“It feels even colder than that night on Eggshell Island!”
“Quick, get the bear fur coat! I want the bear fur coat!”
“Let’s huddle together a bit longer to keep warm!”
“Why don’t we build a fire in the cave?”
“No, the smoke would choke us to death!”
"Alright, frozen to death or choked to death. I'd rather freeze to death on principle..."
"Oh right, Lu Zhe, should we make a couple more bear oil lamps?"
Lu Zhe pondered for a moment: "No use. A little fire won't solve the fundamental problem! The temperature will continue to drop. Even if you all manage to endure it now, you will still get sick from the cold tonight. I would be distressed if any of my beloved consorts fell ill."
Ning Shu sighed: “Hearing such scummy words, I actually feel kind of warm. I’m done for. Are you guys sure I don’t have Stockholm syndrome?”
"That's not it!"
Shen Bing hugged her belly and shook her head: "Stockholm syndrome is when the victim develops a psychological dependence and admiration for their abuser. Lu Zhe cherishes you all so much, how could he ever abuse you? "
Hearing this, Ning Shu's face flushed slightly: "He obviously cherishes Qianqian the most."
Lin Qianqian blushed too: “No way!”
Jiang Yao said: “I think it’s Guo'er.”
Tang Xiaoguo said: “Yao Yao, can I take that as your strategic retreat?”
"Well..."
Jiang Yao sighed: “Let’s get back to thinking about how to keep warm. Why is it so cold today?”
As the girls were chatting, Lu Zhe suddenly had an idea.
He squeezed the mud and pebbles dug out from inside the cave. A perfect solution emerged in his mind!
One that could provide warmth to the cave without filling it with smoke and carbon monoxide!
"Is there any of the weeds left on the ground from before?"
"Most were thrown away. What’s left got mixed into this pile of dirt. You said this soil might still be useful so it wasn’t discarded."
"That's great!!"
"Use the weeds as fuel?"
"No!" Lu Zhe spoke very seriously: “Later, pick out all the rocks from the soil, remember to only pick out rocks, don’t pick out any weeds. Don’t throw away the rocks you pick out, I need all of them!"
Although the girls didn’t know what Lu Zhe was going to do, did they have any reason not to trust him at this point?
There was no time to explain!
Just do as told, ask later!
The few girls started sifting through the soil, picking out rocks!
Lu Zhe split another section of bamboo and turned it into thin bamboo strips with his commando dagger.
He then drew a 50 cm square about half a meter from the bamboo door on the ground. He started inserting bamboo strips along the edges of the square frame into the ground.
The bamboo strips were about 50 cm apart, with about 40 cm sticking out from the ground.
Then he tied a third bamboo strip at the top with a rope between every two bamboo strips.
That was considered one set of bamboo frames. Lu Zhe placed one set every 5 cm or so, leaving a gap, covering the entire square frame!
He then laid 10 bamboo strips horizontally across those bamboo frames, also leaving one strip out in the middle.
By this time, the girls had just about finished sorting out the rocks and soil.
One pile of rocks, one pile of soil.
Lu Zhe chose some soil and added water to it, starting to knead mud!
The soil here originally had quite high cohesiveness. With the addition of rotten grass leaves, its tenacity was further enhanced.
After kneading the mud, he started plastering mud along the bamboo frame, building up rocks.
The curious girls craned their necks:
Ning Shu nodded: "What is this for?"
Tang Xiaoguo acted like she totally got it: “It’s an umbrella swift rabbit hutch for raising bunnies!"
Jiang Yao said: “We live in a cave and the bunnies get a brick house? Isn’t that kind of backwards?"
Lin Qianqian sighed: “I don’t get it, what is this for?"
"No!" Shen Bing pondered for a moment: “If I’m not mistaken this should be a stove!"
Lu Zhe said: “My beloved consorts, if you have time, could you stop rambling and help finish plastering this mud stove!"
"Sure!"
"Coming!"
"I love playing with mud!"
"Exercising might make us less cold."
The shivering girls all gathered around.
With the soil to water ratio well controlled, the cohesiveness of this mud became very high, like putty.
With the six people working together, the bamboo frame quickly turned into a mud box stuck to the ground.
Ning Shu pointed to the last hole they couldn’t seal: “It’s hard to deal with this big hole, what should we do?"
"No need to seal this one, it can serve as the fuel feed opening. Two more openings are needed."
As he spoke, Lu Zhe dug out a flue hole towards the upper back of the mud box with his paratrooper knife, and finally made a hole at the very top for boiling water!
Lin Qianqian nodded: “I see, there is one strip missing horizontally and vertically for that upper hole!"
"That's right!"
Lu Zhe nodded: “Guo’er, do you still think it looks like a rabbit burrow now?"
Tang Xiaoguo pondered for a moment: “A sly rabbit has three burrows, and it just so happens to have three holes!"
Lu Zhe shook his head: “You got me there!"
Shen Bing still thought a bit further: “But doesn’t it need to vent smoke?"
"The removed bamboo sections could be used as a chimney, but they would easily burn through. "
"Bamboo would definitely burn if directly exposed to fire."
"Yes, we can create a transitional device."
"Do you know how?"
"I do!"
Lu Zhe split some more thin bamboo strips.
He bent the thin strips into rings, tied up the ends, making 8 rings!
Then he used four bamboo strips and banana fiber ropes to connect these rings from large to small, forming a cylindrical object.
"Let's continue plastering mud!"
Following the shape, they plastered on mud, forming a mud cylinder.
Shen Bing took it over to examine: “Good thinking.”
“Let’s continue the chimney!"
"Wouldn't just bamboo work?"
"The bamboo nodes have to be removed!"
Lu Zhe picked a bamboo that was two meters long and about 10cm in diameter!
Then he poked a thinner bamboo inside.
For some reason, all four girls shuddered simultaneously.
The bamboo nodes were smashed. With a rustling sound they spilled out, leaving an unobstructed hollow bamboo.
The stove’s flue hole was aligned to the transitional cylinder, and the transitional cylinder was aligned to the bamboo.
Lu Zhe propped the middle of the bamboo slightly higher. By the time it reached outside of the cave, it drooped down slightly again due to its own weight.
“Some modifications are still needed for the bamboo door to accommodate the chimney.
This way rainwater won't pour into the bamboo, and the rainwater falling outside forms a negative pressure, pulling the smoke out of the bamboo, forming an ideal chimney."
Lin Qianqian nodded: “Sounds great!"
By this time, the temperature had dropped further.
Jiang Yao hugged her shoulders, shivering as she asked: “Can we use it now? I’m freezing to death."
"Not yet! Go make a 20 cm diameter mud cake and a brick sized mud block with mud. Faster the better."
"Got it!"
The girls didn’t mind their freezing hands as they hurried to start on it.
Lu Zhe took a worn cotton piece of clothing and twisted out as much water as possible. He then emptied half a bottle of bear oil onto the clothing and kneaded it into a ball.
He then carefully stuffed it into the stove and carefully stacked a large number of branches and sticks on top of the clothing.
When the stove was just about full, Lu Zhe lit the clothing inside using an oil lamp. It was a bit difficult to ignite, but once lit it wouldn’t extinguish easily.
Once the clothing started burning, he swiftly sealed off the boiling hole with the mud cake. Through the fuel feed opening, he fanned air inside to stimulate combustion and circulation, while also letting the smoke billow out from the chimney opening.
After a short while, the fire inside the stove burned vigorously. He then blocked half the fuel feed opening with the mud brick.
As the temperature inside the stove climbed, the stove walls and transitional mud cylinder became increasingly sturdy.
The small cave finally began warming up.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
