Night of Despair

Chapter 58: Hope 2

In the circular courtyard, the closer the black insects got to the luminous grass, the fewer there were. Many black insects, halfway through their approach, would split off and flee once more.

They fled from the white light, changing their crawling direction, and merging back into the thick black flow outside.

In the end, only about one-tenth of the black insects initially present made it to the safety of the cave.

“The luminous grass actually has this function too!? No… wait, maybe this is one of the core methods used by large cities to expel and isolate the Black Disaster.”

— Reduce the environmental Red Value.

This was the method Yu Hong had just thought of.

“Red Value can even affect the Blood Tide Black Insects in the Black Disaster… Does this mean that, essentially, Blood Tide Black Insects and Evil Shadow might be of the same kind?”

Yu Hong speculated in his mind.

He held a candle, turned off the glass window shutter, and retreated to a safe area.

Watching the black insects that intermittently streamed in, he had more speculations and plans for the luminous grass.

With just this bit of luminous grass affecting the Blood Tide, what if there were more? Enough to fill the entire courtyard? Could it completely block the invasion of the Blood Tide Black Insects? Maybe even Big Skin too…

Yu Hong felt a strong sense of anticipation.

He hadn’t expected that something he had casually synthesized would play such a significant role.

For a disaster like the Blood Tide, which severely affected people’s sleep and rest, he had longed for a good night’s sleep. It wasn’t just him, but others too, including Old Li, Old Zhou, Doctor Xu, everyone felt the same.

He had asked for countermeasures. If Evil Shadow could be isolated and hidden using luminous stones, there was no remedy for the Blood Tide.

The next day, early in the morning, Yu Hong came out the door as the morning light shone.

Yesterday, he had infused a strand of Inner Qi, today, he wanted to see what the results of this catalyzation would be.

Just stepping out now, a small patch of lush verdant grass caught his eye.

“So much!?” Yu Hong stood dumbfounded at the door, his eyes fixed on the luminous grass in the courtyard below.

What was just over a dozen plants yesterday had grown significantly overnight, now numbering over twenty. They were scattered over a third of the stone courtyard.

“Just one day’s time…” Yu Hong marveled in his mind. He was incredibly grateful to have the Black Mark assisting him, otherwise, in such a dangerous and terrifying environment, he feared he would have expired the day of stutterer’s departure, without even ashes remaining.

Descending the stone steps, he confirmed that the newly grown luminous grass was real and healthy, then quickly tested the Red Value data in the courtyard.

This time, the data measured at the edge of the courtyard was -13.

Much greater than before.

The third day.

Yu Hong once again accelerated the growth of the luminous grass using Inner Qi, this time, he used two strands, adding them successively.

By the fourth day, most of the courtyard was covered with luminous grass.

And at the boundary of the courtyard, the Red Value had reached -41.

Late at night. @@novelbin@@

Yu Hong stood behind the wooden door, peering through the glass window at the courtyard outside.

In the courtyard, gentle white light covered the entire area and extended a portion beyond.

And from where the white light covered, the black insects avoided, diverged, and detoured around the area to other places.

Thump thump thump.

Soon, a series of heavy footsteps came, a massive beetle, dark as night, emerged from the darkness, stepping into the area of white light.

But only a few steps into the courtyard, having covered about a third of the distance, Big Skin shook its small head, turned outward, and left, quickly disappearing into the dense night.

Seeing this, a look of surprise crossed Yu Hong’s face.

“It can even expel Big Skin…!” his heart filled with joy.

“A Large Pyroxene Stone, close up, only emits a Red Value of negative eighty or ninety. But this luminous grass, the range of Red Value it emits is already at negative thirty or forty, and this is a continuous emission, getting higher from further to nearer.”

He had tested the data, the luminous grass close by already reached a Red Value of over negative one hundred, almost akin to constantly piling a piece of Large Pyroxene Stone at the cave’s entrance.

“Though I don’t know how long it can last with consumption, this stuff, being able to recover its own consumption before, is far more cost-effective than luminous stones!”

Through the glass window, Yu Hong looked at the scene in the courtyard outside, his heart filled with a strong sense of security.

The luminous grass was something he had accidentally concocted. Little had he expected it to now play such a significant role.

Watching the Blood Tide Black Insects circumvent the area outside, he suddenly thought, since luminous stones and wild grass could synthesize luminous grass, what about the Large Pyroxene Stone and other plants? And big trees? And even cockroaches or mushrooms, living organisms synthesizing with Large Pyroxene Stone, could there also be new, stronger transformations??

If the outcomes of the synthesis could be controlled, then synthesizing cockroaches, lizards, could one potentially create special enhanced organisms under one’s control?

At this moment, his mind was a jumbled mess, swarming with numerous inspirations, an array of combinations, making him increasingly expectant of the future.

The next day, early in the morning, he came out to the courtyard.

He didn’t check the luminous grass; its effects were already very clear from last night.

Yu Hong walked to the coarse, rudimentary courtyard dirt mound, looking at the mound which was not even up to his knees, he extended his hand.

His palm pressed against the rough surface of the courtyard wall.

“Enhance the courtyard wall!”

Yu Hong silently commanded in his mind.

This was his test, a probe.

Previous enhancements were all small things, not large in size or volume. And this time, he planned to test increasing the size and volume of the enhancements.

From the enhancements during these times, he had already realized, Black Mark enhancement is more derived from himself, from how he perceived things.

Simply put, the target of the enhancement was mainly controlled by him, controlling the size, concept, boundaries.

If he considered a piece of an item as a whole, then Black Mark would as well, incorporating this piece into its assessment, providing whether it could be enhanced and giving specific countdown values.

So…

At that moment, he planned to conduct a test that was unprecedented.

That was…

*

*

*

Click, click.

Deep in the mountain.

A figure, tall and sturdy as a bear, stepped quickly over a decayed forest full of fallen leaves, occasionally stopping to re-evaluate the direction in which he was heading.

“We’re almost there.” The figure suddenly stopped and carved a triangle on a tree trunk beside him.

Looking up, he revealed a slightly distressed face—it was White Python Guo Xudong, who had rushed all the way here.

He looked around, then suddenly sprinted forward a few steps, leaped up, and grabbed the trunk of a thick tree with one hand.

Then, using the strength of one arm, he swung himself forward, flipped over, climbed the trunk, and after stabilizing himself on the tree, he looked far ahead.

In the distance, on a small hill, one could faintly see a cluster of grey and dilapidated buildings.

“Baiqiu Village, we’ve arrived… according to the intelligence, that person should be nearby…”

Jumping down from the tree, White Python hastened his pace toward the village.

“Two groups of people have disappeared in this area either there’s a serious danger here, or it’s human-caused…”

White Python dashed through the forest with a silvery-gray dagger appearing in his hand, held upside down.

Half an hour later.

He arrived outside Baiqiu Village on a gravel path and looked into the village from where he stood.

The deep alleys, pitch-black doorways and windows, houses, and walls devoid of any signs of life.

White Python grabbed a small bag of luminous stones with his other hand and slowly walked into the village.

But after only a few steps, he stopped and bent down to closely examine the ground.

Soon he seemed to notice something, stood up, slowly backed away, and then circled around Baiqiu Village.

Round and round.

After spending over an hour, he had completely scouted the entire village.

“No footprints of people moving around…” White Python decisively turned and walked down the hills.

“According to the intelligence, if that person isn’t in the village, they’re living in a nearby cave. That cave should be close by. Let’s search carefully…”

He muttered to himself, leaving the village along the small path and soon disappeared into the woods.

*

*

*

Yu Hong placed one hand on the earthen mound in the yard.

At the same time, his eyes were slightly closed, and he remained quiet and still, maintaining this posture.

After a few minutes.

He waited for his mind to calm down before he mentally recited,

“Strengthen the yard wall, direction for material reinforcement, make it higher and thicker.”

Hiss!

Instantly, a black line flowed from the back of his hand and merged into the yard wall.

Following that, a black countdown timer actually appeared on the earthen mound in front of Yu Hong.

’15 days, 6 hours, 44 minutes.’

“!!!” Seeing the countdown, an indescribable joy appeared on Yu Hong’s face.

“It actually works!” Although it will take fifteen days, probably because the volume to be strengthened is much larger than what was previously enhanced.

But even if the boundary wall was short and small, it was far heavier than those earlier items.

Thinking this, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

“If I could refine the yard wall a bit myself… could I significantly shorten the reinforcement time?”

“And since the yard wall can be strengthened, what about a puddle? Could a puddle be strengthened into a well? Or even… could the entire cave safehouse be strengthened altogether? Even if it takes longer, if I could do it in one go, directly strengthen it into an underground shelter with multiple rooms, it would be much more convenient.

Having learned that the Black Mark’s enhancement is based on one’s own cognitive concept as the range,

“If I directly consider the entire planet underground as an entity, could I directly strengthen the planet?” Yu Hong boldly speculated.

With this thought, setting aside this unrealistic fantasy, he suddenly felt the urge to finish the yard wall as soon as possible.

But unfortunately, he had run out of ordinary luminous stones and had to go to the mine to replenish them, otherwise, he wouldn’t have enough for the subsequent silver talisman array, ordinary talisman array, and Large Pyroxene Stones.

Returning to the cave, in an exceptionally good mood, he packed up his backpack, tools, locked the door, and headed straight toward the Pyroxene Ore Mine.

As he left, a figure, strong as a bear, quietly emerged from the woods and saw the cave safehouse surrounded by the yard.

The figure crouched down, moved behind a tree trunk, put down the backpack, took out a facemask, helmet, and bulletproof suit, and put on the full set one by one.

After getting ready, he slowly advanced toward the cave with his dagger, revealing a pair of slightly troubled eyes.

It was precisely White Python Guo Xudong, investigating the surroundings!