Noon the next day.
Although Lee Na-eun's contact was slightly concerning, Chuck's life wouldn't change because of these trivial matters.
After the efforts of the past two days, Chuck and Valentina focused on improving the ballista, while the other women weren't idle either. Under Chuck's command, they systematically produced batches of lime and clay.
The specific recipe for concrete was just as Yitong had described: lime and clay were first mixed to synthesize cement, and then sand and gravel were added and mixed to obtain concrete.
The one hundred units of concrete required for the first blueprint were gathered by everyone working together over these two days.
So after lunch, as Chuck personally added the last piece of material into the blueprint...
[Sub-blueprint — Foundation Expansion and Reinforcement, Construction Complete!]
[Residence Expansion Blueprint (DIY Small Villa) Current Progress: 15%]
[Currently Unlocked Sub-blueprint — First Floor Wall and Roof Structural Reinforcement (Progress 30%), Required Materials: Steel Beam × 20, Stone Brick × 100]
The blue light dissipated, and the familiar light screen also emerged before his eyes. The originally pitted mortar floor was replaced by a gray floor covering all the rooms in the entire residence.
Not only did it become flat and solid, but visually it was also much cleaner than before, just like a room in a rural self-built house in modern society. Only the walls were made of stone bricks, and the decoration was no different from a bare shell house...
But undoubtedly, this deserted island residence had once again taken an important step towards becoming a true modern residence.
Because of the nature of the blueprint construction, every time Chuck added a material to the blueprint, the construction would synchronously reflect on the state of the house.
Therefore, from the women's perspective, the change in the room's floor was the result of everyone gathering and making materials together over the past two days, paving and drying it inch by inch. So there was no sense of abruptness. They just sighed with emotion, as in the past, that under Chuck's leadership, the efficiency of doing anything was beyond imagination.
Of course, there was also the joy after the living conditions improved.
Yitong paced back and forth on the living room floor, occasionally bending her plump, charming mature figure, swaying a pair of snowy white fat breasts while gently stroking the floor with her slender fingertips, revealing a gentle and moving smile.
"This is great, the floor at home has become flat and clean, it'll be much more convenient to clean up now~"
"And we won't accidentally knock a hole in it from time to time anymore. Before, I didn't even dare to move around in the room."
Valentina raised her leg, her strong thigh muscles exerting sudden force, stomping heavily on the floor. Aside from kicking up some dust, there were no traces left. She also nodded in satisfaction.
"This is just the beginning, there's still a lot to do later."
Chuck came to the dining table, took a cup of warm water from Kaoru, tilted his head and drank it in one gulp. He looked at Yitong and smiled.
The latter raised her hand to tidy the black hair by her ear and nodded.
The blueprint for upgrading the residence to a villa was originally designed by her. She naturally understood that this concrete foundation was just the first step in a subsequent series of upgrades. But everything is hard at the beginning. Looking at it now, the subsequent upgrades should just be a matter of time and labor.
It's just that she was only responsible for the initial design problem. For the subsequent construction planning, she only needed to follow Chuck's arrangements.
During the lunch break, the women chatted and laughed while doing some simple cleaning and tidying, then returned to their rooms to take a nap on their large beds. Chuck sat alone at the dining table and opened the blueprint interface.
The next sub-blueprint was reinforcing the walls and roof. Obviously, after reinforcing the foundation, reinforcing the walls was to prepare for the subsequent sub-blueprint of expanding the second floor.
And at this step, the second new material—Steel Beam—also appeared.
As the other most important building material that complements concrete to jointly form the high-rises of modern society, if concrete is the flesh and blood, steel beams are the bones. Its importance goes without saying, but one can imagine that the difficulty of making the two is completely not on the same level.
Chuck had currently mastered iron-smelting technology, but every forging required manual hammering. Just a small steel dagger required a considerable amount of time, let alone the hundreds of steel beams needed to build the house. If hammered out one by one, it probably couldn't be completed in ten days to half a month.
Moreover, he hadn't successfully forged a single steel beam yet. The specific forging cost was still unclear, so much so that currently Chuck couldn't even estimate the cost.
Chuck leaned back in his chair, thoughtfully stroking his chin.
Forging steel beams was already a matter at hand and had to be done sooner or later. But after all, the expansion of the villa was a long-term work plan, not something that could be resolved in a short time.
But precisely because of this, it was foreseeable that a large amount of heavy material collection and processing work would need to be completed in the future. The workload of the women in the family and Chuck was ultimately limited...
If he planned to introduce new labor to the family, right now was actually an opportune time.
...
At 2 PM, there was still an hour before the agreed time for Lee So-yeon and Chuck's fourth meeting.
The meeting place was still set at the outskirts of the northern jungle, below the ramp leading to the volcano. Only unlike the previous three times, the person unable to arrive on time this time was probably not Chuck, but Lee So-yeon.
This former leader of the island north settlement, a woman who took leading everyone to survive together as her true goal and dedicated herself wholeheartedly by any means necessary, never imagined that the people she once valued as true companions would tie up and imprison her and her sister like criminals for their own selfish interests.
Of course, the imprisoned people were not just the two sisters.
Before lunch began, the Dedication Faction, including He Xiaoyu and Sofia, and the neutrals, including the Lee sisters and Tang Yumo, having finished their busy morning, dragged their tired and hungry bodies back to the cave as usual, preparing to have a quick lunch and then rest to recover some stamina.
The two Black women and one Mexican woman who had prepared long ago, namely the three of the Stay-behind Faction, suddenly attacked using weapons made at some unknown time. They coerced the unwary women except Lee Na-eun, bound their hands and feet, and imprisoned them deep in the cave.
"Tasha, Chloe, and Elena..."
Lee So-yeon, like the women around her, had her hands tied behind her back and her ankles firmly bound with vines. Looking up by the dim light, she looked at the three companions in front of her holding sharp wooden spears with cold expressions. There was no fear in her eyes, only confusion and heartache.
"Why are you doing this? Did I do something wrong... why did it have to come to this?"
The curly-haired Mexican woman named Elena's expression remained cold, her eyes devoid of any emotion. Looking at Lee So-yeon's trembling pupils, she sighed slightly. She turned sideways to converse in a low voice with the two Black women beside her, then turned her gaze back to her and sighed slightly again.
"Sister So-yeon, this isn't personal, and we can't blame you. After all, everyone's ability is limited. We all understand you've tried your best."
While Elena spoke, her gaze turned to Lee So-yeon's sister beside her, whose slender shoulders were trembling slightly from fear.
"And Na-eun, sorry to you too. You and we share the same stance, but after all, you have this sisterly relationship. So this time we have to wrong you a bit. After things are over, we will still be mutually trusting companions."
Hearing this, Lee Na-eun's already pale cheeks grew even paler. Looking at the three women holding weapons, the almost undisputed guess in her heart made her somewhat unable to catch her breath. She finally couldn't help but question loudly.
"What exactly... do you want to do?"
"Nothing, just taking back the rights that originally belonged to us."
Elena raised a finger and gently pressed it on Lee Na-eun's somewhat chapped lips.
"Alright, that's enough chit-chat. Please don't speak loudly next. It's best not to speak at all, otherwise we will have to wrong you two again and make you like them."
As she spoke, she revealed an eerie smile and raised her hand to point to the side. The women other than the Lee sisters were not only bound hand and foot, but their mouths were also gagged with cloth, and even their eyes were covered. They could only curl up on the ground, their whole bodies trembling with fear, emitting bursts of broken whimpers from time to time.
Watching the three figures disappear around the corner, Lee So-yeon and Lee Na-eun looked at each other. Both opened their mouths, but remained speechless as they looked at each other.
Lee So-yeon lowered her head, devoid of the will to live, her gaze dazed. Only confusion and despair remained in her heart. To be fair, she wasn't shallow-minded. If she had been vigilant, it would have been absolutely impossible for her to fall into this situation. She didn't expect that in the end, her compassion and sense of responsibility would harm her and so many innocent companions.
And Lee Na-eun's expression became increasingly tense.
Unlike her sister, and unlike the other companions around her shivering with fear, she had anticipated the current situation in advance and taken action. Even judging from Elena's words just now, those three didn't even notice!
Since she guessed they would suddenly launch a riot, for Lee Na-eun, their purpose wasn't hard to guess either, nothing more than two possibilities.
The milder one was to use this to seize the leadership of the settlement, and the three of them would come forward to negotiate with Chuck. Excluding the premise of the Dedication Faction volunteering, they could extract more value from Chuck.
If they were tougher or even more extreme, they planned to use this opportunity of the agreed trade to launch a sneak attack, eliminating Chuck directly on the spot in one fell swoop. Then, following the direction he came from, head to the south of the island and occupy the base Tang Yumo said he built there.
If it was the first possibility, then there was still room for discussion. After all, the two sisters didn't care about this power in the first place. But one could easily guess, having gone this far, there was probably a 99% chance the second one was their plan.
After all, compared to wasting breath on trading, swallowing a big piece of fat meat like Chuck in one bite would be settling the matter once and for all. Moreover, a perfect opportunity was coming right up. Precisely because of this, Elena said those words just now.
The sisters would still be their companions after this matter. But the remaining companions of the Neutral Faction and Dedication Faction probably wouldn't have this treatment. The best result would be being tied up in this dark cave... and starving or freezing to death.
To actually be crazy to this extent...
The more Lee Na-eun thought, the faster her heartbeat became, and her knees also began shaking involuntarily due to extreme tension.
Although she resisted selling her body to a strange man in order to survive, she grew up in the same environment as her sister Lee So-yeon since childhood, living a comfortable life, intentionally protected by her elders from power and money struggles, and receiving a good education. Although she had seen a lot of the dark side of society, she ultimately still retained the kindness in her nature.
Lee Na-eun couldn't accept this kind of crazy behavior, sacrificing humanity just to survive.
Although Chuck received her message in advance, the content of last night's text was just a request.
In other words, he still didn't know a riot had already broken out here.
Even if he would be vigilant in his heart, there was still a high possibility that those three would succeed...
Thinking of this, Lee Na-eun gritted her teeth even tighter.
Just two days ago, in her heart, Chuck was still the biggest boss that appeared before her. She didn't expect that in just two short days, this lustful, lewd man actually became... the only sliver of hope in her despair.
Please... that woman Tang Yumo praised you to the skies, and that time you stayed over, you looked so arrogant and amazing. Don't turn out to be a paper tiger in the end!
...
Amidst such uneasy emotions, Lee Na-eun leaned tightly against her sister, passing an agonizing hour...
A faint commotion suddenly rang out from the direction of the cave behind them, causing the bound women, including the two of them, to widen their eyes simultaneously.
Lee So-yeon's lips suddenly began to tremble violently, and a large amount of fine sweat visibly seeped out on her forehead. Within an instant, a myriad of emotions changed in her originally cold pupils.
But she took a deep breath, just as she was about to shout out loud.
Thud, Lee Na-eun suddenly gave a hard shove with her shoulder, instantly clearing her brain.
Lee So-yeon bit her lip tightly, a burst of pain surfacing deep in her eyes again.
No, I can't be impulsive.
Na-eun is still here. If I gamble wrong, not only will I die, but I will also drag Na-eun down...
Sorry, everyone.
Sorry, Mr. Chuck.
If I could have understood compromise earlier, learned to give up earlier, perhaps things wouldn't have come to this.
Lee So-yeon painfully closed her eyes. She didn't even have the courage to face what might happen next.
But that faint commotion only lasted for barely half a minute before abruptly disappearing.
What followed was an eerie silence.
Just when everyone's hearts leaped into their throats, a slow, yet familiar sound of footsteps suddenly rang out, then got closer and closer...
Finally, under the gazes of the women, a tall and sturdy figure appeared at the corner deep in the cave.
Looking at the women in front of him, tied up in a mess, with expressions of either pleasant surprise or breakdown, Chuck was stunned for a moment, then smiled and waved his hand.
"Hi, so you're all here."