Trouble 4

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"It is a man!" Doctor Xu twisted the door open, turning back to look at him.

"I take back what I said about you being a burden, and I thank you for saving me. But right now, your decision is really foolish!"

*She couldn't understand how someone like Yu Hong could exist in the world. He seemed like an idealistic and naive person.* He always said and did things that ordinary people couldn't comprehend.

Now it seemed that perhaps Yu Hong had some skill, being able to create such a reinforced wooden door was indeed a talent.

*But he was too conceited...*

"You will regret this. You have no idea how difficult the surge period is," Doctor Xu couldn't help but taunt.

That was just her nature.

"It is still not too late to change your mind and leave with us!"

She stared at Yu Hong, finally revealing a deeply hidden hint of persuasion.

"No, thanks." Yu Hong shook his head, "I prefer living alone."

"You!" Doctor Xu's expression changed slightly, snorted, and dragged Stammering Yiyi out.

"Let's go quickly! It just rained, the ground is tough to walk on, we must hurry! We should first take shelter at a patient's place I helped before!"

She finally ignored Yu Hong, forcefully dragging Stammering Yiyi swiftly out of the cave, jumping off the rock face, and running into the distance.

As she ran, Stammering Yiyi looked back towards Yu Hong.

"Yu, Hong!" She waved her hand diligently. "The house, the stuff, it's all yours!"

*She felt this might be the last time she saw him, and her heart was somewhat heavy.*

"Thanks!" Yu Hong also waved, a smile on his face.

Watching the two run further and further into the wet woodland, they soon shrank into two tiny dots.

He suddenly had a feeling.

Perhaps Doctor Xu and Stammering Yiyi would not return for a long, long time...

The sudden appearance of large blood ticks seemed to signal that the external environment was starting to worsen...

*If Big Skin's appearances became the norm....*

Yu Hong didn't continue down that train of thought.

Watching the direction the two left, he suddenly felt a deep, profound loneliness welling up inside him.

Suddenly, he took a deep breath and shouted loudly.

"Yiyi! I will wait for you here, always!!"

His voice echoed through the mountain forest, resounding repeatedly, traveling far into the distance.

The two dots in the distance paused momentarily, then continued moving until they were completely out of sight.

At this moment, more golden beams of light pierced down from the gray clouds, illuminating the earth and the forest.

Yu Hong looked in the direction of the two leaving, then turned to look toward Baiqiu Village.

"No one's around now." He exhaled deeply.

"I am the only one left."

*If the villagers and survivors around here encountered Big Skin, they would certainly make the same decision Doctor Xu did.*

They would all seek out larger-scale bunkers; it is impossible to withstand more powerful monsters alone with just a few people.

"Maybe within dozens of kilometers, I am the only one living in the wild...."

Yu Hong gazed at the quiet, deathly silent Baiqiu Village, its old houses decaying with patches, as if emanating a cold and eerie death aura.

From the cave entrance, one could barely make out the village's contours through the woods.

Yu Hong stood motionless at the cave entrance, standing there for a long time.

Suddenly, his pupils shrank, and all his muscles grew slightly tense.

From afar, he saw the stone road entrance of Baiqiu Village. Suddenly, a human figure appeared.

It was a middle-aged man, wearing old gray-white clothes, with a slender build.

Being too far, he couldn't see the man's features clearly.

He could only see, from afar, that the man seemed to be smiling and waving this way.

The figure stood at the village entrance, raising his right hand in a mechanical wave towards Yu Hong's direction.

Yu Hong blinked, but in just the blink of an eye, the figure vanished.

*"Shadow....!" he gritted his teeth, feeling his jaw slightly sour.*

The frequency of shadows appearing in broad daylight was becoming higher.... According to information from Stammering Yiyi, it wasn't like this before.

This was abnormal.

Not to mention the newly appeared large blood ticks, Big Skin....

"Just like the radio said.... The environment is deteriorating.... becoming increasingly troublesome."

Yu Hong slowly retreated, no longer looking in the direction of the village. Instead, he searched for the wooden barrel he used earlier to catch rainwater.

Very quickly, he found a wooden barrel with a large missing piece on a patch of grass more than ten meters from the cave entrance.

The water in the barrel was still good, with about half left.

He laboriously lifted it and returned to the cave.

Then he checked the wooden door, placing his hand on it.

The mechanical voice of the Black Mark sounded once more.

"'Repair?'"

"Yes," Yu Hong replied in his heart.

Instantly, a black thread flowed from the Black Mark on his hand, quickly leaving his hand and sinking into the wooden door.

Then a countdown appeared, a number only Yu Hong could see.

Seeing the repair commence, he breathed a sigh of relief, opened the door slightly, allowing some breeze to enter from outside.

He then began taking inventory of the food and supplies stored in the cave.

1. A bag of fortified protein bars, ten pieces. It could last him ten days, provided the packaging wasn't exaggerated.

2. Dried mushrooms and vegetables given by Stammering Yiyi, almost a big bag, enough for him to sustain himself for quite a while under normal conditions, ensuring the intake of trace elements and dietary fiber.

3. A musty quilt.

4. A radio.

5. Two wooden stools.

6. A stove.

7. A broken water bucket.

8. One piece of enhanced pyroxene.

9. A lumberjack set with ax and saw.

10. A single enhanced candle.

This was everything significant; other daily necessities were in the house at Baiqiu Village.

But...

Yu Hong walked to the window by the door, looking toward that direction.

Under the sunlight, the old dilapidated village vaguely appeared, with human figures standing motionless at each household's doors and windows.

They stood silently, unmoving.

As Yu Hong observed cautiously, as if aware of something, they all turned to look this way simultaneously.

'So many!' Yu Hong felt a tingling on his scalp, quickly shut the shutters to block the view from the inspection window.

*Baiqiu Village was clearly different from before, becoming even more dangerous.*

Not just because of changes in blood ticks, but even the shadows....

"Previously, with such intense sunlight, shadows couldn't possibly appear so much during the day.... How come now...."

*He couldn't understand.*

The enhanced pyroxene in his hand, only one piece remained; the rest was embedded in the walls and the main door.

Right, there was still the rod!

Yu Hong grabbed the rebar rod, glancing around at the reinforced pyroxene embedded in the cave's surroundings, suddenly feeling slightly more secure.

*He began to somewhat understand Doctor Xu.*

*She was right.*

If it weren't for the Black Mark, going to the town's bunker was the best and only way to survive.

"Right, after using the enhanced pyroxene, I wonder if it could be repaired and replenished...." Yu Hong sat on a wooden stool, picking up a previously used piece of enhanced pyroxene.

This stone he removed from the rebar rod.

The golf ball-sized White Stone, once having a jade-like texture, had turned ashen, akin to lime.

The symbols on its surface remained, but upon closer inspection, one could find many breaks in the symbol lines.

From continuity to discontinuity.

Holding the enhanced pyroxene, Yu Hong sat quietly, staring at the countdown numbers on the door.

*He dared not leave.*

*The outside was clearly abnormal.*

*Tomorrow would be the surge period, but today had already begun with extreme abnormalities.*

*There were things Stammering Yiyi promised to leave him at Baiqiu Village, but he dared not retrieve them now.*

Because it was too dangerous....

*Just now, with just a glance from afar, he saw no fewer than twenty shadows, appearing in broad daylight.*

*It was a completely different concept from before. If those shadows were to attack, his enhanced pyroxene wouldn't be able to withstand them.*

Yu Hong watched the numbers and thought.

'Luckily, before I left, I gave Yiyi another piece of enhanced pyroxene and taught her the more complex rune on the enhanced pyroxene.... It should be useful to her....'

Sizzle.

At this moment, as he pondered, the wooden door in front of him suddenly blurred.

In an instant, the originally damaged and cracked reinforced wooden door became intact again, like it had just been made.

All damages, cracks, loosened fixture screws, et cetera, were all re-secured and restored to their original shape.

Yu Hong sighed in relief, stood up, and checked thoroughly.

Assured that there was truly no problem, the door indeed restored to its initial strengthened state.

Suddenly, a heavy relief came over his heart.

'But it's still not enough.'

*Thinking about Big Skin's terrifying impact made his eyes cloud over with gloom.*

Thinking it over, he picked up the rebar pyroxene rod, cautiously opened the door, and stepped out of the cave.

Outside the cave was a quiet and dense mountain forest.

Vapor rose from the rain-soaked ground, transforming into a thin mist, permeating the forest, starting to obscure vision.

*The blurred mist raised a thread of vigilance in Yu Hong's heart.*

But he had to go to the place he made the wooden door before, to find some long wooden planks for reinforcement devices.

Holding the rebar pyroxene rod, he minimized making noise, descended the rock face, and came to a small clearing in the forest.

The clearing had scattered tree stumps from prior felling, black traces of fire, and wood chips from sawing fell.

This was the spot where he crafted the wooden door before.

Yu Hong looked around to ensure no danger before quickly picking up two thick wooden strips about arm-thick from the ground.

These were leftover materials from before, not used because they weren't straight enough.

But now, they were just right for making latches and support pillars.

Dragging the two wooden strips, slightly over a meter long, Yu Hong returned to the cave.

The two wooden strips, having been rained on, were waterlogged, very damp.

But he didn't care the slightest about these, and didn't mind whether they were wet or not; surviving the next few days of the surge period was the priority.

Taking out a saw, after a brief measuring, he started to vigorously cut the wood strips.

Quickly, after minor adjustments, the two thick wooden strips were treated at the ends, snugly fitting as inclined supports at the back of the wooden door, enhancing the door's defense.

After completing these, Yu Hong placed a hand on one of the wooden strips, thinking of reinforcing the door's support device.

This was an experiment of his.

On the surface, it was merely a crude interplay of two thick wooden strips; giving it a functional name, could it be specifically enhanced by the Black Mark?

If not, it would mean the Black Mark required subtle conditions for enhancement.

If it could, the scope of possibilities would be vast....

With one hand on the strip, Yu Hong silently meditated.

Soon.

"'Enhance the door support device?'"

The subtle, only audible to him, sound echoed.

Yu Hong's expectant eyes brightened with hope!

He saw a numeral appear on the wooden strip: 11 points.

'Yes!'

He responded firmly in his mind.

*It worked!!*

*It really worked!!!*

At the same time, a slight excitement arose in his heart.

*If this is so, then creating a makeshift water filtration tool on my own might also be strengthened to perfection!*

*There's also furniture, various tools; as long as I give them a designated conceptual functional name, maybe.....*

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