A Night of Desperation

Chapter 12 – Accumulation (2)

Bang, bang, bang.

Inside the safe house cave, Yu Hong let out a long sigh, took two steps back, and looked at the super-simple fixed setup he had created. He had secured the stolen stove along with the chimney to the middle section of the cave wall.

“Let’s leave it like this for now.”

He put down the hammer and turned to glance at the door, which was still undergoing reinforcement. The remaining time on the door read: 9 days, 5 hours, and 42 minutes.

After finishing this, he exited the cave and looked at the little stutterer who was tying up a large bundle of wild vegetables.

The incident with the chimney was over, but the emotions from it still left a deep impression on him.

Even now, when he thought back to what had happened, he felt an intense sense of fear.

This emotional state made him yearn desperately for a completely safe solitary cabin.

A place where he could rest in peace.

With such a place, he would be able to safely explore this incredibly dangerous world.

Shaking off his thoughts, Yu Hong picked up the steel spike stick he had just used, noticing that some of the nails were bent. But that wasn’t the key issue; the key issue was the three pieces of reinforced white stones.

The first piece had completely turned black and lost its jade-like texture.

‘Looks like it’s used up.’ Yu Hong reached out to remove this stone and replaced it with a new one.

He still had a piece of reinforced glowstone left, which should be enough for now.

But since the reinforcement could only be done one item at a time, he couldn’t reinforce anything else until the wooden door was finished.

Therefore, he needed to conserve the glowstones as much as possible.

‘Based on previous usage, one piece of reinforced glowstone can shatter three ghost images. This means that one piece of reinforced glowstone is equivalent to thirty pieces of ordinary glowstones!’

With this in mind, if he could advertise this comparison and trade the reinforced glowstone for supplies, the difference in value might allow him to stop worrying about supply shortages.

While thinking about this, Yu Hong started to consider his future plans.

Time passed quickly, and soon the sky began to darken.

Little stutterer also finished packing the cloth bag and refilled the water jar. The two of them returned to the house in Baiqiu Village.

It was only after they had returned from the cave that the place was finally tidied up, clean and fresh, with better air.

Compared to the old house, which was dirty and filled with a musty smell of mildew, Yu Hong couldn’t bear to stay there even for a moment.

The night passed without incident.

In the following days, unable to reinforce anything, Yu Hong and the little stutterer began collecting dry wood to store in the cave.

Now that there was a door, it could block the wind and rain, and it was possible to store some firewood.

Next, they prepared to filter water.

According to the little stutterer, the water outside was very unclean, and drinking it directly would cause a strange illness, so it had to be filtered.

Extra filters could only be bought in the town.

So, they would have to make a trip to the town.

“It’s over thirty miles to the town. I don’t think I can make it,” Yu Hong said, fully aware of his physical limits.

He might be able to push through the journey by sheer willpower, but after that, his knees could be injured, he could suffer from exhaustion, or other new illnesses could strike, all of which would greatly slow his response to potential dangers.

At the slope by the cave entrance, the little stutterer dug while nodding.

“There’s… a way.”

“A way?” Yu Hong sat down and rested on the stone surface at the cave entrance, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“Post… office,” the little stutterer replied, then began explaining in short, interrupted sentences.

Since speaking was difficult for her, she simply used charcoal to write on the stone.

But she didn’t know many characters, so she wrote while gesturing.

“Why can’t I ask you to buy it for me at the post office?” Yu Hong asked.

“Filter… can’t buy… must… have qualifications,” the little stutterer replied.

Qualifications? What qualifications? Yu Hong was about to ask again when he saw, from a distance, Dr. Xu carrying a cloth bag and walking towards them.

“Yi Yi, the peak period is coming soon, we need to go to the town!” Dr. Xu looked a little pale, and her right arm was wrapped in a white bandage, probably from an injury she had sustained in recent days.

“Okay!” the little stutterer responded loudly.

Dr. Xu glanced at Yu Hong, didn’t acknowledge him, and walked with the little stutterer to Baixiu Village to pick up items they were going to exchange.

Soon, the two of them checked all the glowstones.

“Why is there less than half?!” Dr. Xu was shocked.

Normally, every time they went to exchange goods, the little stutterer could provide twice as much as this, but now…

“This amount won’t get us much food! And Yi Yi, you’re feeding two people!” she couldn’t help but ask.

“Too… busy,” Yi Yi replied sheepishly, rubbing her hands together.

“What were you busy with? Building some useless ‘safe house’ for that Yu Hong?” Dr. Xu exploded.

“I told you, no matter how thick the boards, they can’t stop the ghost images and insects! The ‘safe house’ you’re building is a waste of effort!”

“It’s fine. I believe in him!”  little stutterer patted her chest.

“You’ll be killed by him!” Dr. Xu shouted angrily. “If you don’t eat enough, you’ll lack energy and get sick. I went to the post office yesterday, but the mailman had disappeared, and there was no way to buy medicine. Many important supplies can only be obtained through him. We need to conserve food and seasonings, or we’ll run out of supplies later!”

“No, it will be fine!” The little stutterer shook her head. She had received a piece of reinforced glowstone from Yu Hong. Though she had promised not to tell anyone, she knew in her heart that Yu Hong was different from the others.

“You!!” Dr. Xu was so furious that she almost ran to hammer Yu Hong, but seeing the little stutterer’s look, she swallowed her anger.

The two of them left the village, slowly making their way down the old road.

On the other side, Yu Hong had re-arranged the safe house in the cave, checked all the sealing devices, and ensured everything was secure before starting to paint.

Waterproofing was essential, and the cave walls had to be painted as well; otherwise, living there would cause temperature differences, leading to moisture condensation and mold.

Once everything was checked, he decided not to return to Baiqiu Village but instead stayed in the cave, using the candles and blankets he brought, preparing to spend the night there.

“Whoo…”

Slowly, the sky darkened.

The wind outside the cave howled, the temperature dropped rapidly, becoming cool enough to feel.

Inside the cave, Yu Hong sat cross-legged on a large wooden board, lit a candle, and quietly began to calculate how many supplies would be needed to safely survive the upcoming peak period.

“The last peak period lasted five days, and following the principle of continuous strengthening, it should be six days. One candle per day means at least twelve candles.”

“Then, food and water for six days need to be prepared. I don’t have time to reinforce the White Stones for now; I’ll have to wait until the wooden door is finished.”

“Once the wooden door is finished, there are still three more days until the peak period. Rather than gambling on the safety of the reinforced door, it’s better to prepare myself.”

While calculating, Yu Hong listened quietly to the sound of the wind outside.

Soon, a rustling sound echoed again.

The black insects brought by the blood tide started to invade once more.

However, the large number of black insects could only enter through the designated opening. Their speed was not fast, and as soon as they entered, they were illuminated by the candlelight, quickly dissipating into nothing.

Yu Hong observed carefully for a while, confirmed there was no issue, and then relaxed.

He checked the candle’s consumption rate, thought everything seemed fine, placed a steel nail and wooden stick beside him, and lay down on the bed, slowly pretending to sleep.

Soon, dawn broke.

Little stutterer and Doctor Xu returned. This time, they brought back half the supplies they had last time.

Little stutterer calculated that it would only be enough for them for five days.

After some thought, Yu Hong decided to have little stutterer try drawing more complex patterns on the reinforced radiant stones. After testing the patterns, if they worked, they could be sold.

For now, to handle the immediate needs, he also began helping little stutterer gather wild vegetables.

Days passed.

The two began to store water, and Yu Hong occasionally checked on the progress of the wooden door.

Before long, the time on the wooden door was approaching its end.

To observe the changes to the door closely, Yu Hong specifically asked little stutterer to go to Doctor Xu’s place to borrow some food, which was a deliberate way to send her away.

He then went to the safe area in the cave and quietly waited for the countdown to finish.

In the midst of the rumbling sound, Yu Hong sat on the ground, his eyes fixed on the wooden door, which had not changed at all in the past twelve days.

He wanted to carefully observe how the black imprint’s reinforcement would be completed.

The key was that he planned to seamlessly continue reinforcing other things to avoid wasting the reinforcement time of the black imprint.

The door, now painted in yellow-black, showed black numbers that only Yu Hong could see.

0 days, 0 hours, 1 minute.

In the final minute, just a little more, and the reinforcement of the wooden door would be completely finished.

During this last minute, Yu Hong didn’t dare to blink, keeping his gaze fixed on the final change.

One second.

Ten seconds.

Twenty seconds.

Thirty seconds.

Snap.

Suddenly, Yu Hong’s vision blurred for a moment.

When his vision cleared again, the wooden door had transformed into a much thicker, more tightly sealed giant door.

The surface of the new door had delicate, wave-like patterns, and the air vents were covered with thick metal mesh, dense and breathable.

In the middle, there was also a special observation window, allowing a view of the outside scenery.

The originally loose connection between the door and the cave had been completely reinforced, with a dense ring of screws. It looked far sturdier than before.

Yu Hong stood up, stepped forward, and touched the door.

Thud, thud, thud.

He knocked on it with his fingers. It was thick, hard, and flexible.

‘This isn’t the same material as before.’ He hadn’t expected that the reinforcement would change the material itself.

‘They’ve also added more materials.’ Yu Hong touched the thick air vent at the bottom and opened the observation window at the top.

He ran his hand along the edge, finding no burrs.

“Impressive!”

With that thought, he quickly looked at the surrounding walls.

His original plan was to reinforce the wooden door first, then reinforce the surrounding stone walls. But now, due to the food shortage, he decided to try reinforcing other things first.

“First, this.”

Yu Hong pulled his hand back from the door and went to the stove. He picked up a piece of dried lizard meat from the stove.

‘Can food be reinforced?’

The thought flashed through his mind.

Immediately, the dried lizard meat in his hand quickly showed a number: 3 hours.

‘Three hours?’ Yu Hong thought it over. He then put the meat back and grabbed the entire bag of dried meat.

‘What about now?’

On the outside of the cloth bag, a new number slowly appeared: 1 day, 8 hours, and 4 minutes.

The numbers were precise, with both whole and decimal points.

‘Let’s see the result.’ Yu Hong decided to wait for the reinforcement effect.

A little over a day was something he could endure.

(End of Chapter)