Night of Despair-Chapter 193 - : Hope One

Chapter 193: Hope One

Returning to the cave, the communicator also clearly picked up some activity.

“It’s the Black Giant Worm, a high-position Black Disaster within the Blood Tide, a Level 9 danger,” Zhang Kaijun stated calmly.

“….” For a moment, Yu Hong didn’t know what to say.

“Don’t worry, compared with the Evil Shadow System, the entities of the Black Disaster within the Blood Tide are more substantial. Although they are huge in size, they are actually easier to deal with,” Zhang Kaijun explained. “If nothing unexpected happens, the second wave of attacks might erupt tonight during the ‘black hour,’ according to the satellite cloud map. The intensity of the Red Value radiation cloud above my location has already peaked, at least an order of magnitude higher than the surrounding areas.”

“Can we withstand it?” Yu Hong asked gravely.

“We should be able to, but the losses might be substantial,” Zhang Kaijun paused. “If something happens to me this time… wait a second.”

He suddenly paused again, and his tone fluctuated slightly.

“Someone is connecting!”

Yu Hong’s heart skipped a beat. Someone connecting at this time, and still able to connect, could only be either the Black Disaster or it has to be one of the major strongholds!

After waiting for a while.

Soon, a faint rustling sound came from the communicator.

“Commander Zhang Kaijun of Gray City?” a gentle middle-aged woman’s voice came from the communicator.

“It’s me. Who is this?”

“I’m Xin Zhilei from the second Aurora City, current Head of the United Army’s Security Division. It wasn’t easy getting in touch with you,” the woman’s voice let out a slight sigh of relief.

“…. I’ve heard that the signals around Aurora City have been severely disrupted. Indeed, it was not easy,” Zhang Kaijun paused for a moment before confirming.

“The investigation team sent out by Gray City has developed an extraction fluid of great practical value. I managed to contact you because I was hoping we could cooperate with each other,” Xin Zhilei stated seriously. “There are not many people left alive in the entire Eastern River region. Only through genuine collaboration can we carve out a chance for survival amid the Black Disaster!”

“We can,” Zhang Kaijun replied indifferently. “What are the terms of the exchange?”

“Let’s discuss that in private,” Xin Zhilei said gravely. “The other person who is connected is Mr. Yu Hong from Black Wind Camp, correct?”

“It’s me,” Yu Hong quickly said.

“At this critical juncture, it is a key moment for the survival of all of us, and I also hope Mr. Yu can offer as much technical support as possible. We’ve made new progress with the drones and batteries here. If you need anything, it can be delivered to Gray City first and then transferred from there,” Xin Zhilei said seriously.

“Affirmative,” Yu Hong nodded.

“The vortex rune boards developed by Mr. Yu are indeed very effective; our intelligence personnel speak highly of them, but unfortunately, they cannot be replicated,” Xin Zhilei said. “I wonder if you could trade the mass-production technology for these rune boards?”

“I’m sorry, I’d like to, but the technology of the rune boards itself originates from my own uniqueness; aside from me, nobody else can replicate it,” Yu Hong exhaled and replied.

“Is that so? I believe Mr. Yu is not one to be shortsighted; it’s a pity….” Xin Zhilei sighed. “My time here is limited; I need to have a private talk with Commander Zhang next. I hope there will be an opportunity to meet Mr. Yu in person.”

“There will be an opportunity, I’ll sign off now,” understanding her implication, Yu Hong directly disconnected the communicator.

The conversation was swift and decisive. This Minister named Xin Zhilei clearly had a style similar to Zhang Kaijun’s, but she seemed more mild-mannered, more like a senior official from the orthodox United Army.

There was a gentle authority in her demeanor.

Sitting by the communicator, he organized his thoughts.

Pulling out a card, he quickly took note of the key points and wrote down the name Xin Zhilei and second Aurora City.

He sighed deeply.

‘I have to start fighting my battle too…’

Whether it was Gray City or Aurora City, those were places far away from him. What truly concerned his own survival was the camp.

‘According to what Zhang Kaijun said, tonight there could be a second wave of attacks. It’s a perfect time to test the effects of the recently enhanced Array. Having just added a new energy pack as a sub-array, the effect should greatly increase.’

The black lizards were still enhancing; future outcomes were uncertain.

Naturally, Yu Hong couldn’t wait another two days to test, now that this wave of attacks was timely.

He walked to the wooden door.

Looking through the peephole, he observed the stone castle outside.

‘If the Array can’t hold up, then it’s up to the effectiveness of the safe room here in the cave. The chamber inscribed within the safe room should provide a considerable concealment effect.’

He took out an Enhanced Red Value Detector, always checking.

Through the peephole, half of the view was blocked by the stone passage connecting to the stone castle, the other half gave a clear sight of the camp’s left side.

The ashy-black ground of the camp was pitted and scarred, residues from previous Black Disaster attacks.

The inside courtyard’s wall, like a ring of gray-white bones, uneven and no higher than two meters, was covered with fine Array Patterns, absorbing the surrounding air’s Red Value radiation.

The outer courtyard beyond that.

On the black soil of the outer courtyard, a mess of wild vegetables grew stubbornly, drawing from the weak light of the camp, and among them, a lonely little wooden shack stood in a corner.

Further away, at the edge of the outer courtyard, were the gray-black wooden fences.

Beyond the last fence was a roiling Black Fog.

The thick Black Fog seemed alive, moving and opaque, hiding everything from view.

Time quietly slipped away.

After cultivating his Inner Qi for a while, Yu Hong opened his eyes to check the time on the detector.

’22:47.’

‘The specific start time of the black hour is 24:00.’ He remembered the announcement broadcasted.

It was a precise answer given by the research institutions of Aurora City.

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Closing his eyes, he continued to refine his Inner Qi.

His Thunderbolt Leg was nearing the completion of the sixth layer, and right now, he urgently needed to strengthen his basis of power. The more Inner Qi he had, the more trump cards to his name.

At least if he couldn’t overpower the enemy, he could rely on an explosive release of Inner Qi to escape.

Time slowly moved on…

Soon, the numbers on the detector jumped one after another.

By the time Yu Hong opened his eyes for the second time, the time had reached 23:56.

Click.

He opened the door, stepping into the yard.

He stood at the edge of the inner courtyard, leaning against the stone castle’s gate and gazing out at the outer courtyard.

Quickly, four minutes passed in a flash.

As the time finally turned to 24:00.

Yu Hong looked up sharply, seeing the fog beyond the outer fence begin to churn.

The original black fog was gradually getting darker, becoming pitch-black like ink.

Even the white lights of the camp stopped abruptly at the fence, unable to illuminate the ground outside.

“Here it comes…” Yu Hong’s heart grew tense; outside looked just like this when that group attacked with their hands previously.

He squinted his eyes and found a step to sit down on with a thump.

After waiting for a while longer, he tentatively raised his hand upwards, little by little.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Whoosh!!

The moment his fingers surpassed 1.4 meters, a pale gray human hand suddenly stretched out from the black fog beyond the fence!

The hand appeared like it belonged to a refrigerator, its surface rotting, nails sharp and embedded with black mud.

It was a severed hand, the point of breakage just beyond the wrist, with no forearm attached.

Therefore, rather than saying it reached out from the fog, it would be more accurate to say that the hand flew out of the fog, grabbing towards Yu Hong.

Whoosh!!

A huge gust of wind began to stir.

The hand crossed the fence and instantly activated the ground array.

Hiss!

A burst of airflow shot upward from the ground, transforming into a crow the size of a human head.

The crow spread its wings, sparking a trail of black embers as it collided with the joints of the hand’s fingers.

Boom!

The airflow crow exploded.

The hand’s speed greatly reduced, slowing by more than half, from the speed of a racing car to that of a running person.

Before it could continue, a second airflow crow shot up from the ground, striking the palm of the hand once again.

Whoosh!

Black fire ignited the hand, quickly reducing it to black ash.

But that was just one hand.

Yu Hong still maintained his original action, his raised hand growing higher and higher, far exceeding 1.4 meters.

He could see the black fog outside roiling intensely.

As if something, something in great numbers, was about to burst forth.

He persevered, constantly monitoring the status of the array inside his seal.

In his mind, the Black Wind Defense Array that had just obliterated a human hand was still in good condition.

The supplementary capability brought by the secondary array gave the main array a lot of leeway.

Previously, one human hand could consume about one-tenth of the array’s stored energy. Now, with the two arrays working in tandem, a hand with tens of thousands of radiation values merely caused a brief flicker in the arrays, which quickly recovered to normal.

“The secondary array also has the function of absorbing red value to replenish itself, so this is like having two arrays absorbing and defending simultaneously; the effect should be much better than simply increasing the total storage capacity,” Yu Hong thought to himself, still fixating his gaze beyond the fence.

The churning black fog was clearly brewing an even bigger attack.

After waiting for less than half a minute, finally…

Pupupupu!!!

In an instant, a dense mass of pale gray hands broke through the black fog, forming a wall of white, bearing down on Yu Hong directly.

The ferocious sound of wind reverberated in his ears, and at this moment, the entire camp was filled with the mighty sound of the rushing airflow.

The wind, compressed, blew in every direction.

The intense pressure seemed to suck away much of the camp’s oxygen, making it difficult to breathe.

Yu Hong stared dead at the oncoming wall of hands, still holding up his arm.

He wanted to test the limits of the array thoroughly.

So, he remained motionless, sitting on the inner courtyard’s steps like a statue.

Bang!!!

The wall-like group of hands, easily a hundred of them, surged into the range of the array simultaneously.

In an instant, the array lit up.

From the black earth on the ground of both the inner and outer courtyards, intricate pale white array patterns emerged.

Amongst the layered patterns, there were a large number of vortex-like eye-shaped holes from which airflow continuously spewed out.

Bursts of released airflow condensed into multiple airflow crows in mid-air, rushing towards the massive hands like a wall.

Pupupupu!!

First, the decelerating effect took place instantaneously.

Right after that,

The crows, carrying black fire and Black Wind Erosion, continually annihilated the incoming hands.

Two seconds later, twenty hands dissipated into black smoke.

Three seconds after, forty hands again turned to black smoke.

By this time, the wall of hands had thinned out significantly, resembling a piece of white cloth full of holes, still moving slowly towards Yu Hong.

And the entire array’s light suddenly dimmed, indicating a significant drop in power.

It was evident that all reserves had been depleted.

Fortunately, the two arrays were absorbing red value simultaneously, converting it into negative radiation value and keeping the output going.

This state also caused the remaining hands’ skin to slowly turn charred black.

Their speed continued to decrease, now similar to that of a walking person.

“The stored energy has reached its limit,” Yu Hong knew what had happened.

With his hand raised, he quietly watched these hands fly towards him.