Henry Clark carefully used a charcoal pencil to record the experiences he learned. He only wrote down the key points, and even then, it was a simplified version—just enough for himself to understand.

The medium he used for recording was a newspaper that Little Grace had given him earlier.

“Do you have to go far away to get dried meat and dried mushrooms?” Henry Clark jotted this down and looked up to ask.

“You can, grow, them, yourself,” Little Grace answered with difficulty, “but, not, worth it!”

Henry Clark nodded and wrote it down.

He was about to continue asking questions when suddenly a small notebook was handed to him.

The notebook had a white cover, with a cartoon mouse in the center. Scrawled on it were the words: Survival Must-Have Manual—Grace Wood.

Henry Clark paused for a moment, looked up, and saw Little Grace holding the notebook, grinning at him, revealing a mouthful of big yellow teeth.

“Thank you.” He took the notebook and started flipping through it.

Inside, there were detailed notes on how to collect water, how to buy food, the characteristics and locations of some basic wild vegetables.

There wasn’t much content, but it was very thorough.

Moreover, it also listed several villagers in Baiqiu Village who could be contacted, along with their contact information.

Among them, Old Clark was the one who made dried meat, Dr. Carter was responsible for medical treatment, someone named Jenny handled leatherwork and crafts, and there was also someone who made candles. In addition, the residences of other villagers were marked, but no names were given—obviously, they weren’t familiar.

At the end, there was a place called the post office, located in a forest north of Baiqiu Village.

“What does the post office do?” Henry Clark asked.

“Connect, city, town, get, goods, salt... sugar... deliver, letters...” Little Grace spoke with great effort.

She gestured animatedly as she spoke.

“You must, master... a skill, and, trade, with, people, for supplies...”

“I understand. I understand all of this. It’s just that I think the most important thing to solve first is the safety issue.” Henry Clark said seriously.

“There have already been two times when imposters came looking for trouble while you were away... It’s just too dangerous.”

His mind was racing, thinking about how to use his unique black mark to gain the greatest safety.

“No way...” Little Grace clearly understood and had thought about this too, and she lowered her head in frustration.

“Phantom shadows... nothing, can, block, them. Bugs, as long, as, there’s, a gap, they, can, get, in.”

“They, can, go, through, walls!” she gestured.

Go through walls??

Henry Clark fell silent, looking at the walls inside the house, lost in thought.

‘This place is too crude, the protection is too poor... there are gaps and holes everywhere.’ He remembered that those black bugs had crawled in through the cracks in the doors and windows before, which meant they probably couldn’t go through walls.

He asked Little Grace about it and got a definite answer.

Then, after carefully inspecting the house, he quickly concluded that the house’s protection was extremely poor.

“I plan to go live alone. Find another place.” he said in a low voice. If he was alone, he wouldn’t have to worry about imposters—no one would open the door for anyone.

Little Grace was stunned.

She had saved quite a few people before, but all of them had wanted to stay with her as long as possible, to learn more basic skills before leaving.

But this man in front of her... this man named Henry Clark, as soon as he woke up and felt a bit better, actually wanted to live by himself?

Strange.

A strange man.

Little Grace blinked.

“Aren’t you afraid?”

“I am, but your house is just too unsafe.” At this point, Henry Clark had probably figured out the key points of this place from the information in the notebook.

“The main threats to us are monsters, bugs, and phantom shadows. Although phantom shadows can go through walls and ignore barriers, they can be dispersed and driven away with luminous stones.

As for the monster bugs, they can be blocked by doors and walls—as long as the gaps are sealed at critical times. So, if we have enough luminous stones, plus a house that’s well-sealed, we can basically guarantee safety, right?”

Henry Clark calmed down and analyzed.

His serious and solemn expression left Little Grace a bit dazed.

“Should we try it? Block the gaps with something, make the holes smaller, and see if the bugs can still get in? If they can, how big does the gap need to be? Then we can make a mesh for the vents based on that.” Henry Clark asked.

“Also, how exactly are luminous stones made? Can you teach me?” he asked earnestly.

Little Grace looked at him and unconsciously nodded blankly.

At that moment, she seemed to see, in him, a figure from deep in her memory—someone extremely familiar and dearly missed.

After discussing, the two immediately began to prepare.

Little Grace rummaged for tools—hammer, saw, discarded planks, axe, long nails, all sorts of odds and ends.

Henry Clark, still weak from his recent illness and only just recovered from his fever, directed Little Grace in the work.

He found that Little Grace was very strong, much stronger than he was even at his best. She was also very robust—these past few days, with him taking the bed, Little Grace had slept on the floor and still hadn’t gotten sick.

According to the notebook, the black bugs were officially named Blood Tide.

They were clearly black bugs, but for some reason were called Blood Tide. Henry Clark didn’t care about that—he just wanted to learn as much as possible about the bugs and phantom shadows.