Chapter 76 - 72: Encounter
After lunch, they came out of the apartment building.
Qin Ziwen saw a young man in a gray coat posting something on a wall. He looked a bit familiar. After a moment of thought, he remembered—it was the person who followed the old traditional Chinese medicine doctor.
After the young man in the gray coat finished posting it, he turned and went straight to Building 7 across the way.
Qin Ziwen walked over to where the man had been standing and found a hand-drawn medicinal herb guide posted on the wall.
It listed several common herbs found in the surrounding area, along with their uses and preparation methods. For example, some could treat colds, while others could repel mosquitoes, insects, snakes, and ants. Not only was there text, but there were also watercolor illustrations of the herbs.
At the very bottom, a line of text was noted: If you have an ailment that cannot be resolved, you may come to Building 9, Unit 1, Floor 4.
Although it was a form of advertising, Qin Ziwen didn’t mind this method.
They passed by Building 9, and there was also a paper posted at the entrance to its unit.
Walking up to look, they saw that the paper listed several herbs for treating heat-related colds and relieving itchy mosquito bites. The content was actually different from the one posted at their building.
Deng Guang remarked with emotion, "This senior is a man of medical ethics and compassion. In the past, this kind of knowledge was a legacy."
Zhao Pu nodded in agreement. "A lot of the older doctors I know are pretty good people."
Leaving through the Gated Community’s east gate, they saw that the cars that were scattered about yesterday had been sorted and organized.
The doors and hoods of some cars had been pried open.
On others, even the engines had been taken.
They crossed the parking lot and entered the forest.
The forest was muddy everywhere, with pools of standing water in some places.
As they walked, their shoes quickly became caked in mud.
Deng Guang swatted a leech off the back of his hand and stopped to catch his breath. "This path is even harder to walk than before."
Qin Ziwen stopped and waved to the sky above.
The Beaked Eagle descended from the sky.
Qin Ziwen took out his phone to check the video it had recorded.
They had three main objectives for the afternoon.
First, to find a suitable route up the mountain. The mountainside cave was located on the mountainside northeast of the Gated Community. Along the way, they would use the Beaked Eagle’s flight to scout for a suitable ascent point from high above.
Second, to check the cave and see if they could snag any Cards that had spawned at the altar at the foot of the mountain.
Third, to retrieve the Earth Cage.
Zhao Pu, who had come along with them, naturally saw the Beaked Eagle as well. He didn’t ask why the eagle was so obedient; he just silently marveled that joining Qin Ziwen’s team had indeed been the right choice.
"There’s a cliff face here, so it’s probably no good for climbing. Here’s a slope, let me see... This should work." Qin Ziwen nodded, having finally found a seemingly viable route. However, looking down from high above, the tree canopy was dense, so he could only judge the general terrain by the height of the trees.
Four hours later, they finally reached their destination.
The stream’s current was much stronger than it had been a few days ago, and the turbulent water crashed against the green stones with a ROARING sound.
Climbing up to the cave, Qin Ziwen saw messy footprints on the ground before he even went inside. A bad feeling rose in his heart.
He shone his flashlight inside and, just as he’d expected, the altar was empty. The Card that had spawned today had already been taken.
It was a shame, but he had anticipated it.
Following the stream downhill for a distance, they soon saw the Earth Cage in the middle of the current.
The Earth Cage had originally been placed at the stream’s edge, but the recent downpour had increased the upstream water volume, causing the stream to widen.
𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
Qin Ziwen was about to go down, but his younger brother moved first. He stepped onto a green stone, steadied himself by grabbing a tree trunk, and then took hold of the rope tied next to it and started pulling.
Qin Ziwen said, "Be careful, don’t fall in."
Qin Ziwu replied, "Don’t worry."
As he pulled, the cage was dragged back.
When the heavy cage was lifted from the water, there was a great SPLASH. Countless brown-shelled crustaceans were crowded inside, their pincers and claws sticking out through the gaps in the Earth Cage.
Deng Guang couldn’t help but exclaim, "So many crabs!"
Zhao Pu’s expression went slack for a moment. "The resources here are this abundant?"
The Earth Cage was packed densely with stream crabs.
Qin Ziwu gave a sudden heave, untied the rope, and pulled the Earth Cage toward the bank. Qin Ziwen took over, and together with Deng Guang and Zhao Pu, the three of them hauled the cage out of the stream.
"Quick, get them in the buckets."
As they emptied the Earth Cage, some leftover shrimp claws and shell fragments fell out.
They filled two whole buckets with stream crabs.
After being put inside, the stream crabs kept trying to climb out, so they added some water and covered the top with aquatic plants.
Only then did the crabs slowly quiet down.
After retrieving the Earth Cage, the four of them started their journey back.
’I won’t be coming back here for a while,’ he thought. ’My main focus will be on that cave on the mountainside. So there’s no need to set up the Earth Cage here for now. The round trip is too far; it basically eats up half a day’s worth of activity.’
Thinking of the other two intact Earth Cages at home, Qin Ziwen felt that he might not have tapped into their true potential yet.
’The best solution might be to rent them out and take a cut of the daily harvest. That way, the daily harvest can be converted into ratings, indirectly boosting the rewards. Based on my estimates, a Building Card requires a rating of around 10, and a Micro-sized Blank Expansion Card needs a rating of about 20. Of course, some rarer buildings might require an even higher rating. But an Earth Cage probably only requires a rating of 1 to 2. In the daily rating reward pool, aside from Cards, the rating needed for other physical items isn’t very high.’
Qin Ziwen mulled it over. Xiao Xuemei and Deng Wen usually stayed within the Gated Community. Zhao Pu had a son who was almost as tall as he was.
’That’s three people, but the number is still a bit small. A woman and two minors... if someone tried to rob them, it would be hard to intimidate them.’
’It would be best to add a few more people...’
He thought of Li Yue, and also Wei Zhaohua’s family, the ones who sold seedlings. That was two families, five people. Adding Xiao Xuemei’s group of three would make a team of eight.
’That Wei Zhaohua is focused on his seedlings and doesn’t seem to have joined any exploration teams. He has a wife and two elderly parents at home. If there was a job that allowed him to stay near the Gated Community and get a stable food source without traveling far, he probably wouldn’t refuse. And there’s also Li Tieshan, the one who does blacksmithing at home. He could also step in at a critical moment.’
Having thought this through, Qin Ziwen shared his idea with Deng Guang and Zhao Pu.
"What? You have several more Earth Cages at home? Do you own a fishing tackle shop or something?" Deng Guang was shocked.
Qin Ziwen explained, "I bought them for a friend back then. I didn’t get a chance to give them to him before we crossed over."
Zhao Pu was tempted, but he was worried about his son’s young age. "If it’s only three people, won’t that be too few? If we get into a conflict with others, we might be at a disadvantage."
"I have two other families in mind to partner with." Before Qin Ziwen could finish, the Beaked Eagle above them suddenly let out a sharp, warning cry!
"ROAR!"
"OINK, OINK."
On the slope ahead, a wild boar covered in mud and radiating a murderous aura was looking down on them.
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