Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

This is it! Wei Chen was overjoyed! The meat processing problem that had troubled him for so long, and the harvest problem of growing grain, finally had a perfect solution!

Imagine this: next time you hunt a wild boar, you won't have to toil away in the hunter's hut, sweating profusely as you skin, debone, and butcher it, getting covered in the stench. With just a thought, you can get neatly cut, clean pork, ribs, and offal!

Fur? If it's not needed, it simply disappears! This saves more than just time; it's practically liberating productivity!

Moreover, using it on plants can greatly improve the harvest efficiency of his "planting". Although it cannot be turned into flour in one step, it saves the trouble of manual harvesting, which is a huge improvement!

"Study!" Wei Chen confirmed with his mind without hesitation.

The pale green "star" instantly transformed into a stream of light and disappeared into his brow. A cool flow of information surged into his mind, and knowledge about the usage, techniques, and limitations of the "Gathering Technique" was instantly imprinted deep within his consciousness, like an innate instinct.

Become!

Wei Chen suppressed his excitement at immediately rushing out to try his skills against a wild boar. He knew it was getting late in the real world, and his mother was probably already asleep. Besides, he needed to calm down a bit before the excitement of leveling up and acquiring new skills subsided.

He exited the Skill Pavilion space and returned to the Hunter's Lodge. Big Yellow seemed to sense its master's joy and happily circled around him.

Wei Chen walked to the fireplace and sat down, picking up a piece of wood and casually whittling it with a knife to calm his agitated emotions. The flickering firelight illuminated his young yet resolute face.

The true essence of 120 years flowed slowly within his body, bringing him immense power and abundant energy. His newly acquired resource gathering technique opened a door to more efficient and covert resource acquisition.

In the real-life courtyard house, undercurrents surge, and the Xu family father and son harbor treacherous intentions. But in this game world that belongs only to him, he is growing stronger step by step, wielding the power to change his destiny.

"Strength is the foundation of my existence," Wei Chen murmured to himself, the knife in his hand carving a deep mark into the wood. He glanced at the starry sky of the game world outside the window, his eyes resolute and bright.

"Rhubarb, rest. Tomorrow... will be better."

With a thought, he vanished from the warm hunter's cabin and returned to his cold bedroom in the real world. Outside, the courtyard was utterly silent, save for the occasional whistling of the cold wind sweeping across the eaves.

Wei Chen lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), feeling the surging true energy within his body and the clear gathering skills in his mind. Filled with boundless anticipation for the future, he slowly closed his eyes. The exhaustion from leveling up and the joy of his gains intertwined, and he quickly drifted into a peaceful sleep.

The next day, in the purchasing department office of the steel rolling mill.

The lazy afternoon sun shone through the thin, dusty glass windows, casting slanted spots of light on the concrete floor. Wei Chen sat behind his desk, a supplies list spread out in front of him, his pen idly scribbling on the paper.

At the next table, Old Zhao was sipping strong tea from an enamel mug, occasionally letting out a satisfied sigh. The air was filled with the mixed smells of paper, stale tea, and faint coal smoke—a slow, almost stagnant atmosphere unique to government offices.

Wei Chen's thoughts drifted. The excitement of reaching level 15 and mastering the "Gathering" skill in the game world yesterday had not yet completely faded, but now, sitting in this small space, listening to Old Zhao drinking tea and watching the bare branches outside the window swaying slightly in the cold wind, an indescribable sense of boredom quietly crept into his heart.

These past few days have been the same routine: reports, plans, coordination... It's comfortable not having to go out, but for Wei Chen, this repetitive rhythm is becoming somewhat... boring.

'This can't go on, I need to find something to do,' Wei Chen thought to himself. He needed some activities that would expend his energy, hone his skills, but wouldn't attract too much attention. A thought naturally came to mind—a gun!

The man's innate yearning for steel and gunpowder was awakened. More importantly, his upgraded mental strength made him virtually "accurate" within a 120-meter range, but this was, after all, a "cheat code."

He longed to experience the true feel of a gun, to learn standard shooting techniques, and to see how far his body, repeatedly tempered by true energy, could go in the realm of pure shooting. Moreover, practicing shooting, in this day and age, was the most positive and "pure" act imaginable—after all, he was still a militia member!

He acted on his thought. Wei Chen closed the folder and called out to Old Zhao, "Master Zhao, I'm going out for a walk, I have something to take care of."

"Hey, go ahead, go ahead." Old Zhao didn't even look up, still immersed in the aroma of his tea.

Wei Chen stood up, tightened his cotton-padded coat, walked out of the office, and headed straight for the office building where the security department was located.

The office door of Jin Aimin, the deputy head of the security department, was open. He was hunched over his desk, writing something, his brow furrowed. Wei Chen knocked on the doorframe: "Head Jin, busy?"

Jin Aimin looked up at the sound and saw Wei Chen. His serious face immediately broke into a warm smile, like a spring breeze blowing across frozen ground, and even the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes smoothed out.

"Hey! Brother Wei Chen!" He immediately put down his pen, stood up, walked around the table, and strode over to greet him. His large, fan-like hand slammed heavily on Wei Chen's shoulder with considerable force. "A rare guest indeed! Come in and sit down! What's wrong? Did the sun rise in the west today? Did you finally remember that you're still a key member of our militia?"

Jin Aimin's enthusiasm was not just politeness. Before the New Year, Wei Chen's "feat" of bringing 28 wild boars to the factory had benefited the entire steel rolling mill, especially their security department. Wei Chen had even privately "shared" two not-so-small wild boars with Jin Aimin.

This favor ensured that everyone in the security department had a very prosperous and rosy New Year, and Jin Aimin's prestige in the department also rose accordingly.

He had been looking for an opportunity to thank Wei Chen, but Wei Chen rarely went to the security department unless he was working.

Wei Chen was swayed by Jin Aimin's forceful slap, but he walked into the office with a smile: "Section Chief Jin is too kind. I would never forget to include him on the militia roster. I'm just usually so busy, and I only just managed to find a little free time, so I thought I'd come and check in with you and see if there's anything I can learn."

"Study? What do you, Brother Wei Chen, need to learn from me?" Jin Aimin said with a hearty laugh as he poured water for Wei Chen. "But I'm glad you came! You don't know, those two wild boars you brought over before the New Year made those bastards in the department go crazy! They keep saying how great Comrade Wei Chen is! Even I, the deputy section chief, benefited from it, and my words carry a lot more weight now! I remember this favor!" He patted his chest hard, making a deep sound.

"Section Chief Jin, you're too kind. We're all colleagues from the factory; helping each other is only natural." Wei Chen took the hot water and said modestly, "That wild boar was just lucky."

"What luck? That's skill!" Jin Aimin waved his hand, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Without skill, even if luck comes your way, you won't be able to seize it!"

"Section Chief Jin, the reason I came here today is actually to ask you for a favor. As you know, you practically forced me into this militia company last time, but this gun... I haven't handled it much, and my skills are really lacking. I was thinking, could I... go to the firing range to practice? Get familiar with the equipment, so that if something really happens, I won't be caught off guard."

"Practice shooting?" Jin Aimin's eyes lit up. He looked Wei Chen up and down, his smile widening. "Great! This is the important thing! What man doesn't love guns? Let's go! Right now! I don't have anything urgent to do right now, I'll take you myself!"

Jin Aimin acted swiftly and decisively, leaving as soon as he said he would. He grabbed a cotton military cap hanging on the wall, put it on his head, took a set of keys from a locked cabinet, and called to Wei Chen before heading outside.

The steel rolling mill's target range was located in the most remote northwest corner of the plant area, an open area enclosed by an earthen wall. The cold wind was even more unrestrained here, whipping up the loose snow and dust on the ground. A few targets stood alone, and a few wooden chest targets stood on the earthen slope in the distance.

Jin Aimin opened the armory, and a strong smell of gun oil mixed with metal wafted out. He skillfully took out a well-maintained Type 56 semi-automatic rifle and grabbed a few boxes of gleaming yellow bullets.

"Hey bro, try this! It's the best weapon in our militia!" Jin Aimin handed the gun to Wei Chen. The heavy steel felt cool to the touch, carrying a unique sense of authority and power.

Wei Chen took the gun, his fingers tracing its smooth surface, cool barrel, and hardwood stock. A strange sense of familiarity washed over him, as if the cold steel were an extension of his own limbs. He expertly pulled back the bolt, inspecting the chamber, his movements so fluid that even Jin Aimin, standing beside him, was slightly taken aback.

"Wow? Brother, you're an expert! Those moves are quite nimble!" Jin Aimin praised.

"I used to handle old-fashioned rifles during militia training in the village, just messing around with them," Wei Chen explained casually, focusing his attention on the weapon in his hand.

Jin Aimin began his earnest explanation: "This is a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, a copy of the SKS, 7.62mm caliber, with a ten-round magazine. Aim with three points aligned: notch, front sight, target! Keep your breathing steady, fire gently, pre-press the trigger..."

Wei Chen listened intently, memorizing every detail. He walked to a target position, lay down, and set up his gun. His superior physical abilities allowed him to easily maintain an extremely stable shooting posture, his muscles remaining perfectly still.

Following the instructions taught by Jin Aimin, he adjusted his breathing, and through the peephole, he steadily pressed the sights onto the blurry bullseye a hundred meters away.

He didn't immediately use his mental abilities to cheat. He wanted to experience shooting purely based on physical skill and technique first.

Bang! The first shot was fired, the butt of the rifle slamming heavily against his shoulder. The immense recoil would take an ordinary person to adjust to, but for Wei Chen's powerful body, it was like a gentle breeze. A speck of dust rose from the edge of the target in the distance.