Night of Despair

Chapter 184: Soul 2
 

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A few people hesitated for a moment, and one of them raised the talisman plate in this direction.

There was still no change in the old-style luminous stone talisman plate in their hands, which made them feel much more at ease.

One of them looked around and, with the light from outside the cave, saw Wei Shanshan.

“Still just a kid…. not very old,” he said softly, “Check if there’s no problem, then let her go rest and heal in the buffer zone first.”

“She must have escaped from one of the nearby camps, sigh….” Another person sighed, “My daughter is about this age too…”

Thud.

Wei Shanshan collapsed in front of them; she was crying and trembling, wanting to speak, but the oppressive space and the cold air made her unable to utter a sound for the moment.

Without realizing it, her vision blurred.

In the blur, she saw those two people lift her up, check that she had no weapons, and then place her inside a shed within the fence.

In the blur, she turned her head and saw behind her a gray figure with neurotic bloodshot eyes standing outside the camp, smiling at her.

Click.

Vaguely, she seemed to see that gray figure flash gently and enter inside the fence.

And the guards didn’t notice at all.

“Shanshan… you did well…. good child… you really are your parents’ good child….”

*

*

*

The cave fortifications had noticeably thickened the defenses everywhere. This time, the fortifications included parts of the outer rock layer of the cave.

Through this clever method, a bit of the outer rock that didn’t belong to the cave was incorporated, essentially bypassing the strengthening rules of the Black Mark.

Yu Hong felt that the door was much heavier and sturdier when pushing open the wooden door now. It seemed as if a lot of the stone’s nutrients had been absorbed into the wooden door.

After a round of fortification, his sense of security was slightly satisfied, and then he ordered the Black Lizard to clear all Black Disasters within a three-kilometer range.

He himself stayed in the cave’s safe house, studying the new stone talisman he had received from Stammering Yiyi.

It was still raining outside, and in the woods, a waterway had formed, rushing down from the direction of Baiqiu Village and flowing to lower ground.

The turbid stream carved out a black road that resembled something man-made.

Within the camp, with Old Zhou constantly inspecting, digging drainage channels every day, there wasn’t much going on.

Whish, whish.

Inside the cave at the wooden table, Yu Hong, under the soft yellow light of a desk lamp, was mimicking and drawing the new stone talisman’s patterns.

Holding a gray-black charcoal pencil that had been honed and trimmed, he continuously drew one slender line after another.

The entire desktop was covered with wooden boards he used to practice drawing the runes.

Soon enough, finally, Yu Hong stopped his pencil, admiring the runes he had just drawn carefully.

“This time, it should be fine.”

After practicing dozens of times, he was almost proficient with this new rune.

Next, it was time to…

He put away the charcoal pencil, opened the drawer, and took out the feather pen and large pyroxene stone ink powder inside, preparing some in a small iron dish, mixing it with water, and dipping the ink.

This time Yu Hong took a relatively sturdy wooden board, operated Inner Qi, poured it into the feather pen, and lightly started drawing.

Half a minute later, a pretty beautiful new array pattern appeared on the wooden board.

Just at the split second when the final stroke formed and closed.

A faint attraction started budding from the array pattern.

‘Hmm? Attraction?’ Yu Hong was taken aback, as he had been watching this array pattern and naturally noticed that fleeting special attraction.

‘This force of attraction…’ He extended his hand, lightly placing it on the surface of the array pattern. At the same time, his other hand continued to inject new Inner Qi into the array pattern.

Snap.

In an instant, this new array pattern wooden board burst forth with a very distinct force of attraction, sticking itself firmly to Yu Hong’s palm.

‘It really is attraction! Not the type of radiation attraction that the vortex talisman array absorbs only the Red Value but a direct traction on objects!!’

Yu Hong opened his eyes wide.

He also discovered that the Inner Qi he injected into the talisman plate had disappeared directly right after that moment!

‘A traction rune driven by Inner Qi?’ He speculated.

‘This is a very useful rune… Previously, the array’s deceleration relied on the airflow crow. If I added this array, it would definitely significantly increase the hindrance.’

Letting go, he picked up this talisman plate.

‘Aside from the talisman array…. this rune has a wide application range… it could even be used in my Inner Qi cultivation, with this rune as the structure, mass-producing to form a vortex, highly compressing the Inner Qi concentration…. this could completely create a new foundational Inner Qi.’

‘Just in time, I need to reinforce an Inner Qi Technique to control and expand the camp.’

Holding the new talisman plate that Yiyi sent, and after testing the array and confirming it indeed had this effect, Yu Hong simply named it.

“Since it produces a traction force rune, let’s call it the Traction Rune.”

Afterward, he devoted almost all his time to researching the cultivation of luminous stone and creating a method to share control over Inner Qi…

Both of these could only rely on the Black Mark’s constant experimentation, which was a tedious repetitive process.

But regardless of how tedious, it had to be done.

Time went by day by day, and it continued to rain outside, occasionally pausing for at most half a day, then resuming for most of the time.

The fourth layer of Thunderbolt Leg’s Inner Qi was continuously condensing bit by bit, while the Black Mark, with nothing better to do, reinforced the entire Black Wind Camp, making its exterior sturdier and also completely solidified the drawn concealment runes into it.

In the camp, besides maintaining the drainage, Old Zhou also created an external cargo frame that could be attached to a car, further increasing the car’s total capacity.

He also pulled out the car’s charging circuit, modifying it into a type that allowed for manual adjustment of charging methods.

So the solar car now could be charged with solar power or directly plugged in.

After doing all this, Old Zhou packed his gear, took the accumulated food and water, and bid farewell to Yu Hong.

“You’re heading out in this weather?” Yu Hong asked with a frown.

“I’ve got to find them anyway. I thought I could convince myself…. Unfortunately…” Zhou Xueguang laughed heartily, standing by the fence as he patted the prepared car.

“These past days, I’ve been dreaming every day, seeing my wife holding the kid, just standing in the house, looking at me.”

“It’s too dangerous to go out in this weather….” Yu Hong said with a frown, “Better to go once the rain stops.”

“What if the rain doesn’t stop?” Old Zhou smiled.

He bent down, picked up the large backpack on the ground.

“I’m already at this age…. There aren’t many important things in life. I’m afraid if I wait any longer, some things might be too late.”

“Then when will you be back?” Yu Hong knew he couldn’t talk him out of it. Fortunately, it wasn’t as dangerous outside now, as the discovery of the Black Disaster Rift had established a safe basis for traveling between outposts.

“According to the clues I found last time, I’m planning to head further north this time.” Old Zhou took off the tested backpack, opened the car door, and got in.

“I don’t know the exact time, but no matter what, as long as I’m alive, I’ll definitely come back.” He sat in the driver’s seat, moved the backpack to the passenger seat.

“This time out, I’ll try to bring back some stone talismans. Don’t worry.” He waved his hand.

“Don’t die out there. At least bring the car back to me,” Yu Hong said.

“Understood! Rest assured, with the boss’s magic car, nothing will happen! I’m going to find the generator and fuel first so that there’s electricity even without sunshine.”

The car door closed, Old Zhou started the car, and drove out gently from the open fence.

“…” Yu Hong silently watched the car leave, driving away until it vanished into the rain curtain.

He sighed.

Shutting the gate of the fence.

He turned back to glance at the brightly lit stone castle, then turned around and left.

*

*

*

On the highway.

A menacing black armored vehicle was increasing its speed, heading towards the Black Wind Camp.

“Everyone stay together; someone must keep their eyes open at all times, no blinking! At this time, even a split-second blink could result in that guy attacking!”

Inside the vehicle.

Xue Ningning, covered in blood, her face pale, shouted loudly.

The rest of the team was also covered in blood spots, looking exhausted.

After deciding to call for help from Yu Hong, they turned the car around. Having mapped out the Black Disaster Rift along the way, the drive initially went smoothly, but heavy rain flooded most sections and landslides blocked the route, forcing them to detour.

The detours led to their running out of fuel…

Yes, after the modifications, the armored car was powered by a hybrid of solar and diesel power. With no sun, they had to rely on diesel, but halfway through, they ran out of diesel, forcing them to get out and find some in a nearby ruined city.

Just when they finally found some, An’an showed signs of infection. At a critical moment, Xue Ningning discovered a prerequisite condition for the Black Disaster attack.

It was that touching an infected person while in the eye-closed state would contaminate them. And post-infection, even in the early stages, accumulating ten minutes of eye-closed time would trigger a full infection attack.

Leveraging this discovery, they compelled An’an to absolutely not sleep with her eyes closed.

Upon finding the diesel, they pressed on toward Black Wind Camp in the car.

“How much further now?! Captain!” Ou Li asked loudly, his eyes swollen.

“About ten kilometers more, we’re close! Hold on An’an!!” Xue Ningning shouted.

On their return, they came across two other outposts. One was relatively large, and they initially planned to trade some supplies. However, once the others noticed they had unknowable Black Disaster symptoms, both outposts refused their trade.

If not for that, they wouldn’t have had to find diesel in the ruined city themselves.

“My breathing valve got clogged with blood again…” An’an said painfully, her skin continuously swelling with various sized lumps, some as large as fists, and others as small as soybeans.

Aiding her was Lin Yiyi, who was constantly opening and closing the portable vortex talisman plate to maintain a negative radiation environment inside the car, suppressing her body’s abnormalities.

“We’re close now! Once we reach the camp, they’ll surely have plenty of talisman plates. At that point, we can grab the chance to buy a lot of plates to increase the radiation levels, definitely suppressing that creature!” Fang Shijun shouted.

At this moment, the corner of her eye had already caught sight of Stammering Yiyi, showing signs of swelling on her body, subtly moving.

That was the mark of infection.

Although it took contact in an eye-closed state to transmit, Lin Yiyi had been holding Chen Xinji the entire time; blinking was inevitable. As soon as she blinked, the eye-closed condition was fulfilled, and infection was almost certain.

Nonetheless, the radiation hand grenades and vortex talisman plates held back this timeframe.

Time ticked by, and the lumps on An’an grew more numerous and larger, with her consciousness also beginning to blur.

“After crossing this bridge, only five kilometers left! We’re almost there, almost there!!”

“Stay strong, An’an and Yiyi!!” Xue Ningning yelled assertively, “If it comes down to the last moment, hold onto her, and don’t close your eyes! Even a blink could make her disappear!”

The armored vehicle was forcibly driven like a sports car by Xue Ningning.

Roar!

The vehicle sped past a flooded section of the road, splashing a large spray of water.

Just then, a vast entity loomed ahead, sprawled across the highway, blocking it.

It was a massive black worm, ten meters long, five to six meters high.

“Elephant worm!!??”

Xue Ningning charged out of the fog and immediately spotted the creature, her eyes welling with despair.

Under ordinary circumstances, they could have relied on various weapons to temporarily drive it back, but now…. in this state….

“I’ll distract it!” Fang Shijun grabbed a grenade launcher, opened the door, and jumped out.

“You guys go!!” She adjusted her helmet’s breathing valve and fired grenades at the elephant worm.

Boom.

In the explosion and flames, an indentation appeared on the elephant worm, angering it and prompting it to pursue Fang Shijun.

Xue Ningning gritted her teeth and kept driving.

“I’ll come back to pick you up!” she yelled through the window.

But all she saw was Fang Shijun holding a gun in one hand, waving the other hand goodbye.

The mist closed, quickly blocking any view.

Nothing could be seen anymore.