No one knew how much time had passed.

The figure outside the window seemed to lose patience and quietly left.

The window was no longer blocking the light, returning to normal.

Henry Clark gripped the reinforced white stone tightly, feeling both the stone and his palm drenched in sweat.

He lowered his head, took a deep breath, and adjusted his state. Then he got up and picked up another white stone, this time an unused one.

He looked at the number displayed on the stone: 2 days.

‘Unused ones only take two days to reinforce?’ He breathed a sigh of relief.

Hearing the inquiry sound in his ear, he silently gave a confirmation to reinforce.

Very quickly, the number on the surface of the white stone disappeared instantly, and the whole thing seemed to be coated in a layer of slippery grease, beginning the black mark reinforcement.

Henry Clark didn’t even look at it, just stuffed it into the other side of his pants pocket.

Then he lay down, squinted his eyes, set an alarm on his phone, and drifted off to sleep.

This time he didn’t sleep long, nor did he sleep soundly, waking up soon after.

‘Little Grace isn’t coming back tonight, which means I’ll be the only one in this room tonight.’ Henry Clark glanced at the dim sunlight outside the window crack, feeling a bit heavy-hearted.

He got up and went to the junk corner, taking out a big candle that Little Grace had left for him before leaving, along with something like matches.

He got everything ready, placing them by the bed within easy reach.

Then, just like that, Henry Clark half-lay on the bed in a daze, waiting for nightfall.

Time ticked by, and before long, it grew darker and darker outside, gradually plunging into pitch blackness.

This time it was very quiet—no black bugs, no eerie shadows.

It was as if everything had forgotten about him, a moment of peace.

In the weary wait and vigilance, the night passed quickly.

Not until dawn, when Henry Clark saw the bright sunlight streaming in through the window, did he finally let out a long sigh of relief.

But even though it was morning and nothing had happened during the night, the prolonged tension and exhaustion left him physically and mentally drained.

This made him even more eager to find a truly safe place to rest.

He was not Little Grace; if he kept going like this without proper rest, he would die.

He got up, filtered some water in the house and drank it, and Henry Clark’s stomach started growling again.

Although he had finished all of Little Grace’s food stores yesterday, so much time had passed that his stomach had long since digested it all.

He got up and went outside, taking advantage of the sunlight, and wandered around the gravel road intersection again.

This time, he walked a stretch down the old road, trying to find edible plants and insects.

But unfortunately, he found nothing on the road—not a single insect, and he didn’t recognize any of the plants.

None of the plants here were ones he’d seen before. Even the most common wild chrysanthemums and dandelions were nowhere to be found.

Fortunately, at last, Little Grace and the other person returned.

Thud.

Inside the house, Little Grace struggled to put down a large bundle from her back.

Then she untied the bundle.

Inside were neatly packed bags of dried meat, dried mushrooms, and dried insects.

Henry Clark stepped forward to help and found that the dried meat was mainly some blackish meat chunks—he had no idea what animal they came from.

The dried mushrooms were also in pieces, impossible to tell the type.

And the dried insects...

“Are these... cockroaches?!” Henry Clark’s expression changed a bit.

“They’re delicious.” Little Grace shook her head, correcting him. Then she casually picked up a thumb-sized dried cockroach and popped it into her mouth.

“Yum!” She gave a thumbs-up, chewed quickly with a crisp crunch, her eyes wide and round, full of happiness.

“……” Henry Clark was at a loss for words.

Chapter 8: Decision II

Watching Little Grace put away the dried goods and then pick up the small water jar to head outside.

Henry Clark hurried to follow—he needed to learn where to get water.

The two of them left the house, and to his surprise, Little Grace didn’t go to the well in the village, but instead walked out along the gravel road and followed the old road further out.

They walked for about ten minutes.

By the roadside, they found a ruined well at a lower elevation.

The well was very shallow, and with the help of the light, they could see there was only a pool of deep yellow, foul-smelling water at the bottom.

Without a word, Little Grace tied the water jar with a rope and lowered it to scoop up water.

“Why not get water from the well in the village?” Henry Clark couldn’t help but ask in a low voice.

“That... can’t drink!” Little Grace answered seriously.

She looked up at Henry Clark while drawing water.

“From now on, water, here!” She pointed at the well in front of them.

“……” Henry Clark nodded. Looking down at the foul water slowly being drawn from the well, he felt even heavier inside.

He helped Little Grace seal the water jar to prevent spills.

They didn’t go back, but started searching for something in the nearby grass.

“Must... eat... grass!” Little Grace instructed him.

“Otherwise, sick! Will... die!” She gestured as she explained.

Henry Clark nodded and began carefully learning which grasses she was digging up.

This was extremely valuable experience—if you ate the wrong thing, you could get poisoned or have diarrhea, and in such a harsh environment, getting sick could mean weakness and death.

After a round of gathering, the two of them each brought back a big bundle to the house.

Little Grace spread the grass out on the window to dry.