A Night of Desperation-Chapter 71: Night Rain (1)
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Tl note :- Thank Thyme for the bonus chapter that are about to come .. first i will unlock all the chapters that are locked then i will start with the 20 bonus chapters!!!
And thank you Thyme for supporting and reading my translations :3
( i don’t think i will be able to upload all bonus chapters today cuz i didn’t actually had chapters stocked lol )
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Inside the mountain cave safe house.
Through a closed door, Yu Hong listened intently to the information being shared about the “Whisperers.”
“My name is Zhou Xiaoling, and this is my sister, Zhou Xiaoyin. We’ve only encountered a Whisperer once,” said the girl with a full figure, instinctively clutching at the fabric on her chest. She bit her lip, eyes reflecting lingering fear from the past.
“We used to work in a customer service company, taking calls all day long. After the Black Disaster, we were reassigned as emergency caregivers after receiving brief medical training to care for the wounded. Then, just recently…”
“How recently?” Yu Hong interrupted without warning.
“About two weeks ago,” Zhou Xiaoling thought for a moment before answering.
“Go on,” Yu Hong nodded, locking in that timeline.
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“Two weeks ago, our clinic admitted a special patient,” Zhou Xiaoling said, fear creeping into her delicate face.
Her body tensed, and she swallowed repeatedly, unconsciously leaning toward Yu Hong as if seeking security.
“That patient constantly talked to themselves, even when no one was around. It seemed like they were having natural, one-sided conversations.”
“Was there something invisible to the human eye?” Yu Hong frowned.
“No, no,” Zhou Xiaoling shook her head vigorously. “We initially thought the same thing. But no matter how we tested, the red values were normal. No abnormalities. Then the situation worsened—she’d start laughing out loud, suddenly, in dead silence, as if something made her very happy.”
“Sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes during the day. Eventually, no matter what we said to her, she grew impatient and ignored us.”
Zhou Xiaoling paused, her face turning pale with beads of sweat dotting her forehead.
“Until… one day.” Her body shuddered at a memory. Her sister, Zhou Xiaoyin, turned pale too, clutching Zhou Xiaoling’s hand as they hugged tightly for comfort.
“What happened?” Yu Hong glanced at the silver protective rune array behind the door to confirm it was still intact before turning his attention back to them.
“That day…” Zhou Xiaoling trembled more violently. She lowered her head and bit her lip as if consumed by fear. Her words were barely audible.
“What?” Yu Hong leaned forward, trying to catch her words.
“That day… she…” Zhou Xiaoling’s face turned white as she shrank into herself, trembling uncontrollably. Her words were fragmented, quivering with terror. Ŕ𝙖₦∅ᛒƐ𝙨
“Can you speak up? I can’t hear you,” Yu Hong urged.
“I’ll try,” Zhou Xiaoling nodded quickly, ready to continue.
But at that moment, her body froze, her expression vacant.
She was as rigid as a wax statue, her wide eyes filled with terror—fixed not on Yu Hong, but on something behind him.
Yu Hong instantly felt something was wrong. Grabbing his spiked club, he swung it behind him.
Whoosh!
The spiked club whooshed through empty air.
Seeing no threat, Yu Hong quickly leaned against the door and turned back to Zhou Xiaoling.
“What did you see?”
Silence.
Yu Hong blinked in surprise.
The Zhou sisters had vanished!
“Did they hide?” he wondered.
If they crouched in a blind spot of the viewing window, they could avoid his line of sight.
He knelt down and knocked on the door.
Knock, knock.
“Zhou Xiaoling? Are you there?” he called.
No response. Just an eerie, empty silence.
Yu Hong called out several more times, but still received no answer.
Thinking carefully, he donned his white bear bulletproof suit, armed himself with the spiked club, and grabbed the silver rune array. His hand hesitated on the doorknob.
“Wait. What if I run into that Whisperer? Or what if the Zhou sisters were bait for an ambush?” He loosened his grip on the doorknob.
“Better to wait. If they’re hiding, they’ll make some noise eventually. Whether they’re genuine or a trap, panicking now won’t help.”
Yu Hong sat cross-legged by the door, patiently waiting.
Time ticked by.
Ten minutes.
Half an hour.
An hour.
Two hours.
Thunder rumbled. It looked like rain was coming. But there was still no sound outside, and the red value detector remained calm.
Night was falling.
Yu Hong exhaled deeply and drank a cup of water.
Then he returned to the door.
Gripping the doorknob again, this time with greater resolve, he thought, “There’s been no movement for hours. The Zhou sisters must be in trouble. I need to check—whatever happened, it’s in front of my door. I have to see.”
Click.
The door handle turned, and the door creaked open.
Yu Hong stepped outside, spiked club in hand.
No one was there.
The courtyard was empty, just as it had been earlier. The Luminous grass plants were lush and vibrant again.
But…
Crouching down, Yu Hong examined the ground.
The ground was covered with white luminous stone powder—a byproduct of his stone excavation.
His own large footprints were clearly visible.
But something was wrong.
There were no other footprints.
The Zhou sisters had stood here for a long time. So where were their footprints?
Yu Hong’s eyes darkened as he searched the courtyard.
He found nothing but his own tracks. No sign of anyone else.
“If only my footprints are here, where did those two go? Were they even human?” A thread of doubt surfaced in Yu Hong’s mind.
Glancing around, he felt a growing sense of foreboding.
Returning inside, he locked the door, armed himself with his pistol and knife, and stuffed two silver rune plates into his chest pocket.
He hurried out of the cave and headed to the post office to find Li Runshan. As a mailman, Li might know something.
Puff.
Puff.
Puff.
Yu Hong walked quickly. With the sky darkening, he had to move swiftly and return promptly.
In just ten minutes, he arrived at the post office.
The stone post office was shrouded in darkness and silence.
The windows were covered with thick black curtains, the door was tightly shut, and thorny, poisonous brambles surrounded the courtyard.
Li Runshan, who usually enjoyed playing games with his daughter in the courtyard, was strangely silent.
Yu Hong frowned and knocked on the wooden gate of the courtyard.
Thud, thud, thud.
No response.
“What’s going on?” He squinted and knocked again.
Still no movement.
This wasn’t normal. Even if Li Runshan thought it was a Ghostly shadow approaching, he should have exchanged passcodes with him.
But there wasn’t a single response.
Yu Hong knocked again, this time much faster.
Thud, thud, thud.
Still no answer.
After some thought, he left the post office and quickly headed back.
He had planned to look for Old Zhou for some answers, but time didn’t allow it.
Glancing up at the sky, he saw thick clouds covering it. The darkness had descended much earlier than usual.
Boom!
A clap of thunder.
Fine raindrops started to fall, hitting the grass with a faint sizzling sound.
“There’s probably half an hour before it’s completely dark,” Yu Hong estimated, quickening his pace.
Living in such an environment had taught him to judge the night’s approach by observing the sky.
The journey back was uneventful, and he smoothly arrived at the courtyard. At the entrance to the mountain cave safe house, he took out his key to open the door.
As soon as he stepped inside, the raindrops outside intensified in an instant.
Rumble.
Thunder rolled as heavy rain poured down, beating the luminous grass into trembling submission.
Yu Hong switched on the electric lamp, and the bright white light immediately made him feel much safer.
After removing his suit, he returned to the door and looked outside through the viewing window’s glass pane.
“Could the Zhou Xiaoling sisters be Ghostly shadow? But Ghostly shadow don’t usually act so naturally. It’s impossible for them to have spoken for so long and with such ease. But if they weren’t Ghostly shadows, why didn’t they leave any footprints outside?”
Yu Hong couldn’t make sense of it.
He had originally intended to ask Li Runshan for information on the Whisperers, but the attempt had been fruitless.
His instincts told him that this Whisperer was probably more troublesome and dangerous than the withered maiden he had encountered before.
Watching the pouring rain outside, he quietly sat inside the safe cave. After resting for a while, he got up and resumed training in heavy leg techniques.
The eighth strand of internal energy was gradually forming again.
According to the heavy leg technique’s manual, completing nine strands of internal energy would almost fully enhance his body. Once the enhancement succeeded, he could move to the second level—training the second move, the side-body grab and kick.
The technique had three levels in total. It was simple, easy to learn, and well-suited to him.
Feeling on the verge of a breakthrough, Yu Hong relaxed, clearing his mind of recent events to focus entirely on training.
After over an hour of training, he started a fire and cooked some food.
Late at night, after confirming there were no black insects outside, Yu Hong finally lay down and crawled into his sleeping bag to rest.
“Yu Hong?”
“Yu Hong?”
In the dead of night.
Half-asleep, Yu Hong frowned as he was gradually awakened by a clear voice calling his name.
Groggily, he squinted at the glowing white rune patterns on the cave ceiling.
The grayish-white stone walls, the luminous rune patterns, and the rough rocky texture all looked the same as before.
The air was filled with a mixture of mushroom, jerky, protein bar soup, and moldy scents.
(End of Chapter)
