Night of Despair-Chapter 204 - : Behind the Scenes

Chapter 204: Behind the Scenes

A heap of method steps left Yu Hong’s head spinning, but as a researcher, in order not to be exposed he still managed to seriously pretend he was taking the matter to heart.

After the person opposite him had spoken at length, and finally getting to the end, Yu Hong decisively spoke up.

“I think I’ve got the general process down; this is a very time-consuming project, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Chen Tingrong replied, not yet finished. In fact, he wanted to say that it was a rare opportunity to demonstrate one’s value.

“So does Gray City have a translation device? I would like to study one,” Yu Hong quickly changed the subject.

What would he use a translation device for? Of course, for Black Mark Enhancement!

“Of course, we have many models, but they’re not much use; the translated languages probably don’t include what you need,” Chen Tingrong said.

“That’s fine; I plan to modify one myself to make what I need. It so happens that we also have a computer available,” Yu Hong replied with an easy smile.

“….You…” Chen Tingrong wanted to say that one person couldn’t possibly handle such a work volume, but considering the other side was the miraculous Black Wind Camp, a place that could come up with unscientific things like Vortex Talisman Plates, maybe they really could pull off some other black tech.

Soon, Yu Hong switched to talking with Zhang Kaijun, and the two agreed to purchase devices such as translation machines, recording pens, and a batch of new drones and master control devices.

Yu Hong paid with fifty Radiation Hand Grenades.

After the communication ended, he once again approached the previously delivered Symbol Production Machine Tool.

The long, rectangular machine, under the light, glinted with a pale, oily sheen, featuring computer connection ports and power sockets.

Yu Hong positioned the computer and the production line together and then reached out to press down on it.

At this moment, the Black Mark had already enhanced some of the luminous stone. Now, whenever he didn’t have a project to enhance, he would let the Black Mark work on the luminous stone.

The traded luminous stones were piled up inside the stone castle, and to enhance them all at once would take a very long time.

Hence, he planned to use a gradual approach, using his spare time to completely enhance the luminous stone.

‘Once I solve the automation issue with the production line, I’ll be able to easily produce all sorts of runes I need. By then, the only limitation I’ll have is the amount of Large Pyroxene Stone.’ Yu Hong pondered heavily.

‘Enhance production line; direction: improve full-automatic function, idiot-proof operation, allowing Inner Qi infusion for simultaneous inscribing, designing new runes on the computer…’

He mentally supplied the Black Mark with the features he imagined for the production line.

Quickly, a black line flashed by, and a countdown appeared.

‘7 days, 11 hours, 18 minutes’

‘Do you want to enhance the production line?’ the Black Mark asked.

“Yes.”

Yu Hong breathed a sigh of relief; as long as the Black Mark could perform the enhancement, nothing was a problem.

Just when his mood relaxed slightly—

The array within the mark transformed again, and the Red Value invasion from the Wood Bridge ramped up.

Yu Hong’s expression changed slightly as he quickly observed the array; from the array’s response, he could see that the Wood Bridge invasion had reached almost two thousand Red Value inputs per second.

‘I can’t wait for translation… I must resolve the Wood Bridge issue as soon as possible!’

He resolved in his heart.

*

*

*

Black Tree Village ruins.

Armored vehicles were covered with thick layers of luminous stone camouflage tarps, slowly moving through the night.

The convoy followed a strange route, now turning, now reversing, now stopping altogether.

Inside the vehicles, all the investigation teams and the joint military elite had no doubts.

This was the path of the Black Disaster Rift, a safe route risked by previous elite joint forces who had explored it.

Inside the third armored personnel carrier in the middle.

Xue Ningning, Ou Li, Yiyi, and Aisena had all gathered together. Besides them, there were also four other robust male soldiers, ready to deal with emergencies at any moment.

Everyone was wearing thick new protective suits, sitting silently in their seats, strapped in with safety belts.

Lin Yiyi was continuously flipping through a stack of colorful photos in her hands.

They were peculiar traces she had found and photographed inside the ruins, around the village.

These peculiar traces were left by her father and grandfather before the outbreak of the Black Disaster.

“Where on earth are you…?” Yiyi whispered softly.

“Yiyi, after this mission, I’ll accompany you to the big outpost near the Black Tree Village survivors’ concentration to investigate,” Xue Ningning said in a deep voice.

“No… it’s okay, I can… go by myself!” Lin Yiyi shook her head.

“Anyway, we are now on a mission to capture Sean from the Meisha family. Although we’re not the first investigation team, let’s adjust our condition as much as we can. I’ve heard that Sean Meisha is quite a handful. If you’re this distracted, it could be very dangerous,” Xue Ningning murmured a warning.

Beside her, Ou Li was holding his own chest, muttering under his breath, praying, or perhaps doing something else.

“I…” Lin Yiyi wanted to say something more.

Suddenly, from outside, a deep roar approached, like a wild beast.

Boom!!

The leading armored vehicle fired a grenade launcher; the explosion illuminated the surroundings momentarily.

But, unfortunately, the opponent was too fast.

A huge boom.

The mysterious shadow harshly collided with the first armored vehicle, flipping it on its side. It rolled several times before crashing against the mountainside beside the road.

The shadow turned around and charged toward the remaining armored vehicles.

Boom!

The armored vehicle carrying Yiyi and her companions was flipped over by a second impact.

Everyone screamed as the world spun around them, rolling over a dozen times before coming to a jarring halt.

The sound of heavy machine guns erupted outside, followed by continuous explosions.

Inside the vehicle, Lin Yiyi quickly unbuckled her seatbelt, preparing to make her escape, but immediately the armored vehicle was lifted by a great force and harshly smashed back down to the ground.

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Boom!

The body of the vehicle bent and caved inward, throwing Lin Yiyi and the others heavily against the inner walls.

This collision was as severe as being struck by a high-speed vehicle.

Yiyi felt dizzy, blood seeping from her nose and mouth. With difficulty, she crawled over to the others to help them release their seatbelts.

The hissing of leaking fuel could be heard inside the vehicle; they had to escape immediately.

Otherwise…

Once they managed to escape the armored vehicle with great difficulty,

the outside world was already a wreck, filled with ceaseless gunfire and explosions, armed helicopters strafing with their searchlights at low altitude, and Radiation Hand Grenades being thrown intermittently, combined with the bombing of enhanced pyroxene explosives to target the eerie shadow.

“Quick! Over here, someone’s injured!”

Yiyi collapsed on the ground, carrying Ou Li and Aisena on her back and shoulders, while Xue Ningning, also covered in blood with a blurred consciousness, followed behind.

“It’s a level seven Black Blood Rhino! Good thing Minister Xin realized something was wrong and called for support in time. Hurry, hurry! First, let’s stop their bleeding, give them oxygen!”

Voices surrounded the mutant humans, and Lin Yiyi, fading in and out of consciousness, could no longer hold on and slipped into unconsciousness.

She was a mutant, with a strong constitution and a significant advantage against the Black Disaster, but this did not mean she could maintain that advantage in the face of human firearms.

Before she fell asleep, she could continuously hear the soldiers of the Allied Forces thanking Minister Xin Zhilei.

*

*

*

Several days later.

Black Wind Camp.

Yu Hong looked grim as he watched the camp’s defensive Array, its power now reduced to only about two thousand units of radiation damage per second due to counter-corrosion.

The Red Value had invaded faster than he anticipated.

‘If this continues, the Array’s reserve of radiation energy will be depleted, and the entire camp will be unable to resist the Black Disaster from outside. Reliance on dragon lizards is pointless; there are only seven so far, far from enough.’

He turned around, donned his full gear, and returned to the front of the wooden bridge.

This time, he did not hesitate; he walked straight onto the Black Ship along the bridge.

The Black Ship moved slowly away from the bridge, silent and noiseless.

Yu Hong’s face under the helmet regained its calm.

‘In these days, I’ve been replacing the dragon lizards to explore that region every day. The lizards are unharmed and have survived, so it seems there shouldn’t be any significant problem if I go there myself. The key is to find a clue to remove the Red Value elevation from the wooden bridge.’

Shu Cheng had sent a translator device, which was immediately enhanced upon arrival. The previously enhanced production line had also manufactured a batch of Radiation Hand Grenades in preparation.

For this operation, he was wearing an enhanced White Bear suit that had been coated on the inside with Sunlight Paint, which effectively repelled the Black Disaster and cloaked his presence.

These were all things he had desperately wanted before, but, after contacting the main stronghold, all he needed to do was make a request to naturally acquire them.

Moreover, he even approached Gray City and the new Aurora City with a request to collect an entirely new set of rune symbols.

There was definitely a complete set of new symbols from major ruins available in Aurora City, which were now en route.

‘If I had a choice, I’d like to make complete preparations and wait until my Inner Qi was complete before departing. But…’

He stood on the ship’s deck, and soon, the side of the ship became partly visible as the Black Fog began to dissipate in the light of the atomic lamp, revealing a mysterious and unfamiliar dock.

The dock was filled with gray-white fine sand, and two black dragon lizards had already been waiting on the sand for some time.

These were the dragon lizards that Yu Hong had previously left behind for experiments.

Boom.

The Black Ship docked, coming to a stop.

Without a word, Yu Hong disembarked and steadily stepped onto the gray-white sand.

Just as he left the camp and stepped into the mysterious area,

in Black Wind Camp,

outside the fence, a series of blurry figures emerged within the Black Fog, encircling the entire camp.

Behind the multitude of figures, a mysterious person wrapped in a black suit—his eyes also covered with dark red glasses—stood between the branches of a tree, watching the camp.

“This is the only surviving camp in the surrounding area… quite intriguing. It’s remarkable that a single person could have lasted this long amidst the layered Black Disaster… This Yu Hong definitely possesses a secret that must not be divulged…”

The mysterious person muttered to himself as if conversing with someone unseen.

“Sister Lei suggests we probe a little to see what exactly he relies on to survive in the Black Disaster,” another person’s voice came from within the Black Fog.

“Based on the cloud map observations, negative radiation inside the camp has reduced a lot. It’s a good chance to test his defense mechanisms,” the mysterious person laughed—a neurotic kind of laughter.

“You try first. If the area is too clean and ordinary shadow baits can’t breach through, we’ll join forces and lure something more dangerous over,” another person said.

“It’s no use. The protective effects of the serum can’t deceive Black Disasters above level six. According to the records, this camp has previously resisted level eight Insect Men and Speed Men,” the mysterious person said unconcernedly, “So our target should be to observe, collect data and intelligence to figure out what Yu Hong relies on to combat high-risk Black Disasters. And ultimately, use the collected intelligence to find a vulnerability.”

“Why do we have to deal with this person? Wouldn’t it be better to include such a high-skilled research talent directly into the Association?” the other person asked, puzzled.

“You’re not wrong, but if this person lacks nothing and can resist high-risk Black Disasters, then why would he need to join the Association?” The mysterious person smiled. “That’s why what we need to do is destroy his reliance, make him need the Association… our help…”