Chapter 25: House

Being forced by the pressing safety issue at hand, Chen Mu only then proposed setting up some defensive works, but it was really just a vague idea with no concrete plan.

Unexpectedly, Tang Jing had already made plans for it.

Chen Mu had seen her crouched on the ground drawing something yesterday, assuming it was idle doodling; now he saw those haphazard sketches were actually blueprints marked with precise measurements.

Of course, calling them blueprints might be a bit of an exaggeration.

They weren't that rigorous.

But even with Chen Mu's ordinary high‑school perspective, he could roughly make sense of them.

"Is this what you started drawing yesterday?"

"Yeah, I mentioned before I had a few ideas, just need you to cooperate."

"These… are the dimensions of parts?" Chen Mu pointed at a large diagram marked with length and width.

"Exactly."

"I don't really get it."

"I have roughly two ideas: first, seal the door gap, leaving a passage for people and a flatbed truck to pass through, normally closed, opened when needed; second, build a few rooms inside the room."

"Rooms?"

Chen Mu could understand the idea of sealing the door gap; he had even thought of it himself.

But he eventually gave up—the storage room door is about one meter wide, the gap is one centimeter high, and with his current ability, completing such a massive project is still far off, who knows when.

Another idea was to use ready‑made items like chopsticks to block the gap; with Wei Dalei's strength, moving things wouldn't be a problem.

But later he found that wouldn't work either.

The stainless‑steel chopsticks are round and uneven at the ends; even if Chen Mu reshaped them with his ability, it would be a huge project, and the seal would still not be tight.

Yet the idea of building rooms had never occurred to Chen Mu.

Tang Jing said: "Exactly, I personally don't favor sealing the door gap—it can indeed stop larger animals like rats, snakes, and centipedes, but the drawbacks are obvious: first, it takes a lot of time; second, small pests like cockroaches and ants can still get in even without a gap, so the effort isn't worth it."

"But can we actually build rooms?"

"That's up to you." Tang Jing smiled.

"If I had that ability, I'd have already given myself a mansion."

Chen Mu can now control objects up to about half his body weight, ignoring speed and mental strain; that's already a big improvement from day one, but it's still far from being able to "build a room."

Tang Jing smiled: "If it were just you alone, of course it's unrealistic, but we still have so many people."

"Huh?" Chen Mu puzzled.

"You always think of transforming an entire house in one go, but have you considered breaking it down?"

"Break it down?"

"Exactly, a house is just four walls and a ceiling, plus doors and windows—structurally simple. If you make each part step by step and then assemble them, it becomes much easier."

"Hmm…" Chen Mu hesitated a bit.

"I'll ask you: if you had to make a plastic sheet taller than one person and wider than two, how long would it take?"

Chen Mu thought for a moment, then said: "That's bigger than the flatbed's base; if no fine details are needed, I could finish it in a few minutes."

"Congratulations, you've already made a wall." Tang Jing gave a thumbs‑up.

"Ah?"

"We just need a temporary shelter and a safe place to sleep at night—not a real mansion. Maybe calling it a 'house' is misleading; you can think of it as a shipping container, or even… a coffin."

"A… coffin?"

"Yes, a coffin big enough for four or five people—crawl in to sleep, crawl in when danger comes, at least you won't have to live in constant fear with nowhere to hide." Tang Jing explained.

"I get what you mean now."

"Of course, there are still details like ventilation; it's summer, nights aren't scorching yet, but a few people packed in a sealed space won't be comfortable. Also, the structure must be anchored to the ground, otherwise a big critter might drag us and our shelter away."

It's undeniable that Tang Jing's idea is feasible.

And it's currently the most cost‑effective option.

Chen Mu gathered everyone and explained Tang Jing's idea.

Being able to sleep peacefully at night naturally met with no opposition.

Only Dong Junwei hesitated a bit, asking Chen Mu: "Can your ability support that much material?"

"If it's just plastic, it shouldn't be a problem."

Chen Mu estimated the project's scale and his own limits, then added: "If really impossible, we can split it into two days—better than doing nothing."

Dong Junwei nodded: "What do you need me to do?"

Tang Jing said: "Of course, class monitor, you're also a main labor force."

Chen Mu and Dong Junwei exchanged a glance, both feeling they'd been clearly assigned.

……

Tang Jing's plan was already well‑developed, but problems still appeared when it came to execution.

The difficulty wasn't great, just the time was insufficient,

From mid‑afternoon until dark, the crowd still hadn't seen even a prototype of the house.

Early work revolved entirely around Chen Mu, while others temporarily couldn't help much.

Even a plain, undecorated wall panel was hard to make flat because of its size; the flatbed base was easy only because it didn't need high precision or neatness, which is why that flatbed looks crooked.

But a house won't tolerate that.

Making a plastic panel of similar size isn't hard for Chen Mu—as he said, a few minutes would do—but meeting Tang Jing's standards makes it troublesome.

If the error is too large, the house won't fit together when assembled, losing its purpose.

So he spent most of his time fixing and adjusting.

By the time the four walls were done, it was completely dark; after fighting all day, Chen Mu's stamina and mental energy were exhausted, so he had to pause and continue tomorrow.

……

At the same time, Dong Junwei was not idle either.

Besides heating the iron blocks to provide Du Jia Jia with pancake batter, she also tried experiments with some other materials.

But unfortunately, the materials currently available are very limited.

Besides steel and stone, only cotton thread, wood, and plastic are worth trying.

The first thing she thought of, naturally, was plastic.

She had Chen Mu help make a fist-sized plastic ball, Dong Junwei held it in her hand, just like before, closed her eyes, and slowly poured her mental power into it.

The next moment.

The plastic ball emitted a great light.