Yu Hong held out his hand to warm it for a while. Suddenly, he felt unbearably thirsty, so he rose and went to the wooden bucket, preparing to ladle out some water.
The water in the wooden bucket was quite murky, tinged a faint gray, but it was still much better than the foul water.
Yu Hong took a piece of dry charcoal, then used the edge of his ax to cut off a section of his clothing. He wrapped the charcoal inside it and placed it over the mouth of the wooden drinking cup, wedging it in place so it could not fall through.
With that, he had made the simplest, crudest Charcoal Filter Cup.
Picking up the bucket, he carefully and slowly poured the water over the cloth-wrapped charcoal.
The water seeped through very, very slowly, then dripped even more slowly from beneath the cloth bundle into the cup.
Yu Hong watched for a moment. He found that the dripping water had some charcoal residue at first, but gradually became cleaner—far cleaner than the water in the bucket.
Although it was still murky.
I have to drink water. I can't go without it. I'll try strengthening one myself first and see if I can make a complete one. If it doesn't work, I'll go get one from Little Stutterer's place.
After making his plan, Yu Hong reached out and gripped the wooden cup.
With a thought, he wished to strengthen it.
At once, a new black number surfaced on the side of the cup: 2 hours 34 minutes.
At the same time, Black Mark's mechanical voice sounded in his ear once more.
Strengthen Filter Cup?
Yes!
Yu Hong answered firmly, anticipation rising in his heart.
With a swish, the number on the side of the cup changed into a countdown.
His heart eased. He sat down, leaned against the fireplace, and felt the warmth surging from within. His mind settled considerably.
Two hours was not a long time. He could sit and rest for a while and simply wait.
Sitting on the wooden stool, Yu Hong felt the fireplace continuously radiating waves of warmth. They brushed against his body and seeped through his clothes, making him increasingly drowsy and languid.
It was clearly the dangerous night he had been waiting for, with the outside cold, damp, and crawling with danger. Yet this warmth left him strangely unable to summon any energy.
Before he knew it, his eyelids began to droop.
No! I can't sleep! He abruptly stood up, putting some distance between himself and the fireplace.
By then, the entire Cave had begun to fill with a faint smell of sweat.
It was the strange odor baked out of the blankets and his body.
When they had been damp, it had not been very noticeable. Now that they were being dried by the heat, the smell rapidly spread.
"Ugh." Yu Hong rubbed his nose. He knew that opening the door for ventilation would be the best thing to do, but unfortunately, it was nighttime—the most dangerous time outside.
The faint, hissing sounds of insects crawling had already begun to drift in from beyond the door.
Clearly, the Blood Ticks had begun to appear.
He had no idea where these insects came from. They were nowhere to be seen during the day, yet the moment night fell, they all crawled out.
Moreover, they evaporated and vanished as soon as they were exposed to light. No matter how he looked at it, that was abnormal.
But he no longer had time to think about it.
He rose and stood silently beside the fireplace, waiting.
The flames in the stove trembled upward like red silk, while the firelight swayed with them, flickering between brightness and darkness.
Hiss. Very soon, a large mass of Black Worms began to pour inward through the ventilation hole on the right side of the door, like black sand leaking through a crack.
The moment the Black Worms entered, the fireplace's light shone upon them, and they instantly turned into black smoke and dispersed.
The fire merely dimmed for an instant before quickly returning to normal.
Fortunately, Blood Ticks don't consume much fire. As long as I control how many get in, the firewood should last through the night.
Yu Hong estimated the amount of dry firewood in the corner and felt relieved.
Standing beside the fireplace, he waited for the Black Worms' assault to end while preparing to add firewood at any moment.
Time trickled by.
The firewood gradually dimmed.
Yu Hong moved with astonishing speed, tossing the dry firewood in his hand into the flames.
The dry wood quickly caught fire, and the light returned to normal.
This repeated again and again. He had to add firewood nearly every half hour.
Otherwise, the firelight would rapidly dim.
That left him not daring to shift his attention even for a moment. He had to keep his eyes on the fireplace.
Bang!!! Just then, the Wooden Door was struck, producing a deafening boom.
Bang bang bang bang bang!!! A rapid series of impacts immediately followed. The door was battered like a giant drum, trembling incessantly as stone fragments began to fall frequently from the edges around it.
But the two newly strengthened support pillars played a major role.
Amid the successive thunderous impacts, the door trembled and swayed slightly, as though the entire Cave might collapse from the shaking. Yet under the support pillars' reinforcement, it still held fast, and the fastening screws around it remained perfectly intact.
Yu Hong stood rooted to the spot, trembling with fear. He struggled to control himself and not look at the door, keeping his eyes fixed on the fireplace to prevent the firelight from weakening.
Time passed in torment.
No one knew how long had gone by. Yu Hong had lost anything he could use to keep time, and his phone had long since run out of power and shut down automatically.
He could only guard the fire in silence and wait for dawn. Wait! His heart suddenly jolted. A phone is an item too. Can't it be strengthened as well!?
He suddenly realized that the most technologically advanced thing beside him was definitely his phone.
If he used it for strengthening and turned it into a computational processing and intelligent control center, perhaps he could eventually build a completely intelligent safe shelter base!
Standing there, Yu Hong let his thoughts run wild.
After holding out for a while, the enormous pounding finally stopped.
The Big Hide outside seemed to understand that it could do nothing to the Reinforced Wooden Door. At last, it gave up and crawled away with a rustling sound. Soon, no movement could be heard.
It remained quiet for more than ten minutes.
Apart from ordinary Blood Ticks—in other words, Black Worms—there was no other sound outside.
Everything returned to the original stalemate.
However, after the Reinforced Wooden Door had been battered for so long, the door panel had already bulged slightly inward.
Hu. Yu Hong let out a breath, feeling that half the night had passed. As long as he held out a little longer, things should be fine.
Boom!!! Just then, a thunderous explosion struck the door with the speed of lightning.
The door panel was smashed inward with a pop, a crack splitting across it.
Yu Hong's expression changed. He rushed forward, dragged over the quilt, and braced it against the door panel.
Bang bang bang bang bang!!! Another round of impacts erupted immediately afterward.
This time, the noise was clearly louder than before, and the force was considerably stronger.
Either it isn't the same Big Hide, or the Big Hide has a berserk state!
Yu Hong braced himself against it with all his might, a guess flashing through his mind.
The endless booms rang in his ears, making his eardrums begin to tingle. The shoulder he had pressed against the door burned painfully; the skin had clearly been rubbed raw.
Ten minutes.
Twenty minutes.
Half an hour. Forty minutes. When it was nearly an hour, the pounding suddenly stopped.
No more sounds followed for a long while.
Only then did Yu Hong breathe a sigh of relief. He released the quilt and examined the door panel.
More than a dozen bulges had appeared on the sturdy back of the door, with parallel cracks spreading everywhere.
Another half hour of impacts would probably have shattered it completely.
At that moment, the faint light filtering through the ventilation hole made Yu Hong understand that it was not the Big Hide that had given up. Dawn had broken outside. He dropped onto the floor with a plop, his entire body drenched in sweat, hungry and thirsty.
He turned to look at the strengthened Water Filter Cup. Its countdown had long since vanished.
In its place was a rather sophisticated large cup made of black metal.
The cup had a large filtration device, like a weight attached to the lid. The cup below was cylindrical, resembling a beer mug. Its capacity was at least five hundred milliliters or so.
That was roughly one bottle of the mineral water or purified water Yu Hong usually drank.
Picking up the strengthened Filter Cup, Yu Hong quickly lifted the wooden bucket and poured some water into it.
The rainwater passed through the filter and slowly dripped into the bottom of the cup, gathering little by little until it became a layer of relatively clear, cold water.
Yu Hong waited for a while, then tilted the cup and poured out the layer of water.
It's basically drinkable, but it still needs to be boiled.
The pot and container for boiling water were in the house in White Mound Village.
Yu Hong could only lift the cup and symbolically take a sip, moistening his mouth.
Immediately afterward, he went to the doorway, pulled open the barrier, and looked outside.
Beyond the Viewing Window, the light had grown brighter and brighter, and sunlight once more poured down.
Yu Hong checked the surroundings. Only after confirming that everything was fine did he remove the support pillars and twist open the door lock.
Standing in the doorway, he examined the damage to the door inside and out.
What frightened him was that it had been only a little more. The Reinforced Wooden Door might have been battered through. If dawn had not come at the last moment, then...
Yu Hong silently extended his hand and pressed it against the surface of the door.
"Repair?"
Yes. He answered firmly.
Watching the countdown appear on the door, Yu Hong felt a trace of gloom spread through his heart.
This still isn't enough. I have to reinforce the door further. If another Big Hide comes and rams it, this door definitely won't hold!
Then how should I reinforce it?
He stood beside the door, closed it again, and thought carefully.
Before long, he quickly grabbed his ax and rushed outside. After a burst of chopping, Yu Hong soon dragged over two thick wooden planks.
Switching to a hammer, he hammered away with a clanging racket. Before long, the two thick wooden planks had been nailed to the back of the door.
But the thick planks were not nailed onto the door itself. Instead, they were fixed to the stone walls on either side, one above and one below, parallel to each other.
This made entering and leaving somewhat more troublesome, but it reinforced the door once again.
After that, Yu Hong went to repair some more wooden boards, placing them vertically and tightly against the back of the door to thicken the door panel.
When he finished, he was utterly exhausted and dropped onto the floor.
Wiping away his sweat with his sleeve, he picked up the wooden tool box Little Stutterer had given him. Only two nails remained inside.
The Steel Nail is almost gone too. I have to replenish my supply.
The mortise-and-tenon structure was useful, but it had to be planned from the beginning. Otherwise, later changes could only rely on odds and ends like Steel Nails.
Sitting where he was, Yu Hong thought for a while, then filtered another cup of water and drank it down in small sips.
He picked up the Steel Nail Glowstone Rod, took a deep breath, and swept his gaze across the entire Cave.
I'll go to Little Stutterer's place to move the things first. Before setting out, I'll strengthen something to save time.
After thinking it over, he chose the newly added door reinforcement boards.
He extended his hand and pressed it against the reinforcement board on the back of the door. With a thought, he activated it.
Very soon, Black Mark's query rang out.
Strengthen the door reinforcement board?
Yes!
Yu Hong responded mentally with practiced ease.
At once, numbers surfaced on the board and changed into a countdown: 1 hour 32 minutes.
Good, good. Not too long.
He let out a breath of relief.
Then he picked up the rod, tucked away the only piece of Enhanced Glowstone he had, and opened the door.
Without hesitation, he leaped down the rocky cliff steps and headed through the mountain forest toward White Mound Village.
Before you continue