Night fell, and the sky was dotted with countless stars.

The night sky over the Gobi Desert was even more brilliant than the one over the forest.

Beneath the darkness, the bright moonlight spilled across the Gobi Desert.

But tonight, dark shadows darted about chaotically above the Gated Community, and the howls of countless Winged Dragons echoed from the sky.

The noise disturbed the sweet dreams of who knows how many people.

"This is so annoying! Are they ever going to let us sleep? It’s the middle of the night, and they just keep squawking outside the window."

Having just acquired the Extreme Physique, an excited Qin Ziwu had stayed up late. He had finally fallen asleep, only to be jolted awake by the clamor of the Winged Dragons outside.

He climbed out of bed and went into the living room, where he saw his older brother standing on the balcony.

"Bro, you’re not asleep yet?"

"They woke me up." Qin Ziwen looked up at the sky.

These Winged Dragons were acting abnormally tonight. Of course, it was also possible that, having only transmigrated a few days ago, they were simply unfamiliar with the creatures’ habits.

The sky overhead was densely packed with Winged Dragons, all letting out ear-piercing, raucous cries.

These creatures weren’t heavy, but their calls were incredibly loud, like giant loudspeakers in the wilderness.

Especially in such an open area, the sound of over a thousand Winged Dragons howling in the middle of the night was nothing short of a catastrophe.

Two Winged Dragons spotted the pair on the balcony and dove, hurtling toward them.

"Bro, watch out!" Qin Ziwu pulled his brother back.

"It’s fine." The words had barely left Qin Ziwen’s mouth when a Winged Dragon slammed into the balcony as if hitting an invisible wall.

SPLAT! It stuck right to the barrier, then slowly slid down the transparent wall outside the balcony.

The other Winged Dragon sensed something was wrong, but it was too late to brake. SMACK!

It too crashed into the invisible wall and slowly slid down.

"What is this?!" Qin Ziwu was shocked. He reached out a hand to tentatively feel it and discovered a transparent barrier over the balcony railing. "An invisible wall?"

"No." Qin Ziwen shook his head. "It’s the Home’s safe house function."

Once activated, outsiders can’t enter or exit the Home. All openings, including windows and balconies, are covered by an invincible, transparent barrier.

After two of their companions went down, the other Winged Dragons learned their lesson and stopped charging in this direction.

Instead, they flew toward other balconies in the Gated Community.

CRASH!

A window had been shattered.

Soon, the howls of Winged Dragons and the screams of people echoed from within the Gated Community.

Qin Ziwen frowned. "These things are acting like they’re crazy. Xiaowu, take some people and go notify everyone else in our building."

"Okay." Qin Ziwu hurried out the door.

In truth, with the Winged Dragons causing such a ruckus, most people in the Gated Community had already been woken up.

Many were hiding behind their windows and on their balconies, watching.

From time to time, some of the Winged Dragons would land.

The chaotic scene didn’t begin to die down until after two in the morning.

The Winged Dragons flew off toward the east.

The next morning, a count revealed that six people in the Gated Community had been injured the previous night. Four had suffered only minor scratches. Another person, startled awake, had hit their head on a wall and gotten a large bump. The last person was rather unlucky, having received a deep gash from a Winged Dragon’s claw that had nearly damaged a tendon.

However, the Gated Community also had six new Winged Dragon corpses to show for it, two of which were recovered from the base of Building Eight.

This unusual atmosphere cast a pall over the Gated Community.

The last time something like this had happened was when the great swarm of mayflies traveled upstream in the forest, attracting the Giant Toads.

This time, the Winged Dragons’ sudden frenzy was clearly anything but ordinary.

Qin Ziwen went to the balcony and took out the new, small backpack he had custom-made for the Beaked Eagle—its third one so far. As the Beaked Eagle grew larger, so did its need for bigger backpacks.

Using newly traded cloth, an old pair of jeans, and some leather, he had stitched together a new chest pack. The pack wasn’t large and fit snugly against the Beaked Eagle’s body. It hung just below its neck, and from a distance, it looked like a necklace.

He placed his phone inside and sent the Beaked Eagle into the sky to film.

After circling the sky a few times, the Beaked Eagle landed.

Qin Ziwen removed the phone and reviewed the recorded video.

He quickly noticed a few clues.

First, the rock pillars and cliff tops to the west of the Gated Community had previously been home to many Winged Dragons.

But looking now, their numbers had dwindled significantly, with only twenty or thirty remaining.

More than half of them were gone.

In addition, the footage also showed signs of two animal herds approaching their location.

Qin Ziwen immediately summoned everyone. "There are two herds of animals heading our way. Because of the filming altitude, the video is too distant to make out what kind of animals they are."

He handed the phone to the others. The footage was blurry due to the distance.

"The distance is too great. It’s hard to see clearly," the others said, shaking their heads.

Qin Ziwen said, "It’s fine. We’ll continue with our work today. You all head east first. Du Yu and I need to make a trip south."

"Captain, what are you going south for? Let’s go together."

"Yeah, let’s stick together. Besides, it’s too dangerous for just the two of you if you run into a large pack of beasts," Yuan Ming and the others chimed in.

Qin Ziwen was heading south to place a Node in the southern rift valley.

A Node was a one-way passage, allowing travel only from the Home to the Node’s location.

But it would at least cut the journey in half, saving nearly half the travel time for daily Card retrievals.

It was also close to a water source, which would make it more convenient for the alliance to collect water.

After sending someone to inform Luo Gang, he led the team south. They successfully reached the altar before nine in the morning. Today, the altar had refreshed with a common [Building Card]: Wine-Making Cellar.

The Card was a bit underwhelming, but it was better than nothing and would likely boost their score during the final settlement.

Afterward, Qin Ziwen set up the Node inside the rift valley.

An oval curtain of light, like a door opened from the void, materialized out of thin air.

The group behind him stared, dumbfounded. Yuan Ming asked in astonishment, "Guild Leader, what is this?"

"A Node. You can think of it as a one-way wormhole. In the future, when you need to come here, you can use the Node to cut the round-trip journey in half," Qin Ziwen explained concisely.

Upon hearing this, those who knew what a wormhole was gasped in delight. They had already joined the Qin Alliance; the stronger the alliance, the more they benefited, so they naturally hoped for it to grow ever more powerful.

And while Du Yu and Yang Cunshen had never heard of a wormhole, they understood what "cutting the journey in half" meant.

"Sir, this has immense strategic value!" Du Yu said, somewhat excitedly.

Yang Cunshen added, "If a battle breaks out, we can use the Node to flank them and catch the enemy completely by surprise."

"That’s one way to use it," Qin Ziwen said. He paused, then asked, "My original plan was to share the Node with the regular members of the alliance, so they could save half the travel time when collecting water."

Yang Cunshen replied, "Sir, there’s no need. It’s not actually that far. But if we make it public, the Node’s existence can’t be hidden. It will be completely exposed, and it will be difficult to take anyone by surprise in the future."

Du Yu also believed that a strategic asset like this should be kept secret for now, at least until they had a better alternative. "Sir, a wise man keeps his best tools hidden and waits for the right moment to act. That is the superior path."

...

...