"Us?"
"Yes, us."
Qin Ziwen waved his hand. "Forget it. It sounds too complicated. Dinosaurs arenāt that easy to tame. Iāve seen how long itās taken just to tame these few Single Claw Dragons. If we got some bigger ones, wouldnāt it take weeks?"
Zou Jianghe explained, "Chairman Qin, taming isnāt 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. Thatās how I was able to go down this path."
As he spoke, Zou Jianghe glanced at the Tyrannosaurus in Qin Ziwenās arms. "Tamed pets are more obedient. Otherwise, their wild nature is hard to control, and theyāll inevitably injure their owner."
āI didnāt expose you earlier just to let you save some face.ā
āTrying to bait me again and again. Do you really take everyone for a fool?ā
"Zou Jianghe, what do you think? Do I have a building for taming pets?"
At these words, Zou Jiangheās pupils shrank as if heād been struck by lightning.
He had considered many possibilities, but heād never imagined that Qin Ziwen would also have an Advanced Building for taming pets. āDonāt all my little schemes seem ridiculous now?ā
āIf you had one, why did you give me the Single Claw Dragons to tame in the first place?ā
āIsnāt this just entrapment?ā
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 heād lost his composure. "Chairman Qin..."
Qin Ziwen had already lost interest in talking to him and waved his hand dismissively.
"Thatās enough. Letās leave it at that. Thereās nothing more to discuss."
After speaking, Qin Ziwen glanced around. Du Yu wasnāt there, Qin Ziwu wasnāt there, and Cao Biansheng wasnāt there either.
So he pinched Blackās 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 didnāt know how he got out of Building Eight. Dazed and confused, the hot wind blowing outside finally brought him back to his senses.
āItās fine. Itās okay. Even without the Qin Alliance, I can rely on the Alliance Association to capture animals. Besides, my Alliance Association has more people.ā 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 havenāt 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 couldnāt 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 Ziwenās next words made Jia Liangcaiās expression change slightly. "Red Hare is thriving in the herd of Gobi Wild Horses. Iām planning to have it pick a few healthy, strong mares to bring back and establish a breeding stock."
āItās just a few more horses. We can afford to raise them,ā 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, theyāre actually similar to the Gobi Wild Horses. They look big, but their tails make up nearly half their length, so their appetites arenāt that large. If we can tame them, I think riding Raptors into battle would be even more suitable than horses."
Hearing this, Jia Liangcaiās face fell.
"My Lord, if we are to raise them, we probably canāt afford many."
Qin Ziwen gestured for him to relax. "Donāt worry. Even if we raise them, we wonāt be capturing adult Raptors. At most, weāll bring back a group of hatchlings or some Dinosaur Eggs to incubate. By the time they grow up, weāll 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 lordās arms. It was so dark he couldnāt identify what kind of dinosaur it was, but it seemed quiet and well-behaved.
āOh, well. As long as My Lord is happy, let him raise what he wants.ā
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): āā]
[Common Single Claw Dragon (Tamed): ā]
[Common Single Claw Dragon (Tamed): āā]
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 didnāt 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 lordās 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 donāt need to report everything to me."
A glint flashed in Jia Liangcaiās 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 Cardās 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 victimās Home didnāt have enough space, so they couldnāt 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.
...
...