Dong, dong, dong.
In the midst of a series of knocks,
within the safe house cave, Yu Hong exhaled deeply, took two steps back, and looked at the ultra-simplified base he had crafted. He secured the looted stove with the chimney attached to the middle of the cave wall.
"That'll do for now."
He put down the hammer and turned to glance at the door still being reinforced.
The door displayed the remaining time: 9 days, 5 hours, 42 minutes.
After finishing these tasks, he walked out of the cave and saw Stammering Yiyi tying up a large bundle of wild vegetables outside.
The incident with the chimney had just passed, but the emotions from that time left a deep imprint in his heart.
Even now, recalling it made him feel lingering fear and immense terror.
*Such feelings made him long intensely for a completely safe solitary space.*
*A place where he could rest peacefully.*
With this place, he could properly explore this extremely dangerous world.
Retracting his thoughts, Yu Hong picked up the steel nail wooden stick he had just used, noticing that some of the nails were bent. However, that wasn't the focus; the focus was on the three pieces of enhanced white stone.
The first piece of enhanced white stone had already turned completely black, losing its jade-like texture.
*"Seems like it's been used up..."* Yu Hong reached out to remove this piece of white stone and replaced it with another.
He still had one piece of enhanced pyroxene, which would suffice.
But since the reinforcement seemed to work one at a time, he couldn't reinforce other items before the wooden door was finished.
So, he had to use the four pieces of enhanced pyroxene as sparingly as possible.
*"According to previous usage, one piece of enhanced pyroxene could fend off the shadow three times. In this light, one piece of enhanced pyroxene could equal thirty ordinary pyroxenes!"*
If he could publicize this comparison and use the enhanced pyroxene for bartering resources, the price difference might alleviate his concerns about supply shortages.
With these thoughts, Yu Hong began planning his future arrangements and strategies.
Time flew by, and before long, the sky began to dim.
Stammering Yiyi also packed up the cloth bag and filled up the new water tank. The two of them returned to the house in Baiqiu Village with their belongings.
They had just returned from the cave, which had just been cleaned, was neat, tidy, and had good air.
In contrast to the old house, which was dirty and dark, full of a moldy smell, Yu Hong couldn't bear to stay there any longer.
A night without words.
In the following days, unable to reinforce items, Yu Hong and Stammering Yiyi gathered dry wood everywhere to store in the cave.
Now that there was a door, it could block wind and rain, and they could store some firewood.
Then they prepared items for filtering water.
According to Stammering Yiyi, the water outside was very dirty and drinking it directly could cause a strange illness, so it had to be filtered.
And the spare filters were only available for purchase in town.
So they had to make a trip to town.
"Going to town is more than thirty miles... I don't think I can make it," Yu Hong admitted his physical limitations.
If he pushed through, he might make it, but subsequent knee injuries, over-exhaustion, and possible new illnesses would severely slow his reaction to danger.
On the slope outside the cave, Stammering Yiyi nodded while digging in the dirt.
"There's... a way."
"What way?" Yu Hong sat down, resting on the stone surface at the cave entrance, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Post... office..." Stammering Yiyi replied, then carefully began explaining haltingly.
Speaking was difficult for her, so she simply used a charcoal pencil to write on the stone.
She didn't know many characters, so she had to write and gesture as she spoke.
"The post office can make purchases, so why can't I have you buy on my behalf?" Yu Hong asked.
"Fil-ter, can't buy. Need, qualification," Stammering Yiyi replied.
Qualification? What kind of qualification? Yu Hong wanted to ask further but saw from a distance, Doctor Xu approaching with a cloth bag on her back.
"Yiyi, the Blood Tide is coming, we have to go to town!"
She looked a little pale, with a white gauze wrapped around her right arm, likely an injury from the past few days.
"Oh!" Stammering Yiyi shouted in response.
Doctor Xu glanced at Yu Hong, ignored him, and went with Stammering Yiyi to Baiqiu Village to check the items they needed for trade.
Before long, the two of them counted all the luminous stones.
"How is it less than half?!" Doctor Xu was a bit shocked.
Every time Stammering Yiyi went to trade, she normally managed double this amount, but now...
"These supplies can't get us enough food! Especially since you, Yiyi, now have to feed two people!" she couldn't help but ask.
"Too, busy." Yiyi scratched her hands sheepishly, a silly smile on her face.
"What are you busy with? Building some useless safe house for that Yu Hong?" Doctor Xu was instantly furious.
"I clearly told him, no thickness of wood planks can stop shadows and bugs! The safe house you all are building is a complete waste of effort!"
"No... problem. I, trust, him!" Stammering Yiyi thumped her chest.
"He will get you killed!" Doctor Xu shouted angrily, "Without enough to eat, there's no energy, and it's easy to get sick. I checked the post office yesterday, and no one knows where the mail carrier is. So, we can't buy medicine, and a lot of important supplies depend on him. We have to save food and spices to avoid running out later!"
"No, won't!" Stammering Yiyi shook her head. She had received a piece of enhanced pyroxene from Yu Hong and, although she promised not to tell anyone, she knew in her heart that Yu Hong seemed different from the others.
"You, oh you!!" Doctor Xu was so angry she wanted to rush over and hit Yu Hong. But, seeing the look on Stammering Yiyi's face, she bottled up her frustration.
The two of them left the village step by step along the old road, heading into the distance.
On the other side, Yu Hong had re-organized the safe house in the cave, checking all the seals to ensure there were no problems before starting to paint them.
Waterproofing was essential, and the inner walls of the cave also had to be painted, otherwise living here would inevitably create a temperature difference, leading to moisture condensation and mold.
After checking everything, he didn't return to Baiqiu Village but instead huddled in the cave with candles and a quilt, intending to try spending the night there.
Whew...
Gradually, night fell. The howling wind outside the cave caused the temperature to swiftly drop to a slight chill.
Inside the cave.
Yu Hong sat cross-legged on a large wooden board, lighting a candle. Then he quietly calculated the resources needed to safely endure the upcoming Blood Tide.
"The last one lasted five days, so based on the pattern of escalation, let's assume six days. That requires at least twelve candles, one for each day."
"Then food and drink for six days also need preparing. Enhanced white stone reinforcement will have to wait until after the wooden door is finished."
"With three days left before the Blood Tide, rather than gambling on the wooden door's reinforced security, it's better to plan additional precautions."
By the candlelight, Yu Hong calculated while quietly listening to the wind outside.
Soon, the rustling returned.
The black bugs brought by the Blood Tide began their assault once again.
But, a large number of black bugs could only get in through pre-arranged openings, and they weren't entering quickly. Once inside, they were dispelled quickly by the candlelight.
Yu Hong observed for a while to ensure everything was in order before relaxing.
He checked the rate at which candles burned and felt that everything was likely fine. Placing the steel nail wooden stick by his side, he lay down on the quilt and gradually drifted to sleep.
Quickly, dawn broke.
Stammering Yiyi and Doctor Xu returned together, bringing far fewer supplies than last time.
Stammering Yiyi calculated, finding enough only for five days.
So Yu Hong contemplated and decided to have Stammering Yiyi simulate drawing the more complex patterns for the enhanced pyroxene.
Then, they would test the effect and, if feasible, sell them.
For now, to cope with the emergency, he also began assisting Stammering Yiyi in digging wild vegetables everywhere.
Time passed day by day.
The two of them also started storing water, while Yu Hong occasionally checked the wooden door's progress in the cave.
Soon, time on the wooden door rapidly neared its end.
To carefully observe the wooden door's transformation, Yu Hong specifically asked Stammering Yiyi to borrow some food from Doctor Xu on the last day, essentially sending her away on purpose.
He positioned himself at the safe house in the cave, quietly awaiting the countdown's end.
With a rumbling sound,
Yu Hong sat on the ground inside the cave, his eyes fixed on the wooden door, which hadn't changed since twelve days ago.
He wanted to closely observe how this Black Mark reinforcement would ultimately manifest itself.
Moreover, he intended to seamlessly continue reinforcing other items to avoid wasting the Black Mark's reinforcement time.
At this moment, the wooden door, painted yellow and black, displayed black numbers visible only to Yu Hong.
0 days, 0 hours, 1 minute.
In the last minute, Yu Hong couldn't blink, keeping a close watch on its final transformation.
One second.
Ten seconds.
Twenty seconds.
Thirty seconds.
Bam.
Suddenly, Yu Hong's vision blurred for a moment.
When it cleared again, the wooden door had transformed into a larger, denser, and sturdier door.
The surface of the new wooden door had intricate wave-like patterns, a thick metal mesh at the vents, dense yet breathable.
An observation window was positioned right in the middle, allowing a view of the exterior.
The previously loose connections between the door and the cave had been entirely reinforced with a large circle of dense screws, looking far more solid than before.
Yu Hong stood up and approached, touching the wooden door.
Dong, dong, dong.
He knocked on it, finding it thick, hard, and resilient.
*"This isn't the previous type of wood..."* He hadn't expected that the reinforcement would change even the original materials.
*"And a lot more materials have been added."* Yu Hong touched the thick vent mesh. He opened the observation window above.
He ran his hand along the edge and didn't feel any splinters.
"Impressive....!"
Thinking along these lines, he quickly glanced around the surrounding walls.
His original plan was to reinforce the wooden door first, then the surrounding stone walls. However, due to the food shortage now, he planned to try reinforcing other items first.
"First... it's this one."
Yu Hong withdrew his hand from the door and returned to the stove, picking up a piece of dried lizard meat from beside the stove.
*"Can food be reinforced?"*
This thought crossed his mind.
Soon.
On the surface of the lizard meat, a number quickly appeared: 3 hours.
*"Three hours, hmm?"* Yu Hong calculated in his mind. Then he shoved the dried meat back and directly picked up the entire bag of meat.
*"Now what?"*
A new number slowly appeared on the cloth bag: 1 day, 8 hours, and 4 minutes.
The numbers were precise and accurate.
*"Let's see the effect."* Yu Hong immediately confirmed the reinforcement query.
Over a day, he could manage it.