RHWHEG – Chapter 12 The Use of Building Materials

Did that… scare them off?

Yu Qunqing saw the hands of the people opposite trembling slightly, and his heart finally settled. Just then, the system’s notification chimed:

**“Ding-dong! The crocodile, due to its enormous size, cannot squeeze into the elevator and feels very frustrated. Please spend 2 Hexagrams to install a larger and more stylish elevator for it!

Three options are available: ‘Egyptian Mythology Relief Pillars,’ ‘Ultra-Modern Space Suspended Pod,’ or ‘Roman Gladiator Conveyor Belt.’”**

Yu Qunqing: This crocodile really gets upset easily.

Switching to inverted-vision mode, he found that debuff statuses hovered above each of their heads. Uncle Zhang was unconscious from excessive blood loss, Little Jin had burns and lacerations that were festering, and Grandma Sun was running a high fever…

At their feet, another prompt appeared: “This person is not your game friend. Add as a friend or expel? (Spend 10 Hexagrams to delete local data and backup).”

Yu Qunqing’s hand trembled slightly. Within the scope of this “game,” human life was nothing more than a flimsy line of data.

He flipped through the game manual, then pulled out the disaster stone Sun Min had given him earlier — a white clam-shaped stone from a spore organism, one of his latest level objectives.

He asked Sun Min to come downstairs with him. Outside Building Four, the crocodile lay at the doorway, staring at them. Faced with this colossal beast, Sun Min’s legs went weak. He stammered, “It-it-it won’t eat us, right? The Crocodile Immortal?”

Yu Qunqing: “It doesn’t like to eat humans. Humans don’t taste good.” After all, the crocodile had an unlimited supply of system-issued refined feed.

Hearing that, Sun Min nearly fainted.

The crocodile and Yu Qunqing locked eyes for a while before the beast slowly crawled away. Yu Qunqing breathed a sigh of relief — he had just finished building up the crocodile’s intimidating image, so he didn’t want to ruin it by walking out over its back.

“You… can talk to it?” After they had walked some distance, Sun Min finally found his voice.

“It’s that it understands us,” Yu Qunqing seized the chance to bluff, “It knows everything here and controls everything within.”

“Then… the Crocodile Immortal is a Natural Disaster?” Sun Min paled. If such a primordial beast was a disaster-level existence, then what tier of calamity was it?

Yu Qunqing fell silent. Deep down, he had a faint understanding of what the system truly was. He had even directly participated in its creation. The system would never harm him… but his past life’s memories were always fragmented. All he said was: “It can help us survive.”

As long as they survived, who they depended on no longer mattered.

Soon, they reached the fountain in the crocodile plaza. Water constantly surged against the crack in the center. Yu Qunqing pressed down the lamp to illuminate the crevice. Inside, 88 white clam-shaped disaster stones and 22 colorful shell-shaped ones glimmered.

“Silently recite your name and your friends’ names, then throw these two stones into that crack,” Yu Qunqing instructed according to the game manual.

Sun Min did as told. When three identical stones touched, they dissolved strangely.

Sun Min felt as though his mind had connected to an abyss. He squatted and touched the crack’s edge again. Suddenly, a translucent box popped up at his fingertip:

“Sun Min / Current Building Materials: 500.”

“Ding-dong! Friend Sun Min added. You can now entrust him to help clear levels!”

The prompt sounded in Yu Qunqing’s mind.

He explained, “Building materials help you live better here. You can obtain them by eliminating disaster stones or offering jewels directly.”

“That… are you actually an NPC?” Sun Min couldn’t resist asking, “Will you assign me quests?”

Yu Qunqing, of course, wouldn’t admit to anything beyond them: “I just got here earlier than you.”

After helping Sun Min set up his friend account, Yu Qunqing thought of his overflowing stamina and decided to head home, leaving them to explore freely. The others looked like they wanted to say something but could only watch him leave.

The rooftop gardens of Building Four were interconnected. On the fourth floor, frogs croaked loudly and several water snakes slithered about. If you accidentally brushed against the plants, swarms of dark insects would burst out. A miniature ecosystem had formed here.

His own apartment was in Building Two, and soon he reached it. He took the elevator upstairs and saw the familiar metal door.

Pulling the heavy curtains shut, he booted up his computer and entered the game interface!

“Special Event: The Parrot’s Gift! During the event period (Thursday to Friday), consecutive wins will grant generous parrot rewards! If interrupted, rewards reset. Enjoy the game!”

“Chirp, chirp!” The rescued blue-bellied parrot squawked loudly.

Yu Qunqing gave it some dry food.

There was also a parrot in the game — magnificent, flamboyant, and nothing like the real one. The game’s field of vision was also far broader. Yu Qunqing navigated to Building Four and lit up the second floor, where several pixelated avatars were gathered. All bore the friend icon.

Friends could help clear objectives. Time for a test run.

Three minutes later, the “Congratulations, Level Cleared!” banner lit the screen. The Parrot’s Gift activated — the next stage would grant a Yellow Duck Balloon at the start.

At that moment, the real parrot wobbled down with its injured wing. Sensing something amiss, Yu Qunqing switched to inverted-vision: the little parrot now bore a “Yellow Duck Balloon” buff, letting it float like a balloon and carry a one-time bomb capable of blasting a 6×6 area of hostile targets.

Yu Qunqing could only laugh and cry. He put the parrot back into its birdhouse to rest.

When all 8 stamina points were spent, he had harvested 6 Hexagrams.

Switching to Renovation Mode, his first priority was the crocodile’s elevator. He chose the Egyptian mythology style — it looked the most imposing.

Two new renovation tasks appeared:

Public Works: Repair the community’s outer wall to prevent flooding damage.

Residential Construction: Choose any floor from 1–4 in any building to renovate.

Yu Qunqing inspected the outer wall — it could still hold for a while — so he clicked on the massage room on the second floor of Building Four.

“Use 1 Hexagram to open this area to friends?”

“Massage room is dusty. Spend 2 Hexagrams to clean it.”

“Disinfectant spilled everywhere… clean it up and buy more.”

Yu Qunqing spent all his Hexagrams. He hesitated, then moved some fever medicine from his storage into the massage room.

Meanwhile, in Building Four’s second floor, after Yu Qunqing left, the others experienced strange changes.

At the stairwell, Sun Min called the others: “Sister Zhang, come see! Do you get this prompt too?” He pressed his hand against the wall, and a message popped up:

“Unlock third floor public space: 600 building materials required. Current: Sun Min / 500.”

Zhang Sanxi rushed over. The same box appeared, only with her name. She was startled.

Little Jin and Anan tried as well — same result. Everyone was both amazed and puzzled. Sun Min quickly repeated Yu Qunqing’s earlier words.

Anan pondered: “So this place runs on building materials. Order is maintained here, which is good. But every new place needs materials. Since we’re on the second floor now, someone must’ve paid for it…”

They all knew who.

A-Jin exclaimed first: “Amazing! We’ve finally met a good person! I thought letting us rest here meant he was fattening us up as emergency rations…”

“You’re overthinking! NP—cough, Brother Yu isn’t like that,” Sun Min retorted.

“He’s good, but good people can’t save us forever. We must save ourselves,” Zhang Sanxi said worriedly. “Having a dry shelter is lucky. But building materials don’t do much — they just let us go higher to escape floodwater. Surviving will still be hard…”

She had just checked everyone’s injuries. Her father and Little Jin were badly hurt. Their clothes were soaked, infections likely.

Anan: “We need to explore more uses of building materials. Unlocking the third floor needs 600, and we can’t pool accounts. None of us alone can pay. We’ll have to think long-term.”

The mood grew heavy again. Uncle Zhang groaned, and Zhang Sanxi’s face darkened. Aside from moving him somewhere dry, there was little she could do.

Ding-dong.

Suddenly, the massage room’s lock clicked open.

Even in the apocalypse, people feared ghosts. They screamed and huddled. After a long while, Zhang Sanxi remembered: “Wait, there must be cloth in the massage room for bandaging!”

Heart pounding, she grabbed the doorknob. A small box appeared:

“Zhang Sanxi / Current Building Materials: 500. Entry: 100 materials per use.”

“Building materials can open this door!” she exclaimed. Her friend Anan tried the opposite gym room — no response.

A-Jin noticed: “Doesn’t this massage room look much cleaner than before?”

“No way, it’s not haunted, right?” Anan tried to stop her, but Zhang Sanxi went in directly. Everyone held their breath.

“There are clean clothes for guests, scissors, alcohol!” Zhang Sanxi’s eyes filled with tears as she carried items out. “Hurry, use these for bandaging! I’ll keep looking!”

“These are spotless…” Anan touched them, deep in thought. “The only new variable is Sun Min’s offering of stones to the sculpture. The more stones, the more areas get restored. The more materials we gain, the better our chance of surviving!”

In just minutes, Anan had already deduced the survival rules. Yu Qunqing’s choice not to explain everything had its purpose — rules they uncovered themselves would be followed more strictly.

Inside, Zhang Sanxi changed into dry clothes, feeling refreshed. Then she began scavenging — bedsheets stripped, pillows and stools taken.

“There’s fever medicine! Quick, give it to Grandma Sun!” She tossed a bottle out. Sun Min caught it like it was priceless.

The moment she stepped out, the massage room reverted instantly, except for the medicine. The others were thrilled.

One by one, they entered, soon dressed in clean clothes. Little Jin’s foot was tightly bandaged, Uncle Zhang almost a mummy. The women dried Grandma Sun, gave her medicine, and covered her with blankets. Her frown finally eased. They even lugged out several buckets from the water dispenser.

Parched lips now wet with water, everyone huddled in blankets in the dry hall.

“I’ve never lived this well — not even in prison!” Little Jin said first. The surroundings weren’t much better than jail, but the mood was different. In life-or-death survival, clean clothes gave them hope.

Zhang Sanxi couldn’t agree more. She thought she’d be forced to watch her only family die in pain, powerless to resist. Now, with even a sliver of medical support, she couldn’t give up. Holding Anan’s hand, she wiped away tears.

Anan squeezed back firmly. Hope was precious. She asked, “Sun Min, how do we get more building materials?”

“From disaster stones, or by offering jewels,” Sun Min said. He was sharpening the tip of an iron pipe, thinking: To survive, we need more materials. We’ll have to venture out. But with just us few, how far can we go…?

He snapped off a shard of iron shaped like an arrowhead. He remembered Yu Qunqing didn’t have many arrows left. Maybe, with his skill, he could increase their chances.

The sound of metal grinding echoed through the hall.