Chapter 45 - 41: Day 9 Settlement
Dirt was piled in a thick mound on the floor of the expanded space behind the bathroom, where a few Gray Sweet Potato plants had been planted in the soil.
It looked a bit haphazard, but sweet potatoes have always been known for their tenacious Life Energy.
"AOO~"
The Beaked Eagle was perched on the very top of the animal cage, its head squeezed through a gap, squawking at the four rabbits below.
The four terrified rabbits huddled together in a ball, crouching in a corner by the feeding trough.
Qin Ziwen slapped the Beaked Eagle’s wing. "What are you doing? Don’t you dare scare them to death."
"AOO AOO~"
The Beaked Eagle jumped down from the cage and landed on Qin Ziwen’s shoulder. Even without any pressure, its sharp talons pinched him, causing a dull ache.
’My master is raising four little snacks for me at home!’ The Beaked Eagle squawked with glee.
Qin Ziwen chided, "Keep it down."
’The bathroom door is closed, but I wonder if the sound will travel downstairs. I don’t know where this thing gets all its energy, it’s like it’s on stimulants all day long.’
Before dinner, Qin Ziwen had his brother take a loach over to Deng Guang’s family.
For dinner, they had a simple soup of loach, crocodile, and cured meat.
A little after seven in the evening, Xiao Xuemei knocked on the door, bringing another power bank.
Qin Ziwen was surprised. "It’s fully charged."
Xiao Xuemei said, "I charged it in the car in the garage today. You go ahead and use it. Just let me know when it’s dead, and I’ll swap it for another one."
That night, Qin Ziwen took out the solar-powered flashlight and switched it to its lowest setting.
He then took out a pen and paper to draw a more detailed map.
This map focused mainly on the downstream area of the river.
He pulled up the overhead video the Beaked Eagle had recorded during the day and carefully cross-referenced it to confirm their final position.
The spot where they’d found the hippo wasn’t too far from the downstream tributary. Because they had followed the riverbank, their path had been curved rather than a straight line.
The backwater where the hippo lived was only about half a kilometer from the tributary as the crow flies. Following the riverbank would add about fifty percent more distance to the journey.
He drew a circle to mark the hippo’s territory and even added a little drawing of a hippo inside it.
"Is this a wild boar, big bro?"
"It’s a hippo! Have you no appreciation for art?"
Qin Ziwu grumbled, "That’s the pot calling the kettle black."
By the time he finished the map, it was nearly nine o’clock.
It was long since dark outside.
Qin Ziwen lay on his bed.
Suddenly, the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground came from outside his window.
"THUD."
In the quiet of the night, the sound was exceptionally clear.
Qin Ziwen pulled the master bedroom curtain aside just a crack and peered out.
A person was lying on the ground below Building Seven, across the way.
Someone had jumped.
He saw someone peer out from a balcony on the opposite building.
"Someone jumped! Who is it?!"
An unknown voice shouted.
One by one, people started appearing on the balconies of their apartments until they were crowded with onlookers.
Hearing the commotion, Qin Ziwu opened the door to his bedroom and went out onto the balcony.
"Big bro, someone jumped from the building."
"I saw."
"Should we go down and look?"
"No. Go to sleep. Don’t be nosy. Now you, get back to bed."
"Oh..."
Pulling the curtain shut, Qin Ziwen lay flat on his back, hands folded on his chest, and stared blankly at the ceiling. He didn’t know when he finally fell asleep.
At five o’clock the next morning, Qin Ziwen woke up, his internal clock right on schedule.
He checked yesterday’s daily settlement.
[You have successfully survived in the wilderness for a ninth day. Today, you drew a simple map of the surrounding region and a standard map of the downstream riverbank. Overall Score: 20 points.]
[Rewards obtained: [Building Card] Level 1 Blacksmith Shop x1, [Building Card] Level 1 Cellar Grain Storage, Mosquito Repellent Water x1.]
’A Blacksmith Shop?’
Qin Ziwen paused, his mind subconsciously flashing to Huang Tao’s carpentry workshop.
’One is for woodworking, the other for smithing.’
What he really wanted was a Blank Expansion Card.
’Still, these two buildings are good too. One Blacksmith Shop and one cellar. I can use this to upgrade my cellar to Level 2. I wonder if a Level 2 cellar has better storage capacity.’
He first turned his attention to the cellar in the bedroom.
He chose to use the card immediately.
The Level 1 Cellar Grain Storage Card in his hand dissolved into a flash of light and merged with the existing cellar.
The original single-plank wooden door was replaced with a double-layered door made of thick pinewood planks.
The exterior was reinforced with three wrought-iron bands, and the central iron ring was wrapped in oil-soaked leather.
As he pulled the door open, a gust of cool air rushed out to meet him.
The cellar was even colder than before.
The stone staircase retained its original style, but both the walls and stairs were more neatly finished. A fine, non-slip diagonal pattern had been chiseled into the surface of the steps.
While the edges still had the look of natural stone, all the sharp corners had been smoothed off.
He descended the stone stairs to the bottom. The square, blue-brick chamber was much larger than it had been at Level 1; the spacious room was now considerably larger than his apartment’s living room.
Two new four-tiered wooden shelves stood against the walls.
Two wooden beams also ran across the ceiling, perfect for hanging items.
The most noticeable change was the temperature. Before, the cellar had been maybe ten-odd degrees cooler than outside; now, it was likely only a few degrees above freezing.
Just in that short time, Qin Ziwen felt goosebumps break out on his arms.
’With the temperature this much lower, food will last a lot longer.’
He took a walk around the cellar, running his palm over the cold brick walls.
He was deeply satisfied.
After leaving the cellar and closing the door, he went to the expanded area behind the bathroom.
He took out the Level 1 Blacksmith Shop Building Card. It required a 3x4 area to be placed.
That was a decent amount of space. Qin Ziwen looked around and finally decided to place it in the open area to the right of the entrance.
The Card dissolved into light that seeped into the empty ground. When the light faded, a semi-subterranean earthen building stood in its place.
Its exterior walls were made of rammed earth—a mixture of yellow mud and rice straw—and the roof was covered with thick, overlapping layers of thatch.
A wide wooden door was set in the center of the front wall.
He pushed the door open, and it swung inward with the CREAK of a wooden axle.
The interior was sunken, and from the floor to the ceiling, it measured nearly three meters high.
In the center of the shop stood a conspicuous, well-worn, blue-black anvil. A hammer lay across its surface. A new pair of tongs was tethered to its left, and a ceramic water jug sat on the floor to its right.
Against the north wall, behind the anvil, stood a simple furnace built of fire clay and stone. A push-pull bellows was attached to its side.
It was primitive and rugged.
A powerful sense of déjà vu washed over him.
An image floated into his mind: a bare-chested Blacksmith, hammering away at a piece of iron with abandon.
The floor was rammed loess, hard underfoot. He stomped his foot firmly. ’Now that I have the Blacksmith Shop, all I need is metal ore, coal, and a Blacksmith. Once I have all that, I can make my own ironware.’
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