A Night of Desperation-Chapter 243: Attack 1

In the darkness.

Yu Hong stood silently in front of a pile of gray and black wreckage, not uttering a word.

There were still many fresh bloodstains on the debris, clearly there had been people here just moments ago.

“Are you hiding from me?” he asked in a low voice.

“What a pity… Even if you escape my pursuit, how long can you survive?”

Turning around, he stopped searching and quickly left.

If he couldn’t find her, then so be it. He couldn’t afford to waste time here with Xin Zhilei forever, especially knowing the extent of her injuries.

Sigh…

Hidden in the shadows, Xin Zhilei suddenly exhaled, relaxed her muscles, and covered her mouth as a trickle of blood flowed from the corner of her lips.

She had been severely injured by a hit during the plane crash, and it was only thanks to the muscular member of the association that she had survived, otherwise she would have undoubtedly perished.

But even so, she wouldn’t live much longer…

“Really, I can’t accept this…” she muttered, looking down at the bloody mess on her stomach.

Beside her on the ground, her son remained unconscious, lying motionless. The extreme cold caused his hands, feet, and face to stiffen and lose their suppleness.

“Number seventeen… I entrust him to you, in exchange, I will give you what you most desire,” Xin Zhilei said weakly.

“…Do you trust me?” a burly masked man appeared quietly from behind, surprised.

“I don’t have anyone else to trust. If you don’t want to take care of him, then… open the box and set him free…”

“Can he move on his own with his illness?” the burly masked man asked in surprise.

“In time, you will know…” Xin Zhilei reclined at the base of a tree, her breathing growing more labored.

“Tell him… to live well…” Her breathing slowly weakened, and her eyes slowly closed in the cold air.

“What a pity, you were just one step away. Even if he survives, he would only become a Black Disaster and couldn’t possibly remember you,” the burly masked man sighed.

“Perhaps… yeah…” Xin Zhilei closed her eyes for the last time, raised her hand, and gently touched the transparent cover of the box that contained her son.

Her hand finally came to rest on the lid, slowing down until it no longer moved.

Blood flowed from the large hole in her stomach, freezing into red ice not far away.

*

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The next day.

The search team found Xin Zhilei’s body in the woods nearby.

There was nothing around her, and all her belongings had been taken, clearly someone had discovered her first.

The joint military took her body back into the city for burial. Regardless of what she planned for the future, at the very least, she had contributed tremendously to the establishment of Aurora City No. 2.

A grand funeral was indeed justified.

Later, Yu Hong and Chen Xiguang met and confirmed compensation for Black Wind Camp and discovered the gradual retreat of water contamination by Black Disaster.

According to the testimonies of captured Echo Troop members, the Dissolving Leeches spreading the Black Disaster were supposedly dispersed by someone sent by Xin Zhilei as bait, gathering in large numbers under Aurora City.

A natural convergence of this density was unlikely.

After Xin Zhilei’s death, the Dissolving Leeches in the groundwater finally began to disperse slowly.

In some areas, groundwater could be partially extracted for emergencies. Thus, although there was still insufficient water overall, at least the public wouldn’t face unrest due to water issues.

“Are you planning to leave already?” Chen Yaofeng said in surprise.

In a square within the city, many people burned paper money in the corners, sending blessings to their deceased relatives.

The flames resembled vibrant, cold ribbons.

A few guards accompanied Chen Yaofeng and Yu Hong as they met in a corner of the square.

“I’ve been out long enough and need to get back. There are matters to handle at the camp,” Yu Hong was still concerned about the Constitution Potion he was strengthening, the one he had obtained from Zhang Kaijun in Gray City.

After more than ten days of strengthening, it was uncertain what level it would reach.

“Really don’t want to stay? We have sufficient food and social interactions here, and you’ve been single for so long, don’t you feel lonely?” Chen Yaofeng showed some of his privileged background, only in such moments could one see his potential as a committee member’s son.

“It’s a matter of habit,” Yu Hong smiled, not believing any woman could endure him.

Besides, such matters were best left to nature.

“Alright then, I have news about the Eternal Life Association and will inform you immediately. Be careful in Black Wind Camp, don’t become a target;after all, strong as you are, you’re just one man,” Chen Yaofeng genuinely wanted to befriend Yu Hong.

“Please take care of Yiyi,” Yu Hong said seriously.

Lin Yiyi’s fundamental reason for not returning was her desire to investigate her parents and grandfather’s mysterious deaths.

Now that his relationship with Chen Yaofeng had improved, the latter had agreed to help investigate the case of the Black Tree Village disappearance.

This way, Lin Yiyi’s safety was in more protective hands.

Yu Hong should feel relieved now.

“Additionally, we’ll attempt to correct the deformities on Yiyi’s body with surgery. We will also look for ways to treat her stuttering problem, rest assured!” Chen Yaofeng sincerely said.

“Thank you!” Yu Hong earnestly shook his hand.

Two hours later.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

Yu Hong had added the title of Aurora City Research Consultant to his name, then once again visited Lin Yiyi and Xue Ningning outside the hospital before he quietly left Aurora City.

The supplies that Xin Zhilei had taken away were already untraceable, so the joint military compensated him with even more supplies.

Dragging a tightly bound crate, Yu Hong sprinted all the way back, taking only half the time to easily reach the vicinity of Black Wind Camp.

The camp was peaceful;without the attraction of human presence, shadows and the like had no interest in this place, and with the negative value emitting array, the Black Disaster found it extremely repulsive.

The entire stone castle at the camp remained the same as when Yu Hong had left.

The only difference was that the ground and the roofs now had increasingly more snow.

*

*

*

Whooo…

The bone-chilling wind kept blowing outside the cave.

Under the warm light, inside the cave, Yu Hong slowly turned over and yawned as he swung his legs off the stone bed.

Pulling back the blanket, he glanced at the wall-mounted detector.

‘Outdoor temperature: -52 degrees Celsius.’

“It’s getting colder…” Yu Hong sighed. If the previous weather and the density of Black Disaster might have allowed some survivors to pass by the camp, the current conditions outside made it utterly impossible for anyone to venture out.

With temperatures this low, loitering meant certain death.

After putting on a piece of clothing, he stood and walked over to the enhanced potion in front of him.

He casually switched on the communicator.

Amidst a hissing noise,

Chen Yaofeng took over from Xin Zhilei and became the third person in the conversation with Zhang Kaijun.

“The situation outside is getting more and more severe.” Zhang Kaijun said solemnly, “The cold is one aspect. Recently, a new type of Black Disaster has emerged in the outside world, a small white creature resembling a snake. Its attack mode involves burrowing through the snow and attacking from below to inject poison.”

“That’s not the worst part, things are tough here. Even with the large enclosed system for protection, the fatal issue is still the low temperature.” Chen Yaofeng sighed, “In the last two days, more than thirty people have been found frozen to death in their homes.”

“Enhanced people are okay, right?” Yu Hong asked.

“There’s no problem with that;enhanced people are physically robust and don’t get sick that easily,” Chen Yaofeng replied. “It’s just that I’m worried if this temperature continues to drop, even enhanced humans might not be able to withstand it. Going outside then will be a huge problem.”

“How’s the investigation by the Eternal Life Association going?” Yu Hong asked.

“Nowhere yet, it’s too dangerous outside, our investigation team had to return not long after they went out. It’s too cold,” Chen Yaofeng said.

“Who’s handling the investigation team now?”

“Yan Yuqiu, the elder Yan. There’s no way to investigate;if there isn’t proper warming, they can’t go far.”

“Is the content of the USB drive confirmed?”

“Yes, copies have already been sent to all existing Aurora Cities. Whether they believe it or not is up to them…”

Chen Yaofeng and Yu Hong quickly communicated, leaving Zhang Kaijun somewhat bewildered by the sidelines.

“In fact, we had some awareness before, but this time we brought the Eternal Life Association out into the open. Now that the information is public, other places are probably still self-auditing. But it won’t be long before everything settles.”

“Have you done any calculations on the various technologies controlled by the Eternal Life Association?” Yu Hong asked.

“You mean asking about the specific retaliations we might face, right?” Chen Yaofeng understood, “The main methods include, luring Black Disaster, Black Blood People, highly regenerative body modifications, and the most critical… longevity.”

“That’s troublesome. Plus, if the temperature keeps dropping this low, we must be fully prepared,” Yu Hong said.

“Flames, heating pipes, enclosed warm houses, if it really gets cold, there won’t be a big problem. The trouble is that going out will be extremely difficult once it gets colder,” Chen Yaofeng sighed, “I just received a message from Flicka. They found out how to close the Gate of Despair. It was a clue got at the risk of life by a historian named Vilrotman.”

“What’s the method? What will happen when the Gate of Despair is closed? Can it completely resolve the Black Disaster?” Yu Hong asked.

“The Gate of Despair is the source of the Black Disaster;each country’s initial Black Well led to the Blood Tide, and then the Gate of Despair appeared, causing a significant rise in the air Red Value. The high-risk monstrous creatures and Evil Shades emerged from the Gate of Despair,” Zhang Kaijun explained.

“That’s right, Xiao Zhang is correct,” Chen Yaofeng confirmed, “In Dong River alone, we have three Gates of Despair, Flicka has five, and other countries mostly have one or two. So, if we can close the Gate of Despair, it would prevent the number of Black Disaster from increasing further and stop the environmental degradation.”

“What’s the closing method?” Yu Hong understood the significance and took it seriously.

“Find the first Black Disaster that emerged from the Gate of Despair and shove it back in,” Chen Yaofeng quickly explained, “The historian from Flicka used this method to successfully close one of the Gates of Despair.”

“That’s amazing!” Yu Hong praised. “Can ordinary people do this?”

“Of course not. So, that historian is surely not an ordinary person,” Zhang Kaijun said.

“Yes, he is a mutated human. And he has some marital ties with the Meisha family,” Chen Yaofeng said. “According to the expert group’s calculations, the external temperature will continue to drop in the next half year, possibly reaching as low as ninety degrees below zero. If we can’t find a way to stop it, we’ll just have to completely prohibit going outside. We’ll forever hide in our caves…”

In the communicator, the three discussed for a while, but couldn’t find a good solution.

They were all very aware, excessive low temperatures brought fatal threats to ordinary, marginal, and lower-class people;as it continued, the already sparse population would become even scarcer.