Nia was Hired or was it?

In a dining area, a group of three gathered, feasting on a rather sizable fish.

Nia gestured towards the plate, and with effort, she uttered in her broken tongue like some caveman... er... cavewoman, "Feed, Nia... This. Nia... yours..."

Dan furrowed his brow slightly, contemplating for a moment before responding, "So, if you partake in my fish, you're willing to assist me and heed my words?" Or something like that?

Doubted it, but Dan would not interpret Nia's words in a different way.

Nia nodded in agreement. A smile crept across Dan's face as he whispered, "Excellent. Actions speak louder than words. Rest, for now, tend to your injuries. The vicinity is swarming with bandits, making it impossible for us to venture out."

"At the mountain's foot, there lurk wolves, bandits—a source of fear!" Nia stuttered, struggling to articulate her thoughts fully but hinting at a potential plan.

Dan surmised that she proposed luring the wolves from the foothills to deal with the bandits later... or was he just interpreting it biasedly for his own convenience?

It dawned on Dan—this could be a viable strategy.

Savages... they were a scary bunch indeed. He looked at Nia who was expertly siphoning the head of the fish creating 'slurpy' sounds.

"Alright, I appreciate that. Rest first. This is a probationary period for you. If you pass scrutiny and earn our trust, you'll be an official member here," Dan affirmed.

Nia nodded, seemingly comprehending the situation.

It seemed she liked being here too.

Yet, Dan couldn't shake off his concern that Nia might resort to cannibalism. After all, she wasn't just an ordinary girl; she was a predator, a freaking fucking savage.

No offense to most ethnic groups though.

After escorting Nia back, Dan pondered his strategy against the bandits outside. They had only discovered one entrance; the existence of the other two remained unknown to them. Although Dan could still leave, the risk was immense.

Dan couldn't take risks now, so he didn't go out the next day. Killing time by his lonesome, he installed some refitted fishing gear in the artificial lake, but these fishing tools were all designed to secure fish.

In the end, though, the efficiency was too low for Dan to be satisfied.

When the day had ended, Dan was miffed. Surely, he could have done better.

At dinner, Dan was worried.

Nia looked at him as if she had guessed something.

"Fish? Catch." Let's catch fish, she seemed to say.

Dan looked at her and said, "There's an artificial lake below; you'll drown if you go down. How can you catch a fish without getting hurt?"

"Don't go into the water, dig!" After Nia finished speaking, Dan was stunned, and he asked back in surprise, "Dig?"

Nia nodded.

Dan thought for a while and then said, "How about I take you down, and you teach me?"

Nia nodded.

Her head bobbed up and down as she clumsily spooned their dinner, a leftover fish from yesterday. It was Dan who taught her how to use a spoon, and Nia continued having difficulties in wielding it.

After eating, Dan took Nia down to the artificial lake. Nia pointed to a depression and said, "Here, dig!"

Dan seemed to understand something. He dug the depression deeper as Nia instructed and then made a small ditch that led all the way to the lake.

Then, a wooden frame and a plank were placed at the junction of the small canal and the depression. A smaller channel was dug on the other side to ensure that the big fish could not get out. The connection left nothing in the lake. The meticulous design promised a higher chance of success in their fishing endeavors.

After digging, Dan filled the depression with water and then added bait. This contraption could entice fish from the outside, but the plank, though allowing entrance, was larger than the wooden frame, preventing an exit in reverse.

Dan placed all the bait inside, including some jerky and the foam of compressed biscuits.

Initially, Dan thought there would be no fish, but then he wondered, would fishes be also predators, a man-eater worse than a savage? Could they be inclined to consume human flesh?

However, early the next morning, Dan found himself facing an unexpected surprise. He had overlooked the fact that this was an artificial lake. Just as fish could enter from the outside, they could roam as much as they like in and out of the lake. So motivated by hunger, more fish were driven to the lake.

It was a kind of chain reaction in the food web where the prey density had increased suddenly in one area.

So, overnight, more than a dozen fish swam into the small ditch, the trap that he and Nia made!

When Anna came down with Nia, the former was astonished, while the latter was unmoved perhaps half-expecting the trap to succeed.

"A lot of fish! I'm going to get the pot!"

Dan pulled her and said, "Silly girl, we need to nurture these fish. We can't eat them all at once. Let's consume them gradually. Also, we can only eat the big ones; the small ones should breed here. Let's enjoy them slowly. We got lucky, ok? We won't always be so lucky, so we have to be careful."

"Oh, oh, oh! I understand, Daddy!"

That was when the prompts from Dan's system pinged consecutively.

[Food Cycle Supply: Fish]

[Current food self-sufficiency has been turned on]

[It is recommended to tame the Savage Nia, and you will get a safety factor of 40.]

[It is recommended to gradually expand the fish pond to obtain a continuous supply capacity.]

[It is recommended to open up farmland to obtain plant harvesting ability.]

[After reaching, temporary settlements can be upgraded to shelters.]

Hearing a series of prompts from the system, Dan was stunned.

What? Taming Nia could provide a safety factor of 40?! And really, system? Tame? Nia wasn't a livestock, wasn't she?

Dan felt like seeing the Affection Levels of Nia, and somehow, he now had to win her, gain her trust, and maybe someday hump her... This was not a game, system, damn it!

Dan rubbed his forehead, feeling a bit lightheaded. The safety factor of over 40 was tempting, so he decided to treat the system more kindly. Tame it or not, Dan had decided to help Nia open up, and in time, befriend her, hoping that she would identify herself someday as 'with them', the Dan Group.

Dan was genuinely surprised that Nia had provided a safety factor of 40 points. If he could bring her down, tame her as the system liked to call it, the mission would then be completed!

However, Dan was dealing with a savage, and there was this wildness that still lingered in her. Taming Nia wouldn't be that easy.

Nia was not like some friendly pet where a play of fetch could easily solve it. But neither was Nia an animal who was loyal only to her instincts, so that was still something.

Still, it was the truth that Nia was indeed a Savage, a different kind of animal, but was nevertheless human. This would be difficult. not just for Dan, but also for Nia.

After all, it was a wasteland, and one had to be cautious about everything.

It was not just Dan who was cautious. Nia must be the same, with no exceptions. Not a person could survive in the wastelands with a lack of caution. 

In this lawless land without a king's rule or order, one could do whatever they pleased. It was a world where the strong devoured the weak.

Days had come by, and Dan had taken his sweet time with improving the fishery, doing physical exercises, and studying maps and the lay of the land within and without his base.

With fish to sustain them, Dan had no urgency to venture outside. He didn't mind spending time in the enclosure at all.

The bandits were in a place where they neither ate, drank, nor lived, but Dan no longer worried about sustenance. Every day, he tirelessly searched for new rooms within Outpost 72 and cleaned them.

It must be acknowledged that after a thorough cleaning, Dan reaped a harvest every time.