Night of Despair

"It's not all self-made, I plan to use timber as a supporting structure, but the main material will still be stone. And since stone bricks are unfindable, the only solution is to look for a natural stone cave," Yu Hong explained.

"Oh...." Xiao Stutter didn't quite understand, but he thought Yu Hong, with his confident expression and calm demeanor, must be a formidable person.

"I... help, you!" She patted her chest. "I know... one, hunting, cave!"

"Cave?" Yu Hong's eyes lit up.

He had long wanted to leave Xiao Stutter's place. Not only was it unsafe, but he also couldn't randomly test his Black Mark to confirm its effects.

Touching the third piece of enhanced white stone, also known as enhanced pyroxene, in his pocket, Yu Hong quickly made a decision.

"Can you take me to see it?"

He urgently needed a secluded spot to test the specific effects of the Black Mark.

He wondered, what would happen if he reinforced the door and walls?

Luminous stone could be reinforced into a material similar to jade, and its effects seemed to have strengthened, but what about the others?

Immediately, Xiao Stutter put down the things in her hands, returned them to the house, and then led Yu Hong along a small path in the opposite direction of the old highway, winding into the mountains.

Several days of rest had restored much of Yu Hong's physical strength.

Because his body recovered, he hadn't seen the shadow much during the day, which made him somewhat believe Xiao Stutter and Doctor Xu's words.

In the chilly and quiet woodland.

The two of them, one in front of the other, stepped deep and shallow through large slopes and reached the bottom of the slope.

Xiao Stutter looked around and seemed to find something near a tree hollow.

She walked over and touched some carvings on the edges of the tree hollow.

"It's here," she said earnestly.

Then, just as Yu Hong was about to ask, she raised her hand and pointed toward the far right.

Yu Hong was taken aback and followed her pointing direction, looking that way.

He saw a gray rock wall, faintly emerging from the distance through the woods.

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

The entrance to the cave was at least two to three meters off the ground, but some indents had been dug out as steps by people.

Yu Hong looked at Xiao Stutter, who had started to dig around for vegetables, then grasped the enhanced pyroxene and headed toward the wall.

Soon, he arrived beneath the rock wall.

He carefully inspected the cave in front of him.

The entrance was about two people high and one person wide. The inside wasn't very deep; the bottom could be seen from the outside with the help of sunlight.

The bottom was cluttered with some things like fabric bags and a few skins of unknown animals.

"Are there also animals here?" Yu Hong couldn't help but ask.

"There are... but, few," Xiao Stutter had also followed over by now.

"In the past, there were many. Black Disaster came, then, fewer."

Yu Hong nodded and climbed up following the indentations, entering the cave.

The entire cave was only about five meters deep, slightly bigger inside, about three meters wide, just enough for one person to rest.

The ground inside the cave was quite dry, with no musty smell, evidently related to the rock material here.

The cave itself was elliptical in shape, a slightly irregular oval cavity.

Yu Hong thought for a moment, comparing it with Xiao Stutter's house; this place was clearly much more comfortable. At least it had fewer fungi invading the lungs, which could let him live much longer.

Most importantly, the Baiqiu Village itself seemed a bit eerie. He always felt that encountering so many shadows during the day might be related to the environment of Baiqiu Village.

Otherwise, why would so many villagers not want to continue living there, knowing there were so many ready-made houses?

"By the way, Yiyi, do you know how many villagers are still in contact now?" Yu Hong had gotten somewhat familiar these past few days and had gotten a rough idea.

From the booklet and Xiao Stutter's mouth, he learned that many Baiqiu Village villagers lived nearby in the woods, either building their own houses or digging cellars to hide in.

A few had left for the nearest town.

This included many people Xiao Stutter had saved.

Xiao Stutter had also followed him into the cave and was looking around.

"There are still four around," she counted with her fingers, "Apart from us."

"Hmm, got it," Yu Hong nodded. He took out the prepared tape measure, which was part of the stock from Xiao Stutter's house, and measured the dimensions of the cave entrance.

Then he climbed down again, observing the surroundings.

"Can I live here?" he asked Xiao Stutter.

"It's... possible. No one... cares," Xiao Stutter nodded vigorously.

Yu Hong was satisfied in his heart. This place was indeed dangerous. In fact, he wanted to live with Xiao Stutter, but the danger of the shadows was too great, too well-disguised, hard to guard against.

Plus, Xiao Stutter's environment was too poor, too dirty, easily leading to chronic diseases.

And the reinforcement of the Black Mark had to be kept secret.

These three points made him urgently want to find a suitable place to live alone.

And this cave was one of the best options.

However, living supplies and remodeling plans might take a while to implement.

After all, living alone initially meant relying on stored food.

The cave also lacked a suitable door, and things like a chimney and fire pit needed to be sorted out.

Having settled on his future dwelling, Yu Hong began roaming the woods with Xiao Stutter's tools, choosing materials.

He didn't know what kind of wood could be used for the door, but he knew it had to be hard and sturdy.

In the following days, Yu Hong continually designed the structure of his cave, the door, various pieces of furniture, and also began choosing materials.

Soon, he had chosen a sufficiently hard dead tree.

The dead tree was dry enough to maximally prevent moisture.

Then came the tree chopping.

Yu Hong, with his weak body and feeble arms, only managed to chop for one day and came back with sore, limp arms, unable to move them the next day.

Then...

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Crack.

Stutterer held the axe, watching the tree, as thick as a thigh, slowly break and fall.

"Do you need more?" she turned back, looking at Yu Hong who had a complex expression, and asked earnestly.

"" Yu Hong's expression was indescribable, and he shook his head.

"Enough..."

Walking forward, he started to trim the branches with a machete, selecting the straight parts of the trunk, and then cut it into rough lengths based on the dimensions of the cave entrance.

Although he had only been an ordinary office worker before coming here, he had done some carpentry work in the countryside before.

Although not skilled, he somewhat understood the basic steps and processes.

Stutterer watched from the side, curiously coming over to help from time to time.

Soon, it got dark, and the two put down their tools, took their equipment, and returned to the house to rest and wait for the next day.

After a night without events, having eaten, the two returned to continue the unfinished work from the previous day.

Stutterer, having eaten her food too quickly and running out, decided to go with Doctor Xu to buy some more from old Yu.

She helped with handling the dead trees and soon saw Doctor Xu approaching from the distant woods.

So she got up excitedly and waved her hand.

"Xu! Here! Here!"

"" Doctor Xu slowly approached and upon seeing Yu Hong was still there, she frowned.

"Haven't you just traded for food? I wondered why it's gone again, turns out there's an extra person." Her tone was not very pleasant.

"Yu Hong, is, very, capable!" Stutterer quickly gestured, "He, is, making, a, better, house. Safer than mine!" She clearly approved of Yu Hong's statement, and now defended him.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this, let's go quickly, the earlier we go the earlier we return." Doctor Xu glanced at Yu Hong who was about to stand up to greet her, stepped closer, and looked at him.

"What are you planning?" These days, she occasionally chatted with Stutterer and knew that this guy was always busy with his stuff.

Reliant on Stutterer for food and drink, who had to find twice the amount, had significantly increased Stutterer's burden.

Originally, everyone's food could only maintain half-satisfaction, now there was an additional young man's share...

"I plan to build a safe house. Right now, I'm temporarily relying on Yiyi for food and drink, but believe me, I'll be able to move out soon. I remember everything Yiyi does for me. Once I'm settled, I will repay her!" Yu Hong saw her intention.

After finishing his speech, he noticed her expression relax slightly, so he continued.

"When I've built a safer place to live, I can also build a safer and better one for Yiyi! Her house is very unsafe, if she encounters bigger trouble, she definitely won't last! Then you'll see the benefits of a safety house."

"Do whatever you want, but changing places doesn't necessarily mean more safety!" Doctor Xu clearly didn't believe it. "Just don't burden Yiyi."

"I won't!" Yu Hong said earnestly.

Doctor Xu stared at him for a moment, then said nothing more and left with Yiyi.

Yu Hong stood in the woods, watching as the two left until they disappeared, then withdrew his gaze and looked up at the sky.

The bright sunlight filled him with a sense of security.

In this kind of weather, even shadows wouldn't dare appear recklessly.

After a brief rest, he continued to diligently saw the wooden boards.

The rapidly charred trunks were sawed by him into thick, long wooden planks.

The charring on the surface served to prevent rot, kill some insects and larvae, and remove excess moisture.

Once cut into planks, they could be joined using a tenon and mortise structure to create a solid, robust wooden door.

Yu Hong used the simplest type of tenon and mortise, essentially, it meant carving a hole in the face of the thick plank.

Then he shaped another thick plank to produce a projection that perfectly matched the hole.

Finally, fitting the projection into the hole completed the tenon and mortise structure.

The biggest advantage of this structure was that it required no nails.

Using this assembly method, Yu Hong laboriously produced thick, hard, long wooden planks.

He didn't completely manufacture them to drag over, but rather brought the finished wooden slats one by one like building blocks, assembling them at the cave entrance.

During this period, he also continuously tested the function of the Black Mark.

He enhanced one luminous stone after another.

As time passed, just when Yu Hong was nearly accustomed to the strange taste of the jerked meat, the wooden door of the cave was finally finished.

In the early morning hours.

Yu Hong came alone to the cave entrance and fitted the final thick wooden plank to the door.

The entire wooden door was now completely finished, including a free-moving panel that could be opened. Its appearance was quite rugged.

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

In addition, the large nails used at the joints between the wood and stone surfaces were also sponsored from those houses.

The entire cave entrance was now entirely covered by a sturdy gray-black wooden door.

Yu Hong went alone inside and placed an enhanced white stone in a recess behind the door.

This was his discovered method to block shadows from entering.

Since luminous stones could disperse shadows, perhaps logically placing luminous stones in the path of shadows' movement could also block their entry?