Night of Despair

Chapter 53: Calmness
 

More than eighty kilometers from Baiqiu Village.

A man in gray mountaineering attire, carrying a large backpack and wielding a hiking pole, who wore a helmet and mask, was rapidly advancing along the winding road toward Baiqiu Village.

The road was desolate and silent, with no end in sight, blending into the forest like a thin gray line.

After walking a while, the man stopped to mark a triangle on a tree with a knife, then looked around the environment.

Click.

Click.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps slowly approaching from behind.

He whipped around but saw nothing.

“Damn, not this ghost stuff again.”

The man took off his backpack and hung it on a nearby tree branch. He then quickly climbed a large tree, retrieved his backpack, and unzipped it.

In a swift motion, he pulled out a large dark green tarp and enveloped himself completely.

The moment he was shrouded, he blended entirely with his surroundings and disappeared.

At the same time, the eerie footsteps behind him also completely dispersed.

After waiting for a while, the man took off the tarp, folded it back into the backpack, jumped down from the branch, and continued on his way.

Suddenly, he pivoted left, dove to the ground, and lay flat.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out.

The grass next to him exploded, flinging up small clumps of dark soil.

“You’re dead, White Python! Daring to mess with my boss’s girl,” a man’s voice with a heavy accent shouted from the distant woods.

The man’s expression remained unchanged as he swiftly drew a black dagger and suddenly rolled on the spot.

Bang bang bang!

Just in time, three consecutive shots hit where he had just been, throwing up three clumps of dark soil.

Seizing the opportunity, the man sprang up, propelled himself off the ground with one hand, and then, like a cheetah, sprinted towards the direction of the gunfire.

Dodging several shots through swift left-to-right maneuvers, he finally closed in on the gunman.

“Fuck!”

There were three gunmen, all robust men wearing stab-resistant vests.

Seeing this, they dropped their guns and drew knifes, converging on him.

“Kill him!”

Each man charged at him with knives raised.

But before their actions could follow through, the man easily ducked and dodged.

Compared to his agility, they resembled cumbersome blocks of iron, their knife swings all missing.

The man ducked the first man, thrust his right hand violently forward, stabbing precisely into the man’s abdomen.

He rolled forward, slicing through the second man’s shin with his short knife, then stood up and threw a punch, landing it heavily on the third man’s right ear.

In a matter of seconds, all three men in front of him fell to the ground. Before they could react, the man pounced on them, delivering a knife strike to each.

Puff puff puff.

The three knife strikes cleanly sliced through their throats.

Blood flowed, with the sound of trickling accompanying it, and then all was quiet.

The man stood up, scavenged their belongings, then continued on his way with his backpack.

From start to finish, he never took the backpack off his back.

*

*

*

A heavy rain was pouring down.

Inside the mountain cave safe house, the fireplace burned vigorously, expelling the slight dampness and chill completely.

The bright yellow glow of the fire made the somewhat dark cave feel like daytime, though it was already day.

Yu Hong stood in the empty space of the cave, repeatedly practicing the Low Sweep Leg of the Heavy Leg Skill.

He had discovered that if he didn’t use Inner Qi and simply practiced the Heavy Leg Skill, he could accumulate new Inner Qi even faster than with more advanced techniques.

This Cultivation Technique was both for fighting and training, highly cost-effective.

Thus, he solely practiced the Heavy Leg Skill.

After a while, he took a drink of water, sat down to rest, then continued to strengthen the new talisman array.

He now had more than twenty pieces of ordinary talisman arrays, as enhancing one piece only took slightly over an hour. In another couple of days, he would have enough to exchange for a bulletproof lizard suit.

Yu Hong had also negotiated with Li Rushan, successfully bringing it down to forty-two talisman arrays. He had even demonstrated the talisman arrays to him, receiving his approval.

Therefore, with this deal, he reached an agreement with Old Zhou, who had recently arrived, for thirty talisman arrays in exchange for a second-hand lizard suit.

“It’s almost time…” Yu Hong picked up a bowl of protein-rich sweet soup and drank it all.

Then he stood up, began to add weight to his body by tying things around his legs.

Continuing to practice the Heavy Leg Skill with the added weight, he once again felt a warm sensation spreading throughout his body.

In such a dangerous environment, the warm flow nurturing his entire body unconsciously brought him a strong sense of comfort.

Rumble.

Thunder roared outside, and the rain grew heavier.

Raindrops hitting the wooden door produced a fine, pattering sound.

Outside it was cold and damp, with continuous heavy rain, obscuring everything from view.

Inside, however, it was as warm as spring and dry and peaceful. In that moment, Yu Hong’s heart grew calmer, and he fully immersed himself in the arduous practice of the Heavy Leg Skill.

“I don’t need to know many moves; just perfecting one and being able to use it freely is enough. As long as I can defeat the enemy with one strike, it suffices.”

He dedicated himself to practicing, and during breaks, he occupied himself by drawing talisman arrays and strengthening talisman-laden wood boards.

After three continuous days, the heavy rain outside finally stopped.

The entire forest was washed clean, pristine, and the bloodstains on the ground had long been washed away, leaving no trace.

Equipped with his talisman array, a large stack bundled together in his backpack, Yu Hong headed towards the direction of the post office stone house.

He had amassed a quantity of arrays and even made some extra for himself. Now was the time to trade them for Old Zhou’s second-hand grey lizard suit.

Honestly, whether it was second-hand or not didn’t matter to him; he would reinforce it upon acquiring anyway.

He quickly arrived in front of the stone house and followed a newly made signpost that led him not too far from Old Zhou’s residence.

Old Zhou lived in a place none other than Old Yu’s previous dwelling.

Outside the cave, many items had been moved out, and on the open ground, Old Zhou sat on a wooden stool, carving something into a piece of furniture.

Seeing Yu Hong approach, he got up in haste.

“You arrived just in time. I was about to head out the day after tomorrow. If you hadn’t come now, our trade would have to be postponed.”

He set down the carving knife, dusted off his hands, and turned to go inside the cave; he soon emerged with an old set of camouflage gear.

“This is my backup set. Did you bring the talisman array?” Old Zhou inquired, looking at Yu Hong.

“Of course,” Yu Hong nodded. “May I ask why you need so many talisman arrays? Logically, it would be more convenient to exchange these items with the supply team through Old Li. You alone…”

“I am likely to encounter dangers when I’m out, and talisman arrays are much lighter than Large Pyroxene Stones and offer a broader range of protection. They are very useful,” Old Zhou replied with a forced smile.

“Alright then…” Yu Hong took out all the talisman-laden wood boards from his backpack and set them aside for inspection, while he took the grey lizard suit to examine.

The suit was indeed as described by the other party: not damaged, just worn, with over a dozen bullet holes in the chest area.

However, the bullet holes hadn’t penetrated the inner alloy plate, so it didn’t affect usage.

Both the helmet and face shield were quite intact, without any damage.

Yu Hong was quite satisfied with it.

On the other side, Old Zhou had finished checking the talisman array with a Red Value meter and was equally pleased.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” he said again, squeezing out a smile.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Yu Hong replied with a nod, as both successfully avoided the unscrupulous Old Li and completed their trade.

“May I ask how long you’ve been living here?” Old Zhou suddenly asked a bit awkwardly.

“Not too long, just a few months,” Yu Hong casually answered.

“Then have you ever seen a young man who is a bit shorter than me, with a dark red number-eight birthmark on his face pass by here?” Old Zhou asked softly.

“I haven’t seen anyone like that… We mostly stay hidden in our own dwellings, as you know; we seldom wander outside aimlessly,” Yu Hong replied, shaking his head slightly.

“Alright then… thank you,” Old Zhou said, his expression darkening a bit as he took the talisman array and turned to walk towards the cave entrance.

Watching his retreating figure, Yu Hong guessed that he must have come here searching for someone.

And the person described by Old Zhou might be someone very important to him.

But unfortunately, at this time, an individual moving alone outdoors for extended periods was bound to encounter troubles sooner or later…

With the grey lizard suit in tow, Yu Hong decided not to ponder further and turned back towards the mountain cave. On his way, he passed by the post office stone house where Li Rushan and his daughter Aisena were engaged in a stone-throwing game in the courtyard.

Li Rushan’s smile faded when he saw the grey lizard suit in Yu Hong’s hands.

However, Aisena happily waved at Yu Hong from afar and greeted him.

Although Yu Hong was completely clad in protective clothing and a helmet, the little girl recognized him instantly.

“Uncle Yu Hong!”

Yu Hong waved back at her from a distance, his mood lifting somewhat as he watched her plump little face, round and bouncing energetically.

Without further conversation, he made his way straight back to the secure cave in the mountain. The path was muddy and wet, and carrying a twelve-pound grey lizard suit made the journey somewhat cumbersome.

By the time he returned to the cave, his trousers were covered in grass and black mud.

He closed the wooden door, set the suit down, and spread it out on the floor before stretching out his hand to touch it.

Anticipation filled Yu Hong’s heart again. A complete bulletproof vest would significantly enhance his safety level.

Immediately, he envisioned how he could reinforce it, considering various enhancement options.

Soon, after settling on everything, he visualized in his mind.

“Enhance the heavy bulletproof suit, direction, strengthen the bulletproof effect, improve the face mask’s filtering effect. Add inner pockets for ease of adding new components. Also, enhance flexibility.”

At that moment, his mind conjured images of heavily armed machine gun operators from various shooting war games he had played before.

This time his requirements were numerous, and Yu Hong prepared for an extended process.

Soon, black lines flowed out and merged into the suit, revealing a clear countdown.

“5 hours 15 minutes.”

That short?

He was slightly surprised, but then thought that while his requirements were numerous, the degree of enhancement was not major. The grey lizard suit was already a bulletproof vest; minor enhancements and design changes were indeed a minor challenge.

“Looks like I could add more content.”

After some thought, he took the recently acquired Red Value meter, placed it on the suit.

Once again, he pressed his hand on both the meter and the suit, mentally noting the requirements and adding one more feature—the need for Red Value detection capability.

Soon, a new countdown emerged.

This time it was significantly longer.

“17 hours 21 minutes.”

Yu Hong exhaled, confirming the enhancement.