A Night of Desperation

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Urgent knocking pounded against the door.

Yu Hong was in the basement, organizing supplies, when the relentless knocking on the safehouse door startled him.

He quickly ascended to the ground floor and peered through the peephole after sliding back the wooden cover.

Outside, Li Runshan stood at the door, knocking impatiently.

Yu Hong approached but didn’t open the door immediately.

Instead, he knocked back lightly in a predetermined pattern—a reminder.

Without hesitation, Li Runshan adjusted his knocking to the agreed-upon 1-3-1 rhythm.

Confirming it was correct, Yu Hong let out a breath of relief.

“What’s wrong, Old Li?”

He checked the silver rune array behind the door—no reaction.

Reassured, he opened the door and let Li Runshan inside.

“I’m in trouble!” Li Runshan rushed in, his face grim.

Strangely, the moment the cave safehouse door shut behind him, the chilling, indescribable weight pressing on his back abruptly vanished—like shedding a heavy burden.

Huff… Huff…

Breathing heavily, Li Runshan wiped the sweat from his forehead. Running all the way from the post office stone house in a state of high alert had drenched him in sweat.

“Can I stay here for a while? I might have brought trouble with me. I don’t want Nana to be affected.”

“You’re worried about Nana but not about me?” Yu Hong was speechless. But seeing the pleading look in his friend’s eyes, he relented. Their relationship was decent, after all.

“You can stay, but this place is still under renovation. You’ll have to stay in the outer wooden cabin. Don’t worry, I have special protective measures—it’s safe even though it’s just a wooden hut.”

“The one in the yard?” Li Runshan nodded, understanding. “Fine. Also, give me more rune array. I have a really bad feeling.”

“What exactly did you run into?” Yu Hong narrowed his eyes and picked up a reinforced red-value detector, pressing the power button as he brought it close to Li Runshan.

Beep. Beep.

The detector stabilized at 52.221.

Seeing the number, Yu Hong’s expression grew serious.

“Looks like something really has locked onto you.”

Li Runshan was taken aback. He had just tested himself earlier—his readings had been normal. Why was Yu Hong’s detector showing something completely different?

He glanced at Yu Hong’s device. It seemed different from his own.

“Drink some water first, then tell me everything in detail.” Yu Hong poured him a cup, and the two sat down.

“I feel like… something is following me. No matter what I do, I can’t shake it off.” Even sitting inside the cave safehouse, Li Runshan kept glancing over his shoulder, as if something was still clinging to him.

“Following you? Whisperer? A Evil Shadow? Or a Blood Tide creature? When did this start?” Yu Hong asked quickly.

“When I was heading back just now. Actually, when I went to pick up the spore package, I felt something behind me when passing through the main hall. But I thought it was just my imagination and ignored it.” Li Runshan raked his fingers through his hair, clearly shaken.

“Usually, as long as I enter a rune-protected area, the feeling disappears. But this time, even inside my stone house, I still felt uneasy. You know my situation—if it were a regular Whisperer, I wouldn’t be feeling like this. This thing… it’s definitely a Evil Shadow. And likely one we’ve never encountered before.”

Yu Hong picked up a pen and paper and started jotting down notes.

1—Followed from behind but did not attack immediately.

2—Entity appears as a blurry white figure with a smiling face, unclear features.

3—…

He paused, then handed the paper to Li Runshan.

“Anything to add?”

“The icy sensation on my back—does that count?”

“Yes. You should stay put for now. I’ll go find Zhou Xueguang for information and check out the post office.” Yu Hong swiftly recorded the detail, speaking with a serious expression.

Li Runshan was one of the few local food producers. If he could help, he would.

In the past, Yu Hong wouldn’t have cared about getting involved. But after his recent outing, his fear and hesitation toward the Black Disaster had significantly diminished.

He had also gained a clearer understanding of his own strength in this world.

After all, he had managed to pummel an enhanced soldier, Little Du, to death.

“This trip made me realize something. We can’t always be passive, waiting for these things to fully prepare before attacking us,” Yu Hong said firmly. “We need to disrupt them first. Gather intel, weaken them however we can. That’s our best chance at survival.”

Li Runshan blinked, surprised—as if seeing him in a new light.

“You’re right… But how do we disrupt them when we don’t even know what they are? If I were at the post office, I could use the comms to ask the higher-ups, but now I don’t dare go back.”

He exhaled heavily.

“This time, I have to rely on you. I think the thing following me might be just as dangerous as the Whisperer.”

“Got it. Anything else?” Yu Hong handed him the pen.

“One more thing—whenever that thing appears, my back turns cold. Not just mentally, but physically. My body temperature drops, and my movements slow down.” Li Runshan quickly wrote this down.

“That’s important.”

“That’s all.”

“Alright, let’s get you settled in the wooden cabin.” Yu Hong got up, grabbed a stack of rune arrays, then thought for a moment and added a silver rune array before handing them over.

“Take these.”

Li Runshan examined the silver rune array—it was the first time he had seen one.

“This an advanced version?”

“Yeah. One of these is worth ten regular ones.” Yu Hong exaggerated slightly, but it wasn’t far from the truth.

“Damn, this is good stuff.” Li Runshan smirked, looking a little more at ease.

“Let’s go. There are too many secrets here—I’m not showing you.” Yu Hong was blunt.

“Man, you don’t have to say it like that. That kinda hurts.” Li Runshan chuckled, finally relaxing a little.

“My greatest virtue is honesty.”

Creak.

The wooden door swung open.

The two walked out, one after the other.

Yu Hong led him to the wooden cabin, placed a reinforced red-value detector on the wooden bed, and said, “This one’s modified for high precision. If anything feels off, use it immediately.”

“Alright. Thanks.” Li Runshan nodded, hesitated, then added, “Your last batch of Sunlight Materials should be arriving through the postal channels soon. I’ll give you a discount.”

He knew how rare genuine help was in a place like this. He owed Yu Hong now—twice.

“No more postal shipments after this?” Yu Hong paused.

“Nope. From now on, we’re on our own. I’ll try to contact the remaining survivors in Baihe City, but don’t get your hopes up—their supplies are nowhere near what we used to have.” Li Runshan sighed.

Yu Hong said no more. He locked the door, took his notes, grabbed two more silver rune arrays, a stack of regular ones, and put on his reinforced White Bear suit before heading toward the post office.

He kept an eye on his detector along the way.

31.224.

31.532.

The ambient red value had risen to 31 and completely stabilized.

Hoo.

As he walked, Yu Hong let out a breath and glanced around the surrounding forest.

In the gray, misty air, the outlines of trees could only be faintly seen five or six meters away.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

His boots crushed the fallen leaves on the ground, producing a rhythmic, crisp sound.

As he traveled, Yu Hong occasionally picked up his detector to check the changing values.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Pa.

Suddenly, his steps came to a halt.

Swish! He abruptly turned around and looked behind him.

The gray, foggy forest behind him was eerily silent, shadowy, and cold.

Just now… something was following me. Yu Hong recalled the moment in his mind. Amidst his own footsteps, he had suddenly heard an extra sound of leaves being crushed.

An ordinary person might not have noticed this, but with his heightened senses and constant vigilance, he picked up on it instantly.

Confirming that there was nothing behind him and no one following, Yu Hong turned back and continued forward.

This time, he quickened his pace, gripping the silver talisman board tightly in his hand, ready to act at any moment.

Fortunately, the rest of his journey was uneventful, and he arrived safely at the post office.

The stone house of the post office was completely empty, its door tightly shut.

Yu Hong glanced around the courtyard, then stepped in and inspected the house’s perimeter. After ensuring there were no issues, he finally walked up to the main door.

He reached into his pocket, took out the key Li Runshan had given him, and carefully inserted it into the lock, turning it.

Click.

The door unlocked.

But Yu Hong froze in place.

Because at the very moment he made the unlocking sound, he heard an extremely faint footstep behind him.

It was the sound of something akin to high heels clicking against the wooden steps in front of the stone house.

Subtle and brief.

Yu Hong maintained his posture, still holding the key as if about to open the door.

From the corner of his eye, he cautiously glanced at one of the side windows of the stone house.

The window was boarded up with thick planks, but some broken glass shards still remained on the outer frame.

Through one of these triangular fragments of glass, he vaguely caught a reflection of the scene behind him.

In that small piece of glass, a blurred white figure with long, disheveled black hair was standing just two meters behind him—smiling silently.

Yu Hong’s body stiffened.

He didn’t continue to open the door. Instead, he slowly withdrew the key and slipped it back into his pocket.

Then—

“SMILE AT YOUR MOM!!”

Swish!

In an instant, he spun around and lunged forward, pulling out a silver rune array and swinging it with force.

At the same time, he also swung the red value detector along with it.

Boom!!

His arm tensed, and his thick forearm, like an iron hammer, smashed heavily into the wooden steps.

Crack! A deep crack spread through the wood upon impact.

(End of Chapter)