Night of Despair-Chapter 165 - : Bad Situation One

Chapter 165: Bad Situation One

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More than ten minutes later.

Late night.

Yu Hong stood outside the campsite, watching Lin Yiyi gradually disappear into the distance. There was an indescribable expression on his face beneath his helmet.

Most of the radiation hand grenades, vortex talisman plates, and two detectors, along with a pile of newly collected bulletproof gear, were all given to Stammering Yiyi.

Additionally, to ensure her safety, Yu Hong also handed over his fortified sunshine paint, which he had originally prepared for his vehicle.

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Compared to himself in the campsite, Stammering Yiyi, who was going out to search for her family, needed this more.

He could go back and fetch more later to enhance his supplies.

But if the sunshine paint improved Stammering Yiyi’s concealment abilities, it might save her life at a critical moment.

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This item was merely a luxury for Yu Hong, but for Stammering Yiyi, it could be a lifesaver.

Watching as Stammering Yiyi’s figure disappeared into the mist with her large and small bags, Yu Hong turned around and headed into the inner courtyard of the campsite.

Li Rushan and the others had come out and were inside the courtyard wall, seeing her off. They had helped carry a lot of the items just now.

“Going out at a time like this, isn’t it just courting death?” Old Li sighed helplessly. He had arrived later and wasn’t as familiar with Stammering Yiyi.

“There are always people who value certain things more than their own lives,” Zhou Xueguang said quietly, looking melancholy as if he were reminded of something.

“By the way, the luminous stone in the camp is running low. Are you going to get it this time, or should I?” Li Rushan asked.

The last batch was partially dug out by Ding Shao and another person, but they didn’t mine much. Additionally, facing the Level Eight Black Disaster speed man earlier consumed a significant amount of radiation hand grenades.

Even if Yu Hong had the black mark, he had to make enhancements based on large pyroxene stone graphite powder.

The foundation of large pyroxene stone graphite powder was enhanced from ordinary luminous stone powder.

Therefore, the quantity of luminous stones determined the safety of the campsite. According to Zhou Xueguang’s set standard, this quantity must be maintained above a certain level to prepare for potential situations where they couldn’t venture out.

“I’ll go,” Zhou Xueguang said as he moved his arms, feeling mostly recovered.

With good food, good sleep, no worries, and ample nutrition, his injuries naturally healed quickly.

He glanced at Yu Hong but didn’t disturb him. Instead, he fetched his tools and gathered his set of safety equipment and weapons, preparing to leave at dawn the next morning.

Doctor Xu stood in the empty space of the inner courtyard, holding her stomach, and gazed in the direction Stammering Yiyi had left, seeming lost in thought.

She had just prepared quite a bit of homemade medicinal powder for Stammering Yiyi. Now, with sunshine becoming scarce, producing the powder became increasingly difficult. Barring that the main ingredient for the anti-diarrhea medicine was soil, the raw materials for anti-inflammatory medicine required herbs.

But now…

“Go back and rest. She’ll be okay,” Yu Hong said softly as he passed by her.

“Mm… I hope she can come back in time to see my child…” Doctor Xu said gently. “They might become good friends…”

“…” Yu Hong didn’t say anything, turning to walk through the inner courtyard into the cave.

Bang.

The door closed.

He took out the large pyroxene stone graphite powder again and began processing new radiation hand grenades.

The air purifier was set in one corner. Besides that, all the gains from the outing were given to Stammering Yiyi.

She didn’t want them, but he had forced them upon her.

*Despite this, every time he thought about the Level Eight Black Disaster speed man they had just fought against, heavy concern welled up in his heart.*

*Even they had fought so hard against it. What would happen if Stammering Yiyi’s team encountered such a thing? Would they even have a chance at survival?*

*Could ordinary folks really survive if they came across one of these?*

He sighed and focused on crafting a new radiation hand grenade, clearing his mind of distractions, and concentrated on his training.

*Time flowed on relentlessly.*

An entire night passed by in the blink of an eye.

The next morning, after breakfast, Yu Hong discovered that there was little nutritional paste left in the basement.

Thump thump.

In the basement, he patted the container holding the nutritional paste and estimated there were about twenty-five tubes left inside.

*”Five people in the camp, and I need to consume two tubes a day to be satisfied. That means six tubes a day, and there are only four days’ worth left….”*

Yu Hong closed the lid of the nutritional paste with a blank expression.

Initially, he could have managed for a bit longer, but he had given some of the nutritional paste to Stammering Yiyi yesterday, leaving him with only these.

He wasn’t overly concerned and walked to the side to look at another box.

Inside, dried mushrooms, dried cockroaches, dried lizards, and some wild grass roots were sorted and sealed inside plastic bags.

These were the foodstuffs he had instructed Old Zhou to collect and process.

The stock here was roughly enough to sustain six people for a month.

Reaching out, he separated some to keep as backup and placed his hand on the surface of the plastic bags, silently chanting in his heart.

*”Fortify the nutritional paste, direction: increase calories, enhance human absorption rate, transform into a long-preserving strategic food.”*

Based on his past experience, as long as he envisioned what something should become, enhancing it would forcibly guide it in that direction.

So, all he needed was the desire for nutritional paste, and these items before him could be fortified into nutritional paste.

Soon, a black line suddenly shot from the back of his hand into the food in the plastic bags.

A mechanical voice from the black mark inquired, and Yu Hong affirmatively responded before letting go, watching the countdown appear: 7 days, 2 hours, 17 minutes.

*”Not bad.”* He could wait seven days. It just so happened that building the stone castle would also take time.

After confirming the countdown, Yu Hong headed up a level to get some dirty clothes to scrub, as there was no washing machine or detergent of any kind. He could only use hot water to wash them by hand, so it was hard to get rid of the stench of sweat.

But thankfully, with the hot water system completed, the air in the cave became quite dry, letting the clothes dry quickly when hung up.

In ten minutes, he rapidly scrubbed his clothes and took care of his personal hygiene issues.

He was just about to start training when the wooden door of the cave was knocked heavily.

Knock knock knock knock.

“Boss, something’s happened!” It was Old Zhou’s voice.

Yu Hong furrowed his brow, quickened his steps, and opened the door.

“What’s the matter?”

Outside the door, Zhou Xueguang was panting heavily, his forehead covered in sweat, lips pale, and even trembling slightly.

His eyes were filled with terror, his muscles taut like steel wires about to snap.

“It’s the mine! The pyroxene mine!” Zhou Xueguang shouted, “Boss, the mine is depleted!”

No more mines!?

Yu Hong’s eyes narrowed.

The foundation of him establishing the camp here mainly rested on the nearby pyroxene mine, where they could mine and produce large pyroxene stone graphite powder any time.

Currently, all the defensive weapons in the camp came from large pyroxene powder.

But now, Zhou Xueguang was telling him that the pyroxene mine was depleted!?

Yu Hong looked to the others in the courtyard.

Li Rushan had a grave expression, speaking quietly with his daughter, Aisena, and he was already equipped for going out.

Doctor Xu stood dumbfounded by the inner courtyard wall, looking off into the distance, with Ding Shao beside her, speaking softly.

Usually, Doctor Xu’s mental state was far better than Ding Shao’s, so most of the time, she was the one consoling Ding.

But this time, the roles seemed reversed. Ding Shao was using a calm and composed demeanor to quietly comfort Doctor Xu.

“Let’s go check it out!” Yu Hong said grimly, quickly donning his weapons and equipment, and let Old Zhou lead the way to the pyroxene mine.

He and Old Zhou jogged along, breaking up several lurking shadows, and soon they reached the entrance of the pyroxene mine.

Standing before the mine entrance, Yu Hong looked into the familiar openings one by one.

Before, when he entered, the edges of these openings would litter with some whitish pyroxene mine sand.

But now…

He approached and squatted at the entrance, reaching out to grab a handful of fine sand.

What was once white pyroxene sand had now completely turned black.

With a gentle squeeze, the sand disintegrated and fell through his fingers.

The expression beneath Yu Hong’s helmet turned exceedingly dark.

With one hand, he grabbed a radiation hand grenade and entered the mine.

Originally, there were quite a few patches of less pure pyroxene on the walls of the cave, but now, these pyroxene deposits all turned black.

Yu Hong continued forward, taking out his atomic lamp and illuminating the way deeper into the mine.

But no matter how far they ventured in, they didn’t see a single piece of pyroxene.

The two quickly exited the mine and attempted to check several other mines, yielding the same results.

No pyroxene, not even low-purity pyroxene ores.

The two stood in front of the mine, staring at the various-sized openings, unmoving for a long time.

The expression under Yu Hong’s helmet was exceptionally grim.

*Without pyroxene, how much of the camp’s defenses would remain?*

He speculated slightly about this possibility: without pyroxene, there would be no more pyroxene talisman plates, no more vortex talisman plates, and no more concealing symbols.

All required large pyroxene stone graphite powder to be effective.

And what remained in the camp was the Black Wind Protection Array, which could still operate. The Black Lizard, too, could self-sustain by absorbing red value radiation to compensate for consumption.

But the weapons were all gone.

No radiation hand grenades, no pyroxene talisman plates; at that time, all external weapons and defensive tools would be completely restricted.

Even with his inner qi and Thunderbolt Leg Technique, he dared not venture out to scavenge for supplies without radiation hand grenades.

“What do we do now?” Zhou Xueguang’s face revealed a faint trace of despair.

Without pyroxene, it was almost a death sentence for ordinary people.

He didn’t know that the Black Wind Protection Array could self-recover by absorbing red values, or that the Black Lizard didn’t require pyroxene consumption, nor was he aware that Yu Hong possessed inner qi, which could moderately counter the Black Disaster.

All he knew was that without pyroxene, all weapons would fail, even sunlight materials were extracted from the inner substances of pyroxene…

“Let’s head back first!” Yu Hong took a deep breath, feeling extremely grateful now that he had previously used the black mark to fortify the Black Lizard and the Black Wind Protection Array, as well as the wooden house structured with vortex talisman arrays.

Otherwise, even the foundational security of the camp would be in question now.

“Don’t worry, the equipment I set up previously doesn’t really need further pyroxene investment anymore. Only radiation hand grenades and talisman plates will be affected,” Yu Hong’s words slightly reassured Zhou Xueguang.

The two quickly returned, not making a sound along the way.

They soon reached the camp, and Old Zhou went to explain to the others what he had seen, also summarizing Yu Hong’s recent words.

But despite his words, both Li Rushan and Ding Shao felt a looming sense of doom.

The two coordinated with Yu Hong, quickly starting to grind stones and build the stone castle as instructed.

“Boss, are you sure it won’t affect the camp?” Old Li asked in a low voice after working for a while, unable to suppress his doubts.

“It won’t. It will only affect going out. Rest assured on that front…” Yu Hong stated with confidence.

His composure clearly relieved the others.

This sense of steadiness quickly spread to the remaining people, calming the worried camp once again.

But only Yu Hong knew.

*Relying solely on the Black Wind Protection Array and the Black Lizard was inadequate to fend off high-risk Black Disasters… Without pyroxene and radiation hand grenades, the camp’s defensive capabilities had substantially dropped.*

*Yet he had no choice, so he had to at least keep everyone reassured for now.*

So, he kept working and fortifying the radiation hand grenades.

In the following days, he continued to use up his stock of luminous stones, replenishing the unfortified radiation grenades back to a hundred and then stopped.

The remaining pyroxene would be entirely fortified into large pyroxene stone graphite powder once the food was enhanced and stored away. After completing everything the previous night, Yu Hong focused all his energy on training and building the stone castle.

The progress of the stone castle was swift with his full participation, and they had now erected the basic four walls.

Using a dry-lay method, the stone castle’s structure was centered around the array, layered in opposing rectangular blocks.

The top used several meters-long and wide thick stone slabs, placed as a frame, then coated with wet mud for waterproofing, and a layer of thinner, beveled stone tiles was laid on top to prevent water from collecting in one spot for too long.

And thus, the roof was complete.

The final step in construction was completed by Yu Hong.