A Night of Desperation

Chapter 24: Exchange (4)

“If you still have something as good as a water filter cup, he will definitely buy it,” Jenny said with a laugh.

Filtering water had always been a big problem for her. The water filter jugs sent from the bunker were only good for filtering coarse particles. They needed to be replaced frequently.

She had just quickly checked the water filter cup in her hand. The filter inside had five layers, so it should work well.

“Would you mind if I try it?” She took a leather water pouch from her waist bag and compared it.

“Of course,” Yu Hong stepped back a little, letting her pour water into the filter cup.

Soon, clear water flowed out, and the quality was so good that Jenny’s eyes lit up. Clean water was in high demand, especially for washing wounds.

After the transaction, they each stepped back and quickly parted ways.

On his way back, Yu Hong found the soil that Jenny had mentioned. He dug up a bit and brought it back to the cave.

He planned to try enhancing it. If the soil indeed had a diarrhea-stopping effect, the Black Mark should be able to enhance it into a medicine with fewer side effects.

This was his true trump card! At that point, if the enhancement time was right, he would have another source of trade for supplies.

On the other side.

Jenny quickly passed through the forest and stopped in front of a patch of grass. She bent down, pushed aside some weeds, and dug out a pull ring from the ground.

Grabbing the ring, she pulled it up.

Immediately, a wooden board camouflaged as grass stood up.

Below the board was a simple tunnel.

She quickly crawled into the tunnel, going deeper into the dark passage. After crawling for more than ten meters, she soon reached the end of the tunnel.

At the end, there was a black-gray round metal door.

Knock, knock, knock.

She knocked on the door, then, without waiting for a response, pulled out a key, inserted it into the keyhole, and turned it to open the door.

Behind it was a small square room with atomic lights on the walls. The faint green light cast everything in a strange hue.

This was her solitary bunker, furnished with tables, chairs, cabinets, a bed, tools, and plenty of materials used for leather crafting.

Jenny crawled out of the passage, closed the door behind her, stretched, walked over to a cabinet, and poured the filtered water from the cup into a small pot, waiting for it to boil.

She then walked to the bookshelf, sat down, took out a charcoal pencil and some newspaper, and prepared to record her encounter with Yu Hong today.

“Mom, did you just go out?” Suddenly, a clear voice came from another room.

This bunker had a small hall with three rooms: one for leather crafting, one for the bedroom, and one for storage.

The voice came from the bedroom.

“Is that you, Eve? When did you come back?” Jenny’s face lit up as she turned to look in the direction of the voice.

“Not long ago.” A girl with a golden ponytail walked out of the bedroom. She wore a green hoodie and tight jeans. Her face was delicate, and it seemed like she had put on light makeup.

She was Jenny’s daughter, Eve, the most beautiful girl in the survivor settlement.

“Is there any food, Mom? I just checked, and there’s nothing.” Eve complained.

“There’s some left.” Jenny stood up and quickly found a small bag of dried meat in the corner. She opened the bag, grabbed half of it, and prepared to give it to her daughter.

But before she could, Eve snatched the whole bag.

“There’s this much? Thanks, Mom! I knew you were the best!” Eve happily gave her mom a kiss and quickly darted out through the exit.

Jenny’s hand hung in the air, the dried meat now gone.

She smiled wryly but didn’t stop her.

She hadn’t had the chance to say that the dried meat was most of her remaining supplies for the peak of her hunger.

What’s left was barely enough for her to make clear soup to survive each day.

Sighing, Jenny suddenly smiled again.

“She must be really hungry. Well, it’s good to help her.”

She didn’t think about why her daughter, who was doing well, suddenly ran back from the town, nor did she wonder why Eve wasn’t considering her at all.

She only knew that since her husband’s death, Eve was her only remaining family.

‘She’s still young in this regard. She’ll understand when she’s older.’

Comforting herself, Jenny continued to focus on handling some old clothes she had received in trade.

She was dismantling the old clothes to make new, well-fitting ones, which was one of her trades.

Elsewhere.

Yu Hong quickly entered the cave and was greeted by a familiar stench, which reassured him.

He closed the door and opened the window to let in some fresh air.

He grabbed a protein bar and slowly chewed it while laying the soil he had dug out earlier on a piece of newspaper.

Finally, he pulled over a round log stool, sat down, and quietly watched the newspaper with the “Comprehensive Physical Training Method” flickering with a countdown.

At this point, the countdown had just over five hours remaining.

Yu Hong decided to stay put and wait calmly, sitting on the stool, watching the time pass.

One hour. Two hours. Three hours. The sky outside began to darken.

The wind in the forest picked up, howling louder.

Yu Hong stood up, stretched his legs, and reached for the shutter to close the observation window.

At the same time, he swapped out half of the strengthening stone for his only complete one.

After doing this, he grabbed the small pot, poured out the boiled water, and took a small sip from the cup to avoid dehydration.

‘With the rain outside, one day isn’t enough to dry the wood. There’s not enough dry firewood, so tonight, I’ll have to make do.’

He calculated the remaining firewood and then took out a candle, placing it somewhere easily accessible.

Afterward, he lay down on the blanket, gazing at the door, waiting for nightfall.

Not long after, about twenty minutes later, the sky turned completely dark.

The familiar rustling sounds of black insects crawling came once again.

Yu Hong quickly got up and used the remaining embers in the fireplace to light the candle.

The candlelight illuminated the entire cave.

During this time, he began lighting the fireplace.

By nightfall, the outside temperature had dropped to just a few degrees, and the black insects rapidly swarmed in.

The flames in the fireplace gradually grew brighter as Yu Hong added dry wood.

Time passed in this monotonous routine.

During this time, Yu Hong had to run to the toilet twice, each time experiencing severe dehydration symptoms. His complexion grew paler, and his lips lost their color.

Finally, after closely monitoring the process, the “Comprehensive Physical Training Method” enhancement finished.

After a brief blur, the newspaper instantly transformed into a thin black manual.

The manual was about the size of a palm, with a cover neatly stamped with the words: Advanced Physical Training Method.

Seeing this, Yu Hong’s eyes lit up. He quickly put down the dry wood and walked over to grab the booklet.

Under the firelight, he eagerly flipped to the first page.

Immediately, a diagram of a standard running posture appeared before him.

The figure in the diagram was a bald man with no skin, showing all his muscles, tendons, and bones.

The areas where force should be exerted were highlighted in red, and arrows indicated the direction and intensity of the force.

Looking at the text above the diagram, it read: Basic Breathwork Running.

“This is just running, isn’t it?” Yu Hong carefully checked the details on the diagram, confirming that this was an extremely detailed guide on running technique.

However, he distinctly remembered that he had directed the enhancement toward martial arts, internal skills, or similar areas.

At the time, he had thought that even if the name was “Advanced Physical Training Method,” slight deviation wouldn’t matter.

But this was the result?

Yu Hong frowned, sighed, and patiently turned to the next page.

The second page included a diagram of breathing techniques for running.

Again, it showed the same skinless bald man, with red and blue arrows indicating exhalation and inhalation rhythms, quantities, times, and pathways.

There were also small notes beside it, stating that a specific pattern needed to be visualized during running.

The third page showed that very visualization pattern.

It was an odd image, resembling a mix of black sludge and silver sand.

At first glance, Yu Hong felt a slight dizziness, as if his eyes were being sucked in.

He didn’t dare to look further, because below it was a small warning: Do not look before the training period.

He flipped the page again.

Finally, there were some herbal materials to accompany the exercises. Yu Hong was surprised to find that these herbs were common in the surrounding forests.

There were also cautionary notes and warnings.

‘This training method is customized based on individual physical and mental conditions. Do not use it if you are not the intended recipient. Any consequences will be your own responsibility.’

“So intelligent?” Yu Hong felt more amazed by the Black Mark’s power and mystery.

He closed the last page, suddenly realizing that this “Advanced Physical Training Method” only included a jogging exercise diagram?

The black insects outside were still swarming in wildly.

The noisy sounds brought Yu Hong back to his thoughts.

He quickly set down the manual and walked over to the fireplace to add more wood.

As he added the wood, he carefully recalled the exercise methods he had just seen.

‘It didn’t say that I need to run outdoors. It seems like I could try running in place indoors.’

Unfortunately, the idea seemed good, but after just two minutes of running in place, his legs gave way, and he was exhausted.

Having not eaten, only drinking water and suffering from dehydration, his body had already entered a state of fatigue.

Realizing this, Yu Hong quickly remembered that he hadn’t taken the medicine yet and his diarrhea hadn’t improved.

He grabbed a piece of firewood, went over to the mound of soil he had dug earlier, and touched it.

‘Enhance the diarrhea medicine, with the goal: Reduce side effects.’ He silently thought.

If this soil really had a natural diarrhea-stopping effect, the Black Mark enhancement should succeed.

If not, the Black Mark might fail to enhance, just like before, because the soil wasn’t effective.

This would be the test of whether it worked or not.

Yu Hong stared at the soil, not blinking, quietly waiting.

Hiss.

Soon, a black line emerged from the Black Mark on the back of his hand, drilling into the soil.

Immediately, a familiar countdown appeared on the surface of the soil.

This time, the countdown was red, instead of black.

‘1 hour, 51 minutes.’

Really!!

Yu Hong’s eyes lit up, and a look of relief crossed his face.

Although he didn’t think Jenny would deceive him, seeing the results in person brought him a sense of relief.

In this dangerous environment with a lack of medicine, being able to reliably produce enough diarrhea medicine would be a great benefit to both him and others.

‘Do you want to enhance the diarrhea medicine?’ The cold, mechanical voice of the Black Mark slowly sounded.

Yu Hong licked his dry lips.

‘Yes!’

(End of Chapter)