The Gate

As dusk slowly descended upon the mountains and forests, the bright sunlight of the day gradually softened and dimmed.

Halfway there, tiny specks of light suddenly drifted through the gaps in the leaves.

Dotted with stars, sometimes bright, sometimes dim, they floated and moved slowly in the gradually darkening shade of the trees.

They are fireflies.

Lu Heng suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He looked up and gazed silently at the fireflies filling the sky, his eyes slightly unfocused.

He hadn't seen these gentle, subtle things for many, many years—going out to school and then working.

What were once common, insignificant insects that were everywhere when I was a child have now become a rare sight.

In an instant, a jumble of fragmented memories gently surfaced. The peaceful and ordinary days of the old world, the evening breeze, the relaxed feeling of not having to be constantly on guard against life and death—across the vast expanse of time, they drifted lightly through my heart.

There were no dramatic emotional ups and downs, only a quiet sense of reflection.

When you've been trying to survive for a long time, your heart gradually hardens and grows cold. Fighting, running around, and being on guard fill every day. These tender and delicate scenes are almost fading from your memory.

Lu Heng exhaled a breath of stale air and withdrew his unfocused gaze.

No amount of reminiscing will change anything. All we can do now is hold onto our little home and live a stable life.

He lifted his foot and continued walking.

Lu Heng stopped in his tracks at the open space outside the Stone Cave Shelter. His shoes were covered in wet mud and small pieces of slag from the valley. He bent down and rubbed his feet repeatedly on the hard soil to clean them.

After cleaning his shoes, Lu Heng stood up straight and raised his hand to show the survival Wristband on his wrist.

A light blue screen appeared, its interface neat and clean. He immediately brought up the fence construction template, his gaze falling on the material selection section.

The Frost-Patterned Iron Ore harvested in this valley is abundant and hard, suitable for the main structure of the wall, and sufficient to completely reinforce and enclose the entire perimeter of the Shelter.

In addition, Lu Heng specifically dug out Half-Section Lightning-Struck Wood that had been stored in the corner of the storage compartment for a long time.

This piece of wood has no system level.

But Lu Heng felt it was good to use.

Lightning-struck wood is far more suitable than pure cold-patterned iron for the main entrance of Shelter.

Pure iron gates are cold, hard, and heavy. They are easily cracked and deformed by heavy impacts, making a lot of noise. In contrast, gates with a core of lightning-struck wood and a frame of cold-patterned iron combine rigidity and flexibility, offering better stability and concealment.

Lu Heng did not hesitate.

Fill all the Frost-Patterned Iron Ore into the wall material slot in batches, then lock the Half-Section Lightning-Struck Wood separately as the core main material for the gate. After confirming that the proportions are correct, click Start Construction.

The next moment, the materials within the Wristband's Storage Space began to gradually fade and dissipate.

The piles of cold-patterned iron Stone melted into fine metal particles, which floated in the air and slowly piled up and solidified along the contours of the terrain outside the Shelter. The dark iron-gray walls rose up little by little from the ground, with dense textures and no loose gaps.

Immediately afterwards, the lightning-struck wood slowly melted away.

The warm, rich sheen of the wood blends into the center of the wall, interlocking and embedding with the iron frame structure to automatically form a wide and sturdy main gate. The iron frame reinforces the edges, while the wood core forms the center; the two materials blend naturally, seamlessly and without any visible difference.

In just a few minutes, a complete enclosed wall, including the main gate, was fully formed.

Lu Heng slowly walked around the wall, his fingertips tracing its surface. It felt cold, hard, and solid; when tapped, it produced a dull, heavy sound, without any hollow or hollow texture.

Looking at this completely enclosed defensive fortification, a sense of security welled up inside me.

In this lawless, dog-eat-dog world, the sense of security is not something imagined out of thin air; it is built brick by brick, piece of wood, piece of iron, and wall by hand.

With potential dangers kept at bay, your home is completely secure.

After calming his mind, Lu Heng turned and walked towards the processing table on the side.

The work surface was clean and tidy. He filled in the basic materials and pulled up the blueprints for manufacturing animal traps.

The processing table shimmered with light, and soon several sharp and sturdy animal traps were formed and quietly displayed on the table. The clamps were sharp, and the locking mechanism was sensitive and fierce.

Lu Heng picked one up and, without covering or burying it, placed it directly on the open ground in front of the Shelter's main gate.

Openly and brazenly.

This is a deliberately designed warning trap. Any low-level beasts that dare to approach rashly will still try to charge at the obstacle upon first sight, thus falling right into the trap.

He casually put the remaining animal traps into his storage, planning to later venture deeper into the forest and set them up at key animal trails, gradually expanding the defensive perimeter of his Shelter.

After dealing with the external defenses, Lu Heng turned and walked into the Planting Room inside the Shelter.

The constant temperature and moist, loose soil in the Planting Room created a stable microclimate that he had specially designed.

My gaze swept over the planted crops. The Pumpkin seedlings were growing steadily, with lush green leaves and firm roots, showing no abnormalities.

The only problem was with the Tomato seedlings on the side.

In just a few days, the seedlings grew at an unusually rapid pace, with the vines sprouting wildly and growing completely out of control. The tender main stem could not support the rampant growth of branches and leaves, and the entire vine collapsed to the ground, limp and sticking to the moist soil.

Lu Heng frowned slightly.

It seems necessary to prop up the branches with stakes to force them to grow vertically and regulate the plant's shape.

He was familiar with this. When he was a child, he had seen fruit and vegetable planting in the countryside, and tying branches to stabilize the seedlings was the most basic way of managing them.

Lu Heng picked up the short knife at his waist, walked out of the Shelter again, and entered the surrounding low forest.

He doesn't pick and choose thick trees, but rather slender, straight young trunks. With a swift motion, he cuts the roots and stems, then stands still and quickly trims away all the side branches, twigs, and knots on both sides of the trunk.

Clean it up quickly, leaving only a smooth, straight main stem, the size and length of which are just right for the height of the Tomato seedlings.

He chopped down several straight poles, selected the most uniform ones to keep, and gathered up all the remaining miscellaneous wood of varying thicknesses, piling it up in a dry corner of the Shelter's courtyard.

After being dried, this wood is dry and easily ignited, making it perfect for everyday firewood without any waste.

Once all the poles were ready, Lu Heng suddenly realized the problem.

There are support rods, but no straps.

He instantly remembered the old clothes buried at the bottom of the storage compartment.

Those were old clothes from the early days. Now, I'm almost afraid to go out without protective gear; those clothes are completely obsolete.

Keeping it takes up space, but throwing it away is a waste.

This is a good opportunity to make use of it.

Lu Heng returned to the stone cave, rummaged through his old clothes, and, holding a knife, neatly slit open the cuffs.

He worked meticulously, cutting only the necessary strips of fabric without haphazardly tearing the garment apart. The resulting even strips were soft yet strong, breathable, and perfect for binding vines.

After cutting the clothes, he didn't throw away the remaining scraps; he simply gathered them up and stored them in a corner. Even if he didn't need them now, every scrap of material in the apocalypse had potential use, so there was no need to waste them.

Having prepared all the tools, Lu Heng returned to the Planting Room.

Insert straight wooden poles one by one deep into the soil next to the Tomato seedlings, making sure they are firmly planted and do not wobble. Then, take the homemade strips of cloth and gently and neatly attach the limp vines to the wooden poles, binding them in circles to secure them.

The pressure is just right, without damaging the tender stems, yet it can thoroughly straighten the plant's shape.

The Tomato vines, which were originally messy and growing wildly on the ground, instantly became neat and straight, growing upwards along the support pole, allowing for better light penetration and a more graceful plant shape.

Looking at the crops that had been tended, a calm and steady sense of satisfaction flashed in Lu Heng's eyes.