Yu Hong reached out to warm himself for a while, suddenly feeling unbearably thirsty, so he got up and walked to the wooden barrel, preparing to scoop some water to drink.
The water in the barrel was quite turbid, with a faint gray color, but it was much better than the stinking water.
Yu Hong took a piece of charcoal used for drying, then cut a corner of his shirt with the axe blade, wrapped the charcoal inside, and placed it at the mouth of the wooden cup, just tight enough to hold it in place without falling through.
With that, he had made the simplest and crudest charcoal filter cup.
Picking up the barrel, he carefully and slowly poured the water over the cloth-covered charcoal.
The water filtered in very, very slowly, then dripped drop by drop from below the cloth-wrapped charcoal into the cup.
Yu Hong observed for a moment and found that the water that dripped down initially had some black charcoal sediment, but subsequently became cleaner, much cleaner than the water in the barrel.
Though it was still turbid.
*"Water must be drunk, it can't be scarce. I'll try and see if I can enhance a perfect one myself. If not, I'll get one from Stammering Yiyi's room."*
With the plan in mind, Yu Hong reached out and grasped the wooden cup.
With a thought of enhancement.
Suddenly, a new black number appeared on the side of the cup: 2:34.
At the same time, the mechanical voice of the Black Mark echoed in his ears again.
*"Enhance the filtering cup?"*
"Yes!" he answered eagerly, full of anticipation.
Whoosh, the number on the side of the cup instantly turned into a countdown.
He relaxed a bit, sat down, felt the warmth emanating from the fireplace, and his heart calmed significantly.
*Two hours wasn't too long; he just needed to sit and rest for a while.*
Sitting on the wooden stool, Yu Hong felt a constant stream of warm air radiating from the fireplace, brushing over him, passing through his clothes, making his body increasingly lazy.
*Even though it was a dangerous night outside, cold and damp, full of risks, this warmth somehow made him less energetic.*
Unknowingly, his eyelids began to droop.
*"No! Can't sleep!"* He suddenly stood up, distancing himself from the fireplace.
By now, the entire cave was filled with a faint smell of sweat.
That was the peculiar scent from the blankets and his body being baked.
When it was damp, it wasn't too noticeable, but now that it was dried, the smell quickly spread.
"Hmm..." Yu Hong rubbed his nose, knowing that the most appropriate action now was to open the door for ventilation, but unfortunately, it was nighttime, the most dangerous time outside.
Ssss....
A faint sound of crawling insects could already be heard coming from outside the door.
Apparently, the blood ticks had started to appear.
He didn't know where these insects came from; they were invisible during the day but crawled out at night.
Moreover, they seemed to evaporate into thin air when exposed to light, which was clearly abnormal.
But he didn't have time to think too much about it now.
Standing up, he quietly waited by the fireplace.
The flames in the fireplace flickered like red silk, swaying with the vibrations, unpredictably bright and dim.
Ssss....
Soon, through the ventilation hole on the right side of the door, a torrent of black insects surged in like leaking black sand.
As soon as many black insects came in, they were exposed to the fireplace's flames and instantly evaporated into black smoke.
And the fire only dimmed slightly for a moment before quickly returning to normal.
*"Thankfully, the blood ticks didn't consume much fire. As long as I controlled the number that came in... these logs should last through the night."*
Yu Hong estimated the dry wood in the corner and felt a bit relieved.
Standing by the fireplace, he waited for the black insect attack to end, ready to add more firewood at any time.
Time elapsed little by little.
The firewood also gradually dimmed.
Yu Hong moved his hands quickly, casually tossing the dry wood he held into the fire.
The dry wood quickly ignited, and the brightness returned to normal.
This went on in cycles, with him adding wood almost every half hour.
Otherwise, the firelight would quickly dim.
This left him unable to divert his attention, and he had to keep an eye on the fireplace at all times.
Boom!
At that moment, the wooden door was suddenly struck, making a loud noise.
Bam bam bam bam bam!!!
Soon after, a series of hurried knocks began. The door seemed like a large drum, hammered repeatedly, causing vibrating tremors, the edges shedding stone debris frequently.
But two recently reinforced support columns played a significant role.
Amid the loud crashing sounds.
The door kept shaking, slightly quivering, as though the entire cave was about to collapse. But under the support columns' force, it steadfastly held, with the surrounding screws all intact.
Yu Hong stood there, heart pounding, trying hard to control himself not to look at the main entrance, but rather focused on the fireplace, preventing the firelight from dimming.
Time passed like this, in an agonizing wait.
He didn't know how much time had passed, as he had already lost his way to track time, his phone long since out of battery, automatically shut down.
All he could do was keep watching the fire, waiting for dawn....
*"Wait!"* Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat, *"Isn't the phone also an item, can't it also be enhanced!?"*
His mind suddenly realized that the highest-tech item around him was undoubtedly the phone.
If he could use it to enhance, turning it into a computing processing intelligent control center....
Maybe in the future, he could even build an absolutely intelligent safety shelter base for himself!
Standing there, Yu Hong daydreamed as the loud banging finally ceased.
It seemed that the Big Skin outside understood it couldn't do anything to the enhanced wooden door and finally gave up, scurrying away until there was no more movement.
About ten minutes of silence passed.
Outside, apart from the usual blood ticks or black bugs, there was no other commotion.
Everything returned to the initial stalemate state.
Only, the reinforced wooden door had been struck for so long that the door panel was slightly bulging inward.
Sigh...
Yu Hong exhaled, feeling the night was halfway over; if he just held on a little longer, it should be fine.
Boom!!!
At that moment, an explosive noise sounded abruptly on the door.
The door panel made a cracking sound, a crack appearing.
Yu Hong's expression changed; he hurriedly grabbed a quilt and pressed it against the door.
Bam bam bam bam bam!!!
Another round of fresh pounding began.
This time, the noise was noticeably louder and the force stronger than before.
*"Either it's not the same Big Skin, or it has a berserk mode!"*
Yu Hong pushed with all his might, a guess crossing his mind.
The incessant boom echoed, numbing his eardrums, with his shoulder pressing firm against the wall, burning with pain, evidently rubbed raw.
Ten minutes.
Twenty minutes.
A half-hour....
Forty minutes...
Until it was almost reached an hour when the banging stopped.
It didn't resume for quite some time.
Only then did Yu Hong breathe a sigh of relief, release the quilt, and examine the door.
The sturdy back of the door panel now bore more than a dozen bulges, with parallel cracks running throughout.
Estimating that another half hour of pounding would have broken it completely.
However, at this point, a faint light creased through the ventilation hole, letting Yu Hong know it wasn't that the Big Skin had given up, but that dawn had arrived outside.....
Slumping down on the floor, covered in sweat, both hungry and thirsty.
Turning to the enhanced water-filtering cup, whose countdown had long since disappeared.
In its place was a considerably refined black metal large cup.
The cup featured a massive filtering device, akin to a balance weight connected to the lid. The lower cup body tube-like, similar to a beer mug, had a capacity of at least five hundred milliliters.
Which was a typical bottle size for the mineral water and purified water Yu Hong usually drank.
Picking up the enhanced filtering cup, Yu Hong swiftly lifted the wooden barrel, pouring some water into the cup.
The rainwater filtered through, slowly and gradually dripping into the cup's bottom until it accumulated into a layer of relatively clear cold water.
Yu Hong waited for a while, tilting the cup to pour out this layer of water.
*"It's basically drinkable now but still needs to be boiled."*
The pot for boiling water was in the house in Baiqiu Village.
Yu Hong could only sip it symbolically to moisten his lips.
Then he walked to the door, pulled open the panel, and looked outside.
Peeking out the window, the light was getting increasingly bright, and sunlight shone down once more.
Yu Hong checked the surroundings and, finding nothing amiss, removed the support pillar and unlocked the door.
He stood at the entrance, inspecting the damage inside and out.
The startling part was that the reinforced wooden door was almost breached, meaning just before dawn; otherwise, if it were... Yu Hong silently reached out and laid his hand on the door.
*"Repair?"*
"Yes," he responded confidently.
Watching the countdown appear on the door, a shadow crossed his heart.
*"It's still not enough, I still need to reinforce the door. If another Big Skin comes charging, this door won't hold!"*
*"So, how to reinforce it?"*
He stood by the door, resealing it, pondering carefully.
Before long, he quickly grabbed an axe and dashed out. After a flurry of chopping wood, Yu Hong soon dragged two thick wooden planks over.
Switching to a hammer, after a series of clangs, the two thick wooden planks were nailed to the back of the door.
But the thick boards weren't nailed directly to the door; they were anchored to the stone walls on both sides, one on the top and one at the bottom, parallel to each other.
This way, while somewhat cumbersome to enter and exit, the door was reinforced once again.
Then Yu Hong repaired several more planks, lining them vertically against the door's back to thicken the door panel.
After doing all this, he was worn out, slumping to a seat.
He wiped his sweat with his sleeve and picked up the tool kit Stammering Yiyi gave him, leaving only two nails inside.
*"The steel nails are almost gone... They need to be replenished."*
While mortise and tenon structure were handy, they needed to be planned from the start; otherwise, later adjustments could only rely on miscellaneous items like steel nails.
After pondering a moment, Yu Hong filtered another cup of water, sipping it down in small gulps.
Picking up the enhanced pyroxene rod, he took a deep breath, scanning the entire cave.
*"First, go to Stammering Yiyi's house to move things, right before leaving, enhance something to save time."*
Thinking it over, he chose to enhance the newly reinforced door panel.
Reaching out, he pressed his hand on the reinforcement panel at the back of the door, focusing his thoughts.
Soon, the Black Mark's query sounded again.
*"Enhance door reinforcement panel?"*
"Yes!" Yu Hong responded effortlessly in his mind.
Instantly, numbers appeared on the panel, turning into a countdown: 1:32.
*"Still reasonable... not too long...."*
He sighed in relief.
Then, grabbing the rod, tucking away the single piece of enhanced pyroxene, he opened the door.
He resolutely jumped off the rocky platform, heading into the woods toward Baiqiu Village.