Chapter 352 - 198: Survival Association Members Defecting? Return to the Trading Market! The Bloodthirsty Vine King Appears

Chapter 352: Chapter 198: Survival Association Members Defecting? Return to the Trading Market! The Bloodthirsty Vine King Appears

As for the final Card, the Fence Card...

[Card Type: Building Card - Fence]

[Rating: C-Class]

[Description: A 20-meter-long fence, sturdy and highly resistant to wear. Can be freely placed by the user in various configurations. All animals and plants enclosed within the fence gain a +20% daily growth speed bonus.]

Although the C-Class Fence Card’s speed-up effect was only on par with a D-Class Beast Cage, far inferior to other C-Class buildings of its type, it still made Chen Chong’s eyes light up!

A fence wasn’t an enclosure. Although it was also a structure made of wooden stakes, unlike an enclosure, it wasn’t fixed in place.

Compared to the containment function of an enclosure, a fence was more like a protective and obstructive wall of stakes.

But if the fence was arranged in a circle, it could still function like an enclosure to contain animals.

Upon seeing the Fence Card’s information, a bold hypothesis even formed in Chen Chong’s mind...

’Perhaps the Fence Card has more of a supportive function.’

’If I place smaller buildings, like Beast Cages or low-level pens, inside it...’

’...will its speed-up effect stack with the other buildings? Could it accelerate the livestock’s growth rate even further?’

With that thought, Chen Chong put the Fence Card away, planning to try it out as soon as he got back...

"Leave these two Cards at the gymnasium. Use them in the breeding area if you can. If not, put them in the warehouse’s point exchange pool and let someone who needs them trade for them." Chen Chong handed the Bird Cage Card and Beast Cage Card back to Jia Wen.

"The bounty for acquiring Building Cards is still active. We want all Building Cards, especially large ones. If you find any, we must acquire them, even at a high price."

Chen Chong could never have too many Building Cards.

Even if they weren’t suitable for his own home, they could be used at the gymnasium or benefit the members under his command.

After all, the speed-up effect of a Building Card was far beyond what a simple, manually built pen could ever compare to...

"Understood, Sir," Jia Wen replied.

"It’s been raining for four days now. How have the team members been lately?"

Jia Wen said, "Sir, the members of the logistics team haven’t been affected by the rainy season; they’re still at their posts, working as usual. The hunting teams, on the other hand..."

"Out of the forty-plus teams, almost all of them stayed at the school on the first day. By the second and third days, nearly a third of the teams couldn’t hold back and entered the jungle, but their harvests were relatively poor."

"And today is the fourth day. According to the entry and exit logs for all teams, almost half of them have gone out to hunt."

"It seems our team members are quite motivated." Chen Chong joked, "This is good. If they had all just decided to laze around in the gymnasium because of the rain, I’d really have a headache. Things are looking better than I expected."

"Brother Chong, we haven’t gone out these past few days either. Are we staying at the school again today?" Xu Jun asked.

Chen Chong nodded slightly. "Let’s leave it at that for today. Staying home these last few days, I’ve pretty much arranged everything that could be arranged and traded for everything that needed to be traded."

"We can’t just keep staying put like this. Let’s go out for a look tomorrow. We can see if we can find any animal dens. If not, we can at least take advantage of the fact that it’s hard to do much else in the rain and explore the surrounding areas to get a better feel for the outer environment."

"Sounds great!" Xu Jun’s spirits lifted at once.

To be honest, after being cooped up at home for days, his bones were about to get rusty.

Xu Jun had a restless personality. For him, being stuck at the school was more torturous than lying in wait for prey under the blazing sun in the jungle.

"I heard the rainy season hasn’t affected the normal operation of the trading market, is that right?"

Zhong Fang nodded. "It’s impossible to say it hasn’t been affected at all, but as the only place in our school to trade things and exchange supplies, the trading market certainly wouldn’t shut down just because of the rainy season."

"These past few days, those with umbrellas have been using them. Those without have somehow scrounged up plastic sheets to build makeshift awnings. The worst-off just set up in corners, under eaves, or even right out in the downpour. In any case, trading is still going on."

"Alright, let’s go take a look then," Chen Chong said, slowly getting to his feet.

He’d gotten a handle on the gymnasium’s affairs, and there wasn’t much left to do at home. With the sky about to darken, it was the perfect time to use the last bit of daylight to browse the trading market and see if he could find any treasures.

To be honest, Chen Chong was quite interested in the trading market.

After all, a large number of students set up stalls to trade there. Even if he didn’t need most of the items, quantity eventually leads to quality, and sometimes you could find a few strange and curious things.

Maybe he would find something worthwhile this time, too...

...

Chen Chong, Xu Jun, Wang Biao, Jia Wen, Qi Zhen, and even the Tiger Striped Dog and Zhong Fang all came along.

Each of them held a large umbrella, big enough to completely shield their bodies from the rain.

As the gymnasium had a huge stockpile of supplies, its warehouse naturally had things like umbrellas and raincoats...

"To think so many people are still setting up stalls and wandering around in such heavy rain. It’s a bit beyond my imagination."

After arriving at the trading market, Xu Jun was a little dumbfounded.

The reason was simple: he was shocked that so many people were still running stalls in this weather, and there were even quite a few people just browsing.

Although the evening rain wasn’t as heavy as it had been during the day—not quite a downpour, but still a heavy rain—the dense sheets of water still made it hard to see anything more than ten meters away.

What shocked Xu Jun was that the trading market was just as Zhong Fang had described. Those with umbrellas used them, and those without had managed to fashion some kind of rain shelter, whether by stringing up plastic sheets or weaving together leaves.

Those who really had nothing simply set up their stalls in corners and under eaves where they could find shelter.

And then there were the most outrageous ones, who had nothing at all and just sat in the middle of it all, braving the heavy rain with an air that suggested getting soaked was just like taking a shower...

"There aren’t as many people with stalls, but it seems like there are more people browsing than usual?" the observant Wang Biao noted a pattern.

Jia Wen immediately guessed the reason. "In this downpour, there are fewer resources to be found, so naturally, fewer people are selling. But it’s also because of the downpour that most students haven’t gone out hunting and have been cooped up in the school. After a few days, they’re too restless to sit still, so naturally, more people are browsing the stalls."

"That makes sense." Xu Jun wholeheartedly agreed. After all, wasn’t he in the exact same situation?

Watching the grinning Xu Jun beside him, Chen Chong was left speechless. He turned and started browsing the stalls ahead...

「Thirty minutes later.」

Chen Chong and his group concluded their trip to the trading market.

Although the trading market hadn’t shut down during the rainy season, the variety of goods for sale was indeed much lower than before. The richness of the supplies available had been greatly diminished.

Still, the trip hadn’t been fruitless.

Wang Biao was carrying twenty live fish strung together with a grass rope. The smallest were over half a pound, while the largest were a good two pounds, all of them traded from various stalls.

Jia Wen was holding a grass nest containing five small, greenish-colored bird eggs.

They were, surprisingly, five wild chicken eggs.

Identical to the wild chicken eggs in the incubator back home.

According to the stall owner, he had found them by chance in a pile of dry grass. Since he didn’t know if they would hatch and didn’t have the time to raise them, he had no choice but to sell them cheap for food.

Chen Chong used his Identification Skill to confirm that all five wild chicken eggs were fertile, so he bought them without hesitation.

The haul from the trading market this time wasn’t huge, but acquiring some breedable resources to expand the fishpond and the flock of wild chickens was still pretty good...

As for how to get a bigger harvest, that would depend on how things went on their outing tomorrow.

As Chen Chong walked, he thought about getting a good night’s rest to build up his energy so he could brave the downpour and explore the jungle tomorrow.

As the sky grew darker, the crowd at the trading market gradually began to disperse.

The rain seemed endless, its sound never diminishing. It hammered the ground with a noise like firecrackers, echoing throughout the entire school.

Perhaps it was because of the cover of the rain and the darkness of night that no one noticed when cracks suddenly appeared on the solid concrete ground.

And with the passing of time, the cracks were gradually widening.

From within those fissures, a vine-like object slowly emerged. Then, at an astonishing speed, it began to spread across the open ground of the trading market.

In just ten short minutes, half of the trading market was covered in vines, and they were still multiplying, creeping toward the densely crowded areas...

...