“There’s meat! The Great deity has sent us meat.”

Gao Yiye shouted loudly, instantly waking up Gaojia Village.

Everyone immediately crowded around.

“It’s chicken meat.”

“This is chicken breast meat; although it’s huge, it’s definitely chicken breast. I can’t be wrong.”

“Such large chicken breast meat—was it cut from a divine chicken?”

“It must be a divine chicken from the heavenly realm.”

The villagers had no idea how long it had been since they last ate meat.

Several years ago, in good harvest seasons, some people in the village had raised chickens. But as the drought grew fiercer year after year in recent times, they didn’t even have enough food themselves—where could they find grain to feed poultry?

In Gaojia Village, it had long been like “not even a chicken or dog left”—apart from a bunch of starving villagers crying out in hunger, not half a living creature could be found.

Now, seeing a piece of meat, everyone was incredibly excited.

Gao Chuwu found a knife right away and prepared to cut off a few pieces to go home and feast.

Gao Yiye said with a serious face: “The Great deity said, we’re used to eating plain food, so we can’t have too much meat all at once; our stomachs won’t handle it. We must eat slowly. Brother Gao Chuwu, you’re the first to need caution.”

Gao Chuwu scratched his head foolishly: “Huh? There’s a rule like that?”

The Village Chief stepped forward: “The Great deity must be talking about fools like Gao Chuwu. A bad stomach can kill someone. We can’t give Gao Chuwu too much at once; he’ll surely gobble it all up uncontrollably.”

Gao Chuwu: “Wha-what?”

The Village Chief ordered: “Each person takes only one liang of meat home; half a liang for children. Cut the remaining meat into strips and hang them to air-dry, to avoid rotting.”

A middle-aged villager stepped out: “Village Chief, we don’t have enough salt. If we dry chicken meat without salting it first, it’ll spoil. Rather than risk it rotting away, let’s just eat it all instead. I’d rather die from diarrhea than watch such good meat go to waste for nothing.”

Gao Chuwu: “Yes, yes, Village Chief, I’d rather die from diarrhea than waste it.”

Li Daoxuan was amused to hear this; rather than take back the extra meat into a fridge, he entered the kitchen, grabbed a packet of salt, and poured it down like swish, swish, swish—right in front of Gao Yiye, creating a small mound.

The villagers looked up to see salt flowing mysteriously from the sky; the pure white crystal salt crashed down like giant ice blocks, forming a little hill in no time.

Gao Yiye didn’t even need to relay anything; she just waved her hands: “You and your little thoughts—did any escape the Great deity? Don’t dream of getting fat overnight. With salt now, go salt the meat.”

“So much salt!”

“Salt is so expensive.”

“Oh my, he gave us so much.”

“We won’t need to buy salt for ages.”

Once again, the villagers knelt all over, knocking their heads frantically toward the sky.

Thus, for today, the Gaojia villagers had something to do.

The men swung knives, chopping chop, chop, chop on the meat, splitting the massive chicken breast into thin strips, crushing the huge crystal salt into powder, then rolled each chicken strip in the salt powder to coat it white and plump, before hanging it up. They let the dry wind suck the moisture from the chicken strips.

This working was actually quite tiring!

But while working, the villagers’ faces were all beaming with smiles.

That evening, smoke rose from chimneys in the village as every household was cooking.

Everyone in the whole village had chicken congee in their pots. They diced one liang of chicken into fine pieces and cooked it with giant rice until it thickened. Yes, they also added cabbage leaves. The finished congee was visually appealing, aromatic, and tasty, and it was gentle on the stomach.

Gao Chuwu eagerly gobbled down five large bowls.

Even Gao Yiye, the delicate girl, unexpectedly downed two bowls.

This made Li Daoxuan, a modern person, involuntarily swallow his saliva. He quickly grabbed his phone and ordered some “chicken soup rice” to soothe himself.

While he was slurping the chicken soup rice, he opened online banking and glanced at his balance. His savings were a little over twenty thousand yuan. That amount didn’t seem sufficient anymore. Today, he used two thousand yuan to order a Hakka roundhouse. If he wanted to help more dwarves in the future, the money would surely flow out like water.

He thought seriously for two seconds, then opened QQ and found a long-uncontacted avatar. He clicked on it and sent a message: “Bro, I’m Li Daoxuan. Half a year ago, you approached me asking if I wanted freelance work. I refused then—that was my ignorance due to youth. If you have any design jobs available from now on, I’m willing to take them, and we can discuss the price.”

That avatar soon flashed: “Ha, I’ve waited for you to say that! Coincidentally, I have a job—character designs for a game company. It’s urgent: five days, four character sketches, for three thousand yuan! Will you take it?”

Li Daoxuan replied: “I’ll take it.”

…

Day broke! Shuangqing City welcomed a new day.

Li Daoxuan stretched lazily while rubbing his temples and getting out of bed.

For five consecutive days, he worked until 2 a.m., desperately completing the character designs the game company wanted. After the client inspected them, they pointed out a few minor flaws. He revised as per their request, but they then preferred the first version. So he finished, and three thousand yuan was deposited.

He confirmed the money had hit his card, then slept peacefully.

He slept so deeply he was unconscious, only waking and climbing out of bed when daylight returned.

Those five days, he was busy earning money to support the “family” and neglected caring for the dwarves in the box. He only fed them a little daily, refilled the Lock & Lock box with water each day, and didn’t scrutinize them closely.

Finally free of duties, he decided to spend the day properly with his small pets today.

As soon as he sat by the scenic box, he felt something was amiss.

All the dwarves in the village were gathered around the big pond now, murmuring softly about something.

Li Daoxuan swiftly closed the window to quiet the room, pressed his ear against the box, and could finally hear their faint buzzing sounds.

“Water theft occurred. Look, the water level in the pond dropped a lot overnight.”

“Yes, see here, many messy footprints. Plenty of people came for the water theft last night.”

Li Daoxuan peered closely. Indeed, the water level in the Lock & Lock box had sunk substantially. In reality, that box was 20 centimeters long, but it enlarged 200 times inside the dwarf world, becoming a huge pond ten zhang long.

Such a big pond, and overnight, the water level had descended by half a chi.

The water theft perpetrators must be quite something!

Or rather, there were many thieves involved.

Li Daoxuan’s gaze tracked the messy footprints of the water thieves toward the village outskirts. But soon, those footprints reached the edge of the scenic box, extended beyond it, and vanished…

He couldn’t help but frown deeply. The biggest flaw of this box was its narrow viewpoint; he could see too little. He only observed the Gaojia Village area; the world outside was pitch-black, and he knew nothing about what was happening.

He must devise a way to extend the viewing distance inside this box.