They put the raft in the water, and everyone got on in turn. The water was full of aquatic plants. Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick were at the front clearing a path, while the others paddled the raft, following behind.
"There aren’t any alligators, are there?"
Wyatt Vaughn shot Quincy a glare. "Don’t jinx it."
Quincy immediately shut his mouth. By eight o’clock, the sky was already dark, and they had to use flashlights to see the surface of the water clearly.
The raft glided swiftly across the water. Evelyn Ford put on her night-vision goggles. ’To be honest, I’m worried about alligators in the water too,’ she thought.
Ronan Kendrick’s paddling was both fast and steady. Sitting behind him, Evelyn only had to look after herself.
The raft soon reached the shore. Evelyn’s worries had been for nothing; the water was calm, and there were no alligators.
Ronan Kendrick was the first to get ashore. Only after confirming the ground was solid enough not to collapse did he pull Evelyn up.
"What a great spot." The area was large, forming a natural island surrounded by water. It offered a huge advantage.
The others came ashore one by one. Evelyn Ford stored the raft in her space, and everyone, shining their flashlights, continued toward the center of the Rimefrost Forest.
"Evelyn, you’ve got a sharp eye, finding a place this good."
Since the afternoon, Evelyn had been scanning the area with binoculars, searching for a suitable place to settle. There were no high mountains here, just dozens of kilometers of flat forest.
"Let’s find a flat spot. I’ll bring out the RVs in a bit so everyone can rest."
"Sounds good. Are we building a log cabin?"
Evelyn nodded. "The trees here are all pine and cypress, which aren’t suitable for building a house. We’ll cut them down for firewood. For the log cabin, we’ll use the spruce we cut down back in the Rocksea Forbidden Zone."
Evelyn grabbed a handful of the rime from a pine branch. Rime was essentially a type of frost, but it was much heavier, almost like solid ice.
"It’s very flat here. Let’s rest here for the night. We’ll have to cut down a few trees, though, or the RVs won’t fit." Ethan Dawson swept the beam of his flashlight around.
Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick walked over to him. The ground was indeed very flat, with no rocks or tree stumps.
"This is the spot."
After they cut down the pine and cypress trees that were in the way, Evelyn brought out two RVs.
"From now on, we’ll make our home here. The county seat and the base are twenty kilometers ahead. Once we’re settled, let’s go check out the town."
Birds were calling in the Rimefrost Forest. Everyone was exhausted from traveling all day. Zoe and Wendy fell asleep the moment they lay down. Evelyn went into her space to take a hot shower, and when she came out, Ronan Kendrick was drinking from a cup.
Her period was over, and Evelyn felt completely refreshed.
"We don’t have to build a house from scratch. We can just move the small log cabin out of the space, lay a deeper foundation for it, and move right in. What do you think?"
Ronan Kendrick naturally had no objections. "Okay. Whatever you say."
"Tomorrow, let’s have Mr. Graham and Quincy circle the islet and estimate its size." That’s right—after some discussion, everyone had unanimously decided to name this patch of Rimefrost Forest "the Islet."
"And have them test the quality of the surrounding water and the soil."
"We shouldn’t make the log cabin’s exterior look too good, to avoid attracting unwanted attention."
Evelyn took out a pen and paper and jotted down a long list of plans.
As she was about to fall asleep that night, Evelyn was still muttering, "A batch of medicinal herbs in the space is ready to be harvested. Once we’ve gathered all of them, we’ll plant grain."
"We can let the wolfdogs and Mina out now, too. I haven’t checked on the space in a while; I bet the ground is covered in chicken and duck eggs. I’ll have to gather them tomorrow."
"And we should eat the meat we stockpiled before as soon as possible. The animal population in the space is getting out of control."
Evelyn was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open, but her mind was still wide awake.
Ronan Kendrick let out a resigned sigh and gently patted her on the back.
"I’ll remember it all. Go to sleep."
After Evelyn fell asleep, Ronan Kendrick’s consciousness entered the space. Just as she had said, the chicken coop in the livestock area was filled with eggs—there wasn’t even room to step.
Ronan Kendrick put on a pair of gloves, grabbed a wooden bucket, and started gathering the chicken eggs. After he finished with the chicken eggs, he gathered the duck eggs. He was busy all night before he finally left the space.
At 10:30 in the morning, Officer Graham was the first to get up. Since they didn’t have to travel today, everyone had slept in.
A heavy mist hung over the islet in the early morning. Officer Graham started a fire next to one of the RVs. Just as he put some water on to boil, the others began to wake up one by one.
As soon as they got out of the RV, Taylor Vance and Zion Lowell began to stretch their stiff muscles. Meanwhile, Peter Owens and Ethan Dawson sat lazily to one side, warming themselves by the fire and staring into space.
"How many of these trees do we need to chop down?" Ethan Dawson asked when he saw Evelyn get out of the RV.
"The log cabin and living area combined will take up about eight hundred square meters. We’ll measure it out in a bit, and you can just cut down the trees within that boundary. Oh, right, leave a path clear."
Evelyn handed a sketch to Ethan Dawson. "I’ve drafted a rough floor plan. Take a look, and feel free to make any suggestions."
"This is very well done, but I suggest we just build one, extra-large log cabin. That way, we can all live together instead of building separate houses. Evelyn, if we ever need to leave in the future, can you put the whole cabin into your space?"
"It’s possible, but there are a lot of us. A log cabin big enough for thirteen people will be much more work to build."
"If we use mortise and tenon joinery, it’s actually not that difficult. A lot of houses in the Southwest are log cabins built that way, and they can house a whole extended family. Raising the support pillars will be hard work, but besides Zoe and Wendy, the rest of us are strong. The eleven of us can definitely get the pillars up."
"And if we build one big log cabin, we can have a long hallway and a huge living room."
Evelyn was convinced.
"So you’ll handle the design?"
"Sure, leave it to me. It’s actually not that many rooms for thirteen people. In any spare rooms, we can set up hydroponics for vegetables and grow mushrooms." A man of action, Ethan Dawson took the pen and paper from Evelyn and immediately began to sketch out a new design.
Impressively, he had a great eye for design. While Evelyn preferred small houses, the cabin he designed was magnificent and grand. As long as the foundation was solid, it wouldn’t even shake in a hurricane-force gale.
Since the house was now entirely in Ethan Dawson’s hands, Evelyn could take a step back.
Ronan Kendrick went to chop down trees, and Evelyn grabbed a saw to help. The cooking duties fell to Taylor Vance and Zion Lowell, while everyone else was assigned their own tasks.
Officer Graham walked a full circuit around the islet. He estimated it covered about an acre, and the surrounding stream was two meters deep.
The water was clean and unpolluted, and the soil was a yellow clay suitable for growing fruits and vegetables.
The islet was a good distance from the road and was separated by the stream, so there were no immediate security risks.
In a single morning, they cleared one and a half mu of pine and cypress trees from the center of the islet. Ethan Dawson and Miles Vaughn then began to stretch out lines to take measurements.
Peter Owens quietly asked Ethan Dawson, "Are eight hundred square meters enough for the thirteen of us?"
Ethan Dawson laughed. "Eight hundred square meters is over eighty-six hundred square feet! There are only thirteen of us; you could fit thirty people in a space that big with room to spare. Don’t worry about it being too small. Evelyn told me everyone will get their own room."