018 Trouble 4 (Xie Qiong Kong Zhi Zhuo Xiao)

Chapter 18: Trouble (IV) — Xie Qiong Kong Zhi Zhuo Xiao (Alliance Leader)

"It's a man!" Doctor Xu twisted the door open and looked back at him.

"I take back what I said about you being dead weight, and I thank you for saving me. But right now, this decision of yours is really stupid!"

She couldn't understand how someone like Yu Hong could exist in this world—he was like one of those idealistic, naive types. The things he said and did were always beyond what normal people could grasp.

Looking at it now, Yu Hong might have some skill, building this reinforced wooden door was indeed a talent.

But he was too self-righteous. "You'll regret this. You have no idea how harsh the High Tide Period really is." Doctor Xu couldn't help sneering.

That was just her nature.

"If you change your mind now and come with us, it's still not too late!"

She stared at Yu Hong, finally letting a hint of deeply hidden persuasion slip through.

"No." Yu Hong shook his head. "I prefer living alone."

"You!" Doctor Xu's expression shifted slightly. She snorted, pulled Little Stutterer along, and walked out.

"Hurry up! It just rained, the ground is hard to walk on—we have to move fast! First, we'll stay with a former patient of mine I saved before!"

She finally stopped paying Yu Hong any mind, yanked Little Stutterer along as they quickly left the cave, jumped down the cliff face, and ran off into the distance.

Little Stutterer kept looking back at Yu Hong as she ran.

"Yu, Hong!" She waved hard. "The house, the stuff, all, for you!"

She felt this might be the last time she saw him, and her heart ached a little.

"Thanks!" Yu Hong waved back, a smile spreading across his face.

Watching the two of them grow smaller and smaller through the wet forest, soon shrinking into two tiny dots.

He suddenly had a feeling.

Maybe Doctor Xu and Little Stutterer wouldn't come back for a long time. The sudden appearance of the large Blood Ticks seemed to signal that the outside environment was getting worse. If Big Hide's appearances became the norm from now on... Yu Hong didn't keep thinking about it.

Staring in the direction they'd gone, a deep loneliness suddenly welled up in his heart.

Suddenly, he took a sharp breath and shouted.

"Yi Yi! I'll be here waiting for you—always!!"

His voice rang out loud, echoing through the forest, carrying farther and farther away.

The two distant dots paused slightly, then kept moving until they vanished completely.

More golden beams of light pierced through the gray clouds, illuminating the earth and the forest.

Yu Hong looked at the direction they'd left, then toward White Mound Village.

"No one left now." He let out a breath.

"Just me alone."

If all the surviving villagers living nearby encountered Big Hide, they'd all make the same decision as Doctor Xu.

They'd all go looking for larger bunkers. Relying on just a few people, it was impossible to hold off the stronger monsters anymore.

"Maybe for dozens of kilometers around, I'm the only one living out in the wild."

Yu Hong gazed at the silent, dead White Mound Village—those old, dilapidated houses covered in stains seemed to radiate a cold, eerie deathly aura.

From the cave entrance, through the trees, he could barely make out the village's outline.

Yu Hong stood motionless at the entrance for a long time.

Suddenly, his pupils contracted, and the muscles across his body tensed slightly.

Far off, he saw a figure appear at the entrance of White Mound Village's Gravel Road.

It was a middle-aged man, thin, wearing gray-white old clothes.

Too far away to make out his face.

All he could see was that the man, from a distance, seemed to be smiling, waving in this direction.

He stood at the village entrance, his right hand raised, waving mechanically toward Yu Hong.

Yu Hong blinked, but in that single blink, the man was gone.

"Ghost Shadow!" He gritted his teeth, feeling his jaw ache.

The frequency of Ghost Shadows appearing in broad daylight was increasing. Based on what Little Stutterer had told him, that wasn't how it used to be.

This wasn't normal.

Add to that the newly appeared large Blood Ticks, Big Hide... "Just like the Radio said. The environment is deteriorating. More and more trouble."

Yu Hong slowly backed away, no longer looking toward the village. Instead, he searched for the wooden bucket he'd used to collect rainwater.

Soon, he found it on the grass a dozen meters from the cave entrance—a bucket with a big chunk missing from its rim.

There was still a little rainwater left inside.

He strained to lift it and carried it back into the cave.

He then inspected the wooden door, reaching out to press his palm against its surface.

'Repair?' The mechanical voice of the Black Mark sounded again.

'Yes.' Yu Hong answered in his mind.

Instantly, a wisp of black thread flowed from the Black Mark on the back of his hand, left his skin in a flash, and sank into the wooden door.

Then a countdown number appeared—a number only Yu Hong could see.

Seeing that the repair had begun, he breathed a sigh of relief, opened the door, and let some outside air blow in.

Then he started taking stock of the food and supplies stored in the cave.

1. One bag of Enhanced Protein Bars, ten sticks. Enough to last him ten days, if the packaging wasn't lying.

2. The Dried Mushrooms and Dried Vegetables that Little Stutterer had given him—roughly a large bundle. Under normal circumstances, enough to last him quite a while, ensuring he got trace elements and dietary fiber.

3. One Stinky Cotton Quilt.

4. One Radio.

5. Two Wooden Stools.

6. One Stove.

7. One Broken Bucket.

8. One Enhanced Glowstone.

9. One Axe and Saw Logging Set.

10. One Enhanced Candle.

That was all the main stuff. The rest of his daily necessities were still in the house at White Mound Village.

But... Yu Hong walked to the door's window and looked in that direction.

Under the sunlight, in that old, dilapidated village, he could vaguely see blurry human figures standing at every door and window of every house.

They stood silently, motionless.

As Yu Hong stared, they seemed to sense something and turned to look back in his direction.

'So many!' Yu Hong's scalp went numb. He slammed the shutter shut, blocking the Viewing Window.

White Mound Village was clearly different from before—it had become more dangerous.

Not only had the Blood Ticks changed, but even the Ghost Shadows... "Before, in broad daylight with the sun this strong, the Ghost Shadows couldn't have appeared in such numbers. How is this happening now?"

He couldn't understand.

The Enhanced Glowstone in his hand was down to just one piece; the rest had been embedded into the walls and the door.

Oh, right, and the club! Yu Hong grabbed the steel-spiked club and glanced around at the Enhanced Glowstones embedded in the cave walls, feeling a bit safer for the moment.

He was starting to understand Doctor Xu a little now.

She was right.

If it weren't for the Black Mark, heading to the Town Bunker would have been the best—and only—path to survival.

"Right, I wonder if the Enhanced Glowstone can be repaired or replenished after use..." Yu Hong sat down on a Wooden Stool and picked up a used Enhanced Glowstone.

This stone was one he'd taken from the steel-spiked club.

On the egg-sized white stone, the jade-like texture was gone, replaced by a pale, lime-like color.

The symbols on the surface were still there, but upon closer inspection, he could see that the lines and grooves of the symbols had developed many fractures.

They had gone from continuous to disjointed.

Holding the Enhanced Glowstone, Yu Hong sat quietly, staring at the countdown number on the door.

He didn't dare go out anymore.

Things outside were clearly abnormal.

Tomorrow was the High Tide Period, but today had already started to become extremely abnormal.

At White Mound Village, there were still things Little Stutterer had said she'd leave for him, but he didn't dare go get them now.

Because it was too dangerous. Just now, with a single distant glance, he'd seen no fewer than twenty Ghost Shadows—and these were the ones bold enough to appear in broad daylight under the sun.

This was a completely different ballgame from before. If those Ghost Shadows attacked, his Enhanced Glowstones wouldn't be able to hold them off.

Yu Hong stared at the numbers, thinking.

'At least before I left, I gave Yi Yi another Enhanced Glowstone and made sure she learned the more complex runes on it. That should help her.'

Pfft.

Just then, as he was lost in thought, the wooden door in front of him suddenly blurred.

In an instant, the damaged, cracked Enhanced Wooden Door became whole and flawless again, as if it had just been made.

All the damage, cracks, loosened anchor points, screws—everything—was re-strengthened and restored to its original state.

Yu Hong let out a breath, stood up, and carefully inspected it.

Confirming that there was truly no problem, the large door had indeed returned to its initial state right after he had finished reinforcing it.

He immediately let out a heavy sigh of relief in his heart.

'But it's not enough.'

The moment he recalled Big Hide's terrifying impact force from before, a layer of gloom settled over his eyes.

After thinking it over, he lifted the Steel Nail Glowstone Rod, carefully opened the door, and stepped out of the cave entrance.

Outside the cave was a quiet, dense mountain forest.

The moisture after the rain rose up, turning into a thin mist that spread through the woods, beginning to obscure his vision.

The blurry fog made Yu Hong grow a little wary in his heart.

But he had to go to the place where he had made the wooden door before, to find a few long wooden boards for reinforcement devices.

Carrying the Steel Nail Glowstone Rod, he made as little noise as possible, climbed down the rock face, and arrived at a small clearing in the forest.

Scattered across the clearing were a few cut tree stumps, black marks from a fire, and wood dust from sawing.

This was the place where he had made the wooden door before.

Yu Hong looked left and right, confirmed there was no danger, then quickly picked up two arm-thick wooden bars from the ground.

These were leftover materials from before, unused because they weren't straight enough.

But now they were just right for making door bolts and support pillars.

Yu Hong dragged the two meter-long bars back into the cave.

The two bars had been soaked by the rain and were very damp.

But he paid no attention to that at all, nor did he care whether they were wet or not—he just had to get through this High Tide Period first.

Taking out his saw, he made a rough measurement and began cutting the bars with effort.

Soon, after some slight adjustments, the two thick wooden bars had their ends treated and were propped diagonally against the back of the wooden door, reinforcing the door's defense.

After doing this, Yu Hong reached out and pressed a hand on one of the bars.

In his mind, he thought about reinforcing the door reinforcement device.

This was a test of his.

On the surface, it was just a crude thing made of two thick wooden bars. If he gave it a functional name, could it also be directionally reinforced by the Black Mark? If not, that meant the Black Mark had strict requirements for the target of reinforcement.

If it could, then the room for maneuver would be much greater. With one hand pressed on the wooden bar, Yu Hong silently chanted in his mind.

Soon.

'Reinforce the door reinforcement device?'

With a faint sound that only he could hear.

Yu Hong's waiting eyes suddenly turned into anticipation!

He saw the number floating on the wooden bar: 11 points.

'Yes!'

He responded forcefully in his mind.

It works!! It really works!!!

At the same time, a trace of elation rose in his heart.

If that was the case, then if I put together a simple water filtration tool myself, it should also be able to be reinforced and perfected!

And furniture, all kinds of tools—as long as I give them a designated conceptual functional name, perhaps...