Night of Despair-Chapter 187 - : In the Darkness 1

Chapter 187: In the Darkness 1

Under the bright white light inside the stone castle,

the warm and clean interior air made Lin Yiyi and her companions feel like they had fallen into a dream.

Xue Ningning, An’an, Ou Li, and Lin Yiyi — they were all who remained of the team.

Three fewer than when they had set out, nearly halved in number.

The four stood in the cozy stone castle, listening to the relentless downpour outside, momentarily lapsing into silence.

“Right, Xiao Jun, she…!!” Xue Ningning suddenly exclaimed.

“I’ve checked.” Yu Hong, having removed his suit, revealed a well-proportioned, rock-solid physique. “Killed an elephant worm, found no one else.”

Silence.

Xue Ningning’s eyes reddened further as she stood by the doorway, back against the stone wall, fists clenched tight.

Too cruel.

She wanted to say something, but found herself speechless.

She had thought she was accustomed to loss and separation, yet, faced with it again, she was overwhelmed with oppression.

“Actually, when I got there, most of the elephant worm’s legs had been blasted off,” Yu Hong added. “Your teammate’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain.”

He regarded the four before him.

Two were in suits, two only had breath valves on. They looked exceptionally ragged, with visible damage to their suits and wounds on their bodies.

Apart from that, they all emitted a strong, sour smell. Clearly, they hadn’t bathed for a long time, a fact made obvious as they were now soaked by rain.

Yu Hong’s gaze ignored the others, focusing solely on Lin Yiyi.

“Yiyi, don’t go out again after coming back this time. The environment outside is no longer suitable for casual excursions.”

“…” Lin Yiyi didn’t respond, only remaining silent.

“Mr. Yu, you’re so strong… can you teach us?” An’an, standing beside her, spoke up. “To be able to directly defeat the Black Disaster… I’ve never seen an enhancer as powerful as you!”

Hope shone in her eyes, along with an unmistakable pain and fear.

“So far, I haven’t found a way to teach others to be like me… I’m an anomaly…” Yu Hong said calmly, his gaze still fixed on Lin Yiyi.

“Anyway, now that you’re back, take some time to rest up, adjust your condition. It’s safe here, unlike other places.”

“Thank you, Mr. Yu!” Xue Ningning collected her emotions, giving a bow in antique fashion. “No matter what, we’ll remember the favor you’ve done by saving our lives!”

“I’m sorry, according to the camp rules, only Yiyi is a formal member and can enjoy complimentary food, shelter, and medicine. The rest of you will have to trade for what you need. And you won’t be staying here; you’ll have to go to the secondary security zone outside the outer courtyard,” Yu Hong stated matter-of-factly.

“…” Xue Ningning’s gratitude faltered a bit, but she quickly recovered, saying, “As it should be.”

“Hm. You can leave now,” said Yu Hong tersely.

Once again choked up, Xue Ningning glanced at the others, and with no other choice, she turned and left first.

An’an and Ou Li followed, casting one last look at Yiyi before they walked out the wooden door, closing it behind themselves.

In an instant, the only people remaining in the grand hall of the stone castle were Yu Hong and Yiyi.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Yu Hong asked.

“I’m, okay …” Lin Yiyi shook her head.

“Go take a bath, get a good night’s sleep. With me here, it’s very safe,” Yu Hong reiterated the safety, softening his voice.

“…” Lin Yiyi removed her breath valve, glanced at him with a somewhat wooden expression, and nodded.

She was soon led by Yu Hong to the stone castle’s bathing room.

Hot water cascaded down, and soon after, soft, suppressed sobs could be heard from within.

Yu Hong let out a sigh and stepped out of the stone castle to the outer courtyard’s fence.

Xue Ningning and the other two were already setting up their shelter.

Seeing him approach, Xue Ningning took the initiative to come forward.

“Our vehicle broke down far away, we’ll go get our things when the rain eases up. Mr. Yu, can you give us a list of what we can trade? How do we exchange for clean, safe drinking water and food? And medicine — as you’ve seen, we’re all in poor shape and also need some dry, warm blankets,” she said, her expression weary, mustering the energy to communicate with Yu Hong.

“You can map out for me the situations of the Black Disaster you encountered on the way, as well as the routes of the Black Disaster Rifts you’ve charted. I can provide free hot water and ensure safety in the nearby area, considering Yiyi’s connection. I’ll allow you to set up camp here,” Yu Hong, no longer as impatient as before, said.

The hot water was a byproduct of the nuclear reactor’s cooling system, a matter that was easy for him to arrange with a word.

“Thank you very much, Mr. Yu.” Xue Ningning nodded, expressing her gratitude sincerely.

No matter what, even if he had acted to save them for Yiyi’s sake, their lives had been saved. That favor was to be acknowledged.

The rules were only fair.

Having arranged all this, Yu Hong brought over a long hose, connected it to the hot water, and left it at that.

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He returned to the cave, brought Yiyi some nutrients and medicine, and instructed her on how to use them, then went back to rest in the cave.

Meanwhile, Xue Ningning and the others entered the tent, and Ou Li couldn’t help but squat down and cry.

“I thought I was a goner… really… Why do I have to live like this!? Why…” Her emotions were somewhat collapsing, and she shivered. The recent fall and being chased by the Black Disaster left her feeling terrified even in retrospect.

“Xiao Jun is dead, so is Xiao Ji, and A’sheng.” Xue Ningning said in a low voice, “If it weren’t for Mr. Yu’s intervention, we would all be dead. That’s the way the world is now.”

The three of them stopped talking, and for a while only Ou Li’s suppressed crying could be heard.

After crying for a long time, An’an spoke again.

“Mr. Yu’s power is so strong that even the Black Disaster can be blown up; it’s simply terrifying. He’s obviously gone far beyond the realm of enhanced humans… If we could stay here at the camp, perhaps we would have significant assurance in terms of safety.”

“Do you want to stay?” Xue Ningning looked at her.

“No, I mean you and Ou Li, you don’t need to follow Yiyi and me to investigate anymore. We are doing this to look for our own relatives, you don’t have to.” An’an’s demeanor was calm.

“You still plan to go!?” Xue Ningning asked in astonishment.

“I stopped caring about life and death a long time ago. In a world like this, even if one survives, there really isn’t much point.” An’an continued, “I believe my dad wouldn’t die so easily, so I will find him! Yiyi certainly feels the same.”

“What if you don’t find him?”

“Then we’ll keep looking, and if we die, we die on the road.” An’an answered, “So we are different from your team.”

Xue Ningning fell silent; she sensed a hint of self-destruction in An’an’s words.

“Find a way to stay, join the camp, Mr. Yu’s… strength is incomprehensible… but in this environment, strength is the guarantee of safety.” An’an spoke softly.

She recalled, the precedent when Yu Hong defeated the two Black Disasters, that exaggerated burst of power, destructive force, no matter how many times she thought about it, was always shocking to her.

The night passed without words.

Early the next day, as dawn broke, Xue Ningning and the others, who had rested for the night, quickly dressed in dried luminous stone capes and braved the rain to return to their vehicle’s location.

The Black Disaster had been dealt with, the surroundings were relatively safe, they could handle ordinary shadows, and with daylight coming, the chance of encountering Big Skin Elephant Worms greatly decreased, making this the safest time of the day.

Even though daylight lasted less than an hour now…

Yu Hong didn’t help; he just sent a black lizard to follow Yiyi from afar, monitoring her to ensure she wouldn’t encounter danger.

Soon, as daylight faded, Xue Ningning and the others returned to the outskirts of the camp, expanded their tents, brought back numerous pots and pans, and efficiently set up a makeshift small camp.

As the sky darkened again, it wasn’t long before Xue Ningning stood by the fence with a drawn map and a notebook filled with intel.

She didn’t know how to contact Yu Hong.

They were over sixty meters away from the cave, visibility was extremely low amidst the fog, and it was impossible to see what was happening around the cave.

“In the future, just knock on the fence, I can hear it.” Yu Hong’s shadow appeared from within the yard.

He was still in that enhanced suit, only washed clean by the rain, its surface reflecting a bright luster in the light.

“Okay, here’s the information you wanted.” Xue Ningning handed over the items she was holding, while the other hand held a large umbrella to keep the notebook from getting wet.

Yu Hong took the map and notebook, flipping through them quickly.

“The map records many places we’ve explored along the way, as well as resource storage points that haven’t been relocated yet. It includes a noodle warehouse, a dry noodle warehouse, and a smoked meat warehouse, all marked on it,” Xue Ningning’s voice spoke in front of him.

“And the intel?” Yu Hong asked without looking up.

“It’s in the notebook. Also, on our recent outing… we found something very wrong…” Xue Ningning spoke gravely.

“What do you mean?” Yu Hong looked up at her.

“It’s like this, once when we had to drive for a long time at night, we came across a situation,” Xue Ningning said, her expression somber and tired. “At the edge of a mountainous area, we encountered a group of unique buildings that were completely different from modern society, perhaps a village or maybe ruins, we couldn’t tell. But… The place mysteriously disappeared when we passed by a second time! No matter what, we couldn’t find it.”

“…Are you sure the entire place disappeared?” asked Yu Hong.

Although anything could appear within the Black Disaster, whole places experiencing anomalies were fewer. To date, he had only discovered Huafeng City, that eerie city covered in massive black mucus.

“Yes. We checked over and over. Everyone in the car saw it; it wasn’t an illusion,” nodded Xue Ningning.

“I’ll be on the lookout.” Yu Hong said solemnly. “Anything else?”

“There’s some Black Disaster intel…” Xue Ningning briefly mentioned the types and noted that they were all recorded in the notebook.

As part of the trade, Yu Hong gave them some anti-inflammatory medicines, then turned and returned to the cave.

The heavy rain continued without any sign of stopping.

The group within the Black Wind Camp finally experienced a sense of safety and peace they hadn’t felt in a long time.

There weren’t even any shadows here – at most, they would climb trees to avoid Blood Tide.

Time passed slowly as they healed day by day.

Yiyi, within the camp, rested for the first two days well, but later on, couldn’t sit still any longer. She wanted to do something but realized she couldn’t do anything. The breeding box work was too complicated, and she couldn’t manage, so she could only stand idly by.

Apart from strength and her unique physique, it seemed she had nothing else.

Thus, after five days, she made the decision to leave again, heading towards Black Tree Village.