Night of Despair

Chapter 118: Intermittent Room 2

In the blink of an eye, two weeks had passed.

At the port of Baihe City, cargo ships were slowly leaving, moving towards the distant sea.

The ships were loaded with supplies and were also filled with evacuees leaving together.

The population of the entire Baihe City was rapidly declining, departing.

Everyone was trying to reach the new Aurora City, which was safer and had more abundant resources than here.

To cover for the evacuation of the city’s population, the elite teams of the joint military were being dispatched to assist regular military squads in dealing with nearby dangers.

...

In the suburbs, outside the walls of an abandoned industrial park.

A fully armed team, carrying various firearms, knives, and explosion-proof shields, stood quietly at the entrance, checking all the equipment on them.

“The assignment of this mission came from above, and all the enhanced teams will be involved, there’s no dodging it,” the leader, Xue Ningning, said helplessly.

All teams had areas assigned, and even with her connections, she couldn’t avoid it now, as this was an order directly issued by the supreme commander.

“It’s really unavoidable this time, Team Ning. From what I’ve heard, over a dozen of the regular teams are already missing, and the spread of Language Person infections has become difficult to guard against,” a middle-aged male teammate sighed.

“We are just buying time for the main force to retreat,” another person sneered. “Nothing but a more sophisticated pawn.”

“You don’t have to do it,” someone said.

“I fucking never wanted to do this. The people in our team, what are they even? Team Ning, I told you before not to be soft-hearted when bringing people on board. You wouldn’t listen, and now look, the mission is upon us. With just these few of us that are actually useful, what are we supposed to do?”

A young man with a buzz cut and a robust build spoke irritably.

“Tang Xing, you five come with me; the rest stay outside,” Xue Ningning said reluctantly.

This encounter might bring an attack from a Language Person, and absolutely no one could be a drag on the team, as a slight inattention could lead to annihilation.

The five people she named all wore dissatisfied expressions but had no choice; they were aware of the trouble with Language Persons.

Among the remaining outside, there were Ou Li, Lin Yiyi, and Chen Qiaosheng.

The three of them looked different as they watched Xue Ningning lead the people into the park.

“Captain, could it be… dangerous?” Lin Yiyi said with a worried expression.

“Do you really need to ask such stupid questions?” Ou Li said coldly, “Could you try asking fewer idiotic things from now on?”

“Hasn’t Team Ning been taking care of us all this time? Can’t we do something?” Chen Qiaosheng sighed.

“You’re given a chance to slack off and you’re still not happy?” Ou Li raised an eyebrow.

Although these were true words, neither Chen Qiaosheng nor Lin Yiyi’s expressions showed any joy or relief.

“Where are the Silent Forces? Why isn’t anyone around?” Ou Li asked. “While we might be enhanced, we’re all just ordinary people with much poorer training. Isn’t this exactly when they should be put to use against Language Persons?”

“….” No one around responded. Many of them thought the same.

A group of people silently waited, listening for any noises coming from the park.

The fog around them gradually thickened, making it hard to see even the faces of those just four or five meters away.

Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Xue Ningning and her group still hadn’t come out.

Among the few team members left behind, a girl with a ponytail picked up a communicator, gently opened it, and typed in the code.

This was their agreed-upon method of contact to counter the Language Persons.

Tap tap tap, as the tapping sound was emitted, there was no response from the other side of the communicator.

Their expressions changed slightly, feeling that something was amiss.

Bang.

Just then, a harsh gunshot came from inside the park.

Followed by a burst of red fire, which erupted from the location of a factory in the park.

“It’s where Team Ning went!” Chen Qiaosheng couldn’t help but lower his voice, tense.

Hiss.

Finally, there was a noise from the communicator.

“Don’t speak. Come… a few people to support us,” Xue Ningning’s voice came through, carrying traces of weakness, fatigue, and pain.

Clearly, she was in trouble.

Hearing Xue Ningning’s voice, the six people left behind all changed expressions.

It hadn’t been long since they entered, and even the strong Team Ning was injured and needed support… It was obvious how dangerous it was inside the park.

Now everyone hesitated, fearing that entering themselves might also lead to significant danger.

Weren’t they part of the elite squads to secure easier jobs and enhance their safety by avoiding danger?

But now…

The ponytailed girl with the communicator fell silent and bit her lip; she gently placed the communicator on the ground and stepped back two steps.

No one stepped forward to pick it up.

Bang bang bang!

Suddenly, more gunshots came from the communicator, followed by Xue Ningning’s pained moans, then a snap, and the sound cut off. The communicator seemed to be broken.

“… ” The ponytailed female team member looked at the others; she was trying to find reasons to leave quickly.

“Ou Li… I helped, you wash, clothes, for two months, we are, friends, right?” Lin Yiyi suddenly spoke up, stuttering, to her companion.

“I guess, why?” Ou Li whispered back impatiently, also looking for a chance to leave.

“If we’re friends, then, follow me.”

Snap.

Suddenly, Lin Yiyi grabbed Ou Li’s arm before she could react.

With a burst of energy, she dashed forward, picking up the communicator and dragging her unsuspecting friend through the large iron gates of the park.

“The communicator, I, don’t know how, count on you…”

“Ahhhh!!”

As Lin Yiyi’s words and Ou Li’s screams echoed out, the two disappeared into the fog, vanishing into the vast park, entirely out of sight.

*

*

*

Splash.

A large basin of rocks was dumped by Yu Hong by the courtyard wall, he shook the ash from the bucket and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

He turned around. The large luminous stone in the courtyard had now been all ground into powder, waiting for the Black Mark strengthening to end, to then be strengthened into Large Pyroxene Stone powder.

Thud, thud.

Just as he was preparing to head back and continue, a gentle knocking sound came from beyond the wall.

Yu Hong turned his head, looking towards the direction of the noise.

A set of car keys flew over the wall, landing accurately in front of him.

Picking up the keys, a hint of relief appeared on Yu Hong’s face.

“Back already? Old Li.”

Indeed, a familiar figure stood outside the wall.

The person wore a black and green camouflage suit, his body loaded with various disarranged equipments, including guns, shields, knives, and even two fabric bags from a grocery store printed with the words “Xu’s Lobsters.”

Li Rushan still looked the same, lifting his goggles to look at Yu Hong, all smiles.

“Mission accomplished, got the cultures and even the breeding instructions!”

But his smile quickly faded, replaced with seriousness and coldness.

“But there’s bad news, I heard from survivors I met on the way that the nearby prefecture-level cities are evacuating. The entire Donghe will focus on building a new Aurora City, everyone will be migrating there.”

“Migrating? New Aurora City?” Yu Hong first thought of the stutterer Lin Yiyi. “What about the other prefecture-level cities like Hope City? Just abandoning them?”

“The day has shortened by another two hours, now almost most of it is nighttime, and the day is full of mist, insufficient sunlight, solar energy cannot continue.” Li Rushan responded. “Plus, with the frontline collapsing and the influx of high-risk Black Disasters… I’m afraid the prefecture-level city Hope City will also be abandoned.”

“…Then after, the supply team…” Yu Hong fell silent for a moment and asked.

“Gone. With prefecture-level city Hope City abandoned, we can hardly expect anything. But the number of migrants is limited, not everyone can be moved, at least a third will be left behind, left to fend for themselves. We can make contact with these people from now onward,” replied Li Rushan.

After explaining these details, he turned around and headed back towards the post office.

“From now on, we can only rely on ourselves.” He waved his hand and vanished into the mist without turning back.

Yu Hong clenched the keys, watching him leave.

Turning around, he entered the safehouse, went downstairs, and looked at the countdown timer on the wall: 9 days, 11 hours, 24 minutes.

‘Soon… soon…’

He exhaled, filled with anticipation, and was planning to go upstairs to stoke the fire, raise the room temperature, and rest properly.

Suddenly, a hint of unease flashed through his mind.

He replayed Li Rushan’s expressions, gestures, and the look in his eyes as he spoke. Something about the whole scene seemed off.

Standing straight, Yu Hong slowly returned to the first floor, found a stool to sit on, and repeatedly recalled the recent scene.

At the same time, he took out an enhanced Red Value detector to measure the surrounding environmental values, and his own body values.

‘0.124.’ Inside the Pyroxene Secret Room built safehouse, the Red Value was close to zero, quite safe.

‘Could it be my imagination?’

He furrowed his brow slightly.

*

*

*

In the hazy fog.

Li Rushan carrying the fungal packs entered the yard, used the keys to open the stone house door.

Despite the battered door having been destroyed several times, he still relied on his skills to properly reinstall and repair it.

“Hey, Nana, I’m back,” he raised his voice as he entered.

Inside the house, he closed the wooden door behind him.

Li Rushan looked at the empty stone house, knowing they were all underground, thus he put down the fungal packs, removed his somewhat cracked helmet, and turned towards the living room.

That was where the entrance to the underground bunker was.

But, having only walked a few steps, he frowned, his smile fading quickly, his footsteps slowing down, becoming quieter.

Snap.

He suddenly paused, turning to look behind him.

The empty corridor of the stone house was pale white, only two colorful paintings drawn by Aisena were attached to the wall.

Li Rushan carefully surveyed the corridor, inspecting every inch.

But nothing was found.

He trusted his intuition because just now, he had sensed someone behind him.

Someone was standing about five or six meters away, staring at him.

‘Could it be the shadow?’ He carefully checked the talisman array plaques on the wall, each plaque swapped from Yu Hong’s place. These plaques evenly covered the interior walls of the stone house, covering most areas. If a shadow wanted to enter, it would definitely touch the plaques and trigger a reaction.

However, he checked all the plaques on the wall, and none showed any movement.

The plaques were intact, still adhering to the wall.

“Damn!” Li Rushan felt something was wrong.

He took out the Red Value detector, pressed the switch, and the determined value was normal, showing 11.

Clearly, the symbols on the surrounding plaques were offsetting some of the external Red Value radiation.

Holding the detector, he somewhat relaxed, pressed the close button. @@novelbin@@

Suddenly, in the polished panel of the detector, he saw a reflection.

In the reflection, behind him, not far away, seemed to be a vague white figure.

The gender of the figure indiscernible, but he could faintly feel that the person was smiling.

A radiant smile.

Smiling at Li Rushan, happily in the reflection of the detector.

Swoosh.

Li Rushan abruptly turned around, but there was nothing behind him.

But at this moment, he knew something was definitively wrong!

‘I must not stay here, I must not involve Nana!’ His heart raced, he made a quick decision, grabbed his equipment, opened the door, and rushed out of the stone house, quickly vanishing into the fog.