Chapter 83: Parting Ways

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Parting Ways

When the three of them arrived, the two teams led by Wang Gang and Luo Jiuyin were already there.

But the atmosphere between the teams seemed tense. Hu Yaqin was crying to the side, while Wang Gang and the others all had grim expressions.

The moment he saw the three of them return, Wang Gang spoke up. "You’re back just in time. After a day of trying to get along, we’ve decided to build our cabins separately to avoid constant friction down the line. Everyone will be responsible for their own. What do you all think?"

Lan Lan and Li Ran looked toward Shi Zhile, clearly waiting for her to speak.

Shi Zhile wasn’t surprised. "I have no objections. None of us know each other well, so whether we stayed together or split up, this was inevitable.

"However, when we divided the tasks today, the three of us were assigned to explore the island. We spent the entire day on that and didn’t gather any resources. If you want the information we found, you’ll have to pay for it. Each of you gives us five pieces of wood, and we’ll share the map of the island with you."

Lan Lan and Li Ran backed her up. "That’s right. We don’t mind parting ways, but since we’re separate now, we have no obligation to share information.

"There’s no reason you should get the intel we spent all day gathering for free."

Wang Gang fell silent for a moment. "Five pieces is too much. Three per person."

Shi Zhile replied, "No. Five pieces. Not one less.

"There are three of us. For five pieces of wood each from the seven of you, we only get thirty-five pieces in total. Meanwhile, you all gathered at least fifty pieces of wood per person today.

"If you think the information isn’t worth this price, you can explore on your own tomorrow."

Time was precious, and building the cabins couldn’t wait. They didn’t have time to waste re-exploring the island themselves.

Luo Jiuyin was the first to speak. "I have no objections, but I need an accurate map."

"You will."

Wang Gang looked to the other four men, who all nodded in agreement.

"We agree, too. We may be exploring separately, but we’re all Huaxia people. Even if we can’t be friends, let’s hope we don’t become enemies."

Shi Zhile replied, "Of course."

Hu Yaqin stopped crying and looked at Shi Zhile, her expression a mixture of conflict and grievance.

"I don’t believe you explored the island without finding any wooden chests. Since you found some too, why should you get to take our wood? We worked hard to get it!"

Before Shi Zhile could even speak, Lan Lan stepped forward, her hands on her hips. "If you don’t want to contribute resources, then don’t. By the same token, we don’t have to tell you what we learned."

Hu Yaqin asked, "Shouldn’t we all be helping each other?"

"If we’re all supposed to be helping each other, why don’t you pull out all of your resources and share them with us?"

Hu Yaqin’s eyes welled with tears, as if everyone was ganging up on her.

Luo Jiuyin gave her a cold look. "You don’t want to help each other; you want to freeload off of other people’s hard work. All day long, you’ve either been sowing discord or hoarding resources for yourself. It’s absolutely disgusting."

Shi Zhile had no time to bicker with her. "Anyone who wants the information, gather on one side. Anyone who doesn’t want to contribute—Lan Lan and Li Ran, watch them. Don’t let them get a single step closer."

She then looked at Luo Jiuyin and Wang Gang. "Resources first. Then I’ll tell you."

The handsome and cheerful Xiao Yi spoke up. "Giving you the resources is the easy part, but we need to know if your information is worth the price. Why don’t you tell us first?"

Shi Zhile said, "Let’s sign a contract. Everyone signs it. That way, no one can back out."

The contract was drawn up, and after everyone reviewed it and found no issues, they all signed their names.

Hu Yaqin gritted her teeth but ultimately refused to sign.

Shi Zhile didn’t press the issue, simply telling Lan Lan and Li Ran to keep an eye on her.

She led the group away from the other three, then picked up a small stone and began to draw a map of the island in the sand.

"The island isn’t very big. Besides a small forest to the north, there’s a swamp to the southwest. The swamp has stagnant water and mud, and it’s surrounded by reeds.

"Heading east from our current position, the entire coastline is made of massive stone cliffs. On top of the cliffs are piles of rocks.

"The easternmost point is the highest and steepest part of the island. The terrain is most level heading north from where we are now.

"Over here," she indicated a spot, "there are two large boulders and two small trees."

She had sketched out the general shape of the island. While simple, the scale of the forest she drew made it easy to estimate its relative size on the island.

Luo Jiuyin was the first to hand over her wood, followed closely by Wang Gang and the others.

Shi Zhile called Lan Lan and Li Ran over, and they divided the resources right then and there.

It was nearly four o’clock. Shi Zhile took Lan Lan and headed north.

Luo Jiuyin thought for a moment before following them. "Are you heading to the boulders?"

"Yeah."

"You plan to build your cabin there?"

"That’s right."

Luo Jiuyin said, "That’s a good location, for sure. Personally, I’d rather keep watch at the starting point tonight. We should work together."

Shi Zhile didn’t break her stride. "Did anyone in your group bring a way to make fire?"

Luo Jiuyin fell into step beside her and sighed. "Out of everyone, only Hu Yaqin has a way to make fire. And because she’s the only one, she tried to use it to get everyone else to support her. That’s the real reason we all had a falling out and decided to split up."

’Shi Zhile wasn’t surprised in the slightest. She had known Hu Yaqin would be trouble from the moment she first opened her mouth.’

’She obviously wanted to get everything for nothing, yet she insisted on blaming everyone else.’

’Still, it was better that they had split up now. It would keep her from causing trouble after the cabins were built.’

When they reached the large boulders, Shi Zhile was the first to check her panel. There were no new tasks unlocked in the mission hall. ’It might be because I don’t have enough resources, or maybe one-click construction is disabled in this instance,’ she thought.

She had collected a lot of large rocks in her inventory while exploring the island, and now they would come in handy.

Using one of the boulders as a back wall, she began to build two stone walls extending from either side of it.

She first took out a number of large rocks. "Lan Lan, put these rocks into your inventory. You build the east wall, I’ll take the west."

Lan Lan obediently collected them, then began to build her wall, copying Shi Zhile’s technique as she watched her work.

Luo Jiuyin had no stones, so even if she wanted to claim a plot of land, she had no resources to mark it with.

After a moment of thought, she walked over to Shi Zhile. "Can we cooperate? I’ll transport the stones, and I’ll pay for my share of the wood. We can all live in the cabin together."

’The six men had already banded together. If I live alone, there’s no guarantee some of them won’t get funny ideas.’

’The best solution is to cooperate with Shi Zhile and Lan Lan. At least then, I won’t be on my own.’

Shi Zhile said, "We can cooperate, but only on the use of this cabin. Outside of that, we all mind our own business."

"Deal. I’ll go haul rocks from the east side."

Shi Zhile picked up her pace building the wall. "Okay. If you have enough inventory space, grab rocks of all sizes. They’ll be useful for the shelter later on."

Luo Jiuyin clearly understood her meaning. A small smile played on her lips. "Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to pick out some good ones."

Twenty minutes later, both side walls were finished. The southern wall needed a door and a window, so Shi Zhile told Lan Lan not to work on it.

She took out fifty pieces of wood and a Level Two Axe, then showed Lan Lan how to wedge the logs into the gaps between the stones to create an outer wooden layer for reinforcement.