Our neighborhood has been transported again.

Chapter 142 Countdown

Outside the window, the sun rises.

The morning light illuminated the eaves of the arrow tower.

Today is the last day for the residents of this community to stay in this forest.

There are 26 hours, 14 minutes and 32 seconds left until the crossing.

When the sun sets today and rises tomorrow, they will bid farewell to this forest.

Qin Ziwen bumped into Wang Xiaoli. Wang Xiaoli, who usually lowered her head and avoided him at all costs when she saw him, hesitated for a moment, then greeted Qin Ziwen, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Qin Ziwen nodded and smiled.

"Excuse me, is your team still hiring?" Wang Xiaoli's nervous voice came from behind.

He stopped and looked back. On the stairs, a woman dressed in black was carrying a bucket of water and looking at him expectantly.

"The core membership is currently full, but there are still openings for regular members."

Wang Xiaoli was overjoyed: "Then how can I join?"

"You are now."

Hearing them come downstairs, Wang Xiaoli put down the bucket, covered her mouth, and wiped her eyes.

She had previously considered joining the Tongmenghui, but the members of the Tongmenghui knew about some of her past experiences and refused to let her join.

But now, she has a team.

Wang Xiaoli raised her head, a bright smile spreading across her face.

As they came out of the stairwell, Qin Ziwu whispered, "Brother, what's an ordinary member?"

"They are peripheral members."

Qin Ziwu understood. "Oh, 'ordinary member' sounds better."

Qin Ziwen carried the cured meat strips to Building 6.

The door had just opened when Guo Xiaochun, still yawning, spotted Qin Ziwen approaching.

"Brother, you're here so early! Come in and have a seat."

Guo Xiaochun quickly went inside to bring Qin Ziwen a stool.

"Thank you for your hard work yesterday. Here's a little something for you. I hope you don't mind." Qin Ziwen raised his right hand and waved the strip of meat in his hand.

"Oh, my brother, don't be so rude! How could I possibly complain?" Guo Xiaochun chuckled as he accepted the cured meat. "Thanks to your support, my intelligence agency has become an instant success. By the way, brother, I have some inside information. After the news broke yesterday, the top brass of the Alliance hurriedly held an emergency meeting. I don't know the specifics, but it should be related to you. But you can rest assured, with your reputation so great now, they won't dare to cause you any trouble, otherwise their reputation will be ruined."

"Thank you."

"We're all on the same side, what else is there to say?" Guo Xiaochun suddenly remembered something and quickly slapped his forehead.

"There's something I don't know if you'd be interested in, but it's just hearsay."

"You tell me, I'll listen."

Guo Xiaochun said, "A few days ago, a group from our community went downstream along the river. Because they didn't leave and return on the same day, they had to spend the night outside, so they went quite far."

Then, on the plains at the downstream end, they found ruins, somewhat like ancient brick houses, uninhabited for a long time. I suspect there might be indigenous people in this forest, but our exploration has been limited, and we haven't made contact yet.

After listening, Qin Ziwen seemed to be deep in thought. "Then tell me, is it possible that it could be something similar to us?"

Guo Xiaochun nodded, "Brother Qin, I've considered the possibility you mentioned, but if it happened before, there should be records in historical documents, right? I haven't heard of anything similar happening before."

Guo Xiaochun rubbed his hands together and asked shyly, "By the way, brother, do you have any similar news, or goods you want to list for sale through me?"

"No rush, let's talk about it when we get to the next map." Qin Ziwen patted him on the shoulder.

"Okay, bro, be careful on the road."

After leaving Guo Xiaochun's place, I ran into Xiao Xuemei and the others who were coming downstairs.

They were about to go to the river to set up fish traps, so Qin Ziwen had to stay home and wait for Zhang Bo to deliver the fish later.

"Liu San, how much salt do you have?"

"Sir, we stocked up yesterday, and today we have eighty catties of coarse salt and sixty catties of green salt."

"Okay, keep it up."

"President Zou, you wanted to see me?" Zhang Bo walked into the room.

Sitting on the sofa, Zou Jianghe looked at Zhang Bo calmly. "I heard from the hunting team that you've been getting live fish from them these past two days. What are you doing buying so many live fish?"

Zhang Bo laughed and said, "President, I didn't take it for free. I traded it with salt and the brothers in the hunting team. This is a fair internal transaction, right?"

Zou Jianghe pressed on, "I'm asking, what do you need so many live fish for?"

Zhang Bo casually replied, "Eat."

"You ate all 300 jin (150 kg)?"

"Yes, I... uh, took them back and pickled them. I heard the next map is the Gobi Desert, so I wanted to stock up on more meat. Salted fish is just right," Zhang Bo replied with a smile.

Zou Jianghe just stared at Zhang Bo, who was sitting on the sofa like a stubborn mule.

Zou Jianghe stared at him, his eyes narrowing slightly. "But you want live fish."

Zhang Bo answered without hesitation: "Live fish are fresh! Dead fish are rotten. Guild leader, you didn't call me here just to ask about this, did you? As far as I know, private transactions are allowed in the alliance. Everyone does it."

Zou Jianghe finally waved his hand helplessly.

Zhang Bo stood up from the sofa, patted his bottom, and turned to leave.

Watching Zhang Bo's retreating figure, Zou Jianghe felt somewhat aggrieved. The information he had gathered was that after bringing the fish back, Zhang Bo took them to Building 8.

The only person who could eat so many fish is probably Qin Ziwen.

Qin Ziming clearly doesn't join the Tongmenghui, yet he's trying to leverage their power.

But just yesterday, news came from Qin Ziwen that the next map would be the Gobi Desert, which not only made the kid famous, but also forced their alliance to hold an emergency meeting and call on members to stockpile large quantities of water and food.

After Zhang Bo walked away, Zou Jianghe looked behind him and said, "I don't understand. Zhang Bo is the kind of guy who won't do anything without a profit. How could he cooperate with Qin Ziwen?"

Behind him, an old man with a small mustache and a crew cut said, "Qin Ziwen is probably collecting so many live fish to prepare for the next map. He may have a building that can raise fish. Zhang Bo may have reached a cooperation agreement with him, with one providing the fish and the other providing the salt. But since he can cooperate with Qin Ziwen, we can cooperate with him too. Everyone's goal is to survive, so there is no conflict at this stage."

What we really need to pay attention to is the number of people to be added. It's just unclear what kind of addition method is being used. If it's about directly adding residents to vacant rooms in the community, that would be the easiest approach. It would be best if it's for complete novices. We older folks have already gone through this process, and it's easier to accommodate newcomers through mentorship.

My concern is that they might be experienced seniors, or even 'seniors' with more experience than us.

Why are you so sure there will be other people?

The old man smiled and said, "What brought us here from Earth might be a natural phenomenon. But when the home and the cards appeared, it was definitely not something that could be explained by natural phenomena."

As he spoke, his eyes darkened. "Have you ever seen a gladiator show? The fight between humans and beasts is certainly exciting, but what really drives the audience crazy is the fierce battle between the top gladiators, and the large-scale, spectacular epic melee."

Upon hearing the old man's words, Zou Jianghe fell silent. He could understand the logic behind it, but he did not wish it to be true.

"Are you scared?" the old man suddenly asked.

“Afraid?” Zou Jianghe laughed. “I have failed in my business three times and was heavily in debt. I didn’t dare to go back to my hometown for the New Year and worked alone to pay off my debts. I survived those desperate days, so what is there to be afraid of now? I firmly believe that the bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish.”

"Here are the fish you wanted." In the morning, Zhang Bo made two trips and brought the remaining two hundred catties of fish to Qin Ziwen.

He had considered the impact before, but now that it has been exposed, there is no need to cover it up anymore.

"This is eighty catties of coarse salt, and I'll give you another fifteen catties of refined salt." Qin Ziwen handed him the salt.

Zhang Bo waved his hand, "There are too many people around, I'll come back to pick it up later."

Qin Ziwen's eyes flickered; he understood.

Zhang Bo didn't want the news about him having salt wells to leak out.

Otherwise, if you give him the fish one minute and Zhang Bo goes back carrying a big bag of salt the next, then all the trouble Zhang Bo went through would be pointless.

Considering that the two parties had just finished their cooperation and that he did not have any immediate plans to retail salt on a large scale, Qin Ziwen readily agreed.

Zhang Bo seemed relieved. "If you want anything, you can come to me. I'll be the middleman. Right now, we're the only two people in the neighborhood with salt wells, so there's no need for us to engage in a price war, right?"

"Of course, Mr. Zhang, I'd also like to buy two hundred catties of live fish."

“I think we should consider starting a price war.” Zhang Bo turned to leave. “Haha, just kidding.” Qin Ziwen grabbed him.

Zhang Bo said with a dark face, "These fish aren't something I can have as many as I want. Besides, it wasn't you who spread the news that the next map is the Gobi Desert. Everyone is very careful with food these days. I had to go to great lengths to get you these 300 jin. I can't even buy food for myself now."

Qin Ziwen just watched him blow.

Zhang Bo continued, "However, if you want other things, such as good wood or well-woven hemp rope, that's fine too."

Qin Ziwen became interested. "Is there any wood that can be used to make bows?"

Zhang Bo didn't expect Qin Ziwen to actually want more, but he didn't think he could ask for much. "Yes, we have both mulberry and osage orange."

"What about cypress?" Qin Ziwen remembered that Du Yu had said that cypress was an excellent material for making bows.

"No, nobody's ever seen it," Zhang Bo waved his hand. "Just mulberry and osage orange wood, how many pieces do you want?"

"How is the price calculated?"

“If someone outside the Alliance buys it, a piece of material good enough to make a bow can be exchanged for about ten catties of meat. If someone within the Alliance buys it, it will cost five catties of meat. Give me five catties of meat and I'll go buy it for you.”

Qin Ziwen waved his hand, "How could this rotten wood be worth so much?"

Zhang Bo explained: "Oxalis wood is not uncommon, but the material that can be used to make bows is rare. To make bows, you need straight, knot-free Oxalis heartwood, which is usually the heartwood. A tree can't produce much material; enough to make three or four bows is enough. In addition to finding the tree, you also have to cut it down and bring it back for rough processing."

Qin Ziwen said, "Then how about this, two catties of coarse salt, or one catty of refined salt, in exchange for a bundle of timber, you help me get the wood for twenty bows first."

Zhang Bo was stunned. He had thought Qin Ziwen would only need enough material for five or six bows at most, but it turned out he wanted so much.

Are you planning to form an archer battalion?

The problem is, even if you have so many bows, you don't have that many men. Would you even need them?

Zhang Bo said, "That's too much, enough material for at most six bows."

Qin Ziwen countered: "Fifteen."

"Seven."

"Fourteen."

"Are you playing math with me?!" Zhang Bo said helplessly. "It's really troublesome if you want too much. Here's what we'll do: I'll get you seven bundles of material for now, and I'll find another way to get you more later when the opportunity arises."

Qin Ziwen said, "Here's what we'll do: thirty catties of refined salt, and get me enough material for ten bows, preferably mulberry wood, as it's better than mulberry wood. Don't worry, no problem. You have bows, but do you have arrows? Without enough arrows, it's useless for you to make bows."

Upon hearing the number 30 jin, Zhang Bo's eyes flickered. He hesitated for a moment, then said with a hint of reluctance, "Okay."

Coming downstairs, Zhang Bo suddenly felt like an old-fashioned traitor selling military supplies and grain. What if he got caught? Bah! What trading? This is called fair trade.

Residents in the community are more accepting of refined salt than coarse salt. After all, they have become more discerning about the taste of salt because they used to eat industrial salt, so they have a stronger purchasing power for refined salt.

According to Zhang Bo's estimate, twenty catties of refined salt could be used to make enough material for ten bows, and the remaining ten catties would be his own hard-earned money.

Of course, prices cannot be calculated in this way either. If a large amount of salt is dumped in a short period of time, it will also cause the price of salt on the market to drop.

But then new people arrive soon.

After Zhang Bo left, Qin Ziwen pondered that good wood for making bows was not scarce at the moment, since it was readily available in the forest.

However, once they arrived in the Gobi Desert, resources were scarce, and finding good materials for making bows became much more difficult.

So it's always a good idea to stock up now.

The mulberry wood is harder and suitable for making longbows, while the mulberry wood is only suitable for making shortbows. In terms of lethality, longbows are definitely stronger against wild animals.

In the afternoon, Du Yu and the others who had gone up the mountain returned to their residential area.

Today, the cave altar on the mountainside gave out a blank expansion card (small).

After the contribution points were evenly distributed, Li Yue finally collected 8 contribution points, exchanged them for a blank expansion card, and then successfully activated his homestead.

Now, the last team member has finally activated the homestead, achieving the "Homestead Complete" achievement.

Everyone was able to relax for a rare moment and prepare for a new life tomorrow.

At this time, most of the hunting teams, gathering teams, and groups of all sizes that usually go out hunting stay in the community.

Knowing that they would be traveling through time again tomorrow, many people stayed in their residential area for fear of missing the opportunity.

Some children followed behind their parents. After a month, not only the children but also the adults had become much stronger, and their skin had generally darkened by one shade.

"Captain!" Yuan Ming, who was taking a walk downstairs with his parents, waved to Qin Ziwen.

Hu Huilan and Yuan Dajun looked at Qin Ziwen with curiosity. They had heard of him before, but this was the first time they had met him in person.

"Uncle, Auntie," Qin Ziwen greeted the two.

Yuan Dajun extended his hand, "Hello, I am Yuan Ming's father. Thank you for taking care of Yuan Ming."

After shaking hands, Qin Ziwen noticed that Yuan Dajun's hands were somewhat rough but very strong.

Hu Huilan said, "Captain Qin, I'm entrusting Yuan Ming to your care. If he disobeys, you can scold or beat him as you please."

“Yuan Ming is very capable; he’s always very proactive in the team,” Qin Ziwen replied with a smile.

After chatting with Yuan Ming's parents for a while, I was surprised to learn that Yuan Dajun had studied martial arts before and even dreamed of working in the film and television industry when he was young. However, due to his poor appearance, he could only work as a stuntman behind the scenes. So, he eventually became a professional martial arts instructor and action designer.

Due to work reasons, he often travels for business and works overtime, so the childcare is basically left to the child's mother, Hu Huilan, who has always been very strict with Yuan Ming.

After chatting for a while, they politely declined Hu Huilan's invitation to come to her home for dinner.

But Qin Ziwen also extended an invitation to Yuan Dajun, "Uncle, seeing how strong you are, it's the perfect time for you to work hard. Why don't you consider joining my team? It would be perfect if you and Yuan Ming could fight side by side as father and son."

Yuan Dajun was somewhat tempted, but did not immediately agree, saying he would go back and think about it.

Qin Ziwen, who was then taking a walk with his younger brother, passed by the first floor of Building 6.

Just then, I saw Wei Zhaohua carrying a bag of soil to fill the green belt.

"Teacher Wei." Qin Ziwen waved.

“Mr. Qin.” Wei Zhaohua stopped and smiled.

"How is your uncle's health now?"

Wei Zhaohua expressed his gratitude: "Thanks to the honeysuckle you provided last time, he is almost recovered now, but there are some aftereffects. His physical strength is not as good as before, and he gets out of breath easily after walking a few steps."

"It's good that you're here."

"Yes, it's good that he's still alive." Wei Zhaohua sighed. He used to feel a lot of pressure when he was working. He was a homeroom teacher, and he not only had to manage students during work hours, but also had a lot of things to do after get off work.

But now, after experiencing all of this, he has realized that the greatest happiness is having his loved ones by his side.

"Are you planning to do more landscaping?"

Wei Zhaohua pointed to the soil on the ground, "Just messing around with it, but I don't think it will be very effective. The sun is strong in the Gobi Desert, and I estimate that this soil will dry out in no time."

When this was mentioned, Wei Zhaohua couldn't help but ask, "By the way, how are those seeds I gave you before?"

"It's great, they've mostly sprouted and grown into seedlings."

Wei Zhaohua was somewhat surprised, "That will be soon, congratulations."

"By the way, Teacher Wei, would you like to join my team?"

Wei Zhaohua hesitated for a moment, "I haven't joined any organization, but my wife has joined the Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance)."

"It's alright, Dr. Zhao also joined the Tongmenghui and even became a leader." Qin Ziwen indicated that he didn't care about these trivial matters.

Hearing this, Wei Zhaohua felt that it made sense.

"Okay, if you don't mind, then let's join."

"Welcome, Teacher Wei, to our team."

On the way home, Qin Ziwu asked, "Brother, how many people are we planning to recruit for our team?"

"It's not about how many people we recruit, but how many we can afford to support. If we're hunting large wild animals, it would be best if we could regularly assemble a team of about twenty people. Too many people would be cumbersome. Twenty people, with spearmen in the front and archers in the back, would be about right."

　There are two more chapters to go. The next chapter will be about time travel. I'm trying to make the connecting plot better, so I'm still polishing it. Sorry to wait a little longer.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)