Chapter 14: There’s a Way!

Chapter 14: Chapter 14: There’s a Way!

Huai Yu dragged the large, branching twigs straight out of the woods. The vine net, with holes big enough for a person to crawl through, was filled to the brim with pine needles and leaves.

The sun had already set. Making the most of the remaining daylight, she hurried to drag everything to the edge of the treehouse, trip by trip. Not bothering to organize the pile, she quickly arranged the blue bricks into a simple square in the center of the treehouse, near the doorway.

Dried leaves were placed inside. With a CLICK of the lighter, Huai Yu stared at the flame, suddenly feeling an inexplicable daze—and an equally inexplicable sense of security.

Pausing for a moment, she ignited the dried leaves, then grabbed the slender branches nearby, snapped them one by one, and slowly built up the fire. In the twilight, the orange firelight illuminated her face. Exhaustion and satisfaction intertwined, reflecting a peaceful expression.

The treehouse’s height of just over two meters couldn’t stop the heat from rising. Fortunately, it was spacious enough and the fire wasn’t too large, so using it temporarily was safe for now.

Huai Yu stepped outside, taking some branches and leaves to dig a hole a distance away to answer nature’s call. She couldn’t bear to use the toilet paper. There were only two rolls. What if she faced a critical moment later on? Good steel had to be used on the blade, and good paper had to be saved for her period.

Besides, thanks to the nutrient solution being a viscous liquid, and the fact that she was constantly sweating from manual labor, she didn’t have to use the restroom several times a day.

After walking a few minutes to the pond to wash her hands and returning, she looked from afar and could only see the blurry outline of her treehouse. Not a single trace of light leaked out from inside.

Huai Yu was a little stunned.

This waterproof tarp was labeled as lightweight, but it was actually quite heavy. She had always thought it was simply because the Defense Army didn’t have anything lighter. But looking at it now, the very thickness and weight of the waterproof tarp allowed it to block out the light. She hadn’t thought about it before, but in the wilderness late at night, not leaking firelight and not being easily discovered was actually an immense safety guarantee.

When she walked around the back and entered through the doorway, a gust of wind happened to blow past. Inside the "fire pit" enclosed by the blue bricks, sparks flew with a CRACKLE toward the haystack further away.

Although there was a safe distance between them, when it came to fire, even the slightest risk was dangerous enough. Huai Yu was speechless. The hay simply couldn’t be left like this anymore!

She looked at the water that had been purified by the tablet nearby, noticing the thick layer of sediment at the bottom. She then unscrewed the cap of the mineral water jug, tilted the large red bucket, and carefully poured the purified water into it.

It was getting late. But since she needed to use water tonight, Huai Yu picked up the red bucket and went out again. It took some effort to clean out the sediment at the bottom before she brought back half a bucket of water.

The firelight danced, providing more than enough illumination for the entire treehouse. This was infinitely better than the past few days when she had been forced to close her eyes the moment it got dark.

With a few blue bricks left over, she simply used them to build a small stand, carefully placing the toothpaste, toothbrush, and other items she had obtained today on top of it. As for the two precious rolls of toilet paper and sanitary pads, they were naturally placed on the blue bricks at the head of her bed, taking up the most prominent spot, which spoke volumes about their importance.

After all this bustling about, by the time Huai Yu added more firewood to the flames, she felt that even today’s nutrient solution tasted delicious. And after filling her stomach, the very first thing she wanted to do was brush her teeth!

She carefully poured some water from the plastic mineral water jug onto the cap and unwrapped the new hard-bristled toothbrush. After thoroughly and repeatedly brushing her teeth twice, Huai Yu finally let out a hearty laugh. It was hard to explain to anyone just how incredibly wonderful that fresh, clean feeling in her mouth was!

She found a dry branch and laid it across the frame. Its height and position were perfectly situated to the side of the fire. Then, she took off her clothes.

First was a short trench coat with a large hole torn in the sleeve. Its collar and front lapels looked as if they had been violently ripped apart, and it was so dirty that its original color was completely indiscernible. Uh... she couldn’t even tell what material it was made of, but it probably wasn’t an expensive piece anyway. It was excessively baggy, and the tailoring was obviously quite mediocre.

Huai Yu took it off and threw it straight into the bucket.

Next was her inner layer—a T-shirt that was no longer white, lacking elasticity but relatively thick.

The treehouse was quiet. Although it didn’t have a door yet, the heat from the fire had already begun to spread. She placed the clothes in the bucket and patiently rubbed them. Since she didn’t have a washboard, she had no choice but to patiently scrub them against a blue brick.

Water trickled down from the elevated blue brick, quickly flowing through the gaps into the soil. Once the dirt on the two tops was symbolically scrubbed away, she hung them on the rack by the fire to dry.

Afterward, Huai Yu took off the jeans that were no longer recognizably blue. Tsk, they were completely covered in mud, to the point that she had to carry the water bucket outside to dump it out. It took two rounds of purified water to rinse them clean.

Huai Yu didn’t immediately change out of her underwear. Instead, she sat down with a bundle of dry grass and, relying on the heat and light of the fire, slowly braided the grass.

She had tried twisting grass ropes, but they only fell apart. She had tried weaving a curtain, but it similarly fell apart. After much thought, braiding seemed to be the only one of her skills that she still retained. Right now, she could only use this clumsy method to braid the grass bit by bit.

The dry grass wasn’t pliable enough. Its softness was far inferior to that of straw or rushes, so she had to carefully control her strength to avoid snapping the stems. Fortunately, the overall difficulty wasn’t high. By the time she lifted her stiff neck again, a bumpy, roughly crafted "door" was completely woven.

Huai Yu measured its size against the extended doorway. Satisfied, she threaded it onto a branch and wedged it onto the frame by the door.

She finally had a door!

The room instantly felt much more secure. At the same time, the night wind was blocked outside, and the temperature inside the room rapidly began to rise.

Huai Yu laughed happily. After a moment of thought, out of a girl’s natural concern for safety, she threaded a thin vine through each side of the door and looped them over the protruding branches on either side of the doorway.

Although it didn’t offer much defensive power... it was better than nothing.

Wow!

Spinning around in the enclosed space, she added more firewood to the flames, once again marveling at her situation. With light, it felt like she had so much more time!

Her spirits lifted. She didn’t feel tired in the slightest. Instead, she took out her brand-new, snow-white towel, dipped it in the purified water she poured from the bucket, and earnestly wiped down her body before changing into clean underwear. She then wiped down her sleeping bag as well.

After the last bit of water was used to scrub her old underwear and dumped out, Huai Yu finally gave a hard stretch. She really was amazing!

But the work wasn’t over yet.

Sitting on her bed, listening to the DRIP DROP of water falling from the wet clothes by the fire, Huai Yu began braiding grass again.

Tomorrow’s mission was to head into the mountains! Find materials, find food! Before the heavy rain arrived, she wanted to build a small shed and a toilet as quickly as possible!