Chapter 22

Cen An tidied up his tableware, boiled a pot of hot water, tossed in a pinch of bird-tongue tea leaves, and took a sip, savoring the sweetness.

He found it surprisingly cozy.

In his past life, as an orphan who managed to get into university and land a decent job, the effort he had exerted was unimaginably grueling. It felt as though there was never a single moment in his life where he could pause, slowly savor a pot of tea, or listen to the sound of rain.

Yet, after transmigrating into this disaster-ridden world, life had suddenly become simple. So much so that even with the terrifying "Gloomy Rain Period" ahead, his heart remained entirely at peace.

Once the pot of tea was finished, the night had deepened.

He added plenty of firewood to the hearth and crawled under his covers, sleeping soundly.

It was a night of sweet dreams.

The next day was the fifth day of the Gloomy Rain Period.

Cen An was startled awake by the sound of rain outside.

The torrential downpour had arrived right on schedule, hammering against the rainproof canopy on the roof with a sound louder than firecrackers. The rain fell like water poured from a basin, as if the sky had sprung a leak and the celestial river had cascaded down directly.

Cen An scrambled up, threw on his straw raincoat, and ran outside to check the perimeter.

Water had already pooled on the ground, rising above his ankles and flowing away in gurgling rivulets. However, the black soil itself showed no standing water, remaining only slightly damp.

The somewhat fragile root systems of the white radishes and sweet asparagus clung firmly to the earth, not even swaying in the torrential rain—clearly a mysterious effect of the system.

He went to check the Raindrop Essence Chalice. The blue essence inside was already nearly full; as expected, the heavier the rain, the faster the essence collected.

He hurried back inside.

With such heavy rain, his straw raincoat and conical hat were no longer effective; he had been outside for less than ten minutes, and the rainwater had already seeped through.

Fortunately, the fire in the hearth was still burning. He boiled a pot of noodles while warming himself by the flames.

The noodle dish mixed with yesterday’s bamboo chicken broth was indeed delicious. After finishing a hot bowl, his entire body warmed up again.

He sat by the table with nothing to do for a while, finishing two pots of tea, and found himself feeling strangely unsettled. Having spent the last few days busy from dawn till dusk preparing for this period, the sudden idleness felt almost empty.

Cen An patted the man-eating flower that had poked its head toward him, thought for a moment, and grabbed an axe to dismantle his broken bamboo bed.

The rickety thing not only had a large hole in the surface but also had three short legs and one long one, making it anything but comfortable. He had been wanting to replace it for a long time.

60 bamboo, 5 grass ropes, 4 iron blocks... As soon as the recipe was activated, the materials transformed into a new bamboo bed.

It was more accurately a bamboo platform—1.2 meters wide, 2 meters long, and 40 centimeters high. While smaller than a standard bed, it didn't compromise on comfort.

The newly crafted platform radiated a deep green luster with a fresh, pleasant bamboo scent. The surface was smooth, flat, sturdy, and resilient.

Cen An laid down a layer of hay as usual, topped it with a fur mattress, and finished it off with a fur-lined quilt, creating a very comfortable sleeping space.

After lounging in the covers for a while, it was time for lunch.

He had pigeon soup and steamed cakes.

The fresh pigeon had been soaking in water all morning to draw out the blood, and he stewed it whole in the pot until tender. With a gentle nudge of his chopsticks, the delicate bones fell right off.

As Cen An ate, he heard a crunching sound in the room. Looking back, he saw the man-eating flower sneakily picking up the bones from the floor to eat.

Cen An: "..."

He silently passed the remaining bones over to it.

He felt like he was raising a dog that didn't know how to bark.

The steamed cakes had used up the last of his wheat flour, so that afternoon, Cen An used stones and wood to craft a mortar and pestle.

Grinding wheat flour was hard work, but fortunately, he had plenty of time. He ground some, rested, and by the end of the afternoon, he had produced seven or eight portions. He sealed them all in bamboo tubes and placed them into his grain jar.

He had lined the bottom of the jar with bamboo charcoal, keeping it completely free of moisture and perfectly safe.

After finishing the grinding, he swept through the house once more, striving to keep every corner clean and tidy.

Another hour passed.

Cen An sat at the table, lost in thought. He wondered how the others were faring.

Sister Qu and Brother Zhao should be fine, but could the ramshackle little hut where Yu Fei and Yu Lin lived withstand such a downpour?

He hadn't been to Tian Yuan's place, but he heard it was also on the edge of the village; he hoped nothing had gone wrong there.

And the dog owner... The dog owner wasn't from Yongning Village, but there were no other villages nearby. Could he be living in the mountains? Surely he wasn't a wild man...

As he pondered aimlessly, the sound of the rain outside grew even louder.

*Plop, plop...*

Water began to drip down. He looked up abruptly—the roof's rainproof canopy had broken!

The canopy was made of broad leaves, which had a naturally short lifespan. That the previous two had lasted this long during the rainy season was already a stroke of luck.

Soon, the dripping turned into a downpour, and cold rainwater poured down from above.

Cen An reacted quickly, grabbing a wooden basin to catch the water. At the same time, he took broad leaves and vines to skillfully craft four new canopies.

Donning his straw raincoat and carrying a ladder, Cen An climbed onto the roof in the rain.

The previous two canopies were indeed ruined. He replaced them and added a third one, layered over the gap between the first two. As for the fourth, he placed it over the eaves near the entrance. This way, the doorway had a sheltered spot, allowing him to see the courtyard without having to step out.

With the four canopies in place, the leaking inside stopped immediately.

Cen An wiped the rain from his face and took a moment to look around.

Standing at such a height, he immediately spotted a problem. On the mountain to the north, near his house, a flow of water was gathering. Muddy, yellowish water was slowly toppling trees that stood in its path, moving down the mountain bit by bit—and its speed was increasing!

A mudslide!

A chill ran down Cen An's spine.

He climbed down instantly, rushed into the house, grabbed half a wall’s worth of wood, and ran back out.

He opened his crafting menu, and a ladder materialized. He laid it flat on the ground in front of his door, then summoned another.

Working as fast as he could, he didn't know how many he made, but Cen An used the ladders to form a semicircle around his house.

He could already hear the thunderous roar of the mudslide. Forcing himself to stay calm, he flicked his right hand, and a massive fur sack appeared out of thin air.

The sack was filled with sand and was too heavy for him to move, so he placed it as he went, quickly and nimbly wedging over a dozen sandbags into the gaps and on top of the wooden ladders.

In less than five minutes, a mini-levee had been constructed.

His flimsy straw raincoat couldn't stop the rain from above, and his back was already soaked, but he had no time to rest.

He had no experience with waterproofing; he was only going by hazy, half-remembered information from his past life. Moreover, he wasn't defending against mere water, but a mudslide—which had far more impact than a flood.

Would it work? If he couldn't stop it, his life was in danger, not to mention the home he had painstakingly built would be destroyed.

Besides, could a human outrun a mudslide?

The rumbling grew louder, shaking his eardrums painfully. Cen An could smell the strange, earthy scent of the rain-soaked mud.

The yellowish-brown mud looked like a violent, giant dragon, smashing through the last row of trees and cascading down the flat terrain!

The crest of the mudslide, leaping high, carried a destructive force that would swallow everything in its path. Anyone witnessing it could only feel pure terror.

Fortunately, Cen An’s little levee didn't have to face the full force of the mudslide head-on. His door faced west, while the mud was coming from the north; he only needed to block the portion that was spilling over toward him.

The tiny levee perfectly achieved its purpose. The brown mud slammed into it, and the levee groaned with the sound of cracking, but it remained firmly in place.

Eventually, the mud curled around it, leaving a fish-tail-shaped wake as it flowed past. While the surrounding area was inundated with mud, Cen An’s little shack remained completely untouched.

He had succeeded.

Seeing that the strongest force of the mudslide had passed, Cen An let out a long sigh of relief and returned inside.

He shed his raincoat; the clothes underneath were completely soaked. Not daring to be careless, he hurriedly boiled water, gave himself a quick scrub, wrapped himself in the thick fur-lined quilt, and brewed a steaming bowl of ginger soup.

He added plenty of sugar to the soup, making it both spicy and sweet. A hot bowl down his throat immediately brought out a sweat, and the chill in his body vanished without a trace.

—

Just as Cen An was sipping his ginger soup by the hearth, mudslides struck in three other directions in the village.

The deafening roar of the mud took down houses that had previously seemed sturdy, collapsing them like dominoes.

There had never been mudslides during the Gloomy Rain Period before, so the villagers had not prepared like Cen An and could only passively await the disaster.

Fortunately, the mountains near the village were not high, the impact of the mudslide was limited, and the buildings were all single-story. As a result, while there were injuries, no one died.

However, watching their homes collapse was a painful experience. Amidst the torrential rain, cries of grief erupted, only to be quickly washed away by the sound of the storm.

—

Cen An finished his ginger soup, feeling he wouldn't need dinner tonight. He patted the head of the man-eating flower that had nudged against him, when suddenly, he heard a knock at the door.

In the heavy rain, the sound was muffled, and he thought he might be hallucinating. But as he listened carefully, the knocking sounded again.

He jumped to his feet. "Who's there?"