020 Trying Again 2 (Xie Lan Die Zhi Yi Alliance Leader)

Yu Hong reached out to warm himself by the fire for a while, but suddenly felt unbearably thirsty. He stood up and walked over to the wooden bucket, preparing to scoop some water to drink.

The water in the bucket was quite murky, showing a faint grayish tint, but it was still much better than the foul water.

Yu Hong grabbed a piece of dried charcoal for filtering, then used the edge of his axe blade to cut off a corner of his clothing. He wrapped the charcoal in the cloth and placed it over the opening of his wooden drinking cup, wedging it just tightly enough that it couldn't fall through.

With that, he had made the simplest, crudest charcoal filter cup imaginable.

Picking up the bucket, he carefully and slowly poured water from above onto the cloth-wrapped charcoal.

The water seeped through very, very slowly, then dripped down from beneath the cloth-wrapped charcoal, drop by drop, into the cup.

Yu Hong observed for a moment and noticed that the dripping water started with a bit of black charcoal residue at first, but afterward became increasingly clean—much cleaner than what was in the bucket.

Though it was still murky.

'I have to drink water; I can't go without it. Let me try first and see if I can strengthen one myself to make it proper. If not, I'll go get one from Little Stutterer's place.'

With that plan in mind, Yu Hong reached out and grasped the wooden cup.

He focused his intent on strengthening it.

Instantly, a new black number appeared on the side of the cup: 2 hours 34 minutes.

At the same time, the mechanical voice of the Black Mark rang out again in his ears.

'Strengthen the filter cup?'

'Yes!'

Yu Hong answered with anticipation in his heart, putting force into his reply.

With a whoosh, the number on the side of the cup turned into a countdown.

He relaxed inwardly, sat down, leaned against the fireplace to feel the warmth radiating from within, and felt much more at ease.

Two hours wasn't a long time. Sitting and resting for a while, just waiting, would be fine.

Sitting on the wooden stool, Yu Hong felt an endless stream of warmth radiating from the fireplace. The warm currents brushed against him, penetrating his clothes, making his body grow increasingly languid.

Even though it was a dangerous night environment approaching, with the cold and damp outside and perils everywhere, this warmth somehow made him feel sluggish and unmotivated.

Without realizing it, his eyelids began to droop.

'No! I can't sleep!' He suddenly stood up, moving himself farther from the fireplace.

By now, a faint smell of sweat had begun to spread throughout the cave.

It was the odor being baked out of the bedding and his own body.

When everything was damp before, the smell wasn't so noticeable, but now that it was being dried by the heat, the odor quickly dispersed.

"Hmm." Yu Hong rubbed his nose, knowing that what he should do most right now was open the door to let in fresh air. But unfortunately, it was nighttime—the most dangerous time outside.

The faint rustling sounds of insects crawling could already be heard from beyond the door.

Clearly, those Blood Ticks had started to appear.

He didn't know where these bugs came from. During the day, they were nowhere to be seen, but as soon as night fell, they all crawled out.

And when exposed to light, they evaporated and vanished. That alone was abnormal no matter how you looked at it.

But at this moment, he had no time to think too much about it.

Standing up, he pressed himself close to the fireplace and waited quietly.

The flames in the hearth vibrated upward like red silk fabric, and the firelight swayed unsteadily with the vibration, flickering between bright and dim.

Soon, the ventilation hole on the right side of the door began to pour in a flood of black bugs, like black sand leaking through.

As soon as the mass of black bugs entered, they were hit by the firelight from the hearth and instantly turned into black smoke that dissipated.

The fire dimmed only slightly for a moment before quickly returning to normal.

'Good, the Blood Ticks don't consume much fire. As long as I control how many come in, this firewood should last through the night without a problem.'

Yu Hong estimated the pile of dry wood in the corner and breathed a sigh of relief.

Standing by the fireplace, he waited for the black bug invasion to end while staying ready to add firewood to the hearth at any moment.

Time passed little by little.

The firewood gradually dimmed as well.

Yu Hong moved with lightning speed, tossing the dry wood in his hand into the fire.

Soon, the dry wood caught flame, and the light returned to normal.

This cycle repeated itself. He had to add firewood almost every half hour.

Otherwise, the firelight would quickly fade.

This also meant he dared not let his attention wander for even a second; he had to keep his eyes on the fireplace at all times.

Boom!!! Just then, the wooden door was struck with a heavy impact, producing a loud crash.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!! Immediately after, a rapid series of impacts began. The door shook like a drum, trembling incessantly, and stone chips began to fall from the edges around it.

But the two reinforced support pillars played a huge role.

A series of heavy crashes rang out.

The door trembled and shook slightly, as if the entire cave might collapse. But with the support pillars holding firm, it held fast, and the surrounding anchor bolts remained intact.

Yu Hong stood rooted in place, trembling with fear, forcing himself not to look at the door but instead keeping his eyes fixed on the fireplace, making sure the flames didn't dwindle.

Time passed in this agonizing torment.

He didn't know how long it had been—he'd lost all sense of time, and his phone had long since died, shutting down automatically.

He could only silently guard the fire, waiting for dawn. 'Wait!' Suddenly his heart jolted. 'The phone is an item too—can't it also be strengthened!??'

His mind snapped to attention. The most technologically advanced thing he had on him was definitely his phone.

If he used it for strengthening, turning it into a computational processing and intelligent control center, maybe he could even build a fully automated safe shelter base in the future!

Standing there, Yu Hong let his thoughts run wild.

And so he held on like that for a while, until the massive crashing sounds finally stopped.

The Big Hide outside seemed to realize it couldn't do anything to the reinforced wooden door, gave up at last, and crawled away with a rustling sound, soon falling silent.

About ten minutes of quiet passed.

Outside, there were no other disturbances besides the ordinary Blood Ticks, also known as Black Worms.

Everything returned to the initial stalemate.

But the reinforced wooden door had been battered for so long that the panel was now slightly bowed inward.

Whoosh. Yu Hong let out a breath. He felt that the night was already half over—if he could just hold on a little longer, it should be fine.

Boom!!! Just then, a thunderous crash exploded against the door with lightning speed.

The door panel burst open with a crack splitting through it.

Yu Hong's expression shifted. He rushed over, grabbed the quilt, and pressed it against the door.

Bang bang bang bang bang!!! Another round of impacts erupted immediately.

This time, the noise was noticeably louder than before, and the force was much stronger.

'Either it's not the same Big Hide, or the Big Hide has a berserk state!'

Yu Hong braced himself with all his might, guesses flashing through his mind.

The relentless crashes rang in his ears, numbing his eardrums slightly. The shoulder he used to brace the door was burning with a sharp pain—clearly, the skin had been rubbed raw.

Ten minutes.

Twenty minutes.

Half an hour. Forty minutes... Until nearly an hour had passed, the battering suddenly stopped.

For a long time, it didn't resume.

Only then did Yu Hong breathe a sigh of relief. He let go of the quilt and looked at the door panel.

The back of the sturdy door now had over a dozen bulges, with cracks running in parallel lines across it.

If it had been battered for another half hour, it would have been completely broken.

At that moment, a faint glimmer of light seeped through the ventilation hole, and Yu Hong realized it wasn't that the Big Hide had given up—it was that dawn had broken outside.

Thud. He slumped to the ground, drenched in sweat, starving and parched.

He turned his head to look at the strengthened Water Filter Cup. The countdown on it had long since disappeared.

In its place was a rather well-made large black metal cup.

The cup had a bulky filtration device attached, like a weight connected to the lid. Below that, the body was cylindrical, similar to a beer mug. Its capacity was at least around five hundred milliliters.

That was about the same as a bottle of purified water Yu Hong usually drank.

Picking up the strengthened filter cup, Yu Hong quickly lifted the wooden barrel and poured some water into it.

The rainwater filtered through, slowly dripping down into the bottom of the cup, drop by drop, gradually forming a layer of relatively clear cold water.

Yu Hong waited a moment, then tilted the cup and poured out this layer of water.

'Basically drinkable, but it still needs to be boiled.'

The pots and pans for boiling water were all back in the house at White Mound Village.

Yu Hong could only raise the cup and take a symbolic sip to wet his lips.

Then, he walked to the door, pulled aside the cover, and looked outside.

Through the Viewing Window, the light was growing brighter, and sunlight was shining down again.

Yu Hong checked the surroundings to make sure everything was fine, then removed the support pillar and twisted open the door lock.

He stood at the entrance, inspecting the damage to the door inside and out.

What sent a chill through him was that the reinforced wooden door had come within a hair's breadth of being smashed through—if dawn hadn't come, then... Yu Hong silently reached out and pressed his hand against the door's surface.

"Repair?"

'Yes.' He confirmed.

Watching the countdown appear on the door, a shadow of gloom crept into his heart.

"Not yet. I still need to reinforce the door. If another Big Hide comes charging at it, this thing definitely won't hold!"

"So, how do I reinforce it?"

He stood by the door, closed it again, and thought carefully.

Before long, he quickly grabbed his axe and rushed out. After a burst of wood-chopping sounds, Yu Hong soon dragged two thick planks over.

He swapped to a hammer, and after a clatter of banging, the two thick planks were nailed to the back of the door.

But the planks weren't nailed to the door itself—they were fixed to the stone walls on either side, one at the top and one at the bottom, parallel to each other.

This way, though going in and out was a bit more troublesome, the door was reinforced once again.

After that, Yu Hong went to cut more planks, standing them upright and pressing them tightly against the back of the door to thicken the door panel.

Once he finished all this, he was exhausted and plopped down on the ground.

Wiping the sweat from his face with his sleeve, he picked up the tool box Little Stutterer had given him. Only two nails were left inside.

"Steel nails are almost gone too. I need to restock."

Mortise and tenon joints were handy, but they required planning from the start. If changes came later, he could only rely on bits and pieces like steel nails.

Sitting there for a moment, he filtered another cup of water and drank it in small sips.

Picking up the Steel Nail Glowstone Rod, he took a deep breath and swept his gaze across the entire cave.

"First, I'll move the stuff from Little Stutterer's room. Before I set out, I'll reinforce something to save time."

He thought for a moment and chose to reinforce the newly added door reinforcement planks.

Reaching out, he pressed his hand against the reinforcement planks on the back of the door and focused his mind.

Soon, Black Mark's questioning voice rang out.

"Reinforce door reinforcement planks?"

"Yes!"

Yu Hong responded in his mind, familiar with the process.

Instantly, numbers appeared on the planks, turning into a countdown: 1 hour, 32 minutes.

"Not bad, not bad. That's not long."

He let out a sigh of relief.

Then, he picked up the rod, tucked away the only remaining reinforcement glowstone, and opened the door.

Without hesitation, he jumped down the rocky cliff steps and followed the mountain forest toward White Mound Village.