A Night of Desperation

Chapter 101: Cultivation Method (1)

‘It’s very likely that Li Runshan doesn’t know about Ge Shenghao and his group. Of course, he could also be pretending not to know, deliberately misleading me. But the response team is far better equipped than the outside world. If their goal was simply to take me down, they could have done it with a direct assault instead of standing by.’ Yu Hong ended the communication, silently speculating.

Ge Shenghao’s attack had caught him off guard. They probably didn’t expect the response team to arrive so quickly either.

Regardless, if they had known the response team was coming today, they would have had no reason to attack him.

Yu Hong exhaled, opened the door, and stepped out of the cave, walking up to Ge Shenghao.

“It seems that the people over there don’t know you’re here with me,” he said in a low voice.

This was a statement, not a question. He presented his speculation as a fact, hoping to gauge Ge Shenghao’s reaction and extract more reliable intelligence.

“Haha…” Ge Shenghao lay limp on the ground, his face pale. He was lying on his side, unable to move.

“There are only four of us in action… You’re worried about what happens when the response team gets here?” As a former postman, trained for situations like this, he quickly understood Yu Hong’s concerns.

“Do you have anything to say?” Yu Hong asked bluntly, seeing no need to waste words now that he had been exposed. “Before attacking, did it ever occur to you to figure out my situation first?”

“How the hell was I supposed to know you could fight off a whole flock of Multi-Eyed Birds alone?!” Ge Shenghao let out a crazed laugh. “I’ve never seen anyone like you. Even those fully enhanced monsters don’t compare to you. You won, I lost. Just kill me already. With the level of enhancement you’ve reached, you’ll only last a bit longer than me anyway.”

He leaned back nonchalantly against the radiant stone, fearlessly looking at Yu Hong.

This was a fight that could have been avoided, but due to the time lag and the arrogance of Ge Shenghao and his group, it turned into a massacre.

They blindly believed in their own judgment, only for it to result in the current situation.

No one could have imagined that a man who had lived in the wild for a long time, with irregular meals and no guarantees of survival, could repel a danger-level four monster without relying on special weapons.

Food shortages, low-grade weapons, and no backup—who would have thought that someone in such a situation could be far stronger than them, the elite forces?

So much so that even now, Ge Shenghao couldn’t shake the feeling that he might be dreaming.

“Any last words?” Yu Hong asked.

“…Can you tell me how you became so strong?” Ge Shenghao hesitated for a moment before asking.

“No.” Yu Hong shook his head.

“Then just kill me already.” Ge Shenghao chuckled casually.

Bang!

Yu Hong swung his stick like lightning, striking Ge Shenghao squarely on the forehead.

The blow caved in his skull, blood gushing from his mouth and nose. He was dead on the spot.

Standing where he was, Yu Hong lifted his stick and walked to the hole in the rock wall, knocking on the obstructing stone.

Thump, thump.

The stone slowly shifted aside, revealing the heads of Qiu Yanxi and Wei Shanshan.

They clung to each other, drenched in sweat, unsure of how long they had been hiding inside.

“It’s over. The rescue team has arrived,” Yu Hong informed them.

The two women were momentarily stunned before their faces lit up with joy.

“Quick, quick, quick!” Qiu Yanxi urged her daughter as they crawled out of the cave.

Upon emerging, they saw Ge Shenghao’s lifeless, limp body on the ground. They fell silent for a moment but said nothing, asked nothing, and swiftly began gathering their belongings.

There wasn’t much to pack. They had arrived with nothing, relying entirely on Yu Hong for food.

“Excuse me, may we take this with us?” Qiu Yanxi carefully held up the rune board.

“Sure. It’s not worth much anymore,” Yu Hong replied, knowing that the United Army had already begun mass production.

“One more thing… May I take a small portion of this herb with me to transplant? Perhaps it could help save more lives.” Qiu Yanxi asked again, her tone respectful. “I can promise that if we gain any technological patents from it, we will split half the profits with you. You can exchange your share for supplies through postal channels.”

Over the past few days, she had observed closely and confirmed that these Luminous stone grasses had been their true protection all along.

But once broken off from its roots, the Luminous stone grass quickly lost its effectiveness and became no different from ordinary weeds.

Only by transplanting it intact might there be a chance to uncover its secrets.

Yu Hong thought for a moment. In theory, the Luminous stone grass couldn’t survive too far from him—the enhancement from the Black Seal had a limited range.

But he was also curious if there was a way to bypass that limitation.

If they could research something useful, it might help against the increasingly worsening external environment.

And if he could get some resources out of it—well, even better.

“Go ahead and try.” He agreed nonchalantly.

He only agreed because the Luminous stone grass had too many limitations—it was useful solely for creating a buffer zone that kept Ghostly Shadows at bay from safe houses.

The exact mechanics of the Seal’s effect still needed further exploration.

Upon receiving permission, the mother and daughter quickly dug up two Luminous stone grass plants, wrapped them in plastic bags, and then followed Yu Hong out of the courtyard, heading toward the post office.

This time, because of Ge Shenghao’s actions—and also out of caution regarding the rescue team—Yu Hong didn’t get too close. Instead, he escorted the two from a distance, watching them approach a strange vehicle near the post office and get taken inside before finally turning to leave.

The rescue team undoubtedly had high-powered weapons; otherwise, they wouldn’t have made it here safely.

From now on, Yu Hong’s trade with Wei Hongye would shift to being led by Wei Hongye.

From afar, he saw Li Runshan wave at him and noticed Wei Shanshan glancing back at him multiple times.

Meanwhile, Qiu Yanxi was whispering cautiously to a masked woman.

Yu Hong didn’t approach; instead, he slowly retreated, disappearing into the mist.

Based on the intelligence he had gathered earlier, micro-missile targeting likely couldn’t lock onto distant objects, meaning there was strong interference that forced them to rely on their senses to detect monsters only when they got close.

For his own safety, he stayed within the mist as much as possible.

Standing in the fog, Yu Hong watched as the mother and daughter boarded the strange vehicle. The rescue team members exchanged some words with Li Runshan before the masked woman leading them glanced in his direction, then turned away, patted Li Runshan’s shoulder, and got into the vehicle.

The engine hummed softly as the vehicle turned, following a narrow path into the fog, disappearing in no time.

Inside the vehicle—

Qiu Yanxi and Wei Shanshan sat closely together, listening to the surrounding passengers. Some were crying with joy, some were groaning in sorrow, and some were even laughing hysterically.

For a moment, it seemed as if everyone around them had lost their minds.

In contrast, despite their own joy, the mother and daughter’s emotions were oddly stable among the group of unhinged survivors.

“Mom, did you give Dad’s token?” Wei Shanshan couldn’t help but ask. She was deeply grateful to Yu Hong, knowing that without him, both she and her mother wouldn’t have just suffered humiliation—they probably wouldn’t have survived to see the rescue team arrive.

“Yes, I left it at the post office. Since Mr. Yu didn’t want to show himself, I asked Mr. Li Runshan to pass it on.” Qiu Yanxi nodded, her heart filled with hope for the future.

“I hope Mr. Yu stays safe,” Wei Shanshan murmured, knowing that while he didn’t help for free, in a world as broken as this, maintaining even a basic level of fair trade was already an act of immense kindness.

Qiu Yanxi, however, was thinking of something else. She gently cradled the two transplanted Luminous stone grass plants, eagerly hoping that her husband’s team could study them and discover something valuable.

But what she didn’t see was that the two Luminous stone grass plants, upon leaving Yu Hong’s proximity, quickly darkened.

Moments later, they silently crumbled into dust.

*

*

*

After confirming that the rescue team had completely left, Yu Hong exhaled, waited a while longer, and then cautiously approached the post office.

“Old Li.”

He saw Li Runshan sitting in the courtyard, counting a pile of packages scattered on the ground.

“Where’s the stuff from Wei Hongye?” Yu Hong ignored the packages and got straight to the point.

“Here.” Li Runshan casually tossed him a silver chipboard. “This is the activation board. Find the location, insert it, and you’ll get what you need. The exact storage location is written on the back.”

Yu Hong caught the chipboard and flipped it over.

A line of text was scrawled on the back in black ink:

“Walk 400-500 meters south of Anxi Bridge in Lu Long County to reach the Anxi Military Quarantine Zone. The items are on the third basement level, in the energy supply room.”

“Where is Lu Long County?” Yu Hong asked as he pocketed the chipboard.

“It’s quite far—about seventy or eighty kilometers from here. This is the closest location he could find for you,” Li Runshan replied.

“Alright, pack up and get out of here quickly. It’s not safe—those—”

Boom!

Before he could finish, a distant explosion erupted, followed by a barrage of machine-gun fire and the piercing screeches of Multi-Eyed Birds echoing through the air.

“Holy—The convoy just attracted at least a dozen Multi-Eyed Birds!” Li Runshan listened carefully and sucked in a breath.

Yu Hong’s expression turned grim as he looked toward the source of the noise.

At most, he could take down two. But more than ten? His only option was to run.

“Can they win?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“They can. They have plenty of high-powered weapons. But winning isn’t the issue—the key is whether they can make it back to Hope City before they run out of ammo. The Multi-Eyed Birds are endless. The worst thing about Blood Tide monsters is their immortality. Their regeneration rate is much faster than Ghostly Shadows.” Li Runshan sighed, picked up the packages, and headed toward a crumbling stone house.

“Coming with me?” he asked.

Yu Hong shook his head, quickly turning back toward the safe house.

“Keep in touch via communicator,” he said, disappearing into the fog.

With the token in hand, it was time to retrieve the core of his energy system.

The outside world was becoming more dangerous by the day—he had to establish a self-sufficient survival system as soon as possible. Otherwise, when the outside became completely uninhabitable, it would be too late.

As he sprinted through the fog, Yu Hong suddenly stopped.

To his right, by the base of a tree, stood Qiu Yanxi in a gray tracksuit.

Beside her, Wei Shanshan slowly stepped forward in a white silk dress.

Both of them were smiling at him. But they didn’t come any closer.

Yu Hong didn’t hesitate—he immediately flung a rune array board at them.

Whoosh!

The board struck the ground at their feet, instantly igniting a burst of white light.

With a flash, the two figures vanished into thin air.

“These Ghostly Shadows are getting bolder…” Yu Hong glanced at the red-value detector embedded in his collar.

“27.133.”

This enhanced detector gave a rather alarming environmental reading.

Yu Hong’s heart sank.

Previously, an ordinary Phantom had a red value just above 20.

Now, the environment itself had reached 27.

This wasn’t even a Ghostly Shadow’s reading—the rune array had already dispelled them.

This was purely the environmental red value.

Picking up the partially used rune board, Yu Hong continued running, soon arriving back at the Luminous Stone Grass courtyard.

He shut the gate, entered the cave, and watched as the silver rune array on the back of the door emitted a faint, constant white glow.

(End of Chapter)