Night of Despair

Chapter 138: Information 136
 

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

The huge, black elephant worm closely passed by, steadfastly heading in an unknown direction.

Amid this exaggerated black tide, Yu Hong could still sense the presence of the Black Lizard.

The Black Lizard was still on the road between the post office and the cave, unseen, occasionally opening its mouth to stealthily consume a few black worms.

Witnessing this exaggerated scene outside, an inexplicable unease surged in Yu Hong’s heart.

“No, I’m not yet completely safe. If these elephant worms recklessly charge into the yard and attack the safe house, how many could I handle now? Not to mention there are stronger foes like the Evil Shadows and War Level Black Disasters… I’m still very weak, very weak…”

“Without knowing the upper limit of the Black Disaster, I’ll use the Black Mark to reach the furthest limit I can manage for now!”

Yu Hong’s false sense of security was instantly shattered.

He had only begun utilizing the aversion of the Black Disaster, establishing a simple micro-refuge. It was still far too early to feel at ease.

Standing at the doorway, regaining his senses, Yu Hong saw Aisena opening the window of a wooden house, staring blankly at the flowing black worms outside, seemingly lost in thought.

Beside her, Li Rushan was sleeping deeply, his belly swollen.

When Aisena noticed Yu Hong watching her, she turned her head and sweetly smiled at him. The flesh on the little girl’s face appeared slightly less than before, gradually revealing a semblance of her mother’s large eyes and high nose.

“Go to sleep,” Yu Hong said.

The little one nodded, closed the window, and quietly leaned against her father as she lay down.

She was always strong, never crying, always quiet. It seemed she knew how much hardship and cost her father endured to treat her illness. So, she tried her best to take care of herself and not cause her father trouble.

Seeing the little one asleep, Yu Hong also drew the shutters and returned to his wooden bed, lying on his back.

The night passed without a word.

The next morning dawned early.

Everyone in the yard came out to see off those leaving.

Yu Hong handed a large backpack and the car keys to Old Li.

“The solar panel on the car wasn’t removed last time; I hope it’s still there. With such a long distance, you’ll definitely need to recharge, so keep an eye on the battery levels yourself.

And the Radiation Hand Grenades, talisman boards, they’re all here.” He handed over the second tactical waist pack, containing the critical items required for this trip.

“Wait for good news, boss,” Li Rushan offered an easy smile. “I used to be an old postal carrier; this short trip isn’t far. Remember to use the solar materials, don’t forget, boss.”

“I know, don’t worry,” Yu Hong nodded. There’s a lot that needs enhancing with the Black Mark; he would have to wait until after his Internal Cultivation Methods session.

“I’ve packed enough food and water for a month; there will be absolutely no problem,” Li Rushan patted his backpack, which was filled with nutritious paste and plain boiled water provided by Yu Hong.

“Be careful on your journey,” Yu Hong said earnestly.

“Remember to find me a pair of shoes along the way; there are plenty of shoe stores in the city. I have no shoes to wear,” Zhou Xueguang reminded him.

“Don’t worry, got it,” Li Rushan laughed, face relaxed. “I’m off!” He stepped over the courtyard wall exit, opened the Enhanced Red Value Detector strapped to his waist, and waved back at the three of them.

“Nana, remember to listen to Uncle Zhou, and do things like washing up yourself; don’t be lazy.”

“I know,” Aisena nodded, a flicker of worry passing through her eyes.

As Li Rushan slowly vanished into the morning mist, she felt a vague emptiness in her heart.

“Well, since we’re free, Nana, come and revise your lessons with me. In this environment, your Uncle Zhou here was in an accelerated program. Basic Chinese, math, physics, and chemistry—I can teach them all,” Zhou Xueguang clearly had already planned something to do.

Upon hearing this, Aisena’s previously empty feeling suddenly disappeared, and her expressionless little face seemed to turn even paler.

“I think drawing will be fine…”

“Can drawing fill your stomach? Come on, since your dad’s gone, I’m temporarily your dad, and damn, I’ve always wanted a daughter. This is the perfect opportunity to try out the preschool materials I prepared in advance.” Happiness spread across Zhou Xueguang’s face.

“Uncle Zhou, what about your family?” Aisena sharply asked.

“Ah… they disappeared. Once I’m healed, I might plan to go look for them too,” Zhou Xueguang’s smile momentarily paused, then he continued. “Alright, let’s start with literacy.”

The large and the small waved at Yu Hong and entered the wooden house to begin the charcoal pencil Chinese lesson.

Yu Hong was at a loss for words; clearly, this was Old Zhou’s way to temporarily divert Aisena’s worries.

Shaking his head, he turned back and entered the cave to start his routine practice.

Not long after Old Li’s departure, the days passed one by one.

Every morning, Old Zhou earnestly taught Aisena basic preschool knowledge, then took her to exercise after meals, followed by managing the cultivation box—hydrating, feeding, cleaning waste and debris, changing soil, and checking temperatures.

Though only one of his arms was functional, Old Zhou was diligently and earnestly performing all tasks within his capability.

Yu Hong, when not practicing the Thunderbolt Leg Technique, would go out to build and expand a second courtyard. To facilitate cultivation, he also started chiseling a new cave from another part of the mountain wall.

The chosen spot was precisely the sleeping hole that he had previously drilled for Qiu Yanxi and her daughter, simply continuing the expansion from there.

In just two days, he managed to excavate a new large cave over five meters long and nearly ten meters deep. The interior wall was even painted with a vortex talisman array. This type of talisman array could absorb radiation, reducing air radiation concentration, and combined with the luminous stone talisman plate, it produced an even better concealed effect for the Pyroxene Secret Room.

The breeding boxes were placed one by one, arranged in two rows. A special breeding room was thereby constructed.

In the blink of an eye, two more days had passed.

Inside the cave, Yu Hong focused intently at the side of a wooden table, eyes fixed unwaveringly on the black lizard egg.

The hatching time had arrived. This was the estimated time given by the Black Mark for the egg to hatch, the confirmed time of emergence.

Crack.

The surface of the grayish-white black lizard egg suddenly split open with a crack.

Immediately after, spiderweb-like fine cracks swiftly spread across the entire egg from the fissure.

With a pop, a curled-up black lizard suddenly stretched its insect wings and arched out from the crack in the eggshell.

It was covered in a layer of viscous transparent liquid and soon wriggled out onto the table, stretching its body, vibrating its back wings a few times, then turning around to start nibbling on the eggshell.

In just a few minutes, the entire eggshell was eaten up. Inside Yu Hong’s second inner marking, another vague sensing point appeared.

The first black lizard and this one, two points in total, floated clearly inside the second marking, readily available for him to share in the sensory imagery.

“Go. Find food on your own,” Yu Hong commanded in his mind.

Black Lizard Number Two paused momentarily, then vibrated its insect wings and easily flew out, landing on the ground and rapidly crawling towards the door.

Yu Hong hurried over to open a crack in the door, letting it squeeze out, before closing it again.

Watching Black Lizard Number Two rush into the yard, silently climbing the garden wall, with a gentle leap, it quickly disappeared into the misty mountain forest outside.

Closing his eyes, he carefully sensed the Black Lizard Number One in the second marking.

This first synthesized black lizard had already consecutively poisoned five Evil Shadows within these days, essentially clearing out the Evil Shadows that had lingered around the post office and the cave before.

But to Yu Hong’s surprise, he had never seen the person behind it all.

“Black Lizard heals from injuries in at most three hours and can resume patrolling. Its movement speed is roughly the same as a person walking leisurely. So much continuous patrolling, yet it still hasn’t encountered the person behind it all these days…”

Yu Hong didn’t believe that the person behind had disappeared; after blowing one up previously, the opponent had fully revived quite quickly and even pursued him outside the yard, almost breaking in.

“Why haven’t I encountered that ghastly thing these past few days?”

He waved by the desk, took out a piece of white paper, and drew a simple map. He marked the post office stone house and his own safe zone yard.

“Come to think of it, where do these Evil Shadows stay when they are not attacking people?”

No one cared about this question because others were too busy fleeing from the Evil Shadows, let alone actively seeking them out.

But Yu Hong was different; he didn’t need to act in person.

With that thought, he controlled Black Lizard Number One and began to deviate from the fixed patrol route, expanding into other directions.

“Black Lizard Number Two will take over the previous patrol tasks, Number One is responsible for enlarging the patrol range around the yard.”

After arranging these tasks, Yu Hong input his Inner Qi, setting Black Lizard Number One to lay an egg and bury it, continuing to increase their numbers, then set it so that the Black Lizards would fight those they could overcome and avoid and detour around those they could not.

In this way, in the dark map in his mind, all the places that could be illuminated were ones that the Black Lizards had cleared, while the remaining dark spots indicated the presence of grave dangers beyond the Black Lizards’ coping range.

It would be more convenient to avoid these areas later on.

After completing these tasks, Yu Hong stood up and approached the communication device.

Today was the day he had arranged for Song and Spike to come online. Guan Cao was online every day, but the other two needed a bit of luck.

Now this satellite-linked communication device had become his only channel to understand the outside world, which Yu Hong highly valued.

Click.

The power switch of the communication device was turned on.

The channel remained in its original position, unadjusted. So upon powering on, he immediately heard Guan Cao’s sigh.

“…When receiving people, it’s always like this. This is the seventh Hope City that has been breached and annihilated… How many are left intact across the country now?”

“Three. They’re all newly built new Aurora Cities, fully coated with the latest Sunshine Nine paint, and Silver Tower’s previously developed weapons and equipment were all concentrated there. The talisman array has been stacked at least five layers deep in front and behind. The three new Aurora Cities are built around the core of a luminous stone mine; it’s likely large numbers of Radiation-Enhanced People will appear there in a short time.”

“It’s good enough that they can survive. Other expectations can wait for later,” Zhang Kaijun coldly stated. “Our current problem is, the threat of the Withered Woman is simply too great. Coordinating forces from both sides with more than ten types of intermittent people, they are also struggling to cope.”

“Has Yu Hong come online?” Guan Cao noticed the newly connected communicator and took the initiative to greet.

“Um… We had an appointment about the detailed prevention intelligence I possess on the Language People and the intermittent people behind them; I’d like to exchange some equivalent intelligence with everyone,” Yu Hong said gravely.

“Are you sure the intelligence you hold is more detailed than ours?” Zhang Kaijun bluntly asked. “Intelligence loses its value after disclosure, how can you demonstrate the value of the intelligence you hold?”

“Do you know there is a second stage to Language People?” Yu Hong calmly stated.

“…” The communicator instantly fell silent.

All three people seemed not to expect that Yu Hong actually held information they were unaware of.

“Additionally, I’ve successfully found a pattern and eliminated the person behind twice. It was not through excessive radiation bombardment,” Yu Hong added.

“….Ss, really?” Someone in the communicator couldn’t help but let out a faint gasp of air.

No one would boast or joke about such a matter because if the method were used, it would be exposed immediately.

“Unless the person behind undergoes mutation, I believe the pattern I’ve discovered should have general applicability,” Yu Hong continued.