“Ding— dang—”
“Dong— dong—”
Two hours remained before Mirror Night began.
Loud noises echoed through the streets of Harvest Village.
Kang Jie raised his large hammer high.
“Even with permission, I still feel guilty.”
“Clang—”
The heavy hammer smashed down, hitting the wall of a house.
That’s right— monsters from Mirror Night were about to arrive, yet they were tearing down houses.
Thanks to Nainelia’s coordination, a total of 34 houses were allowed to be used by the strategists.
Among them, 24 were set aside to shelter women and children from danger.
The remaining 10? All dismantled by Hearthfire.
“You’d have to have ten years of brain damage to come up with a plan like this,” Ah Lei muttered painfully. “Even though… it was my idea.”
He’d just said it offhandedly.
But Kang Jie had taken it seriously!
“If every brick is enchanted, then we can completely dismantle the houses and rebuild them into weapons or larger fortifications… It sounds absurd, but it’s our only option now.”
Kang Jie gathered up the dismantled bricks, wrapped them in cloth, and handed them to the next person, who passed them on even farther.
And so, brick by brick, they were passed out of the village.
In the wheat fields outside, they slowly stacked them into a wall.
“Pointless…”
In the middle of this human assembly line, a man muttered under his breath.
It was Nurse An’s boyfriend… no, ex-boyfriend now.
“If you don’t want to survive, go die.” Nurse An, once gentle with him, now loathed him.
This shameless man had come begging Kang Jie yesterday to let him stay for Mirror Night.
If they hadn’t been short on manpower, Nurse An would’ve kicked him again on the spot.
“Then go die.”
At this point, the man stopped pretending.
“If we don’t tear down the houses, we can still squeeze in a thousand, maybe even more. But once we tear them down, we’re all screwed!” He threw down the bricks in his hands and shouted without a care.
“Even if we didn’t tear them down, you wouldn’t get a spot in the shelters,” Nurse An raised a foot as if to kick him again.
“You do though. You’re a woman. You can’t fight. Why don’t you go hide?”
“I’m more useful out here than a waste like you.”
The man didn’t argue.
He spat silently and looked longingly at the few empty houses.
If he snuck in, would anyone even notice?
“I’m watching you like a hawk,” Nurse An said coldly. “If you disappear, I’ll lead people to search those houses. If we find you, I’ll castrate you on the spot. If you want to survive, work properly.”
“Damn it, screw this!” The man flung his sleeve. “I’m done here. Seeing you disgusts me. I’m going to the wall-building group.”
“I’ll tell the group leader to keep a close eye on you no matter where you go.”
“Don’t you have anything better to do?!”
The man cursed and fled.
[Team Channel – Leader Announcement (Kang Jie): Everyone, make sure to use the right bricks and mortar. The mud used for sealing must come from the original walls, and the bricks must be the original ones. Not a single one can be replaced.]
From the ten demolished houses, the steel beams were turned into weapons, and the doors into shields.
The rest of the bricks and tiles were built into a high, circular wall.
Time flew by in the busy work. With enough manpower, the wall took shape quickly.
Half an hour before sunset, women and children arrived on time, and the strategists from further away also reached the village.
Everything was proceeding smoothly, just as planned.
The light began to dim… The sun was about to set.
Once the last rays of sunlight vanished, things would begin crawling out of the mirrors.
[Team Channel – Leader Announcement (Kang Jie): Each group, do a final headcount. Shelter team, lock all doors and windows.]
[Shelter Team – Huang Xiao: All present.]
[Wall Team – Ah Lei: All good. A few tried to sneak into the houses, I gave them a beating. They’re fine now.]
“Get ready for battle.”
The final brick was placed on top of the wall, blocking the last sliver of sunlight on the horizon.
As darkness crept in, the strategists’ legs began to tremble.
The evening breeze swept through their sweat-drenched clothes. The air felt thick, damp, filled with unease.
“Hehehehehe—”
A collared scops owl landed on the wall, tilting its head 90 degrees.
Its huge pupils and golden-ringed whites stared fixedly at the crowd, letting out a shrill, mocking laugh.
As if mocking the strategists’ naivety and overconfidence.
“Get lost!”
Someone hurled a rock to chase the ugly bird away.
At that moment—
The last ray of light disappeared.
[—Strategy Begins—]
A system notification popped up in front of everyone.
“Bang—bang bang—”
It sounded like something was pounding on the world itself, a noise with no visible source.
Every mirror began to tremble, and from beneath the black cloths covering them, something seemed to be striking from inside.
But the black cloth served as a barrier they couldn’t pass— no matter how hard they hit it, they couldn’t break through.
The banging continued for over ten minutes.
Then, it stopped abruptly.
Because they had found another way in.
[Team Channel – Leader Announcement (Kang Jie): Tonight, no one is to look into any mirrors, no watches, no thermoses or transparent water bottles. If we can hold out for 12 hours, until six in the morning, until sunrise— we win!]
“Bang—”
Just as the announcement was sent, a thunderous crash echoed from the wall.
The wall shuddered. Thankfully, it held.
Silence fell inside the village.
The strategists stared wide-eyed, trembling, watching the darkness atop the wall, ready for something to leap over at any moment.
Dim moonlight reflected in their irises, highlighting the fear in their eyes.
If pupils counted as mirrors, then those moonlit eyes might already have countless hands reaching out of them… Luckily, eyes didn’t count.
“Shh. Not a sound.”
Thump, thump.
In the extreme tension, one could even hear the whooshing of blood in their ears— pulsing in waves with each heartbeat, buzzing louder and louder.
At that moment, Kang Jie could only hope… that the monsters couldn’t hear it.
“Dong—”
“Dong dong dong—”
The booming sound came again from the wall.
Perhaps they had caught the scent of living flesh— the pounding was growing more frequent.
Countless things were gathering outside the wall, trying to break in, hungry for a feast.
“Open the door!”
There was a gate built into the wall.
And now, a woman’s voice came from the other side.
It sounded weak, terrified.
“Help me— please, I’m begging you, let me in… help me…”
Everyone looked at each other.
“There are so many monsters out here, please, I’m begging you, let me in, please…”
[Team Channel – Leader Announcement (Kang Jie): No matter what you hear, do not open the gate. The village shaman warned us—they’ll disguise themselves as anything to trick you into opening the door.]
Even though the warning had been sent out, just to be sure, Kang Jie personally stayed at the gate.
He knelt down carefully and lay flat, pressing his face to the ground.
He peered through the gap beneath the door.
“…”
Whew. Thank goodness— it wasn’t a pair of blood-red eyes staring back at him, or a flayed, skinless face.
But here was the problem—
He didn’t see any feet either.
“Dong dong dong—”
The thing outside was still knocking.
“Let me in… huh?”
It seemed to notice something.
The knocking stopped.
And then came the crash—again from the wall.
Only this time, the pounding was concentrated—not from all directions anymore.
But focused on the southwest corner.
People began to panic, instinctively moving away.
Everyone started backing off, trying to get as far from the southwest corner as possible.
“It’s no use. What protects us isn’t brute force, it’s the blessing embedded in the materials,” Kang Jie tried to calm the crowd. “Our wall isn’t even dry yet. It’ll fall apart if pushed too hard… If brute force alone could break through, they’d have already done it.”
Fall apart… if pushed?
His pupils shrank in alarm.
“Stop! Don’t move back! Don’t push! Don’t push!”
“Bang bang bang bang bang—”
The crashing grew more intense.
The sound seemed to synchronize with their heartbeats, resonating alongside a chilling screech, completely drowning out Kang Jie’s voice—
—And smothering the strategists’ sanity.
In this kind of panic, retreating from the noise source was pure instinct.
Even worse— no one wanted to be in the front. No one wanted to be the closest to that sound.
“Get out of my way! Move move move!”
Nurse An was startled by the screams and turned to see her ex-boyfriend breaking down.
His expression was just like that day she was captured…
He was already scared out of his wits, desperately pushing toward the center of the crowd.
Nurse An raised her blade to stop him, but it was too late.
His action had triggered everyone else nearby.
More and more people began to push backward.
“Stop! Stop now! Don’t push— damn it, stop pushing!”
Kang Jie and Ah Lei were shouting at the top of their lungs, but their voices were swallowed by the monsters’ howls.
[Team Channel – Leader Announcement: Everyone stand still! Anyone who keeps pushing will be executed on the spot!]
It was useless.
The front pushed the middle, the middle pushed the rear— everyone was fighting to get to what they believed was the safest spot.
Like a wildfire, the chaos was uncontrollable.
The crowd soon crammed itself into the northeast corner.
And when their backs finally hit the wall, those at the rear realized something was wrong.
But it was too late. Against the force of hundreds shoving behind them, they were helpless.
“Rumble—”
All that pressure finally burst against the wall.
The wall— collapsed.
[Time remaining until return: 11 hours and 50 minutes.]
Mirror Night had only just begun—
And Hearthfire had already fallen into total collapse.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.