Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

Ten large black pigs, already killed by arrows, were huddled together. Each one had glossy, reflective fur and an astonishingly robust physique. The pungent, acrid smell of livestock, manure, and their hot breath instantly filled the dilapidated house like an explosion, so strong it was almost suffocating, completely overpowering the previous smells of engine oil and dust.

Wei Chen frowned, his thick eyebrows furrowing. His deep eyes quickly swept over the ten "goods"—slightly agitated from fright, but full of energy, muscular, and clearly top-quality—and, after confirming that they had not been damaged during the transfer, he stopped.

He turned around, his massive body creating a gust of wind, and walked out of the dilapidated house without a second thought. With a clang, he locked the heavy iron lock again. His tall figure, like a giant beast blending into ink, disappeared into the deep, impenetrable shadows at the base of the wall in a few strides.

Leaving the dilapidated area, Wei Chen stopped deep in a dead-end alley filled with discarded bricks and tiles, a place even stray cats avoided. His massive figure flickered slightly, as if erased from reality by an eraser. The next moment, his consciousness shifted to the hunter's cabin in the game world.

It was still that familiar village outline, its borders shrouded in an eternal gray mist. In the center of the courtyard, the three-story modern building stood silently, with two ancient stone-built wing rooms, each with three rooms, standing like loyal guards. Wei Chen appeared directly at the door of the first room in the west wing.

Inside, the electric flour mill and corn crusher stood quietly on the cool, smooth bluestone floor, their cold metallic luster creating a strange yet harmonious contrast with the surrounding ancient and mysterious stone walls and wooden beams.

Wei Chen walked to the wall, where there were several hidden plugs emitting stable electricity—these were the Hunter's Lodge's own "unlimited power" output points with inexplicable principles.

With a slight thought, he "took out" two rolls of pre-prepared insulated cables from his spatial backpack and skillfully connected the power cords of the two machines.

"Let's see what it's made of," he murmured, a hint of barely perceptible anticipation in his voice.

With a thought, the spatial backpack silently opened. Golden, plump wheat grains, like a golden waterfall, cascaded out from the invisible spatial rift, precisely and continuously flowing into the enormous, seemingly inexhaustible feed hopper of the flour mill.

On the other side, dry, plump, and golden corn kernels flowed like a golden stream into the coarser hopper of the corn crusher, quickly piling up into a small mountain.

Wei Chen took a deep breath and pressed the green start button on the side of the flour mill.

A deep, powerful roar from the motor instantly shattered the hunter's cabin's eternal silence! The sound carried the surging power of the industrial age.

Immediately afterwards, the inside of the flour mill emitted the "click" of high-speed gears meshing precisely, the "rustling" of hard grinding discs grinding against each other, and the slight hum of bearings rotating at high speed, all merging into a powerful mechanical symphony!

A moment later, flour as white as fresh snow and as fine as dust began to flow out evenly from the flour outlet, like flowing moonlight, forming a smooth white ribbon that fell into the huge oak barrel that Wei Chen had placed below.

A pure, rich aroma of new wheat, carrying the scents of sunshine and earth, then spread out, quickly filling every corner of the stone house, even overpowering the cool air emanating from the stone walls themselves.

"It's done!" A look of joy flashed in Wei Chen's eyes. He immediately walked to the corn crusher and pressed the start button.

Boom... Boom... Crack! The sound of this machine was even more primitive and rugged, as if an ancient behemoth was grinding its teeth and crushing bones.

The massive cast-iron millstone turned heavily, with an overwhelming force, relentlessly squeezing, crushing, and grinding the hard corn kernels, producing a teeth-grinding cracking sound.

Soon, the golden cornmeal mixed with finer corn flour, like a gushing golden sand spring, gushed down from the outlet and fell into the prepared large wooden basin.

The unique, intense aroma of whole grains, imbued with the warmth of the sun and the richness of the earth, intertwines with the sweet scent of wheat, creating a unique, incredibly satisfying, and bountiful fragrance.

Wei Chen reached out and grabbed a small handful of freshly ground flour from the oak barrel. It felt as smooth and delicate as the finest silk, without any graininess, and was dazzlingly white. When he brought it close to his nose, the pure aroma of wheat filled his lungs.

He picked up a few more grains of cornmeal; the grains were uniform, plump, golden, and glossy, emitting an enticing aroma of grain. Watching the white flour and golden cornmeal pile up in the container, a genuine smile of satisfaction spread across his face.

"Very efficient, excellent quality." He patted the cold body of the flour mill; the metallic coolness seeped through his palm, yet it ignited a fire within him. The core purpose of buying these two machines had been perfectly achieved at this moment.

Wei Chen had long coveted a life skill called "Gathering," which he could only acquire once every five levels. With his accumulated experience over this period, he was not far from reaching level 15.

In the past, there were "cultivation techniques" for growing grain, but only he knew how bittersweet the harvest was.

He had already studied the skill called [Gathering] repeatedly in the game world's life skills panel. The skill description was clear and specific: When used on animal targets, it can instantly divide them into the desired parts (such as lean meat, fat, fur, bones, etc.) according to the caster's own will, while the unwanted parts (such as internal organs, dirty blood, inedible glands) will directly turn into energy and dissipate.

However, for plant-based targets, the effect is limited to the most basic "harvesting"—harvesting mature wheat plants only yields threshed wheat grains; harvesting corn only yields corn kernels peeled from the cob. They do not automatically turn into directly edible flour or corn grits, much less into cornmeal.

This means that if he were to cultivate crops on a large scale on those ten acres of black soil in the game world, or even more that might expand there, he would reap mountains of primitive grains.

To turn it into edible, storable, and easily traded flour or cornmeal, physical processing is required.

Frequently taking large quantities of grain to those few strictly controlled mills for processing? In this era of extreme scarcity, where everyone is a potential "surveillance target" and any slight movement could attract scrutiny, this is tantamount to carrying a gold brick through a busy street, exponentially increasing the risk of exposure and potentially leading to annihilation at any moment.

These two machines are his absolutely secretive grain processing center, which he built for himself. They are an indispensable key link between the raw harvest and the end products!

With these, along with the hunter's lodge—an absolutely independent place that cannot be spied on by the outside world—and an unlimited supply of clean electricity, the entire chain of food production, from sowing, growing, and harvesting to final processing, will be under his control, forming a perfect and secure closed loop!

"The worries are completely gone." Wei Chen breathed a long sigh of relief, the huge weight on his mind regarding the processing stage finally lifted. He didn't delay any longer, grinding about a hundred pounds of each material before stopping the machines.

The roaring symphony of machinery abruptly ceased, and the cabin fell back into a deep silence, leaving only the rich, lingering aroma of flour and corn slowly flowing and settling in the air.

With a thought, he carefully stored the ground flour and cornmeal into the designated compartment of his spatial backpack. His figure vanished from the hunter's hut in an instant, as if he had never been there.

Consciousness returned to reality, and Wei Chen's massive, mountain-like body still stood in the cold shadows of the alley. Time had quietly slipped towards 1:30 AM. The cold wind seemed even more biting, like countless fine ice needles piercing through his thick cotton clothes and stinging his skin. A few distant barks echoed faintly, adding to the desolation of the night.

He discerned the direction, took long strides, and headed towards the edge of the Ghost Market, an area in the southern part of the city that appeared even more mysterious and chaotic in the night, like a huge wound.

Deep within a chaotic area near the moat, comprised of low shacks and illegally constructed dilapidated houses, lies an inconspicuous red brick house with doors and windows reinforced with thick wooden planks.

The brick walls were mottled, and the base was piled with clutter. Only a sliver of dim yellow oil lamplight shone through the crack in the door, like a wary, bloodshot eye in the inky darkness. This was the final meeting place he had agreed upon with Brother Tiger.

Dozens of meters away from the brick house, one could hear the suppressed clamor of voices and the squeals of pigs emanating from within. Several wiry figures moved about at the entrance, like hyenas guarding their den, their eyes warily scanning the darkness.

Wei Chen's massive figure exuded an unspoken sense of oppression, approaching like a moving fortress. Two burly men silently emerged from the shadows at the doorway, their bodies agile, their eyes sharp as knives, their hands instinctively pressing on the bulging, hard mass at their lower backs, their muscles taut like bowstrings.

But when they saw that the person was "Iron Tower," with his iconic, tower-like physique and a face that looked even more fierce under the dim light, their tense nerves visibly relaxed. The ferocity in their eyes instantly turned into awe, and they silently stepped aside to make way, nodding slightly.

"Brother Iron Tower! Oh my! You've finally arrived! My heart was in my throat!" A loud voice, filled with immense joy and even a slight tremor, boomed from inside the house like thunder.

Tiger was wearing a worn-out military green cotton coat with the collar open, revealing the sweater underneath. He had a dog-skin hat askew on his head, his face was flushed, and there was even a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead. He was clearly in a state of high excitement.

Upon seeing Wei Chen enter, he immediately greeted him with a loud laugh, opening his arms as if to embrace him. However, seeing the other man's cold and hard demeanor, he awkwardly lowered his arms and simply rubbed his hands together vigorously.

Behind him stood several trusted subordinates, each with an undisguised excitement and agitation on their faces, their eyes shining as they stared at the center of the room.