Lu Qingyuan came back.
"Are you okay?"
Chu Yian quickly opened the door and saw some blood stains on his clothes, his hair slightly messy, but couldn't tell much more.
"I'm fine."
Lu Qingyuan closed the door behind him and walked straight to the well.
"That guy has been dealt with. Bring some stuff over to cover the well."
Chu Yian didn't ask how he had handled the intruder but just followed his words and fetched the wooden boards they had used before to cover the well.
Together, they covered the well and Chu Yian swept some fallen leaves over the boards.
But it still wasn't enough.
Their house was right by the roadside; they couldn't avoid people passing by.
In the second half of the night, footsteps outside kept sounding, making Chu Yian highly alert.
Day 14 of the game, 8:00 a.m.
The temperature had already reached 40°C, and almost no one was traveling anymore.
They couldn't just sit at home and wait to die.
Though it was hot outside, it was still bearable. To prevent intruders, they decided to try setting some traps.
Chu Yian looked around the house for anything useful. Suddenly she noticed shattered glass scattered near a second-floor window.
It was window glass that had cracked from the intense heat.
The glass shards glittered sharply in the sunlight, revealing razor edges.
Seeing those shards, an idea sprang to her mind.
"Teacher Lu, let's put broken glass all along the tops of the walls!"
Chu Yian picked up two sharp shards and ran out to tell Lu Qingyuan her plan.
Once the main gate was locked, anyone wanting to come in would have to climb the walls.
If the tops were covered with glass, let's see how they'd dare to climb.
Lu Qingyuan took the shards and nodded slightly.
"How do we do it?"
The sun was already high in the east.
Chu Yian cleaned the yard and prepared a cement and sand mixture.
Lu Qingyuan gathered all the second-floor window glass and other glass items inside the house.
Cement slurry was the adhesive used in building.
Freshly mixed, it was a fluid paste; once dried, it hardened into a solid block.
Chu Yian mixed the cement slurry and brought a ladder inside.
They applied about a 4 cm thick layer of cement on the top of the walls, and before it dried, inserted the glass shards with their sharpest points sticking out.
One person handed materials from below; the other spread cement above.
After some practice, their cooperation got faster and smoother.
In two hours, all four walls were covered with sharp glass shards.
Now the temperature was 46°C.
Chu Yian was sweltering.
She climbed down the wooden ladder, her face sunburned, vision dimming, almost collapsing with every few steps.
But she didn't fall.
Strong players don't get knocked down by mild heatstroke.
She opened her eyes wide and firmly walked back to the basement, giving herself a bottle of refreshing huoxiang zhengqi water.
Lu Qingyuan, who had already reached out to help, withdrew his arm and slowly entered the basement.
"Any more of this medicine?"
"Yes."
Chu Yian handed him the box, then took a bucket of water to shower, changed clothes, and went to bed, falling asleep instantly.
Strong players don't get defeated by heat, but they need sleep to recharge.
Lu Qingyuan took the cooling medicine, glanced back, and saw she was already asleep.
Still sleeping on his bed.
He was silent for a moment, then walked over and gently nudged her.
Chu Yian hugged the blanket and rolled to one side—probably from the heat and sudden cold shower, her head felt dizzy.
"Teacher Lu, turn on the fan."
Noon
Hunger and biological clock woke her up.
Feeling much better after a good rest, Chu Yian suddenly realized she had slept in the wrong spot.
She was half a meter away from her usual floral-patterned bed, with a half-meter-high low wall between them.
She sat up abruptly and checked around.
Lu Qingyuan was just coming downstairs, holding some tools.
"Teacher Lu, I just—"
"I installed a door above the basement stairs. I want to see if I can disguise it somehow."
Lu Qingyuan said first.
"I'll rest now. Call me when it's time to eat."
"Got it." Chu Yian nodded. "Go rest."
Lu Qingyuan: ...?
"No, I mean, you go rest assured." Chu Yian turned, tidied his bed, dusted off nonexistent dust on the sheets, then ran toward the basement stairs to check the door Lu Qingyuan mentioned.
The stairs took up a separate room in the house layout.
The stairs going upstairs and those going to the basement were side-by-side in the same room.
Lu Qingyuan had installed a door on the first floor at ground level.
It opened outward.
Though installed, it was obvious the door didn't provide concealment.
Now it was her problem to fix.
Chu Yian noticed the wood was a different color from the floor and thought she could mix some cement to paint over the door to blend it better with the floor.
But the weather was too hot; even if she camouflaged the door, it would have to wait until the temperature dropped.
Chu Yian checked the time and prepared to cook.
Opening the fridge, she found the stored meat had softened again.
For food safety, she had to check each piece—an important task, because she found the topmost meat had spoiled.
Though she expected power outages to ruin the food, she hadn't expected it so quickly.
She frowned slightly and threw out the spoiled food.
Three packs of fresh meat were lost.
As for the rest... if the meat was going bad anyway, better to just eat it all.
She had plenty of rice, noodles, flour, and instant foods, so there was no worry about starving in the next few days.
Chu Yian made her decision and took out the remaining meat.
Chicken was used for soup.
Rabbit meat was seasoned and blanched to remove the gamey smell.
Pork, beef, and lamb were still slightly frozen and easy to slice into two-millimeter-thick pieces.
Prepared, she took out her treasured hotpot base, fried the spices until fragrant, poured in the prepared chicken soup with chicken meat, boiled it, and then added the rabbit meat to simmer.
Besides meat, she peeled two potatoes and washed a large napa cabbage.
Lu Qingyuan wasn't awakened by noise—he was awakened by the aroma of the hotpot.
The fragrant steam filled the house.
He opened his eyes and saw Chu Yian had everything ready, even frozen drinks and the air conditioner on.
The basement's hot air was quickly vented outside, making the room especially cool.
Chu Yian saw Lu Qingyuan sitting up, waved a pair of chopsticks at him, and said,
"Teacher Lu, get up and eat!"