Because there were no plans to head out and no special arrangements for the day, Ye Mian allowed herself to be lazy. She took her time freshening up and headed downstairs late. Just as she was sniffing the aroma in the air, trying to guess what was for breakfast while feeling a bit disappointed that her Spirit Quality was only at 4+1, she heard a chaotic commotion outside.
“This way, this way!”
“Cluck, cluck, cluck!”
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
“Hey! Watch the vegetables!”
Ye Mian quickened her pace and stepped out the front door. However, before she could see what was happening, a shadow resembling a bird flew straight toward her. Before she could instinctively step back, a basket appeared out of thin air and scooped the shadow right up.
Immediately after, Lu Ning appeared with lightning speed, flipping a lid over the basket and trapping the shadow inside. The creature wasn’t very strong, so it didn’t struggle much; it just let out a muffled cry from within.
“Cluck, cluck-da~ Cluck, cluck-da~”
“Is that a chicken?”
Just as Ye Mian realized what it was, Xue Kai shouted from the other side, “There’s another one! Quick, corner it!”
Lu Ning shoved the basket toward Ye Mian. “Take this one.”
“Okay.” Ye Mian reached out to press down the lid, watching as Lu Ning stepped out. Lu Ning, Xue Kai, and Chen Jia stood on three sides, silently closing in on a gentle, quiet hen with grey-white feathers.
This time it didn’t take much effort. Before the hen could take flight to escape, the three of them reached out together and pinned it down. Seeing that it also didn’t intend to struggle, Xue Kai took over and cradled it in his arms, stroking its feathers to calm it.
Even with Big Black standing nearby with his tongue out, the hen showed no fear, even letting out a comfortable cooing sound.
The chaos ended there. With the help of the others, Xue Kai moved the fiery multi-colored hen in the basket and the gentle one into the utility room for the time being, preventing them from pecking at the vegetables planted the night before.
Almost the moment the door closed, a system notification popped up.
[Successfully captured “Hen” x2. Please build them a comfortable home!]
[Construction function automatically unlocked!]
[New blueprints unlocked!]
[Objective Met: Have three employees with loyalty above 80 (3/3). Experience +30, Points +30!]
The first three notifications were related, but as for the fourth… Ye Mian glanced at the still-excited Chen Jia. When they had returned yesterday, her loyalty was only at 79; apparently, catching a chicken was enough to push it over 80.
She really was simple and easy to please.
“To think it attracted normal animals, not mutated beasts…”
“These are hens, so they should lay eggs, right? Or do we need a rooster?”
“They will, they will. You only need a rooster if you want to hatch chicks.”
“Ahem,” Ye Mian cleared her throat, drawing the attention of the three. “It seems we have a new mission.”
As she spoke, she opened the system interface to check the new construction function while walking toward the small drawing board hanging on the living room wall.
The construction interface was divided into two options: [Blueprints] and [Improvements]. At the bottom was a line of small text:
Current Construction Points: 0 (Construction points can be earned by unlocking and building blueprints. For every set amount of points accumulated, an additional blueprint can be unlocked.)
Under [Blueprints], there were various architectural drawings, but currently only one was unlocked and available for collection; the others were greyed out. The [Improvements] interface was completely black, with a red warning: Requires a Craftsman.
This meant that “Improvements” referred to interior decorations and installations within the buildings. Since the farm barely had any buildings yet, she could set this aside for now. Ye Mian switched back to the blueprint tab and collected the one titled “Chicken Coop.”
[First blueprint exchange complete. Received “Magical Toolbox” x1!]
[Main Quest automatically accepted: Build a comfortable chicken coop!]
The three following behind her watched as Ye Mian paused at the drawing board and then wrote down a line of words.
“Build a chicken coop? We’ll need some good wood for that.”
“Um, I know a bit of basic woodworking.”
Hearing this, all three of them—Ye Mian included—turned to look at Chen Jia with surprise.
Chen Jia gave an awkward “uh.” “My grandfather was a carpenter when he was young. Although he always felt it wasn’t suitable for a girl to learn, he let me watch and learn by his side.”
Xue Kai gave her a thumbs up. “Impressive!”
Knowing woodworking was a good thing, but the mission probably required the coop to be built according to the blueprint. Thinking this, Ye Mian said, “Follow me.”
Under her lead, the group of four walked into the warehouse, which already had a large amount of empty space. After taking a quick look at the chicken coop blueprint, Ye Mian handed it to Chen Jia and then pulled out the “Magical Toolbox” she had just received.
The box was much larger than the thumbnail suggested, making a heavy thud as it hit the floor. The three people gathered to look at the blueprint instinctively looked down at the massive iron chest, their eyes wide with surprise.
“There are tools in here,” Ye Mian knelt down and opened the chest. She paused briefly upon seeing the wide variety of tools inside. “These should be useful.”
Chen Jia snapped out of it. “Are we building it according to this drawing?”
The blueprint showed a two-story chicken coop that wasn’t too large. The first floor was enclosed with wire mesh, while the second floor featured a small wooden cabin. Below were very detailed structural diagrams and step-by-step instructions. The required materials and tools were listed on the side, and none of them were special items.
Ye Mian nodded. “Yes. There seems to be wire in the chest, so we just need lumber, right?”
“Yes, let me see…” Chen Jia had already scanned the drawing. She handed it to Xue Kai and started rummaging through the toolbox to see what was available.
Seeing this, Ye Mian stepped aside and opened the three lumber packs she had received from the previous level-up reward one by one.
[Obtained “Logs” x50!]
[Obtained “Thick Planks” x100!]
[Obtained “Thin Planks” x100!]
Ah? This is what the system calls a ‘moderate amount’?
Ye Mian was momentarily stunned, then laughed as she pulled out an orange-yellow thin plank. Although it was called “thin,” it didn’t feel thin at all and had some weight to it; clearly, the durability of this wood was very high.
“Oh!” Chen Jia looked up and saw the plank in Ye Mian’s hand, her eyes lighting up. “This is perfect for the small wooden cabin on the second floor.”
Hearing this, Ye Mian simply took out all the thin planks and stacked them on the floor. “Is this enough?”
“Ah…” Chen Jia gasped, then nodded while her mouth hung open. “It’s more than enough.”
With tools ready and materials complete, Lu Ning stepped forward. “I’ll help.”
Seeing the two of them excitedly preparing to start, Xue Kai handed the drawing back to Chen Jia and shook his head helplessly. “Everyone, let’s eat breakfast first!”
After breakfast, the four officially divided the labor. Chen Jia and Lu Ning were responsible for the chicken coop. Ye Mian and Xue Kai organized the spoils from yesterday’s trip.
The diesel had been inspected last night and there was nowhere to store it yet, so it remained in the system warehouse. The instant food and drinks from the villa weren’t needed for now; at Xue Kai’s suggestion, they only took out a portion of biscuits and snacks and placed them in the living room so everyone could grab a bite while working.
The rest consisted of items scavenged from the first two villages. Common farming implements and tools were placed in the utility room, while the saws found at the logging camp were given to Chen Jia and Lu Ning.
Finally, there was one large piece left. Ye Mian walked to a patch of open ground where the “Wild Panax” had already eaten all the weeds and pulled the tractor out of her warehouse.
Although they had heard about it from Ye Mian the night before, seeing it with his own eyes made Xue Kai feel a wave of nostalgia and a strange sense of familiarity. He checked it over inside and out, confirming it wasn’t very rusty and had clearly been in use just a few months ago. He then had Ye Mian bring out a barrel of diesel to fill the tank.
After adjusting the farming attachments at the front to ensure they were functional, he held the handles and sat down.
“Step back a bit. I only touched one of these a few times years ago; I’ve almost forgotten how to drive it.”
Ye Mian silently backed up about ten meters.
“…” Xue Kai sat on the tractor with some trepidation. After gripping the handles to get a feel for them, he took a deep breath and started the engine.
As the familiar roar of the engine filled the air, Xue Kai felt his blood begin to pump. Suddenly filled with confidence, he revved the engine and drove forward. With a series of rhythmic tu-tu-tu sounds, Xue Kai’s figure on the tractor gradually moved further away.
Ye Mian watched, dazed for a moment, then raised an eyebrow and smiled. “He really does know how to drive it.”
The effect of the machinery was nearly instantaneous. The hard wasteland Xue Kai drove over was immediately turned into soft soil; a few minutes of work equaled almost half an afternoon of manual labor. Even with the farm expanded to ten thousand square meters, it wouldn’t take more than a few days to plow the whole thing.
Good. One extremely exhausting labor task successfully reduced.
Just then, Xue Kai drove back with a series of tu-tu-tu sounds. His laughter could be heard from a distance. “Hahaha! This is too satisfying!!”
Compared to his initial nervousness, he now stopped the tractor with pinpoint accuracy ten meters away from Ye Mian and ran over.
“We’re not in a hurry to plant today, right?”
Ye Mian hummed. “The timing isn’t right.”
“Hehe, that’s perfect. I’m going to spend the day playing with this then.” After saying that, Xue Kai turned back excitedly. Halfway there, he remembered to shout, “The peaches are ripe! Remember to tell Lu Ning and the others to pick them!”
At the mention of peaches, Ye Mian instinctively turned to look at the peach tree by the front door. The blossoms that had been in full bloom all day yesterday had transformed today into lush green leaves and fresh, tender green peaches. According to Xue Kai’s estimation, they would be fully ripe within a few hours.
“Hmm…”
So, her job for the rest of the day was just to wait for the peaches to ripen?
While this was the benefit of having more people, Ye Mian truly couldn’t stand being idle. Just as she opened her system warehouse to scan her items, planning to find something to do, a text box quietly appeared at the very top of the system interface:
[3:20 PM: Unknown visitor lingering around the farm; defense electric fence not triggered.]