Our neighborhood has been transported again.

Chapter 85, Settlement on the Seventeenth Day
Qin Ziwen focused his attention on the words "attracting customers" and "recruiting".

If he wasn't mistaken, "attracting customers" should refer to the ability to summon the scholar to the tavern.

Recruitment, presumably similar to recruitment cards, allows you to recruit people to join your home.

Just as he had initially guessed, this tavern was indeed able to attract new members.

But yesterday's recruitment of the scholar failed. He concluded that the reason was that his words were too abrupt and rash, which frightened the other party.

If we have guests coming again, we can communicate more beforehand.

As he pondered this, he entered the tavern.

The tavern was dimly lit at night, with moonlight illuminating a corner of the room through the window.

After sitting on the bench for a while without any new customers arriving, Qin Ziwen finally left in disappointment.

"Dong dong dong."

There was a knock on the door.

Deng Guang's voice followed closely behind, "Brother Qin."

Qin Ziwen opened the door a crack. "What's wrong?"

“I only found out after I got back and heard it from my wife. A group of people who called themselves the Tongmeng Mutual Aid Society came looking for you during the day. They asked you to meet them at the South Gate at 10 a.m. tomorrow.” Outside the gate, Deng Guang relayed the events of the day in detail.

"Tomorrow during the day." Qin Ziwen frowned. The time was set for 10 a.m., couldn't it be at night?

If I participate tomorrow, how will I get the cards?

Another day wasted, what if the altar spawns another red card?

Moreover, after obtaining the card, you can get another wave of rewards in the daily settlement, which means you get two cards in total.

"Brother Deng, do you think we should go?"

Deng Guang hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: "I'll listen to you, but I don't think it's anything urgent. If it were really urgent, I would have come to your door to wait for you. Using this method of relaying the message probably doesn't mean you're being very serious."

Qin Ziwen nodded, "That makes sense. Let's continue up the mountain tomorrow. If he comes again, have my sister-in-law and the others tell him that I'll see them tomorrow night."

"Okay, I'll go upstairs first. I just traded two motorcycle helmets with someone, and I plan to wear them tomorrow." Deng Guang waved the two helmets he was holding.

Qin Ziwen watched him go upstairs and only closed the door after he had walked away.

"Does the Alliance Mutual Aid Association truly practice selfless mutual assistance? If so, that's good too," Qin Ziwen murmured to himself.

Back in the bedroom, I went to the window and looked up at the bright moon overhead.

The sun had long since set, and the neighborhood was quiet.

Through the windows, you can see that every household has plants growing on their balconies.

Turn your gaze away and recall your home.

[The current number of households in the Jue Xing Jia Yuan community exceeds the number of surviving households by 6%; once it exceeds 20%, a 3-day countdown will begin.]

[Next map: Gobi Desert]

[Next Stage Duration: Insufficient Permissions]

[Next phase of personnel additions: Insufficient permissions]

"We should stock up on more water."

The next map will be the Gobi Desert, which is extremely short of water.

Based on his previous experience watching wilderness survival shows, the Gobi Desert is not without rain, but rather receives very little rain, and the evaporation rate is fast. Shallow water can basically only be found near oases or fault zones.

Moreover, most of this shallow water is stagnant and cannot be drunk directly.

Furthermore, plants are scarce, and animal numbers are limited, making both drinking water and food major problems.

"Not only do we need to store water, but we also need to store more food." Thinking of this, Qin Ziwen felt a sense of urgency.

He currently has enough food to last for a while, but if he goes to the Gobi Desert, he can't guarantee that he'll have enough.

As night fell, Qin Ziwen lay in bed and quickly fell asleep. The harpy eagle lay in the nest next to him, its head resting on the edge of the nest, staring intently at Qin Ziwen. As time passed, its large eyes slowly closed.

In the early morning, sunlight streamed through the window.

"You have successfully survived in the wilderness for seventeen days. You discovered a high-level, mysterious altar and obtained a card from it. You also hunted a black falcon. Overall score: 104 points"

You have received the following rewards: [Function Card] Decoration, Yellow Wine *4

Another feature card has been obtained!

Qin Ziwen was secretly delighted; it really was buy one get one free.

But what is this arrangement?

Take out the new function card. Like yesterday's Insight card, this new card is still a red crystal card that emits a faint red glow.

However, its front is shaped like a hand, with the thumb and forefinger lightly pinched, as if holding something.

Silently recite "use" in your mind.

The small orb of light in the home automatically appears, and the shattered red starlight merges into the small orb.

[Activation Function: Level 1 Layout]

[Activate new feature, privileges upgraded, current privileges: Level 1 (1/2)]

[Level 1 Relocation: Can be used on any building or resource point within your homestead, relocating it to any empty area within your homestead. After relocation, the building (resource point) cannot be moved again for 30 days.]

Finally, we can rearrange the buildings!
Qin Ziwen prepared to plan carefully, as there would be a 30-day cooldown period after moving the same building.

This calmed him down for the time being, and he decided to wait two days, since these buildings and resource points could only be moved to empty areas.

There are not many vacant areas left, and some buildings with large floor areas are inconvenient to relocate.

After obtaining two more expansion cards, I will divide my home into several zones.

Mining areas, functional building areas, resource point areas, and planting areas.

Some buildings and resource points have complementary effects, and they can be placed close together to save energy and time.

Besides these, there were also four jars of Shaoxing wine?

He took out a jar, and his palm felt heavy.

I almost lost my grip.

He was carrying a huge wine jar in his palm, weighing at least twenty or thirty pounds. The mouth of the jar was sealed with a red cloth, and a faint aroma of wine wafted out.

Carrying the jar of wine to the tavern, I placed it at the bottom of the cabinet behind the counter, where there happened to be an empty space.

He clapped his hands, ready to leave satisfied, when the curtain was lifted.

"Shopkeeper, bring me some cooked food, and two jars of good wine!"

A group of four people walked in.

Three of them were dressed as constables from a TV series. The leader had a full beard, thick eyebrows, big eyes, a broad face, and a square mouth.

The two men behind them, with short knives at their waists, were fat and strong, with shrewd eyes. Sandwiched between them was a long-haired man in prison clothes.

After the four entered the room, they sat down at the table near the door curtain.

The bearded constable slammed his knife horizontally onto the table.

Qin Ziwen remained silent. Why were there so many people this time?

If I were really running a shop, making some money would be fine, but the problem is I don't own a shop. Five people came and ate for free. It's no use them paying; they have nowhere to spend their money.

Seeing that Qin Ziwen was standing behind the counter and hadn't served the food immediately, the three of them frowned and exchanged glances.

The burly man with the thick beard said, "Shopkeeper, I, Di Wu, have traveled this road seven or eight times, if not ten. This is the first time I've seen a shop here. This is the middle of nowhere, far from any village or shop. I'm afraid business must be bad on ordinary days."

(End of this chapter)