"Goodbye, little bears."
Keqing waved, bidding farewell to her animal friends in the birch forest, her eyes full of reluctant affection.
Gong Qu couldn't bear to watch her sulk. "Why don't we just take them all in? It's not like we're short on food."
Keqing shook her head. "Let's not disturb their lives. We're not far from home anyway, one day, we'll meet again."
She was clearly hinting that it would be wasteful to spend 2000 World Coins to set a teleport anchor here, given how close it was.
Gong Qu gently kissed Keqing on the forehead, silently expressing his affection for her thoughtfulness.
After a moment of tender closeness, the two resumed their journey eastward across the map.
By noon, they stopped to eat on a grassy patch beside a stream.
Once they'd destroyed the firepit and cleaned up, they moved on.
This time, they didn't stop. They pushed forward in one go, covering over twenty kilometers until they emerged from the birch forest.
At the very edge of the woods,
A sudden glare from the sun made Gong Qu instinctively raise a hand to shield his eyes.
Whoosh
A breeze swept through, stirring the lush vegetation into waves of green, like ripples across an emerald sea.
In the center of the road ahead stood a dark silhouette.
"Is that... a signpost?"
Gong Qu wasn't sure.
The wooden post looked like the kind used in games to point toward villages, though it could just as easily be a young tree.
Curious, he quickened his pace and approached.
Once he got close enough to see the details, he confirmed it, it was a signpost, with "Village – 5000m" carved onto it.
So, by following the direction of the arrow for five kilometers, they'd find a village.
"Looks like we've found today's first teleport anchor."
"A village, huh? Sounds exciting," Keqing said with anticipation.
Gong Qu nodded.
What he was looking forward to was the villagers' treasure chests and the emerald trading system.
Keqing was looking forward to the local scenery and customs.
In short, a bandit and a tourist, what a perfect match.
Five kilometers wasn't far.
With elemental power aiding them, the two crossed several hills and descended into a shallow basin.
At the center stood a cluster of dilapidated buildings, around a dozen in total, varying in height and structure.
Spiderwebs stretched across the cracks and openings.
[Achievement Unlocked: Abandoned Village]
[Reward: 100 World Coins]
The achievement system blared cheerfully, utterly blind to the mood.
Shattering Gong Qu's expectations in an instant.
"It's an abandoned village. Looks like nobody's lived here in a long time," he said with disappointment.
Keqing hadn't expected her excitement to fizzle out so quickly. Even her perky twin tails drooped a little.
Meow~
"I'm fine. We'll just find another village," she said.
Meow meow~
"You don't have to pretend to be a cat just to cheer me up, Ah Qu."
"What are you talking about, Ah Qing? I'm clearing out spiderwebs. I didn't make any cat sounds."
Keqing turned away from Gong Qu and looked toward the sound.
There, right in front of her, was a small orange tabby cat, sitting upright and calmly licking its paw.
And just like that, the bears from the birch forest were ancient history in her mind.
Cats are the absolute best!
She crept closer in a slow, feline prowl.
The orange tabby gave her a single glance, then went back to its grooming, radiating that dignified calm unique to cats.
But the cat had no idea, Keqing had her elemental hacks enabled.
"Swift Shadow Flash!"
A bolt of lightning streaked through the air, fast as wind, sharp as thunder.
Before the orange cat could react, Keqing had teleported behind it and scooped it up by the scruff of its neck.
Meow-meow-nyooow!
The cat let out a pitiful cry.
Gong Qu looked over to find Keqing and the orange cat getting along like two peas in a pod. Smiling indulgently, he turned back to rummage through the abandoned houses for loot.
Creaaak,
He pushed open a door, tearing away the webbing.
A rank stench, mildew mixed with something corpse-like, assaulted his nose.
"Ugh, nasty. Did zombie villagers use to live here?"
He wrinkled his brow, but upon spotting a chest tucked in a corner, his mood improved slightly.
Opening it revealed several bubble-wrapped items inside:
Iron Ingot ×3
Bread ×2
Emerald ×4
Leather Cap ×1
Wheat Seeds ×5
Pumpkin Seeds ×2
Just as he thought, total junk.
But emeralds were valuable, selling for even more than diamonds in the shop, so he happily pocketed them.
The village wasn't huge, but not tiny either.
About a dozen buildings, enough to support maybe a few dozen villagers at most.
Pretty much aligned with his mental image of a typical Minecraft village.
Ten minutes later, Gong Qu had looted all the buildings.
He'd found four treasure chests.
Most had junk, but in total he'd collected 14 emeralds, not bad at all.
Keqing approached, carrying the orange tabby in her arms.
"Ah Qu, I think there's a pasture over there. I saw a lot of cows."
"A pasture?"
Gong Qu was puzzled but followed her to one corner of the village.
Sure enough, a herd of over 30 cows greeted him.
"That's odd. The village is abandoned, where'd all these cows come from?"
Walking closer, Gong Qu spotted the reason.
At the center of the herd was a massive hay bale.
In-game, a hay bale is crafted from nine pieces of wheat, and wheat is what's used to breed cows.
"My guess is a bunch of cows randomly spawned near the hay, and over time, they just kept multiplying."
"Which means... this place could work as a makeshift pasture. It's even closer than the farmland west of our cabin, and the noise level's manageable."
Gong Qu thought it over and decided it was highly feasible.
He'd once considered building a pasture near home, but gave up when he realized breeding took too long and the payoff didn't match the efficiency of crop farming.
But now, with this pre-stocked cow haven, all he had to do was fence it off and drop by occasionally.
Time to act.
After a quick discussion, he and Keqing placed a teleport anchor at the village entrance and named it Moo-Moo Ranch.
With that done, they returned home to resupply.
They packed up a backpack full of fences and planks.
Thanks to Minecraft's fast-paced building mechanics and the simplicity of pasture design, it didn't take long.
Fence perimeter? Done.
Gate? Done.
Roof and torches to prevent mobs? Done.
By the time they finished, the sun had dipped into a warm orange hue.
"Let's call it a day. If we go any farther, we'll have to camp outside. Here, we can just teleport home for a shower."
"True. We've been running around all day, I'm soaked."
Keqing found Gong Qu's idea very sensible.
While he stayed behind to get the cows breeding, she headed home first to prepare dinner and run the bath.
That night
The orange tabby Keqing had lured back moved into her pet room, peacefully snoring away.
Meanwhile, in a place the cat had no idea about, the bathroom ~
The lady of the house was being thoroughly teased by the man of the house.
"Come on, Ah Qing, let me see how much you've grown these past few days."
"Hahaha, that tickles! Dummy, don't touch me there... (o ωo)?"
"Wait, stop! Electric birds are illegal, Ah Qing! Put that Thunder Keel away, ahhAAARGH!"