A Night of Desperation

Early the next morning.

Yu Hong carried a large backpack as he left the cave and made a quick stop at the post office. He took the supplies Li Runshan had prepared for him—most importantly, a map—and then set off toward Lu long County.

“Safe travels.”

As he walked away, he heard Old Li’s farewell from behind. Turning back, he saw Li Runshan standing at the doorway, waving.

But soon, a thin gray-white mist rolled in, slowly engulfing Old Li, Aisena, and the entire run-down white stone post office.

Yu Hong exhaled, turned his head forward, and continued along the narrow footpath toward the main road.

Following the highway on the map would prevent him from losing his way.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

His boots crushed dry twigs and leaves beneath them, making sharp, conspicuous noises.

He walked through the gray fog, his visibility limited to about three meters. Beyond that, everything was a hazy blur.@@novelbin@@

Moving forward along the path, after about fifteen minutes, the forest finally parted ahead, revealing a 30-meter-wide, gray-white highway.

The road had some cracks and signs of subsidence but was largely intact. Several gray trees had fallen, blocking a good portion of the way.

Whoosh.

Yu Hong exhaled again, adjusted the straps of his heavy backpack, and carefully slid down the slope, landing on the slightly lower road surface.

Glancing around, he noted that the fog here was slightly thinner, improving visibility to about five or six meters.

Reaching into his coat, he took out a rune array and held it tightly in his hand before continuing left along the highway.

After walking for a few minutes, he spotted a large dark shadow ahead.

He did not stop but instead walked past it on the right side.

As he got closer, the mist thinned, revealing the dark shadow’s true form—a burnt-out, wrecked bus.

The bus was completely charred, its structure twisted and partially melted. The wheels had collapsed, making one side lower than the other, leaving behind only a hollow frame.

Yu Hong slowed down slightly to examine it, but then—

Beep. Beep.

A faint alarm sounded.

His expression darkened as he glanced at the reinforced Red Value Detector embedded in his collar.

The LCD screen displayed an alarming spike: 92.331.

Something’s inside the bus!

Yu Hong’s heart tensed. Staying alert, he quickened his pace, minimizing noise as he distanced himself.

Only after putting more than ten meters between himself and the bus did the detector’s red value rapidly drop, returning to a normal range of twenty to thirty. ᚱΑɴƟ𝐁Ęṩ

He exhaled softly, staying vigilant as he pressed on.

Continuing along the highway for about five more minutes, he finally spotted two intact, dark green military jeeps.

They sat silently by the roadside, showing signs of previous dismantling.

Why are there only two left?

Yu Hong frowned slightly, cautiously approaching the vehicles.

It was only when he got closer that he noticed the leading jeep had somehow flipped off the highway slope. Through the mist, he could vaguely make out signs of impact—its body was twisted and caved in, as if it had been crushed under an elephant’s foot.

His heart tensed. Ignoring the wrecked jeep, he focused on checking the two remaining ones.

After a quick assessment, he chose the foremost vehicle as his mode of transport.

Taking out the key, he unlocked the door and inspected the interior.

The jeep had three rows of seats, eight in total, with a rear compartment that could fit two or three more people.

Yu Hong examined the layout and determined the amount of space he would need. Satisfied, he reached for the middle row of seats.

Gripping them tightly, he gave them a forceful tug.

Snap.

With sheer strength, he tore the entire row of leather seats out.

Tossing them aside, he instantly gained much more space in the vehicle. Pleased, he climbed in, set his backpack down, and retrieved a solar-powered generator he had previously removed from this very jeep.

Holding the solar panel, he inspected it from all angles—only to realize…

He had no idea how to reinstall it.

After a moment of contemplation, he decided to leave the panel inside the car. Taking his pack, he stepped out, standing beside the vehicle.

Placing a hand on the jeep’s body, he muttered:

“Enhance vehicle. Direction:”

Yu Hong dared not request too many modifications—the longer the enhancement took, the more it would delay his departure.

He envisioned a simple, sealed vehicle with the solar generator installed and all gaps and openings completely closed.

No reinforced structure, no strengthened armor—just a fully enclosed space. This way, he could use his Luminous Stone Ink inside to draw rune patterns, creating a camouflaging effect similar to a Luminous Stone Blanket.

With his requirements set, the black markings on the back of his hand flickered and flowed into the vehicle.

Moments later, a system prompt sounded:

“Enhance vehicle?”

At the same time, a large red countdown timer appeared on the side of the jeep, facing Yu Hong.

Time: 32 minutes.

“Yes.”

Yu Hong glanced at the time and quickly responded.

Then, he sat back inside the vehicle, lying sideways on the rear seat, quietly waiting.

The rear seat was a bit firm and uncomfortable to lie on. It was also narrow, forcing him to barely manage a sideways position.

With his back pressed against the leather seat, Yu Hong gazed through the front windshield at the gray fog outside. For some reason, a faint sense of security crept over him.

Even though the car’s protection was far inferior to that of a safe house—or even the reinforced Gray Lizard gear he was wearing—being in this dense fog where nothing could be seen or heard, surrounded by lurking dangers and eerie presences, having a place to hide, no matter how flimsy, was reassuring. It could at least block his figure from view and prevent certain threats from detecting him.

This feeling brought a bit of peace to Yu Hong’s heart.

Lying on the seat, he stared out the front windshield. Just five meters ahead, the gray mist churned and rolled, like thick smoke from a fire, growing denser and denser.

A few minutes later, on the left side of the vehicle, near the center of the road, faint footsteps could be heard passing by.

A subtle sound, like a whisper near his ear, began to emerge around Yu Hong.

The sound was soft, like sleep-talking, but he couldn’t make out the words.

Yu Hong remained completely still inside the car, like a corpse, even slowing his breathing as much as possible.

From his vantage point, he could see through the left window—silhouettes of ragged figures slowly walking past the vehicle, moving along the road ahead.

They emitted unintelligible noises, speaking in an incomprehensible murmur. They didn’t seem to notice Yu Hong’s presence; they just walked straight ahead, step by step, gradually vanishing into the dense gray fog.

Yu Hong couldn’t see their faces. He could only make out their vague clothing, their skin—so indistinct that he couldn’t even tell if they were male or female. All he could discern was that they varied in height, some tall, some short, some old, some young.

‘What are these? Ghostly shadows?’ He watched them quietly as they disappeared into the fog.

‘If they are Ghostly shadows, why aren’t they speaking deceptive words meant to confuse me?’

‘Could it be that a true Ghostly shadow’s voice is always like this? Only when targeting a specific person does it shift into deceptive whispers?’

He didn’t know. There was no way to test it. At most, his thoughts were just speculation.

He had no idea how much time had passed—maybe ten minutes, maybe twenty.

Outside the car, the murmurs gradually faded, receding into the distance before disappearing completely.

Yu Hong still didn’t move. Dressed in his full set of reinforced Gray Lizard gear, he lay motionless on the leather seat, appearing no different from an unused suit of armor left in place.

The car windows were one-way; he could only see out from the inside.

Holding a charm slate in his hand, Yu Hong stared into the gray mist outside, quietly waiting for the black seal enhancement to finish.

Knock, knock, knock.

Suddenly, a finger rapped against the window.

“Is anyone there?”

A somewhat familiar voice called out.

“No one? Then we’ll just take this car and move it.” The voice continued.

“Pretty lucky—finding two Jeeps here.” Another voice spoke from a bit farther away.

“Yeah, with a car, our journey will be much faster.”

“Does the door open?”

This was followed by the sound of hands slapping against the car door.

“I’ve got a wire. Try it.”

“Alright.”

Then came the sound of metal scraping inside the lock.

Click.

The lock opened.

Yu Hong still didn’t move, remaining motionless on the leather seat.

He stared out the window—the gray fog still thick outside, not a single figure in sight.

The car’s lock had been opened, but there was no sign of the door being pulled. The voices from just moments ago had also vanished completely.

Everything fell into complete silence.

After waiting for another two minutes, Yu Hong slowly sat up.

“It’s time,” he muttered, as if speaking to himself.

Hiss!

In an instant, the entire interior of the vehicle blurred for a second, then returned to clarity.

Inside the Jeep, all the surfaces were now coated with a layer of transparent, hardened film.

It was as if someone had spread glue over everything—every gap and crack was completely sealed.

At the same time, the solar panels that had been on the floor of the car had disappeared. In the driver’s seat area, a control switch for deploying and retracting the solar panels had appeared.

Additionally, the torn seat from earlier was no longer damaged, replaced by a smooth and sturdy floor.

Yu Hong let out a breath of relief, quickly taking out a container of Great Luminous stone ink from his bag. Then, using a homemade branch pen, he began drawing a series of rune formations of varying sizes throughout the car’s interior.

After spending over an hour, he had covered every part of the vehicle with the protective range of these rune formations.

The entire car was now a temporary hidden space, similar to a Luminous Stone Mat.

Only after finishing this did Yu Hong move to the driver’s seat, peering through the rune-covered window ahead.

Clap.

He opened the solar panels and pressed the ignition switch.

Buzz.

A faint motor sound started up—much quieter than a gasoline engine.

Confirming that the vehicle was functioning properly, he quickly turned it off, pulled out a map, and placed his hand on it.

This was a hand-drawn map by Li Runshan. Since he had been to Lulong County before, he had sketched out this route map from memory.

But the map was too rough, so Yu Hong decided to refine it himself.

‘Enhance the map—objective: refinement and three-dimensional detailing.’

Black lines flowed from the back of his hand, merging into the map paper.

A feedback sound chimed, and a countdown timer appeared: 8 minutes.

Confirming that the enhancement had started, Yu Hong pressed the ignition switch again, stepped on the accelerator, turned the vehicle around, and slowly drove onto the highway.

Although the map was still enhancing, he had already memorized the general direction. The main route wouldn’t be wrong.

Buzz.

The olive-green Jeep moved slowly along the highway, passing through the mist.

The sound of its tires rolling over the pavement echoed faintly through the silent forested hills, a lonely whisper amidst the stillness.

It was as if this sound was the only one reverberating in the entire mountain forest.

‘86 kilometers. If all goes well, I should arrive in four hours.’

Yu Hong calculated in his mind. He didn’t dare to drive fast—he had to be ready for any road hazards or sudden attacks.

Though, in theory, daytime was the primary activity period for Ghostly shadows, after experiencing the attack of the Multi-Eyed Bird, he understood—

in an environment like this, encountering trouble at any time was hardly surprising.

(End of Chapter)