Our neighborhood has been transported again.

Chapter 4 Home Building Cards

"Brother, should we join?" Qin Ziwu frowned. He didn't like Huang Tao's personality; he thought he was too slippery.

Qin Ziwen shook his head. "The people here don't even make up one-tenth of the residents in the community, and his so-called alliance is unlikely to succeed because he doesn't have enough prestige; others won't respect him."

“People in modern society generally have their own ideas. Unless there are tangible benefits, who would listen to someone just because of empty words? Besides, he can't produce that much food. In a few days, everyone will be hungry, and no one will listen to him.”

Qin Ziwen paused for a moment, then continued, "I feel that his purpose is not to form an alliance for the entire community, but more like to use this batch of supplies from the property management as bait to win over a group of people."

Qin Ziwu, who was following behind, became unusually serious: "Anyway, I only listen to you. I don't respect anyone else. After Mom and Dad had their accident, it was you, my older brother, who supported my studies. You were able to get a master's degree with your good grades."

Qin Ziwen kicked him in the butt, "You barking dog, I'm your brother, if I don't care about you, who will? If you keep barking, I'll beat you up."

Qin Ziwu chuckled and strode forward, "Holy crap, bro, come quick, the trap caught something!"

"Keep your voice down, do you want everyone to hear you?"

Walking over, Qin Ziwen immediately recognized the object that was bound by the rope trap attached to the wall.

It looks like a yellow mouse.

Sensing the approach of humans, the yellow mouse struggled desperately.

"It looks a bit like a field mouse, and it's quite fat."

Qin Ziwen squatted down, picked up the rope, examined it carefully, and confirmed, "It's a field mouse. Okay, we'll have some meat tonight."

Qin Ziwu's pupils constricted slightly upon hearing that he was going to eat rats.

Although I know these aren't the kind of rats you find in city sewers, these field mice that eat plant roots and small insects are relatively clean.

But he still felt a little uncomfortable. However, after not having eaten meat for two days, he was a little craving it, so he looked at the field mouse that Qin Ziwen was carrying with a conflicted expression.

Qin Ziwen said, "The task of opening up the abdomen and cleaning out the internal organs is entrusted to you."

Qin Ziwu's pupils dilated again, "What!"

Qin Ziwen glanced at him calmly: "Young people should be able to shed some blood. If you can't even kill a rat weighing a pound or two, how will you kill something weighing over a hundred pounds?"

Qin Ziwu: "."

Qin Ziwen picked up a stone and tapped the field mouse on the head.

The field mouse, still struggling, has fallen asleep peacefully.

He picked up the tail and tossed it into Qin Ziwu's schoolbag.

"Let's go check out another trap."

Upon arriving at the second trap, this trap was also triggered, but it was empty, with only some short, grayish-brown hairs remaining at the scene.

After surveying the surrounding area, no trace of prey was found.

"What a pity." Qin Ziwu squatted down and picked up the grayish-brown short hairs from the ground.

Qin Ziwen observed for a while and found that there were bite marks on the rope. "The prey should be very cautious. There are no signs of the surrounding grass and trees being trampled, which means that the size is not too big."

Qin Ziwen straightened the branch and rearranged the trap. "It's alright. Catching even one field mouse is better than expected. As long as we have some harvest, that's fine. Let's dig for wild vegetables first."

As dusk fell, the wild vegetables around the neighborhood became increasingly scarce.

The number of people digging for wild vegetables is growing, and most of the wild fruits and vegetables that are easy to find around the neighborhood have been picked clean.

If they wanted to continue digging, they would have to go even further. Out of caution, Qin Ziwen decided to go back first.

"Let's go fetch water."

Along the river, the ranks of anglers are growing ever larger.

But it also created a strange scene.

The riverbank and the rocky high ground were crowded with people.

Those not on the rocks were generally kept at a certain distance from the river and were located in open areas.

And most of them fish in groups; there are very few solo anglers.

"There's a crocodile! A crocodile is coming!"

A fisherman pointed at the river and shouted.

"Smash it!"

People nearby picked up stones and started throwing them at the crocodile's head.

"Wow~"

The river churned, or perhaps it was hurt by the impact; the crocodile flicked its tail and swam into the deeper water.

Qin Ziwen carried a bucket to the riverbank and observed it up close. It was a shallow river running east to west, about 100 meters wide, with a gentle current, a rocky riverbed, and weeds and silt growing along the banks, interspersed with shrubs.

Qin Ziwen bypassed the muddy area, stepped on the stones to reach the riverbank, and carefully observed for a while. After confirming that there were no crocodiles or water snakes lurking in the clear water, he bent down and scooped up a bucket of water.

They carried the buckets back to the shore.

"Let's go back."

When I got home, I let the bucket sit for 20 minutes. Once the water on top of the bucket became clear, I used a clean, washed piece of clothing as a filter and slowly poured out about half of the water.

Qin Ziwen took the field mouse out of the bag.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak."

The field mouse, which had been playing dead, struggled violently after being caught in Qin Ziwen's hand. Qin Ziwen then picked up the back of his knife and struck the mouse on the head with force.

The field mouse fell completely silent. Qin Ziwen dropped it on the ground and said, "I'll go gather some firewood. You deal with this thing."

Qin Ziwu looked troubled: "I haven't dealt with this before."

"It's very simple: peel off the skin, remove the internal organs, and wash with water."

Qin Ziwu rolled his eyes, then suddenly had a brilliant idea. "Oh right, brother, we don't have a fire at home."

"Are you stupid? Guess how I set up the fire for cooking noodles at noon?" Qin Ziwen said with a half-smile, as he pulled a magnesium flint and steel from his pocket.

Qin Ziwu didn't want to ask where the flint came from, and with a bitter expression, he said, "Alright, I'll handle it."

That evening, the two of them ate steaming hot roasted field mice with bread.

There wasn't much meat; after removing the internal organs, bones, and head, the remaining meat was only enough for two people to have a taste.

At first, I felt uneasy about taking a bite, but once I actually tasted it, I found that it didn't have that strange fishy or musty flavor.

It's somewhat like roasted quail, but with a "wild" flavor that's richer than that of domesticated pork, beef, or lamb.

"Dong dong dong."

I had just finished eating roasted rat when there was a knock on the door.

Qin Ziwen gave his younger brother a wink, and Qin Ziwu understood immediately. He went to the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and went behind the door.

Qin Ziwen picked up the wooden stick that was lying in the corner.

"Dong dong dong."

The knocking on the door didn't stop; there was another knocking, and at the same time, a voice came from outside, "Is anyone home? I'm from upstairs. Were you cooking something in your house just now? There's a lot of smoke. Don't let the house catch fire; it's very dangerous."

Qin Ziwen, who was hiding behind the door, said, "The gas is cut off at home, so where else can we bake if not at home?"

The person outside said, "In the stairwell, or the rooftop is fine too."

Qin Ziwen shook his head at his younger brother, indicating that he should ignore it.

"I already told you!" the person outside cursed, and when the person inside didn't reply, their footsteps faded away.

Qin Ziwu was somewhat annoyed. He pointed to the balconies of other buildings outside the community, where smoke was rising from their chimneys. "It's not like we're the only ones grilling things on our balconies. Besides, we've already cleared our balconies out. I think this person is just looking for trouble."

Qin Ziwen calmly said, "I know, ignore it. Don't let outsiders affect us. Just continue what we're doing. There are birds in the sky outside that catch people to eat. We absolutely cannot go to the rooftop, nor the stairwell. If you roast something, the whole building will smell it." *Knock knock knock*

There was another knock on the door in the hallway outside, but this time the knocking was from a distance, coming from the direction of the neighbor across the hall.

"Neighbor, are you home? Do you have any extra cups? Could I borrow a couple?"

The same person was speaking, but this time his voice came from across the hall.

Qin Ziwen looked through the peephole.

The corridor was dark, and the door to the neighbor's house across the street was tightly closed, with two men standing outside!

One person was knocking on the door, while the other was hiding in a blind spot outside the door, holding something in his hand.

Qin Ziwen narrowed his eyes, waved to his younger brother, and made a shushing gesture at the same time.

Qin Ziwu understood immediately. After walking over to observe, he was first shocked, then his eyes hardened.

He placed his palm across his neck, making a pulling gesture.

Qin Ziwen shook his head.

Qin Ziwu leaned closer and whispered, "Brother, was there someone hiding outside our door just now? If we had opened the door, would they have attacked us?"

There was no reply from the neighbor across the hall, but Qin Ziwen remembered that the neighbor across the hall seemed to have come home once in the afternoon, so there should be someone there.

The man asked several more times, and after waiting for a while, seeing that no one answered, the two men turned and left.

"Brother, they asked a few questions and then left?"

Qin Ziwen said, "They might be scouting the place. The fact that the neighbors across the hall didn't reply means either no one is home, or they're afraid to speak up."

Qin Ziwu understood and suddenly realized, "Then when he knocked on our door just now, it was probably just a random excuse to trick us into opening the door, and he was also checking if there were any adult men in our house."

Qin Ziwen nodded: "If they are going to make a move, they will most likely choose to do it early tomorrow morning. The hallways will be dark at that time, which will make it easier for them to hide. Also, residents will most likely carry their keys with them when they leave home."

"Why not in a few days or tonight?"

"Breaking down the door at night would be too noisy, and the food in the house would be gone in a few days, so there would be no point in doing it. It's not like we're doing it for a few dozen pounds of flesh on a person's body."

"Alright, go to sleep early. Just in case, make sure to close and lock the doors and windows tightly when you go to sleep. I'll wake you up early tomorrow."

As night fell, Qin Ziwen forced himself to stay awake.

As darkness fell, the neighborhood fell into a deathly silence.

Buildings made of reinforced concrete stand tall in the cold forest, which seems to come alive at night.

Occasionally, the howls of beasts could be heard from afar, and the sound of birds flapping their wings echoed in the night sky.

After an unknown amount of time, just as Qin Ziwen was starting to doze off, a cold, mechanical male voice came to his ears.

"You have successfully survived the second day in the wilderness, collected a certain amount of wild vegetables, gathered a small amount of river water, and caught a small prey. Overall score: 8 points"

You have received the following rewards: [Building Card] Level 1 Cellar/Grain Storage *1, Folded Filter Bag *3

A golden light curtain appeared before my eyes.

At the very top of the screen are the four large characters for "Daily Settlement".

Below are many densely packed squares, but only the first two squares contain something: a gray card and a miniature Q-version water filter bag pattern. There is also a *3 symbol in the upper right corner of the water filter bag pattern.

"Automatic extraction?"

"3"

"2"

"no."

The golden light screen shrank, turning into a barely noticeable small golden dot hidden in the upper left corner of the field of vision.

The moment the thought arose, the light screen unfolded.

After trying it several times, Qin Ziwen readily accepted it. In any case, it was a good thing for him, so why worry so much? He had already transmigrated; there was nothing he couldn't accept.

"Take out the building card."

My hand suddenly felt heavy; a thin, gray metal card had appeared.

The moment the building card appeared.

There was a momentary pause in the surrounding space.

Then a small ball of light lit up in the center of the bedroom.

Immediately afterwards, a white light screen appeared in front of me.

[Detect survivors to obtain building cards, activate resident status, and unlock the homestead function]

You can use building cards, resource cards, expansion cards, function cards, and recruitment cards to expand and modify your homestead. Your homestead is located at Unit 2, Building 8, Yujing Jiangcheng Community.

A wealth of basic knowledge was transmitted into his mind from the small light sphere, finally allowing him to understand the situation.

Before acquiring the cards, they were all considered survivors.

Resident status can only be activated by acquiring cards in advance or successfully completing a stage of survival objectives.

There are two ways to obtain cards. One is to explore resource points in the wild, but these resource points are often located in high-risk areas. The second way is to kill powerful creatures in the current area, which will drop cards.

No, wait.

Let me sort it out.

So what's the deal with this daily settlement?

So you two work from different companies?

Qin Ziwen realized that this "homestead" was a cheat code that everyone in the community could activate, and the daily settlement was something that secretly came out of nowhere.

It turns out I was playing a hacked version.

He played with the Level 1 Cellar and Granary [Building Card] in his hand.

Now, the entire 98㎡ area of ​​his house is a map that he can build and modify. He only needs to select a 1*2m square area to build a cellar in his house to store food.

Qin Ziwen chose the floor next to the corner of the wall next to the bedroom.

"use."

The building card transformed into a beam of light and merged into the ground, causing ripples to spread across the floor.

The once flat ground has sunken into a square entrance, and the stone steps extending downwards are shrouded in a thin mist, with light and shadow distorted at the entrance.

When the light faded, a cellar door covered by wooden planks appeared on the spot, with an iron ring on the door.

This rugged style clashes sharply with the surrounding modern decor.

Qin Ziwen hesitated. Where did this cellar go? Did it get into my downstairs bedroom?

Reach out, hook the iron ring, and pull it upwards.

A deep stone staircase extends downwards, about five or six meters deep, with stone walls on both sides.

The moment I stepped into the cellar, a blast of cold air hit me. At the bottom of the cellar was a large square room made of blue bricks, even larger than the bedroom. It was clearly not the bedroom downstairs, nor did it belong to a modern style of decoration.

He estimated that the temperature here was at least ten degrees lower than in the bedroom, and the air was cool and dry, with no musty smell.

He knocked on the wall; the sound was dull and there was no echo, as if he were truly buried in the earth.

Qin Ziwen couldn't help but exclaim, "Awesome! The space here must overlap with reality. We can store any extra food here in the future."

(End of this chapter)