Chu Yuan’s feet trod upon the layer of damp, decaying leaves, creating dry rustling sounds within the thick fog.

  At this moment, visibility was limited to less than four meters. With every step, he used his axe to push aside branches blocking the way, his eyes never leaving those familiar marked positions.

  What caught his eyes were long, slender trees with straight trunks, only a few centimeters in diameter.

  “These trees will serve as the frame to create the barrier walls!”

  Chu Yuan calculated to cut these long but compact trees to build the wind-shielding structure for the thatched hut.

  The old iron axe in his hand swung with a whistling whoosh; despite his muscles aching from the after-effects of chopping trees earlier, he did not mind and could still endure it.

  Thwack!

  Thwack!

  Thwack!

  The sound of the axe blade biting into the thin trunks rang out.

  With just a few strokes, each small tree fell one by one.

  Thump!

  Thump!

  Thump!

  ...

  Chu Yuan chopped off the excess branches and leaves, leaving only the neat, straight trunks.

  Unfortunately, cutting trees like this did not trigger any notification from the system about decomposing them into wood materials, even though he had cut many small trees.

  This made sense; after all, one unit of wood material had such high density that it required a tree with equivalent density for the system to compress and decompose.

  Using the axe to peel the soft bark from other types of trunks, Chu Yuan used them as rope to bundle the pile of small trees. The remaining excess bark could continue to be used as ties to lock and fix the trunks together to form the frame.

  In this manner, Chu Yuan went back and forth, transporting the small trunks and bark to the outside of the thatched hut, then once again stepped into the forest.

  This time, Chu Yuan followed the locations memorized in his head, where there were trees with broad leaves that could be layered onto the wall frame to act as wind protection.

  But before gathering the leaves, he used a small tree trunk about 3 meters long to beat against the tree trunks, foliage, and surrounding bushes.

  Swish... swish... swish...

  This is called "beating the grass to scare the snake."

  In this forest of unknown dangers, caution was never redundant. He had not forgotten that eerie cry yet.

  The dry rustling sounds echoed in the quiet space; Chu Yuan silently and carefully paid attention.

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  A moment later, no snakes, centipedes, or similar things crawled out. Confirming it was safe, Chu Yuan emboldened himself to gather the materials.

  Instead of picking each leaf, Chu Yuan cut the broad-leafed trees down at the root; if a tree was too large, he only cut the branches.

  Thus, Chu Yuan took the gathered trees and branches and carefully transported them back to his residence.

  ... ...

  “Phew... Truly tiring, ah!”

  Looking at the spoils from his own effort and sweat lying in a heap on the spot, Chu Yuan let out a smile like a typical old farmer who had just finished harvesting.

  “Next is collecting stones and determining the wind direction!”

  Looking at the virtual light panel crowded with text in front of his eyes, Chu Yuan, having rested for just a moment, immediately stood up to continue the plan.

  Not for any other reason, time was passing so fast.

  It was currently 13:46; he had to take advantage of the time before nightfall to finish constructing the hut walls, otherwise, tonight he would surely be frozen by the cold wind.

  “So cold!”

  Just as he mentioned the cold wind, a gust carrying chilly air blew over, making Chu Yuan unable to stop himself from shivering slightly.

  Even though he was active continuously and his body generated heat to partly resist the cold, that cold wind felt as if it carried icy breath, giving Chu Yuan goosebumps.

  Rubbing his hands together and holding them before the fire to warm up a bit to maintain body temperature, Chu Yuan then took the axe in his hand along with the small wooden stick from earlier, stepping towards the forest where the sky-piercing ancient trees grew.

  ...

  Chu Yuan approached a gnarled ancient tree trunk, where patches of grayish-white lichen and green moss clung like an old coat.

  He observed carefully: on this side, lichen and moss developed extremely strongly, spreading into large, thick, and succulent patches. Conversely, on the opposite side of the trunk, the lichen looked more barren, with tiny fungal threads withered and sparse.

  “Lichen and moss usually grow well in damp and sheltered places. So this side is the South, and that drier side is the North, the direction the wind blows directly into.”

  Estimating the standards using the moment he walked out from the thatched hut as a landmark to divide East, West, South, and North, Chu Yuan meditated and reached a conclusion.

  “So I should reinforce the Northern wall more, and place the entrance in the South.”

  To confirm if his deduction was accurate, Chu Yuan surveyed several other tree trunks; the result was not outside of expectations: the wind indeed blew from the North.

  Having determined the wind direction, Chu Yuan began the stage of finding stones.

  This was much simpler; in this forest, every five or six steps, one could encounter large and small stones of different shapes lying scattered on the ground.

  Tap! Tap!

  He used the long stick to tap the ground; the sound emitted was dull when hitting soft earth, but occasionally a sharp clack rang out when hitting pebbles. Chu Yuan leaned down, digging up stones as big as a fist, even flat stones like fired bricks.

  “Luck is not bad!”

  He laboriously carried the pile of stones back toward the fire.

  One by one, each stone was carefully arranged by Chu Yuan into a circle surrounding the brightly burning fire. The distance between the stones and the fire was calculated just right—not too close to crack due to sudden temperature changes, and not too far to absorb the maximum amount of heat.

  Having finished arranging the "heat battery" made of stone, Chu Yuan began the most important stage.

  Erecting the walls!

  Crr-ack... crr-ack...

  The sound of flexible tree bark being stretched taut rang out as he tied the small wooden poles to the four main pillars. Hands that were only used to holding pens and phones were now marked with red scratches, but Chu Yuan's gaze was extremely firm; he wove the wooden bars in a herringbone pattern, creating a sturdy skeleton.

  Afterward, he took the branches with broad leaves he had collected and stacked them from bottom to top.

  Rustle... rustle...

  Each layer of leaves was tightly secured by Chu Yuan using bark strings; this layering method was like fish scales—if dew or rain fell, it would flow along the leaf surface to the outside without soaking into the earthen mound.

  Sweat streamed down his forehead, soaking into his stinging eyes, but Chu Yuan did not stop his hands. He knew that in this world full of oddities, every minute of labor now was like buying an extra portion of insurance for his life at night.

  By the time the third wall was erected, sealing off the noxious wind direction, Chu Yuan finally stopped, panting for breath. He looked up at the virtual screen:

  16:34

  The light in the forest began to dim slightly; the dense fog also seemed to be thickening, creeping through the foliage like pale white ghosts, as a cold sensation began to rise from the ground.

  “There’s still a little time left... must reinforce the entrance!”

  He muttered, his hands starting to go numb from the low environmental temperature and the moisture soaking through his skin. Chu Yuan quickly selected the two smallest remaining wooden trunks, about 3cm in diameter and as tall as the house pillars.

  Thwack!

  Thwack!

  He sharpened one end of the two wooden poles and used all his might to thrust them into the ground right at the position for the thatched hut's door, creating a narrow door frame just enough for one person to squeeze through while carrying objects in and out.

  Next, Chu Yuan did not make a fixed wall for this path. He used vines with good stiffness and elasticity along with tree bark to weave a thick "curtain" using the remaining broad-leaved branches.

  The large leaves were stacked closely together, interspersed with small branches to create weight.

  Swish... swish...

  The sound of leaves rubbing against each other rang out dryly. Chu Yuan carefully tied one end of this leaf curtain to the crossbeam above the door. When he let go, the curtain hung down, completely covering the entrance, preventing the cold air from the fog from seeping inside.

  To be more certain, he also picked up two flat stones and placed them at the foot of the leaf curtain so the wind could not blow it upward.

  “Completed!”

  Exhaling a heavy breath, Chu Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face satisfied as he looked at the results of his own effort and striving.

  Nothing could prevent a person from having a sense of achievement at this moment.

  Chu Yuan stepped inside and pulled the leaf curtain shut.

  Immediately, the feeling was completely different; although the temperature was still low, there were no longer gusts of wind blowing directly against his skin. The warmth from the fire began to be trapped, radiating toward the surrounding pebbles.

  Looking toward the blue virtual light screen:

  17:16

  Outside, the fog was grayish, and the light grew increasingly and miserably dim, like a light bulb about to have its power cut at any moment.