Trouble 2

"It's... fine now." Little Stutterer let out a relieved breath, pulled off her raincoat hood, and looked to the other side.

The other person followed suit, removing their hood to reveal Doctor Xu's weary face.

"This trip alone, the Ghost Shadows we encountered going back and forth are already more than before. The Glowstone consumption is too high. And that monster last night—officially broadcast and assessed—it shouldn't have been near here at all."

This time, Little Stutterer had come to borrow food from her, so she figured she'd use it as an excuse to have her accompany her out. As repayment, she exchanged some Dried Meat and Dried Mushroom for Little Stutterer.

She thought she was being kind, helping out. She never expected that along the way, if not for Little Stutterer's timely aid, pulling her through at several critical moments, she'd probably be—thinking back to that, Doctor Xu's face filled with lingering fear.

"This time, I don't know."

Boom!!

Suddenly, a loud crash.

The wooden door of the house was violently slammed into by something.

The thunderous impact shook the door panel, sending flakes of wall plaster tumbling down around it.

The door frame shuddered violently, clearly starting to loosen.

"What is that!?" Doctor Xu's heart nearly leaped out of her throat. "It's that monster! It chased us here!! Why?!"

It was the thing they'd encountered at their temporary shelter last night.

"Hold... it!" Little Stutterer dashed forward in a single stride, bracing her shoulder against the wooden door.

Boom! But the next heavy impact sent her stumbling backward, knocked to the ground.

The monster outside was far too strong—there was no stopping it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!!

The wooden door was struck again and again. The nails securing the door frame were rattling loose one by one, popping out.

Doctor Xu's soul fled in terror as she watched this scene, her body stiffening, losing all ability to react.

"It's it. That thing. It actually—"

Her son had died in a situation just like this.

Back then, she and her family had reacted immediately, desperately rushing to brace the door. But the massive impacts from outside were something they simply couldn't withstand.

In less than half a minute, the door shattered. Her son, to lure the monster away, took advantage of the chaos and charged out, running far off.

She, meanwhile, was dragged by her husband as they fled the house. Before leaving, she only caught a glimpse of her son's silhouette being bitten into by that monster in the distance.

Boom!!! Just then, the wooden door burst apart, fragments hurtling toward the frozen Doctor Xu.

Just as they were about to smash into her forehead.

Suddenly, Little Stutterer reached out from the side, grabbed her, and rolled sideways.

Whoosh!!

After the door shattered, a massive, pitch-black monster outside charged in with its momentum.

Seizing the moment it stumbled, still carried forward by inertia.

Little Stutterer scooped up Doctor Xu and bolted.

She rushed out the door, sprinting at full speed, racing along the Gravel Road outward.

"Where... are we going?" Doctor Xu snapped back to her senses, her voice trembling as she asked.

Little Stutterer's mind raced through one place after another.

Her own house had a reinforced wooden door, and even that couldn't stop the monster. Any other house wouldn't hold out much longer either.

What to do? What to do? What to do!? Sweat, mingled with rapid, ragged breaths, trickled down her temples.

Bursting out of the village, Little Stutterer unconsciously ran to the woodland where she'd worked carpentry with Yu Hong during the day.

Realizing her mistake, she quickly veered off toward another direction. She didn't want to drag Yu Hong into being discovered too.

But carrying someone while running, and in the rain at that—even with her abnormal physique and strength, she was growing more exhausted by the second.

What to do??

She kept turning over ideas in her mind, but no matter how she thought about it, in this environment, without the shelter of a house or the barrier of Glowstone, let alone the monster behind them, even the ceaselessly appearing Ghost Shadows were something they couldn't resist.

"Yi Yi... put me down. If I die, I die. I can't drag you down too!" Doctor Xu spoke in broken gasps from her shoulder.

Little Stutterer said nothing, lowering her head and sprinting desperately into the distance.

Boom!!! Suddenly, she made a sharp left turn, changing direction in a burst.

Right beside her, a large tree was violently slammed into by the black monster behind them, letting out a dull thud.

The tree swayed, its trunk dented with a deep hollow, nearly toppling over.

***Yu Hong set the radio down, removed the batteries, and covered it with dry leaves.

This would be his key to obtaining information from the outside world from now on.

So he had to keep it safe.

After doing this, he glanced at the Glowstone. The Enhanced Glowstone had a countdown number floating on its surface, but it was very inconspicuous—if you didn't look closely, you couldn't make it out at all.

Hoo.

He exhaled, and was surprised to find his breath turned into a faint white mist.

"Is it already this cold?"

Standing up, he walked over to the Stove, intending to light a fire for warmth. With the smoke pipe connected to the vent on the door, starting a fire was now safe.

But looking at the firewood inside the Stove, Yu Hong knew that even if he lit it, it wouldn't burn for long.

"Tch, I wonder when Little Stutterer will be back. If only she could find some coal or something."

Right now, the defensive capability of this cave was far stronger than Little Stutterer's house.

Over there, the thickness of the doors and windows was only half of what the cave had, and the material was softer and more brittle—old wooden planks from a house that had been used for years.

The only things missing now were the heating problem and the food problem.

Solve those, and this place would be a qualified Safe House.

Bang!!

Suddenly, Yu Hong seemed to hear a faint impact sound from far away outside.

"What's that noise?" He frowned. In this kind of rainy weather, anything making a sound outside was definitely a monster or a Ghost Shadow.

Standing up, he wanted to check what was happening outside.

But as soon as he got up, he worried about being spotted by a Ghost Shadow outside. That Viewing Window suddenly having a pale, human face pressed against it was still pretty terrifying.

Even with the Enhanced Glowstone blocking it, getting scared into a nervous breakdown was entirely normal.

Thinking this, Yu Hong sat back down.

Bang! Another sound suddenly rang out.

Yu Hong's expression changed. He shot up, rushed to the Viewing Window, pulled open the cover, and looked outside.

What he saw was Little Stutterer and Doctor Xu being chased by a pitch-black monster.

"Fuck!"

Looking at that monster, Yu Hong's heart shuddered.

In the heavy rain, dozens of meters away in the forest, a monster like a giant tick—over two meters tall and four meters long, completely black—was relentlessly chasing Little Stutterer and the other.

Silence.

A pause.

Yu Hong stood at the door.

Bang! He suddenly threw the door open.

"Over here! Come here!!!" He shouted in the direction of Little Stutterer.

His whole body was tense, trembling, blood racing through his veins, his face flushed red.

Intense nervousness and fear urged him to close the door quickly, to not let that monster spot him.

But Little Stutterer had saved him before, had helped him too much.

Even with fear, Yu Hong had his own bottom line as a person, his own principles!

Gripping the Steel Nail Glowstone Rod by the door, he forced himself to control it, not letting fear make him shut the door.

Not letting fear force him to hide.

"Over here!! Yi Yi!!"

Yu Hong stepped one foot out the door, standing in the rain, roaring.

"Run this way!!!" He bellowed.

He knew that out here, running in this increasingly dark environment, once a Ghost Shadow appeared, the end result was certain death.

Rather than that, it was better to hide together with him, to gamble that this reinforced Wooden Door could withstand the monster's attacks.

As long as they could hold out for a while—it was still daytime now, and once the dark clouds dispersed, the monster would soon retreat...

In the distance, Little Stutterer and the other heard the sound and turned to look. Not just them—that monster bug also heard the commotion and turned its head to glance this way.

Taking advantage of this pause, Little Stutterer gritted her teeth and was about to run in another direction.

"Trust me! Yi Yi!" Yu Hong's voice came again.

Little Stutterer's body froze. She turned her head to look at Yu Hong.

From afar, she saw the fierce determination on his face.

"Come!!" Yu Hong roared, reaching out his hand toward her.

Whoosh! The black monster charged again, the airflow it kicked up blowing Little Stutterer's hair wildly.

Even the rain soaking her couldn't withstand the force of the strong air current.

Immediately, Doctor Xu was the first to react. She grabbed Little Stutterer and rushed toward Yu Hong's direction.

Her movement instantly provoked the monster.

The black creature followed close behind the two women, charging together toward Yu Hong at the cave entrance.

It was a massive black tick monster, like a black war beast with eight legs, thundering toward the cave.

Its rhinoceros-sized body rampaged forward with wild momentum, a terror entirely different from Ghost Shadow.

Yu Hong stepped back, positioning himself beside the doorframe, watching the monster bear down on him. His legs trembled violently.

A month ago, he was just an ordinary person, an ordinary office worker. A month later, he had to face a completely unknown, horrifying monster like this!

Fear.

Overwhelming fear.

It froze his entire body, nearly paralyzing him.

His right hand, gripping the door handle, shook violently, desperate to slam the door shut and lock it.

But Yi Yi and the other woman hadn't made it yet!

Doctor Xu could be left behind, but Little Stutterer was different—she had saved him before, so.

Now he had to save her too.

Bam! Yu Hong slapped his own legs hard.

"Scared of what?! Fuck!!"

"Stop shaking!!"

"You fucking stand steady!!!"

He roared in his heart, his eyes locked on Little Stutterer and the other woman as they drew closer.

Twenty meters.

Fifteen meters.

Ten meters.

Five meters.

One meter!!

Whoosh! In that instant, Doctor Xu and Little Stutterer rushed through the doorway one after the other.

The moment they were inside, the wooden door slammed shut with a bang as Yu Hong sealed and locked it.

Boom!!! Less than a second later, a deafening crash struck the center of the door, shaking the entire cave.

Boom! Boom! Boom!!

The black monster began ramming the Reinforced Wooden Door in a frenzy.

It seemed furious—furious that Yu Hong had stolen its prey.

But no matter how hard it slammed, the door only shuddered, showing no signs of damage or loosening.

"Huff, huff, huff... this, is??" Little Stutterer collapsed to the ground, turning her head to see a door completely different from the one she remembered.

Confusion flickered in her eyes.

She recalled that the door she and Yu Hong had made before shouldn't look like this, right?

This door was far more refined than the previous one. And it looked much sturdier.

"After you left, I reworked this door and reinforced the surroundings," Yu Hong said, noticing her confusion. He sat down heavily, panting, and explained.

"..." Little Stutterer stared at him blankly. The gap between the old wooden door and this reinforced thick one was really something. "Never mind that now—come brace it!" Yu Hong jumped up and pressed his shoulder against the back of the door.

Doctor Xu and Little Stutterer quickly got up and helped brace it too.

The pounding continued, but with the three of them working together, the monster outside could no longer budge the door.

The crashing went on for about a dozen more strikes. Finding the door unmoved.

Before long, seeing no progress, the monster finally turned and left, quickly vanishing into the curtain of rain.