Night of Despair-Chapter 90 - : Situation at Bureau 88

Chapter 90: Situation at Bureau 88

“Heavy Leg Skill’s foundation comes from the basic leg techniques taught by Old Li, with the primary function of strengthening the body. Only with this complete foundation can one obtain recognition from the Black Mark and become strengthened.”

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“And if I want to acquire a cultivation technique that targets both shadow and Evil Shadow, I must first have the same complete foundation. That is, the basic method of training oneself to fight against the shadow…”

“This method… even if it’s rudimentary, as long as it’s complete, it can be strengthened… The current issue is, where to find this method…”

Yu Hong sat in the basement deep in thought.

“The main things against the shadow are the luminous stones, Large Pyroxene Stones, and the talisman arrays on them. If I draw the talisman array on myself, would that count as practicing?” Yu Hong pondered.

He did as he thought, and after recovering some energy, took off his suit and went up to the cave above to wash his body and skin with water. Then he took out the freshly ground Large Pyroxene Stone powder, mixed it with water, and skillfully drew a small rune on his left forearm.

He had become extremely adept at drawing these runes nowadays. After all, he had drawn countless ones throughout the whole safe house.

After completing it, he placed his hand on the talisman array and silently thought about strengthening.

“The completion is insufficient.” The Black Mark didn’t even move its black line, directly giving feedback.

Yu Hong frowned, wiped off the rune, and wandered around the cave, when suddenly an idea came to him.

“What if I could control my Inner Qi to draw a rune inside my body? I wonder if that would work?”

But for now, this experiment was impossible because after the breakthrough, all the Inner Qi within him had disappeared, as if all his previous accumulation had been used up.

“It looks like I need to continue strengthening the safe house to ensure absolute safety, to be self-sufficient, while slowly researching the issue with the cultivation technique.”

Once he had a clear goal, he cooked something to fill his stomach and put on the smelly, strengthened polar bear suit and opened the large door.

Click.

The sunlight outside was cold and clear, and the cold wind howled.

Yu Hong was stunned, standing in front of the door without moving forward.

The reason was simple: at this moment, in the courtyard, Wei Shanshan’s mother, Qiu Yanxi, was squatting beside the little cabin, with her pants down, exerting effort.

Although she was facing sideways to the cave entrance and was obscured by luminous stone bushes, so nothing could be seen clearly, except for a white patch.

But at that moment, Yu Hong saw her.

Qiu Yanxi also heard the noise and saw him.

Their eyes met.

Both froze in place.

Qiu Yanxi’s face instantly began to fill with blood, visibly reddening, blushing.

She quickly grabbed some leaves, wiped her backside, pulled up her pants, and ran to the cabin.

She didn’t even dare to make a sound, fearing she might wake her daughter who was asleep.

Soon, with a soft sound, “puff,” the wooden door closed. Everything quieted down.

Yu Hong, wordlessly, picked up the Wolf Fang Club and the giant wooden shield, preparing to check out the situation near the post office.

He always had a doubt, where did the original talisman array on the luminous stone come from?

Maybe the well-informed Old Li could answer this doubt for him.

As he picked up the weapons and walked down to the yard, he suddenly remembered the local area network communication device he had obtained yesterday.

So he turned back, re-entered the cave, closed the door, and took out this set of devices.

Opening the black box, inside was a simple hand-held walkie-talkie, colored black, with many honeycomb eyes in the center, and three dark green buttons below: connect, hang up, and switch channels 1, 2, 3.

“1, 2, 3 represent the ability to connect three people simultaneously.” Yu Hong read from the instruction manual.

“Charge it fully, then press connect to use it; the device will automatically search for similarly activated devices within range.”

“I have to turn them on together for it to work.” Yu Hong slightly shook his head and pressed the connect button.

Hiss.

A rush of static, like from a radio, came from within, with no response.

“They probably didn’t turn theirs on,” Yu Hong guessed.

Thinking for a moment, he stretched out his hand and pressed it on the device.

“Strengthen the local area network communicator, in the direction…”

He visualized in his mind a central device that could link more than five targets, bring everyone into a single channel for conversation, and then added enhancements such as reduced energy consumption, increased search range as much as possible, and improved signal interference resistance.

Anyway, now he planned to only strengthen Large Pyroxene Stones and talisman arrays with the Black Mark, sparing time to enhance the communication device, which could also achieve a bridging effect.

It was to prepare for the worst-case scenario in case he couldn’t freely travel to and from the post office in the future.

Sizzle.

The black line flashed quickly.

“Do you wish to strengthen the local network communicator?” Feedback from the Black Mark appeared.

Yu Hong gazed at the communicator’s surface as a countdown timer emerged: 11 hours, 19 minutes.

“Yes!”

Quite a long time.

He promptly confirmed his response.

Suddenly, the entire communicator shimmered and began the countdown.

Having confirmed the start of strengthening, Yu Hong set it aside, picked up the previously enhanced Enhanced Red Value Detector, opened the door again, and walked out into the courtyard.

The courtyard’s corner cabin where the mother and daughter stayed was quiet; they seemed to have no intention of facing him again to avoid the embarrassment.

He didn’t bother with these two; as long as he provided them with food and water, and they stayed alive until the support team arrived, that was enough.

“I’m going out for a bit, to the post office. You two stay inside the house and don’t go out, no matter what happens. Remember that,” Yu Hong instructed.

As long as they didn’t leave the yard, their safety was guaranteed.

Of course, if a Language Person or a Withered Woman suddenly attacked, that would be a different story. But considering that no Language Person had appeared for such a long time, it was very likely they had truly gone far away.

With that thought, Yu Hong picked up the Enhanced Red Value Detector in his hand and looked at it again. The value displayed was -87.621.

That was the Red Value inside the yard.

Without worrying about whether the mother and daughter in the wooden house had replied, he walked out of the yard gate with the detector to check the value again.

‘9.711.’

Yu Hong’s steps faltered.

“What’s going on? How come there’s a positive value outside in broad daylight?”

His face under the helmet grew unsightly.

“Could it be the shadow nearby? It’s the Evil Shadow that can move in daylight.”

With that thought, he moved forward with the Enhanced Detector toward the post office.

After walking more than a hundred meters, he checked the display again: 8.113.

Still a positive value!

“Something’s not right… something’s not right outside! The lowest value for the shadow is in the twenties. These single-digit Red Values only show up when the shadow has left behind some lingering aura. But now, such a large distance and range outside are all displaying Red Values…”

The more Yu Hong thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. This wasn’t a high period; if Red Value radiation appeared everywhere outside, it meant that the outside environment was even less suitable for human activity and more suited for the activities of shadows.

With that thought, he sped up unconsciously, hurrying toward the post office.

A few minutes later.

He arrived outside the stone house of the post office. Before he got close, he saw from afar a crowd of people crammed in the yard of the post office, pounding the door, cries and shouts and pleas wafting in waves, the commotion so loud it was impossible to make out what they were doing.

Most of these people had bloodstains on them. One by one, their faces were ghostly pale, and their expressions were filled with terror, as though they had been subject to extreme fright.

Most of them were young, under twenty, and their youthfulness was apparent to most people at a glance.

But not everyone was young; a few adults were standing at the edge of the yard, clearly older in appearance.

These few were dressed in blue-black stab-proof suits, with firearms and daggers at their waists. Among them were both men and women, mostly wearing indifferent or extremely unattractive expressions.

Yu Hong glanced over and saw Song Mingshi among them. He was the only adult who was continuously urging the young people to stay calm.

Yu Hong’s approach was quickly noticed by the crowd.

A multitude of gazes converged on him, and the crying and shouting gradually subsided.

They were evidently on guard, unsure of Yu Hong’s identity and purpose.

Song Mingshi was the first to recognize Yu Hong and remembered the squad members they had met before.

They whispered among the crowd, quickly clarifying yesterday’s events, and spreading the limited information they had to everyone.

Yu Hong, however, didn’t care about these people and instead quickened his pace, approaching the yard.

“Old Li,” he called out, pulling the yard gate with one hand and entering.

The people blocking his path moved aside, somewhat intimidated, not daring to obstruct him.

Soon, Yu Hong arrived in front of the stone house. The people inside immediately opened the door and welcomed him in.

Bang.

The door closed again and was locked.

“What’s happened?” Yu Hong asked, looking at Li Rushan, whose face was a mess.

“Trouble… There was a level three Blood Tide elephant worm last night! If we all hadn’t hidden underground here, I reckon nothing could have stopped it!”

“Elephant worm… I’ve seen it. It’s like a tick but much larger than Big Skin, right?” Yu Hong frowned.

“Yes. Those people outside are from the Baiqiu Village refugee group. Last night the elephant worm broke in and devoured several people. If it hadn’t been for a quick thinker who lit a house on fire to drive it away with the blaze, none of them would have survived!” Li Rushan spoke gravely.

“So they’ve come down here to seek refuge with you?” Yu Hong asked.

“Yeah, they all want to get into my underground shelter, but I can’t manage that many people,” Li Rushan said helplessly. “These people have different identities, they’re blocking the way and I can’t be too harsh. Brother Yu, you’ve got to help a brother out.”

“I’ll help you, but first answer a question for me,” Yu Hong said quickly.

“Anything I know, I won’t hide it from you,” Li Rushan said earnestly.

“The rune on the luminous stone, where did it originally come from?” Yu Hong asked in a low voice.

“I think I told you before, it’s from the ruins. Why, do you have an idea?” Li Rushan looked puzzled.

“I remember there’s a ruin nearby, right?” Yu Hong continued.

“Yes, ruins usually have accompanying pyroxene ore nearby, and that’s the reason I’m here. These people came here because of that, too. A large amount of luminous stone might be radioactive, but it can still avoid the Evil Shadows. It’s a lesser of two evils. Getting sick is better than dying immediately,” Li Rushan nodded.

“Have you been to the ruins?” Yu Hong asked.

“I’ve been inside, but it’s already been ransacked clean, nothing left,” Li Rushan confirmed.

“Is there a map?”

“Yes, I’ll give it to you later. Anything else?” Li Rushan hurriedly asked.

“There’s one more thing—I noticed the Red Value was off on my way here,” Yu Hong said.

“What’s wrong with it?” Li Rushan asked, puzzled.

Outdoor Red Values are usually zero, what could be wrong?

“The Red Values kept between 8 and 9 on my way here. I suspect… There’s a big change outside!” Yu Hong spoke in a somber tone.