This bag of rabbit food weighed twenty jin, so four bags totaled eighty jin, and it was labeled in Chinese.
The front featured two large Chinese characters—Rabbit Food.
By the moonlight, Qin Ziwen could clearly read the instructions printed on the back of the packaging bag.
"This stuff is actually just a supplement, used to complete the rabbit's nutritional intake and help with normal gastrointestinal motility, but it can't serve as the main food? The staple diet still needs to be hay or fresh grass. You two, stop eating it."
Qin Ziwen was dumbfounded. Cat food and dog food could both serve as staple foods, but this rabbit food actually couldn't be used as the main diet.
He quickly picked up the two rabbits that were eating like starving ghosts reincarnated.
After being lifted, the two rabbits frantically kicked their legs, twisted their bodies, snorted through their noses, and kept cooing incessantly.
Qin Ziwen took the opportunity to scoop out half of the rabbit food.
Only then did he put the rabbits down, watching them run to the feeding trough and eat nonstop as soon as they were released.
"I need to go pick some grass, but at this hour..."
Standing by the bedroom window, the night forest was exceptionally tranquil, with birds and beasts occasionally flying past overhead.
He drew the curtains and went to the living room balcony, where he could see the night view of the residential complex.
With a flick of his palm, a gray metal card appeared.
After glancing at its description, he tossed it back into the daily settlement warehouse.
Using the Level 1 farmland required a square area of 20*20 meters.
Right now, even if he cleared out his entire home, he couldn't gather such a large area. For the time being, this farmland couldn't be built.
Glancing casually downstairs, Qin Ziwen instinctively crouched down.
Because he saw that there were actually people downstairs, and they were heading toward Building 8.
Who would still be outside at this hour?
Wild beasts were active at night, making the daytime environment safer for humans.
After confirming that the person had entered the building, Qin Ziwen moved slowly to behind his front door, until he heard footsteps in the hallway outside.
The footsteps grew closer and finally stopped on his floor.
"Tap, tap, tap."
A faint knocking sound came from across the hall.
Moments later, he heard the sound of a door opening.
Then the door across was gently closed.
That's Wang Xiaoli's place, right? What would someone be doing at Wang Xiaoli's house so late at night?
Qin Ziwen suddenly stroked his chin, utterly puzzled. Could it be other relatives or friends of Xie Jun in this residential complex? Thankfully, he had stayed up late today.
"Creak—"
The door across seemed to open again.
Immediately afterward, a conversation between a man and a woman came from the hallway. Although both kept their voices low, Qin Ziwen could still recognize the woman speaking as Wang Xiaoli.
"Is it safe in this hallway? What if someone sees us?"
"Don't be afraid, be bolder."
Then intermittent sounds came from the hallway.
Qin Ziwen was dumbfounded. So Wang Xiaoli had developed a second profession.
Two minutes later, accompanied by a relieved long sigh from Brother Zeng, the man's attitude was clearly not as gentle as before: "Why bother about those things at a time like this? Let's talk about surviving until then first. Alright, I've left two packs of instant noodles on your table. I'm leaving."
The sound of footsteps going downstairs gradually faded away.
After this interlude, he abandoned his plan to go out and pick grass. Better to rest early and pick grass the next morning instead.
But before sleeping, he still needed to marinate and process the meat. The crocodile meat obtained from this harvest also needed to be smoked and air-dried, otherwise it would spoil over time.
After finishing his tasks, Qin Ziwen kept yawning. He was already very tired; by the time he finished, it was past one o'clock.
The salt given during the last settlement was almost used up.
This meat preservation process consumed a lot of salt. Without a new source of salt, if he obtained large quantities of meat again next time, he didn't plan to continue preserving it this way.
It could be used to exchange for vegetables and live animals that could be raised as livestock.
Actually, Qin Ziwen was already considering whether he should simply check the daily settlement after waking up each morning from now on. Otherwise, going to bed at midnight every night was resulting in insufficient sleep, making him prone to drowsiness during the day.
Early morning, Qin Ziwen was awakened by his younger brother. He lay in bed a little longer before getting up, rubbing his somewhat sore and swollen eyes.
He went to the bathroom and opened the door.
After more than a day of accumulation, a layer of clear, bright spring water had gathered at the bottom of the spring.
He scooped up a small handful of clear water and poured it into his mouth, rinsing his mouth.
After breakfast, Qin Ziwen said to his brother: "Xiao Wu, you know how to make smoked meat now, right? This morning, take this meat up to the rooftop to smoke and roast it. Remember to spread a bedsheet so our traces aren't exposed. I'll come up to find you later."
Qin Ziwu was somewhat worried about his older brother: "Okay, brother, you be careful too. Don't confront the crocodile head-on."
Qin Ziwen patted his younger brother's shoulder, "Yeah, I know. By the way, first come with me outside to gather some firewood, and we can pull some grass to feed the rabbits while we're at it."
The two brothers carried the sharpened zinc-steel rods to the south gate.
Outside the south gate, Huang Tao had already been working with a group of people for quite a while. Taking the sharpened long rod from Qin Ziwen's hands, he said, "Perfect! This is exactly what we need. Today, that beast will certainly not return alive."
Then Huang Tao said: "Old Qin, I discussed with President Yang. Barring any surprises, we should be able to finish the pit by noon today, and then we plan to set up spike traps at the bottom.
There were some incidents yesterday, and today several neighbors are worried that the birds and crocodiles might come again while we're working. So I was thinking of asking some more people to keep watch on the sky above and the river direction. There happen to be some elderly folks sitting at the residential complex entrance. They might not be able to do physical labor, but keeping watch should be fine. What do you think?"
Qin Ziwen was taken aback. Why would he ask him about such matters? But he quickly realized that hiring people to work naturally required payment.
At this stage, nothing was more attractive as compensation than raw meat.
According to the original distribution plan, after hunting the giant crocodile, its meat would be divided among the neighbors who set up the traps. Now suddenly adding more job positions to share the rewards would naturally cause dissatisfaction among everyone.
Qin Ziwen pondered and said: "Brother Huang, you decide. I'm fine with whatever."
Huang Tao seemed to want to say something but hesitated, then finally laughed heartily.
"Alright, I'll go ask for others' opinions."
Qin Ziwen stopped him: "By the way, Brother Huang, my younger brother has some matters to attend to this morning, so he won't participate in digging the trap."
Huang Tao hesitated, appearing somewhat troubled. "Brother Qin, I actually have no objections, but many neighbors are participating in this, and everyone is watching each other. We agreed that more work means more rewards."
Qin Ziwen laughed cheerfully: "Rules must be followed. He participated yesterday but not today. When dividing the meat, he should take only what he's entitled to. I don't want to put you in a difficult position."
Huang Tao said with relief: "I'm glad you understand, brother."
After Huang Tao walked away, Qin Ziwu felt indignant on his older brother's behalf: "Big brother, this Huang guy was all friendly at first, calling you brother affectionately. Yesterday you sharpened the railings until so late, and he didn't even mention giving you extra credit."
Qin Ziwen couldn't help but laugh, instead comforting his younger brother: "It's all just acting according to circumstances. Don't easily trust anyone here."
Then he accompanied his brother to pull plenty of tender grass leaves near the main gate. They gathered some of various types of weeds, planning to see which ones the rabbits preferred to eat, so they could specifically gather those types later.
After his brother left, Qin Ziwen joined the pit-digging crew again, working hard all morning.
Finally, by noon, the trap pit was completed. Sharp "spears" were inserted at the bottom, waiting for the fish to take the bait.
......