Night of Despair-Chapter 180 - : The Way of 178

Chapter 180: The Way of 178

“Survivors are extremely rare here, and the surrounding areas are almost all affected by the Black Disaster. If a War Level Black Disaster really emerges, there’s a chance the Eastern River upper echelon might resort to using nuclear weapons, simply erasing this whole region… Compared to the ruthlessness of Ferlica, dropping a few nukes in an almost uninhabited area is practically without obstacles…”

As he thought about this, he suddenly understood why everyone, like Old Li, was in such a hurry to flee to more populated places.

“No! It’s still too unsafe here! I must continue to fortify!”

An immediate sense of urgency rose within Yu Hong. He stood up and placed his hand on the wall.

“Strengthen the Black Wind Camp.”

The range of reinforcement was still within this cave; the stone castle outside was too vast and not cost-effective. Prioritizing an absolutely safe zone was the best solution for conserving the Black Mark’s time.

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“Direction: Strengthen the outer defenses to withstand large-scale nuclear blasts.”

As he silently made the wish, a black line flowed from the back of Yu Hong’s hand, but it quickly retreated.

“Unable to strengthen,” a cold mechanical voice announced.

Yu Hong wasn’t surprised; the request was too ambitious, and the response was somewhat expected. He had only tried as a test.

He repeated the strengthening request in his mind.

“Direction: Enhance the external defense of the safe house against explosive damage.”

After all, he had no other urgent needs for strengthening. He decided to give it a try and observe the effect; the trials with the native soil were not pressing, and he still had plenty of Large Pyroxene Stone graphite powder on hand. Since he had stopped making Radiation Hand Grenades, his consumption had decreased significantly.

The black line flashed, and this time it didn’t refuse.

“Strengthen Black Wind Camp?”

A countdown appeared: 7 days, 20 hours, 9 minutes.

Yu Hong looked at it and found it acceptable, so he affirmed the decision.

For now, the Black Disaster could be temporarily stabilized. However, when it came to explosions, it was evident the safe house fell far short. He needed to quickly address this weakness.

The communicator kept repeating the news; it was clear that Aurora City intended to use Ferlica as a negative example, contrasting how much more benevolent and just they were.

The countdown began to tick away.

Yu Hong breathed a sigh of relief and continued to adjust the dial, tuning the communicator back to the chat channel with Zhang Kaijun and Wei Song.

“Is there any other way?”

As soon as he switched over, Wei Song’s anxious voice immediately came through.

“No, given your limited conditions, if you don’t have extract as bait to simulate a living person, relying solely on what you have now, you’re unlikely to survive this,” Zhang Kaijun replied calmly.

“What happened?” Yu Hong asked quickly. It seemed that Wei Song was in trouble.

“You’ve come at just the right time, Yu Hong!” Wei Song’s voice rose, “Members of my camp suddenly started disappearing. At first, we thought they were killed by the Black Disaster while out, but then, for three consecutive days, someone disappeared every day. Not many, just one at a time, but… No matter how we check and cross-check, we can’t find the cause! I suspect there’s a new type of Black Disaster we haven’t previously recorded—like the Turn-Away Man you described! Do you have any solutions?”

“Have you tried everything?” Yu Hong asked, feeling heavy-hearted.

“Pyroxene Secret Room, detector distribution, sunlight material isolation, Pyroxene spray to increase air concentration, isolating corpses, and replacing spoken words with electronic sound… I’ve done everything I could!” Wei Song was clearly panicked.

“How many have died now?” Yu Hong continued to ask. He used death as a substitute for disappearance.

“Thirteen! Most importantly, they are all core internal members who live in the most central area of the underground base! This means that the core area is completely unable to block the Black Disaster and cannot guarantee absolute safety!” Wei Song replied hastily.

“Did you investigate if there’s any commonality in all the victims’ deaths?” Zhang Kaijun asked.

“Yes, they all disappeared when they were alone,” Wei Song answered.

As a leader, of course, she was no good-for-nothing.

“Then make everyone operate in pairs of two, never allowing anyone to be alone. Continue observing.” Zhang Kaijun instructed.

“I have an enhanced version of the Red Value detector that might be of help. You know the address, Wei Song, you can come and get it,” Yu Hong added, lacking a better idea.

“That’s too far… Sending someone would mean traveling over a thousand kilometers…” Wei Song said with a sense of helplessness.

“Aurora City is establishing an airborne trade fleet, using large silent unmanned drones to carry goods, flying along Black Disaster safe rifts. They’ve achieved some initial success. If you must, you can apply to them for help, though I’m not sure they’ll pay you any mind,” Zhang Kaijun said gravely. “After all, if I were them, I’d just drop a big one on your location and completely eliminate the threat.”

“…” Wei Song had no response.

She logged off, as she couldn’t expect to get help online at a time like this, and naturally wouldn’t carry on chatting as usual.

“Yu Hong.” Zhang Kaijun said calmly, “I’ve established a preliminary short-range small-scale trade network here. I’ve managed to link up with about six different sized survivor settlements around us. I’ve organized the trade myself, using safe routes between the Black Disaster Rifts to exchange materials and equipment. Do you want to join?”

“Trading materials and equipment? What do you have that I need? Are you selling luminous stones?” Yu Hong asked. Luminous stones were the only thing he was lacking now.

“I can. I’ve stored enough to last for decades, so giving you some is no big deal. I need your Vortex Talisman Plates and some high-end equipment and weapons. Can you do repairs? I’m strong in the biomedical field, but lacking in other areas.”

“I can. What will be the price?” Yu Hong asked.

“One standard-size Vortex Talisman Plate for one kilogram of standard density luminous stones…”

“That’s too cheap…” Yu Hong began to haggle with the other party. He was very interested in the various materials Zhang Kaijun had to offer, and the luminous stones could serve as a backup if research on the native soil yielded no results.

After a period of verbal fencing, they reached a consensus.

“Right, a few people came from your place to join us here in Gray City, including a kid named Aisena who claims they can’t be attacked by the Black Disaster. They want to join Gray City. You know about this?” Zhang Kaijun suddenly changed the subject, speaking in a grave tone.

“….So it’s them…” Yu Hong was taken aback. “Follow the rules,” he said indifferently.

Since the other party had made their choice, he wasn’t going to interfere.

“Of course, we’ll follow the rules, safety is paramount, even if you begged it wouldn’t matter,” Zhang Kaijun said with a smile.

“By the way,” he reminded, “according to satellite observation, there might be heavy continuous rainfall soon, so prepare well.”

“Don’t worry.” Yu Hong had no intention of going out now. After the black lizard was enhanced, a three-kilometer radius was enough for him to rely on the black lizard to collect various things.

Once the communication ended, Yu Hong took out four pieces of black-plastic-like items left by the insect man.

Listening to the unceasing heavy rain outside, he was lost in thought.

In the days that followed.

He continued to rigorously practice the Thunderbolt Leg Technique, and his Inner Qi soon rushed to the eighth strand of the third layer. Including the second layer’s Inner Qi that hadn’t disappeared, he now had seventeen strands of Inner Qi, which could be said to be astonishingly enduring.

But whenever he relaxed even a bit, he would remember the insect man who he didn’t even dare to touch. And there were the huge bird-like Black Disasters that passed far away, the giant oceanic Black Disasters that had obliterated Baihe City.

Compared to these terrifying creatures, his strength was still far too inferior.

Seven days quickly passed, and the Black Mark enhancement was complete. There weren’t many changes to the cave this time, only that the walls and wooden door were covertly thickened by a large layer, indiscernible unless one looked closely.

Old Zhou was still rattling away every day, and who knows what doing, but aside from occasionally bringing over dried meat and mushrooms, his figure was rarely seen.

With the Black Mark idle, Yu Hong began to experiment with strengthening the mine’s original earth. Trying it with just the earth always resulted in failures according to the Black Mark, so he began to try adding various other things to it for synthesis.

As time went by day after day, his ninth strand of Inner Qi for the third layer of the Thunderbolt Leg Technique was also about to successfully condense.

Hiss…

Inside the stone castle.

Yu Hong wrote the date on a wooden board with a charcoal pencil: December 17th of the 22nd year.

The black pencil tip scraped across the brown wooden board, shedding powder.

Thud thud thud thud.

Suddenly, from outside in the courtyard fence, a clear sound of wood knocking came.

Old Zhou, who was digging drainage ditches in the yard, heard the noise, put down his shovel, took a Radiation Hand Grenade from underneath his raincoat, and carefully approached the direction of the sound.

The torrential rain outside was still falling, and everywhere inside and outside the camp was a watery marsh.

Before long, Old Zhou pushed open the main gate of the common passage, shaking the water off his raincoat before taking it off and striding toward the stone castle.

On the second floor of the stone castle, he pushed open the wooden door, holding up his bundle.

“Boss, can you believe a courier showed up? The postal service is operating again!?” His face revealed a strange mix of shock and joy.

“A courier?” Yu Hong was also slightly surprised.

“Yeah, it’s a speed-enhanced person who runs very fast, surname Chen, named Chen Jiazhe. He said that now the high-risk Black Disasters are basically fixed, the Black Disaster Rifts have solidified and been mapped, and it is now possible to travel relatively safely,” Old Zhou said with some excitement.

“That’s good news…” Yu Hong smiled, as he had already gotten the news from Zhang Kaijun, but hadn’t expected that so soon after, a courier would come knocking at his door.

This surprised him somewhat.

After all, even if the insect men outside were wiped out and had not revived yet, there were still Speed Men around. One wrong move in running and it would be betting one’s life.

“But honestly, that Chen Jiazhe, he seemed a bit… simple-minded,” Old Zhou whispered, shaking his head slightly.

“No sane person would want to go out at this time anyway,” Yu Hong said calmly.

“Isn’t this taking advantage of those fully-enhanced people?” Old Zhou sighed.

Yu Hong didn’t say anything but took the package.

The package was wrapped in thick waterproof plastic bags, layer upon layer, wrapped up tight.

With a slice of his fingernail, applying a bit of force, he easily slit the outer layer of plastic bags open.

Inside was a black rectangular metal box.

Upon opening the lid, it was stuffed with foam pieces. Among the white plastic, there was a luminescent stone wrapped again in thick plastic, with a letter pressed underneath it.

Yu Hong’s curiosity was piqued.

In such harsh conditions, was there actually someone sending him a letter?

He took out the luminescent stone and looked at it first. Through the transparent plastic, he paused slightly, noticing that this stone slightly resembled the symbols found in the luminous stone relics.

Moreover, this symbol was apparently something he had never seen before.

Setting the stone aside, he picked up the envelope.

The envelope was a light yellow color, with the front bearing two lines of crooked writing.

‘To Yu Hong personally.’

‘Sender: Lin Yiyi.’