"Does it work too?" Controlling the urge to merge the wooden pieces, Red finally managed to look away and focus on the workbench.
[Hut: Lvl 0]
[Upgrade condition: (1) 10 pieces of ordinary wood for wooden cabin.
(2) 10 pieces of ordinary stone for stone cabin.]
Gritting his teeth, Red clicked on the wooden upgrade and the moment he did, the pieces of wood disappeared before the entire house was covered in a thin layer of white, making it impossible to see the walls, roof, and floor.
[Remaining Time: 30 Minutes]
Looking at the time required for the upgrade, Red gulped down a mouthful of water and after hesitating for a long time gritted his teeth and ate one more jerky. After working for five hours straight, he was already feeling hungry even though he had eaten one before.
"I guess one jerky a day is only for times when one isn't doing any hard work."
Looking at the remaining five pieces of jerky and the one-third empty water jar, he let out a helpless sigh. There was still around an hour left before it got dark. Right now he had two options. Either he could just chop off one more tree or he could explore his surroundings. Perhaps he might be lucky enough to come across some water or food.
With this thought in mind, Red didn't hesitate any longer. Grabbing his axe he walked out of his house and after a careful look, walked straight.
"...."
After walking for almost twenty minutes straight, Red gave up. There was nothing around him other than the dead trees. Far in the distance, he could see the outline of a large mountain, but the distance was too far. If he were to walk at his current speed, he didn't know how many days or perhaps weeks would it take him to reach there.
Helplessly, he looked around for a while before deciding to head back.
By the time Red reached back, the upgrading of his hut was finished. Instead of the old worn-out hut, it was now replaced by a small wooden cabin.
[Ordinary Wooden Cabin: Gives decent protection against the temperature and creatures of the dark.]
Walking inside, the first thing that attracted his attention was the addition of a new room. beside his bedroom was a small open room with a small bonfire. Other than that, the size of the rooms has increased by one-fourth. It wasn't much, but at least it didn't feel cramped.
Focusing his gaze back to the new room, Red walked towards it before a window popped up.
[Kitchen: Lvl 0]
"Uh!?" With a frown, Red looked at the bonfire in the middle of the kitchen before scratching his head.
[Bonefire: Uses 1/wood every six hours. Can be used to cook food and warm the house.]
Looking at it, Red almost cursed out loudly. Not to mention lighting up the bonfire in the middle of a wooden cabin was already dangerous. Even if he were to light it up, where was the smoke going to go? Looking around, there was no window or chimney. The only wooden window was in his bedroom. But this thought lasted only for a fraction of a second before Red realized it wasn't his previous world. He had seen many magical things today, so perhaps there was no need for him to worry about the smoke inside the cabin.
"It's almost night." Looking outside the window, the world was slowly beginning to get dark. Looking at the two wooden pieces for a while, Red thought for a long time before deciding not to light up the fire. The first reason was that he didn't have anything to cook and the second reason was that even though the temperature was somewhat low, it wasn't unbearable. With the thick clothes he was wearing, he could spend a night without the fire.
He calculated all this but forgot the fact that even if he wanted to light up the fire, he would need wood that he had none.
After making up his mind, Red exhaled a mouthful of air while looking at the scenery outside the window. But after some time passed his eyes suddenly caught a movement in the woods.
"Huh!?" Red could have sworn that something was moving in the woods.
Thinking about the warning issued about the night, he rushed to the window before shutting it down.
After making sure both the door and the window were locked properly, he breathed a sigh of relief. It was already somewhat dark inside the cabin before closing the window. But now he had shut it down, everything inside was engulfed in the darkness.
Recalling the position of the straw mat, he carefully made his way back before sitting on the ground. As minutes passed, the only sound around him was the sound of his breathing.
It was at this moment that a new notice popped in front of him.
[The first night is here. Be sure to keep your door and window locked. Remember not to wander out in the dark.]
This was the only message that popped up. And while Red was looking at the message, he suddenly heard footsteps outside his cabin.
"Gulp." It was the sound of boots. It was as if someone was walking around his house. And just when he was holding his breath, another sound came.
"Knock... Knock... Knock."
It was the sound of someone knocking on the door.
Red didn't dare to make any movement. He had seen plenty of horror movies to know the fate of someone doing something stupid at this terrifying moment.
Controlling his urge to move, he tried to slow his breathing, but unfortunately for him, his heartbeat was through the roof, making it impossible to breathe lightly.
Red didn't say a word or ask who was outside. He just stayed in his position for a long time.
After knocking for a while, the figure seemed to have given up as the sound of footsteps echoed once again, but this time, going away.
Even after all this Red didn't dare to move a muscle, he just opened the panel and looked at the global chat.
"Damn it, someone is outside the door."
"Help, someone is trying to break in."
"What should I do? Do I take a chance and head out?"
Looking at the flood of messages, Red realized he wasn't the only one facing this situation.
But at this moment, looking at the corner of the chat, his eyes suddenly narrowed as a chill ran through his body.
[8 Billion]
[7.9 Billion]
[7.5 Billion]
"Oh god!" Looking at the rapidly decreasing number, Red almost shouted. He knew that the number represented the number of the entire's earth population.
Looking at it decreasing at a rapid speed could only mean one thing... And that is the death toll.
Suddenly the global chat began to flood with more messages.
"Damn it, don't go outside."
"STOP. STAY INSIDE YOUR DAMN HOUSE."
From the chat, it was clear that many people had noticed this abnormality and were warning people against going out. But no matter how much they shouted or gave warnings, the number of people on the global chat kept on decreasing.
It wasn't until the number fell to a staggering [2 Billion] did it stop.
For a moment, the entire global chat was plunged into silence. It was as if everyone was still reeling in shock.
It was at this moment that someone sent a message in the chat. But compared to other messages, the name of this person was glowing in a gold color.
[Lincon: Not everyone in the world is capable of adapting to such extreme situations quickly. I believe these are the people who didn't have much exposure to media and entertainment. Perhaps from poor places...]
This message was pinned at the top, and suddenly the once inactive chat seemed to come alive. Almost all the people had already sent one message leaving behind only a handful of people who still had a chance for the day.
[Redif: I believe so too.]
[Vinea: I would suggest everyone follow the instructions of those notices. Also, focus on upgrading your huts. I believe whatever is outside will be back again.]
[Boris: I suggest working together if possible. This way the chances of our survival are greatly increased.]
Looking at the messages, Red nodded in agreement. Like these people said, the priority was to follow the instructions and try to survive.
Opening the zone chat, Red's breathing almost stopped as he looked at the number of people.
[856 People]
"Hiss..." From the initial number of ten thousand to less than a thousand. It was almost a ninety percent reduction.
Red couldn't help but sweat thinking about the fate of these people. It was the first night and even with the novice protection, these people were dead. He didn't dare to think about what would happen once the protection period of seven days was over.
"I need to upgrade the house." A sense of urgency overtook him. He didn't want to be one of those billions of people who died. He wanted to survive... He wanted to stay alive.
With this thought in mind, Red lay on the straw mat on the ground and closed his eyes.
After going through so much and with the threat of the unknown from the outside, it was impossible to sleep. But he still closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep. Perhaps it was due to the exhaustion of working six hours or perhaps due to mental exhaustion, unknowingly, Red fell asleep.
.
.
Red didn't know how long he was asleep. By the time he woke up, his entire body was aching with pain. He knew it was due to all that heavy work he did yesterday.
Feeling hungry and thirsty, he looked at the time, there was still an hour before the dawn.
Even though the morning was just an hour away, Red didn't dare to move around aimlessly in the darkness. After the sleep, he had forgotten the location of the door and the other rooms. One could only imagine his fate in case he accidentally opened the door.
Opening the global chat, there were still people clamoring about how they wanted to go back and were asking for help.
If there was anything that caught his attention, then it was the auction being mentioned several times.
Without any delay, Red opened the auction and looked at the items listed there.
[1/Wood <=> 1/Stone]
Almost all the listed items were priced like this. There were a few items where the person was asking for two pieces of an item in exchange for one, but these cases were rare.
Red kept on looking at the items listed but to his dismay, no one had listed food or water. He reckoned that today would be the day when people would put water in the auction. Especially people living near lakes or rivers. For them, it was the perfect way of making money.
As for him...
Looking at the axe in his hand, he let out a bitter smile. The only thing he could do right now was to collect wood and upgrade further or exchange it with other materials. Especially the workbench that had an option to upgrade now.
[Workbench: Lvl 0]
[Upgrade Condition: 5/wood, 5/stones, Lvl 1 cabin]