Inside the Level 1 Beast Cage, the two wild rabbits watched the human squeeze in and quickly scurried to one side.
Qin Ziwen squatted in front of the feeding trough and poked at the leftover plants with his finger.
"Heh, they're pretty picky. They ate almost all the tender leaves and tips."
After a moment of observation, he found they had mostly eaten the tender leaves and the plants with thin, soft foliage.
However, they hadn't eaten everything. Two types of grass were almost completely untouched.
He beckoned to his brother outside the cage and held up the uneaten grass. "Don't bother picking these two types anymore. For the other three, try to get more of the tender leaves."
Qin Ziwu nodded, showing he understood.
"As for water, just scoop some for the rabbits from the Level 1 Spring Eye over there. You can give them a little extra; they'll drink it when they're thirsty."
Qin Ziwu looked like he was about to take notes. He suggested, "Bro, we're raising animals over here, and the spring is right there. I was thinking, maybe we should cover it with a cloth to keep dust or other stuff from getting into the water."
Qin Ziwen was puzzled. "We don't have a cloth that big at home, do we?"
Qin Ziwu grinned smugly. "We can sew one. I'll just grab a few bedsheets and stitch them together."
Qin Ziwen was stunned. 'You look so big and brawny, but you actually know how to sew?' "When did you learn that?"
Qin Ziwu blinked. "Learn what?"
"How to sew."
It dawned on Qin Ziwu. "Oh, I don't know how. I meant we could find someone to sew it for us. With so many people in the Gated Community, someone's bound to know how, right? We can trade a little food for their work."
Qin Ziwen climbed out of the cage and patted his brother's shoulder, saying with relief, "Nice. Coming up with that idea shows you're growing up. I'll leave that task to you, then. I'm going to get some sleep."
He yawned as he finished speaking.
For the past two days, he hadn't gone to sleep until after midnight, only to get up at six in the morning.
The days were filled with high-intensity manual labor, and his body had long been signaling its exhaustion.
When he next awoke, it was already the following morning.
Qin Ziwen opened his daily settlement record.
You have successfully survived in the wilderness for a sixth day. You cooperated with residents of the Gated Community to hunt the male crocodile leader of this river basin. You actively participated in setting traps and attempted to raise rabbits. Overall Score: 47 points.
Rewards obtained: [Expansion Card] Micro-sized Blank Expansion Card x1, [Building Card] Level 1 Restroom x1, Earth Cage x2, Bow and Arrow Equipment Box x1.
'Finally, another Expansion Card!'
'The Home is running out of space. Right now, I can't even fit a Level 1 Farmland.'
'A 20x20 plot of farmland is 400 square meters. That's not something I can hope to achieve any time soon.'
As for the other building, the Level 1 Restroom...
Qin Ziwen couldn't help but ponder. Every normal person has... well, needs. The water was shut off, and the Gated Community didn't have a septic system. Huaxia People were generally reserved about such matters. They either had to bag their waste and discreetly toss it outside or find a secluded spot in the wilderness to relieve themselves.
He decided to use the Blank Expansion Card first, placing it right between the Level 1 Beast Cage and the Level 1 Spring Eye!
'After all, there's no rule that says new expansions have to be on the edge, right?'
He activated the Micro-sized Blank Expansion Card. A white light flashed, enveloping the entire area. When the light faded, the distance between the Level 1 Spring Eye and the Level 1 Beast Cage had stretched by nearly ten meters, making the whole space feel much larger.
As for the restroom... it required a 2x2 area.
Qin Ziwen looked at the space just north of the Level 1 Beast Cage.
He chose to place it there.
When the light faded, a neat, square little building made of blue-gray bricks and dark tiles stood in its place.
It had blue-gray brick walls, a wooden door set in the middle of one side, and a roof covered in a thick layer of black tiles.
He pushed the door open. Inside, the walls were coated with a layer of cement, and there was a single squat toilet in the center.
The entire restroom was brand new. The squat toilet even had a flush button on the wall behind it.
Qin Ziwen was taken aback.
'This thing actually flushes? Where does the water come from? Don't tell me it takes it from my spring... that would be insane. I barely have enough water from the Level 1 Spring Eye as it is.'
He tentatively pressed the flush button.
The next second, a valve at the bottom of the toilet bowl snapped open. A powerful suction of air followed, while a blue deodorizing liquid streamed down from all four sides of the bowl's interior.
The whole process was quick and efficient, just like a toilet on an airplane.
Qin Ziwen didn't understand how it worked, but he was thoroughly impressed.
He had assumed the Level 1 Restroom would be some kind of primitive, old-fashioned outhouse. He never expected it to be a modern-style little lavatory, thoughtfully equipped with a flush function and everything. It was just too considerate.
[Home] Building 8, Unit 2, 5-2
[Area] 298㎡
[Height] 2.8m
[Buildings] Level 1 Cellar Grain Storage, Level 1 Beast Cage, Level 1 Restroom
[Resources] Level 1 Spring Eye
Looking at his Home panel, Qin Ziwen felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Back in his bedroom, he took out the Earth Cages and the Bow and Arrow Equipment Box.
The Earth Cages were the small, collapsible kind. Each had six sections, with each section being about 50cm long. He'd seen other people use them before; you'd put them in a river to catch small fish, shrimp, or eels. With a bit of luck, you might even catch some crayfish.
He opened the Bow and Arrow Equipment Box. Inside was a fifty-pound Compound Bow, along with fifteen carbon-fiber broadhead arrows.
There was also a small instruction manual describing the proper posture for drawing the Bow and other usage instructions.
...
The sun rose in the east, and a crowd of people had already gathered by the river south of the Gated Community.
According to Deng Guang, the Gated Community had spontaneously organized five or six crocodile-hunting teams, but so far, none of them had even seen a single crocodile.
As a result, some people were getting bold.
Some were fishing, some were catching shrimp, and others had rolled up their pant legs to snatch eels from the mud.
"I got one, I got one!"
a middle-aged man nearby exclaimed with delight.
His clothes and pants were caked in mud, as if he'd just taken a roll in it.
In his hand, he held a big, fat eel. From the looks of it, it had to be at least half a pound.
One of the anglers finally lost his patience. People had been noisy since the morning, and some brats were even throwing rocks into the river. "Hey buddy, can you keep it down? You're scaring away my fish."
The middle-aged man who'd caught the eel just laughed. Without arguing, he gave the eel in his hand a little shake and turned to leave.
"Sigh, it's no good fishing with this many people around. I'm going to check downstream," Deng Guang said, reeling in his line.
There weren't many fish in the river to begin with, and with all the commotion, the ones near the bank were even scarcer.
Xiao Xuemei, for once, agreed.
Perhaps because the male crocodile leader had been killed, many people in the Gated Community had grown much bolder.
In their minds, if they could kill a monster as ferocious as the crocodile leader, what was there to fear from the rest?
Besides, there were all those crocodile-hunting teams by the river.
But with the riverbank so crowded, the water was stirred up and murky, making it hard to catch fish, shrimp, or anything else.
Qin Ziwen had no intention of setting out his Earth Cages here and now. For one, there were too many people. For another, they'd easily be spotted. Unless he planned on watching the traps around the clock, they were almost guaranteed to be stolen.
The best time would be in the evening when the riverbank was deserted. Then he could come back to retrieve them first thing in the morning.
'As for bait... what could be better than the entrails from the male crocodile they hunted yesterday?'
...
...