Zhang Bo accepted the meat, his face splitting into a wide grin. "Definitely worth it."

In less than an hour, he’d doubled the meat he’d traded. If there were more deals like this, he’d take as many as he could get!

"Alright, I have another deal for you. Are you interested, Boss Zhang?"

"What kind of deal?"

"Lend me one hundred pounds of salt for two days. I’ll pay five percent interest."

Zhang Bo’s smile froze. He asked tentatively, "What kind of salt? The stuff from my Salt Well?"

"The kind from your Salt Well."

"..."

Zhang Bo was slowly getting used to this. He nodded with resignation. "Fine. Have your men go to my house and get it."

He had no choice but to borrow salt. They’d used up nearly all their reserves yesterday buying fish. What they had left wasn’t nearly enough to preserve the meat from this Giant Hyena King.

The meat would spoil if left out for too long, especially in this heat.

After the meat was butchered, Qin Ziwen offered to share some with his team members, but they all refused the Card.

"Captain, we didn’t do anything. We feel bad enough just taking the meat. We really can’t accept the Card."

"That’s right. You don’t need to give us any contribution points, either."

Several team members chimed in.

Wang Yun said, "Rewards and punishments must be fair and clearly defined. That’s the only way for a team to last."

Since everyone felt that way, Qin Ziwen nodded.

The Giant Hyena King yielded over a thousand pounds of meat alone, most of it lean. Its bones were incredibly thick, especially its massive, heavy skull.

An arrow was lodged in its skull, the arrowhead buried halfway deep, a testament to how incredibly hard the thick bone was.

Its skeleton alone weighed nearly two hundred pounds.

Far more than an average person.

On the roof of a nearby building, Luo Gang stood quietly, watching the bustling crowd below.

Cao Biansheng stood at his side. "Old Luo, is it really necessary to move everyone into the Gated Community to live?"

Luo Gang said, "I’m not forcing them out. This place will always be their home. It’s just that the academic building isn’t suitable for long-term residence. The living conditions in the Gated Community are better. They won’t have dozens of people crammed into a single room."

Cao Biansheng neither agreed nor disagreed with Luo Gang’s decision. "You’re the one who has to decide. I’m too lazy to use my brain."

Luo Gang said with a sense of loss, "I’m not a qualified leader. Teacher Yang would have been much better... a shame..."

"Sister Yang was incredible, but you’re not doing a bad job either!" Cao Biansheng said.

Luo Gang shook his head. "The students trusted me. They chose me. But we started with over eight hundred people, and now... only five hundred thirty-nine remain."

Luo Gang rubbed his temples. "Lately, the pain has been waking me up in the middle of the night. Sometimes my head throbs if I think too hard. I’m starting to understand why Cao Cao’s headaches were so bad he felt like killing someone."

"Why didn’t you say so sooner? We could have used that Internal Injury Healing Card on you!"

"It’s nothing, just migraines. It’s an old problem, I had them even before we crossed over." As he spoke, Luo Gang looked at Cao Biansheng. "You need to focus on getting better. You’re the backbone of the Hunting Group; you can’t afford to break down."

After a pause, Luo Gang continued, "If I’m not around one day and you have to choose a new leader, Pan Congning, Wang Sheng, and you would all be suitable choices."

"What about Zhou Xiaqing?" Cao Biansheng asked.

Luo Gang replied, "She’s too soft-hearted and lacks conviction. She can’t manage people. She’s only suited for logistics."

...

After bringing the meat home, the group methodically divided the labor. Some set to curing the meat, while others went to work at the forge. Everything was done in an orderly manner.

Only then did Qin Ziwen have a moment to check his daily settlement.

[You have safely survived in the wild for a thirty-first day, traded some resources... Overall Score: 42 points]

[Rewards Obtained: [Expansion Card] Blank Expansion Card (Micro) x1, Sun Hat x4, Stainless Steel Water Bottle x2, Car-Mounted Crossbow Blueprint x1]

The hunt for the Giant Hyena King and the acquisition of the Card weren’t included because both events occurred after midnight.

They would count as achievements for the next day’s settlement.

Other than that, he’d received some miscellaneous items as rewards, which hadn’t happened in a long time.

The Sun Hats and Stainless Steel Water Bottles would be quite useful in the Gobi Desert.

But it was the blueprint that truly caught his eye.

’A Car-Mounted Crossbow?’

He took out the blueprint. A weight settled in his palm as a thin, blue-covered booklet materialized there.

The cover bore four large words in Small Seal Script: "Car-Mounted Crossbow Blueprints."

He flipped it open. Inside were detailed instructions on how to build a mobile Car-Mounted Crossbow with wheels, using wood and iron.

"This is amazing!"

Qin Ziwen’s eyes lit up.

If they could build this, it might not be a one-shot kill every time, but they would at least have a reliable way to attack those massive beasts.

He then found Li Tieshan, handed him the blueprint booklet, and asked if he could build it.

Li Tieshan examined it carefully before stating firmly, "Sir, I can’t build it!"

’You can’t build it, but you’re certainly loud about it.’

"I can probably handle the iron components for this thing. But there are a few critical mechanisms I’ve never worked on before. I’d have to experiment, and I’m afraid I’d waste materials. The rest is all woodwork; that needs a professional carpenter."

"Alright, I understand." Qin Ziwen nodded. He began to wonder how he could get his hands on a few skilled carpenters.

The first person that came to mind was the old carpenter at Huang Tao Woodworker’s Cottage.

A master craftsman of his generation was bound to be skilled. It might be hard to ask him to innovate something from thin air...

...but asking him to build something from a blueprint should be simple enough.

The only tricky part was whether or not he could be recruited.

...

The sun was scorching.

「The next day.」

Qin Ziwen and Qin Ziwu, both wearing Sun Hats, set out from the Gated Community and headed south.

The terrain to the east was actually more complex, which meant there was a decent chance of finding water there.

However, the pack of Giant Hyenas had fled to the northeast the previous night.

So heading south was the most sensible option.

It would help them avoid an encounter with the Giant Hyena pack in open territory.

The Beaked Eagle flew overhead. It wasn’t well-adapted to the Gobi Desert’s environment, so after flying for a short while, it would hurry to find a shady spot to rest.

With its thick plumage, being here was like wearing a heavy down jacket.

"It’s only morning and it’s already this hot," Li Yue said, looking around. "By the way, what do those Giant Hyenas even eat out here?"

"If food were that easy to find in the Gobi Desert, they wouldn’t have attacked the Gated Community in the middle of the night," said Zhao Pu.

"Hey, I think I saw an animal over there!" Qin Ziwu pointed west. In the direction he was pointing, among a few patches of scorched-yellow Haloxylon trees, a yellowish-brown, lizard-like creature scurried past the base of a trunk.

It moved with incredible speed, almost flying across the flat ground, and vanished into a burrow in the blink of an eye.

As they continued south, the vegetation grew more abundant.

In addition to the Haloxylon trees, they saw camelthorns and white thorns.

Occasionally, they even spotted a few yellowish-green Caragana shrubs.

The creature they saw most often along the way was that same yellowish-brown, lizard-like species.

"Dr. Wang, you’re the expert here. Do you have any idea what that animal is?" Yuan Ming asked, sidling closer.

Wang Yun retracted his gaze. "I don’t recognize that one. But I know what that is over there," he said. "It’s a gerbil. The meat’s edible."

Following Wang Yun’s finger, they saw a small rodent with a yellow back and a white belly standing upright on a small mound. It held its tiny paws to its chest as it surveyed its surroundings.

(Image: Gerbil)

Upon hearing it was edible, the entire group turned to look at it.

The gerbil seemed to get spooked. It took a couple of steps back and quickly scurried into a sandy burrow behind it.

A warm breeze swept across the sweltering Gobi Desert. In the distance, at the very edge of the horizon, a black object came bouncing toward them.

At first, they thought it was some kind of animal, but as it drew nearer, they realized it was a tumbleweed.

"I’ve seen these on TV, but this is the first time I’m seeing one for real." Qin Ziwu glanced at it, then looked away, unimpressed.

Wang Yun’s eyes lit up, however. He smiled. "Let me show you all something interesting." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

With that, he walked a few steps to his right, positioning himself in front of the tumbleweed. He raised his Long Spear and said, "Everyone, be careful."

He moved to the side of the tumbleweed and thrust his Long Spear into the dry, spherical mass of weeds.

He brought the tumbleweed to a halt.

Then, with some effort, he used the spear to lift the tumbleweed and gave it a hard shake.

Just like a loot drop in a game, a few small insects fell out.

There was even a lizard.

...

...