Chapter 41: Fragments

For the next period of time, Liu Hen continuously produced organic carbon, cooking all the sawdust he had previously stored in his spatial backpack into organic carbon.

When the sawdust was used up, he took out an entire large block of ice, harvested it into many small blocks of ice, and then continuously made carbohydrate-rich nutrient porridge.

After producing over a hundred portions in one breath, he finally stopped.

It was not that he did not want to continue, nor was it that his spatial backpack was out of space; currently, for identical items, a single spatial backpack could hold up to two hundred portions.

The reason he stopped was simply because his available sawdust was completely exhausted.

"That's about enough. Over a hundred portions, each weighing around three jin—that's at least three hundred jin in total!"

After a long while, Liu Hen stopped, feeling thoroughly satisfied.

"Indeed, having food at home brings peace to the mind; the ancients never deceive us."

He thought to himself happily.

"Right, the Creation Workbench is only one level away from maxing out its Black Iron tier. Let's get the upgrade materials first."

He once again retrieved a large iron ore and harvested it into small iron ore pieces.

Spending four or five minutes, he harvested two complete blocks of large iron ore, obtaining one thousand small iron ore pieces, and then added ten magic crystals to upgrade the workbench.

This upgrade would take nine hours.

"The magic crystals are almost used up as well. I'll need to acquire more soon."

However, for now, sleep came first, as the outside world had plunged deep into the night once again.

Just as the upgrade countdown began and Liu Hen was preparing to go to sleep, he suddenly remembered that the large ice blocks could also be cooked.

Thus, he once again opened the campfire's cooking function and selected to cook a large block of ice.

The cooking countdown this time was also one minute.

One minute later, a recipe—though hardly worthy of being called one—appeared: Bathwater.

That's right, bathwater. Ordinary, run-of-the-mill bathwater without any special effects, but it was hot water.

"I can take a bath now?"

Liu Hen was overwhelmed with joy.

Since birth, this body had likely never been washed, and he could hardly imagine how filthy he truly was.

Although he didn't feel particularly uncomfortable—perhaps out of long-standing habit—his mind still found it somewhat unacceptable.

If a bath was possible, nothing could be better.

"I need to set up a bathing area, otherwise I won't be able to get properly clean."

Pondering this, he suddenly activated the homestead building function, located the [Low Wall] module, and began construction using large iron ore as the material.

With a crisp "clack," a low wall measuring ten centimeters thick, two meters wide, and one meter high was successfully manufactured.

One end of this low wall fused seamlessly into the existing wall, leaving only a massive gap on the other side.

Unable to find a more suitable module, Liu Hen directly used the foundation module, placing another piece of large iron ore onto the original foundation to seal off the open end.

This extended foundation perfectly filled the three-meter-wide gap, serving nicely as a bath ledge—a place to sit.

In this manner, a simple bathtub nestled tightly against the wall was created.

This bathtub was two meters long, with a width and depth of one meter each, making it more than spacious enough.

"A single portion of bathwater is about one cubic meter, which should be plenty. After all, once a person steps inside, the water level will rise and spill over anyway."

Liu Hen waved his hand and summoned the bathwater.

Instantly, steaming hot water rapidly filled the tub, the water level rising steadily until it stopped at a height of half a meter.

"How's the temperature?"

He reached a hand in and found the temperature to be just right. Without further ado, he stripped off his cold-weather gear in a flash, placed it on the bath ledge, and quickly stepped inside.

"Hiss... the feeling of soaking in a bath..."

He sat down, unable to hold back a sharp intake of warm breath, his face blooming with contentment.

"So this is what bathing feels like—such a familiar yet distant sensation."

Liu Hen leaned back against the edge of the tub, scrubbing his body while sighing with emotion.

This world suffered from a severe scarcity of hot water; the vast majority of wastelanders didn't even have hot water to drink, yet he was using it to take a bath.

"If people outside knew I was using so much hot water just to bathe, I wonder what kind of expressions those guys would make?"

He chuckled softly, scrubbing himself while closing his eyes to savor this rare moment of leisure.

Amidst a hazy drowsiness, he suddenly felt the water level rise, followed closely by a soft body pressing against him.

Subconsciously, he opened his eyes to see Little Black Stone looking at him nervously.

"Master..."

Compared to before, Little Black Stone's figure had filled out; apart from being caked in mud, her curves were now exceptionally alluring.

Naturally, she was currently wearing her cold-weather gear.

"Have you finished integration?" Liu Hen asked in pleasant surprise.

"No."

Though instinctively nervous, Little Black Stone answered naturally. "However, I can leave temporarily now. Black Stone felt that I should serve you right now, Master, so I paused the integration for the moment."

"Serving isn't necessary, but you should wash up with me."

Liu Hen smiled gently. "Come on, take it off..."

In a hazy daze, he calmly scrubbed himself alongside Little Black Stone, helping each other wash away the grime.

As they scrubbed, a sudden knocking on the door snapped him awake.

Subconsciously, he opened his eyes, only to find himself lying right next to the campfire.

Though he was completely naked, his skin was unmistakably clean.

Meanwhile, the bathtub nearby was filled with a thick layer of floating mud.

Yet, he was entirely alone in the room.

"What on earth..."

He froze in bewilderment. Wasn't he just taking a bath?

"Wait, Black Stone?" He frowned.

"Master, I'm so sorry..."

Little Black Stone's apologetic voice echoed in his mind. "The previous step was the master-recognition ritual, but the Wish Stone is of too high a tier; it drained a tremendous amount of your vital energy and spirit."

"What do you mean?" Liu Hen asked in his thoughts.

By now, he already knew that when he actively communicated with Little Black Stone, the thoughts formed in his mind could be heard by Little Black Stone, who was parasitic within him.

Little Black Stone immediately recounted what had transpired just before.

As it turned out, their bathing together earlier had been entirely real—

Only, halfway through the bath, Little Black Stone had suddenly taken an unexpected action and initiated some sort of ritual.

The process of the ritual was nothing complicated; it was simply a spirit-monster's method of alluring a man. According to Little Black Stone, this was the easiest method, otherwise relying purely on her primal essence would not have been enough even if she drained Liu Hen dry.

The reason was simply that the Wish Stone's grade was far too high.

Even so, Liu Hen had still been unable to withstand it; his vital energy and spirit drained away frantically until he passed out cold.

Little Black Stone had been terrified out of her wits at the time, hurriedly dragging Liu Hen out of the tub and only breathing a massive sigh of relief after confirming her master had merely fainted.

"..."

Listening to Little Black Stone's explanation, Liu Hen was left momentarily speechless.

For he felt as though his memory had experienced a total blackout; his head still felt heavy and dizzy to this moment, retaining only the vaguest recollections of what had happened.

"Master, I'm sorry..." Little Black Stone's voice grew even more remorseful. Her intentions had been good; once the master-recognition ritual was completed, she would no longer be able to harm Liu Hen.

In this way, even as a spirit-monster, she could spend a long time accompanying her master without inadvertently siphoning away his life force and spirit.

It was just that the Wish Stone's tier was simply too lofty. Even with the easiest ritual and her full cooperation, Liu Hen had still nearly failed to endure it.

"Don't worry about it, you didn't do anything wrong to me. Besides, I'm fine now."

Liu Hen thought back carefully and found he could recall a few fragmentary impressions, though unfortunately, they were extremely scarce.

"Does this mean I am officially your master now?" he asked, feeling a trace of excitement.

This essentially meant he had thoroughly subdued a spirit-monster without leaving behind a single hidden danger.

"Yes, Mas—Master," Little Black Stone replied.

"Just keep calling me 'Master' (Da-ren). The title of 'Owner' sounds a bit weird," Liu Hen laughed.

"Understood, Master," Little Black Stone answered.

Concluding their exchange, Liu Hen once again sensed his physical condition.

"Just how much vital energy and spirit did I lose? Why do I feel so hollow?"

He shook his head, stood up, and began putting on his clothes.

"Master..." Wu Yuanming's voice came from outside.

Liu Hen quickly accelerated his dressing speed.

Soon, he had his cold-weather gear back on, pulled his hood down to his collar, pushed the door open, and stepped outside, asking, "What is it?"

"Your subordinate has conveyed your words to those people outside, and just now, someone managed to acquire a piece of flint."

Wu Yuanming reported hastily, "That person wants to see you in person."

"You found flint?"

Overjoyed, Liu Hen immediately instructed, "Send them over."