Together with his brother, he carried the remaining half slab of pork home, the heavy wild boar smell clinging to their collars mixed with sweat.
"Bro, I want to take a shower." Qin Ziwu felt sticky all over and uncomfortable.
Qin Ziwen nodded, "Go boil some water."
Qin Ziwu was about to scoop water when he froze, brow knotting as he hesitated, "Bro, did we give away too much of the meat? When we killed the boar you faced it first, you took the biggest risk, but when the meat was divided everyone split it equally."
Qin Ziwen wiped the sweat from his brow, his gaze sweeping over his brother's tense face, and he gave a small smile, "You think they don't know?"
Qin Ziwu blinked, a little confused.
Qin Ziwen smiled faintly, "If you only give them what they deserve, after the money and goods are settled everyone owes nothing to anyone, it becomes a purely employment relationship. Reciprocity builds social bonds, that's what makes people closer."
Qin Ziwu considered his brother's words, "But what if someone only gives and never returns anything?"
"Then that shows such a person cannot be trusted for close ties." Qin Ziwen patted his brother's shoulder, "Use profit to lure them, then drive them away if needed. Nowadays people don't fall for empty promises. Alright, go boil water and shower, boil extra hot water, I'll shower later. I'll carry the meat to the cellar first so it won't spoil. Tomorrow I need to trade with the person who has the salt well for more coarse salt, so when we have more meat later it'll be easy to cure."
While showering, Qin Ziwen discovered several new blisters had formed on the soles of his feet.
It had been a truly tiring day.
After the shower he fell into a deep sleep; after a day of work his body had long since sent out fatigue signals.
"You have successfully survived safely in the wilderness for the fifteenth day. Today you harvested some fish, hunted an adult wild boar, and raised livestock. Comprehensive score: 55."
"You have received rewards: [Expansion Card] Height Expansion Card (Micro) 1, Fish Trap 3, Mountain Animal Guide Fragment *1."
Upon waking, Qin Ziwen first checked yesterday's daily settlement.
He took out the Height Expansion Card.
Holding the card in his hand, he immediately understood its use.
The Height Expansion Card (Micro) can increase the height of all spaces within the Home by 0.2 meters, and this increase will not affect the floor spacing as observed from the outside. This increase is permanent. After this, when using other space expansion cards, newly obtained space heights will all be 3 meters.
Ever since seeing "height" as an attribute on the Home panel, Qin Ziwen had guessed there might be a way to raise the Home's height.
Now he saw that his guess had indeed been correct.
He chose to use the card.
The next second, light enveloped the ceiling.
When the light faded and Qin Ziwen looked up, the ceiling was still the same ceiling, the walls still the same walls.
It seemed like nothing had changed.
Maybe the twenty-centimeter increase was too small to notice.
But when he opened the Home panel, the displayed height read 3 meters.
[Home] Building 8 Unit 2 Apartment 5-2
[Total Area] 998㎡
[Height] 3m
[Special Terrain] Desert 400㎡
[Structures] Level 2 Cellar Granary, Level 1 Beast Cage, Level 1 Restroom, Level 1 Blacksmith, Level 1 Farmland
[Resources] Level 2 Spring, Level 2 Iron Mine, Level 1 Coal Mine
[Unused] Level 1 Stable, Blank Expansion Card (Micro)
He quickly understood.
He walked into the expansion area behind the restroom.
Looking back, he saw that at the original roofline the top now had an extra strip of space.
His home had become a "box," and outside the box an extra 20 centimeters of space protruded.
He could imagine that if the Home's height continued to be expanded, one day it might truly become a small world of his own, and he would be its lord.
He then took out the Mountain Animal Guide Fragment.
From the paper texture it seemed to be the same type of paper as the Mountain Plant Guide Fragment from last time.
The pages had two sides, each recording a different animal.
The first animal was called the Terror Wolf.
Below was a color illustration and data: adult Terror Wolf average shoulder height 1.1 meters, body length 2.4 meters, weight 140–200 kilograms.
Habitat: grassland, river valley plains, forest-mountain edges.
Habits: pack-living, scavenging.
Qin Ziwen rubbed his forehead.
If he wasn't mistaken, this thing seemed to already be extinct on Earth?
Moreover, those average metrics were exaggerated—shoulder height and weight like that, calling it a small tiger wouldn't be an exaggeration.
And you tell me an animal with those measurements is a scavenger. What must occupy the higher ecological niche?
After reading about the Terror Wolf, Qin Ziwen flipped to the back.
The second creature.
Terror-jaw Boar: average shoulder height 2.2 meters, body length 3.7 meters, weight 1400–1800 kilograms.
Habitat: grassland, river valley plains, forest-mountain edges.
Habits: small groups, omnivorous, scavenging.
The picture showed a beast somewhat like a rhinoceros, extremely muscular, covered in brown bristly hair, with an enormous head full of fierce sharp teeth.
The giant boar he had encountered that day seemed as gentle as a little girl compared to this Terror-jaw Boar.
Whether Terror Wolves or Terror-jaw Boars, they were even more terrifying than the male crocodile leader he had previously met, and both species were pack animals. The only good news was they seemed to prefer open areas; forests were not their primary activity zones.
Putting away the guide fragment, Qin Ziwen took out three Fish Traps, bringing the total number of intact Fish Traps in his Home to six including the ones already present.
He then went out to Wei Zhaohua's house.
When Wei Zhaohua learned of Qin Ziwen's idea, he was extremely pleased and agreed without hesitation.
His father- and mother-in-law were older; although both were still mentally sound, they certainly should not join a hunting party. If there was a job that required no going out and only watching the Fish Traps to gain stable income, then naturally that would be perfect.
Qin Ziwen then visited Li Yue.
When Li Yue heard Qin Ziwen had come, he had thought Qin Ziwen came to "nag him about drafts."
His face flushed as he hurriedly said, "Soon, soon, I've been flipping through my old textbooks these past two days for reference."
Qin Ziwen saw a few large books on the table beside him and waved with a smile, "No rush, quality matters most."
He then explained his plan.
Only after hearing this did Li Yue realize his misunderstanding and quickly agreed.
The job Qin offered was like rain on parched ground to him. His legs were still in recovery, he moved with difficulty, and Qin Ziwen had gone out of his way to find a job of this type to help him.
Thinking of that, Li Yue was deeply moved.
Who said there are no good people in the world.
After leaving Li Yue's house, Qin Ziwen was about to go find Zhang Bo to trade for some coarse salt when the little glowing ball of the Home system sounded in his mind: "You have received new information, please return to Home to receive it."
......