A Night of Desperation

Chapter 9: Operation (1)

“It’s not entirely built by myself. I plan to use wood to assist with the construction, but the primary material will still be stone. Considering that stone bricks can’t be found, the only solution is to find a natural stone cave,” explained Yu Hong.

“Oh,” the little stutterer didn’t quite understand but felt that Yu Hong’s expression was confident and calm, so he must be quite capable.

“I’ll help!” she said, patting her chest. “I know… a hunting cave!”

“A cave?” Yu Hong’s eyes brightened.

He had long since wanted to leave the little stutterer’s place. Not only was safety not guaranteed, but more importantly, he couldn’t experiment freely with his black seal to determine its effects.

He touched the third piece of reinforced white stone in his pocket, which was actually enhanced glowstone, and quickly made a decision.

“Can you take me there?”

He was in urgent need of a secluded place to test the specific effects of the black seal.

He was wondering, if he reinforced the door and walls, what would happen? The glowstone could be enhanced into a material similar to jade, which seemed to make it stronger—what about other things?

Little stutterer put down what she was holding and returned it to the house. Then she led Yu Hong along a small path, going in the opposite direction of the old road, winding through the forest.

After several days of rest, Yu Hong’s physical strength had recovered significantly.

Because of this recovery, he hadn’t encountered the strange shadows during the day, which made him believe somewhat in what the little stutterer and Dr. Xu had said.

In the eerie and quiet forest, they walked one behind the other, stepping carefully across slopes until they reached the bottom of the hill.

The little stutterer looked around and seemed to find something near a tree hollow.

She approached, reaching out to touch some carvings on the edge of the tree hollow.

“It’s here,” she said seriously.

Just as Yu Hong was about to ask, she raised her hand and pointed towards the distant right.

Yu Hong was taken aback and looked in the direction of her finger.

In the distance, he could vaguely see a gray rock wall emerging from the forest.

In the middle of the rock wall, a dark cave was suspended in mid-air.

The entrance of the cave was at least two to three meters above the ground, but there were some excavated recesses forming steps.

Yu Hong glanced at the little stutterer, who had already started foraging for vegetables, and then held the reinforced glowstone as he walked towards the cave.

Soon, he reached the bottom of the rock wall.

He carefully examined the cave entrance.

The entrance was about two people tall and more than one person wide. It wasn’t very deep, and the sunlight from outside allowed him to see the cave floor.

The bottom was cluttered with some cloth bags and animal skins.

“Are there animals here?” Yu Hong couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes, but not many,” the little stutterer replied as she followed him.

“Before, there were many… black disasters. Afterward, there were fewer.”

Yu Hong nodded and climbed up the recesses, entering the cave.

The entire cave was just over five meters deep, and the interior was a little larger, about three meters wide, enough for one person to rest.

The ground was dry, with no musty smell, which was clearly due to the rock material.

The cave was oval-shaped, with some irregularities in the oval cavity.

Yu Hong thought to himself that compared to the little stutterer’s house, this place was clearly much more comfortable. At least it lacked the mold that could damage the lungs, which would help him live much longer.

More importantly, the Baiqiu village itself had a strange atmosphere. He always felt that the many strange shadows he encountered during the day were likely related to the environment of the village.

Otherwise, why wouldn’t so many villagers want to continue living there, even though there were plenty of empty houses?

“By the way, Yi Yi, do you know how many villagers are still in contact with you?” Yu Hong had become somewhat familiar with the situation over the past few days.

From the booklet and the little stutterer’s words, he learned that many villagers from Baiqiu Village lived in the nearby forest, either building their own houses or digging underground shelters.

A few had left for the nearest town.

Among them were several people whom the little stutterer had saved.

Little stutterer, now also in the cave, looked around, “There are four others,” she counted on her fingers. “Apart from us.”

“Okay, got it,” Yu Hong nodded. He took out the measuring tape he had gotten from the little stutterer’s house and measured the dimensions of the cave entrance.

Then he climbed down and observed the surroundings.

“Can I live here?” he asked the little stutterer.

“Yes, no one’s here anymore,” she nodded eagerly.

Yu Hong was satisfied. This place was too dangerous. In truth, he had considered living with the little stutterer, but the risk posed by the strange shadows was too high, and they were too well disguised to defend against.

Also, the little stutterer’s environment was poor and dirty, making her prone to chronic diseases.

Moreover, the reinforcement of the black seal had to be kept secret.

These three factors made him eager to find a suitable place to live alone.

And this cave was the best option.

However, the living materials and the modification plan would likely take a lot of time.

After all, living alone meant relying on stored food at the start.

The cave also lacked a proper door, and things like chimneys and fire pits needed to be set up.

Once his future residence was confirmed, Yu Hong began to wander around the forest with the little stutterer’s tools, collecting materials.

He wasn’t sure what kind of wood would work for the door, but he knew it had to be hard and sturdy.

Over the next few days, Yu Hong continuously designed the structure of his cave, the door, and various pieces of furniture, and started choosing materials.

Soon, he selected a dry tree, which was sufficiently dry to prevent moisture.

Then he started chopping the tree.

His weak body and tired arms made it so that after chopping for a day, his arms were sore, and the next day, he could barely move.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Crack.

The little stutterer, holding an axe, watched as the thick, tree-trunk-sized dead tree slowly bent and fell.

“Do you need more?” she asked, turning to look at Yu Hong, whose expression was complicated.

“No, that’s enough,” Yu Hong shook his head.

Stepping forward, he began to use a knife to remove the branches, selecting the straight parts of the trunk and cutting them to the approximate length for the cave’s door.

Although he was just an ordinary office worker before coming here, he had worked as a carpenter in the countryside for a while.

Though not very skilled, he understood the basic steps.

Little stutterer watched curiously and occasionally helped.

Before long, it was dark. The two put down their tools and returned to the house to rest for the night.

After a quiet night, they had breakfast and returned to the cave to continue their work from the previous day.

Little stutterer, having eaten too quickly, realized the food was almost gone, so she planned to visit Dr. Xu and buy more food from Old Yu.

She helped with the treework, and soon saw Dr. Xu approaching from the distant forest.

Excited, she waved to him.

“Xu! Over here!”

Dr. Xu slowly walked closer and, seeing Yu Hong still there, frowned immediately.

“Didn’t we just get food? I wondered why it was gone again—turns out there’s an extra person,” she said, not sounding pleased.

“Yu Hong is really capable!” little stutterer hurriedly waved her hands. “He’s making a much better house. It’s safer than my house!”
Her admiration for Yu Hong was clear, as she defended him at this moment.

“Fine, whatever. Let’s just go, the sooner the better,” Dr. Xu glanced at Yu Hong, seeing him about to greet her, and walked a few steps closer to him.

“What are your plans?” She had occasionally chatted with the little stutterer and knew that Yu Hong was always busy with his own work.

He relied entirely on the little stutterer for food, which made her burden much heavier.

Originally, their food was only enough for half-full meals, and now there was an extra young man to feed.

“I plan to build a safe house. Right now, I’m temporarily relying on Yi Yi, but trust me, I’ll be able to move out soon. She’s helping me now, and I’ll remember it. Once I’m settled, I’ll repay her!” Yu Hong understood her intention.

After saying this, he saw Dr. Xu’s expression soften a little and continued.

“When I finish building a safer house, I can help Yi Yi build a better one too! Her house is really unsafe, and if there’s a bigger problem, it won’t hold up. That’s when she’ll see how good a safe house can be.”

“Do as you like, but just moving to a new place won’t make it safer!” Dr. Xu clearly didn’t believe him. “Don’t drag Yi Yi down.”

“I won’t!” Yu Hong replied seriously.

Dr. Xu stared at him for a moment, said nothing more, and left with Yi Yi.

Yu Hong stood in the forest, watching them leave until they disappeared from view, then turned his gaze upwards to the sky.

The bright sunlight gave him a sense of security.

In this weather, even strange shadows wouldn’t dare to appear recklessly.

After a short break, he resumed cutting the wood with a saw.

The segments of tree trunks, quickly scorched by fire, were turned into thick long planks.

The surface burning was to prevent decay, kill off insects and their eggs, and remove excess moisture.

Once cut into planks, they could be assembled together, using the mortise and tenon joint structure, to create a sturdy wooden door.

Yu Hong used the simplest form of the mortise and tenon structure, which involved making a hole in one plank and carving a matching protrusion on another plank.

By inserting the protrusion into the hole, the joint was complete.

The greatest benefit of this structure was that it didn’t require nails.

With this method, Yu Hong slowly and painstakingly made thick, sturdy planks.

Instead of finishing the door and bringing it all at once, he worked piece by piece, carrying the planks over and assembling them at the cave entrance.

During this time, he also continued testing the effects of the black seal.

He reinforced one piece of glowstone after another.

Time passed, and just as Yu Hong was getting used to the strange dried meat flavor, the wooden door for the cave was finally completed.

Early one morning, Yu Hong arrived at the cave entrance alone and attached the final thick plank to the door.

The door was completely finished, with a movable central panel, giving it a rough appearance.

It was made from parts taken from other houses in the village, combined with wood.

Additionally, the large nails used to attach the wood to the stone were also from the houses in the village.

The entire entrance was now completely blocked by the thick gray-black wooden door.

Yu Hong entered, placing a piece of reinforced white stone into a groove behind the door.

This was his idea for blocking the strange shadows from entering.

Since the glowstone could disperse the shadows, he wondered if placing it strategically along their path could prevent them from entering the cave.

(End of chapter)