September 1st, early morning.
Half a month had passed since the trip to Sahara, and everything had returned to its usual peace. The clamor and aridity of the desert seed to have thoroughly turned into mories.
Bi Fang, following his routine, got up and opened the curtains. Sunlight stread in through the French windows, casting a beautiful golden layer on the floor.
Next, he washed up and stepped out of his room, clapping his hands twice.
The sound echoed continuously within the house, causing the dust in the air to tremble slightly.
The clapping, like an alarm clock in the early morning, woke up all the sleeping creatures.
Soon, the sound of paws friction against the floor responded, clear and loud, followed by similar sounds that grew more nurous, as if the whole house had been mobilized.
One by one, huge sled dogs erged from every corner of the house, barking excitedly.
Simultaneously, a light-golden giant rat blended into the gray and white pack of dogs, clawing its way onto the passing Fugui. It climbed along Fugui's long fur up to his back and quickly moved forward.
When it reached Bi Fang's side, the giant rat jumped from Fugui's forehead, grabbed the dangling hem of his clothes, and quickly climbed onto his shoulder, sniffing carefully.
As Bi Fang walked to the living room, one of the windows was pushed open, and a huge cal's head stuck in, snorting twice.
Through Alpha's head, one could see the open fields outside.
This was not where Bi Fang usually lived.
Yao Jun had built several houses in between the stables and hunting grounds, surrounded by a large fenced area, serving as a place for horses and cals to roam freely.
Usually, no tourists ca here.
Bi Fang also liked the environnt here and chose to live here directly.
He opened the storage cabinet, tore open a new pack of dog food, fed breakfast to the six large dogs, went outside to add so fodder for Alpha, and then returned to the kitchen to take out food from the fridge and make himself breakfast.
On his shoulder, Bi Fang fed the Gambian pouched rat a slice of bread.
Jerry, more than twenty centiters long excluding the tail, rapidly gnawed at the bread.
Jerry.
That was the na Bi Fang had given this Gambian pouched rat.
After two weeks of training, Jerry had successfully recognized his own na and had blended into the big family of Goudan and Fugui.
But compared to the mischievous Goudan, who liked to run around carrying it, Jerry still preferred staying with the more docile Fugui.
It was truly nice to wake up surrounded by pets, to see full WiFi signal bars on the phone when it was turned on, and to breathe fresh air upon opening the window.
After breakfast, Bi Fang began his morning exercise.
At noon, he checked the remaining Wilderness Points, refreshed the shop, glanced through and bought so regular items. When he moved to the fourth line, his gaze paused.
"Partner Binding Coupon*1 (Max Weight 20kg), Wilderness Points 1600"
He clicked for details.
The content indicated that it could be used on one specific creature, and the System would consider it as one level higher than System-generated items.
This ant that, even if one day System tasks prohibited carrying System equipnt, the animal bound with this coupon could still be carried.
Bi Fang glanced at the six big grinning dogs; none of them weighed less than twenty kilograms. The purpose of this coupon was clear.
After purchasing, he used it on Jerry, and the binding coupon transford into a powder, blending into the Gambian pouched rat's body.
There were no abnormalities.
Jerry was still the sa Jerry, eating and drinking as usual, furiously munching on banana chips.
Compared to six large dogs that needed at, this rat was much easier to keep, eating fruits, plants, bread, starch—anything, and not picky at all.
Yao Jun had so training videos of Gambian pouched rats, and Bi Fang had watched them.
In the videos, if a Gambian pouched rat slled sothing suspicious, it would continuously scratch the ground with its front paws.
At this point, the trainer would tap a tal plate, and it would return to his side to receive a reward, taking a bite of banana or bread.
After eating, the Gambian pouched rat would continue to run back and search for the next target.
The video also included an introduction from the staff that said, "If you throw a stick for a dog to fetch, it gets impatient after ten tis; rats are different, they will keep working as long as they need food, and a piece of banana or a few peanuts can satisfy them. Their thought process is simple, find a landmine and get food."
They were truly easy to use and keep.
For Bi Fang, searching for food in the wilderness presented hardly any extra burden; just tossing it the leftovers was enough.
The System indeed had its biases.
Bi Fang was greatly relieved; he had long sensed that the System would help solve problems, which is why he refreshed the store daily.
Every ti a mission was carried out, the system store tended to provide accordingly.
Going to the desert, the store would frequently refresh with desert boots; to the snowfield, it would bring out frost-proof snow gear; to the mountains, gear against scraping and slipping.
There's no outdoor equipnt in the world that can perfectly adapt to any environnt, even products advertised for use on any terrain often can't compare with specialized gear.
From this point, one could see how special the store was.
The only pity was that Jerry, having used the voucher, did not show any exceptional signs of intelligence; his expression was the sa as usual.
In the following days, Bi Fang kept giving Jerry special training.
Training it to quickly dodge unexpected situations when together with Bi Fang yet not flee the scene.
This was Bi Fang's biggest worry; if they encountered any danger, it would be troubleso if Jerry ran away and got lost.
Although Jerry was the bravest among the Gambian pouched rats, it was still just a rat in the end.
Goudan was tasked with the role of intimidation; it was common to see Jerry sprint away and vanish during the sessions, and afterwards Bi Fang couldn't find him no matter how hard he tried.
This situation was not uncommon in the training of the previous week.
It wasn't until the end of September that Bi Fang finally got Jerry to learn the habit of not running around even when encountering danger.
Cicadas clung to the trees, crying desperately; nearing October, the weather was still sowhat muggy.
On the lawn, Bi Fang pinned Goudan to the ground with one hand, ending the "battle," then stood up and blew a whistle.
Soon, a rustling sound began in the yard, a bulky volu squashing the weeds.
Jerry poked out its head cautiously, saw Bi Fang standing still, perked up its body to sniff the air molecules, and then almost turned into an afterimage as it dashed up, grabbing onto the trouser leg and quickly climbing up to rest on the shoulder.
Goudan, thinking it was all a ga, similarly stood on its hind legs, leaning against Bi Fang, vigorously wagging its tail trying to get a reward.
"Phew, that was not easy."
Seeing Jerry's performance, Bi Fang breathed a sigh of relief and casually fed Goudan a bone biscuit.
Three whole weeks!
It took Bi Fang a full three weeks to establish Jerry's current responsive behavior.
To think, it took only a week to safely ride Alpha.
It wasn't that the Gambian pouched rats were dumb; rats are very smart, but their timidity is etched in their genes.
Any small animals have an inherent fear of larger creatures ingrained into their bones, difficult to change easily.
Being able to achieve this result in three weeks was already thanks to Jerry's naturally bold nature; with other Gambian pouched rats, Bi Fang estimated it might take four to five weeks, or perhaps they might never learn at all.
Back in the living room, Bi Fang opened a bottle of chilled soda and guzzled it down, finishing the whole bottle in one go and feeling quite content.
The training had ended perfectly.
Suddenly, he was back to doing nothing.
It had been a month and a half since his last live stream, so it seed a bit early to start the next one.
Nemo Point combined with the Sahara would total three months.
Usually, the length of the live stream would determine the rest period. They'd be about equal, but not starting the next live stream soon seed a bit boring.
Bi Fang turned on the TV and aimlessly flipped through channels.
Six dogs crowded on the couch, making it a bit cramped.
Bi Fang nudged Goudan at his feet to move over a bit.
At 1:20 PM, Bi Fang, as usual, went to the club.
Not just for walking the dogs, but also for teaching.
These days, Bi Fang was personally teaching Wilderness Survival tool-making at the club, focusing only on making fire and building shelters, while also editing videos to post on his social dia to keep up his online presence.
Each day, the number of people coming to learn maxed out, and the scene was quite chaotic at first, eventually forcing him to limit the number of attendees per day.
Entering a room at the club, Bi Fang found he was the last to arrive.
It wasn't because he was late; Bi Fang was rarely late. It was because all the students had arrived early.
"It's only one fifty now, we still have ten minutes before we start. You guys make feel like I'm the one who's late every ti."
Bi Fang felt sowhat helpless.
Everyone laughed.
Then there was endless picture-taking.
Despite Bi Fang being about the sa age or even younger than most here, everyone respected him.
His various feats ant he was no longer viewed as a normal peer.
Once might be a coincidence, twice lucky, thrice a darling, but four, five, six tis? That was just a slap of skill in the face, and no one dared to underestimate him.
"Master Fang, it's been almost two months, when is your next live stream?"
A young person shouted, imdiately sparking resonance and response.
"Yeah!"
"Give us sothing definite!"
"To be honest, I haven't planned it yet. I also don't know where I'll go, but I definitely won't be live streaming again before October."
"That's too slow."
"Yeah, I only get to watch for a few months a year, it's really not satisfying."
"I need to adjust too."
The crowd got rowdy until 2 PM, when Bi Fang cald everyone down and started the class on ti.
"Controlling fire for heat and light was one of humans' earliest great achievents."
"Early humans preserved fire from natural sources. Later, they learned to actively obtain fire by wood drilling or striking flint stone."
"For Wilderness Survival, fire is our life. We need fire to warm us, dry our damp clothes, disinfect water, cook food, fend off wild animals, and give us confidence."
"I often feel that the sound of suitable firewood breaking should sound a bit like the crackling of flas."
"Because this sound indicates that the wood is dry and dead, not green, still alive, and damp. Wood that is still alive doesn't crack when it breaks."
Bi Fang already had a pile of prepared dry and damp branches beside him, and he broke one of each, the sounds completely different.
"First, lay down a layer of wood as a platform so the fuel doesn't touch the ground, as it's likely also damp."
"While wet wood can still be used to start a fire, it's undoubtedly more difficult. You need more initial heat. You can also use a knife to shave off the damp portions and get to the dry inside."
In the evening, Bi Fang was having dinner in the staff cafeteria when he suddenly received a call from Wolf Fang assistant Liu Qian.
"Is there sothing wrong?"
"Well, no, you tell ."
Bi Fang picked up a slice of at and listened to Liu Qian while chewing.
"Animal rescue center? Cheetah?"
The more Liu Qian spoke on the other end of the phone, the brighter Bi Fang's eyes shone, and he imdiately agreed.
"No problem, agree to it! Leave it to !"
After hanging up, Bi Fang looked thrilled.
"Mr. Fang, do you have so good news?"
A nearby staff mber, holding a tray, sat down and asked with a smile.
Everyone else also beca curious.
While many staff mbers were initially nervous around a legendary figure like Bi Fang, since he frequently ca here for "free als", everyone had gotten used to him, and they even joked around sotis.
Most understood that besides his achievents in his field, Bi Fang was just an approachable young man, similar in age to their own kids.
Looking at it this way, having a young boss wasn't entirely without benefits.
He was easy to get along with and generous.
Even if soone made a mistake, there wouldn't be much bla, although there was basically not much room for advancent in mostly logistical services. But everyone wasn't exactly graduates from prestigious universities striving for personal career goals; they were just looking for a job to get by, and the benefits here weren't bad.
Bi Fang didn't mind sharing early, "There is good news, I have a plan for the next live stream!"
Once he said that, everyone couldn't stay seated and began to ask questions.
He had just said during class that there was no plan yet, how did he have one after just a al?
"Really? Where will it be?"
"It's not abroad again, is it? I feel like there are many places in the country we haven't explored yet, like Shennongjia, Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, etc."
"It's not convenient dostically, right? There are too many protective animals, too many regulations."
"That's true."
"It is indeed going to be abroad, and it's Africa!"
"Ah? Africa again?"
Bi Fang laughed heartily.
"Africa is so vast. Last ti it was the deserts of North Africa, but this ti it's different, I'm going to East Africa!"
"The real African Savanna!"
With that, Bi Fang dumped his food into a bowl, quickly shoveled rice into his mouth, not waiting for further questions, and headed towards the exit.
"If you're interested, you can check online. I will post updates."
As he finished speaking, Bi Fang turned and left the cafeteria, disappearing from view.
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