A Night of Desperation

Chapter 52: Relaxation (2)

Over forty kilometers from Baiqiu Village.

Night.

On a tree as thick as two people embracing, Bai Mang, Guo Xudong is quietly resting, leaning against a branch.

He is wrapped in a Luminous stone blanket that blocks the Ghostly shadows, using the breathable holes on the blanket to take in air.

As time passes, the night grows deeper.

A faint rustling sound from crawling insects begins to rise from the ground.

Guo Xudong suddenly opens his eyes, tearing off the blanket and looking down.

In the faint moonlight, the black earth on the ground seems to spout like a fountain, with large groups of black insects emerging one after another.

The black insects emerge from the ground, spreading like ants, and within seconds, the entire grassy area turns black.

The waves of black insects move in the forest, searching for anything living to devour and tear apart.

Soon, some of the black insects seem to detect a scent and begin crawling up the tree where Guo Xudong is resting.

His expression unchanged, Guo Xudong quickly takes out a small bottle from his body, opens it, and applies some sticky liquid onto himself.

Soon, he emits a foul odor that causes the black insects below to scatter in all directions.

After putting the small bottle away, Guo Xudong prepares to continue resting.

Bang!

Suddenly, a heavy, muffled sound comes from nearby.

His expression slightly changes, and he rises again, looking toward the source of the sound.

In the forest, a huge shadow, about the size of a person, appears. It looks like an enlarged beetle, with a mouth resembling pincers made up of many parts, charging rapidly toward him.

Boom boom boom boom!

“Big skin? Can this place attract big skin too? Or has the intensity of the blood tide increased?” Guo Xudong mutters under his breath, his face darkening.

Seeing the large insect approaching, he quickly takes out a specially made rope and throws it toward another tree.

The rope wraps around the tree, and he swings toward it.

As he swings through the air, Guo Xudong quickly pulls something from his bag, tears off the lid, and throws it behind him.

The object precisely lands in the wide open mouth of the big insect.

One second.

Two seconds.

Boom!!!

In an instant, a burst of flame explodes, ripping apart the two-meter-long body of the big insect, scattering countless black fragments like raindrops.

Under the light of the explosion, large swathes of black insects nearby evaporate into black smoke and disappear.

Without stopping, Guo Xudong accelerates and moves farther away. He doesn’t believe that his homemade soil bomb can completely resolve the crisis.

The blood tide monsters and Ghostly shadows are completely different kinds of threats. Their greatest feature is their infinite numbers.

*

*

*

The Next Morning

Knock knock knock.

Yu Hong is startled awake by the knocking at the door. He slowly sits up, squinting at the door.

He had exercised late into the night yesterday and also dug a lot of stones, expanding his small room a bit. Additionally, the strengthening process had consumed quite a bit of his mental and physical energy.

So, his current state isn’t great.

“Who is it?” he asks.

Due to the effects of the Luminous stone secret room, the eerie shadows haven’t been knocking much. The person knocking now is likely a living person.

“Xiao Yu, it’s me.” Dr. Xu Ruoying’s voice comes from outside.

“Do you have anything to eat? The food over here isn’t enough. Something happened.”

Yu Hong furrows his brow. He remembers that Xu Ruoying had swapped for enough food from Li Runshan’s side. How could it suddenly not be enough in just a few days?

“What’s going on?” he walks to the door and looks through the gap in the barrier.

Outside the door, Xu Ruoying’s eyes are as red as a rabbit’s, her face haggard, clearly having not rested for a long time.

After confirming no one else is around and that the Rune Array formation behind the door is still inactive, Yu Hong opens the door and quickly lets her in.

“Sigh,” Xu Ruoying sighs deeply as she enters. “Yesterday evening, a family of three who were fleeing passed by. They went to an empty cave nearby to stay. I couldn’t resist, so I gave them some food.”

“A family of refugees?” Yu Hong frowns. “Which direction did they come from?”

“They said they came from Yuehe City, where a terrifying evil shadow broke out, killing many people before they could even escape. The officials tried to prevent the situation from worsening, but they all perished. The citizens were fleeing in all directions, and they were driving fast,” Xu Ruoying sighs.

Yu Hong has no response. He takes out a bag of protein bars and gives it to her. The packaging has been changed, so he’s not worried about it being discovered.

Previously, Li Runshan had exchanged quite a bit of food from the supply team. He also swapped some items for rune array and anti-diarrheal medicine, which he then strengthened into protein bars.

Now, he has more than fifty protein bars piled up in the cave, enough to last him for a long time.

With the food supply adequate, he doesn’t mind sharing some with Xu Ruoying.

“Do you want to go see them?” Xu Ruoying asks softly as she takes the food bag.

“No, it’s no use going.” Yu Hong is silent for a moment, not agreeing to the idea.

Though he bears the black mark, right now, he can only barely ensure his basic survival and safety needs.

He is powerless to do anything else.

“Thanks,” Xu Ruoying says, taking the protein bars and heading out the door.

Yu Hong sits down on the round stool, takes out a radio, and turns it on.

After a brief static, the faint voice of a broadcast starts to play. Two male voices seem to be talking in a Q&A format.

‘We hope to handle this matter properly. Regarding the recent worsening of the large-scale black disaster, the relevant departments have traced the source. A total of seven high-risk evil shadows are involved, causing vulnerabilities in the internal defenses of Hope City, leading to the breach of the black disaster.’

‘These seven evil shadows were collected and classified by the Silver Tower. According to their public information, we know that the black disaster is now classified into nine levels of danger, with the level not representing strength but rather the harm to the surrounding environment and society. The seven evil shadows are all classified between levels two and five.’

‘Doesn’t that mean the lowest-level black disaster is easier to handle?’

‘The lowest level means we already know it well and can devise a precise countermeasure, so it poses minimal danger. For example, ordinary black insects, known scientifically as blood ticks, are level one.’

‘But based on Silver Tower’s statistics, there are also three higher categories: War-level, Nightmare-level, and Despair-level.’

‘This I know, the frontline black disaster currently being fought in Aurora City is a War-level one,’ the host replies.

‘Of course, we can’t simply judge the strength of a black disaster based on its level. If you don’t know the intelligence or weaknesses of a black disaster, even a level one disaster is like a Despair-level one, unavoidable and certain death,’ another person responds.

‘That makes sense. But what about the higher levels? What makes them so dangerous?’ the host asks.

‘It lies in the range of erosion and the desire for erosion. Everyone knows that many city districts outside the core circle of Hope City are facing a new round of challenges. My suggestion is to move into the core area as soon as possible, where the Aurora defense line can offer the best protection,’ the guest advises.

The rest of the broadcast consists of meaningless thank-yous and compliments, which Yu Hong tunes out. As the broadcasters talk about the deaths and the collapse of defenses in Hope City, they sound indifferent, as though it were a distant event.

‘Have they gotten used to it? Or is there another reason?’ Yu Hong stands up. ‘Is the withered Maiden one of the level five evil shadows?’

He doesn’t know.

If that’s the case, then with so many levels and types of black disasters, human deaths seem like cold numbers, cheap and frequent.

At this thought, he suddenly feels a sense of suffocation.

He pours himself a glass of water and drinks it all in one go, then starts practicing his heavy-leg technique.

Streams of warmth spread up from his legs, extending throughout his body. The feeling of warmth makes him feel much better.

After some time, he heads back to the reinforced gray lizard suit, where the countdown is almost finished.

He watches the decreasing numbers and glances at the radiant stone reserves in the corner. The regular Luminous stones he had accumulated are almost used up. He’ll need to go back to the mine to restock.

A few more minutes pass, and the countdown on the gray lizard suit finally finishes.

A distorted blur covers the suit, and after a second, the distortion fades. A brand-new, thick and heavy black bulletproof suit appears in front of Yu Hong.

It still looks like the gray lizard suit but without the camouflage color. It’s noticeably heavier.

The helmet comes with windproof glasses and a filter mask, and the alloy plates on the body are thicker than before. The stitching is more meticulous, and the bulletproof ceramic plates now cover the entire torso.

Even the gaps around the neck are protected by high-strength alloy plates.

Yu Hong is pleased. He quickly puts it on.

The new gray lizard suit weighs a bit more, about sixteen or seventeen pounds, but its joints move almost as freely as regular clothes, with minimal impact on flexibility.

Fully armored, he notices the red value detector has been integrated into the collar. A small LCD screen inside the collar displays the current external red value.

He activates the suit, testing it, and begins practicing the heavy-leg technique again. This time, with the added weight, the heat flow generated is even greater.

As warmth spreads throughout his body, he opens the door, steps outside into the open space, and starts moving around.

With the red value detector constantly monitoring, he can detect any Ghostly shadows that might appear nearby.

After practicing for a while, he thinks about the fleeing group Xu Ruoying mentioned. He might be able to exchange something new from them to reinforce his gear.

Also, since Xu Ruoying is alone there, she might be in danger. Yu Hong senses the remaining cool air and turns back to grab a bag of protein bars before heading toward her residence.

With his spiked boots, enhanced gray lizard suit, heavy-leg technique, and the remaining cool air, Yu Hong feels somewhat safer.

He plans to check on her, then return to reinforce the solar-powered generator, charging the radio and red value detector. Otherwise, once the power runs out, they will be useless.

Following his familiar route, the heavy suit barely weighs him down. He regularly works with wood and stone, so his strength is already well-trained.

However, he’s puzzled. Since starting the heavy-leg technique, he’s noticed less pain in his skin and bones, even some numbness in his sense of touch.

(End of Chapter)