Redd stood on the hill for a while, his eyes lingering on the light strip composed of torches and fires outside the camp for a moment, confirming that the fire was stable and that there was no gap in the position of the patrol post. Then he turned around and walked down the gentle slope on the side of the hill.
He didn't walk fast, but he stepped firmly on each step. When his boots moved on the loose gravel, he would occasionally pick up a small piece of sand, which would slide down the slope and soon disappear into the night.
After entering the camp, he did not go directly to rest. Instead, he patrolled along the inside of the earth wall.
He walked past several major outposts, briefly exchanged observations with the soldiers on duty about the spread of fog in the distance, and confirmed whether the torches and fires everywhere needed to be refueled.
The moonlight was very weak after being filtered by the volcanic ash clouds. The light source from Fire Peak and the torches became the main source of illumination at night. He could clearly see the burning fires outside the camp and the positions of the torches on the wall.
Douglas met him under a sentry tower on the east side of the camp. Redd stopped and briefly explained what he had just seen on the hill. Then he told him clearly that if there was any movement beyond the cordon outside the camp in the middle of the night, he would be woken up immediately.
He predicted that the second half of the night was when the trouble would really begin. The spreading black mist would reach its highest concentration on the surface around midnight, and at that time most organisms would become more active and aggressive under the continued stimulation of the black mist.
Douglas nodded after listening and didn't ask any more questions. He just confirmed that he would keep an eye on the rotation for the first half of the night and let Redd rest assured.
Redd stood on the east side of the camp for a while and looked at the direction of the black mist spreading in the distance to confirm that there was no unusual movement. Then he turned around and walked through the tent area that had been set up in the camp, heading towards his tent located in the north of the center of the camp, near the foot of the hill.
The curtain of the tent is made of thick canvas, which when lowered can block most of the wind and sand and the cold air at night.
He bent down and walked in without lighting the oil lamp. He just used his night vision ability after adapting to the light to find the simple bed covered with thick felt cushions.
When he lay face up, he could feel the light from Fire Peak in the distance outside the tent still seeping through the fabric of the tent, casting a very light orange-red luster on the top canvas. Even the darkest multi-layer canvas did not completely block it, like a glimmer of light leaking in between the fingers.
He did not take off the sword from his waist, nor did he take off his leather armor and armor.
The straps and locks on the shoulder pads are close to his shoulder blades and collarbones when he is lying down. He needs to adjust his posture to evenly distribute the weight and prevent it from pressing on a certain protruding position.
After he lay down, he didn't move again. His breathing gradually stabilized, and he moved his eyes away from the canvas on the top of the tent. Finally, he glanced at the slender light gap projected in the direction of the entrance to confirm that there was no gap with strange shadows, and then closed his eyes.
He was not completely asleep, maintaining a shallow state of rest between deep sleep and wakefulness.
In the first few minutes, the sound in my ears could still clearly distinguish the subtle low-frequency vibrations coming from Fire Peak in the distance, the crackling of the campfire in the wind, the occasional short whistle from the sentry tower, and the low whistle from high altitude when the Demon Dragon group breathed above the camp - then these sounds gradually faded away.
It became a vague existence in the background, and his consciousness sank into a semi-sleep that could be awakened by footsteps on the edge at any time, waiting only for the first abnormal sound of crossing the line of fire in the second half of the night.
Douglas didn't go to rest immediately after Redd's figure disappeared behind the tent curtain.
He stood next to the temporarily erected flagpole in the center of the camp, listening to the low vibrations coming from Fire Peak in the distance and the rhythm of the waves hitting the cliff. He felt that the night wind was blowing from the direction of the bay, carrying the smell of sea water and scorched earth.
He stood there for a moment, as if waiting for the rhythm of his body to completely switch from the brief conversation with Redd, and re-enter the more detailed command mode that requires paying attention to multiple directions at the same time.
Then he turned around and walked towards the wall outside the camp.
His pace was slightly faster than usual, and his boots made an even and compact sound on the compacted sandy road.
The temperature at night is much lower than during the day. When the sea breeze flows into the camp, it can take away part of the temperature on the surface of the skin, but when walking along the wall, you can still feel the residual warmth of the ground under your feet.
He walked the first circle along the inside of the wall, stopping briefly at each sentry post to confirm with the sentry on duty whether there was any unusual movement within his field of vision.
The height of the earthen wall is more than an adult's shoulders, and it is built with mortar mixed with gravel and clay. The speed of construction from scratch in one day has exceeded normal expectations.
Douglas Knocked the wall twice with the back of his hand and felt the dryness of the mortar layer and the firmness of the internal support structure.
His fingers slid along the surface of the wall, staying for a moment at a few places that seemed thinner, and then stood for a while at the edge of the ditch outside the wall.
Visually inspect the distance between the three-meter-wide and two-meter-deep ravine and the wall, and evaluate the types of creatures with different body types and movements that it can effectively block.
Time was too tight. He repeatedly confirmed this judgment several times in his mind, as if to consolidate its weight more clearly into his own baseline for action.
From landing to dark, there were only a few hours to prepare. The camp, walls, trenches, guard towers, material storage locations and Demon Dragon settlement areas were all squeezed into those few hours.
If the walls were taller and thicker, and if the trenches were one foot wider and half a foot deeper, the fault tolerance rate of defense would be much greater than it is now.
He had repeatedly compared those shortcomings with the resources and manpower he could mobilize in his mind, and finally confirmed that the current limit had been reached, but he still clearly remembered the focused and no-exaggeration look of Redd on the ship when he described the cursed creatures on this land.
The description details that were briefly mentioned by Redd - some creatures will become more flexible in the dark fog than during the day, and some underground creatures can burrow into the soil and move.
There are also collaboration methods with closing formations or changing queues - which sounds like just part of the intelligence on the ship,
Now standing here, with the night wind blowing across the edge of the wall and the black mist in the distance beginning to slowly spread, the weight of those words has become something else entirely.
He hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked towards the logistics area behind the camp.