Decision II

Decision II

Watching Little Stutterer put away the preserved dry goods, then pick up the small water jar and head outside.

Yu Hong hurried after her. He needed to learn where to get water.

The two left the house. To his surprise, Little Stutterer did not go to draw water from the well in the village. Instead, she left the Gravel Road and followed the Old Highway out.

After walking for about ten minutes.

They found a Rotten Well in a low-lying spot by the roadside.

The well was very shallow. Even in the light, they could see that there was only a pool of dark yellow, foul-smelling water at the bottom.

Without a word, Little Stutterer tied the water jar to a rope and lowered it to scoop up water.

"Why not draw water from the well in the village?" Yu Hong could not help asking in a low voice.

"That water... can't be drunk!" Little Stutterer answered seriously.

She looked up at Yu Hong as she drew water.

"From now on... get water... here!" She pointed at the well before them.

"..." Yu Hong nodded. Looking down at the foul water slowly being drawn up, his mood grew increasingly heavy.

He helped Little Stutterer seal the water jar so it would not spill.

They did not head back. Instead, they began searching through the nearby grass for something.

"Must... eat... grass!" Little Stutterer instructed him.

"Or... else... sick! Die!" She gestured as she explained.

Yu Hong nodded and began carefully learning which plants she was digging up.

This was extremely valuable experience. If he ate the wrong thing, he could easily be poisoned or get diarrhea. In such a harsh environment, falling ill likely meant weakness and death.

After gathering for a while, they each carried a large bundle back to the house.

Little Stutterer laid the grass by the window to dry.

Yu Hong carefully recorded what he had learned with a Charcoal Pencil. He noted only the key points, in a simplified form, as long as he himself could understand it.

The writing surface was a sheet of newspaper Little Stutterer had given him earlier.

"Can Dried Meat and Dried Mushroom only be bought from very far away?" Yu Hong asked after writing that down.

"Can... grow them... yourself," Little Stutterer answered with difficulty. "But... not... worth it!"

Yu Hong nodded and wrote it down.

He was about to continue asking when a small notebook was suddenly handed to him.

The notebook had a white cover, with a cartoon mouse in the center. Scrawled crookedly across it were the words: Survival Manual by Lin Yi Yi.

Yu Hong fell silent for a moment. When he looked up, he saw Little Stutterer holding the notebook and grinning at him, revealing a mouthful of large yellow teeth.

"Thank you." He accepted the notebook and opened it.

It carefully recorded how to collect water, how to buy food, and the characteristics and locations of some basic wild vegetables.

There was not much content, but it was very detailed.

It also recorded several villagers in White Mound Village who could be contacted, along with their contact methods.

Lao Yu was the one who made Dried Meat. Doctor Xu was responsible for treating illnesses. Someone named Jenny handled leatherworking and handicrafts, and there was also someone who made candles. Besides that, the residences of other villagers were marked as well, though no names were written down. Clearly, Lin Yi Yi was not familiar with them.

Finally, there was a place called the Post Office, located in a patch of woods north of White Mound Village.

"What does the Post Office do?" Yu Hong asked.

"Contact... cities... towns... bring in... goods... salt... sugar... deliver... letters." Speaking was very difficult for Little Stutterer.

She gestured wildly as she explained.

"You must... master... one craft... trade... with people... for supplies."

"I understand. I understand all that. But I think the most important thing to solve first is safety." Yu Hong spoke seriously.

"While you were gone, Impostors came looking for trouble twice already. That's too dangerous."

His mind spun rapidly as he considered how to use his unique Black Mark to gain the greatest possible safety.

"No way." Little Stutterer had clearly considered this as well. She lowered her head in dejection.

"Ghost Shadows... nothing... can stop them. Bugs... as long as... there's a crack... they can crawl through."

"They can pass through walls!" She gestured.

Pass through walls? Yu Hong fell silent. Looking at the walls inside the house, he sank into thought.

This place is too crude. Its defenses are terrible. There are cracks and holes everywhere. He remembered how the Black Worms had crawled in through the gaps around the door and windows. That meant they probably could not pass through walls.

He asked Little Stutterer and received a positive answer.

Then, after carefully inspecting the house, he quickly reached a conclusion: its defenses were abysmal.

"I plan to live outside by myself. I'll find another place." He spoke softly. Alone, he would not have to worry about Impostors. As long as nobody opened the door, it would be fine.

Little Stutterer froze.

She had rescued quite a few people before, but those people always wanted to stay with her for a few more days, to learn more basic survival skills before leaving.

But this man before her... this man named Yu Hong had only just woken up, his body only slightly better, and he already wanted to live alone? Strange.

A strange man.

Little Stutterer blinked.

"You... not scared?"

"I am, but your house is far too unsafe." By now, Yu Hong had roughly grasped the key points of this place from the notebook.

"The things that can attack us are mainly monster bugs and Ghost Shadows. Although Ghost Shadows can pass through walls and ignore obstacles, they can be scattered and driven away with Glowstone.

"The monster bugs, however, can be blocked by doors and walls. As long as we plug the gaps at critical times, that will do. In other words, if we have enough Glowstone and a house with strong enough sealing, we can ensure basic safety. Right?"

Yu Hong analyzed the situation calmly.

The serious expression on his face left Little Stutterer staring at him in a daze.

"Want to try it? Block the gaps with things, make the holes smaller, and see whether the bugs can still get in. If they can, find out how large a gap they need, then make a ventilation mesh based on that." Yu Hong asked.

"Also, how exactly is Glowstone made? Can you teach me?" he asked earnestly.

Little Stutterer looked at him and nodded blankly without realizing it.

At that moment, she seemed to see, in him, a figure buried deep in her memories—someone immensely familiar, someone she missed dearly.

After reaching an agreement, the two immediately began preparing.

Little Stutterer rummaged out tools: hammers, Saw, discarded Wooden Boards, axes, long nails, and all sorts of odds and ends.

Yu Hong had only just recovered from a serious illness. His fever had barely broken, and his body was weak, so he directed Little Stutterer as she worked.

He discovered that Little Stutterer was incredibly strong, much stronger than he was even in normal condition. Her physique was sturdy too. These past few days, he had occupied the bed while she slept on the floor, yet she had not fallen ill at all.

According to the notebook, the black bugs had been officially named the Blood Tide.

They were clearly Black Worms, yet for some reason they were called the Blood Tide. Yu Hong did not care about that. He only wanted to learn as much as possible about the bugs and Ghost Shadows.

The two worked all day. Perhaps because his body had improved considerably, no Ghost Shadows disturbed them.

By nightfall, no Blood Tide attacked either.

According to Little Stutterer, the Blood Tide usually came once every three to five days. Only sufficient light could resist all bugs each time.

The Blood Tide feared light; Ghost Shadows feared Glowstone.

These were the laws of survival the people here relied upon.

The next day, the two continued following Yu Hong's plan. They sawed wooden strips and made Movable Seals, completely sealing the remaining gaps around the doors and windows.

The Movable Seals could be opened during the day and lowered at night.

The seals were simple. This was merely one of Yu Hong's attempts. The more he learned from Little Stutterer about the dangers and troubles here, the more he wanted to build a base that could guarantee his basic safety—or rather, a Safe House.

And Little Stutterer's house fell far short of that standard.

Setting aside Ghost Shadows and bugs, the mold spots clinging everywhere in the corners, along with the filthy, sealed-off air, were enough to shave years off the lives of anyone living here long-term.

The water source was another major problem. He felt that if he kept drinking that filthy water, he probably would not live long either.

At night.

Inside the house, Little Stutterer and Yu Hong stood together. Little Stutterer held a candle high in her right hand, its flame swaying as it drove back the surrounding darkness.

Fine, hissing crawling sounds continuously came from outside the doors and windows. But the Movable Seals had blocked the gaps, and the remaining ventilation slits were far smaller than before.

The Black Worms could not crawl inside at all.

"It worked!" Yu Hong's face brightened. He had not expected his casual attempt to actually work.

Little Stutterer stood beside him, grinning foolishly with delight.

Because she discovered that no Black Worms were getting in. Even if there were, they were only a few fish that had slipped through the net, quickly melted away by the candlelight.

This way, the candles would be used up more slowly. She would not have to keep going to the candle shop or spend so much on them.

That would make things much easier for her too.

Just as the two felt they had succeeded.

Crack, crack. A faint gnawing sound suddenly came from outside the Wooden Boards of the seals.

The Wooden Boards sealing the gaps, the Wooden Door, and the windows all began making the same gnawing sounds.

"That's not right! Since these bugs can't get in, they seem to have started gnawing on the doors and windows!" Yu Hong immediately realized.

Grabbing a wooden stick, he rushed to the Wooden Door and forcefully levered up the bottom seal.

Crash!

With a dull sound, a huge mass of Black Worms surged inside like a tide, charging at the two of them.

Hiss.

The Black Worms rushed into the candlelight and were quickly melted, vaporized, and scattered into nothing.

The candle began burning down faster as well.

In the bright yellow candlelight, Yu Hong watched the scene before him, and the joy on his face slowly faded.

"If they can't get in, they'll gnaw at the outer walls of the house?"

He finally understood why Little Stutterer's parents had never sealed the house, despite knowing about the Black Worms.

"Did... it fail?" Little Stutterer asked cautiously from behind him.

"Not a complete failure." Yu Hong shook his head.

The night passed without incident.

Early the next morning.

Yu Hong left the village and came to the woodland below the hills.

He circled the trees in the woods, walking around and around them, occasionally tapping them with a hammer.

With nothing to do nearby, Little Stutterer began gathering the few medicinal herbs she recognized, as well as pigment plants used to make ink.

The supplies she relied on for trade were Glowstones painted with symbols.

According to Little Stutterer, the Glowstones she painted with symbols worked better than ordinary Glowstones.

The sun shone brightly. As Little Stutterer gathered plants, she occasionally looked up at Yu Hong and his inexplicable actions.

"What... are you... doing?" After watching for quite some time, she finally could not help asking.

"I'm choosing timber and a location, preparing to build a Safe House myself," Yu Hong answered.

"Build... house... yourself?" Little Stutterer could not understand.

Could a house built by oneself possibly be sturdier than a stone-brick house?