Night of Despair-Chapter 198 - : Belief in the 196

Chapter 198: Belief in the 196

“Daddy, will we die?” Aisena’s weary and childish voice came from beside him.

Li Rushan’s expression was wooden as he held his daughter’s hand.

“Don’t worry… there won’t be any trouble,” he said softly.

“In a moment, when I tell you to run, you bolt toward Gray City without stopping, got it?”

He swiftly removed the luminous stone blanket from his daughter, flipping it inside out, exposing the inner setup.

“Daddy… you’re supposed to come with me…” Aisena felt something was wrong and clutched Li’s hand tightly.

“You go ahead, Daddy will follow,” Li Rushan forced a gentle smile.

“Don’t worry, who do you think your dad is? I’m a former elite postman from the post office! I’ve gotten through so many dangers and difficulties, this is nothing!”

He pinched his daughter’s cheek.

“You go first, I can make my way over by myself. The main issue is you’re slowing me down, once you’re across, it’ll be much easier for me alone!”

Aisena’s face was pale, and she wanted to ask more.

But suddenly, she saw the group of shadows in front accelerating their approach.

Turning back, the shadows behind the isolation zone were also quickening their pace toward them.

“Run!!!” someone among the few survivors yelled.

The crowd scattered in every direction, drawing the shadows in front to split up and give chase.

At that moment, Li Rushan saw a gap open within the group of shadows and quickly removed the luminous stone blanket from his body, draping it over his daughter.

“Nana, run!!”

“Don’t look back!!”

Aisena covered her head and ran forward wildly. She didn’t dare to look up, focusing only on the ground.

“Nana, you can do it!!” Li Rushan cheered loudly.

He raised his hand and surveyed the countless shadows converging toward them.

Watching his daughter charge through the gap left by the shadows, climbing over a bombed crater, and running toward Gray City.

But halfway through, Nana slowed down, trying to look back.

“Daddy, hurry up!” she shouted.

“Daddy is still here!” Just a few meters away from Li Rushan, the space had filled with encroaching shadows.

He knew he definitely couldn’t escape.

“You go, Daddy has a way out.” Li Rushan raised his hand and saw his daughter start running again after hearing his voice.

He wore a relieved smile on his face.

Thump.

A shadow suddenly pounced, biting into his shoulder and tearing off a large chunk of flesh.

Li Rushan didn’t resist but flung his blood towards where his daughter was running.

Instantly, more shadows in that direction sped up and surged toward her.

“Daddy!!” Aisena ran for a while and shouted again.

“Daddy is here, keep going! Forward, don’t stop!” Li Rushan’s voice came from behind.

Aisena bowed her head once more and continued running, just running.

After a while, she screamed again.

“Daddy?”

“Run, Daddy is fine!” Li Rushan responded once more.

Aisena, with her unique constitution and covered in two layers of luminous stone blankets, astonishingly had no shadows approach her for a short span.

“Daddy!!”

As she was about to reach the walls of Gray City, she yelled once more.

Silence.

Running turned to walking, and eventually, Aisena came to a stop.

“Daddy…!”

She started calling out again.

But there was no answer from behind.

The shadows in that area were temporarily drawn away toward the isolation zone, and a basket was swiftly lowered from the wall of Gray City. A person jumped out from the basket, rushed over, scooped Aisena up, and rushed back to the basket.

Luminous stone bullets took down around a dozen shadows attempting to get close.

The basket quickly ascended, Aisena was held tight by the person, her head buried into them, motionless and silent.

Only her tears soaked through the other’s jacket, spreading slowly, growing larger and larger.

*

*

*

Black Wind Camp.

“There’s news for you, and I’m not sure if it’s good or bad.”

Inside a cave, Zhang Kaijun’s calm voice came through the communicator.

“What?” Yu Hong had just powered on the device when he heard this statement.

He contacted Zhang Kaijun daily, as a routine between them, to check-in.

“I’ve finalized the new investigation team representing Gray City, five people in total, including a youngster named Aisena,” continued Zhang Kaijun. “I rarely see a child so mature. She doesn’t look older than thirteen.”

“Aisena… then what?” Yu Hong furrowed his brow, knowing that Nana’s unique constitution meant standard Black Disasters wouldn’t attack her if she remained still.

But something didn’t add up.

“How can such a young child join an investigation team? What can she do?” he couldn’t help but question.

“It seems you know her,” said Zhang Kaijun. “It was the girl’s own will. She insisted on joining the investigation team. Moreover, as a member, after communicating with me and knowing I could contact you, she wanted me to relay a message to you.”

“What message?” Yu Hong suddenly had a bad feeling.

“She said her dad regrets it,” stated Zhang Kaijun calmly.

Silence.

Yu Hong guessed what had happened to Li Rushan the moment he heard those words.

If nothing had gone wrong, with Li’s character, he’d never allow his daughter to join the highly dangerous investigation team.

“She’s a good kid, with a special constitution, sensible, and resilient. Among the volunteers for this investigation team, she has the highest chance of survival,” Zhang Kaijun inferred something special from Yu Hong’s silence.

“Please tell her that if she wants to come back, she’s welcome here,” Yu Hong said solemnly.

“I will,” Zhang Kaijun replied. “The inner side of the luminous stone blanket Aisena carried when she entered the city was marked with large characters, stating she’s a mutant and that she won’t be attacked by certain Black Disasters when she’s calm. I’ve conducted a specific test and indeed, it is so. Then I quickly reported to the new Aurora City, and Minister Xin rapidly reviewed the city’s population and reshuffled the investigation team’s candidates.”

“So the candidates for this investigation team are likely to be mainly these types of mutants?” Yu Hong interpreted his meaning.

“Yes. How are things on your end? Do you have any good suggestions regarding those who close their eyes?” Zhang Kaijun asked.

“Everything is safe here, but the external environment is deteriorating very quickly. There’s insufficient information on the closed-eyed ones, so I don’t have any good solutions. If we could pinpoint the moment of their attack and the range of the Red Value they can unleash, we could target and counter this Evil Shadow effectively,” Yu Hong replied, collecting his thoughts and frowning slightly.

“Your detector has arrived, and it’s very useful with high precision. It’s helped the city screen some potential Evil Shadow risks in advance. The Vortex Talisman Plate’s reusability is also good, but we need to be careful of luminous stone disease. As for detecting the Red Value range… the attacks of the closed-eyed ones are very sudden and secretive, even more so than the Language Persons—they show far more signs. But the closed-eyed ones need only to close their eyes three times,” Zhang Kaijun explained.

“Is there no way to avoid them within the Pyroxene Secret Room environment?” Yu Hong asked.

“With the current technological conditions, no method has been found to avoid the closed-eyed ones. The only method is to remain with eyes open after noticing something is wrong, letting the rest use negative radiation to isolate the space around the attacked person. This can temporarily contain their killing, but several cases of luminous stone disease have already been caused by this,” Zhang Kaijun said in a heavy tone.

“By the way, the trader you sent earlier dropped a flyer. I’m not sure if it was on purpose, but it had the Returning Home Association printed on it,” Yu Hong changed the subject.

“Don’t bother with it, under suppressed desperation, people naturally seek additional outlets for spiritual pressure. The Returning Home Association is just that,” Zhang Kaijun said casually.

“Alright.”

Yu Hong broke off the connection and thought of Aisena as he let out a soft sigh and stood up.

He pushed open the door and stepped into the courtyard.

There, in the outer yard, two vehicles that had undergone the Black Mark enhancement were now completed.

What once had been the frame of a vehicle had vanished, and lying quietly on the ground was a large metal black sphere, about one meter in diameter.

Spike protruded from the surface of the black sphere, resembling an enlarged Meteor Hammer head.

At one end of the metal spiked sphere was a chain as thick as an arm, and at one end was a black object tied around the waist like a protective belt.

Yu Hong walked over and wrapped his hands around the metal ball, lifting with force.

Whoosh.

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His feet slightly sunk into the ground as he steadied his upper body and lifted the spiked black sphere.

‘Not bad.’

He tested the weight, about the same as an unmodified jeep.

Yu Hong balanced the sphere with one hand, grabbed the chain with the other, and gave it a powerful swing.

Whoosh!

The giant iron ball spun around him with a whistle.

The chain pulled the sphere, circling around Yu Hong, starting small and growing larger and louder.

Suddenly,

Yu Hong released his grip, hurling the sphere towards the exterior of the camp.

In the mist, a shadow flashed and then crashed heavily into the center of a thick tree.

Boom!!

The trunk of the tree snapped instantly, wood chips and debris exploded. Some of the roots also burst forth from the ground, shattered.

Yu Hong accelerated forward, landing beside the iron ball; he grabbed it and wrapped the chain around his waist.

Looking up at the sky, it was still a gray time.

He channeled Inner Qi into his legs, intending to return to camp to use the newly-made Black Mark to reinforce the secondary formation.

Since he completed most of the process himself, the reinforcement took much less time this round, only a bit over seven hours.

In fact, most of those seven hours were just for installation.

After ensuring the reinforcement was solid, Yu Hong, carrying the iron ball and filling his legs with Inner Qi, left the camp. He decided to go to the wooden bridge in the back to see if he could use the new weapon in combination with Inner Qi to completely destroy the location of the wooden bridge.

With this big guy on him, if he didn’t channel Inner Qi into his legs, he couldn’t even walk; every step would sink deep into the ground.

After all, the iron sphere with the chain and waist protector together weighed about four or five tons.

This weight would crack the cement ground, let alone the black soil in the mountains and forests.

Taking advantage of the gray time, Yu Hong quickly passed through the forest, soon arriving once again at the small river behind the cave.

The water of the river had encroached a few dozen meters closer to the back of the cave.

Standing by the river, engulfed in gray fog,

Yu Hong slowly took the iron ball off his back, exhaling steam from both sides of the breathing valve.

Hum.

Inner Qi swiftly poured into the chain and iron ball.

In an instant, the chain and iron ball were engulfed in a faint white glow.

Whoosh!

Yu Hong tossed the sphere upwards, pulling the chain to start swinging, spinning in circles.

The whistling sound of cutting through the air amplified with each rotation.

This was his first time using a weapon infused with Inner Qi, and its power would determine his main choice of attack method in the future.

All of a sudden,

Yu Hong swung his arm and hurled it forward.

The large iron ball turned into a blur, flying overhead at high speed toward the wooden bridge on the river.

Boom!!

A loud explosion echoed.

Stones on the riverbank scattered as if detonated. Black mud and water splashed up.

Half-buried in the ground, the iron ball had created a near two-meter deep pit in the earth.

With an expressionless face, Yu Hong drew the iron ball back, continuing to spiral and smash.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!!

One by one, he smashed pits of various sizes along this stretch of the riverbank.

Roar!!

A massive Multi-eyed Bird flew overhead, attracted by the noise, swooping down towards Yu Hong.

Snap.

The bird hadn’t even come close when it grazed the high-speed spinning iron sphere; it was instantly smashed, turning into a blood rain scattering down.

The remaining half of the bird, terrified, desperately wobbled away, gliding to escape.