"It's fine now." Little Stutterer sighed in relief, removed the raincoat hood from her head, then looked to the other side.
The other person also removed her hood, revealing Doctor Xu's exhausted face.
"On this trip, we encountered more Ghost Shadows just on the way there and back than before. The Glowstone consumption was too high. And that monster from last night—it was officially assessed in the broadcast. It shouldn't have appeared anywhere near here."
This time, Little Stutterer had come to borrow food from her. Doctor Xu had simply used accompanying her outside as the condition and exchanged some dried meat and dried mushrooms for Little Stutterer as payment.
She had thought she was merely doing a good deed. She had never expected that along the way, if not for Little Stutterer's timely help—pulling her back several times at crucial moments—she might have already... At the thought of this, Doctor Xu's face filled with lingering fear.
"I don't know this time."
Bang!!
Suddenly, a tremendous crash rang out.
The Wooden Door was viciously slammed by something.
The thunderous impact shook the door, sending a sheet of plaster tumbling from the surrounding walls.
The doorframe trembled violently, clearly already somewhat loose.
"What is that!?" Doctor Xu's soul nearly fled her body. "It's that monster! It chased us here!! Why!!"
It was the creature they had encountered at their temporary shelter last night.
"Hold it back!" Little Stutterer dashed forward and braced the Wooden Door with her shoulder.
Bang! But the next tremendous crash immediately sent her sprawling backward.
The monster outside was far too strong. There was no way to stop it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
The Wooden Door was struck again and again. The nails securing the doorframe were being shaken loose one by one, pulling outward.
Doctor Xu's soul nearly fled her body. As she stared at the scene, her body stiffened, and she lost the ability to react.
"It's it. It's that thing. It actually..."
Her son had died in a scene just like this.
Back then, she and her family had reacted immediately, desperately rushing over to brace the door. But the massive impacts from outside were simply beyond their ability to withstand.
In less than half a minute, the door shattered. To lure the monster away, her son had taken advantage of the chaos and rushed outside, running into the distance.
Her husband had dragged her away from the house in a desperate escape. Before leaving, she had only seen the distant shadow of her son being bitten by the monster.
Boom!!! Just then, the Wooden Door shattered in an instant, and the fragments shot toward the dazed Doctor Xu.
She was about to be struck in the forehead.
Suddenly, Little Stutterer reached out from the side, grabbed Doctor Xu, and rolled sideways with her.
Whoosh!!
After the door shattered, a huge, pitch-black monster outside charged in with the force of its momentum.
While it had yet to regain its footing and was still being carried forward by that momentum—
Little Stutterer picked up Doctor Xu and took off running.
She burst out the door and sprinted with all her might, racing outward along the gravel road.
"Where... are we going?" Doctor Xu had also recovered by then and asked in a trembling voice.
One place after another flashed through Little Stutterer's mind.
Her own Wooden Door had been reinforced, yet it still could not stop that monster. Other houses would not last long either.
What should she do? What should she do? What should she do!? Sweat flowed down her temples together with her rapid breathing.
After rushing out of the village, Little Stutterer unconsciously ran to the woodland where she and Yu Hong did carpentry during the day.
Realizing something was wrong, she hurriedly turned and headed elsewhere. She did not want Yu Hong to be implicated and discovered as well.
But carrying someone while running, especially in the rain, was exhausting. Even with her extraordinary physique and strength, she was beginning to grow increasingly tired.
What should she do??
She kept thinking of a solution, but no matter how she considered it, in this environment, without a house for shelter and without Glowstone to hold them back, let alone the monster behind them, even the constantly appearing Ghost Shadows were beyond their ability to resist.
"Yi Yi... put me down. If I'm going to die, then let me die. I can't drag you down!" Doctor Xu spoke in broken phrases from her shoulder.
Little Stutterer said nothing, lowering her head as she sprinted toward the distance.
Bang!!! Suddenly, she made a sharp left turn and changed direction at a run.
Beside her, a large tree was viciously struck by the black monster behind them, producing a dull boom.
The tree swayed. A deep dent was smashed into its trunk, and it nearly toppled over.
***Yu Hong put the Radio away, removed its batteries, and covered it with dry leaves.
This would be the key to obtaining news and information from the outside world in the future.
So he absolutely had to preserve it properly.
After finishing, he glanced at the Glowstone. The Glowstone being enhanced still had a countdown displayed on its surface, but it was extremely inconspicuous. Without looking carefully, it was impossible to distinguish.
Whoosh.
He exhaled and was surprised to see his breath turn into a faint white mist.
"Has the temperature gotten this low?"
He stood up and walked to the Stove, intending to light a fire for warmth. With the smoke pipe connected to the ventilation opening on the door, lighting a fire was now safe.
But looking at the firewood inside the Stove, Yu Hong knew that even if he lit it, it would not burn for long.
"Sigh... I wonder when Little Stutterer will come back. If only we could find some coal or something."
The Cave's defenses were now far stronger than those of Little Stutterer's house.
The doors and windows there were only half as thick as those in the Cave, and the material was softer as well. They were made from old house timbers that had been used for years.
The only things missing now were heating and food.
Once those were solved, this would be a qualified Safe House.
Bang!!
Suddenly, Yu Hong seemed to hear a faint impact from far outside.
"What was that sound?" His brows furrowed. Anything that could make a sound outside in this rainy weather was definitely a monster or a Ghost Shadow.
He stood up, wanting to check what was happening outside.
But the moment he rose, he worried about being spotted by the Ghost Shadows outside. A ghastly white face suddenly appearing beyond the Viewing Window was quite frightening.
Even with the Enhanced Glowstone blocking them, being frightened into mental weakness was perfectly normal.
Thinking of this, Yu Hong sat back down.
Bang! Another crash suddenly rang out.
Yu Hong's expression changed. He sprang up, rushed to the Viewing Window, pulled open the cover, and looked outside.
At a glance, he saw Little Stutterer and Doctor Xu being pursued by that pitch-black monster.
"Fuck!"
Looking at the monster, Yu Hong felt a chill run through his heart.
In the mountain forest dozens of meters away, amid the pouring rain, a monster resembling a giant tick—over two meters tall and more than four meters long, its entire body pitch-black—was relentlessly chasing Little Stutterer and Doctor Xu.
Silence.
A pause.
Yu Hong stood at the doorway.
Bang! He abruptly opened the door.
"Over here! Come here!!!" he shouted toward Little Stutterer.
His whole body was taut and trembling, his blood racing through his veins, his face flushed red.
Intense tension and fear urged him to hurry and close the door, to keep the monster from discovering him.
But Little Stutterer had saved him before and helped him far too many times.
Even though he was afraid, Yu Hong still had his own bottom line and principles as a person!
Clutching the Steel Nail Glowstone Rod beside the door, he struggled to control himself, refusing to let fear control him and make him shut the door.
Refusing to let fear force him into hiding.
"Over here!! Yi Yi!!"
Yu Hong stepped outside, stood in the rain, and roared.
"Run this way!!!" he shouted.
He knew that fleeing outside in this increasingly dark environment meant certain death once a Ghost Shadow appeared.
Rather than that, they might as well hide together with him and gamble that this reinforced Wooden Door could withstand the monster's attacks.
As long as it held for a while, it was still daytime. Once the dark clouds dispersed, the monster would soon fade away...
The two in the distance heard his voice and turned their heads. It was not only them—the insect-like monster also heard the commotion and glanced this way.
Taking advantage of that pause, Little Stutterer gritted her teeth and turned, about to run elsewhere.
"Trust me! Yi Yi!" Yu Hong's voice came again.
Little Stutterer stopped, then turned to look at Yu Hong.
From far away, she saw the ferocious determination on his face.
"Come!!" Yu Hong roared, reaching a hand toward her.
Whoosh! The black monster charged again, the airflow it raised whipping Little Stutterer's hair about.
Even the rain soaking her could not withstand the force of the gale.
Doctor Xu reacted first. She immediately pulled Little Stutterer and charged toward Yu Hong.
Her movement stimulated the monster.
The black monster followed behind the two women, charging toward Yu Hong at the Cave entrance.
It was a huge black tick monster, like a black monster tank with eight legs, roaring toward the Cave.
Its body was as massive as a rhinoceros, and its berserk charge inspired a completely different kind of terror from the Ghost Shadows.
Yu Hong stepped back and stood beside the doorway. As he watched the approaching monster, his legs began trembling violently.
A month ago, he had been an ordinary person, an ordinary office worker. A month later, he had to face such a completely unknown and terrifying monster!
Fear.
Overwhelming fear.
It made his entire body rigid, leaving him almost unable to move.
His right hand gripping the doorknob trembled violently, wanting to close and lock the door as quickly as possible.
But Yi Yi and Doctor Xu had not arrived yet!
Doctor Xu could be set aside, but Little Stutterer was different. She had saved him before, so...
Now he had to save her too.
Bang! Yu Hong suddenly slapped both his legs hard.
"Afraid my ass!! Fuck!"
"Stand still!!"
"You fucking stand firm!!!"
He roared furiously in his heart, his eyes fixed on Little Stutterer and Doctor Xu as they drew closer.
Twenty meters.
Fifteen meters.
Ten meters.
Five meters!
One meter!!
Whoosh! In an instant, Doctor Xu and Little Stutterer charged through the doorway one after another.
The moment they entered, Yu Hong slammed the Wooden Door shut and locked it.
Boom!!! Less than a second later, a tremendous impact struck the center of the door, making the entire Cave tremble slightly.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
The black monster began violently slamming into the Reinforced Wooden Door.
It seemed furious—furious that Yu Hong had stolen its prey.
But no matter how it struck, the door merely trembled. There was not even the slightest sign of damage or shaking.
"Huff, huff, huff... what... is this?" Little Stutterer collapsed onto the ground. When she turned her head, she happened to see a door completely different from the one she remembered.
Confusion appeared in her eyes.
She remembered that the door she and Yu Hong had made before should not have been this one?
The door before her was far more sophisticated than the previous one. It also looked much sturdier.
"After you left, I perfected this door again and reinforced the surrounding area." Yu Hong saw her confusion, sat down heavily as well, and explained between gasps.
"..." Little Stutterer stared blankly at him. The old Wooden Door and the perfected thick door before her were truly worlds apart.
"Forget that for now. Come help hold it shut!" Yu Hong stood up in one motion, rushed over, and braced his shoulder against the back of the door.
Doctor Xu and Little Stutterer also hurriedly got up and helped brace it.
The banging continued without pause, but with the three of them working together, the monster outside could clearly no longer move the Wooden Door.
The impacts continued for more than ten blows. After discovering that the Wooden Door remained utterly unmoved—
Before long, seeing that it was getting nowhere, the monster finally turned and left, soon disappearing into the curtain of rain.
Before you continue