Shelter upgrade

The wild grass beneath his feet rustled in the wind.

Lu Heng gripped his wooden spear tightly and walked fast, without running.

The strange noises in the riverbed shrubs were still there. Intermittent, neither near nor far.

He backed out of the dry riverbed and slipped into the dense forest. Branches and leaves crowded his sides, breaking up his view until he could no longer see clearly behind him.

He could not tell what it was.

The intermittent, faint sounds deep among the branches and leaves never stopped.

His knees felt weak with every step. He had barely slept in two days, and his arms ached so much he could hardly lift them.

If it really charged out, he could not outrun it.

Go back.

He watched for the marks he had carved into tree trunks along the way and moved forward, step by step.

There were no birdcalls in the forest.

After walking for so long, he had not heard a single insect chirp.

The cliff face appeared ahead.

Lu Heng stopped in the shadows at the forest's edge and looked over the cave entrance.

There were no fresh footprints on the ground. The grass had not been trampled. The cracks in the rock were clear.

He confirmed it was safe.

Lu Heng hurried into the cave, pulled the wooden door shut, and slid the wooden bolt into its slot.

It clicked.

Lu Heng crouched down against the wall. His legs bent, failed to hold him, and he slid to the ground. The wooden spear slipped from his hand, rolled twice, and stopped against the stone wall. He did not pick it up.

He tried to raise a hand to wipe the sweat from his face, but his arm ached so much halfway up that he lowered it again. His back rested against the stone wall, and his entire back felt stiff whenever he moved.

He lowered his head and panted for a good while.

After taking a little time to steady his breathing and calm himself, Lu Heng raised his hand and lit up his wristband's screen.

A faint blue glow appeared in the dim cave. The interface was simple, and his gaze swept over the buildings section.

The quantities of both logs and stone had reached the upgrade requirements.

He tilted his head and listened closely to what lay beyond the door. The forest remained silent, with no unusual sounds.

After confirming there were no dangers inside or out, he tapped the screen with a fingertip and confirmed the upgrade command.

The wristband cast a soft glow that enveloped the entire cave.

The next second, a low, faint tremor came from within the rock. It was neither violent nor frightening. There were only continuous, even sounds of compression, stacking, and interlocking, spreading along the stone walls throughout the space.

Lu Heng stood up and focused on the changes around him, a trace of tense anticipation in his eyes.

Within a few dozen seconds, the tremors stopped completely, and the cave instantly returned to utter silence.

The scene before him had changed beyond recognition.

The rough, loose, uneven natural rock walls had vanished completely, and the entire cave interior was now lined and compacted with orderly stone bricks. Neatly polished bricks fitted tightly together without a gap. Thick solid-wood frames were secured between the stone layers, crossing vertically and horizontally to lock the entire wall firmly together. The wooden framework and stone walls supported each other, sturdy and substantial.

The cave walls that had once shed loose stones at a touch were gone.

The space inside the cave had opened up, no longer cramped and narrow as before.

The crude wooden door at the entrance had also been reshaped, fitting flush with the stone-brick wall.

At the upper right of the wall, a straight vertical passage leading outside had appeared. Lu Heng looked up at it, knowing that when he lit fires inside the cave from now on, the smoke could escape through the passage.

A stone enclosure had appeared in an inner corner of the cave.

A simple indoor latrine.

Lu Heng raised his hand and slowly ran it over the smooth, solid stone-brick wall. Its cold, hard surface felt reassuringly substantial. The cave's air was dry and fresh, and the old damp, stuffy smell had completely dispersed.

Fatigue still lingered in his muscles and bones, and the aches from days of labor had not disappeared, but the weight hanging over his heart had lifted.

In this wilderness fraught with danger, this place had finally become a den where he could rest and recover with peace of mind.

After sitting quietly for a moment, he casually swiped open the World Channel on his wristband.

Messages scrolled sparsely across the screen, all scattered remarks left by survivors in different places. There were no announcements or alarms, only ordinary people's impressions.

"The temperatures on the continent are getting more and more abnormal. It's cooling down ridiculously fast."

"It's clearly still the warm season, but mornings and evenings are bitterly cold. The temperature difference is completely wrong."

"Plants in lots of areas are withering early, the air is getting drier, and the environment keeps changing."

The messages slipped across the screen one by one.

Lu Heng read through them, his brow furrowing slightly.

Here in this stretch of sparse forest, he only felt a slight chill at dawn and dusk, nothing like the extreme changes those people described. Yet as those scattered remarks added up, an inexplicable unease quietly crept into his heart.

He could not figure out the cause, nor did he have any way to verify it. He could only keep those doubts buried.

The cave grew quiet, with only the faint rustle of wind through wild grass outside the door filtering through the stone walls.