"I got it, finally I can eat."
"Damn, how come it sold out so fast? I didn't get it."
"Big bro, could you list some more? I just missed out."
The meat Fang Hao listed was disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye—1,000 units of meat were sold out in less than two minutes.
Immediately after, Fang Hao was flooded with private messages.
"Brother, I didn't get any. I have wood to trade, can we make a deal?"
"I'm starving here, man. Saving a life is better than building a seven-tier pagoda, you know."
"Fang Hao, handsome, I'm so hungry. I've taken some… special private photos. Could I trade them for some food?"
Fang Hao outright ignored the people begging for free handouts.
Hunting outside the territory was indeed dangerous.
But the materials he requested for exchange were set at an amount absolutely manageable for everyone.
In fact, it could be said that everyone was able to afford it.
It's just that the number of people transported here together was too high, and the initial territories didn't have ways to directly procure food.
Food had become the scarcest resource.
In contrast, water sources weren't in short supply.
Many territories had water sources nearby, and a river or freshwater lake alone was sufficient for selling.
You could sell as much water as you wanted, but you wouldn't be able to sell out an entire river.
So water wasn't expensive. Plenty of people had water for sale.
Wood and stone could also be gathered slowly—they were never truly lacking.
But without food? That was a lot harder to bear.
Fang Hao thought about it before listing another 500 units of meat for sale, still at the same required exchange rate for resources.
The chat channel exploded again.
"Holy crap, hurry up and grab it."
"It's really listed again. How does the boss have so much meat? Is he running cheats or something?"
"How many times do I have to say it? This is reality, not a game."
"Boss, please take me under your wing. I'm willing to serve you with all my loyalty."
"Fang Hao, handsome, are you looking for a girlfriend? Being away from home, having more friends can help you out in a pinch. And I could help you out in several pinches, you know!"
"Whoa, the person above is bringing something spicy to the table."
…
Watching the chat channel scroll endlessly and seeing all kinds of flirty nonsense from users,
*Fang Hao finally realized how critical meat had become.*
Most people weren't currently able to leave their territories to hunt beasts.
Those who ventured out, were lucky to kill a beast and obtain food.
Even then, they could only manage to hunt one.
It wasn't likely that they'd part with it. Most opted to store it away for themselves and their peasants to eat.
On the other hand, Fang Hao, who listed 1,500 units of meat in succession,
*was proof that he had a respectable stockpile left.*
The second batch of 500 units he just listed also sold out quickly.
The two waves of transactions netted him: 60,000 units of wood, 11,920 units of stone, and 20 units of iron.
*The numbers left Fang Hao somewhat astonished.*
The traded materials filled up his warehouse and every vacant space inside his territory.
There was only a narrow pathway left in the middle for him and the skeletons to move through normally.
Ding!
A private message alert came through.
"Brother, what do you think this is worth in meat? I don't have many resources; please cut me some slack early on."
He then sent over a blueprint.
[Simple Leather Armor Blueprint (White)]
[Type: Equipment]
[Materials: Beast Skin x2, Rope x2]
An equipment blueprint.
*This guy really lucked out. To score an equipment blueprint, at this stage, was almost miraculous.*
*Though it's just white-grade, it's exactly the kind you need early on.*
"Why aren't you using it yourself?" Fang Hao asked curiously.
The response came quickly, tinged with a sense of helplessness.
"I can't, really. My resources were spent upgrading buildings, and I need food for myself and my peasants, so I had to sell it."
"Alright, for a white-grade blueprint, I'll give you 50 units of meat," Fang Hao replied.
"Great, thanks so much, brother. I'll set up the trade listing right away."
The person expressed their gratitude repeatedly.
*Fang Hao wasn't trying to take advantage of them.*
*Given the food shortage, Fang Hao could've set the price at 10 units, and they would've had no choice but to trade.*
*Lords needed to eat, and so did peasants.*
*But Fang Hao still offered 50 units—a generously high price.*
Soon, the blueprint appeared in the designated trade window.
Fang Hao placed the promised 50 units of meat there as well.
With the blueprint in hand, he immediately used the Book of Lords to record it.
The smell of burning meat reached Fang Hao from the grill, prompting him to close the chat channel and focus on eating.
If he left the meat on the fire any longer, it would be charcoal soon.
After eating his fill, Fang Hao decided he'd craft the leather armor first.
*Nighttime could bring unexpected dangers.*
He opened the Book of Lords again. [Simple Leather Armor: Beast Skin x2, Rope x2.]
Craft!
[Hundredfold Amplification Activated—Successfully Crafted Simple Leather Armor x101]
[Simple Leather Armor (White)]
[Category: Chest Armor]
[Defense: Level 1 Defense]
(Note: Simple leather armor made with beast skin and rope provides basic defense.)
*Not bad!*
*Of course, you couldn't expect it to be anything extraordinary.*
He put on one of the armors himself and distributed the rest to the skeleton soldiers.
The snow-white skeletons, dressed in leather armor, actually looked… kind of legit.
After taking care of everything, night fell.
Fang Hao hauled over several stacks of straw from the warehouse and spread them down in the lord's cabin.
He closed the door and fell into a deep sleep.
…
The night was uneventful.
Even though he slept soundly, Fang Hao woke up with soreness in his back and waist.
*It felt like his kidneys had been stolen.*
*Clearly, his body wasn't used to sleeping on straw.*
Heading out of the cabin, he saw the labor skeletons still working diligently, seemingly without any fatigue.
He did some basic stretches.
After rekindling yesterday's extinguished campfire, Fang Hao resumed grilling meat for his breakfast.
While flipping the meat over, he listed another 2,000 units of meat for sale, using the same exchange rates as yesterday.
"Fang Hao listed again. Hurry and grab them."
"Fang Hao, could you share how you're getting so much food? We're all in this survival scenario together; we should help each other out."
"I suspect his spawn point must be close to lots of herbivorous creatures."
"Herbivorous creatures? The only plant-based animal I respect is the teddy bear. All the others are trash."
"Fang Hao, boss, I'm out at sea. Can I trade fish for some meat?"
…
*It seemed like many people were waiting on standby just to snag food from Fang Hao's listings.*
The new batch of meat was immediately swarmed—faster and more fiercely than yesterday.
*Fang Hao's name might already be engraved in people's minds.*
*What others found hard to obtain, Fang Hao was easily putting up for sale in thousand-unit batches.*
He casually scrolled through the chats while finishing his breakfast.
Looking at the piles of materials stockpiled throughout his territory,
Fang Hao got up—it was time to get to work.
[Materials Needed to Upgrade to Level 2 Warehouse: Wood x750, Stone x450, Straw x200, Rope x100.]
He clicked the upgrade option for the warehouse.
With a flash of light, the warehouse successfully upgraded to Level 2.
From a shabby straw shelter, it was transformed into a sizable wooden cabin, providing greater storage capacity and better preservation of resources.
[Level 2 Warehouse]
[Storage Capacity: 30,000/30,000]
(Note: Resources stored in the warehouse are better preserved. Food stored within is less likely to spoil. The higher the warehouse level, the greater the storage capacity and the better the preservation effects.)
[Materials Needed to Upgrade to Level 3 Warehouse: Wood x1,200, Stone x950, Straw x320, Rope x220, Leather x100.]
Upgrading to the next level required more materials.
Straw was now replaced with leather at this tier.
He decided to upgrade the lord's cabin next but was prompted with an error message: [Requires Lord's Cabin to be Level 3 to Proceed.]
Just as Fang Hao was preparing to upgrade the cabin,
the Book of Lords alerted him to a new private message.
He opened the book.
"Fang Hao, boss, I've got a special ore here. Want to trade it for meat?"
The sender's name had a nice ring to it—Dong Jiayue.
Fang Hao replied swiftly, "Of course."
Ore was a resource too.
In the current early stages, special ores were rare and sought-after materials.
[Shadowstone]
[Type: Ore]
(Note: Rare ore required for building structures in Undead factions.)
Seeing the item description, Fang Hao's eyes gleamed.
*Undead building upgrades imposed a need for Shadowstone earlier.*
*He'd been wondering how to acquire Shadowstone, often keeping an eye on the chat channel.*
*Who'd have thought someone would approach him directly with it?*