The three foolish Farmers stared at the bloodied wolf carcass, nearly drooling.
Zong Shen frowned. Ignoring their flattery, he walked behind them and kicked each one in the backside.
He sent all three sprawling face-first into the dirt.
"Ow!"
"L-Lord, please spare us!"
The three foolish Farmers knew perfectly well why Zong Shen had kicked them, and they called out guiltily.
"Hmph. You three didn't show up to fight the wolf, but you're certainly eager when it's time to eat."
"When we were running for our lives, you even threw away the tools you needed to gather resources."
"Tell me, what use are you to me?!"
Zong Shen spoke coldly.
In his eyes, the three foolish Farmers weren't foolish at all. They knew how to avoid danger and were experts at running for their lives.
The only thing they were foolish about was working.
They were slow and clueless.
In every other way, they weren't foolish in the slightest.
They were the sort who were useless at everything except eating.
So Zong Shen had a lot of pent-up frustration.
He had just killed the Grassland Wolf, and he was fully armed, with a hint of menace still on his face.
That made the three foolish Farmers even more afraid to meet his eyes.
They stayed sprawled on the ground, pleading and trying to appease him.
Still, these three foolish Farmers were the only laborers he could make use of at this early stage.
Zong Shen couldn't really drive them away.
For now, he was only teaching them a lesson.
As the saying went, give them a beating, then offer them a sweetener. That was exactly the idea.
"You three can tell me yourselves."
"How should I deal with what you did today?"
Zong Shen paced back and forth behind the three foolish Farmers.
He dragged the rusted One-handed Sword behind him. Its tip cut through the soil and grass, making a scraping sound.
"Lord, please forgive us just this once...!"
"Next time, we'll fight alongside you!"
"I'll go pick up the tools and resources we dropped!"
The three foolish Farmers started pleading again.
Zong Shen felt his head was about to explode.
He almost wanted to run each of them through with his sword.
In the end, he could only sigh.
"Sigh."
"Get up, all of you, and get back to work."
"Tie Zhu, you stay."
"Er Gou, Gou Dan, you two go find all the tools you lost right now. If even one is missing, you'll go hungry today!"
"Once you've found everything, resume gathering resources immediately: wood, iron, hemp, food, and water. I want all five, and the more the better!"
"If you slack off again, you're all out. Go wander the wilderness on your own!"
Zong Shen gave the One-handed Sword a forceful toss, driving it into the grass.
"Yes, yes... We won't do it again!"
"We'll get to work right away!"
The three Farmers hurried to their feet.
At the same time, three system notifications appeared in the lower-right corner.
[Due to your stern reprimand.]
[Farmer Tie Zhu's Loyalty toward you has increased by 3 points. Current Loyalty: 78]
[Farmer Er Gou's Loyalty toward you has increased by 3 points. Current Loyalty: 78]
[Farmer Gou Dan's Loyalty toward you has increased by 3 points. Current Loyalty: 78]
Looking at the notifications, Zong Shen understood a little more about the details of the system.
The three foolish Farmers got up timidly.
Under Zong Shen's watchful gaze, Er Gou and Tie Dan followed the route they had taken while fleeing and started searching.
Tie Zhu remained behind Zong Shen, standing respectfully and not daring to move.
The place where they had been gathering resources wasn't far away, only a little over a hundred meters from the courtyard.
So finding the tools they had dropped wouldn't be difficult.
After reprimanding the three Farmers and getting a taste of a Lord's authority, Zong Shen finally turned his attention to the wolf carcass on the ground and the mysterious scroll.
They were all his spoils.
As he focused his gaze completely on the wolf carcass,
a prominent option appeared before him.
[Disassemble]
He willed it and clicked [Disassemble].
In an instant, the entire wolf carcass turned into a mass of white light.
[Disassembled Grassland Wolf Corpse ×1]
[Obtained Fresh Wolf Meat ×10]
(Delicious meat that can satisfy hunger.)
[Obtained Fresh Wolf Blood ×500 ml]
(Fresh blood that is difficult to swallow. Perhaps you can use it to set bait traps, or as a supplement to your water supply.)
[Obtained Hard Grassland Wolf Skull ×1]
(A hard skull that can be used to make a simple helmet and provide additional head protection.)
[Obtained Grassland Wolf Skeleton ×15]
(The hard bones of a wolf. A basic material that can be used to make simple armor or weapons.)
[Obtained Sharp Wolf Fangs ×2]
(These two wolf fangs are very sharp and can easily be made into crossbow bolts.)
[Obtained Complete Grassland Wolf Pelt ×1]
(A complete Grassland Wolf Pelt, an excellent leatherworking material. Of course, if you can sell it to fur merchants or minor nobles in Avalon, you can make a small profit.)
A series of notifications appeared.
The Grassland Wolf's corpse, now a glowing white mass, burst apart like fireworks.
Six different glowing clusters fell to the ground.
These six clusters of light were the six items produced by disassembly.
All the items had become tiny cubes.
Even the Wolf Blood had turned into a little cube.
Zong Shen reached out and touched them, storing them all in his personal Storage Grid.
It was quite convenient.
He focused on the [Sharp Wolf Fangs] and selected one to retrieve.
The next moment, a wolf fang appeared in his hand. It was about three finger-joints long.
This function was quite convenient and easy to use.
But given the way Lord Survival worked,
with such vague descriptions, other players without the Strategy System would inevitably have to take many more detours.
They could guess some things based on common sense,
but there were so many details that were easy to overlook or get delayed by.
He looked at the fang in his hand. It was far sharper than he had expected.
Zong Shen glanced down at the ragged leather short-sleeved shirt he was wearing. It probably wouldn't do much to stop the fang from penetrating.
He clicked his tongue in amazement.
"Does this wolf sharpen its teeth with an angle grinder or something...?"
With a thought, he stored the fang again.
Items of the same type could be stacked, so Zong Shen still had plenty of free space in his Storage Grid.
"Tie Zhu, do you want some roasted meat?"
Zong Shen picked up the scroll from the ground.
Then he asked out of the blue.
"Of course I do!"
Tie Zhu swallowed, seeming to imagine the wonderful taste of fragrant roasted meat being chewed between his lips and teeth.
"Good. Then I'll leave the Level 1 Stove to you."
"10 units of stone and 5 units of wood."
"And it'll take 2 hours to build."
"You can eat once it's finished. If you work hard, you should be able to have dinner tonight."
Zong Shen patted his shoulder and pointed to the trees and rocks scattered nearby.
"Oh, and tell those two idiots that if they want to eat, they have to work."
"Today, each of you must gather at least 15 units of wood, 8 units of stone, and 5 units of hemp. Otherwise, none of you eat!"
Before you continue