He stepped forward and began using the machete to cut off the branches, selecting the straightest part of the trunk, then, according to the measurements of the cave entrance, cut out the approximate length.

Before coming here, although he was just an ordinary office worker, he had done some carpentry work in the countryside for a while.

Although not skilled, he understood the basic steps and procedures.

Little Grace watched from the side, occasionally coming over to help out of curiosity.

Soon, night fell. The two of them dropped their things, picked up their tools, and returned to the house to rest and wait for tomorrow.

After an uneventful night, and having eaten, the two returned here again to continue the unfinished work from yesterday.

Because Little Grace ate the food too quickly, it was almost gone again, so she arranged with Dr. Carter to go to Old Clark's place to buy some more.

She helped process the dead wood, and before long, saw Dr. Carter walking over from the distant woods.

So she stood up and waved happily.

"Xu! Here! Here!"

"……" Dr. Carter slowly approached, and upon seeing that Henry Clark was still there, immediately frowned.

"Didn't you just exchange for food? I was wondering why it's gone again—turns out there's an extra person." Her tone was not very pleasant.

"Henry Clark, very, capable!" Little Grace quickly waved her hand. "He, is, making, a better, house. Safer than, my, house!" She clearly agreed with Henry Clark's reasoning and was now helping to defend him.

"Forget it, let's not talk about it. Hurry up, the sooner we go, the sooner we return." Dr. Carter glanced at Henry Clark not far away. Seeing that he was about to get up and greet them, she walked a few steps closer and looked at him.

"What are you planning to do?" These days, she would occasionally chat with Little Grace and knew that this guy spent all day buried in his own projects.

All his food and drink depended on Little Grace, who had to find enough for two, which made things much harder for her.

Originally, everyone's food was only enough to keep them half full, and now there was the extra portion for a young man...

"I'm planning to build a safe house. For now, I'm relying on Grace for food and drink, but trust me, I'll be able to move out soon. Everything Grace has done for me, I remember. Once I'm settled, I'll repay her!" Henry Clark saw her intention.

After finishing, he saw her expression soften a bit, so he continued.

"Once I finish building a safer place to live, I can help Grace build a safer and better one too! Her house is really unsafe. If we run into bigger trouble, it definitely won't hold up! By then, you'll see the value of a safe house."

"Whatever, but just moving to a new place doesn't make it safer!" Dr. Carter clearly didn't believe him. "Don't drag Grace down with you."

"I won't!" Henry Clark said seriously.

Dr. Carter stared at him for a while, then said nothing more and left with Grace.

Henry Clark stood in the woods, watching the two leave. Only when they disappeared from sight did he look away and glance up at the sky.

The bright sunlight filled him with a sense of security.

In this kind of weather, even the wraiths wouldn't dare to appear rashly.

After a short rest, he continued to focus on sawing the wooden planks.

The sections of tree trunk that had been quickly scorched were sawed by him into thick, long planks.

Scorching the surface was to prevent rot, kill off some bugs and eggs, and remove excess moisture from the outside.

After cutting them into planks, he could join them together using mortise and tenon joints to make a solid, sturdy wooden door.

The mortise and tenon structure Henry Clark used was the simplest concave-convex type. Simply put, it meant carving a hole in the end of a thick plank.

Then, on another thick plank, he would carve a protrusion that fit perfectly into the hole.

Finally, inserting the protrusion into the hole made a complete mortise and tenon joint.

The biggest advantage of this structure was that it didn't require nails.

Using this joining method, Henry Clark painstakingly made one thick, sturdy, long plank after another.

He didn't drag the finished ones over all at once, but instead, like building blocks, brought the completed planks over section by section and joined them at the cave entrance.

During this time, he also kept testing the effect of the black mark.

He strengthened one piece of luminous stone after another.

As time passed, just as Henry Clark was almost used to the strange taste of the dried meat, the cave's wooden door was finally finished.

At dawn,

Henry Clark went alone to the cave entrance and fitted the last thick plank onto the wooden door.

The entire door was finally complete, with a movable panel in the middle that could be opened. The exterior looked quite rough.

These were parts taken from other houses in the village, combined with wood to assemble.

In addition, the large nails used to connect the wood to the stone around the edges also came courtesy of those houses.

At this moment, the entire cave entrance was completely blocked by the thick, gray-black wooden door.

Henry Clark walked inside alone and placed a strengthened white stone in a groove behind the door.

This was his idea for blocking the wraiths from entering.

Since the luminous stone could disperse wraiths, then if he placed the stone strategically along their path, could it also block them from entering?

Chapter 10: Action II

After placing the strengthened luminous stone, Henry Clark walked further into the cave and found corresponding recesses at the top and on both sides of the floor.

These were all spots he had prepared for the strengthened luminous stones, with the goal of ensuring the absolute safety of the entire safe house.