Night of Despair

Chapter 51: Reinforcement Three
 

Heavy load…

“Heavier the load, greater the power…”

Yu Hong carefully memorized the key points of the leg technique, stood up, began to assume the stance, and tried to train.

The training method was simple, consisting of three moves divided into three levels; the first move was solely practicing the low sweep leg.

That was the action of kicking someone’s shin. It seemed that because it exceptionally matched Yu Hong’s own movements, he trained quite smoothly, as if every move was tailored to his habitual actions.

However, visualization was needed for practice.

Next, everything went quite smoothly. Yu Hong trained both the body and the first leg skill every day, from morning to night, until seven days later when Li Rushan finally had mushrooms growing; the two traded some fresh mushrooms, cooked them with other foods into a soup that became much more delicious, temporarily pausing the training.

Post office stone house, in the courtyard.

The sky was overcast with clouds, and it looked like it was about to rain.

Yu Hong and Li Rushan stood in the courtyard, looking at a stirred-up mass of yellowish mush on the ground.

“This is almost a success,” Li Rushan, satisfied, put down the wooden stick, and spoke softly. “Next is cockroach breeding; cockroaches grow quickly, they lay many eggs, one egg pod can have dozens, and they fatten up fast. I’ve brought plenty of egg pods, which will come in handy.”

“What’s mainly in this?” Yu Hong asked, wrinkling his nose.

“Mushroom scraps, some mosses I found, roots, oily plant fruits, and dung,” Li Rushan casually mentioned a few. “Just like adding some sawdust when growing mushrooms, breeding cockroaches also requires extra stuff; otherwise, they won’t grow well.”

Yu Hong’s expression was wooden; he had originally wanted to try breeding them himself, but now it seemed… not until the room was hollowed out; he absolutely didn’t want to breed them himself.

“I see now why people prefer eating lizards,” he sighed.

“Yes, there’s a big difference between eating shit directly and indirectly,” laughed Li Rushan.

He turned his head to look at Yu Hong and then asked.

“How’s the training going recently? Pay attention to eating, drinking, sleeping; focusing solely on training without caring for other aspects can harm the body, draining it.”

“Not bad. I get a full ten hours of sleep every day, eat well and drink plenty, no problem there. But when will you teach me slingshot shooting?” Yu Hong asked.

“Wait a while. First, make a slingshot handle by yourself; I can give you some rubber bands. Then you can start practicing on your own.”

Li Rushan smiled. “Additionally, I plan to visit the Pyroxene Ore Mine in a few days; are you familiar with that place?”

“Not really familiar…” Yu Hong frowned.

“Then where did you get those Large Pyroxene Stones from? You can deceive others, but not me,” Li Rushan smiled.

“…” Yu Hong closed his mouth and said nothing; he had developed four strands of chill air from practicing the body method, and lately, due to practicing only one move, a week of arduous training had also slowly started to make sense.

He had really been training from morning to night, other than eating, drinking, defecating, going out to fetch firewood, water, digging for vegetables; his whole mind was focused on perfecting the leg skill.

The Black Mark was continuously strengthening the silver talisman array; by now, he had four pieces of the silver talisman array, adding to one previously made and not including the one behind the door.

A significant benefit of the silver talisman array was that it could be replenished and restored after use, performing as good as new.

He had even more ordinary talisman arrays. He hadn’t counted them, just strengthened them whenever he had spare time, stocking them all in a corner. Ordinary talisman arrays were consumable; they couldn’t be replenished and would break when used up, but they were great for emergencies due to their short strengthening time.

“In terms of things like Large Pyroxene Stones, they’re fine against Shadowy Figures, but not against Evil Shadows; you’d need a quantity of them to stack up,” Yu Hong spoke gravely.

“You’re right; the main use of large Pyroxene Stones isn’t to fight Evil Shadows or Shadowy Figures; it has more role as an additive, a catalyst, used in the production of other things. Ever since the Black Disaster struck a few years ago and the formation of the collective organization, Silver Tower, it’s the Sunlight series that has been really scarce,” Li Rushan’s face revealed a customary smile. “I’m about to get some Sunlight series materials, which can disperse ordinary Blood Tide, cloak the scent avoiding Shadowy Figures. Even Evil Shadows can be resisted for quite a long time, as long as you electrify it.”

“… Sunlight series, is it really that strong?” Yu Hong was somewhat skeptical.

“The Black Disaster first struck Hope City, Evil Shadows too, even many creatures stronger than the ordinary Blood Tide; what do you think the country relied on to get through?” Li Rushan confidently said. “The big places face more things than you can imagine.”

“Right, when is the supply team arriving?” Yu Hong finally asked.

“Tomorrow, that’s the notified time, but the exact time is unclear. If you have enough materials to exchange, you can come to me. You can also trade for some food and useful tools,” Li Rushan replied.

Yu Hong nodded, turned, and left; he had come this trip specifically to inquire whether the cockroaches had been successfully bred. Now that everything was smooth, he was relieved.

Quickly returning to his safe house cave, he trained the leg and body techniques for a while, then began to choose new things to strengthen.

Standing at the cave entrance, he held a saw and an axe, slowly starting to make some new thick wooden planks.

These planks weren’t for making talisman arrays, but rather intended to be made into barrel-shaped full-body protective gear.

He couldn’t make cylinders; directly chopping down an existing large tree was easier.

But this was too difficult a task; he had attempted it a few times, but it easily cracked apart. So, if there was a supply team tomorrow, he planned to try trading for equivalent gear, like a bulletproof jacket set, with other items.

After working on the wood for a while, Yu Hong returned to the cave, confirmed another round of talisman array strengthening completed, and had gained another ordinary talisman array.

Then, he took out all the things he could currently strengthen, with the most important ones at the forefront.

Solar generator, dagger, pistol, boots.

Placing these items in front of him, Yu Hong first picked up the boots—these were Jenny’s ladies’ boots, not sure who they belonged to, a type of waterproof long boots with hard leather.

He then looked at the dagger, and the boots and dagger combined…

Yu Hong somewhat had an idea.

He took them aside, and placing his hand on them.

“Strengthen my wearable spiked boots, direction…”

In his mind emerged scenes from martial arts movies he had seen before, those with boots that had blades protruding from the feet.

Soon, Black Mark gave feedback.

“Confirm strengthening into spiked boots?”

Such feedback generally meant that Black Mark could strengthen. It wasn’t due to insufficient integrity.

Yu Hong felt relieved, looking at the countdown on the boots: 1 day, 3 hours, 5 minutes.

“The timing is okay,” he affirmed, feeling the feedback from the Black Mark.

Instantly, the countdown began, and both the boots and dagger flickered while numbers appeared on their surfaces.

“It seems that combining and placing items together can also utilize the Black Mark for reinforcement— an additional functionality.”

Yu Hong pondered thoughtfully.

‘If we talk about composite synthesis, the applications could be much more extensive…’

He lay down in the cave and slept for a while, then got up and resumed training his leg techniques.

He named the technique he had enhanced—Heavy Leg Skill.

The name was simple and straightforward, highlighting the essence of the skill.

Inside the cave, Yu Hong continuously swept his legs low to the front while simultaneously visualizing the pattern on the manual, controlling the cool air inside his body to flow and circulate according to the meridian and blood vessel diagram in the pattern.

Multitasking from the start, Yu Hong was initially not very proficient, but after a week of practice, he could perform the movements easily.

The leg technique was designed entirely according to his physical and mental state, and the progress was very smooth.

By now, he could faintly feel the fifth cool air inside his body slowly condensing, estimating that it would not be long before it gathered successfully.

Soon after, Yu Hong stopped to eat something and then began to chisel at the rocks.

As dusk fell, he continued practicing the Heavy Leg Skill.

‘The first move of the Heavy Leg Skill, also the first level, needs to be practiced to a point where cool air can be mobilized instantly for a swift execution. The meridian diagram must also be completely synchronized with the leg movements.’

A fire kindled, and Yu Hong stood in the cave shirtless, deep in thought.

He stood for about five minutes, then suddenly swung his right leg diagonally forward.

Whoosh!

It was as though there was a person in front of him, and the outer side of their calf was precisely kicked.

This low sweep was normal, both speed and strength at an average male level.

Then, Yu Hong retracted his leg and swung it forward sharply again.

Puff.

This time, his eyes were vacant, a fine line protruding following his abdominal skin, rushing into his right leg.

The speed of this low sweep was much faster than before, and it even generated a slight wind noise.

“The power and speed are much greater… this is driven by one cool air. Now let’s try with two cool airs,”

Yu Hong closed his eyes and attempted the same kick again.

After a few minutes, he suddenly swept his right leg forward.

Puff!!

This time, a muffled sound echoed through the cave, much louder than before.

The sound of breaking the air was also much louder.

Yu Hong opened his eyes, looking somewhat tired.

“The force driven by two cool airs is indeed much stronger, but… it requires concentrated effort to mobilize and is not as convenient as using a single cool air.”

He tried the kick a third time, this time driving it with the last cool air.

Whoosh!

This was still faster than the initial one.

But this time, all four cool airs in his body were exhausted. He needed at least half a day of rest to regather and recover.

“The consumption is too fast…. Tomorrow we can go out and test the actual power.”

Yu Hong’s gaze fell on the boots that were being reinforced, his eyes filled with expectation.

After a peaceful night’s sleep, early the next morning, he went to the stone post office building, planning to check the supply team.

Before he got there, he saw from afar outside the stone building, a middle-aged man carrying a large backpack talking to Li Rushan.

The man had a full beard, messy hair, and was slightly slimmer than Li, but exuded an inexplicable competence.

He stood alone outside the fence, several meters away from Li Rushan, maintaining a relatively safe distance.

Seeing Yu Hong approaching, Li Rushan was the first to enthusiastically wave at him.

“Little Yu, come over quickly, this is Old Zhou, he came with the supply team and plans to settle here.”

Old Zhou?

Yu Hong nodded, his gaze resting on this Old Zhou.

“Hello. I’m Yu Hong, the luminous stone supplier around here. If you need, you can come to me for trading luminous stones.”

Luminous stone manufacturer— that was the identity he had set for himself. Ever since the protein bar incident with Li Rushan, he became even more cautious, not daring to sell his reinforced items anymore. Selling a few could be explained as good luck finding leftovers in stock, but more would be problematic.

Instead, grinding the reinforced Large Pyroxene Stones into powder to make ordinary talisman arrays, then selling those would be safer.

After all, grinding luminous stones into powder and then drawing talisman arrays— many people could do this. The difference was that these were consumable goods, requiring time and energy, and one might not do it better than others.

‘As long as my talisman array is slightly more effective than others, I can stabilize the business continuously.’

Yu Hong had plans in his mind.

Simply selling Large Pyroxene Stones was too wasteful, talisman arrays were much more convenient. They were lighter and more effective too.