Courtyard House: Home Alone

As dusk settled, the last rays of the setting sun shone through the gaps in the branches, casting long shadows on the ground.

That concludes today's practice. Lin Yifan put away his gun and ran towards a cave he had scouted out earlier on the mountainside. After firing for half a day, the wild animals around him had long since disappeared.

He went into the cave, looked around, and found that the space inside was quite large and dry. He nodded in satisfaction, then returned to the cave entrance, placed a large rock, and blocked the entrance.

Then, he took out the dry branches and decomposed wood that he had collected in advance from his space, lit a campfire, and specially placed two large tree stumps on top of it before entering his own space.

After entering the space, I jumped into the river to wash up, changed into clean clothes, and took out rice and braised pork from the static warehouse to eat heartily.

By the afternoon of the third day, Lin Yifan was able to raise his gun and shoot, hitting a sparrow 200 meters away. He truly achieved the ability to hit exactly where he pointed within 200 meters, rather than just pointing at something and hitting it.

Through these few days of practice, he has become more and more proficient in using his mental power and spatial abilities. Not only has his speed of collecting and releasing increased by nearly double, but his maximum collection distance has also steadily broken through to 220 meters. The accuracy of his release under the protection of his mental power can also be controlled at the centimeter level.

In terms of physical condition, the moves of Bajiquan have gradually become internalized as an instinctive reaction through thousands of repeated practice sessions, resulting in a significant enhancement in punching speed, power, and the body's ability to withstand blows.

What surprised him even more was that, under the intense training of both mental and physical strength, he felt that his total mental strength had also increased slightly. Although it was not obvious, it was undoubtedly a good start.

That evening, as usual, Lin Yifan lit a campfire in the cave and roasted the wild rabbit he had caught that morning. The grease dripped onto the flames, sizzling and releasing an enticing aroma.

As he turned the roasted rabbit, he reflected on his progress over the past few days. Shooting, boxing, mental strength, spatial control... he had made significant progress in every area, which gave him much more confidence for the future.

"I'll try using my spatial ability to collect bullets again tomorrow," Lin Yifan thought to himself, tearing off a golden-brown roasted rabbit leg and taking a big bite. He'd been out for four days already, and should be heading back in two more days at most.

If he didn't go back soon, the people in the courtyard, especially the deaf old woman, would inevitably become suspicious. Moreover, he needed to return to the city to gather more information, to understand the Japanese army's movements after the lifting of martial law, and the specific situation of the Japanese consulate.

After finishing the roasted rabbit, he returned to his room to rest.

The next morning, after getting up, he didn't immediately practice his boxing and shooting as before. Instead, he ran towards a mountain gully he had chosen beforehand. He wanted to take advantage of these two days to collect some animals into his space, since there was nothing in his space yet.

It's not that there was nothing at all. Among the rice seized yesterday, there were some unhulled grains, so he collected a total of more than six catties. He planted them all yesterday, watered them with some spiritual spring water, and this morning they were already twenty centimeters tall. He estimated that he could harvest the first batch of grain from his space in a few days.

The chickens seized from the trading company have already started laying eggs, and the two hens have started incubating them. It's estimated that it won't be long before the chickens and eggs in the space are free.

However, the space still looked a bit empty. It would be best to bring wild animals in, especially pheasants, rabbits, roe deer, and sika deer. He released his mental energy, covering a range of two hundred meters around him.

He hadn't run far when he spotted his target: a pair of pheasants. With a thought, the pheasants vanished from their spot and entered the natural breeding area within his space.

Next, another family of hares was collected. Pheasants were collected, badgers were collected. By the time he arrived at the ravine, he had already collected fifteen pheasants, six nests of more than thirty hares, and nine badgers of various sizes in his spatial storage.

Lin Yifan slowly made his way into the ravine. He knew there was a pond inside. When he came two days ago, he saw many animal footprints around the pond, but at that time there were no animals around the pond. He hoped he would find something this morning.

He held his breath, carefully parted the waist-high withered grass in front of him, and turned his gaze to the water bubble covered with a thin layer of ice.

Sure enough, several grayish-brown roe deer were drinking water by the water's edge. They were agile, with pointed ears that were perked up alertly, and they would look up from time to time.

Not far away, there was another wild boar family, including an adult male wild boar weighing about 300 jin (150 kg), two adult female wild boars weighing over 200 jin (100 kg) each, and five yellow-haired boars weighing about 100 jin (50 kg). The most attractive ones were the nine spotted boars, each weighing about 60 jin (30 kg). Wild boar meat from such large animals is the most delicious.

Lin Yifan was overjoyed; these were all good things! He didn't act rashly, but instead slowly extended his mental energy to carefully "observe" the position and condition of each animal.

Roe deer are naturally alert, while wild boars have thick skin and tough flesh. If they are startled and run away, he may not be able to catch them at his current speed.

He first targeted the nearest lone roe deer, about 150 meters away. His mental energy, like an invisible net, silently enveloped it.

Once he confirmed the target was stable, Lin Yifan silently chanted, "Retreat!"

The roe deer that was drinking water suddenly stopped, as if it had sensed something. Just as it was about to raise its head and hiss, its body vanished from its spot and reappeared in the breeding area of ​​the space, pacing anxiously.

Success! Lin Yifan felt a slight sense of relief and continued to carefully collect the animals using the same method. He specifically targeted lone animals or those on the edge of the group to avoid disturbing the herd. One, two... three roe deer were successively collected into his spatial storage.

Next came the wild boars. These guys were quite large; Lin Yifan estimated that an adult wild boar weighed at least 200 kilograms. He closed the distance to about 100 meters, concentrated his mental energy, aimed at a slightly smaller wild boar, and activated his ability again.

"receive!"

The wild boar also vanished instantly. Lin Yifan felt that his mental energy consumption was much greater than when he was hunting the roe deer, but it was still within his tolerance.

He moved closer, first storing the pelts into his spatial storage, then teleported to the middle of the wild boars and collected them all before they could react.

In the blink of an eye, the entire wild boar family, along with the roe deer, were captured and stored in his spatial storage. Only after doing this did Lin Yifan let out a long sigh of relief; sweat was already beading on his forehead. Collecting so many large animals had taken a considerable toll on his mental energy.

With a thought, he entered the space and began to examine the new members. In the breeding area, pheasants flapped their wings, wild rabbits hopped on the grass, while badgers huddled warily in a corner.

The roe deer and wild boars were a little confused at first, moving around restlessly in the designated area, but the ample green grass and clear streams in the space gradually calmed them down.

Looking at the gradually bustling breeding area, Lin Yifan smiled with satisfaction.

I glanced at my watch; it was almost ten o'clock. I had to go back, so I left the ravine and headed towards the valley where I practiced shooting.