"You have successfully survived the eleventh day safely in the wilderness. Today you harvested one wild rabbit, two field mice, several crabs, several wild rice stems, collected a certain amount of wild kiwifruit, and simultaneously drew a simple map. Comprehensive score: 41 points."
"You have received rewards: [Recruitment Card] Common·Human Skilled Blacksmith1, [Resource Card] Level 1 Coal Mine1, Bagged Chili Powder*1"
Qin Ziwen focused his gaze on the new recruitment card. A person!
And it was the blacksmith he needed most!
But what did "Human" in front mean? Could there be other races? But he had never seen any before.
After thinking for a moment, Qin Ziwen walked to the bathroom and first took out the Resource Card Level 1 Coal Mine.
The Level 1 Coal Mine required selecting a 10*10m blank area.
After searching around, Qin Ziwen felt somewhat regretful. Because he had built farmland, plus there were other structures, although there were still some blank areas in between, he couldn't find such a large 10*10 continuous space.
He could only keep it for now, waiting until he obtained another Blank Expansion Card before constructing the coal mine.
Then he took out the recruitment card and looked at the purple card in his hand. The front of the card depicted a burly middle-aged man with long hair, with many dotted scars from spark burns on his exposed arms, cheeks, and neck.
He wore a leather apron on his chest, his arms were thick and muscular, and these hands looked full of strength.
He could summon him at any time, but a person suddenly appearing beside him.
Others didn't matter much since he didn't interact much with them, but Deng Guang had been with him all along. A person suddenly appearing in their team.
Moreover, his demeanor was completely different from modern people.
Any normal person would notice something was wrong.
Therefore, he could only rationalize his appearance.
Soon, Qin Ziwen had an idea. The altar he visited today would be a good excuse.
The card obtained from the altar would be this recruitment card.
After packing his things, he hung the two machetes obtained from Xie Jun on the sides of his backpack, then put on his high-top Martin boots.
He opened the window and let the Crowned Eagle out.
"Let's go."
The sky at five o'clock still held some gloom.
The three of them put on masks and quickly left through the south gate. After exiting, they circled around and continued walking east.
The three traveled light and moved swiftly with vigorous strides.
Having walked this path once before, their speed was slightly faster than when they returned last night.
The Crowned Eagle flew above the forest, gliding close to the treetops.
"Screech!"
The Crowned Eagle let out a cry.
A Golden Leopard lying on a branch diagonally ahead was startled, opening its eyes and watching the eagle warily.
After pausing for a moment, it leaped to a neighboring branch, disappearing nearby after several leaps.
After walking some distance, fog had quietly risen in the forest at some unknown time.
Visibility was less than ten meters.
The three had to slow their pace.
Fortunately, the Crowned Eagle occasionally corrected and reminded them. Finally, after seven o'clock when the sun rose, Qin Ziwen finally saw the familiar cave.
He stopped, panting heavily, "We're here."
Looking around, it was quiet, very still.
"Let's go."
Qin Ziwen took out a flashlight, shining the light into the mountain cave.
In the dark cave, on the stone platform altar to the left, a card floated quietly, slowly rotating on its own.
Above the empty stone altar, this card was particularly conspicuous.
"There really is one!"
Feeling pleased in his heart, Qin Ziwen said, "I'll go get it, you guard the cave entrance."
Qin Ziwu said, "Brother, be careful."
"Mm." Qin Ziwen first shone the flashlight into the deep pool. A dark shadow was perched at the edge of the shallow water. When hit by the strong light, this mass quickly hid at the bottom of the pool.
It seemed rather timid.
Thinking to himself, Qin Ziwen stepped into the shallow water, clear pool water splashing around.
The water level at the cave entrance was low. After walking a few steps inward, he lightly jumped onto the stone platform extending diagonally.
He quickly approached the altar.
This was a square stone altar with many grooves on the surface, looking like an altar for some mysterious ritual.
Half a meter directly above the center of the altar, floated a silver card with black borders.
If he remembered correctly, cards with this color scheme seemed to be resource cards.
Climbing onto the altar, his finger touched the card. The still-floating card instantly lost the mysterious power supporting its levitation, directly falling onto his fingertip.
After obtaining the card, he quickly retraced his path. "Let's go."
There was no card yesterday, but there was one today. This could only prove that this altar had been discovered by someone, and someone had come to take the card yesterday.
So someone could follow at any time, this place wasn't safe.
Less than ten minutes after Qin Ziwen and the others left.
A large team of over thirty people hurriedly arrived.
"We're here."
"Such heavy fog. If we hadn't seen the marks left yesterday, we might have taken the wrong path."
This group entered the cave, and upon seeing the empty altar, immediately erupted into chaos.
"The card is gone!"
"How did it disappear?"
"The card was taken by someone."
"It was here yesterday."
"Did you take it?"
The two teams argued fiercely.
In the crowd, Zhang Bo's face was gloomy. The tall man in a gray windbreaker beside him leaned close to his ear, "Brother Zhang, I'm not trying to stir up trouble.
But I just feel that the card disappearing today is definitely suspicious. That group insisted we gather at the residential complex entrance and set off with them.
They said it was to prevent the card from being stolen, but I suspect they leaked the information, having someone come early to take the card.
But all our people are here, while their people might not necessarily be with us."
Zhang Bo's face was dark as he looked at the man in the crowd, "Lu Hongtao, did your people take it?"
Lu Hongtao immediately became furious, suspecting that Zhang Bo had sent someone to take it early.
"Bullshit! All eighteen of us who came yesterday are here. Who could have come early to take it? We don't even know the way well. Don't try to cover up your own theft by accusing others."
Zhang Bo's face remained gloomy, "Heh, I already told you the address, what reason would I have to go back on my word?"
Lu Hongtao subconsciously felt that Zhang Bo's words made some sense.
Zhang Bo gritted his teeth, "As for you all, wasn't yesterday's card enough for you? Today was supposed to be our turn to take it, but it's gone. You might not leak information, but can you guarantee that others behind you wouldn't leak it!"
The two sides became a chaotic mess, quickly escalating into conflict.
During the pushing and shoving, one person accidentally fell into the water, dropping into the pool.
"Save me, I can't swim!"
The person struggled desperately, dog-paddling in the water.
Suddenly, his pupils dilated, and he shouted wildly, "There's something! Something's biting my feet!!!"
With a abruptly cut-off scream.
The person who fell into the water was dragged into the depths of the pool, leaving only a pair of hands briefly and hastily struggling on the surface.
After a moment, a dense stream of bubbles emerged from the bottom of the pool.
The calm, deep pool showed no further movement.
......