"Us?"

"Yes, us."

Qin Ziwen waved his hand. "Forget it. It sounds too complicated. Dinosaurs aren’t that easy to tame. I’ve seen how long it’s taken just to tame these few Single Claw Dragons. If we got some bigger ones, wouldn’t it take weeks?"

Zou Jianghe explained, "Chairman Qin, taming isn’t actually that difficult. I was just a little rusty at the beginning. When the last map settled, I received an Advanced Building related to taming. That’s how I was able to go down this path."

As he spoke, Zou Jianghe glanced at the Tyrannosaurus in Qin Ziwen’s arms. "Tamed pets are more obedient. Otherwise, their wild nature is hard to control, and they’ll inevitably injure their owner."

’I didn’t expose you earlier just to let you save some face.’

’Trying to bait me again and again. Do you really take everyone for a fool?’

"Zou Jianghe, what do you think? Do I have a building for taming pets?"

At these words, Zou Jianghe’s pupils shrank as if he’d been struck by lightning.

He had considered many possibilities, but he’d never imagined that Qin Ziwen would also have an Advanced Building for taming pets. ’Don’t all my little schemes seem ridiculous now?’

’If you had one, why did you give me the Single Claw Dragons to tame in the first place?’

’Isn’t this just entrapment?’

His mind was a tangled mess. He felt as if his petty schemes had been completely dissected and laid bare before the man opposite him.

Zou Jianghe realized he’d lost his composure. "Chairman Qin..."

Qin Ziwen had already lost interest in talking to him and waved his hand dismissively.

"That’s enough. Let’s leave it at that. There’s nothing more to discuss."

After speaking, Qin Ziwen glanced around. Du Yu wasn’t there, Qin Ziwu wasn’t there, and Cao Biansheng wasn’t there either.

So he pinched Black’s rear.

Roused from a drowsy sleep, Black opened its eyes and its large mouth, revealing a full set of small baby teeth. It let out a ferocious cry, "AWOO~"

Zou Jianghe didn’t know how he got out of Building Eight. Dazed and confused, the hot wind blowing outside finally brought him back to his senses.

’It’s fine. It’s okay. Even without the Qin Alliance, I can rely on the Alliance Association to capture animals. Besides, my Alliance Association has more people.’ Zou Jianghe continuously reassured himself.

"My Lord, raising pets consumes a great deal of food," Jia Liangcai quietly reminded him after Zou Jianghe had left.

"I know, which is why I haven’t been capturing them on a large scale," Qin Ziwen said.

Jia Liangcai felt slightly relieved upon hearing this. As the current steward of the Qin Alliance, he couldn’t be more familiar with the food reserves of both the Home and the Alliance.

With the current crop yields from the farmland and the daily surplus of meat from hunts, feeding the several hundred members of the Qin Alliance was no problem. Coupled with the large quantities of meat transported from the Oasis and stored in the cellars, they could sustain the Qin Alliance for some time even if their food supply was cut off.

But if a large number of beasts were added to the equation, their resources would be stretched thin.

The daily food consumption of a single beast could equal the rations of several, or even a dozen, people.

Qin Ziwen’s next words made Jia Liangcai’s expression change slightly. "Red Hare is thriving in the herd of Gobi Wild Horses. I’m planning to have it pick a few healthy, strong mares to bring back and establish a breeding stock."

’It’s just a few more horses. We can afford to raise them,’ Jia Liangcai thought, sighing in relief after a quick mental calculation.

Qin Ziwen continued, "And I think the Desert Raptors are pretty good too. In terms of weight, they’re actually similar to the Gobi Wild Horses. They look big, but their tails make up nearly half their length, so their appetites aren’t that large. If we can tame them, I think riding Raptors into battle would be even more suitable than horses."

Hearing this, Jia Liangcai’s face fell.

"My Lord, if we are to raise them, we probably can’t afford many."

Qin Ziwen gestured for him to relax. "Don’t worry. Even if we raise them, we won’t be capturing adult Raptors. At most, we’ll bring back a group of hatchlings or some Dinosaur Eggs to incubate. By the time they grow up, we’ll have long since moved on to the next map. The next map is an Island, and the food there will surely be more abundant than in the Gobi Desert."

Only then did Jia Liangcai breathe a small sigh of relief.

Then, he looked at the pitch-black Little Tyrannosaurus being held in his lord’s arms. It was so dark he couldn’t identify what kind of dinosaur it was, but it seemed quiet and well-behaved.

’Oh, well. As long as My Lord is happy, let him raise what he wants.’

Qin Ziwen casually glanced at the three trembling Single Claw Dragons nearby.

He tossed an Insight at them.

[Analyzing... Authority check in progress. Insight successful.]

[Common Single Claw Dragon (Tamed): ☆☆]

[Common Single Claw Dragon (Tamed): ☆]

[Common Single Claw Dragon (Tamed): ☆☆]

Single Claw Dragons were weak to begin with, and not one of these three had even reached Three Stars. They were, however, all in a tamed state. He didn’t know if Zou Jianghe had left some kind of backdoor control on these Single Claw Dragons, but judging from his reaction earlier, it was best to assume he had.

"My Lord, how do you plan to deal with these Single Claw Dragons?"

"Distribute them to the regular Hunting Teams." Qin Ziwen paused, then told Jia Liangcai about the possibility of a backdoor control on the tamed animals, lest he misunderstand his intentions.

After listening to his lord’s explanation, Jia Liangcai stroked his beard, his expression turning cold. "My Lord is still too merciful."

Qin Ziwen casually added, "Yes. From now on, you can handle matters concerning the Alliance Association and Zou Jianghe yourself. You don’t need to report everything to me."

A glint flashed in Jia Liangcai’s eyes. He immediately bowed. "This subordinate understands."

"My Lord, may I be permitted to report to you on the recent affairs of our Home?"

"Go ahead."

In the past few days, the various affairs within the Home had largely stabilized and were progressing steadily.

Following the last round of internal expansion, the total population of the Qin Alliance continued to grow.

Jia Liangcai had compiled statistics on the new members, their residences, and their abilities, then assigned them tasks according to their respective strengths.

Currently, within the Qin Alliance, the number of households that had awakened their Home had exceeded forty.

Many newcomers had awakened their Homes by using the newly established merit system to exchange for inexpensive Cards within the Qin Alliance.

Not just within the Qin Alliance, but throughout the entire Gated Community, specialized industrial chains were forming, relying on the unique buildings within each Home to create related products or services.

This also led to a new phenomenon. If food and survival resources were the most precious best-sellers on the last map and in the early stages of this one, then now, after everyone had struggled to survive in the Gobi Desert for some time, a new precious commodity had quietly taken the place of food.

Cards.

Now, a Card was hard to come by in the Gated Community. In fact, just two days ago, a major incident occurred within the Alliance Association.

Over a Card, a bloody conflict broke out between two households in the Alliance Association. One family of three was brutally tortured and murdered, and their Card was stolen.

It was speculated that the murderer had subjected the victims to inhuman torture to force them to reveal the Card’s hiding place.

"Stolen?" Qin Ziwen was surprised. "Why would someone get a Card and not use it themselves?"

"I heard that Card required a hundred-square-meter open area. The victim’s Home didn’t have enough space, so they couldn’t use it yet. The person who stole it happened to have used a Blank Expansion Card before, so he used the stolen Card immediately after taking it."

Qin Ziwen understood, but he was more curious about how the Alliance Association handled such matters internally.

...

...