After the announcement was issued, the topic in the World Chat Channel also revolved around it:
“Are there beasts around everyone’s shelter? Why the holy crap haven’t I seen even a shadow of one?”
“Hah, you wouldn’t be happy if you really saw one.”
“Holy crap, there really are beasts! I haven’t seen any around here either.”
“I told you all on the First day that something was scratching at my door, but none of you believed me. Stupid now, aren’t you?”
“Luckily, I opened a bow and arrow from a treasure chest. I originally thought it wouldn’t be of much use.”
“Come out, beasts! I haven’t eaten anything all day. I’d even risk my life fighting a bear!”
“I’m starving too. I can’t find anything to eat at all.”
“If you encounter a beast, you’re ninety-nine percent doomed. The animals here are absurdly huge. I butchered a hyena today, and it was as big as a cow!”
“This is a big shot! Big shot, please give me some dog meat. I’ll trade wood for it.”
“Dream on. Food might not even be exchanged for stone right now, and you want to trade wood for it?”
“Sigh, the temperature drops sharply every night. If I don’t eat some high-calorie food, I feel like I’ll freeze to death before the harsh winter even arrives.”
“Yeah, this temperature is dropping ridiculously fast.”
“It’ll only get colder from here. I really don’t know how to endure it. My hands are already frozen stiff.”
“Me too. I’m freezing to death…”
Today’s chat channel was not as relaxed as usual; instead, it was filled with a serious atmosphere.
Li Qinglang’s mood was equally heavy. There was no exact time for the harsh winter to arrive, but it certainly would not be long.
Ten days? Or seven days? Maybe even five days?
It was easier said than done to collect enough food and cold-resistant supplies in such a short time.
The natural resources in the wilderness were out of the question, and there was no time to planting anything.
The only method was to hunt beasts!
“Looks like we really have to risk our lives…”
Compared with the others, Li Qinglang had one advantage: the Purified Water Pearl!
The existence of the Purified Water Pearl meant he did not need to consider the problem of freshwater at all.
Even if other Survivors had rivers around them, no one knew whether drinking the water from those rivers for a long time would cause problems.
Thinking of the World Chat Channel’s contents just now, Li Qinglang quickly scrolled upward and found someone named Xu Zhiqiang.
“Hello. I saw in the chat channel just now that you killed a hyena. How about I trade fine-grade water source for meat? P.S.: information on purified seawater.”
There was no reply for the time being after the message was sent. Li Qinglang estimated that too many people were contacting him.
“Forget it. I’ll wait patiently for a while. The effects of purified seawater are quite practical for a battle-oriented Survivor like him. He should agree to the trade.”
While waiting, Li Qinglang selected the Shelter information page on the Communicator.
He had never been able to decide whether to choose a kitchen or a bathroom as the second construction for the Shelter.
But after getting Da Ju, a bathroom was urgently needed!
Compared with the hygiene problems of one person and one tiger, the iron pot provided with the kitchen no longer seemed that important.
The only regrettable thing was that building a kitchen would reward him with an expansion of six square meters of Shelter space, while a bathroom would provide only four square meters.
However, after building the living room, the Shelter’s area had already reached 22 square meters. He did not have many items to store for the time being, so this area was sufficient.
【Build a bathroom?】
Construction materials: wood*30, stone*10
Currently owned: wood*50, stone*10（Fine）
“Yes, build it!”
As soon as his voice fell, a light appeared before Li Qinglang, just like the light produced when upgrading the Shelter. The area covered by the light was approximately six or seven square meters.
“Huh? Why did this light stop moving?”
Li Qinglang lowered his head and looked at the Communicator. It was displaying:
“Please select the bathroom’s location. If no location is selected after 30 seconds, the current location will be used by default. Remaining time: 10”
“9”
“Holy crap, wait, wait, wait! How do I choose?”
Li Qinglang hurriedly tried to move the light’s position. It would be hilarious if a toilet were built right in the middle of the Shelter.
Fortunately, the light seemed able to recognize Li Qinglang’s thoughts and instantly moved to the lower-left corner of the log cabin.
As the countdown ended, the Shelter seemed to grow another circle larger, presumably because of the four-square-meter expansion brought by building the bathroom.
A 2-by-3-square-meter room appeared in the lower-left corner, complete with a thoughtfully provided door.
In the current Shelter, entering through the front door led to a square table with two stools.
The homeland spring eye and two treasure chests filled with seawater were placed on the table.
There was a fireplace against the wall on the right side, with a lounge chair in front of it.
The wall on the left side had a window. The newly appeared bathroom was beside the window, while outside the window lay the fine soil that Li Qinglang had painstakingly carried today.
As for the effects brought by the ten pieces of granite, he could not see them for the time being. It was probably because their proportion was too small.
After rubbing his cold both hands together, he was still quite satisfied with the Shelter’s current appearance.
With a place to use the bathroom, he would no longer have to hold it in at night.
And there was a fireplace too!
Li Qinglang eagerly took a piece of wood and split it with the stone axe into ordinary firewood-sized pieces. Then he pulled out the matches rewarded by the System and quickly ignited them for heating.
The windbreaker on his body had long since become thoroughly damp.
After taking it off together with his sweatshirt, he placed them on a stool and moved them close to the fireplace to dry.
He himself used the fireplace’s temperature to lie contentedly on the lounge chair.
Da Ju, who had originally been lying beside the fireplace, seemed to find the flame’s temperature unpleasant and instead ran behind Li Qinglang to hide.
“You’re so young, yet you aren’t afraid of the cold. As expected of someone with a Pure Yang Body…”
As the flames rose, the blazing firelight illuminated the entire log cabin brightly. The originally pitch black night was now dispelled by this warm light.
Li Qinglang gazed at the dancing flames, and an indescribable emotion surged through his heart.
At this moment, he seemed to have forgotten the mist and unknown danger outside, focusing only on the warm flames before him.
“Bzzz~ bzzz~ bzzz~”
Just then, the Communicator received a message. It was Xu Zhiqiang’s reply:
“We can trade, but this is fine-grade hyena meat, so the ratio has to be one to three. One jin of meat for three liters of water!”
It was actually Fine-grade meat! This was truly a formidable man.
Li Qinglang suddenly remembered that he had seen the name Xu Zhiqiang before.
It was on the Mistbreaker Totem! He was even ahead of Huang Zhiteng, ranking third!
No wonder he could even deal with a fine-grade hyena. This person must also have powerful items protecting him.
Without think much, Li Qinglang quickly replied:
“My water is Fine-grade too. One to three is a little exaggerated. Judging by the body size of the creatures on the Mist Continent, a hyena should provide you with at least two or three hundred jin of meat.
Besides, my purified seawater is highly effective and is very suitable for the current situation of Survivors.”
This time, Li Qinglang did not have to wait long. The other party’s reply quickly arrived:
“You haven’t hunted a beast before, have you? Meat isn’t that easy to obtain. A hyena weighs roughly three hundred jin, but the System automatically decomposes it, leaving only around three jin of meat in the end.”
Xu Zhiqiang’s words left Li Qinglang dumbfounded:
“What, does the System take a cut too?”
Xu Zhiqiang: “Not exactly. After a beast is killed, a treasure chest will drop, and a thing called a Mist Bead will also condense.”
【Mist Bead · Earth】
Introduction: The essence condensed from the flesh and blood of native creatures of the Mist Continent, possessing mysterious power.
Hiss…
This was yet another thing Li Qinglang knew nothing about, and the introduction did not clearly explain its use either.
Li Qinglang: “What is this thing used for?”
Xu Zhiqiang: “I’m not entirely sure either. I suppose it will be useful in the future.”
Apparently worried that Li Qinglang would not trust his words, Xu Zhiqiang added:
“Here’s another piece of information: although your seawater is effective, all fine grade and above food on the Mist Continent will increase a person’s physical fitness!”
Upon hearing this, a flash of Spiritual Light crossed Li Qinglang’s mind.
No wonder Happy Sweet Potato, as excellent-grade food, did not explain its use. It also explained why the System had deliberately issued an announcement reminding Survivors to hunt beasts whenever possible.
“So this is fight to sustain fight…”
Today, he had only loaded two treasure chests, containing a total of six liters of seawater. He could not load more even if he wanted to, since he had no large container. Bamboo could be used as a water cup, but not to store water sources.
If possible, he wanted to exchange for more meat at once.
Although his purified seawater was effective, its long-term demand was relatively small.
In other words, if he used three liters of water to trade with Xu Zhiqiang this time, he would not be able to exchange food from him again until Xu Zhiqiang had used it all.
Even if he did exchange it, it could only be at the price of ordinary water source.
After pondering for a moment, Li Qinglang replied:
“That one-to-three ratio is far too much. The value of purified seawater is much greater than food at certain times, and it can also be used as daily drinking water.”
Xu Zhiqiang: “Then you tell me. How should we trade?”
After some intense haggling, Li Qinglang used five liters of purified seawater to exchange for two jin of meat.
Including the materials spent on his earlier trade with the Big Tycoon, he now had only five hundred milliliters of water left.
The instant the trade was completed, two pieces of hyena meat appeared on the table.
Da Ju, who had been drowsily dozing off, instantly crawled up like a cat that had smelled blood and stared fixedly at the table.
“Here. Although you secretly drank the spring water, I still managed to trade for meat. Impressive, right?”
“Awooo~”
“Hehe.”
Li Qinglang generously fed an entire piece of meat to Da Ju, then carried the remaining piece to the fireplace.
The top of the fireplace was a smooth stone slab, which had already been heated scorching hot by the flames.
Since he had no knife, he simply did not cut it and placed the entire piece of meat on top to fry.
The moment it touched the stone slab, a wonderful sizzle rang out.
Hyena meat was very firm. Even after it was fully cooked, he could not separate the muscle fiber with his homemade chopsticks.
Li Qinglang used his hands directly:
“Ow, hot, hot, hot! Hoo~ hoo~”
In a fluster, he stuffed the roasted meat into his mouth and began chewing in great gulps.
“I have to admit, it tastes a lot like steak.”
Even without salt or other seasonings, the unique fat and meaty aroma of the animal made Li Qinglang extremely satisfied as he ate.
But before he had time to properly enjoy it, after only three or four bites, his body began to feel strange.
“Hiss, so hot. What’s going on?”
Li Qinglang’s body temperature rose at an astonishing speed. If he had a thermometer, it would have revealed that his body temperature had reached an astonishing 42 degrees!