Chapter 88 - 84: Day 17 Settlement
Qin Ziwen focused on the words "solicit" and "recruit."
If he wasn’t mistaken, "solicit" must be the ability that could bring people like that scholar into his tavern.
And "recruit" was probably similar to the Recruitment Card, allowing him to recruit people into his Home.
The tavern really was a way to get new members, just as he’d first suspected.
But his attempt to recruit the scholar yesterday had failed. He concluded that it was because he had been too abrupt and rash, scaring the man off.
’If another guest shows up, I should try talking with them more first.’
He entered the tavern, his mind still on these thoughts.
The tavern was dim at night, moonlight filtering through a window to illuminate one corner.
After sitting on a bench for a while, no new guests arrived, and Qin Ziwen eventually left in disappointment.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
There was a knock at the door.
It was immediately followed by Deng Guang’s voice, "Brother Qin."
Qin Ziwen opened the door a crack. "What is it?"
"My wife told me when I got back. A group calling themselves the Alliance Mutual Aid Association came looking for you during the day. They want to meet you at the south gate tomorrow at ten in the morning." Outside the door, Deng Guang relayed the details of what had happened.
"Tomorrow morning..." Qin Ziwen frowned. ’The meeting is set for ten in the morning. Can’t they do it at night?’
’If I go tomorrow, how will I get my Card?’
’I’ll have to waste another day. What if the altar spawns another red card?’
Besides, after obtaining a Card, he could get another reward from the daily settlement. That was a difference of two Cards.
"Brother Deng, do you think I should go?"
Deng Guang hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "I’ll do whatever you say, but it doesn’t sound that urgent. If it were a real emergency, they would have come and waited for you. Since they just left a message to be passed on, they probably aren’t taking it very seriously."
Qin Ziwen nodded. "That makes sense. We’ll go up the mountain again tomorrow. If they come back, just have your wife tell them that I’ll meet them tomorrow night."
"Alright. I’m heading up, then. I just traded for two motorcycle helmets that I plan on bringing tomorrow." Deng Guang gave the two helmets in his hands a little shake.
Qin Ziwen watched him go upstairs and only closed the door after he was gone.
"The Alliance Mutual Aid Association... Is there really such a thing as selfless mutual aid? If so, that would be nice," Qin Ziwen muttered to himself.
Returning to his bedroom, he went to the window and looked up at the bright moon.
The sun had long set, and the Gated Community was silent.
Through the window, he could see that every household’s balcony was filled with plants.
He pulled his gaze away and called up his Home.
[The percentage of awakened Homes among surviving households in the Gated Community has exceeded 6%. Once this percentage exceeds 20%, a 3-day countdown will begin.]
[Next Stage Map: Gobi Desert]
[Next Stage Duration: Insufficient Authority]
[Next Stage Reinforcement Count: Insufficient Authority]
’I’d better stock up on more water.’
The next map was the Gobi Desert, and water was extremely scarce there.
Based on his experience from watching wilderness survival shows, the Gobi Desert wasn’t rainless, just that it rained very little and evaporation was rapid. You could generally only find shallow water near an Oasis or along fault lines.
Furthermore, most of this shallow water was stagnant and couldn’t be drunk directly.
Plants and animals were also scarce, making both water and food major problems.
’I need to store more than just water; I have to stock up on food, too.’ A sense of urgency welled up inside Qin Ziwen at the thought.
His current food supply would only last for a short time. Once he was in the Gobi Desert, there was no guarantee it would be enough.
As night fell, Qin Ziwen got into bed and quickly fell asleep.
The Beaked Eagle lay in its nearby nest, its head resting on the edge as it stared fixedly at Qin Ziwen. As time passed, its large eyes slowly closed.
In the morning, sunlight streamed in through the window.
[You have successfully survived in the wilderness for seventeen days. You discovered an Advanced Mysterious Altar and obtained a Card from it. You also hunted a Black Falcon. Overall Score: 104]
[You have received your reward: Function Card: Deployment, Yellow Rice Wine x4]
Another Function Card!
Qin Ziwen was delighted. ’It really is a buy one, get one free deal,’ he thought.
’But what does "Deployment" do?’
He took out the new Function Card. Just like the Insight Card from yesterday, this new one was also a red, crystalline Card that gave off a faint red glow.
The only difference was that the front depicted a hand, its thumb and index finger pinched together as if holding something.
He silently thought, ’Use.’
The small light orb for his Home appeared on its own, and the red starlight from the shattered card flowed into it.
[Function Activated: Level 1 Deployment]
[New function activated. Authority has been increased. Current Authority: Level 1 Authority (1/2)]
[Level 1 Deployment: Can be used on any building or resource point within the Home to move it to any empty area. Once moved, the building (or resource point) cannot be moved again for 30 days.]
He could finally rearrange his buildings!
Qin Ziwen decided he needed to plan things out carefully, as there was a 30-day cooldown after moving a building.
This thought calmed him down, and he decided to wait a couple of days. The buildings and resource points could only be moved to empty areas.
There wasn’t much empty space at the moment, which made it inconvenient to move some of the larger buildings.
’I’ll wait until I get two more Expansion Cards, then I can plan out my Home into several distinct zones.’
’A mining zone, a functional building zone, a resource point zone, and a farming zone.’
’Some buildings and resource points have complementary effects, so placing them closer together would save energy and time.’
’And besides that, there are four jars of... Yellow Rice Wine?’
He took out a jar, and his hand immediately sank under the weight.
He almost dropped it.
He was holding a huge wine jar, weighing at least twenty or thirty pounds. Its mouth was sealed with a red cloth, and a faint aroma of wine drifted out.
Carrying the jar, he went to the tavern and placed it in an empty spot at the bottom of the cabinet behind the counter.
He dusted off his hands and was about to leave, satisfied, when the door curtain was suddenly lifted.
"Shopkeeper, some cooked food and two jars of your best wine!"
A group of four men walked in.
Three of them were dressed in constable uniforms, like something out of a TV drama. The one in the lead had a full beard, thick eyebrows, and large, imposing eyes set in a square-jawed face.
The two men behind him were burly, with short swords at their waists and shrewd looks in their eyes. Sandwiched between them was a long-haired man in a prisoner’s uniform.
The four of them entered and sat down at a table near the entrance.
The bearded constable in the lead slapped his broadsword flat on the tabletop.
Qin Ziwen fell silent. ’Why are there so many of them this time?’ he wondered.
If he were actually running a business, making a bit of money would be one thing. But he wasn’t. Now four people had shown up expecting a free meal. Even if they paid, it would be useless; he had nowhere to spend the money.
Seeing Qin Ziwen just standing behind the counter without immediately serving them, the three constables frowned and exchanged a look.
The burly, bearded leader spoke up. "Shopkeeper, I am Di Wu. I’ve traveled this road seven or eight times, if not ten, and this is the first I’ve ever seen a shop here. Out in the middle of nowhere, with no village for miles, I bet business isn’t usually booming, is it?"
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