Night of Despair

Inside the safehouse cave.

Yu Hong sat down, gasping for breath, trying to regain his strength.

He placed the talisman array on the ground, his whole body drenched in sweat, his eyes blurred by it, making it hard to open them.

After resting for a few seconds, he turned to check on Doctor Xu and found her resting as well with her eyes closed, so he reached out and pressed his hand against the silver talisman array on the door.

After a brief pause, he let go and saw a replenishing black countdown appear on the talisman array's surface, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

The time wasn't long, just over forty minutes to fully restore to a perfect state.

"Doctor Xu, are you all right?" Yu Hong finally found the time to ask aloud,

"....."

No response.

Yu Hong frowned, turning back again, only to see that Doctor Xu was still curled up on the ground, motionless, with sweat and saliva continuously dripping down her chin. Her body twitched and trembled slightly.

"Doctor Xu?" Yu Hong called out once more, faintly realizing something was wrong, his expression growing serious.

He reached out and pushed her but found there was no response at all.

He hurriedly stood up, went to pour a cup of hot water, and tried to feed it to her.

Unfortunately, Doctor Xu's mouth could no longer close, her breathing was extremely erratic, and feeding her water like this might cause choking.

Yu Hong could only carefully moisten her mouth with a bit of water. Then he dragged her to a softer sleeping bag.

"I don't have any emergency medicine, and I don't know what's happening to you. The only way now is for you to help yourself." He quickly said while sitting to the side. "If you can hear me, can you tell me what I can do to help you?"

Doctor Xu did not respond, just lay there on the sleeping bag, her whole body twitching, unable to move.

Her body felt a bit cold, yet sweat continued to seep out.

Soon, the fireplace's flames brightened, emitting a thick warmth that slightly eased her body. Her breathing seemed to calm down gradually with the warmth.

Seeing her condition improve, Yu Hong also sighed in relief. At this moment, handling provisions and supplies all by himself was overwhelming. Doctor Xu was a good person and also a friend of Stammering Yiyi. If he could save her, he would try his best to do so.

He glanced at the countdown on the door and then at the dirt on Doctor Xu's face, using a piece of newspaper to wipe her drool and sweat.

Sitting beside her, he started rummaging through the bag he had just brought out from the underground hole of Jenny's mother and daughter.

The bag wasn't a sack, just a thick black plastic bag with white handles that could be lifted with one hand.

Yu Hong tore open the bag and took out the items one by one.

The Red Value detector was on top, placed on the ground.

Next was a pair of women's black leather boots.

Three candles.

A hardcover brown notebook.

A bottle of small red pills whose purpose was unknown.

A somewhat dirty black cloth mask.

A short knife with a snake-skin-pattern sheath.

A green handheld console-like box with a screen and cross buttons.

Yu Hong first picked up the green box and found a small black switch on the side, flipping it open.

No reaction.

He put it down and picked up the bottle of pills, observing through the transparent glass bottle that the red pills inside were new and dry, without any mold.

"Jenny and Aifu didn't seem to have any illness... So what is this medicine? Emergency anti-inflammatory medicine? Or...."

He couldn't guess and could only wait for Doctor Xu to wake up and test it later.

Setting the medicine down, he picked up the short knife and gently unsheathed it.

The sharp silver blade was quite clean, with a faint layer of maintenance oil. The back of the blade had a saw-like design, and the side had blood grooves, looking very practical.

Clang.

Sheathing the short knife, Yu Hong finally reached for the notebook.

He picked it up and opened it.

"Adjust radiation time according to dosage," he read, "Continuing the next step of testing with the detailed planning of Plan No. 2."

"April had three accidental incidents, with sixteen instances of luminous stone radiation data collected."

"In May, radiation data surveys were conducted on the terrain surrounding the Pyroxene Ore Mine, with seventy-four data samples collected."

"In June, an individual entered the mine, experiencing slight physical mutations, and data was successfully collected."

"In July, five successful animal model experiments were conducted, but an environmental change led to a sharp decline in the number of animals and insects, and the animal experiments had to be terminated."

"In August, Aifu's cells were collected for cultivation, and radiation testing was initiated on the cultured tissues. Through testing and comparing it with previously collected Lin Yiyi cell tissue, the mutation process was inferred."

In the firelight, Yu Hong frowned at the rows of text in the notebook. Underneath the text were detailed character data and graphs, with many characters using abbreviation codes that he couldn't understand. But judging from the text, Jenny's family was likely there with less than innocent intentions. They secretly sampled and conducted research on Stammering Yiyi, Lin Yiyi.

He kept flipping through the pages, skipping many data graphs directly, until he saw some more text in the middle.

"The luminous stone illness is confirmed to provide significant resistance to the shadow," he read. "In the same infected situation," he noted, "patients with luminous stone illness experience some degree of intellectual decline but demonstrate strong resistance in high Red Value environments. There will be no more occurrences of bodily rigidity, twitching, or illusions."

"In the cell sampling experiments, cells infected with the luminous stone illness showed greatly enhanced activity, a 65.4% reduction in lifespan, and an increase in resistance to bacteria and viruses by over 70%. Therefore, it was determined that taking Aifu to the mine for about half an hour every five days could effectively curb her special marked illness."

Seeing this, Yu Hong began to piece things together.

Jenny's family probably came here reluctantly after Aifu was targeted by something, seeking a research method to save her.

Unfortunately, their research seemed to be just making progress when he interrupted it.

Aifu wasn't killed by the evil shadow Black Disaster, but instead died at his hands, an ordinary person.

"But luminous stone illness.... The luminous stone can actually make people ill?" He recalled Stammering Yiyi's situation.

She experienced intellectual decline but was very resistant to the shadow and other things. In any case, he had never seen Stammering Yiyi scared by the shadow.

"So, perhaps Stammering Yiyi also has luminous stone illness?" Yu Hong speculated.

If he could identify the cause, maybe he could think of a way to help her recover in the future.

*

*

*

Baihe City.

Surface.

On the seaside beach, one wave after another left white lines, surging and receding repeatedly.

Above the beach, at a hundred meters away, was a row of abandoned, rusted skyscrapers, standing quietly in the scorching sunlight.

The light blue glass of the skyscrapers reflected blinding sunlight, occasionally clattering in the sea breeze.

On the rusty rooftop of one of these buildings, several men and women in camouflage uniforms were talking quietly.

They gathered together, their clothes marked with the emblem of the United Forces.

Among them, a short-haired man in glasses held a Large Pyroxene Stone, frowning as he listened to the person beside him.

The man's face was gentle, skin a bronze hue, with a small silver pistol at his waist. On the outer side of his right forearm, his clothing bore a three-star insignia distinct from the others.

"A-Dong and the two others haven't returned," a dark-skinned young woman said solemnly, "We didn't have time to address it before, but now we've finally settled down, so I sent someone back to the agreed meeting point, but found no one. I suspect something happened to them."

"They had two guns and a rest stop in the middle," someone else couldn't help but say, "It's unlikely something happened."

"Hard to say," the young woman said quickly, "Previously, the spread of the evil shadow was rampant, so maybe they got taken out halfway when found. Now, the satellite signals are too interfered with to communicate long distance, the only way to assess is by punctuality. If they're not on time, we'll assume they're dead."

"Then what do we do? If someone at Baiqiu Village can actually make Large Pyroxene Stones, it would be a huge loss to just give up," another person chimed in.

"Indeed," the glasses-wearing man said loudly, glancing around, "But who is willing to make a trip back to investigate what happened to confirm the truth?"

Around him, everyone averted their eyes quickly when meeting his gaze, unwilling to respond.

"Is no one willing to make a small sacrifice?" the man sighed. "If you can capture the person who makes the Large Pyroxene Stones, I guarantee I'll double your monthly pay! Whether it's food or supplies."

Still, no one spoke up.

Having just escaped the evil shadow and fled that dangerous area, no one wanted to return to die.

Moreover, with such a distance, chances are they would be dead before even reaching the destination by the shadow creatures.

"Xu Yang, you've always been my most reliable assistant..." the glasses-wearing man's gaze settled on a strong man wearing a black mask.

"Captain Zhao, going back on our own, we'd likely encounter dangers along the way. Think of the trouble our entire town went through during the migration?" Xu Yang, the strong man, quickly said.

"Then what do you suggest..." the glasses-wearing man frowned.

"The key now is that Baiqiu Village is too dangerous. Among us here, no one could handle it. So, we need to find someone who can..." Xu Yang smiled.

"Who can guarantee that?" the glasses-wearing man asked.

"My brother has already found out," Xu Yang replied. "There's a black market tavern in Baihe City that specializes in hiring desperate men. Last time I was there, I met a real expert. He was a courier, originally from the Aurora City frontline of the United Forces, absolutely elite, with strong skills in both shooting and combat."

"Expensive, right?" the glasses-wearing man frowned. "And why would such a skilled person agree to work for us? Couldn't he capture the person on his own for more profit?"

"Just don't tell him, just have him capture the person," Xu Yang laughed. "If it gets found out, we'll negotiate then and there, maybe share some profits, better than having nothing."

The glasses-wearing man nodded, picking up the Large Pyroxene Stone in his hand to examine it closely.

"Makes sense. With Baihe City's environment now, if we could control this person who continuously makes Large Pyroxene Stones, it would be like holding a goose that lays golden eggs."

He paused.

"This Large Pyroxene Stone equals the effects of pyroxene marrow. The rune on it is secondary; imitation is easy. The key is the material, which can surely pass as rare pyroxene marrow, the price difference far beyond average imagination. I really have no idea how he's making them."

He exhaled, then looked at Xu Yang again.

"I'll leave this to you. Can you handle it?"

"I promise to complete the task," Xu Yang smiled.

"What's his name?"

"White Python Guo Xudong."