Setting down the enhanced bright stone, Yu Hong walked further into the cave.
At the top and along both sides of the floor, he found matching depressions.
These were places he had prepared in advance for setting down the bright stones, aimed at ensuring the absolute safety of the entire hideout.
During these days, he had relied on the little stutterer for food, and now he had gathered as many as seven bright stones.
He felt quite comfortable with this supply.
The recurring blood tide of black worms every few days no longer worried him as much, and the occasional ghost shadows had stopped appearing.
As the little stutterer had explained, they were currently in a safe period.
Generally, this safe period lasted about a month, after which a sudden surge would occur, entering a peak phase.
By that time, both the blood tide and the ghost shadows would greatly increase in strength.
'No wonder Doctor Xu is upset with me.
I have become a hindrance to the little stutterer, who should be accumulating supplies right now.
This will lead her to a shortage of resources and put her in danger.' Yu Hong understood this clearly, but he didn’t feel it was something to worry about.
Doctor Xu didn’t know what he was truly capable of.
Just the effect of the enhanced bright stones could sufficiently ensure the little stutterer’s safety against the ghost shadows.
At the very least, it was many times better than ordinary bright stones.
Ordinary bright stones could only be used once; however, enhanced bright stones could be used multiple times.
He just didn’t know exactly how many times they could be used yet and would need to find an opportunity to test this later.
With those thoughts in mind, Yu Hong snapped back to focus, closed the wooden door, and stood alone in the cave.
As the door closed, the cave dimmed instantly, save for the striped ventilation hole that allowed a bright beam of golden light to enter.
Yu Hong stood behind the door and extended his hand, pressing it against the door panel.
Underneath his dirty sleeves, his arm was much darker than before, yet he could not conceal the clear black mark on his hand.
Soon, a large black number floated onto the door: 12 days.
“Do you wish to enhance the wooden door?” A faint voice echoed in his ears.
Yu Hong's expression tightened, and he took a deep breath. ‘Yes!’ he thought strongly in response.
Immediately, a thin line of black flowed from the mark on his hand into the door, disappearing without a trace.
Next, the number on the door began to change, shifting from 12 to 11 days and 23 hours and 59 minutes.
The numbers blinked in a mysterious rhythm, appearing and disappearing again.
“A countdown!?” This was the first time Yu Hong had noticed such a phenomenon.
Previously, when he enhanced the bright stone, he was focused on avoiding the little stutterer and hadn’t paid close attention to the process.
Now it seemed that this black mark could even perform a countdown, which was rather convenient.
‘Alright, all I need to do now is wait.’ Yu Hong breathed a sigh of relief.
Up to this point, the enhancement from the black mark had brought him no negative feelings; at most, it left him feeling a bit worn out, but a little rest took care of that.
Twelve days.
By then, he would know how effective the enhanced wooden door would be.
His heart filled with anticipation.
After watching the wooden door for a while, he randomly picked up a chunk of gravel in the cave, attempting to activate the black mark.
However, nothing happened.
He wasn’t surprised.
He had previously tried to enhance two objects simultaneously but found it either never worked or he hadn’t yet met some special conditions.
Yu Hong wasn’t in a hurry.
He first wanted to finish building the hideout; he would have plenty of time to research the black mark later.
With the little stutterer gone for the night, he took a moment to rest in the cave, then packed away the bright stones and made his way back to Baiqiu Village.
Soon, he was familiar with the way and returned to his house.
He secured the door tightly and placed the bright stones in various corners.
After taking a sip of filtered water to moisten his throat, he realized that the murky, foul-smelling water hadn’t upset his stomach, which he had to admit was a miracle.
Yu Hong prepared himself, taking a piece of jerky and sitting by the bed to slowly chew on it.
The jerky was extremely hard, not like any meat he had tasted before.
They were thin and elongated, entirely black.
According to the little stutterer, it was lizard meat.
Yu Hong didn’t mind this; at least, compared to the other two types of jerky, he could somewhat accept lizard meat.
The other two types were rat jerky and cockroach jerky.
As dusk approached, Yu Hong lit a candle and placed it beside him on the bedside table, letting the candlelight illuminate the specially left ventilation hole by the door and window.
He then closed his eyes and quietly rested.
A peaceful night passed without incident.
The next morning, Yu Hong went to the road at the village entrance to wait.
His phone had long since run out of battery, so he could only make a simple sundial to estimate the time based on the sunlight casting shadows on the ground.
After waiting for about an hour, two figures slowly appeared at the end of the road, each carrying large bags on their backs.
As they drew closer, the silhouettes became clearer.
It was indeed the little stutterer and Doctor Xu returning.
Yu Hong hurried to meet them, helping to support the large sack on the little stutterer’s back. “You’ve worked hard,” he said softly to the little stutterer.
“How is the safety house?” The little stutterer looked at him with eager anticipation.
Yesterday, before they departed, she had looked at the progress, and it should be nearly completed.
“It’s done! The door is completely ready!” Yu Hong nodded earnestly and smiled broadly.
He was in a good mood.
“I bought waterproof paint!” The little stutterer gestured haltingly, “For you to apply.”
Waterproof paint? Yu Hong froze for a moment, realizing that he had forgotten to apply a waterproof layer.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t be long before the door he worked so hard on would start to mold and rot due to the moisture.
After all, he wasn’t a professional carpenter; he only had some skills and didn’t know the importance of certain steps.
Fortunately, the little stutterer had filled that gap.
“Right, I can’t believe I didn’t think about applying waterproofing!” He felt a pang of regret and clapped his hands, saying, “I’m glad you remembered, otherwise all that effort on the wooden door would have been for nothing!”
“This can of waterproof paint cost one-third of the dried meat,” Doctor Xu chimed in, casting Yu Hong a critical look.
“Since it’s done, when will you move out?” She then asked.
“Soon, really soon!” Yu Hong nodded. “It seems Doctor Xu has some misunderstandings about me. Just wait, I will soon help Yi Yi live a better life.”
The little stutterer had helped him tremendously, and he kept that in mind.
As for the secret of the black mark, he was already quite certain that it was unique to him.
At least, neither the little stutterer nor Doctor Xu had it.
He had asked the little stutterer; others she encountered had no such abilities.
His confidence grew significantly because of this.
‘Here comes that boastful person again.’ Doctor Xu shot him a disdainful glance before turning to leave with her bag.
She had seen many people saved by Yi Yi in the past—those people would wake up and leave after learning a few things within a few days.
Never had anyone stayed over five days.
Yet here was Yu Hong, lingering for over twenty days—almost a month—and still not leaving! Not only that, but he also didn’t help out with tasks, making Yi Yi's work of foraging and painting bright stones take much longer.
They had also ended up with less food compared to before.
With limited food supplies, they were forced to reduce their portions now that two people were eating from the same dwindling resources.
“I believe you!” The little stutterer Yi Yi leaned closer to Yu Hong, speaking earnestly.
“Thank you!” Yu Hong nodded, watching as Doctor Xu left.
The two returned to the house and began counting the items they had brought back.
A large sack of bright stones was left after exchanging for merely half a pound of jerky and a pound of dried mushrooms.
Mixed with the wild vegetables they gathered, they’d need to eat at least for three to five days.
In the house, the two sorted the jerky, packaging them into bags and adding charcoal to absorb moisture, sealing them tightly.
This was to prevent frequent opening and absorbing humidity.
“By the way, how intense are the ghost shadows and blood tide during the peak phase? Can you describe it in detail?” Yu Hong asked while packing.
“Very strong,” the little stutterer nodded. “Ghost shadows can appear at any moment. The blood tide will appear daily alongside the ghost shadows.”
“It takes ten bright stones to deal with a single ghost shadow,” she began to explain the dangers of the peak phase in detail.
Through her broken explanations, Yu Hong gradually learned about some dangers associated with the peak phase.
Especially when it came to ghost shadows, ordinary bright stones, once inscribed with symbols, could disperse ghosts more effectively.
The bright stones that the little stutterer painted had a natural effect that was better than others, allowing her to sell them at good prices.
During the peak phase, even her bright stones required ten to disperse just one ghost shadow, making it impossible for others without that quality.
Yu Hong then inquired about the consumption of candles.
The answer made his heart sink.
During the peak phase, one large candle would be consumed in a night, resulting in significant wastage.
Of course, they could use firewood, but they needed to have a bright light at all times to keep the blood tide at bay.
After receiving this detailed information, Yu Hong calculated the peak phase duration in his mind.
Looking at the tattered calendar on the table, he saw they had fifteen days left.
The enhancement of the wooden door would conclude after twelve days, and if the effects turned out to be unsatisfactory, it would likely cause great problems.
His heart sank slightly. “So where do you buy the candles?” he asked aloud.
“Uncle Wang,” the little stutterer replied, pulling out a simple map and pointing to a place that was somewhat far away.
“He's one of the former villagers.”
“How long does the peak phase generally last?”
“Previously, it was one day. Later, it gradually became five days,” the little stutterer answered.
“Will it last longer than that?” Yu Hong frowned.
“Mm-hmm!” The little stutterer nodded vigorously.
“I understand now.” Yu Hong realized that he had to hurry.
In the time that followed, he began to speed up the construction of his safety house.
Though the door was ready, various structures inside hadn’t been properly arranged.
Especially the chimney; if he wanted to start a fire inside, he needed to prepare ventilation and smoke exhaust in advance.
This wasn’t too difficult, as he had seen a furnace with a chimney in one of the houses in the village before.
He just needed to take it apart and move it.
After all, the most critical parts were the metal chimney pipes.
However, according to the little stutterer, it was best not to venture too deep into those houses.
It was safe to dismantle the door from the outside, but if he went into the areas where the light was too dim, he might encounter ghost shadows.
But with the enhanced bright stones, that was manageable.
One enhanced bright stone could withstand several encounters with ghost shadows—far superior to ordinary bright stones.
Even so, thinking of the troublesome and dangerous aura of the ghost shadows made Yu Hong’s heart race; he had no desire to approach them voluntarily.
(End of Chapter)