Night of Despair

Chapter 98: Countermeasures

Under the illumination of the electric light, Yu Hong looked around.

A transparent fireplace still exuding warmth was in one corner, with various miscellaneous items piled beside it.

Against the wall, there was a set of wooden tables and stools, and under the table was a sleeping bag.

Not far from the sleeping bag, placed on the ground, were two sets of augmented suits. Further to the right was a small wooden box filled with numerous handguns.

Continuing to the right, there was a Wolf Fang Club leaning against the wall, with fold-out solar panels next to it. The panels were connected to a communicator, light bulbs, an Enhanced Red Value Detector, and other small electrical devices.

Further to the right were barrels of water and plastic bags filled with protein bars, talisman arrays, Large Pyroxene Stones, and small pyroxenes.

...

Yu Hong scanned over various items, his gaze quickly landing on the small pyroxene that had previously been enhanced with the Vortex Rune.

After so many days, he had repeatedly studied this object and could now effortlessly draw the rune with a single, successful attempt.

However, no matter how much he studied, observed, and compared, this device fused into the original runes of the small pyroxene seemed to be of no use at all.

Seeing this object, Yu Hong swiftly picked up the Enhanced Red Value Detector, pressed the switch, and brought it close for inspection.

Beep.

The LCD screen displayed the Red Value: -9.622.

‘Still the same old pattern… The data hasn’t changed much.’ Yu Hong put down the small pyroxene with a slight disappointment, grabbed the record paper, and jotted down the new data. @@novelbin@@

After recording the value, he put down the charcoal pencil, intending to contemplate other enhancement targets.

After all, his original goal was to create a set of cultivation techniques capable of dealing with the Evil Shadow.

But just then, a flash of inspiration crossed his mind.

‘Wait, I now have Inner Qi again, what if I use Inner Qi to draw all these runes again, what effect would that produce?’

He had this idea before, and now that he had regained his Inner Qi, the thought became even more irresistible. Theoretically, his Inner Qi, being based on Inner Strength, could be infused into external objects.

With the thought in mind, Yu Hong picked up a wooden plank and then dipped his charcoal pencil into the Large Pyroxene Stone ink, grasped it, and quietly adjusted his state.

His concentration focused, and after a dozen breaths.

He gently put the pencil to the wood, his Inner Qi transforming into an extremely fine line that flowed out from his abdomen, along his arm, his fingers, into the pencil, and into the lines he was drawing.

Yu Hong was extremely cautious, fearing that too much Inner Qi would break the pencil.

Soon, after consuming just a tiny bit of Inner Qi, a new enhanced rune appeared before him.

‘Hmm…’ He picked up the wooden plank, checked it, but found no abnormalities.

He then picked up the Enhanced Red Value Detector, pressed the switch, and checked it.

Beep.

‘-138.116.’

“Hmm!? It’s increased this much!” Yu Hong was startled. The normal range for the Red Value of ordinary talisman arrays he recorded was between one hundred two and one hundred three; the cap was one hundred three, but rarely could he make a talisman board that reached the cap.

This required the right combination of ink, wooden board, and drafting, only then was it possible to achieve.

But just now, he had simply drawn it casually; the lines were rough and uneven, yet it directly broke one hundred three!

‘Infusing Inner Qi really works!’ Yu Hong calculated the amount of Inner Qi he’d just used, at most one thirtieth, but the key was that his Inner Qi would constantly recover, unending. This small consumption was nothing.

‘Let’s try again.’

One sample wasn’t enough, he began to try new wooden talisman boards.

Shortly after, new talisman arrays emerged one after another.

The values checked were almost all above one hundred three, and one even soared to one hundred five!

This was unprecedented.

Yu Hong suddenly felt exhilarated. He immediately dipped his pencil in ink, picked up a new wooden plank, and began to draw the newly acquired Vortex Rune.

This time, he used his full Inner Qi, focusing on painting only the Vortex Rune.

Half a minute later, a palm-sized Vortex Rune board was successfully finished.

After letting it dry a bit, Yu Hong picked it up for inspection.

‘-1.025.’

“…completely ineffective?”

Yu Hong’s brows furrowed once more, the Red Value was basically just a number that the Large Pyroxene Stone ink naturally had.

He picked up the detector, tested it again.

Beep.

‘-0.992.’

“…how could it have decreased!?” Yu Hong was astonished.

He didn’t believe in curses, so he picked up the detector once more, waited a while, then placed it next to the sample for another test.

The same position, the same proximity, the same device.

Beep.

‘-0.904.’

“It actually decreased!” Yu Hong was instantly invigorated, his interest piqued.

For so long, he had been researching the Vortex Rune, trying many methods, but no matter how he tested, it was ineffective.

Now, after drawing a rune with Inner Qi, it actually began to show some effect, a new change was happening.

Right away, he stayed by the side of this talisman array, using the detector, checking the Red Value every five minutes.

Half an hour later, Yu Hong looked at the recorded data in surprise.

‘-0.889.’

‘-0.861.’

‘-0.793.’

“Just like before, the Red Value is steadily decreasing, almost one-fifth less than the beginning.”

Yu Hong stroked his chin, deep in thought.

“Why is it decreasing? Red Value doesn’t just vanish into thin air, where did the reduced Red Value radiation go? Where was it transferred?”

He picked up this piece of Vortex Rune board, examining it closely from top to bottom.

Suddenly, he noticed a change.

The lines of the talisman array, compared to just after he had finished drawing, seemed brighter.

“Is it a lighting issue?” wondered Yu Hong, quickly grabbing other rune boards for comparison.

A normal rune panel has grayish-white lines with a faint fluorescent reflection.

The Vortex Rune panel, however, has lines that are somewhat whiter, and the degree of fluorescent reflection is clearly stronger. Moreover, it seems like there are many silver sand-like particles twinkling within its lines.

Additionally, Yu Hong noticed that at the very center of the Vortex Rune, there was a triangle-like pattern that seemed to surface with a coating-like colorful luster.

He thought for a moment, took out the Enhanced Red Value Detector, and approached it for inspection.

After a beep, the detected value was actually zero!

‘Could it be that this rune…’ Yu Hong’s heart tightened, and a speculation flashed through his mind.

He picked up the rune panel, brought it close to the detector, and then… squeezed it forcefully.

Crack!

The rune panel shattered into several pieces.

At the same time, the detector sounded an alarm, and the Red Value surged rapidly.

‘-234.772.’

‘-391.640.’

‘-518.121.’

‘-722.913.’

The Red Value instantaneously exceeded seven hundred, then persisted for two seconds, rapidly declined, and after a few seconds, completely zeroed out.

Yu Hong stared at the soaring Red Value, dazed in place for a moment.

Then he snapped back to reality, understanding his guess was not wrong… this Vortex Rune, is very likely…

*

*

*

Post office stone house.

The dilapidated walls, a courtyard scattered with flesh and limbs.

Inside the gray stone house with doors and windows completely smashed, was utterly empty without a single silhouette.

Crack.

Quietly rising from the living room’s floor of the stone house was a concealed stone slab.

The stone slab was the same color as the floor, both gray, with the gaps at the edges so well-done, it was difficult to notice.

As the stone slab lifted, a tall and sturdy man dressed in an advanced gray lizard suit climbed out.

After the man emerged, he stepped to the side, and two other men in suits followed suit.

The three of them covered the stone slab, looked around, and saw the originally intact post office now reduced to a wreck.

“The second and third teams outside are probably gone,” came the low voice of Li Rushan from inside the suit’s helmet.

“That creature is too fast, we’re lucky to have saved ourselves,” the second man said coldly. “That was their fate.”

“You lead the way next,” the third man looked at Li Rushan and commanded in a deep voice.

“Alright, stay close, we could run into that creature anytime in the wild,” Li Rushan nodded.

“That fellow had half its body blasted apart, it won’t recover so quickly, we must hurry to retrieve enough talisman arrays during this time, else the subsequent shadow and even Evil Shadow are the truer deadly threats,” said the third man quickly.

“It’s a pity, if not for that creature, our Pyroxene Secret Room setup wouldn’t have gone awry,” the second man stated irritably.

“Let’s go,” Li Rushan led the way out of the stone house, judged the direction, and rushed towards Yu Hong’s safe house.

The other two men followed closely behind.

The trio moved quickly, nearly at full pace, accelerating while ensuring to keep the noise level down.

In less than ten minutes, they arrived outside the courtyard wall of the mountain cave safe house.

On the grass outside the courtyard wall, a dense scattering of clothes, pants, and shoes could be seen.

The grass had many large scratches, with the black soil underneath churned up.

Li Rushan stepped forward and nudged the clothes with his foot.

“It was Li Jingyuan and the others who were driven out earlier.”

“Are the people gone?” the second man asked with a suppressed voice.

“The number of clothes adds up, most of them are here. They are probably all gone,” the third man responded, looking up and silently exchanging glances with the second man.

Both quietly raised their estimate of the danger level for this trader of talisman arrays.

Without another word, they walked to the edge of the courtyard wall and peered inside.

What they saw made all three of them pause.

Inside the courtyard wall, on the lush grass, Qiu Yanxi and her daughter were diligently repairing various pits and scars on the ground.

The two women’s attire hadn’t changed, they didn’t even have a scratch on them, and one could even discern a vague sense of relief in their expression.

“Weren’t they attacked by the Multi-eyed Bird here?” the third man couldn’t help but ask in a low voice.

“Do you think that’s possible?” the second man retorted.

After exchanging glances once more, they both fell silent, allowing Li Rushan to move forward for negotiation. From the marks on the ground and the surroundings, this place indeed had been attacked, but strangely, the mother and daughter seemed unharmed. There must be….

After their glance met, they quickly reached a consensus.

There must be a method to drive away the Multi-eyed Bird here!

After all, with just the three of them, their weapons and equipment far outclassed by theirs, how could such strength withstand the Multi-eyed Bird? Upon careful consideration, there must be some kind of special secret….

And if they could obtain this secret, it would solve most of the safety issues for their team!

After all, the most troublesome thing right now was the level-four danger Multi-eyed Bird.

“Yu Hong! Are you there?”

Qiu Yanxi and her daughter also noticed the three men approaching and quickly ducked into their wooden hut.

They did not plan to deal rashly with these people. Their relationship with Yu Hong was still stable, and as long as they avoided trouble, everything would be secure until the rescue team arrived.

Since these people weren’t here for them, Qiu Yanxi very wisely made way. Just to avoid disturbance.

Li Rushan didn’t care about the two women either. Among those he had driven out earlier, there were no lack of people with status and backgrounds similar to the two women; even they were abandoned without hesitation.

In such an environment, everyone was helpless.

Seeing no reaction, he called out a couple more times.

Finally, the door of the cave opened.