"If you have more good things like that water filter cup, he would definitely sell," Jenny said with a smile.
Filtering water had always been a troublesome problem for her.
Before, she had only used the water pitcher sent from the bunker, which could barely filter out the larger grains.
It didn't take long for the filter to need replacing.
This filter cup in her hands, however, had just been quickly checked by her, and it had a five-layer filter inside, which should work well.
"Do you mind if I give it a try?" She took a leather water pouch out from her waist bag and compared the two.
"Of course," Yu Hong stepped back a bit, allowing her to pour water into the filter cup.
Soon, clear water began to flow out, making Jenny's eyes shine with delight.
Cleaner water was in high demand, especially for washing wounds.
After the exchange was done, both of them took a step back and quickly parted ways.
On the way back, Yu Hong found the soil Jenny mentioned, dug some up, and brought it back to the cave.
He wanted to try reinforcing it.
If this soil really had the effect of stopping diarrhea, then the black mark should be able to enhance it into a remedy with fewer side effects.
This was his real trump card!
By then, if the timing for reinforcement was right, he would have one more avenue for exchanging resources.
On the other side, Jenny quickly passed through the woods and stopped before a grassy area, bending down to push aside the weeds and pull out a ring pull.
Grabbing it, she pulled upwards.
Suddenly, a wooden board disguised as grass stood up.
Beneath it lay a simple tunnel.
She quickly crawled in, making her way through the dark passage for more than ten meters until she reached the end.
There, she found a gray-black round metal door.
Knock, knock, knock.
She tapped on the door, then without waiting for a response, she pulled out a key, inserted it into the keyhole, and turned it.
Behind the door was a small square room, with atomic lamps hanging on the walls, casting a faint green glow that colored everything.
This was her solitary bunker, equipped with tables, chairs, cabinets, beds, tools, and many materials and tools used for leather crafting.
After crawling out of the tunnel, Jenny closed the door behind her and stretched her body.
She walked to the cabinet, poured the filtered water from the cup into a small pot, and waited for it to boil.
Then, she approached the bookshelf, sat down, took out a charcoal pencil and some newspaper, and prepared to note down her encounter with Yu Hong today.
“Mom, did you just go out?” Suddenly, a crisp female voice echoed from another room.
This bunker had a small hall with three rooms: one for leather working, one bedroom, and the last for storage.
The voice was coming from the bedroom.
"Is that you, Eve? When did you come back?" Jenny's face brightened as she turned to see where the voice came from.
"I just got back not long ago."
A girl with golden ponytails stepped out of the bedroom.
She wore a green hoodie and tight jeans, her face well-defined, as if touched by a light layer of makeup.
She was Jenny’s daughter, Eve, the prettiest girl in their survivor community.
"Is there anything to eat, Mom? I just checked, and there’s nothing," Eve complained.
"There’s still some."
Jenny quickly got up and rummaged through a corner to find a small bag of jerky.
She opened the bag and took out half, ready to hand it to her daughter.
But before she could, Eve snatched the entire bag away in one motion.
"Wow, there’s so much! Thanks, Mom! I knew you were the best!" She said excitedly, kissing Jenny on the cheek before darting out through the exit.
Jenny’s hand hung in the air, the jerky she was holding also snatched away.
She gave a wry smile but did not stop her.
She hadn’t had a chance to say that this was most of her reserve food during the lean times, and now it was all gone.
The rest would only be enough for her to make thin soup each day.
Taking a breath, Jenny unexpectedly smiled again.
"So eager for food! She must be very hungry. No matter what, it’s good to help her."
She did not want to think about why her daughter, who was doing so well, suddenly ran back from town, nor why Eve hadn’t considered her at all.
She only knew, ever since her husband died, she was left with Eve as her only family in this world.
‘She’s still young in this regard; she’ll understand as she matures.’
Comforting herself in her thoughts, she dove headlong into sorting some old clothes that had just come in.
Dismantling the old clothes to make new fitting ones was one of her trading businesses.
Crack.
The cave door was pulled open.
Yu Hong stepped in quickly, feeling a familiar stench hit him, and a sense of relief washed over him.
He closed the door and opened a window for ventilation.
He picked up a protein bar and slowly chewed on it while placing the freshly dug soil onto a piece of newspaper.
Finally, he pulled over a log stool and sat down across from the fireplace, quietly watching the newspaper that described a comprehensive physical training method flash with a countdown.
At that moment, the countdown showed just over five hours remaining.
Not wanting to wander around anymore, Yu Hong settled down on the stool and waited for time to pass.
One hour,
two hours,
three hours.
Outside, the sky began to darken.
The wind in the mountains grew stronger, producing a howling noise.
Yu Hong stood up, stretched his back and legs, and pulled down the cover over the window.
At the same time, he replaced half of the consumed reinforcement glowstone with his only complete one.
After that, he picked up the cooled-off pot and poured out the boiling water, taking a small sip from the cup to avoid dehydration.
‘It rained outside, and a day isn’t enough to dry out the wood.
There isn’t much dry tinder left, so I'll have to make do tonight.’
He assessed the remaining firewood quantity, took out a candle and placed it within easy reach.
Then he plopped down onto his bedding, his gaze fixed on the door, waiting for nightfall to arrive.
Before long, about twenty minutes later,
the sky was completely dark.
A familiar rustling sound started to crawl in once again.
Yu Hong quickly got up, using the leftover charcoal from the fireplace to light the candle.
The candlelight illuminated the entire cave.
Taking advantage of this time, he began to ignite the fireplace.
With nightfall, the outside temperature had dropped to just a few degrees at most.
As the dark insects rushed in quickly, the fireplace was gradually ignited by Yu Hong, blazing into flames.
He added pieces of dry wood, and the flames illuminated the entire cave.
Time kept passing in this monotonous atmosphere.
In the middle of this, Yu Hong had to dash to the bathroom twice, each time experiencing severe dehydration.
This made his complexion grow paler and his lips turn even more colorless.
Finally,
under his constant watch, the comprehensive physical training method he was enhancing came to an end.
After a moment of blurriness, the previous newspaper instantly turned into a thin black manual.
The manual was the length of a palm, roughly the width of an adult's hand.
The front cover was neatly printed: Advanced Physical Training Method.
Seeing this, Yu Hong’s eyes lit up, quickly dropping the firewood in his hands and going over to grab the booklet.
In the firelight, he hurriedly flipped open the first page.
Suddenly, a standard running action diagram appeared before him.
The diagram depicted a bald man with no skin, his muscles, tendons, and bones visible underneath.
Places of exertion were highlighted in red, with arrows indicating direction and exertion intensity.
Yu Hong glanced at the header above the picture: Basic Breathing Technique for Cultivation.
"Is this just running?" he examined the details in the diagram, confirming that it was indeed an incredibly detailed running guide.
But he clearly recalled that while enhancing, he had been focused on martial arts and internal skills.
He had thought, even if it was called advanced physical training, a minor deviation wouldn’t matter.
And this was the result?
Yu Hong frowned, taking a deep breath, and patiently continued to flip through the pages.
The second page brought a slight relaxation to his brow.
It showed a breathing technique diagram to accompany running.
Again, the same bald man was depicted, with red and blue arrows marking the rhythm, quantity, time, and route of inhaling and exhaling.
Alongside were small notes indicating that during running, one needed to visualize a special pattern.
The pattern was on the third page.
Yu Hong flipped to the third page.
It was that very visualization image.
What appeared was a bizarre pattern resembling a mix of black mud and silver sand.
At first glance, Yu Hong felt a slight dizziness, as if his eyes were being drawn in.
He dared not look longer, as a small note at the bottom read: Do not look before the training period.
Flipping another page, he reached the last part, which detailed some herbal ingredients that were recommended to accompany the training.
Upon careful reading, Yu Hong was surprised to find that all these herbs were ones commonly found in the surrounding forest.
There were also precautions and warnings:
‘This training method is tailored based on individual physical constitution, mental environment, etc. Do not use it if you do not meet these criteria.
If attempted, the consequences will be at your own risk.’
"How intelligent!" Yu Hong couldn't help but marvel at the black mark's magic and power.
As he closed the last page, it suddenly dawned on him that this so-called advanced physical training method had only given him a slow jogging training diagram?
The rustling black insects continued to surge into the entrance.
The noisy sounds pulled Yu Hong back from his thoughts.
He quickly put down the booklet and hurried over to add more wood into the fireplace.
As he continued to add wood, he carefully reflected on the training method he had just viewed.
‘It didn’t specify that I must run outdoors; running in place indoors should also be fine.
I’ll give it a try inside.’
Unfortunately, the idea was good, but after just two minutes of running in place, his legs felt weak and he lost all strength.
Having not eaten anything and only drinking water, plus suffering dehydration, his body had long depleted its resources and slipped into a state of exhaustion.
Realizing this, Yu Hong recalled that he hadn't taken his medicine yet, and his diarrhea was still not resolved.
He quickly shoved in a piece of wood, walked over to the lump of soil he had dug earlier, and reached out to touch it.
‘Reinforced anti-diarrheal medicine, focus on: reducing side effects,’ he silently recited in his heart.
If this soil truly had natural anti-diarrheal properties, then the black mark should be able to enhance it successfully.
But if it was useless, the black mark might also end up lacking completeness again, unable to reinforce.
This had become a way to verify its efficacy.
Yu Hong stared at the soil, not blinking, quietly waiting.
Hiss.
Soon, a black line flowed out from the mark on his hand, burrowing into the soil.
Then, a familiar countdown appeared on the surface of the earth.
This time, the countdown, instead of being black on the already dark soil, was now an eye-catching red.
‘1 hour 51 minutes.’
It was real!!
Yu Hong's eyes brightened, relief washing over his face.
Though he felt that Jenny had no reason to deceive him, seeing the result made him feel relieved inside.
In this dangerous environment lacking medicines, if he could steadily produce enough anti-diarrheal medicine, it would be a great blessing for him and others.
‘Do you wish to enhance the anti-diarrheal medicine?’ the cold mechanical voice of the black mark slowly echoed.
Yu Hong licked his dry cracked lips.
‘Yes!’
(End of Chapter)