Night of Despair-Chapter 210 - : Exploration Four
Chapter 210: Exploration Four
“At that time, I think I was using random enhancements from the ‘Black Mark,’ right? I just gave a general direction, toward enhancing sturdiness.”
“Since I mastered the method of using my mind to imagine specific outlines for enhancement, the targets have become more accurate, but the requirements for basic information have also increased…”
Yu Hong’s face gradually showed a look of realization.
“In that case, the most cost-effective way to enhance is still for the ‘Black Mark’ to decide on its own. I just give the general direction, without specifying exact details and shape. That’s the most useful method.”
Having understood the key point, Yu Hong reached out again and walked to the edge of the outer courtyard, pressing his hand on the fence. He circumscribed a range in his mind and added the contents for enhancement synthesis. Then…
“Enhance the camp’s defense system, direction: increase sturdiness, increase concealment, leave a gate for entry and exit.”
He did not imagine anything specific, just made simple and vague requests.
Thus, a black line flowed out from the back of his hand, vanishing instantly into the fence.
Very quickly.
“Enhance the camp’s defense system?” The ‘Black Mark’s’ inquiry appeared.
Yu Hong took a long breath and looked at the dark red countdown numbers emerging on the fence’s surface.
It displayed: 31 days, 18 hours, 07 minutes.
“…..A month!?” Yu Hong’s expression stiffened.
His right hand remained pressed against the fence, watching the exaggerated countdown, his lips pressed tightly together, revealing a thoughtful demeanor.
“Even when I originally enhanced the inner courtyard walls, it wasn’t this exaggerated…. But, the longer the time, the better the enhancement results will be…”
He hesitated…
His eyes gazed toward the fence at that moment.
Outside, a dragon lizard happened to be crawling through the forest, patrolling and moving away, making a slight rustling sound.
The Black Fog surrounding the dragon lizard churned, devouring the faint white light emanating from inside the camp.
The only light, seemingly the last hope to drive away the surrounding darkness.
“If the enhanced defense system can really ensure basic safety… then…”
He considered the current state of the camp, finding nothing urgently needing enhancement.
The effectiveness of radiation weapons was gradually decreasing for him, while the power of Inner Qi was beginning to show, especially when two streams of Inner Qi burst into flames together, their power was immense. It strongly protected his body from harm, increased the toughness and resilience of skin and bones, and could also damage the Black Disaster.
The rest of the stockpiled food and water were also plentiful, enough to last him several months alone.
“Let’s do it!”
Thinking this, Yu Hong instantly responded to the ‘Black Mark’s’ inquiry in his mind.
“Yes!”
Hiss!
Instantly, a very fast blur covered the entire fence of the outer courtyard for a moment.
Following that, the countdown in front of Yu Hong began to flicker slightly, signifying that the enhancement had officially started.
Whew!
He exhaled deeply and stood up.
The black, wet mud caked his boots, making a splashing, muddy sound.
He glanced at the vanished black mud and purple-black bones, turned around carrying a wooden bucket, and returned to the stone castle.
The whirring air purifiers were still working hard in the corridor.
Yu Hong entered the passageway, closed the door behind him, locked it, and headed toward the direction of the right-side cave.
Upon reaching the cave entrance, he turned his head back to look at the passage leading to the stone castle.
In the gray-white passage, the electric lamps on the wall continued to release steady white light.
But this light, at this moment, hinted at a faint emptiness.
This mere ten-meter-long stone passageway inexplicably gave a deep sense of isolation.
“Right, how long has Old Zhou been gone?” Yu Hong suddenly thought of this.
“It feels like it’s been a very long time…”
He was somewhat distracted and pushed open the large cave door, walking inside.
Boom.
The heavy door closed firmly, the only light visible was a slight flicker seen through the dense air holes at the bottom.
*
*
*
Days passed one by one.
The Black Wind Camp remained unaltered, standing quietly in the increasingly cold mountain forest.
Rainwater and moisture condensed into frost, gradually covering the surrounding mountain forests, and also climbing onto every inch of the camp’s exterior, thoroughly turning it gray-white.
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But this change in color could only be seen briefly each day during the short moments of dark and gray time.
Before long, more than ten days had passed.
Outside the camp, in the secondary security zone.
A burly humanoid figure in all black stood quietly on the ground.
With a whoosh, translucent white flames ignited on the humanoid’s body, its body slightly swelling, and its right leg abruptly lifting and kicking upward.
Hiss!
A sharp sound of cutting through the air exploded.
The humanoid didn’t stop, its right leg chopped down, swept across, and it performed a series of aerial, side-kicks. Mid-air Upper Knee Strike, side push, and then spiraling down smash.
Various dazzling leg maneuvers were rapidly displayed by it.
Accompanied by the afterimages left by the white flames, every move was fast, yet clear for anyone to see.
Because the residual flames of the move layer upon layer, the full process of the moves was thoroughly displayed.
After a while, the humanoid figure made its final spinning sweep, landed, and stood still, completely motionless.
“Just one last bit, it’s the sixth layer…” The figure pulled off its goggles, revealing Yu Hong’s somewhat tired eyes.
He took out an atomic lamp, and the sickly green light illuminated the ground around him.
“It’s just this last bit… I always feel like there’s something missing…” Yu Hong said, shining the light as he slowly walked back towards the camp’s outer courtyard.
Behind him, in the Black Fog, dragon lizards flashed by, leaving the vicinity to patrol elsewhere.
Yu Hong didn’t pay them any attention, pushed open the fence gate, entered the outer courtyard, and the sound of his boots crunching on ice echoed as he stepped on the ground.
“The weather is getting colder and colder…” he said, looking up at the sky.
The night sky was pitch black, like a great spill of ink.
No stars, no moon, only darkness, endless and profound.
Yu Hong averted his gaze, came to the inner courtyard where various odd items of different sizes were piled on the ground.
Some items were black soil, some were irregular minerals like rubies, and there were also greyish-white bones, and items as smooth as glass spheres.
More than a dozen items in total, neatly arranged from left to right.
All placed in small wooden bowls.
The side of each bowl was marked with numbers using a black charcoal pencil, from 1 to 14.
Yu Hong took out a detector, closely checking each item in the bowls again.
‘61.341’.
‘77.928’.
A series of numbers displayed continuously and then cleared.
His expression unchanged, he continued testing until the last item.
‘412.512’
It was the only one exceeding a hundred.
Yu Hong put away the detector, pulled out a rolled-up brown notebook from his back pocket, opened to the middle page, and began recording meticulously with the charcoal pencil.
“Experimental records over a week, the remnants inside the Black Disaster do not show any Red Value fluctuation over time.”
He closed the notebook, murmuring to himself.
“Based on the Red Values of the remnants, combined with the implant surgeries in Aurora City and Gray City, it’s confirmed that remnants with a Red Value below one hundred are safe and can be considered normal types for implantation in the human body.”
“Those exceeding a Red Value of one hundred can be named as rare, and they significantly affect the human body; they are generally only used in enhancement surgeries. This was matured even before the front lines collapsed.”
“The Red Value of the remnants themselves has no direct correlation to the danger level of the Black Disaster. A high-danger Black Disaster might only leave behind regular-level remnants, or more often than not, no remnants at all.”
Yu Hong exhaled a breath of white air, ignored the remnants on the ground, turned, and walked toward the passageway entrance.
He pushed open the passage door.
He quickly took off his suit, threw it carelessly in the passageway, then headed back to the cave.
Entering the cave, shutting the door, he took off his underwear and stood in the basement’s shower room.
With a swift motion, he pulled the curtain shut and turned on the faucet.
Warm water cascaded down from above.
A faint, nose-tickling scent spread through the water, similar to that of disinfectant.
Yu Hong, enduring the discomfort, quickly washed his hair and body, then dried off and changed into dry clothing.
He went to the first floor, drying his increasingly long hair with a towel, and sat down, turning on his communicator.
A slightly noisy commotion emanated from the speaker.
“Is there still no solution to the water problem?” Yu Hong recognized Wei Song and Zhang Kaijun arguing and asked.
“We’ve already sent three teams; we can’t spare more manpower. The Black Disaster underwater, especially at the groundwater level, isn’t something we can handle right now,” Wei Song said, slightly incensed.
“Problems don’t disappear just because we avoid or delay dealing with them,” Zhang Kaijun retorted coldly, “No matter how many people die, we must solve this problem. Especially now, with the temperature steadily dropping, the external air temperature has stabilized below zero for a long time, lacking sufficient water sources, there will be serious problems with drinking water.”
“Can’t we use ice and snow?”
“We’ve tried, but it’s far from enough.”
“What about Aurora City? Is it only Gray City and my location having groundwater issues?” Yu Hong asked.
“It’s the same problem there, but not as severe as ours, possibly because the portion of their groundwater pumping uses sunlight materials far superior to ours,” Zhang Kaijun replied.
“Then why don’t we relocate there, merge into the city?” Yu Hong questioned, “Wei Song, things aren’t going well on your end, right?”
Wei Song had just re-established contact a few days ago after her relocation stabilized, only to immediately suffer an attack from the Blood Tide Monsters. Compared to the shadow and the Evil Shadow, the Blood Tide Monsters didn’t seem as terrifying, but when problems actually arose, the quantity of these creatures far exceeded that of the shadow and the Evil Shadow…
What Wei Song encountered was a Blood Tide creature known as the rotten spider.
Initially, those who named the Blood Tide obviously intended to distinguish it actively from the shadow. The focus on “Tide” underscores the endless nature of these creatures, like a tide…
The biggest issue with the rotten spider is that it carries a strange bacterium, which if contacted, causes people to develop high fever, froth at the mouth, and become extremely weakened.
Wei Song didn’t notice initially, which cost her dearly.
“Aurora City is also entirely problematic, the second Aurora City has now become popular with a type of mushroom powder called ‘Marlica,’ inhaling it gives a strong hallucinogenic and euphoric sensation. It’s recurrently banned yet persists,” Zhang Kaijun added, “With this kind of management capacity, rather than entering the city and losing command, entrusting our lives to others, it’s better to control our own destiny.”
“I hadn’t heard about that; I’ve traded with the second Aurora City twice, both times recently, and the rift channels seem to be more stable. The situation has stabilized quite a bit. Just not sure about the situation with the investigation team?” Yu Hong said.
“Apparently, the investigation teams have all been deployed to contain the Meisha family; speaking of which, a while back, Team Two encountered a member of the Meisha family. Strangely, they weren’t attacked,” Wei Song whispered.
“I’ve heard about that too; Aurora City has sealed off the news, but there’s a leak in their management,” Zhang Kaijun said, “It’s said that the mutants seem to hold some kind of secret, hence the Black Disaster doesn’t actively attack them when they are stationary. Similarly, members of the Meisha family don’t attack them, likely for the same reason.”
“A secret about the mutants?” Yu Hong thought of Aisena; she and Yiyi seemed to have something in common.
“Yes. According to the statistics from my expert team, all mutants are transformed at a later stage, not from birth,” Zhang Kaijun answered.
Yu Hong looked thoughtful upon hearing this.
He paused for a few seconds, about to ask for more details.
Beep beep.
Suddenly, from outside the camp, a clear horn sound came.
His expression changed abruptly, and he quickly got up and went to the door to look outside.
Outside the outer courtyard fence, a large black armored vehicle was slowly stopping, turning off two large, bright yellow headlights.
