Night of Despair

Chapter 50: Strengthening Two
 

The accumulation and enhancement of the fourth coolness brought joy to Yu Hong’s heart, and his mood improved significantly.

After wiping off his sweat, he rested for a while and walked to the corner to prepare the tools for starting to dig a new cubicle.

“To farm mushrooms and lizards, I must first carve out a room by itself. But I need to carefully consider where and how to start.”

He held a knife, drawing lines back and forth on the ground, contemplating the structural layout and orientation.

Not long after, it had grown dark outside.

When it was completely pitch black only then did he suddenly realize that today, the “shadow” hadn’t come knocking at the door.

Usually, the “shadow” would occasionally knock, impersonating an acquaintance or pretending to be a stranger visiting, in an attempt to get someone to open the door.

But this time, within the newly completed fully enclosed luminous stone space, he hadn’t heard any knocking at all.

“It seems the luminous stone hiding method has taken effect…” Yu Hong walked to the door, slightly pulling the latch aside to peek outside.

It was pitch black outside, nothing could be seen.

After confirming that there were no bugs, he lit the fireplace, dragged over the sleeping bag, and comfortably fell asleep near the fire.

The warm fireplace kept the cave from being cold, and without the sudden knocks from the “shadow”, he no longer worried about being abruptly awakened.

Yu Hong thus slept soundly until nearly noon the next day.

If his throat hadn’t been so dry, waking him up, he probably could have slept longer.

Within the sealed cave.

He was entirely wrapped in a blanket, looking at the sunlight seeping through the cracks in the door, feeling too soft and relaxed to want to get up.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve slept so peacefully…” Yu Hong lay quietly, staring at the door, not moving.

He suddenly remembered how back home, he also liked to wrap himself in a blanket, watching the glaring sun, with the air conditioner on yet never wanting to leave the cocoon.

And now, it felt just like going back to those times…

But as vivid as his imagination was, life had to go on.

After hesitating a while, Yu Hong crawled out of the sleeping bag and, according to previous plans, started to drill into the cave to create a new room.

Taking the reinforced stone-carving tools, he first used a charcoal pencil to draw a circular hole in a corner of the cave floor.

Then he began to chisel along the circle.

The constant clanging of the hammer, the hard rock shattered and lime sprayed around, filling the entire cave.

Yu Hong was choked by the dust, had to add some water on it, and pulled over Jenny’s clothes to cover it.

Digging was undoubtedly very tedious, but Yu Hong anyway had to wait for the leg strengthening to finish, and for the next three days, he was eating, sleeping, training, and then digging.

He piled heaps of rocks outside to form a simple stone yard boundary.

Tired, he used the coolness to recover, and if sleepy, he would lie down to nap, and with the support of the coolness, his progress was very fast. Were it not for his hands blistering and becoming painfully unbearable later, he estimated he could have been even faster.

Within three days, a circle with a depth of over a meter was excavated in the corner of the cave.

The inside even had rough steps built that you could walk down.

But a meter was just the beginning, Yu Hong planned to make this a long-term project, carving several more cubicles for functional rooms.

And the stones dug out could all be piled outside to make a yard, or dig a pit to create a small pond for water collection.

The yard could later be fortified, forming a larger circle of protective alarms.

The pond could supply water during dry periods. With water available, he could even plant some vegetables in the yard.

Some commonly found wild vegetables could be transplanted in bulk.

Getting into the groove, Yu Hong felt energized, enjoying the fun of building a home.

Another day passed, and it started to lightly rain outside, Yu Hong didn’t go anywhere, didn’t do anything, just rested in the cave, watching as the leg strengthening was about to end.

The “shadow” still hadn’t disturbed him again, at the entrance to the hole, he covered it with a wide wooden board painted with the talisman array, forming the same luminous stone secret room environment.

As the countdown on the board kept reducing,

Yu Hong’s mood also gradually became somewhat impatient, intense anticipation keeping his eyes glued, fixed on the countdown numbers.

“What could it strengthen into?”

“This is leg technique skill more complete and professional than the physical exercise training method I haphazardly put together before, plus over four days of enhancement, it must be stronger than my previous high physical method.”

Yu Hong’s expression was intense, his eyes fixated on the numbers.

“01 minute.”

This last minute felt as long as a day.

Various thoughts swirled and filled Yu Hong’s mind.

Finally….

Snap.

A light sound followed, and the wooden board instantly blurred.

Right after, a thick stack of leg technique transcription boards rapidly shrank, consolidating into a standard-sized black leather booklet.

The booklet cover clearly printed: Enhanced Leg Technique.

“So, this name is just what I had before the enhancement? Completely unchanged?” Yu Hong stared at the booklet cover, somewhat speechless.

“But the name isn’t important, what matters is the content!” He extended his hand eagerly.

He flipped to the first page.

*

*

*

Li Rushan carefully picked up his daughter, placing her into a wooden box coated with densely packed luminous stones, securing the lid to ensure his daughter was sound asleep, then returned to his desk to pick upFeedback gebenVerlaufGespeichertCommunity the communication device currently being adjusted.

“This is indeed one of the origin sites, I’ve already gone to investigate the Black Disaster traces, the outbreak path matches what was detected,” he whispered into the communicator.

“Great, if possible, I hope you can collect some luminous stone marrow,” a gentle female voice came from the communicator.

“I’ll do my best. I thought someone here had dug up luminous stone marrow, but it turned out to be materially similar and unusable,” replied Li Rushan, “Also, the situation here is quite complicated. I just arrived and encountered an Evil Shadow, she must have devoured at least a hundred people, plus someone tainted with the Blood Tide mark; the situation mutated, but fortunately, I dealt with it in time. Without a host, she likely can’t come back anytime soon.”

“You’ve worked hard,” the woman sighed.

“It’s alright, I also need to try to let Aisena contract the luminous stone disease to see if it can counteract the mark…” murmured Li Rushan.

“The radiation near the Pyroxene Ore Mine is too intense, you must constantly monitor Aisena’s condition, and also pay attention to the frequency of changing the luminous stones…” the woman instructed.

“I understand,” Li Rushan nodded.

“What a pity… if Mili were still here…” the woman sighed.

Li Rushan no longer spoke, but remained silent.

“All right, if you need any help, report it in time, and I will try my best to arrange it for you,” the woman whispered.

“Thank you, Commissioner,” Li Rushan forced out a sentence.

The communication was then abruptly cut off.

Turning off the communicator, Li Rushan sighed and leaned back in his chair.

Thump, thump, thump.

A gentle knocking sound arose.

“Dad, are you there? It’s Aisena.”

His daughter’s voice quietly came from outside the door.

Li Rushan glanced at the box where his daughter was sleeping, didn’t move, just closed his eyes to quietly rest, and adjusted his breathing.

“Dad, open the door… I really am Aisena, it’s scary outside… something is chasing me…”

The voice continued from outside, gentle yet eerie.

Li Rushan turned a deaf ear, as if he was used to it.

He casually pulled out a blanket from under the desk, the blanket densely covered with white luminous stone powder.

He flung the blanket over his head, completely covering his body.

The voice outside abruptly stopped, completely vanishing as if it was an illusion.

*

*

*

Inside the safe house in the cave.

Yu Hong, containing his excitement, gently opened the first page of the black booklet.

His eyes were tightly fixed on the content of the page, not blinking at all.

Four days of intensive training, far exceeding the nine hours of the body enhancement method, meant that the intensity of this leg technique was definitely far beyond the body method!

Gurgle.

He swallowed, his throat bobbing, as he stared at the page.

“Enhanced leg technique is tailored based on the body’s existing quality, spirit, state, and is not universally effective, please use with caution.”

This was the top line warning.

Below that was the specific content.

“First move: Low sweep leg.”

The name hadn’t changed, but the content had become much more complex.

Below was a detailed human vascular meridian map.

On the gray human figure, small red and blue arrows indicated the direction and frequency of the cool air’s movement.

At the very bottom, there was also a special visualization containing an image of a metal castle monster with thick limbs.

The limbs of this monster were made of metal components, robust and powerful, with one forelimb raised in a stance as if stepping forward.

But as Yu Hong looked closely, he eerily realized that the lines on the monster’s body in the illustration seemingly had a close connection to the human body meridians on his own body.

He quickly looked up to the human body meridian map above.

After a careful comparison, he was shocked to find that the prominent line patterns on the monster’s body exactly matched parts of the human body meridians.

Below that, a line of text, fine and neat.

“Unlike punching techniques, once a leg move is initiated, it must succeed, otherwise there is a very high possibility of losing balance due to being blocked or pushed back.

Thus, balance and being firmly rooted to the ground, unshaken, are the fundamental basis of leg techniques.”

Yu Hong narrowed his eyes and continued to the next page.

“Ordinary people’s leg strength is far greater than their punching power, but due to balance, once a leg technique is used, it’s best to decide the outcome with one strike. Thus, if a leg technique is used, it must strike and defeat the opponent.”

Below was a series of continuous drawings of the first move, Low sweep leg.

All were black-and-white images, a man with short hair and knotted muscles standing on the ground, body slightly bent, one leg violently lifting and sweeping forward.

Behind him, a rough sketch of the castle monster also lifted its leg and swept forward.

Below was new text.

“The second premise of leg technique is that the legs must be sufficiently solid, tough, and indestructible.

Therefore, we must first rigorously train the bones and muscles of the legs to harden them and enhance defensive capabilities.

Then wear alloy leg armor on the legs and add sharp objects to increase armor-piercing power, using the hardened legs bones and muscles to withstand the recoil when the alloy leg armor collides, which is the foundation of the strongest leg technique.”

“…..”

Yu Hong was speechless.

This leg technique… something seems a little off…

He quickly flipped through the subsequent content.

He found that the next two moves had the same names but were modified to be special leg techniques that coordinated with the visualization and force generation techniques and required wearing protective gear on the legs to enhance lethality.

The last page also included supplemental content.

“The visualization is synthesized from the body’s actual situation and selected, unique for each individual, unsuitable for others to use, and may be hazardous, please use with caution.

When the enhanced leg technique is mastered, it can increase movement speed, accelerate the speed of inner strength refinement, nourish the muscles and bones of the legs, and combined with the burst of inner strength, the power can be greatly increased.”

“Core tip: This leg technique is mainly focused on leveraging power to amplify force; the greater the self-weight, the greater the burst of leg technique power, the stronger the body refinement.”

“…..” Having finished reading the enhanced leg technique, Yu Hong felt it was indeed very powerful.

But as strong as it was, it seemed to be a bit different from the martial arts inner strength leg technique he had initially imagined…