Night of Despair

Chapter 49: Strengthening Part I
 

In the dense forest.

Surrounded by dark green grass, a tall figure clad in protective gear and a helmet swiftly made its way in a certain direction through the woods.

Every now and then, the figure would stop, bend over to tear some weeds from the ground, and stuff them into a cloth bag.

Wearing leather gloves and sturdy boots, the helmet tightly wrapped around their head, only a pair of eyes and a set of nostrils was visible, resembling a fully armored knight from the medieval period.

A short dagger was fastened at their lower back, and their eyes continuously scanned the surroundings with vigilance.

Before long, a grey-white stone house gradually came into view ahead.

There was a circular wooden fence surrounding the stone house.

A short-haired man with an even more robust figure in camouflage was arranging something within the fence.

Upon catching sight of the approaching figure, the man’s face broke into a habitual smile.

“Brother Yu, you’ve come again?”

The newcomer stopped outside the fence, none other than Yu Hong, who had once again emerged from the cave.

“I’ve been circling around nearby for quite a while and haven’t detected Evil Shadow’s presence.” Yu Hong spoke in a deep, resonant voice.

“Traces of Evil Shadow will disappear under sunlight after losing its contagion host for more than three days. Moreover, if you find Evil Shadow carriers, such as clothing, or items with the Black Mark remaining, they can be burnt at high temperature, but remember, never watch nearby during the burning.” Li Rushan explained.

“Why?” Yu Hong asked, puzzled.

“Because during the burning, Evil Shadow will reappear one last time. If there are living people within twenty meters, it can launch an attack, and by killing a new host, it can start another round of transmission. Many places, unable to completely eradicate Evil Shadow traces, had no choice but to relocate, just like your nearby town,” sighed Li Rushan.

“…No wonder…” Yu Hong mentally nodded. “Too many dark corners in the town, too easy for Evil Shadow traces to hide…”

“Right, and Evil Shadow traces can also move positions on their own.” Li Rushan walked over to the charred remains of the previously burned clothing, kicking at the residue with his boot.

“This pile of stuff even tried to move towards me earlier since I’m the closest. Unfortunately, I burned it in time and kept it outside the door. Of course, you need to be careful too; Evil Shadow is, after all, a newly emerging category of shadow harm, and new varieties may appear. A lot of the experience is gained slowly through the loss of human lives.”

“So that means… Brother Li, you’re still maintaining contact with the higher-ups?” Yu Hong speculated. Without keeping in touch, the latest information on Evil Shadow wouldn’t have been so readily available to Li Rushan.

“That’s right. Actually, I won’t hide it from you.” Li Rushan smiled, “My main task here is to guard the origin, as well as the Pyroxene Ore Mine, to report any changes here at any time. Of course, there are advantages too, every once in a while, a supply team will pass by and deliver supplies to me. As for information, I’ve developed a new enhanced communicator that can directly contact the postal service.”

Yu Hong nodded; without such guarantees, someone like Li Rushan would hardly bring a child to such a dangerous place.

“Few people linger in this place, having Brother Li come is good for us. Otherwise, we really might have to choose to relocate,” he sighed.

“I also need everyone’s support and cooperation coming here alone; we help each other, right? But before coming, I thought there’d be at least five or six households here… I didn’t expect it to be just your two households,” Li Rushan said, also feeling somewhat helpless.

“Let’s not talk about that for now. I’ve come to ask Brother Li to help me send a letter,” Yu Hong said, pulling out a wooden plank letter he had written earlier.

Since there was no paper, they had to use thin wooden planks instead.

He wrote some of the specific situation from his side and tentatively placed an ordinary talisman array wooden plank behind it.

If the talisman array could be sent over, that would be ideal, and it wouldn’t be a waste if it could help Stutterer.

But if the talisman array got lost halfway, he would try a different method next time.

Taking out the wooden plank, Yu Hong also covered it with a cloth.

There were two pieces of wood, joined together, pinned with wooden nails. To the outsider, it looked like a simple thickened structure. But only Yu Hong knew that the thickened plank underneath was actually the talisman array plank.

But the side with the talisman array was sandwiched between two planks, hidden from view.

“Sending a letter, huh? The price might be a bit expensive… after all, I have to wait for the supply team to come before I can send it,” Li Rushan stroked his chin, taking the wooden plank.

“Then may I ask how long before the supply team arrives?” Yu Hong promptly inquired.

“The scheduled time given to me is once a month, but there are bound to be changes. This time, as I’ve just settled here, the supply team promised to arrive within two weeks. By my calculations, that should be in a few days,” Li Rushan estimated.

“So, can we trade with the supply team?” Yu Hong asked.

“Of course not. Only the postal workers can trade with the supply team, no one else is qualified,” Li Rushan shook his head.

“Alright then…” Yu Hong was slightly disappointed but could understand. The postal system here seemed to have formed a screening mechanism centered around the postal workers. Postal workers had become fundamental distributors, holding huge profits.

In that light, it’s no wonder Li Rushan’s daughter could afford to look so well-fed, it made sense.

“Anything else? If it’s just sending a letter, the cost is one Silver Tower silver coin. But if you don’t have it, you can use dried meat instead. The previous quantities you mentioned, ten pieces per bag, you’d need a total of twelve bags.”

“What?! How much?!” Yu Hong’s eyes widened, thinking he might have misheard.

“Twelve bags,” Li Rushan said nonchalantly, “I’m already giving you a discount, considering the new place, new customers, always need to offer some benefits. Other places typically charge fifteen jin of dried meat.”

“…” Yu Hong was left speechless.

After a long silence, he suddenly remembered the silver coin he had scrounged from two soldiers earlier, and after searching all over himself, he quickly took out the coin.

“Silver Tower silver coin, this one?” He showed the coin to the other party.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s it. You have it, then it’s easy to handle,” Li Rushan nodded repeatedly, smiling once again.

“Then I’ll use this. Also, do you sell long-range communicators here? I bought a solar generator before, so I can charge it,” Yu Hong asked.

“I don’t have that at the moment, but I can ask for you when the supply team comes. There are quite a few people wanting those. Some of the larger gathering places, everyone likes to sell them,” Li Rushan nodded and agreed. “By the way, if you find anyone passing by nearby, you can try to convince them to settle down. The more people we have, the easier we can become self-sufficient, don’t you think? Otherwise, having to do everything ourselves is a bit too tiring.”

“Mm, okay,” Yu Hong nodded.

Leaving the post office stone house, he took one last look at the window of the stone house.

A plump little head peeked quietly out the window, watching him with black, shiny eyes full of curiosity.

“What’s up, why are you staring at him?” Li Rushan walked over to the window and rubbed his daughter’s hair.

“That uncle… he seems a bit odd,” Aisena answered softly.

“What’s odd about him? He’s one of the few quite normal people left. These days, it’s rare to meet someone normal. Many people who live alone for a long time go a bit strange,” Li Rushan said with a laugh.

He too watched Yu Hong, observing the retreating figure getting further away until it completely disappeared into the depths of the forest, before turning his gaze back to his daughter.

“I don’t know… but I just feel like that uncle, no matter who he looks at, has a stone-like feeling,” Aisena shook her head, not knowing how to describe it.

“Stone?” Li Rushan tried to imagine, but couldn’t figure out what that feeling might be.

“Like, not afraid of anything, feeling very confident inside,” the plump Aisena muttered, frowning as she tried to articulate her thought.

“Hmm… now that you mention it, that does seem accurate. He appears very normal on the surface, but compared to people from other places, he’s a bit too normal, lacking that sense of fear and worry,” Li Rushan nodded thoughtfully.

“That’s it!” Aisena quickly nodded.

“It’s alright, no matter what kind of person he is, Daddy is here to protect you,” Li Rushan smiled again.

“Daddy is the best,” Aisena squinted her eyes, rubbing her face against his hand.

—

Yu Hong walked slowly back on the road. He had stopped by to see Doctor Xu Ruoying, who had recovered a lot, and she had given him some homemade herbal powder.

Yu Hong gave her a Large Pyroxene Stone in return. It was a trade.

There were only so many living people around, and with the environment outside getting harsher, he still hoped she could keep surviving.

On his way back, he soon reached the spot where Aifu’s clothes had been. Holding the silver rune wooden board in one hand and taking out a dagger with the other, he searched around on the ground but found no trace of the clothes.

That’s when he truly believed that the mark of the Evil Shadow had been dealt with by Li Rushan.

‘From his reaction, he must have dealt with the mark of the Evil Shadow before; it looked easy for him. Plus, he even dared to bring his daughter, and her name isn’t typical for this country, which clearly suggests his other half might be a foreigner…’

Yu Hong speculated in his mind, the more he thought about it, the more he felt Li Rushan was not simple.

But soon he thought differently; it didn’t matter how simple or complex the other person was, as long as they didn’t harm him, it was none of his business.

In fact, the stronger the other person’s abilities, the safer they all were.

Soon after arriving back at the cave, not only had he not seen any Evil Shadow, but he hadn’t encountered any shadow at all, it was extremely peaceful.

Yu Hong closed the door and carefully checked the countdown; there were just over three days left for the leg technique enhancement.

He suppressed the anticipation in his heart, took a drink of water, then ground the large luminous stone into powder to make Great Luminous Stone Ink and started producing new wooden boards for the talisman array.

He couldn’t just sit around while the Black Mark was getting stronger.

After making a few wooden board talisman arrays, he stood up again, cooked a pot of protein bar sweet soup, drinking it while studying how to draw the runes of the silver rune array.

The silver talisman array had clearly defined levels of depth required, making it far more difficult than the Great Luminous Stone Array, which was why he still hadn’t managed to replicate it.

After finishing the food, time flew by, and it was already afternoon. He stood up again and started practicing high-movement techniques indoors.

The two-hour high-movement routine was an absolute task he had set for himself.

After finishing, he rested for over half an hour, wiping away sweat, replenishing food, and possibly taking a short nap. This was all part of the usual routine.

However, today, after completing his exercise and while wiping off sweat, Yu Hong’s body suddenly jerked.

He felt numerous tiny tingles in his abdomen converging quickly onto a new, cool sensation.

‘The fourth cool stream! It’s getting thicker.’ Yu Hong felt a surge of delight; the thicker the cool stream, the more confident he felt.