Wood is fine. It’s a soft wood, so the bows will be more durable," Qin Ziwen said calmly. He gave a couple of tugs, yanking the Mulberry Wood over, and called out, "Du Yu, bring the salt."
Du Yu appeared with a large Bag of Salt in each hand and shoved them into Zhang Bo’s arms.
Seeing how easily Du Yu carried them, Zhang Bo let his guard down.
When he took them, he almost lost his grip and dropped them.
Du Yu helped steady him. "Careful, don’t drop them."
Zhang Bo snapped back to his senses, raised his head, and sized up the man before him.
His face was chiseled, his features deep-set, and his gaze sharp. He had carried over a hundred catties of salt as if it were nothing.
’This guy is incredibly strong,’ he thought to himself.
"Well, Boss Qin, I’ll be going then. See you on the next map!" Zhang Bo laughed, said his goodbyes, and turned to leave.
Qin Ziwen carried the wood back into the living room.
In the pile of wood, the Zhe Wood was longer, mostly over two meters.
The Mulberry Wood was slightly shorter, ranging from about one and a half to two meters in length.
Du Yu inspected them and confirmed they were all quality materials.
"My lord, this is good material. The person who cut it must have been a professional Carpenter."
Qin Ziwen said, "That’s good. The Gobi Desert is a wide-open terrain. Pits and Beast Traps won’t be very effective, so we’ll have to use bows."
He then rearranged the room, clearing out a 5x10 empty space.
He used the Bow and Arrow Workshop Card.
As the light faded, a low-rise building appeared where the space had been.
The building was surrounded by a small, two-meter-high wall.
Pushing open a reddish-brown wooden door revealed a small courtyard and a bright, low brick-and-tile house.
A row of bow racks stood against a wall in the courtyard.
From their design, they seemed to be for air-drying the bows.
Beside the racks were waist-high woven bamboo drying baskets. A few bundles of treated hemp cord were spread out inside one, while another basket held tools like bow planes, files, and whetstones.
A few low stools sat on the ground, and on the other side of the courtyard was a small pot set over a wood fire.
Inside the house, a small jar on the table was half-full of yellowish fish glue, and a small box held several pieces of ox horn.
Qin Ziwen’s first impression of the building was that it was fully equipped.
Compared to the Blacksmith Shop, the Bow and Arrow Workshop was not only much larger, but it also had more materials and tools.
He used Insight to check the building’s effects.
[Level 1 Bow and Arrow Workshop: Level 1 Glue Boiling Efficiency Enhancement, Level 1 Bow-Making Efficiency Enhancement]
’It can increase bow-making efficiency. That’s a nice feature.’ He had heard that bow-making was a time-consuming craft to begin with.
Making a good bow took even more time than forging a melee weapon.
Du Yu and two Hunters then entered the Bow and Arrow Workshop, began processing the wood, and started making bows.
The night passed uneventfully.
"You have successfully survived in the wilderness for thirty days. You have received a Card and a large haul of fish... Comprehensive Score: 80."
"Rewards granted: [Building Card] Level 1 Leather Armor Workshop x1, [Expansion Card] Blank Expansion Card (Small) x1."
The next morning, after breakfast.
Everyone sat inside, waiting in silence.
They had been asleep during the last transition, so they hadn’t felt a thing. This was the first time they would be awake for it. To prevent any accidents, no one went outside; they all sat quietly in the house.
Meanwhile, on the eighth floor of another building.
In a room, Wang Yun stood at the bedroom door holding a bowl of hot porridge. He knocked gently. "Honey, honey, time to get up and eat breakfast."
After a long moment, a voice came from inside. "Just leave it by the door."
𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
Hearing the weakness in his wife’s voice, Wang Yun opened the door.
In the bed, Lin Yi was trying to get up, but she struggled, failing to sit up after several attempts. Wang Yun rushed forward to help her, but Lin Yi pushed him away. "Don’t come any closer. I’m afraid I’ll infect you."
"But you said you were feeling better," Wang Yun said, a flicker of pain in his eyes.
Lin Yi started to say something, but she suddenly covered her mouth, turned away, and coughed softly.
Wang Yun placed the porridge on the bedside table and gently patted her back. Lin Yi took a few deep breaths, then suddenly asked, "Are we transitioning again today?"
Wang Yun had told her about the second transition. He quickly nodded. "Yes, in a few minutes."
Lin Yi suddenly said, "I want to watch."
Wang Yun brought a chair over so his wife could sit by the bedroom window. Lin Yi turned her head to look at her husband. "You should go out. If I infect you, it would be irresponsible to your teammates. You’re a grown man, now listen to me."
Wang Yun fell silent, then left the bedroom and closed the door.
He went out to the living room balcony, separated from his wife by a wall. "Yiyi, can you hear me?"
Lin Yi’s voice came from the other side, weak. "I can hear you. COUGH, COUGH, COUGH... Brother Yun, do you remember? When we got married, you promised you’d take me traveling every summer vacation. The year before last, we went to Sanya. Last year, we went to Erhai Lake. We were supposed to go to the Yadan this year... COUGH, COUGH, COUGH..."
Wang Yun stared blankly into the distance, his thoughts in turmoil, his heart a tangled mess.
He said softly, "Don’t talk anymore. Just get some rest."
Lin Yi was quiet for a moment, then she suddenly spoke up: "Are we going to the Gobi Desert this time?"
"Yes. We’re transitioning to the Gobi Desert."
"The Yadan we never got to see... COUGH, COUGH... we’re just going in a different way."
As her voice faded,
Wang Yun, sitting on the balcony, watched as the green mountains and rivers outside faded like washed-out paint, only to be recolored anew.
A wind blew in from outside. He couldn’t help but reach out, and sand beat against the back of his hand.
The air blowing in was filled with dust and sand.
The scorching sun overhead grew even hotter.
Blue sky, white clouds, and light stretching for ten thousand li.
The green mountains and clear waters vanished completely, replaced by a boundless expanse of rich, scorched yellow and ochre red.
The earth was torn asunder, a landscape of deep gullies, mounds, and ridges, with visible heat waves shimmering and rising from it under the searing sun.
"COUGH, COUGH... Brother Yun, look... it’s so beautiful."
Lin Yi’s weak voice was filled with awe.
Wang Yun’s heart clenched. He gazed out at the magnificent landscape, but was in no mood to appreciate it.
"Yiyi, we’ve arrived..."
The wind grew stronger, battering against the window, but the voice from the next room had fallen silent.
Wang Yun took a deep breath and was about to get up when Yang Cunshen, who was beside him, said, "My lord, look over there."
Wang Yun turned his head and looked past the northern wall of the Gated Community. A five-story school building was materializing out of thin air, gradually taking shape.
The school’s exterior walls were covered in brown stains of varying shades. Some of the outer bricks had fallen away, and the doors and windows had been reinforced with wood.
The corridors were packed with figures, men and women, holding all sorts of homemade weapons.
"Are those..." Wang Yun’s expression tensed.
The air seemed to freeze, leaving only the sound of sand-laden wind scouring the buildings.
Under the blistering sun, the two groups silently sized each other up, their scrutinizing gazes meeting in the air.
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