Night of Despair

Chapter 203: Backstage

Squeak.

Inside the stone castle of Black Wind Camp.

Yu Hong sat by the window, feeling the cool breeze from outside as he carved a new rune board.

A few days ago, he tested boarding the ship to ensure his body was fine, and then he returned to create new equipment.

He was attempting to carve a three-dimensional rune board, which involved layering multiple runes on the same board to create a combined effect.

This way, the different runes could produce a collaborative amplification effect, greatly enhancing the board’s efficiency.

He breathed in the fresh air from outside, although the air tainted with toxins left only the strong scent of the filter after passing through the breathing valve.

However, Yu Hong *still felt that the air outside seemed fresher*.

“Using the Vortex Rune as the core, the Deceleration Rune as an enclosing shell, and the Concealment Rune to further shrink the aura fluctuations to avoid any natural countering effect with the Red Value Radiation in the outside air. Finally…”

He paused.

“Finally, further compress the negative radiation inside using the Traction Rune. Enhance the concentration of the radiation energy absorbed and converted by the Vortex Rune to increase the explosion power….”

Clatter.

The last wood chip fell, and the thick wooden board in Yu Hong’s hand was successfully carved.

Although it was just a test sample, at the moment of completion, the surface of this brown board, engraved with array patterns, flashed with a glimmer of Inner Qi’s white light.

The white light flickered so quickly it was almost as if one’s eyes were playing tricks.

Simultaneously, as the white light flashed, this new-type rune board began slowly absorbing and storing the surrounding air’s Red Value.

“Nine Vortex Talismen working in tandem, coupled with numerous amplified enhancement designs, this rune board’s power, once fully charged, would likely far exceed that of a Radiation Hand Grenade.”

“A Radiation Hand Grenade can achieve seven thousand negative radiation, but this one… I wonder how much it can reach?”

Yu Hong *felt a sense of anticipation*.

“After making a few more, it will be time to formally explore the Black Ship.”

Placing the rune board aside, he noted that it absorbed Red Value better outside, as the air in the cave had such a low concentration of it, resulting in slower replenishment, making it far inferior to the outside.

Yu Hong stood up, eyeing the rune board.

“With such a size, about as large as a notebook, let’s just call it a Radiation Bomb.”

These days, he spent his time in the stone castle, alone in the cave, and patrolling the sub-safe zone with the Dragon Lizards.

*A sense of loneliness gradually rose in Yu Hong’s heart; apart from the occasional use of the communicator, there was hardly any human voice to be heard most of the time. Sometimes he even felt like his ears were losing their ability to hear. Therefore, he would sometimes talk to himself to stimulate and maintain his hearing ability.*

With the clattering footsteps, Yu Hong went downstairs to check the breeding box, taking out the matured mushrooms and lizards, and throwing them into the drying box to make dried mushrooms and jerky.

The so-called drying box was actually a sealed wooden iron box connected to the hot water pipe, utilizing the heat from the cooling water pipe, which made the drying process very efficient.

It could be completed in just two days.

After finishing these tasks, he routinely went to the cave to practice and refine Inner Qi.

Then, after preparing all the equipment and supplies, Yu Hong waited until nightfall, picking up his stuff and heading to the back of the cave again.

Standing within the array area, close to the stone wall.

Behind him was a grayish-white rocky wall, with a few withered, charred vine tendrils hanging down, long dead.

Yu Hong stared at the black stream ahead, opening the panel of the atomic lamp on his waist.

Swish.

Instantly, green light shone out, immediately illuminating the familiar wooden bridge.

Yu Hong stood still, his head slightly leaning to the side.

Two Dragon Lizards dashed out from beside him, heading onto the wooden bridge.

He followed closely behind, with four Dragon Lizards trailing him.

This time, he decided to reboard the ship to find out where the Black Ship led and what its connection to the wooden bridge was. All of these needed thorough investigation.

Well aware of the creaking sounds, Yu Hong walked slowly on the wooden bridge, periodically glancing tensely to the sides, ready to withdraw at any moment, with Inner Qi coiled around his legs.

The pitch-black river water on both sides churned continuously, making sticky sounds, as if something dangerous could leap out at any moment.

All the way forward.

Fortunately, by the time he reached the Black Ship, no accidents had occurred.

Whiz!

An Earth Pond Dragon Lizard darted onto the Black Ship first, swiftly searching through it to confirm there was no danger before allowing Yu Hong to get on board.

Crunch.

As soon as he stepped onto the ship’s deck, Yu Hong felt an inexplicable mental jolt, with the previous self-destructive tendencies resurfacing in his mind, though instantly dissipated by the Inner Qi.

The continuous stream of Inner Qi counteracted the omnipresent self-destructive suggestion in the surrounding environment.

*”Could this be considered a form of mental pollution?” Yu Hong thought apprehensively, carefully estimating the rate of Inner Qi consumption. At the current pace, approximately one stream of Inner Qi could last an hour.*

Fortunately, he had abundant Inner Qi, enough to last over a day, temporarily posing no significant issue.

The deck of the Black Ship felt like slippery, thick moss underfoot, making it easy to slip if one wasn’t careful.

Yu Hong moved cautiously with each step.

He surveyed his surroundings.

The Black Ship was divided into the bow, midship, and stern.

The bow housed a dark, square main control room, where through the broken wooden boards, one could see a rather primitive rotary wheel.

The midship had a mast, with tattered black sails hanging from it, on which three indistinct characters could be vaguely seen, ones he didn’t recognize at all.

The stern’s railing was already damaged, with black water occasionally splashing up, wetting the deck. A coarse wooden pile protruded upward, with a black anchor tied to it.

Yu Hong first headed to the main control room, slightly ducking his head to enter.

Besides the main control wheel inside, there were a few cabinets fixed to the floor.

A round wooden stool had fallen and shattered on the ground, along with several broken brown pottery shards embedded into the wooden walls, unable to move.

Yu Hong reached the cabinet, pulling off the iron lock hanging above it.

The rotten wood broke with a tug, and one by one, the cabinets were opened, revealing a mess of rotting, blackened items inside.

Rotting wooden meal boxes.

A stack of black fabric clothes tied with rope.

A pile of black tiny metal bottles of unknown purpose.

Yu Hong patiently opened each cabinet, taking out the items inside.

Soon, he paused as he extracted a thread-bound, blue leather book from beneath a pile of clothes in one of the cabinets.

Opening it revealed densely packed twisted characters he couldn’t recognize, which made him feel dizzy.

Though the black print on white paper contained a lot of content— with at least half of the thirty-plus pages written—the material seemed to have undergone special treatment, showing no signs of decay.

Yu Hong decided to take it with him to decipher later.

He wasn’t adept in this field, but he knew someone who was.

After taking the book, he tilted the metal bottles, finding nothing inside, unsure of their purpose, and once he confirmed there was nothing else worth taking, he tried moving the ship’s wheel.

Poof.

The entire wheel broke with a gentle twist.

“….” Yu Hong was speechless, turning to leave the main control room.

By this time, the Black Ship had already started moving.

The river water on both sides slapped rhythmically against the ship, creating a crisp sound.

This sound, paired with the wind blowing over the deck, formed a strange, mournful wail.

The wind was a cry, the splash a sob.

Yu Hong stood by the ship’s side, gazing at the distant scenery to the side.

Shrouded in black mist, nothing could be seen of the distant shore, except a small area illuminated by the green light of the atomic lamp, where a faint black riverbank drifted by.

Soon, after about ten minutes had passed.

Squeak.

The Black Ship slowly decelerated and stopped by a similarly dilapidated black wooden bridge dock.

This dock, shorter than the previous one, was about seven or eight meters long. From the Black Ship, Yu Hong could vaguely see the situation on the shore.

Yu Hong directed the atomic lamp to shine over, revealing a desolate white shore—beyond the bridge, the shore was covered with fine, pale gravel.

The gravel reflected an even eerier green under the lamp’s illumination.

Whoosh.

Following Yu Hong’s command, a Dragon Lizard disembarked, darting across the bridge dock and onto the shore.

The Dragon Lizard quickly vanished into the black mist, disappearing.

Watching the Dragon Lizard disappear, Yu Hong swiftly shared its vision, switching to the Dragon Lizard’s perspective.

The pale gravel ground flashed past continuously, gradually turning gray, and darkening.

Soon it became black soil.

Dry blades of scraggly grass appeared around the Dragon Lizard.

It pressed on, soon finding a small square black field ahead.

Within the field, everything had decayed, with no crops remaining.

Beyond the black field, the Dragon Lizard looked up into the distance, seeing successive patches of black fields stretching far ahead.

Farther still, on a high slope, was a cluster of gray and white courtyards. The main gate of the courtyards bore ghastly white lanterns, faintly illuminating the surrounding area.

‘This place…’ Yu Hong frowned, scrutinizing it, *’feels quite off.’*

He directed the Dragon Lizard to edge toward the courtyards, but soon after, the Black Ship resumed sailing, and the surroundings were once again enveloped in black mist, vanishing from sight. The shared vision with the Dragon Lizard also disappeared.

Shortly after, Yu Hong’s eyes beheld the familiar ruined bridge behind the camp once again.

He realized he was back.

‘Perfect, I’ll test if the Dragon Lizards can stay there longer without anything happening.’*’

Yu Hong jumped off the Black Ship, carrying the book he scavenged, and retraced his steps back across the wooden bridge with the remaining five Dragon Lizards, returning to the array’s range.

Quickly back in the cave, Yu Hong took out the recently scavenged book from his bag, gently opening it, finding it completely blank.

‘???!’ He frowned deeply, attempting to recall the characters with a charcoal pencil, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember the shapes or contents of the characters.

*’Unable to bring it out? How am I supposed to decipher it?’* Checking the time, he swiftly reached the first floor of the cave and activated the communicator.

Zhang Kaijun was indeed still online.

“Got something?” he asked succinctly.

“How did you know I had something?” Yu Hong felt speechless.

“Because you wouldn’t be online otherwise,” Zhang Kaijun replied.

“There’s a situation….” Yu Hong pondered for a moment, deciding not to reveal his exploration of the wooden bridge and Black Ship. Besides him, others might not even be able to enter, as the self-destructive tendencies akin to mental pollution were likely to lead to immediate suicide without the Inner Qi to counteract.

So he merely mentioned probing with Inner Qi without results, instead encountering danger. However, elsewhere a peculiar script system was obtained, which he wished to have deciphered.

“How to decipher an unknown language? I don’t have any ideas here, hold on, let me get an expert to talk to you.” Zhang Kaijun, being quite resourceful, immediately handed over the communicator.

After a while, a somewhat weary middle-aged man’s voice came through the communicator.

“Hello, Mr. Yu, I am Chen Tingrong from Gray City, specializing in linguistics. Regarding your question, when faced with a completely unheard language system, the most crucial step to learning from scratch is the extensive collection of samples. This includes obtaining diverse samples from various scenarios. Next is identifying the writing system, whether it’s logographic or phonetic, etc. Then, through frequently occurring characters and phrases, determine common vocabulary or grammatical elements….”