Night of Despair

Chapter 147: Cultivation 3
 

“Okay,” Yu Hong glanced at Old Zhou. The latter gave a knowingly ambiguous smile and ran off to take care of Aisena.

“Take your time.” He quickly left the spot, leaving the two standing a few meters apart.

“Mr. Yu, during this period of observation, we have come to see you as a leader worthy of respect. So, Lingling and I have discussed carefully and would like to formally apply to join your camp, if you don’t mind…”

Ding Shao spoke softly, her expression sincere.

Yu Hong: “???”

He hadn’t quite understood their line of thinking.

“No, the issue now is that I really don’t need you to join the camp. Observing? Whether you observe me or think I deserve respect has nothing to do with me.”

He couldn’t help but be blunt.

He indeed lacked manpower, but if new members could cause discord at the camp, he would rather not have them.

These two had problematic thoughts, not the type he needed.

“…???” Ding Shao was surprised upon hearing this. Not just her, but Yao Feiling, who had stealthily approached to eavesdrop, also trembled.

Both hadn’t anticipated this response from Yu Hong.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on ƝονǤ0.ƈօ

“No, do you know how strong our capabilities are?” Yao Feiling couldn’t help but step closer.

With her and Sister Ding’s abilities, looks, and figures, they were extremely eye-catching and popular wherever they went.

“Whether you’re strong or not doesn’t concern me. I need honest, ordinary skilled people. If you can’t be ordinary, stay away from here,” Yu Hong said dismissively.

“You jerk…” Yao Feiling felt a surge of anger rise in her heart, facing his expressionless, annoying face, she wanted to slap him right then.

But she knew that if they resorted to violence, she and Sister Ding would definitely not be able to join the camp.

Suppressing her anger, Ding Shao, sensing the unfavorable situation, forcibly pulled her away, and they returned to their temporary dwelling.

Inside the camp, sitting in a hammock, they looked at the notch caused by an attack from a small Multi-eyed Bird the previous night, feeling quite displeased.

They brought up joining the camp again, mainly because there had been sightings of Multi-eyed Birds in the sky recently. They could barely manage the small ones, but the larger Multi-eyed Birds…

For safety, they decided to discuss joining the camp with Yu Hong again. Just as they started, they almost ended up hitting him…

“Sister Ding, look at that guy, he’s so infuriating! If it weren’t for you holding me back, I would have slapped him right then! What does he mean by not normal!? Saying we’re not normal!? He’s the one who’s perfectly normal!?”

In the swaying hammock, Yao Feiling clenched her fists in anger, crackling sounds erupting from them.

“Yu Hong is physically strong, capable of managing a camp, and he might also be enhanced. If you confront him up close, you’ll surely be at a disadvantage. We’re both speed-enhanced, long-range firearms are our forte. Plus, once a fight starts, win or lose, we won’t be welcomed into the camp,” Ding Shao comforted and cautioned simultaneously.

“So what do we do? If the large Multi-eyed Bird approaches, our defenses will definitely be inadequate. We won’t be able to drive it away without crippling it,” Yao Feiling said anxiously after calming down.

“I’ll ask again later to see what conditions Yu Hong wants to let us join,” Ding Shao sighed.

“Why not just skip asking and take over the camp ourselves!” Yao Feiling grumbled discontentedly.

“…We can’t. They generously provided us with a water source,” Ding Shao shook her head.

“This is not okay, that’s not okay, ah, what should we do!?” Yao Feiling burst out in frustration.

“Wait, could it be… that guy is deliberately waiting for the Multi-eyed Bird!? Waiting for us to be overwhelmed and have to beg him so he can do whatever he wants with us?” She suddenly had a smart thought.

“…It’s not impossible,” Ding Shao thought and felt something wasn’t right.

“In that case… let’s just take over the camp!” Yao Feiling decisively said. “We can’t stop the huge Multi-eyed Bird chasing us. We’ll definitely die if it catches us!”

“…” Now Ding Shao was at a loss. To survive, perhaps there really was only…

But the basic moral line still suppressed the thought.

She shook her head.

“No matter if we can succeed or not, how are we any different from those disgusting people from before?”

“…So annoying! Annoying!!” Yao Feiling raged, “Are we just supposed to wait here to die!?”

Ding Shao remained silent in response.

*

*

*

Inside the cave.

Yu Hong stood on one foot, the toes of the other lightly touching the ground, concentrating and gathering his inner energy.

Whoosh!

A sound like rocks crumbling, breaking into countless fragments, suddenly arose in his heart.

In an instant, Yu Hong’s right leg swept up, moving forward like a whip, tracing an arc.

Not only that, but his body spun with continuous sweeps forward from his legs, kicking out a series of sharp, invisible air currents.

His relentless leg whips, like a mixer, continuously stirred the air in the basement, generating fierce, directional winds.

Whir, whir, whir!!

His leg movements blurred, gradually generating a small gray vortex in the basement.

The vortex centered around him, gradually enveloping him and twisting the air and light around.

Snap!

He stopped abruptly, retracting his leg.

A hint of satisfaction appeared on his face.

‘This is the true Thunderbolt Leg!’

Yu Hong always had a great doubt—why in his previous life, those highly skilled martial artists he saw had such inexhaustible inner strength, even the poorer masters could sustain at least one fight.

But for him, Inner Qi could only sustain two moves, which seemed highly abnormal.

Now that he had successfully condensed three streams of Inner Qi with the aid of the Infinite Qi Condensing Technique, he gradually discovered a technique about the use of Inner Qi.

This was a trick that people who had been in many real battles might easily notice.

That was to contain but not release.

Inner Qi was contained within the moves, used only to slightly amplify the speed, strength, and physique, and not to explode all at once.

Such a technique was indeed a sustainable way to use it.

‘With the technique of containing but not releasing, as long as a stream of Inner Qi isn’t consumed heavily, it can continuously enhance, increasing the speed, strength, and hardness of skin and muscles by about thirty percent compared to my normal state.’

He moved his legs.

‘Causes of intense consumption of Inner Qi can be summed up from what I have previously encountered as follows.’

‘One: Complete and significant self-amplification, which can reach twice my normal state or even more.’

‘Two: Used for protection when hit by a strong attack.’

‘Three: Inner Qi used for luminous stones, black lizards, and talisman array.’

After summarizing the details of Inner Qi, Yu Hong was quite satisfied.

He maintained the state of containing without releasing and practiced the entire set of Thunderbolt Leg Technique.

After practicing the Thunderbolt Leg Technique for a while, his moves and body techniques were much stronger than the clunky clumsiness of before.

Between each movement, his legs flipped, attacking forward tirelessly like a thunderstorm, with great momentum, heavy power, and rapid speed, combining the force and velocity of a cheetah.

Especially under the state of Inner Qi infused without releasing during the Thunderbolt Leg Technique, he discovered that when he executed more than ten consecutive moves, a transparent airflow would surround him.

He wasn’t sure what this layer of airflow did, as it was weak and thin, not even capable of obstructing the line of sight, but perhaps its effects would become apparent once his Inner Qi grew stronger.

Swish.

He instantly retracted his legs and stood still, exuding an indescribable contrast with his broad physique.

Despite his massive body weighing over four hundred pounds, broad shoulders, robust muscles, and height over one meter eight, his movements were agile like a giant bat, seemingly unaffected by physical inertia in all directions, unpredictable.

The lightness contrasted starkly with his heavy, large body, creating an unexpectedly uncomfortable impact.

‘Now that my moves have become more agile, and my stance is much steadier than before, using the previous reinforced polar bear suit seems somewhat inappropriate.’

He carefully thought it over.

“I need a suit now that doesn’t hinder body movements, provides enough protection against most firearms, and has detection, anti-poison, and waterproof capabilities. It would be best if it could also integrate an oxygen tank to prevent situations where external breathing isn’t possible.”

He grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off his body, walked down to the first floor, and gulped down a glass of water.

He put down the glass and went to the door. He opened the ventilation hole to air out.

It was early evening outside, the twilight gray mingling with mist, creating a gloomy, damp discomfort.

Looking through the peephole.

The mountains and fields were gray-white, the rough paths on either side were also gray-white.

‘The sun is becoming scarcer, photosynthesis will diminish, carbon dioxide concentration will increase, and the oxygen in the atmosphere will definitely become scarcer… but fortunately… the creatures that consume oxygen are also becoming scarcer…’

More dead creatures somehow turned into a good thing for improving the concentration of atmospheric gases?

It was somewhat ironic.

He picked up the detector, Yu Hong glanced at the time.

‘1:12 PM’

“It’s getting earlier… the days are becoming shorter.”

‘Let’s go back and train a bit more, refine more Inner Qi, then I’ll be more confident after that,’ he thought, turning to leave.

Suddenly, he saw something emerging outside the newly built fence in the distance.

The luminescence from luminous stone grass and adjusted lights penetrated the mist, illuminating the scene outside.

A black tick the size of a rhinoceros was slowly emerging from the mist.

This creature was even bigger than before, previously only over two meters tall, now almost two and a half meters, with a body length reaching six meters, its eight legs densely packed like needle points stabbing into the ground, leaving behind rows of small holes.

Under the gray light, Yu Hong was seeing this creature clearly for the first time.

These giant ticks, known as Big Skin, usually appeared at night, so under insufficient light conditions, it was impossible to see them clearly.

But now, things were different…

It was still daylight and this thing had already come out…

“Is it because of the high Red Value?” Yu Hong felt heavy-hearted.

This giant tick, also known as Big Skin, from a distance looked like a watermelon seed with eight thin legs, its head pointed, with two black eyes far apart like those of a crab.

The most striking feature was its mouthparts.

They were a black, spike-like structure, glossy under the light of the lamps.

Small, dense, gray barbs would intermittently pop out from around the spike, resembling a thick straw covered in barbs.

Yu Hong knew at a glance, such a structure was perfectly suited to penetrate flesh and prevent being pulled out by external forces.

If forcibly removed, it would tear apart a large chunk of flesh in an instant, killing the victim instantly.

‘Black lizards can’t thwart this kind of Blood Tide Monster…’

He sighed silently.

Black lizards at most could deal with the weakest shadows or drive away small creatures.

Like Big Skin this hefty…