A Night of Desperation

Yu Hong looked at the red value detector again and found that the values inside the safe house had returned to single digits, approaching zero.

‘It seems that the rune array inside the safe house may have had some effect.’

He let out a sigh of relief, turned on the light, pulled down the shutter,

but did not take off his suit. In such a situation, the ever-present threat of the multi-eyed bird forced him to remain constantly vigilant.

Picking up the vortex rune array board, he sat down to think carefully.

‘If I apply the storage function of the vortex rune array to the safe house, could I create a stable battery that converts and stores Luminous Stone radiation energy?’

‘Besides making grenades, what else could a Luminous Stone radiation battery be used for?’

He returned to his initial idea—creating a technique that would allow him to handle Ghostly shadows.

‘If… if I could use my body to generate Luminous Stone radiation explosions similar to the vortex rune array, wouldn’t that make dealing with Ghostly Shadows much easier?’

‘Anti-Ghostly Shadow Technique.’

‘Using inner energy as a pen, construct a vortex rune array inside the body to create an internal Luminous Stone radiation battery that can absorb external radiation.’

‘Such an internal structure must remain extremely stable under normal conditions. Only when I perform certain specific actions or enter a particular state will the battery structure temporarily break, causing a massive burst of radiation from within, forming a Luminous Stone radiation attack to counteract external Ghostly Shadows or Evil shadows.’

‘When I exit the special state or action, the rune array restores itself and resumes absorption and storage automatically.’

‘Side effects: Luminous Stone radiation can cause harm and mutations to the human body. This issue might be countered by my continuously strengthening physical constitution.’

After writing these words, Yu Hong carefully checked for typos and major logical flaws. Confirming that there were none, he placed the paper on the wooden table.

‘The enhancement of the Black Mark must be based on a feasible foundation. Now, let’s see—if this foundational technique works, then the Black Mark might refine and perfect it into an even better technique.’

Looking at his technique hypothesis, Yu Hong extended his hand and pressed it against the paper.

‘Enhance Anti-Ghostly Shadow Technique. Direction: Integrate with Heavy Leg Technique.’

Soon, a black line flashed, and the feedback sound quickly rang out.

‘Enhance technique?’

It was feasible!

Yu Hong was overjoyed. He hadn’t expected it to succeed on the first try.

He glanced at the countdown appearing on the paper: 1 hour and 4 minutes.

Such a short time—this meant the difficulty wasn’t high. Thinking this, he pressed his hand down again.

‘Enhance Anti-Ghostly Shadow Technique. Direction: Integrate with Heavy Leg Technique, strengthen control, reduce side effects, increase power, and optimize the vortex rune array to enhance the total storage of radiation energy.’ Ŗ𝔞ℕỐВЕⱾ

Yu Hong added everything he wanted in one go.

Then, as the feedback sound played, he quickly checked the countdown that appeared.

‘1 day, 23 hours, 11 minutes.’

‘Almost there—any longer and the risk would be too high.’ He sighed.

He confirmed the enhancement process.

This time, acquiring the vortex rune array had been an immense help to him.

This thing instantly increased his means of dealing with malevolent shadows by more than double.

Placing a wooden block over the enhancing paper to keep it in place, Yu Hong stood up and went to Basement One—the very first one he had dug.

Inside the basement, he picked up the vortex rune array board he had previously made. This board, inscribed with inner energy, had now completely turned silver.

It looked very similar to the enhanced silver rune array he had seen before.

But the patterns of the two were completely different.

Yu Hong brought the detector close and measured it. The red value was only a negative single digit. Clearly, this rune array had a strong absorption and storage capability.

After some thought, he decided to take the board outside for a test.

Just as the Black Mark was enhancing the new fusion technique—once the fusion was complete, he could train his Heavy Leg Technique while gaining a similar ability to counter Ghostly Shadows.

For now, the most important thing was ensuring the safety of the safe house. Acquiring an energy core was difficult under current conditions. Once things stabilized and his technique was refined further, he would consider it again.

Yu Hong made up his mind.

Taking the board with him, he returned to the first floor and activated his communicator.

“Old Li, are you there?”

After some static noise, a somewhat surprised male voice came through.

“So clear? How did the signal suddenly get better again?” Li Runshan asked in astonishment.

Yu Hong guessed it was probably due to his enhancement of the communicator. The effect likely only worked when he communicated with Old Li. However, he didn’t say anything and quickly changed the subject.

“I have a question. Is there a way to avoid the multi-eyed birds? How did you evade their attacks before?”

“…Vision, smell, hearing—these strange birds track targets just like humans do, relying on their sensory organs. But their sense of smell is exceptionally sharp.” Li Runshan replied, “Before, we weren’t careful about scent. Later, when the rescue team arrived, they gave us some deodorizing sand, and the multi-eyed birds stopped approaching. I still have twenty pounds of deodorizing sand.”

“Any other methods?” Yu Hong frowned.

“There’s also the sunlight series materials. Multi-eyed birds are well-known monsters in the frontline Aurora City, and they are one of the creatures that sunlight series materials specifically counter,” Li Runshan replied.

He paused before continuing.

“If you need them, I can try to get you some. They should arrive next month. Hold on until then.”

“How much?” Yu Hong was a little surprised. The stingy guy was finally willing to offer something.

“I have a set of communicators here. Can you take a look at them for me? Except for my connection with you, all other communications are terrible—I can barely hear anything and rely entirely on Morse code,” Li Runshan said casually.

“Alright,” Yu Hong agreed. “By the way, can you still send mail internally? To Baihe City?”

“Yes, but the cost is higher. Baihe City is currently under attack by the Whisperer —you know how they’re completely undetectable until they strike. Plus, there are too many multi-eyed birds outside. Without a sunlight series Luminous Stone blanket, people don’t even dare to go out, and travel costs are skyrocketing. What do you want to send?” Li Runshan asked.

“I’ll bring it to you later. Just a small item.” Yu Hong replied. The enhanced red value detector needed to be delivered to Little Stutterer in time to deal with the Whisperer.

“Alright, tomorrow an expert from the postal service will be passing by. I can ask them to take a detour. Also, one more thing—be more careful in the future. The item you left behind, I threw it into the scorched woods beside you. Go pick it up.” Li Runshan said before hanging up.

What is it? What item?

Yu Hong narrowed his eyes slightly, quickly put on his gear, and stepped outside.

Before long, he spotted a male corpse in camouflage uniform lying among the scorched woods to the right of the courtyard wall. The body’s eyes remained open in death.

In the corpse’s hands was a black rifle, over a meter long, equipped with a scope. Yu Hong had no idea what model it was—he didn’t recognize it at all.

He reached out and forcefully pulled the rifle free, then searched the body.

Everything else was gone—completely stripped clean. The only thing left was the rifle, which made Yu Hong suspect that this man was likely the only companion of Ge Shenghao who had managed to escape.

“Why bother running back then? Dying by my hand would’ve at least been quicker.”

Yu Hong carried the rifle, guessing that Li Runshan had probably left it there intentionally as proof. Otherwise, this weapon would have been gone long ago.

Aang!

Suddenly, from deep within the forest behind him, came the eerie screech of a multi-eyed bird once again.

Yu Hong immediately quickened his pace, dashing back into the cave. He shut the door behind him and hid in silence.

He had had enough of these monstrous birds.

*

*

*

Three Days Later

Baihe City

At the mouth of a massive, pitch-black underground tunnel on the outskirts, squads of personnel assigned to clear hidden dangers were gathering.

There were more than ten teams in total, many of which had new recruits among their ranks.

Each team was marked by a wooden sign, numbered from 1 to 16, held up by a designated member.

Behind the number 3 sign, eight young soldiers stood in a loose formation. Some looked fatigued, others had hollow expressions.

Among them, three individuals stood out—Ou Li, Chen Qiaosheng, and the sullen Lin Yiyi, nicknamed Stutterer.

“Alright, quiet down.”

A tall, crew-cut man emerged from the tunnel entrance, clapping his hands loudly to get everyone’s attention.

“Each team, prepare yourselves. Once this exploration mission is over, head to the system registry to calculate your contribution points based on your performance.”

After giving these instructions, the man turned away without looking at anyone and left.

The remaining team leaders returned to their squads.

Xue Ningning, one arm wrapped in bandages and held in a sling across her chest, stepped in front of the number 3 sign.

She studied her team members, shaking her head helplessly.

Even though they had taken a relatively safe route, their cleanup mission had still encountered several dangerous situations.

At critical moments, the team’s coordination fell apart, forcing Xue Ningning to personally intervene. Using her Luminous Stone weapon, she had to fend off several attacking creatures, which left her injured. Two of her teammates had also been severely wounded and were now recovering, unable to continue.

They had almost failed the mission entirely. In the end, Xue Ningning had to push the entire squad forward at high speed just to barely complete it.

Now, reviewing the experience, she found herself deeply disappointed in Ou Li, Chen Qiaosheng, and Lin Yiyi.

They had contributed almost nothing.@@novelbin@@

She considered replacing them. But if she did, they would likely be expelled from the team altogether—and given their current situation, no other squad would accept them.

“Ningning, the news about your team has already spread. Are you planning to swap out members?” a female squad leader nearby asked quietly.

Ou Li was at least average, but Chen Qiaosheng was physically weak and practically useless beyond tagging along at the back. Lin Yiyi, on the other hand, was reckless—always charging forward without thinking. While she wasn’t afraid of pain or death, her impulsiveness had repeatedly disrupted Xue Ningning’s plans.

If she replaced them, Lin Yiyi and Chen Qiaosheng would be reassigned to much more dangerous squads.

Her squad, Team 3, was relatively safe thanks to her leadership. If those two were moved, their survival rate would plummet.

Xue Ningning sighed and shook her head.

“I’ll just recruit more members. I won’t replace them.”

At least keeping them here was better than sending them to their deaths elsewhere.

With their weaknesses, only Ou Li stood a chance of surviving in another team. The other two… wouldn’t last long.

As for Ou Li, Xue Ningning had already figured him out—selfish on the surface, but that was just a protective shell.

(End of Chapter)