Night of Despair

Chapter 101: Reception 1

“Roar!!!”

Just as Yu Hong was entangled with the second Multi-eyed Bird, the first one burst out from the darkness with a strange cry, shooting towards Yu Hong like a cannonball.

It had recovered most of its injuries, which didn’t affect its mobility at all, bursting forth with extreme speed.

The full force of its body was concentrated on its sharp, spiky beak, and this sudden burst caught Yu Hong off guard, hitting its mark. The beak stabbed into his shoulder blade, bending the metal plate, and with a massive force, it struck Yu Hong’s shoulder bone.

Boom!!

Yu Hong was sent flying backward, both man and bird tumbling back into the cave, smashing two solar-powered engines and a wooden frame storing firearms along the way.

...

Fragments of the solar panels and wooden frame scattered everywhere, littering the ground.

It looked like they were continuing towards the area where the talisman array was placed. Those talismans couldn’t withstand much pressure, and a slightly larger force would completely destroy them, among them two silver talismans. @@novelbin@@

Yu Hong couldn’t take it anymore.

“Get lost!!!”

His body bulging with blue veins, he angrily grabbed the bird’s beak bare-handed, his legs scorching marks into the ground, mustering all his strength, Inner Qi exploding as he sprinted forward.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!!!

Like a heavy rhino, his steps were heavy as he roared, lowering his head to wrap his arms around the monster bird, bursting out of the cave with a fierce leap.

Downward he smashed.

Boom!!!

The ground cracked open, dirt spraying everywhere, the monster bird’s chest cavity crushed by the tremendous force along with the Wolf Fang Club.

But it was still struggling, its flesh and wounds rapidly healing under the moonlight, recovering.

“I don’t fucking believe you can’t be killed!” Overcome by rage, Yu Hong grabbed the bird by its neck with one hand, hoisted it up, and smashed it into the mountain wall.

Boom!

Rocks exploded, and the mountain wall caved in.

But that was not all, as Yu Hong grabbed the monster bird and furiously hammered it against the mountain wall.

Amid the successive booms, the monster bird continued to heal. Furthermore, the other bird, also ignoring its healing wounds, let out strange cries in the distance and crazily flew towards Yu Hong, smashing into his back.

But Yu Hong didn’t care, allowing the other bird to attack while he violently smashed one with his hands.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!!

He didn’t know how many times he struck until he could no longer hold any complete chunks of flesh or feathers in his hands. He stopped, panting like a bull.

Turning around, he grabbed the second monster bird charging at him, but this time, the bird screeched and veered upward, avoiding capture and then flew off, not looking back, heading towards the distant sky.

Thump, thump, thump…!

Yu Hong raised his gun and fired continuously, emptying the clip.

By a stroke of luck, one bullet hit the bird’s wing, causing it to veer sideways and crash down into the nearby woods.

“Still want to run!” Yu Hong, frenzied, pounced on the monster bird and soon plunged into the woods, hands clutching the bird’s body, raising it high.

Hiss!!

The monster bird split open right through the middle of its belly, torn in two by brute force, a rain of blood and feathers scattering all over the ground.

Ahh!!!

Yu Hong roared to the sky, his blood boiling hot and fast, his longtime fear and repression turning into furious rage at this moment, edging him into a fury.

He seized the bird’s body and smashed it wildly against the ground, not knowing for how long, until the ground was indistinguishable with blood and flesh and all that was left in his hands were two mangled chunks of meat.

Finally, everything quieted down.

Yu Hong sat heavily, panting with thick breaths, covered in sweat like rain, his body temperature scalding, his heartbeat thumping wildly like battle drums.

Under the moonlight, he tossed the two pieces of meat aside, spitting out the blood and saliva in his mouth.

“It’s over,” he said, turning towards the courtyard to return. From a distance, he saw the disorder in the yard, but fortunately, the luminous stones hadn’t been damaged. The recent fight had taken him and the Multi-eyed Birds straight out of the yard, covering an even larger range than last time, thus the damage was minimal.

The yard was empty, no one in sight; clearly, the mother and daughter had wisely hidden in the small cave ahead of time and didn’t dare to come out.

Yu Hong felt somewhat comforted that at least they had strong self-preservation instincts; he didn’t have to worry every second.

It was only after killing the two Multi-eyed Birds that he felt a burning pain spread across his body.

His back had just taken the brunt of one bird’s attack, and due to the hormone secretion that had numbed his body’s sensations, he hadn’t felt pain at that moment. Now that he had calmed down and relaxed, the pain surged up, becoming much clearer.

‘My back must be bleeding… I’m not sure about bone injuries. My left wrist is a bit sprained, probably from overexertion when I was wildly smashing the bird’s neck.’ Overexertion was a sign of his own strength injuring him, indicative of excessive emotional agitation and a lack of self-control, prompting introspection in Yu Hong.

‘I can’t do this again… I lose my reason too easily when I fight. It’s too dangerous.’

He felt around his body for other injuries; there weren’t any external wounds, but all his Inner Qi was spent, and many muscles in his upper body were sorely strained.

What troubled him most was the reinforced polar bear suit. Back in the cave, sitting against the battered gate, Yu Hong realized that the suit had suffered damages in many places, with huge gaping tears and was almost completely destroyed.

‘It’s no longer usable… Thank goodness those birds died first, otherwise a bit more fighting and the suit falling apart might have been my undoing.’

Yu Hong felt relieved.

Looking at the dense array of damage across the suit, he knew how many fatal blows it had absorbed for him.

After removing the polar bear suit, he quickly medicated and disinfected himself, then took an anti-inflammatory drug as a precaution.

He then put on the reinforced gray lizard suit, to make do for the time being.

This reinforced gray lizard suit could only protect against handgun bullets; it would offer little defense against rifle or sniper fire, or attacks from monsters like the Multi-eyed Bird with immense strength.

It was a far cry from the reinforced polar bear suit.

But at times like this, having something was better than nothing.

Yu Hong changed into the suit, then pressed his hand on the damaged door, activating its automatic repair.

He confirmed that the countdown was set for three hours later, and leaned against the fireplace, planning to rest well and wait until it was safe at daybreak.

This time, he had suffered substantial losses, but he had confirmed just how strong the Multi-eyed Bird’s combat power was. Even going all out, he could only kill two of the creatures. This filled Yu Hong’s heart with renewed concern for the future.

‘The monsters outside are endless, impossible to exterminate. If I want to live a stable and safe life, I must think of ways to evade and hide my presence, so the monsters can’t find me… Otherwise, if I keep fighting head-on, I won’t be able to handle so many attacks.’

Yu Hong’s mind flickered with thoughts, pondering how to conceal his presence…

His train of thought shifted quickly amongst things he knew, flitting from one to another.

‘Wait…. To know how to hide myself, I first need to know, what do the Blood Tide Monsters and Evil Shadow rely on to detect me? What are their scouting methods?’

He recalled past encounters and realized that while the Evil Shadow had a very clear means of spreading, the mechanisms behind the Ghostly Shadows and the Blood Tide Monsters remained a mystery.

‘It’s too slow to experiment on my own in the short term. It would be best to find some data or researchers in this field to get their experimental results quickly; it would save a lot of time.’

The thought flashed through Yu Hong’s mind.

As he mulled this over, sleepiness gradually overtook him. Coupled with the fatigue and pain on his body, he soon rested quietly by the fireplace.

Now, his enhanced handgun was empty, the polar bear suit was broken, and there was no longer a barrier at the door.

Additionally, his arms were weak, his stamina nearly drained, his Inner Qi used up and waiting to recover. His wrist was twisted, and there was a stabbing pain in his back; he might have even cracked a bone.

This was the first time Yu Hong had sustained such serious injuries.

After sitting on the ground and resting for a while, he looked up and took a deep breath. He casually picked up the metal basin used for heating water and opened his helmet to take a drink.

Suddenly, a glint of light flashed across the edge of the silver metal basin.

Plop.

Out of nowhere, an object like a black stone was thrown into the cave through the broken doorway.

The object bounced and rolled on the ground a few times, hitting a piece of wooden frame debris and coming to a stop.

Yu Hong blinked, sensing something was off, and swiftly grabbed the object to hurl it outside.

Poof!

Just as he threw it, the object exploded mid-air, a blinding white light covering the entire courtyard, illuminating everything around as if it were daylight.

It was a flashbang grenade!

Fortunately, Yu Hong had closed his eyes in time, turned his head, and dropped to the ground.

He had never encountered this object, fearing it was a grenade, so he mimicked the actions from movies and dramas, immediately turning to throw himself down, head first to the ground.

When the sound subsided, he flipped to his feet just in time to see three black figures over the courtyard wall, moving swiftly toward him with great speed.

Bang!!

A gunshot rang out, with a burst of flame exploding by Yu Hong’s right knee.

His knee buckled, and the force of the impact pushed him back a step.

‘Not a handgun! Who are these people!?’

A sense of dread washed over Yu Hong, knowing this was bad timing—he was at his most vulnerable. One hand was injured and lacked strength, his back was in agony, he was exhausted, his stamina severely depleted, and his Inner Qi had been expended in the burst.

Being attacked at such a time, especially by a marksman with a rifle, the situation looked grim…

As this thought flashed through his mind, he instantly thought of a strategy.

He couldn’t stay still.

With a marksman threatening him, he had to keep moving. It was night, and as long as he moved quickly enough, he refused to believe his pursuer could still shoot accurately and land a perfect shot.

Looking at the three figures charging toward him, these three men were robust and tall, around one meter eighty or ninety, with firm and powerful movements and a subtle sense of coordinated rhythm.

Yu Hong tossed aside the Wolf Fang Club to reduce weight and rolled to the side with a sprinter’s pace.

With a whoosh, he leaped out of the cave and landed on the grass at the right side of the yard, entering a shadowy area lit only by moonlight.

From the moment of the attack to Yu Hong’s reaction and leaping out of the safety of the shelter, it took only one second.

He didn’t give the hidden gunman a second chance to shoot.

He plunged into darkness, where only the dim moonlight was visible.

Yu Hong got up and confronted the three men chasing after him.

The first man lifted his leg for a straight kick, aiming for Yu Hong’s chest.

Just as Yu Hong had risen to his feet, without time to react, he took the kick squarely on the chest.

Thud.

The man’s right leg struck Yu Hong’s torso forcefully, the potent impact smoothly transferring from his abdomen, slamming hard into Yu Hong.

Particles of dust under the force of the kick slightly burst open and spread, illuminated by the moonlight, resembling a white disc.

“Is it you!?” Now, at close quarters and aided by the moonlight, the man’s face was exposed in the dim light.

It was Ge Shenghao, the same man who had visited once before, and also the leader from another team.

This guy was a former elite postal worker, with strength nearly on par with Li Rushan.