After spending an hour chatting on the phone, Li Yuqing went off to have lunch and get back to work.
Zeng Shen focused his consciousness slightly, instantly forming a consciousness avatar above his divine domain, and quickly looked down over the Domain of Yanhuang.
At the edge of the forest.
Xiao Hei and the five kittens were playing with the Mint Cat Ball. Nearby, two white cats with black spots lay together in a patch of grass, watching like guards.
The cat bowls beside them were already empty.
"Strange. Where are Big Black Cat and the other cats?"
Zeng Shen swept his puzzled gaze over the trees and weeds at the forest's edge, but saw no sign of them.
He focused his consciousness slightly and soon discovered that Big Black Cat had led them all to a bend in the stream.
Big Black Cat stood beside the bend, his sharp feline eyes fixed on the stream. Every so often, he hopped across the rocks protruding from the water.
Soon, he hopped onto a large, flat, smooth rock in the middle of the stream, crouched slightly, and stared at a large dark mass in the water before him.
The sight brought one word to Zeng Shen's mind: fishing.
That was right. Big Black Cat had led the stray cats to the stream to hunt.
Zeng Shen looked at the large dark mass in the water, then opened his divine domain panel for a look.
[Aquatic life: Plankton colonies (200 clusters)]
"I released twenty clusters of plankton last night. I didn't expect them to reproduce so quickly. They've reached two hundred clusters in just one night."
"Looks like there's food for the freshwater shrimp fry and freshwater carp fry now. I can release them."
As Zeng Shen spoke, he took out two white cards and focused his consciousness slightly. The cards in his hands dissolved into flecks of starlight that streamed into the Domain of Yanhuang.
[The host deployed 1 Freshwater Shrimp Card in the aquatic zone of his divine domain, obtaining one thousand freshwater shrimp fry. Divine rank experience +1.] [The host deployed 1 Freshwater Carp Card in the aquatic zone of his divine domain, obtaining one hundred freshwater carp fry. Divine rank experience +1.]
"Pretty generous. A thousand freshwater shrimp fry and a hundred carp fry. They'll probably need at least three or four months to breed the next generation."
"By then, the cats will be able to catch fish or big freshwater shrimp here to eat."
As Zeng Shen spoke, he turned his gaze toward the boundary between the forest and the plain.
The three mu of rice seedlings he had planted yesterday had already sprouted lush green shoots. Zeng Shen cast Eye of Observation over them.
[Rice field: Seedling stage. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the rice is expected to be ready for harvest within three months.]
"Not bad. A harvest in three months."
"I wonder what rice containing divine energy will taste like, and what changes it'll bring to the body."
After pondering that for a moment, Zeng Shen shifted his gaze to Emerald Valley.
After a night of mining.
More than a hundred pieces of jade of varying sizes had accumulated inside the small mining and refining vehicle.
Zeng Shen cast Eye of Observation over them, finally focusing on a palm-sized piece of jade shaped like an ingot.
[Jade: Green-quality material. A jade stone containing a trace of divine energy.]
"Looks like I guessed right. Mineral materials use the same quality grades as the card colors."
"But isn't the yield of green-quality jade a little too low? Out of more than a hundred pieces, only one is green quality."
Just as Zeng Shen was surveying everything in his divine domain, Xiao Bai suddenly began barking in the living room.
"Ding-dong."
The doorbell rang as well.
Zeng Shen quickly withdrew his consciousness, returned to his body, and walked to the front door. Through the peephole, he saw a young man in a Pinxixi uniform standing outside.
In the elevator behind him, two more young men in Pinxixi uniforms were carrying out cardboard boxes one after another.
"Hello, is this Zeng Shen's home?" the young man at the door asked warmly as soon as Zeng Shen opened it.
"Yes, I'm Zeng Shen." Looking at the meter-tall cardboard boxes behind the young man, Zeng Shen asked, "Are those the cat houses I ordered last night?"
"Yes. Please sign here."
Zeng Shen nodded, quickly signed his name, then stepped aside and said, "Put the boxes in the middle of the living room."
Ten minutes later.
Zeng Shen locked the front door, walked into the living room, and opened the Divine Domain Gate, setting its destination to the edge of the forest.
"Woof, woof!"
When Xiao Bai saw Xiao Hei playing with the five kittens through the Divine Domain Gate, he immediately barked happily and ran over.
Xiao Hei turned and saw Zeng Shen and Xiao Bai on the other side of the Divine Domain Gate, and promptly let out a delighted meow.
After storing the twenty large cardboard boxes in his backpack space, Zeng Shen stepped through, walked over to Xiao Hei, and stroked his fur.
Having gone all night without seeing him, Xiao Hei meowed nonstop and clingily rubbed against Zeng Shen's palm.
The five kittens nearby seemed to want a share of Zeng Shen's affection too, and came over to nuzzle him.
Of course, Zeng Shen played no favorites and gave each of them a pet. However, the five kittens' fur was a little dry, unlike Xiao Hei's smooth coat. That made him consider giving them all a bath once they were more familiar with him.
After that brief interaction, Zeng Shen filled several cat dishes with kibble. Once he saw the kittens and the two large white cats with black spots nearby all run over to eat.
He took all the cat houses out of his backpack space, placed them at the edge of the forest, and began setting them up.
After just over an hour of work, all twenty cat houses were assembled and in place.
The cat houses were designed to look like tree stumps.
Each stump had a different shape, but all were a meter and a half long and half a meter in diameter. Each had two spacious hollows in the middle, lined with soft, fluffy mats. The cats only had to crawl inside to sleep.
Once the cat houses were set up, Zeng Shen thought for a moment, then made an announcement to Xiao Hei and the kittens, regardless of whether they could understand him:
"From now on, this stretch along the forest's edge will be the new home of your Bast cat clan. This will be your clan's territory: Bast Town."
"Meow."
Xiao Hei raised his head and meowed as though he half understood, then curiously picked up the Mint Cat Ball in his mouth and ran into the largest stump hollow.
Before long, the other five kittens ran in as well, eager to snatch the Mint Cat Ball from beneath Xiao Hei's paws and play with it.
Xiao Bai looked around outside the stump, apparently wanting to join in too, but hesitantly glanced at the two large white cats with black spots eating kibble nearby.
"It's fine. Go on." Zeng Shen gave Xiao Bai a nudge and a word of encouragement.
Xiao Bai darted inside.
Soon.
He was tussling with Xiao Hei and the kittens over the Mint Cat Ball inside the hollow, fitting right in.
At the sight, Zeng Shen smiled slightly, picked up his phone, and checked the time. It was already past two in the afternoon.
"That wraps things up in the divine domain for now."
"It's time I worked on earning more survival points and strengthening my foundations."
With that, Zeng Shen left Xiao Bai there, turned, and left the Domain of Yanhuang. Back in his apartment, he opened the front door and headed out to begin his daily point farming.
[The host, emboldened by his abilities, spent a peaceful night resting in an apartment building occupied by a powerful curse-type deity and its followers. Survival points +10.] [The host calmly crossed a sidewalk occupied by exotic beasts without disturbing the other powerful deities lingering there. Survival points +10.] [The host showed extraordinary courage on a commercial street fraught with danger...]