Night of Despair-Chapter 181 - : Adventurous One

Chapter 181: Adventurous One

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In the shadowy forest, gray mist pervaded.

A long-haired figure wrapped in a black cloak quietly moved through the woods.

She was filthy all over, the cloak and the clothes beneath coated in thick black slime.

Her black hair was a tangled mess down her back, the untrimmed fringe covering most of her face.

Snap.

...

Snap.

After a few steps, she suddenly paused, spotting a cluster of brown mushrooms at the base of a withered tree.

With a burst of speed, she rushed over, crouched down, and carefully plucked the mushrooms one by one, placing them into a cloth bag hidden under her cloak.

The bag looked filthy, specks of dried black mud clinging to it, making its original color unrecognizable.

After filling the bag with all the mushrooms, the figure slowly stood up, looked around, and then cautiously continued onward.

“Shanshan….”

A familiar voice suddenly came from behind her.

She halted abruptly, standing still without turning around, only managing to tilt her neck slightly back.

Then, with a trembling gaze, she peered behind her out of the corner of her eye.

Behind her, amidst the hazy gray and white woods, dry yellow leaves occasionally drifted down on the wet ground, recently rained upon. Somehow, a familiar woman dressed in black had appeared.

“Shanshan, it’s Mom…” The woman’s face was gentle, her eyes, which should have been sharp, now carried a hint of heartache as she looked at the figure in the cloak.

“Come here… come to Mom…”

The woman said softly, beckoning gently.

The cloaked figure trembled all over, took a step forward, but didn’t turn back, as if she hadn’t heard a thing.

“Shanshan… where are you going?” Her mother’s voice continued from behind.

But she dared not look back at all.

She just bit her lip and kept moving forward, head down.

Thankfully, this was the Black Disaster Rift, so the other party did not approach, only continuing to stand still, silently watching her.

“Shanshan…. your dad has occupied a small stronghold again, and he asked me to find you and bring you back. You’ve suffered so much these days…”

The familiar female voice slowed her steps, progressively becoming slower.

Tears trickled from her face, creating two trails of lighter color.

Ignoring the voice behind her, she pressed onward, step by step.

Soon, there was no more sound behind her.

She exhaled in relief and quickened her pace, quickly reaching a rudimentary encampment enclosed by a fence.

Inside the camp, several small black tents were set up, and some people, draped in luminous stone cloaks like refugees, huddled inside, not daring to move freely. They either squatted or lay down as if half-alive, most of them remaining motionless.

More or less, all bore various injuries on their bodies, some wounds even festering, yet they remained apathetically here.

This was a safe zone they unexpectedly discovered, precisely located between two Black Disaster areas, where the shadow dared not intrude.

“Sister Xu… I brought today’s mushrooms.” The figure tidied the messy hair on her face, raising her voice.

The revealed face, though marred with grime and mud, faintly showed Wei Shanshan’s original features.

The voice echoed through the forest, but strangely, no one responded.

Everyone maintained their original posture, unmoving, as if they hadn’t heard a thing.

“….Sister Xu?” Wei Shanshan’s nerves tensed again.

She looked around and realized that for five seconds straight, the others in the camp still hadn’t moved a bit, keeping their original positions!

Cold sweat broke out again, her vision, blurred from long-term malnutrition, found it hard to see clearly, yet even through the haze, she sensed something amiss.

“Sister Xu??!” Wei Shanshan slowly began to retreat, recalling what Sister Xu had said when she saved her—the area should be safe for a short time, and encountering any anomaly would mean that the balance of the Black Disaster on both sides had been disrupted….

In such a case, the first thing to do upon detecting something wrong was to run away immediately!

The farther away, the better!

The map of the Black Disaster Rift, she remembered, everyone had to remember.

Wei Shanshan accelerated her retreat, quickly recalling other escape routes in her mind.

*Wait, the others who went mushroom picking haven’t returned…. And Sister Xu is missing too!*

*Sister Xu, who saved her, had also gone out to gather firewood—if she didn’t notice upon her return….*

*Wei Shanshan wanted so badly to stay and warn Sister Xu, but the intense fear made it impossible for her to stand still.*

*Her legs seemed to flee on their own, rapidly moving in the direction away from the camp.*

Without knowing why, tears welled up again, blurring her vision.

Wei Shanshan increased her speed, running toward the distance.

Thump thump thump thump.

Her chaotic footsteps echoed through the forest, making it feel even more desolate.

Suddenly, in her blurred vision, right ahead, a hazy gray figure in long clothes appeared.

The figure stood there, its obscure face vaguely smiling at her.

Sss.

Sss.

Sss.

The figure stepped closer to her, one step at a time.

“Who!?” Wei Shanshan halted abruptly, quickly stopping, and used her relatively clean forearm to rub her eyes, wiping away the tears.

But then, in a bizarre turn, the figure vanished.

Wei Shanshan quickly glanced left and right, without finding any other traces,

Once assured there was nothing, she reached for the only Large Pyroxene Stone she had in her arms, confirmed the route in her memory, and again fled toward the distance.

*She didn’t know where she was going, only that she had to survive… to fight tooth and nail to live.*

*

*

*

Black Wind Camp.

Inside the stone castle.

Yu Hong put down the envelope in his hand, quietly gazing at the distant mountains and forest through the window.

The letter from Yiyi meticulously described their current situation. On their continuous trek toward Black Tree Village, they encountered several types of Black Disaster they had never seen before.

Fortunately, by relying on a reinforced detector, they detected the Black Disaster early before it erupted, promptly locating the Black Disaster Rift, and evacuated the danger zone.

Later, they explored a luminous stone mining area, but unfortunately, the stones there had also been exhausted.

After a thorough search and investigation, Lin Yiyi found a new stone talisman required by Yu Hong and sent it over with a mailman she rescued along the way.

“A letter from a friend?” Old Zhou entered, washing his hands, and plopped down to rest.

He had just been out to maintain the outer courtyard fence, repairing the damaged areas.

“The rain has been so heavy, it’s been pouring for ages, and the ground’s nearly flooded. Quite a bit of the fence has slackened from soaking, and the symbols on the walls have worn away, needing repair.”

“Yes, let’s wait until the rain stops.” Yu Hong toyed with the new stone talisman in his hand. The Black Mark wasn’t over yet, and he didn’t know what effect this talisman had. He needed time to test it.

“By the way, Old Zhou, have you heard of a type of Black Disaster that causes people to disappear without any warning?”

In Stammering Yiyi’s letter, Yu Hong had read about such a Black Disaster, which they encountered at a small chance stronghold while exchanging supplies. They discovered the stronghold to be under threat from a mysterious Black Disaster, so they fled overnight.

“No warning at all? Are you sure?” Old Zhou frowned. Being in a safe environment at the camp, he really didn’t want to think about those terrifying Black Disasters. But since the boss was asking, he made an effort to recall.

“Yes, the only commonality was that those who vanished had been alone for some time before disappearing,” Yu Hong explained.

This type of Black Disaster, Wei Song had also encountered, and it was now mentioned in Yiyi’s letter. Capable of threatening Wei Song’s elite-gathering underground outpost, this was evidently a highly dangerous Black Disaster.

“Among the Black Disasters I encountered on the frontlines, two matched this description somewhat,” Zhou Xueguang, an experienced soldier, quickly identified the key points.

“Please, go on,” Yu Hong’s expression became serious.

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“One is the gray shadow. The attack’s specifics aren’t clear, but the aftermath is precisely as you described: no evidence or warning, people just vanish. Gray Shadow is a Level Six Black Disaster, difficult to defend against, but the lethality isn’t high. Compared to other Black Disasters that kill dozens to hundreds at once, it kills one by one, quite slowly.”

“The second kind is the Land Lake, a War Level Black Disaster. Its manifestation is that people drown out of nowhere in a large lake, unable to breathe or float, and their bodies sink forever into the mysterious lake, leaving only their gear and clothes. The Land Lake affects vast areas simultaneously, causing massive casualties that easily reach triple digits.”

“Gray shadow…. Land lake…”

Yu Hong stood and looked out at the sky, where rain started falling again.

“What was your response at the time?” he asked.

“We ignored the Gray Shadow; isolating the dead sufficed. On battlefields where thousands died daily, losing so few wasn’t an issue, and it disappeared after some time. For the Land Lake, we bombarded the initial site extensively, creating a massive pit, and… it vanished,” Zhou Xueguang shrugged, indicating his own lack of understanding. “Apparently, specialists from Silver Tower were involved, but I don’t know the specifics.”

“I see…” Yu Hong mused, “by the way, what have you been up to these days?”

“Getting some gear ready, preparing for future excursions,” Zhou Xueguang laughed, “I was just about to tell you—I plan on going out to search for my family. I can still feel they’re alive, waiting for me….”

“….How long?” Yu Hong was startled, not expecting the other to leave.

“Maybe another two weeks, tops. I’ll ration my own provisions, don’t worry,” Zhou Xueguang said casually, “this time, I’m also going to continue mapping out the Black Disaster Rift, filling in the routes around. Don’t worry, I’ll bring good stuff back.”

Yu Hong didn’t stop him; Old Zhou was a mature and obviously very shrewd guy.

“By the way, the outside’s been a lot calmer lately, as if the Black Disasters have quieted down. Where do they come from? What do they intend on doing?? Are they just claiming territories here?” he asked softly.

“No one knows. The initial rumors said Black Disasters emerged from the Gate of Despair, which originated from the Black Well. The Black Well came from the ruins, adjacent to the luminous stone mines. It’s hard to call it coincidence since all the ruins are identical,” Zhou Xueguang acknowledged.

“And what of the Gate of Despair? Did anyone enter it?” Yu Hong wondered.

“We couldn’t even approach it, let alone enter. Even the precise location of the Gate of Despair is unknown. Defending against the Black Disaster incursions already exhausts our strength,” Zhou Xueguang smiled bitterly.

Yu Hong sighed, turning toward the public corridor of the stone castle.

“I’ll go study this new stone talisman. You should rest early.”

“Thanks for working so hard, boss.” Zhou Xueguang smiled as he watched Yu Hong thoroughly leave, his smile gradually fading. Reaching for the pendant around his neck, he opened it to see his smiling family, took a deep breath, and pressed a kiss onto the photograph.