Night of Despair

Chapter 80: Handling Two
 

Li Rushan also saw his daughter’s unusual behavior earlier, his face turning pale.

He endured the pain and carried his daughter to the bed, laying her down; he waited five seconds before starting to speak.

“I’ll go look for the carrier! I don’t have enough Large Pyroxene Stones here; it all depends on you now! Consider this the second time I owe you!”

Yu Hong nodded gravely without a word.

The Language Person was too dangerous; they had to deal with it as soon as possible, and it was clearly more fitting for the more experienced Li Rushan to go out and search for bodies.

After confirming the situation, the two split up to act, Li Rushan quickly setting out to search.

Yu Hong, carrying Aisena, grabbed some food from the stone house and quickly returned to his own cave safe house.

As he sprinted along,

Yu Hong entered the cave just before the torrential rain began, and he put Aisena down and used a rope to tightly bind her. To prevent her from biting her tongue, he also stuffed a clean rag into her mouth.

Then, he swiftly placed pieces of talisman array around Aisena, including silver talismans in the mix.

After finishing these, he hurriedly started to restore the third silver talisman array.

Simply restoring the charge did not take much time, just two hours.

‘How much time from infection to outbreak?’ Yu Hong picked up a piece of paper to check. ’12 hours!’

He quickly treated Aisena’s disinfected wounds and then, during a free moment of the Black Mark, began to enhance new talisman arrays.

It would take two days to enhance a silver talisman array, definitely too long, but normal talisman arrays were feasible.

Yu Hong immediately got to work on placing more talisman arrays.

A normal talisman array could be made in 45 minutes, which was the best method of enhancement now, especially since even a Large Pyroxene Stone took three days to enhance.

After confirming the start of the enhancement, during intervals, Yu Hong breathed a sigh of relief and sat down to think about the next steps.

‘Silver talisman arrays aren’t sufficiently useful anymore; I must find a stronger method of protection.’

The explosive power of the Language Person was immense, potentially reaching tens of thousands in strength; such a level was excessive. If he hadn’t enhanced methods to counter the Language Person, he feared that facing a similar situation again could lead to severe losses.

‘First, I need to enhance the Red Value Detector; the current one is inadequate and can’t detect traces of the Language Person.

Second, I need to create something more potent than the silver talisman arrays.’

While he said this, Yu Hong was also aware that just creating a single silver talisman array required two days. Reliant solely on using the Black Mark to handle them—manageable if the Evil Shadow attacked one by one—but what if they came all at once?

He sat cross-legged on the ground, deep in contemplation.

‘If there were a type of talisman array that could recharge itself without using the Black Mark, that would be ideal… I could then layer them continuously in a desperate rush.’

A moment of inspiration flashed through his mind.

Luminous grass was such an example; after defending against consumption, they would wither and die, and then after a while, new ones would grow and naturally recharge.

Wasn’t this exactly the type of example he needed?

‘And there’s Inner Qi. The Heavy Leg Skill enhances my strength against humans, but it doesn’t increase my capability against Evil Shadows or the Blood Tide… I need a way to enhance myself, to ensure safety when facing more dangers in the future.’

He continued to ponder, organizing each thought, preparing to act once this danger was over.

He had thought his earlier preparations were sufficient, but the intensity of the Language Person suddenly skyrocketed, nearly causing him to capsize. The deceit of the Evil Shadow was too strong.

Time steadily passed.

Finally, raindrops began to fall outside, thunder rolling and the torrential rain hazy like mist.

Yu Hong continued to enhance the talisman arrays, and when he was enhancing the third talisman array, Aisena woke up.

He got up, used a towel provided by Li Rushan dampened with water, pressed it against her a moment, and quickly put the little one back down.

When the sixth talisman array was nearly complete, it was almost dark.

Thump, thump, thump.

The sound of knocking came from the door.

“No need to respond, just listen—Aisena depends on your help, I don’t have enough Large Pyroxene Stones. I’ll be back tomorrow morning,” Li Rushan’s voice came from outside.

Thump.

Yu Hong knocked on the door, acknowledging him.

After waiting six seconds, he spoke.

“Did you find the body carrier? Knock once for yes, twice for no.”

Thump, thump.

The sound of knocking came from outside.

Yu Hong’s brows furrowed deeply.

“Let’s get through the outbreak first, see you tomorrow! Aisena is safe with me here, I have enough Large Pyroxene Stones and talisman arrays,” he continued.

Thump.

The knocking sounded again, acknowledging his statement.

After waiting five seconds, a voice came from outside.

“Thanks a lot!” Li Rushan finally said; he stood at the door for a long while until the sky was almost completely dark before he turned and quickly walked away.

His footsteps intermingled with the sound of rain, soon drowned out.

Yu Hong sighed, picked up his tools, and began to mix more Large Pyroxene graphite—the ink for the talisman arrays was running low, and he had to replenish it quickly.

This attack by the Language Person had left him somewhat exhausted and even more aware that he had to enhance abilities like the Heavy Leg Skill, which could strengthen him and counter Evil Shadows.

Otherwise, relying solely on talisman arrays, there wasn’t enough room for growth, and he wouldn’t be able to handle greater dangers in the future.

Boom.

A thunderclap exploded, and night fully descended.

Yu Hong lit the fireplace, the light of the fire and electric lamps keeping the rustling Black Insects outside at bay.

In the outer courtyard, the luminous grasses emitted glowing light, warding off the approaching Blood Tide Black Insects.

Everything was still the same as before, which allowed Yu Hong to breathe a sigh of relief.

He opened the peephole to check and, seeing no issues, closed it again, preparing for an all-nighter making talisman plates.

But just as he closed it, a bizarre buzzing noise began to filter in from outside.

Yu Hong’s expression subtly changed, and he re-opened the peephole cover to look outside.

He saw in the downpour-filled night sky, an immense swarm of red-eyed flying insects, resembling moths, approached rapidly, like a flurry of red specks made of gravel.

Their eyes glowed red in the night rain, each one twice as large as the black insects.

Their flight resembled moths, their gray wings rapidly flapping and emitting a faint buzzing sound.

“Biter!” Yu Hong’s expression turned ugly; this was a monster he had heard from the radio and one of the few Blood Tide insects with detailed information available.

These flying insects would gnaw on all substances except for luminous stones, whether metal or wood, flesh or earth.

Without a sufficiently sturdy and thick defensive system, encountering Biters was akin to delivering oneself on a platter.

‘But Biters generally only appear where crowds gather, so why are they here? There are only three people in this place, their attraction should be far less than that of Hope City?’ Yu Hong wondered internally.

With a swift motion, he pulled the shutter down,

this time placing his hand on the front door.

If there were no other choice, he planned to try and simultaneously repair the door while under attack.

One second.

Two seconds.

Bang!!!

Suddenly, the wooden door vibrated inward as if Big Skin had fiercely slammed into it, startling Yu Hong, who was bracing the door with both hands.

Immediately after, a dense series of gnawing sounds on the wood echoed from outside.

His expression grew solemn as he quietly waited.

After a while, the sounds in some areas of the door grew louder and nearer, suggesting they were about to be gnawed through.

Yu Hong inwardly recited an incantation to strengthen.

‘Repair?’ appeared as a query from the Black Mark.

Yu Hong sighed in relief.

‘Yes!’ he confirmed internally.

Suddenly, a countdown appeared on the wooden door: 3 hours 12 minutes.

But something was off this time; the duration was increasing as the insects’ gnawing intensified.

In just a short moment, Yu Hong saw the countdown had not only failed to decrease, but had increased by over ten minutes.

‘Does this represent the degree of damage needing repairs?’ he wondered silently and promptly opened the peek window shutter, letting the light from inside shine out.

As the light shone out, a mass of Biter-like moths surged in, colliding with the brightness.

Immediately, dense Biters dissolved, evaporated, and vanished as black smoke.

However, similarly, the cave’s electric lights and flames inside the safe house dimmed as well, with electricity draining much faster and the firewood burning more rapidly.

All night, Yu Hong endured this tense atmosphere.

Not until daylight did the Blood Tide recede and the Biters disappear, allowing him to finally breathe a sigh of relief.

But the attack from the Biters had delayed his progress in creating the talisman array.

The repair time for the door had now extended to over 3 hours.

Exhausted, Yu Hong collapsed to rest.

He had hardly closed his eyes for a moment when he was abruptly woken by a sharp scream.

“Ah!!!”

Just then, Aisena screamed, her whole body violently convulsing and a large amount of clear gelatinous liquid gushed from her nose, mouth, and eyes.

This liquid, upon appearing, was quickly neutralized by the illuminating talisman arrays around her.

An invisible radiation swept over for a second time, firmly suppressing the gelatin erupting from Aisena’s body.

At the same time, the entire safe house cave’s inner walls, all the talisman arrays lit up with a fluorescent glow, aiding in suppression.

Yu Hong stood in the corner, intently watching the scene.

He had experienced this kind of incident once before and was now merely a spectator from a different angle.

Quickly, an unforeseen event occurred.

Aisena’s body suddenly twisted violently, bursting with indescribable immense strength and breaking the ropes binding her.

Puff!!

The ropes snapped into sections and rebounded against the wall.

A large mass of clear gelatin spurted from Aisena’s mouth, rapidly forming a twisted upper human torso resembling that of a frozen figure.

It was as if a transparent human was trying to crawl out of the girl’s mouth.

Yu Hong’s expression changed drastically, and he rushed forward, grabbing a silver talisman array and smashing it against the humanoid figure.

Buzz!!

The silver talisman array burst into a silver light, fiercely striking the humanoid head, but surprisingly, it was blocked by raised arms.

Yu Hong felt the immense strength transmitted through his hands, never having imagined that Aisena, a little girl, could unleash such formidable power, comparable to that of the earlier white python.

Ah!!!!

At that moment, Aisena screamed piercingly, her eyes turning white as if her body was being controlled.

Ah!!!!

Yu Hong also grew furious—he had nearly been severely compromised by a surprise attack last time, and now this creature dared to confront him directly.

Thinking of how he was almost cheated out of the safety of the shelter brought an indescribable fear, which transformed into fierce anger bursting from his chest.

He, too, roared angrily at the transparent humanoid.

The two roared face-to-face.

“Get out! Bitch!!” Yu Hong bellowed, grabbing a second silver talisman array, and mercilessly smashed it onto the humanoid figure.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!!!

Each strike blasted large swaths of gelatinous material from the humanoid body.

As the silver light and gel dissolved, they instantly neutralized into an invisible smoke.

The transparent humanoid attempted to resist, but numerous talisman arrays on the surrounding cave walls lit up with a fluorescent glow, creating an invisible force field that locked it in place.

It resembled a large cluster of gelatinous material, being smashed smaller and thinner by the silver talisman array, sending out large ripples.

Soon, without any incidents, just a few minutes later, Aisena stiffened, her eyes white, and she fainted, collapsing.

The gelatin on her body had also all emerged, losing its human form and vanishing, completely neutralized and evaporated.