A tacit understanding seemed to form between the man and the wolves.
Jiang Ye watched silently as the wolf pack devoured the meat.
Neither side interfered with the other.
With all fifteen magazines reloaded, Jiang Ye, emboldened, carried his rifle out of the base vehicle and headed towards the perimeter wall.
He climbed to the top of the wall and looked down at hundreds of white wolves.
As soon as Jiang Ye stepped onto the wall, the wolf pack froze. All the wolves stopped feeding, lifted their heads, and stared at him warily.
Especially at the gun in his hand.
The wolves had clearly witnessed Jiang Ye's violent display of shooting blood kangaroos.
The wolves couldn't understand what a gun was, but they knew it was incredibly dangerous, capable of slaughtering kangaroos quickly – a top-tier threat!
Jiang Ye remained still, standing on the wall, shouldering his assault rifle, and meeting the gaze of the wolf cubs.
Time seemed to stand still for a considerable period. Then, the wolves relaxed and lowered their heads to eat.
Soon, Jiang Ye was ignored by the wolf pack.
The crunching of bones echoed all around.
After observing the wolf pack for a while, Jiang Ye suddenly had a bold idea.
He climbed down from the wall and returned to the base.
He opened the Livestock Assistant and bought ten hens.
He stuffed them into sacks and carried them out.
He climbed onto the wall again.
Some wolves looked up and glanced at him, but more were still focused on the kangaroos.
Jiang Ye reached into the sack and grabbed a hen.
"Cluck cluck cluck!" the hen squawked.
Hundreds of wolves looked up, staring curiously at the chicken.
As alien wolves, the hens were also alien creatures in their eyes.
Jiang Ye hurled the hen forcefully towards the wolf pack.
The wild wolves were also quite bold. Seven or eight of them leaped up, like players vying for a basketball, and bit down on the hen in mid-air.
What followed was a frenzied tearing and devouring.
Soon, a live hen was swallowed whole by the wolves, leaving only a scattering of feathers.
Jiang Ye reached into the sack, pulling out hens one by one and tossing them to the wolf pack.
The white wolves jumped up to catch them, like dogs catching biscuits.
Upon catching a hen, they would tear into it fiercely, gnawing and fighting over it!
After all the hens were consumed, the wolves' gaze towards Jiang Ye had changed.
They were no longer as wary.
Whether it was his imagination or not, two or three wolves seemed to wag their tails slightly.
Jiang Ye nodded silently and left the wall.
Since the wolf pack ate chickens, things were looking up.
He returned to the base and opened the chat channel.
He sent a private message to Isabel.
Jiang Ye: The wild wolves have surrounded me, eight or nine hundred of them. I just tested them, and they eat chickens. Do you have any slow-acting poison that kills after a few hours? I want to use chicken to poison these wolves.
Isabel the Courier: Holy crap, just shoot them! There's no time!
Jiang Ye: No rush. The wolf pack is outside the wall. I killed a lot of kangaroos, and they're eating them. These wolves have no intention of attacking me; they're a bit afraid of me. Plus, they should be full from eating kangaroos, so they won't bother with me, this tough, skinny guy.
Isabel the Courier: If they're not attacking you, then you don't need to worry about them. Just wait for them to finish eating and leave. Many wild animals don't attack people; to them, you're...
Jiang Ye: I'm afraid they won't leave after they're done eating. Shooting them isn't reliable. Can you get me some poison?
Isabel the Courier: Poison is hard to get, but don't worry, I'll definitely help you with this. Wait a few hours, and I'll contact you. Be careful.
Jiang Ye: Ok.
After contacting Isabel, Jiang Ye went out again to check on the wolves outside the wall.
The wolves were still feasting, their appetites voracious.
Upon noticing Jiang Ye's appearance, some wolves looked up, wagged their tails, and then returned to eating.
Oh?
Jiang Ye was surprised. This time he saw clearly – some wolves were indeed wagging their tails at him!
What did an alien wolf wagging its tail mean?
Was it a sign of friendliness, or a warning to stay away? Was it saying thank you, or "What are you looking at? Look again and I'll take you down!"?
The best way to verify would be to climb down the wall and try walking into the wolf pack.
However, life was precious, and Jiang Ye decided not to take that risk.
He returned to the base and opened the chat channel.
A private message from Cao County Citizen arrived.
Cao County Citizen: Ten thousand meat cans, ship them as soon as possible!
Jiang Ye sat down and shipped the goods quickly, completing the transaction in a few minutes.
The final payment arrived: five hundred thousand!
Last night, there was also an income from a poultry farmer.
His personal assets had now grown to 7,023,300 yuan!
He could upgrade!
However, the upgrade condition was a choice between two options: either pay seven million yuan, or provide one pound of aquatic products.
Having finally saved seven million yuan, he was reluctant to spend it.
On second thought, Jiang Ye decided to seek external help.
Gathering one pound of aquatic products shouldn't be difficult.
He first sent a private message to Cao County Citizen.
Jiang Ye: I need one pound of aquatic products, anything will do. Do you have any?
Cao County Citizen: I have a grilled fish here, do you want it?
Jiang Ye: Dead ones probably won't work, they need to be alive, or at least raw.
Cao County Citizen: Then I don't have any. You should ask in the chat channel.
Jiang Ye turned to the public chat channel. After a moment's thought, he typed and sent a message:
Urgent need for one pound of aquatic products, live preferred, price negotiable!
There were many people chatting in the channel. To prevent his message from being drowned out, Jiang Ye sent several more.
Finally, a private message came in.
Come Stick to Me: Want crabs?
Jiang Ye: Yes, yes, yes! They're not cooked, are they?
Come Stick to Me: They're not cooked, they're alive. But I need to give you a heads-up, you need to be mentally prepared.
Jiang Ye: Prepared for what?
Come Stick to Me: My crabs are difficult to catch, so the price might be quite high.
Come Stick to Me: If you can't afford it, you can also trade for goods, but I'll need to determine the value.
Jiang Ye: Okay, name your price.
Come Stick to Me: One pound of crabs, 2000 yuan!
Jiang Ye chuckled.
How impoverished must one be to consider two thousand yuan a fortune?
He didn't bother to haggle and paid the full amount immediately.
Come Stick to Me: Holy crap! You actually have two thousand yuan! Big brother, are you very rich?
Jiang Ye: Not extremely rich, but I urgently need these aquatic products, so I gritted my teeth and bought them. Please ship them quickly.
The transaction warehouse flashed with light.
Two large white crabs appeared in the transaction warehouse.
They were half-dead, still trembling as they crawled.
Jiang Ye took them out and put them back in for a brief scan. The information appeared:
[Item: Ice Crab]
[Item Description: These crabs feed on ice and lay their eggs in ice, appearing only on extremely cold planets. High nutritional value, good for beauty and skin.]
[Estimated Value: 200 yuan]
Well, that's a tenfold markup.
But it didn't matter.
Jiang Ye clicked to submit.
He then checked the upgrade conditions again.
Seven million yuan now had a checkmark, and one pound of aquatic products also had a checkmark!
Both upgrade conditions were met, and he could choose either one!
To be honest, this was a bit like cheating. The system required Jiang Ye to personally catch aquatic products, but he bought a pound to make up the numbers.
However, having been a student, not feeling embarrassed about cheating was a basic quality.
He clicked the option for one pound of aquatic products, then clicked [Base Upgrade]!