Night of Despair

Chapter 73: Night Rain
 

Inside the cave safe house.

Separated by a door, Yu Hong carefully started to listen to the other party describing information about the Language Person.

“My name is Zhou Xiaoling, and she is my younger sister, Zhou Xiaoyin. We’ve only encountered a Language Person once.” The girl with the large chest instinctively grasped at the clothes on her chest, lightly biting her lip, her eyes as if still reflecting the fear that once lingered.

“We originally worked in a customer service company, just constantly taking phone calls all day, but after the Black Disaster hit, we were assigned as nursing staff and given emergency training to take care of injured people. But it was just a while back.”

“How long ago was ‘a while back’?” Yu Hong suddenly interrupted her.

“About, two weeks ago…” Zhou Xiaoling thought for a moment before answering.

“Go on.” Yu Hong nodded, taking note of the time.

“Two weeks ago, the medical center we worked at brought in a special patient,” Zhou Xiaoling’s pretty face showed a hint of fear.

She began to swallow repeatedly, her body gradually tensing, unconsciously leaning forward as if wanting to get closer to Yu Hong.

“That patient, she always liked to mutter to herself for no apparent reason. Clearly, there was no one around her, yet she spoke as naturally as if talking to another person, engaging in one-sided conversations.”

“Could it be something invisible to ordinary people?” Yu Hong frowned.

“It’s not… It’s not that…” Zhou Xiaoling shook her head vigorously, “At first we thought so too, but regardless of what tests we ran, the Red Value was all normal. There were no problems. But later on, her condition became more severe. She started to laugh by herself often, very happily, that kind—even in the sudden, quiet environment, she would abruptly start laughing heartily and naturally.”

“Sometimes it was in the middle of the night, other times during the day. As time went on, she got increasingly annoyed with anyone around her, no matter what we said to her, paying us less and less attention.”

Zhou Xiaoling at this point, in just a short span of time, turned alarmingly pale, with fine beads of sweat covering her forehead.

“Until, until one day.” At this moment, she seemed to recall something extremely terrifying, shivering all over, causing her younger sister behind her to also turn pale, quietly grabbing her hand. The two sisters clung to each other as if it would make them feel safer.

“What happened?” Yu Hong once again checked the silver talisman array behind the door to make sure there was no problem, then continued to look at the two women.

“That day…” Zhou Xiaoling trembled even more. She clenched her teeth, looking down as if she was at the peak of fear. Her voice got softer and softer, making it impossible for others to hear clearly what she was saying.

“What?” Yu Hong frowned and instinctively leaned closer, trying to hear more clearly.

“That day… she…” Zhou Xiaoling turned even paler, her head bowed as if shrinking, trembling all over. She still spoke, describing something, but her voice was shaky due to fear, intermittent, and utterly unclear.

“Can you speak up? I can’t hear you,” Yu Hong said with a frown.

“Okay… okay.” Zhou Xiaoling quickly nodded, opening her mouth to speak again.

But just then, her whole body stiffened suddenly, frozen on the spot.

She seemed as if she had been hit with a pressure point, stopping her quivers completely, standing still like a wax figure, her eyes wide with terror staring at Yu Hong.

No, to be precise, staring behind Yu Hong.

As if there was something extremely terrifying appearing there.

Yu Hong also felt something was wrong at this moment, and he grabbed the Wolf Fang Club next to the door and swung it behind him quickly.

Whoosh!

The club whistled fiercely through the air, swinging at nothing.

After confirming nothing was amiss, he quickly leaned against the door, turning back to look at Zhou Xiaoling.

“What did you see?”

Silence.

Yu Hong froze in place, blinking his eyes.

Because, in just that instant, the Zhou sisters outside the door had disappeared!

‘Could they be hiding?’ He considered the possibility.

If they were crouching down out of sight in a blind spot from the peephole, indeed they could evade his sight.

Instantly, he crouched down and knocked on the door.

Thud thud.

“Zhou Xiaoling? Are you still there?”

He asked.

There was no response from the outside, eerily silent and tranquil.

Yu Hong asked several times, receiving no reply.

He thought for a moment, quickly put on the Polar Bear bulletproof suit, picked up the Wolf Fang Club, took the silver talisman array, and grasped the door handle.

‘Wait, what if I go out now and happen to encounter that Language Person? What if these two were a trap?’ His movements ceased, and he released the door handle.

‘Let’s wait a bit longer. If the Zhou sisters are just scared and hiding, there will definitely be some noise soon. Whether they are genuine seekers of help or a trap, I shouldn’t be the one panicking.’

Yu Hong patiently leaned against the door, sitting cross-legged on the ground.

Time ticked away.

Ten minutes.

Half an hour.

An hour…

Two hours…

Thunder rumbled outside, looking like rain was imminent. Outside, still not a sound of life, nor any fluctuation on the Red Value detector.

The sky was about to darken.

Yu Hong let out a long breath, poured himself a cup of water, and gulped it down.

Then he moved to the back of the door once more.

His hand touched the door handle again, this time with a much more resolute look in his eyes.

‘This long without any noise, and night is almost here, the Zhou sisters must have encountered trouble. Regardless of the nature of the event, it happened right outside my door, in a place I’d have to exit and enter. After so long, I’ve got to go check.’

Click.

The doorknob was slowly turned and opened.

Yu Hong held the Wolf Fang Club in one hand and gently pushed open the door.

There was no one outside, an empty void.

No Zhou sisters, nor anything else.

Yu Hong stood in front of the door, looking left and right, noting that the whole yard was still as before, the luminous grass lush and vibrant, restored to their former vitality.

But…

He stepped out the door, crouched down, and started to closely examine the ground.

The ground was covered in a lot of white lime, a byproduct of his usual stone chamber carving and excavation.

These lime powders clearly imprinted the large footprints from his frequent comings and goings.

Only, at this moment, what made Yu Hong furrow his brows as he crouched down was…

At the doorway, why were there only his footprints?

What about the Zhou Xiaoling sisters who had just been here?

They clearly stood at the door for quite a long time, how could….

Yu Hong’s expression darkened, and he quickly descended, checking around the courtyard along the stone stairs.

He soon had checked the necessary path to the safe house’s door, confirming that there were only his own footprints along the way, with no trace of anyone else.

‘If there are only my footprints, then those two who were talking and asking for help just now… where did they go? Were they… really human?’

A thread of doubt rose in Yu Hong’s heart.

He looked around, suddenly having an ominous premonition.

Returning to shut the door, he armed himself with his handgun and tied his dagger securely.

With his reinforced handgun at his side, his sense of security greatly increased, then he stuffed a stack of talisman array plaques into his chest pocket; the two silver talisman arrays bolstered his confidence even further.

Stepping out of the cave, he left the courtyard and rushed toward the post office.

He was going to find Li Rushan, who as a postman, might know some insider information.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Yu Hong moved quickly, because it was getting dark, and he had to make the round trip swiftly.

Soon, he arrived at the post office in just ten minutes.

The stone building of the post office was pitch-dark and silent.

The windows were covered with thick black curtains, and the main door was shut tight, with dangerous poison-thorned brambles hanging around the courtyard perimeter.

Li Rushan, who usually liked playing games with his daughter in the courtyard, was now strangely quiet.

Yu Hong frowned and knocked on the wooden courtyard door.

Thump thump thump.

No reply.

‘What’s going on?’ He narrowed his eyes and knocked again.

Still no response.

This was not right; even if Li Rushan thought a shadow had come, he should have signalled with a code.

Why was there no response at all?

Knocking on the door again, this time Yu Hong knocked much more rapidly.

Thump thump thump.

Still no reply.

After thinking it over, he left the post office and quickly headed back.

He had been planning to find Old Zhou to ask, but there was no time left.

He looked up at the sky, where dark clouds were densely packed, making it darker much earlier than usual.

Boom.

A clap of thunder.

Tiny raindrops began to fall, hissing lightly as they struck the grass.

‘Probably have half an hour before complete darkness.’ Yu Hong estimated the time and couldn’t help but quicken his pace.

Living in such an environment, he had long learned to observe the sky to judge how quickly it would get dark.

His way back was uneventful, and he smoothly returned to the courtyard, to the safe house door in the cave, taking out his keys to unlock the door.

He had just entered when the raindrops outside suddenly increased in size.

Boom boom.

The thunder rolled, and heavy rain cascaded down, pounding the luminous stone grass in the courtyard to tremble and bow their heads.

Yu Hong turned on the lights, and the bright white light made him feel much safer.

After removing his suit, he returned to the door and looked outside through the glass window beside the peephole.

‘Could the Zhou Xiaoling sisters be a shadow? But a shadow would not act so naturally; it’s impossible for them to have such a long and natural conversation… But if they’re not a shadow, why did they leave no footprints outside?’

Yu Hong found himself at a loss.

He originally wanted to ask Li Rushan for information about the Language Person, but returned empty-handed.

His instincts told him that this Language Person was probably more troublesome and more dangerous than the previous Withered Woman.

Watching the torrential rain outside, he sat quietly in the safe cave, rested for a while, then stood up and continued to practice the Heavy Leg Skill.

The eighth strand of Inner Qi was slowly taking shape.

According to the record of the Heavy Leg Skill, nine strands of Inner Qi would nearly complete a full enhancement; if the enhancement succeeded, he could enter the second layer, which is to practice the second move — the side-grab kick.

This Cultivation Technique was comprised of three layers, simple to learn and well-suited to him.

Feeling he was on the verge of a breakthrough, Yu Hong relaxed his mind, not thinking about what had just happened, and focused on training.

After exercising for more than an hour, he started a fire, cooked something to eat. Late into the night, after making sure there were no black insects outside, Yu Hong finally lay down at ease and crawled into his sleeping bag to rest.

“Yu Hong?”

“Yu Hong?”

In the middle of the night.

Half-asleep, Yu Hong frowned, slowly woken by a clear calling voice.

He squinted his eyes groggily and saw the glowing white Array Patterns on the cave ceiling.

The grey-white stone walls, the bright white Array Patterns, the rough rock textures — everything was just like before.

The air was filled with a mixture of mushrooms, jerky, protein bar soup, and a musty smell.