Operation 009 (I) (Thanks to Du Yi Xi Jiang Yue for the Leader tier)

Operation 009 (I) (Thanks to Du Yi Xi Jiang Yue for the Leader tier)

"It won't be entirely built by hand. I plan to use timber as support, but the main material will still be stone. Since stone bricks are impossible to find, the only option is to look for a natural cave," Yu Hong explained.

"Oh." Little Stutterer did not quite understand, but Yu Hong looked confident and composed. He had to be someone formidable.

"I'll help you!" she said, patting her chest. "I know. A hunting cave!"

"A cave?" Yu Hong's eyes lit up.

He had long since stopped wanting to stay with Little Stutterer. Not only was safety impossible to guarantee, but more importantly, he could not freely test the Black Mark and determine its effects.

Touching the third Enhanced White Stone in his pocket—also an Enhanced Glowstone—Yu Hong quickly made up his mind.

"Can you take me to see it?"

He urgently needed a place to live alone so he could test the Black Mark's exact effects.

He wondered what would happen if he enhanced the doors and walls. Glowstone could be enhanced into something like jade, and its effect seemed to grow stronger too. What about everything else? At once, Little Stutterer put down what she was holding, returned it to the house, then led Yu Hong away. They did not take the Old Highway, instead finding a narrow path in the opposite direction that wound into the forest.

Several days of recuperation had restored much of Yu Hong's strength and stamina.

As his body recovered, he had also stopped seeing Ghost Shadows during the day as often. That made him somewhat more willing to believe what Little Stutterer and Doctor Xu had told him.

Within the cold, quiet forest.

The two trudged forward one behind the other, one foot deep and one foot shallow, crossing broad stretches of slope until they reached the bottom.

Little Stutterer looked around and seemed to find something beside a tree hollow.

She walked over and touched several carved marks along the edge of the hollow.

"It's here," she said seriously.

Before Yu Hong could ask anything, she raised her hand and pointed into the distance on the right.

Yu Hong froze, then followed the direction of her finger and looked over.

A gray rock face emerged faintly in the distance beyond the trees.

Halfway up the rock face, suspended in midair, was a pitch-black cave.

The cave entrance was at least two or three meters above the ground, but someone had dug several indentations into the rock to serve as footholds.

Yu Hong glanced at Little Stutterer and found that she had already begun digging up vegetables all around the area. Holding the Enhanced Glowstone, he walked toward the cave himself.

Soon, he arrived below the rock face.

He carefully examined the cave before him.

The entrance was more than two people tall and a little over one person wide. It was not very deep, and the cave floor could be seen from outside with the help of sunlight.

At the bottom lay several sack-like objects scattered about, as well as a few pelts from some unknown animal.

"There are animals here too?" Yu Hong could not help asking.

"There are, but few," Little Stutterer replied as she came over as well.

"There used to be many. Then the Black Calamity came, and there were fewer."

Yu Hong nodded and climbed up along the indentations, entering the cave.

The entire cave was only a little over five meters deep, though it was somewhat wider inside—more than three meters across, just enough for one person to rest.

The ground was quite dry, without much musty smell. It was clearly related to the type of rock here.

The cave as a whole formed an oval shape, an uneven oval cavity.

Yu Hong calculated silently. Compared with Little Stutterer's house, this place was obviously far more comfortable. At the very least, there was no mold invading his lungs, so he could live much longer.

More importantly, White Mound Village itself felt somewhat sinister. He had always felt that his seeing so many Ghost Shadows in daylight was likely connected to the village's environment.

Otherwise, why were so many villagers unwilling to keep living there? There were so many ready-made houses there, after all.

"By the way, Yi Yi, how many villagers are still in contact with you now?" After the past few days, Yu Hong had become somewhat familiar with the situation and understood the general picture.

From the booklet and Little Stutterer's words, he had learned that many White Mound Village residents lived in the nearby woods. Some had built their own shelters, while others had dug cellars and hidden inside them.

A small number had left for the nearest town.

This included quite a few people Little Stutterer had saved.

Little Stutterer followed him inside and looked around the cave.

"There are four more nearby." She counted on her fingers. "Not including us."

"Mm, got it." Yu Hong nodded. He took out the Tape Measure he had prepared, one of the supplies from Little Stutterer's house. Then he measured the cave entrance from top to bottom.

After that, he climbed back down and observed the surrounding environment.

"Can I live here?" he asked Little Stutterer.

"You can. Nobody manages it anymore." Little Stutterer nodded hard.

Yu Hong was satisfied. This place was too dangerous; in truth, he had wanted to live with Little Stutterer. But Ghost Shadows were far too dangerous. Their disguises were too convincing, impossible to guard against.

On top of that, Little Stutterer's environment was too poor and too filthy. It would be easy to develop chronic illnesses there.

And the Black Mark's enhancements had to remain secret.

Those three reasons combined made him desperate to find a suitable place to live alone.

And this cave was one of the best possible choices.

It was just that gathering supplies and planning the renovations would likely take quite some time.

After all, once he moved out alone, he would initially have to rely on stored food.

The cave also lacked a suitable door, and he needed to make a smoke vent, a fire pit, and the like.

Having decided on his future residence, Yu Hong began wandering through the forest with Little Stutterer's tools, selecting materials.

He did not know what kind of wood could be used to make a door, but he knew it had to be hard and sturdy.

Over the next several days, Yu Hong continuously designed the cave's structure, its door, and various furnishings while also selecting materials.

Before long, he chose a sufficiently hard Dead Tree.

The Dead Tree was dry enough to keep out moisture to the greatest extent possible.

Then came the tree-felling.

His weakened body and powerless arms meant that after chopping for just one day, Yu Hong returned with both arms aching and limp. The next day, he could not move them no matter what.

So—

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Crack.

Little Stutterer held an axe and watched as the thigh-thick Dead Tree slowly snapped and fell.

"Need more?"

She turned back, looked at Yu Hong's complicated expression, and asked seriously.

"..." Yu Hong's expression was beyond words. He shook his head.

"That's enough."

He walked over and began using the Chopper to trim away the branches, selecting straight sections of trunk. Then, according to the measurements of the cave entrance, he cut them to approximate lengths.

Before coming here, he had only been an ordinary office worker, but he had done some carpentry work in the countryside before.

Though he was not skilled, he understood the basic procedures.

Little Stutterer watched from the side and curiously came over to help from time to time.

Soon, night fell. The two left their things behind, carried their tools back to the house, and rested until the next day.

After a peaceful night, they ate and returned here to continue the work they had not finished yesterday.

Because Little Stutterer ate through food too quickly, they were nearly out again. She arranged to go with Doctor Xu to Lao Yu's place to buy more.

As she helped process the Dead Tree, she soon saw Doctor Xu approaching through the woods in the distance.

She stood up and waved happily.

"Xu! Here! Here!"

"..." Doctor Xu slowly approached. When she saw Yu Hong was still there, she immediately frowned.

"Didn't you just trade for food? I was wondering why it was gone again. So there was another person eating it." Her tone was not pleasant.

"Yu Hong is very capable!" Little Stutterer hurriedly waved her hands. "He's making a better house. Safer than mine!" She clearly approved of Yu Hong's reasoning and was defending him now.

"Forget it. Enough talking. Hurry up, the sooner we go, the sooner we return." Doctor Xu glanced at Yu Hong in the distance. Seeing him about to rise and greet her, she stepped closer and looked at him.

"What are you planning to do?" Over the past few days, she had occasionally chatted with Little Stutterer and asked about things. She knew the man before her spent every day bent over his own projects.

He relied entirely on Little Stutterer for food and drink, making her gather enough for two people. That had greatly increased Little Stutterer's burden.

Everyone's food had only been enough to keep them half-full to begin with, and now there was the share of one more young man. "I plan to build a Safe House. Although I'm temporarily relying on Yi Yi for food and drink, believe me, I'll be able to move out soon. I remember everything Yi Yi has done for me. Once I'm settled, I'll repay her!" Yu Hong saw through her meaning.

After he finished, he saw her expression soften slightly and continued.

"Once I build a safer place to live, I can help Yi Yi build one that's safer and better too! Her house is very unsafe. If she runs into bigger trouble one day, she definitely won't be able to endure it! Then she'll know how good a Safe House is."

"Do as you like, but changing locations doesn't mean you'll be safer!" Doctor Xu clearly did not believe him. "Just don't drag Yi Yi down."

"I won't!" Yu Hong said earnestly.

Doctor Xu stared at him for a while, said nothing more, and left with Yi Yi.

Yu Hong stood in the woodland and watched the two depart. Only after they vanished from sight did he withdraw his gaze and look up at the sky.

The bright sunlight filled him with a sense of security.

In this kind of weather, even Ghost Shadows would not appear rashly.

After resting briefly, he continued bending over his work, using the Saw to cut Wooden Boards.

Sections of tree trunk that had been quickly scorched were sawed into thick, long Wooden Boards.

Scorching the surface was meant to prevent decay, kill off some insects and eggs, and remove excess moisture from the exterior.

Once cut into boards, they could be fitted together using mortise-and-tenon joints to create a solid, sturdy Wooden Door.

The mortise-and-tenon joint Yu Hong used was the simplest concave-and-convex type. Put simply, he carved a hole into the cut end of a thick Wooden Board.

Then he carved a protrusion on another thick Wooden Board that fit perfectly into that hole.

Finally, he inserted the protrusion into the hole, forming a complete mortise-and-tenon joint.

The greatest advantage of this structure was that it required no nails.

Using this joining method, Yu Hong painstakingly made one thick, hard, long Wooden Board after another.

Rather than making everything first and hauling it over afterward, he carried the completed strips and boards to the cave entrance piece by piece, assembling them like building blocks.

During this time, he was also continuously testing the Black Mark.

He enhanced one Glowstone after another.

As time passed, just when Yu Hong had nearly grown accustomed to the strange taste of the Dried Meat, the cave's Wooden Door was finally completed.

Early in the morning.

Yu Hong came alone to the Cave entrance and fitted the last thick Wooden Board into the door.

The entire Wooden Door was finally complete. He had even made a movable inner door panel that could be opened. Its exterior was quite rough.

These were parts dismantled from other houses in the village and assembled together with wood.

Besides that, the large nails connecting the timber to the stone surface also came courtesy of those houses.

The entire Cave entrance was now completely covered by the thick gray-black Wooden Door.

Yu Hong entered alone and placed an Enhanced White Stone into a groove behind the door.

This was the method he had devised to stop Ghost Shadows from entering.

Since Glowstone could scatter Ghost Shadows, then if he placed Glowstone appropriately along a Ghost Shadow's path, could it also prevent one from entering?