Night of Despair

Chapter 225: Source of Water

Inside the vehicle was Shu Cheng.

He arrived by car with a young girl, around eighteen or nineteen years old.

In the thirty degrees below zero weather, the two were wrapped up tightly, and through their goggles, one could see frost on their eyelashes.

Once inside the secondary security zone of the camp.

Shu Cheng immediately delivered important news to Yu Hong.

“What?! Yiyi has already been separated from the Investigation Team 2?” Yu Hong had a black snake lying on his shoulder, and upon hearing Shu Cheng’s relay, his expression instantly changed. The snake on his shoulder rapidly evaporated and disappeared.

“Yes, to be precise, Lin Yiyi was attacked and went missing on her way back two weeks ago,” Shu Cheng said seriously, squinting as he noticed the disappearing black snake.

“And Xin Zhilei?! Why hasn’t she told me!” Yu Hong suppressed the turmoil in his heart.

“Minister Xin probably worried that you would hence refuse to provide resources to the investigation team, so she intentionally concealed this matter. She asked me to reassure you, as Yiyi has a tracker on her, and they can confirm she is still alive. Moreover, backup forces are about to locate her,” Shu Cheng quickly stated. “Additionally, in the merchandise being exchanged this time, there are details about this matter for you to review later.”

He lowered his head, a strange gleam flickering briefly in his eyes. The goods this time were specifically hidden with a considerable amount of remote-controlled bombs. As soon as the goods entered the camp… the entire camp could be blown to the sky in an instant.

“Heh heh…” Yu Hong’s face looked awful; his trust in Xin Zhilei had dropped to zero.

All her words lost meaning. Clearly, her purpose in hiding this from him was to continue exploiting the name of Yiyi to freeload his goods.

“Bring it here!” he extended his hand.

“The exchanged goods are all in the vehicle; please check them carefully. In addition, about the supplies previously given to Lin Yiyi, Minister Xin intends not to take them for free; she will compensate you double later. Please trust the Allied Forces, everything is for the future of humanity,” Shu Cheng seemed to hint at something as he respectfully bowed, then left with the young girl.

The young girl seemed to want to say something to Shu Cheng, but she remained silent until they left.

The vehicle, accompanied by the buzzing of its motor, left the camp and soon vanished in the Black Fog.

Only several black shipping containers, similar to the ones before, were left on-site.

Yu Hong examined the containers and ordered the dragon lizards to open each one.

He found nothing unusual.

But recalling Shu Cheng’s peculiar expression and warnings, he decided to place these containers outside the secondary security zone, farther from the camp, to observe the situation first.

The dragon lizards, sticking out their tongues, pushed the containers to a remote area.

Yu Hong practiced his skills in the inner courtyard while pondering Shu Cheng’s peculiar behavior.

‘Gray City and Aurora City seem to be experiencing issues; the water source problem is urgent. Shu Cheng comes from Aurora City, and such an indication suggests something new has occurred at New Aurora City. My communicator can’t reach…. So… should I go there in person to see the situation?’

Gray City was surrounded by Blind Men, with only two fissures for entry and exit.

New Aurora City was even more distant, and without a few days’ time, he wouldn’t expect to find it, including the calculation of Yu Hong’s current speed.

Yu Hong hesitated; Gray City and Aurora City were his only sources for obtaining drugs related to enhanced human surgery.

If he wanted to pursue the path of bloodline transformation, he had to have a fundamental start. Relying on himself alone, unknowledgeable as he was, he didn’t know how long it might take to enhance.

But to rashly leave the camp, Black Wind Camp’s Array would automatically close, and although the dragon lizards could still move, the dragon lizards’ nest would lose control and stop hatching.

Summing it up, this trip would bring considerable loss and risk.

After a moment of thought, Yu Hong decided to go to Gray City and clarify the situation with Yiyi. Moreover, the water source issue was a major problem; he had resolved it on his side, but Gray City might not manage.

Having been in frequent contact with Old Zhang, he had become almost an acquaintance. In times when humanity was diminishing, he didn’t want familiar faces around him to keep reducing.

Thinking this, Yu Hong quickly began to pack his things.

He still needed to take his enhanced suit, which had an important breathing valve and integrated detector crucial for effectively blocking some toxic substances from contacting his skin directly.

His weapons would still be the enhanced pistol and meteor balls.

Just like that, he left.

At four in the afternoon, the sky was still pitch black.

Yu Hong donned his enhanced suit and took out the fissure map to Gray City.

Taking four dragon lizards, he swiftly exited the camp and walked into the Black Fog outside.

The Black Fog churned; this time, Yu Hong didn’t bring an atomic lamp but a bright rechargeable flashlight.

This was similar to the brightness of a miner’s lamp, worn on his shoulder, could penetrate the Black Fog directly, projecting out more than ten meters.

Usually, he relied on the dragon lizards’ black and white vision to determine danger, only using the high-brightness flashlight when needed.

Following the map given earlier by Shu Cheng the next day at past six in the evening.

Yu Hong emerged from the continuous mountains and entered a vast plain.

The undulating loess plain was sparsely covered with gray-white snow powder.

Blood Tide Black Insects couldn’t come close under the coverage of his Inner Qi, with a single step he could leap high, bursting a great distance forward.

Puff, puff, puff.

Yu Hong sped through the snow at a speed similar to a car hitting a hundred yards, moving forward steadily.

Inner Qi wrapped around his legs, seemingly tireless.

Continuing like this, run-pause-run, before long, Yu Hong slowed down, landing on top of a protruding piece of withered yellow big rock, and took out the map to check his position.

‘Without satellite maps to navigate, it’s too difficult to determine direction under the Black Fog…’

He frowned deeply, sighing in his heart.

In front and behind, to the left and right, all were walls of black fog, invisible.

He roughly estimated a direction and accelerated forward.

“The highway was buried by the heavy snow, and there was no way to find a direction… we could only rely on our instincts.”

*

*

*

Gray City.

The sparse crowd slowly dispersed as the desperate individuals walked in groups out of the city gates toward the exploration of the Black Fog.

Carrying the last of their cooling water, they went in search of the last hope.

Zhang Kaijun and the last dozens of city security team’s experts stood high on the city wall, quietly watching the scene, without stopping them.

The city was dim, the nuclear generator had run out of energy, was completely burned out, causing the energy district to be fiercely hot, and the intense radioactive liquid made it impossible for living people to even get close.

What still shone was mostly the previously charged lighting.

The reason the communications had broken down was also because the whole city was out of power.

“You should all leave as well, the radiation leaks from here are getting bigger, and according to detection, avoiding the Dissolving Leeches’ distribution area, about thirty miles from here, you could still barely manage to get some groundwater. Staying in the city now only means waiting for death,” Zhang Kaijun calmly said.

“How far can we run by always fleeing?” the deputy tiredly said, “Humanity no longer has a way out, continuing to hold on is just struggling on in agony.”

“How do you know that the last moment won’t bring hope if you don’t hold on?” Zhang Kaijun retorted.

“Then let it be for others, I’m too tired,” the deputy sighed.

“Without luminous stone mines, even if we have many in storage, it will be death sooner or later, the difference is merely dying sooner or later,” another person indifferently said.

“A Black Disaster above level three requires specially made weapons to temporarily defeat, and the Evil Shadow still needs accurate analysis of its working mechanisms, otherwise, using weapons to bombard is just a waste. Such a world…” the deputy said.

Zhang Kaijun stopped talking and, instead, looked toward the logistics department building in the dim light.

People came out of there consecutively.

Among them was a pregnant Doctor Xu.

Seeing Doctor Xu, he thought of the Black Wind Camp…

He had intended to send people over, but before communication was cut, they hadn’t solved their water problem there. He figured sending people over would also lead to death, better to save the effort than to suffer on the way.

Silence fell for a while.

Zhang Kaijun slowly spoke.

“Is the detonating device ready?”

“Yes, we’ll wait for the people who want to leave to leave, and then together, we will completely detonate all the stored luminous stones, address the encirclement of those blinded people around us. Rather than letting the Red Value in the environment slowly degrade us, better to blow up everything, we might even kill some of the high-ranked Black Disasters around and push them into a recovery phase, earning a survival chance for those who escape,” the deputy replied.

“Still unable to withstand the Black Disaster…” Zhang Kaijun spoke somberly. Looking out at the dim land outside the city, a trace of sorrow flashed through his eyes. “It’s a pity, the research department just found a universal method for human enhancement… wait another month, no, perhaps half a month, and we could produce a high-purity potion that strengthens the entire body without reducing life expectancy…”

People turned around one after another and descended from the top of the city wall. Waiting for the final moment.

As the last group of people walked out of the city gates.

The gates slowly fell, completely isolating the inside from the outside.

Ten minutes later, in the luminous stone storage warehouse.

Zhang Kaijun, with the last thirty-plus people who had stayed behind, all stood on the open area.

Everyone watched, at the deep part of the warehouse, boxes of luminous stone fragments.

Near these luminous stone fragments, large amounts of black explosives were placed.

A thin fuse, connected to the explosives, trailed out several meters, resting at Zhang Kaijun’s feet now.

The Black Fog surged, it had already occupied most of the area outside the warehouse.

Without lights, without power, although many places still resisted with sun-resistant material coatings, large Blood Tide Monsters quietly entered the city.

Even though the lights had the effect of suppressing the Blood Tide Monsters.

“Because this is the luminous stone warehouse, the negative radiation concentration is extremely high, Black Disasters can’t enter. It’s temporarily safe.”

“Gentlemen.”

Zhang Kaijun looked at the people present, among those standing there were members of the security team, research department, and logistics department, the people who had been standing behind him just now had changed.

Facing death, not everyone can be so calm.

“Instead of dying under the terror and lies of the Black Disaster, it’s better to detonate everything, to end everything all at once. The speed of the explosion will allow us to only feel a moment of pain, then end everything…”

“It’s time to return to our original homeland,” someone muttered softly.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Heavy footsteps came from outside the warehouse.

Accompanied by deep roars, the calls of the Multi-eyed Bird also got closer.

With no defense on the city walls, the Black Disasters entered the fortress city unrestrained, searching for living humans as food.

“Old Zhang, open up, I’m Yu Hong, I’ve come to save you!” Suddenly a voice came from outside.

“This time, I won’t run again.” Zhang Kaijun listened to the outside sounds, his expression calm, not paying attention, continuing to swipe the match in his hand.

The bean-sized yellow flame, flickering in his hand with the wind, trembled.