Night of Despair

Chapter 45  Idea One

Inside the safehouse in the cave.

Yu Hong sat down, gasping for air as he tried to regain his strength.

He placed the talisman array on the ground, his body drenched in sweat, his eyes also blurred by sweat, barely able to open them.

After resting for a few seconds, he turned his head to glance at Doctor Xu, and seeing that she seemed to be resting with her eyes closed, he reached out on his own to press on the silver talisman array on the door.

After a pause of a few seconds, he released his hand and, upon seeing a black countdown for recovery appear on the surface of the talisman array, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It wouldn't take long, just over forty minutes, to completely recover.

"Doctor Xu, are you all right?" Yu Hong finally had a moment to ask.

"....."

There was no response.

Yu Hong frowned, turned his head again, but saw that Doctor Xu was still curled up on the ground, motionless, her sweat and saliva dripping down her chin non-stop. Her body was also twitching slightly, trembling.

"Doctor Xu?" Yu Hong called out again, sensing that something was wrong, his expression becoming somewhat stern.

He reached out to push her, noticing no response at all.

He quickly stood up, poured a cup of hot water, and tried to feed it to her. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Unfortunately, Doctor Xu's mouth wouldn't close, and her breathing was extremely disordered; trying to give her water that way might cause her to choke.

Yu Hong had no choice but to carefully moisten her mouth with a bit of water. Then he dragged her up and placed her onto a softer sleeping bag.

"I don't have any emergency medicine, and I have no idea what's happened to you. The only option now is to rely on you to save yourself." He quickly said, sitting on the side. "If you can hear me speak, can you tell me what I should do to help you?"

Doctor Xu remained motionless, only lying on the sleeping bag with her eyes closed, her entire body convulsing, unable to move.

Her body was a bit cold, yet sweat kept seeping out.

Soon, the fireplace flared to life, radiating strong warmth, which made her body relax a bit. Her breathing also seemed to ease with the warmth.

Seeing her slightly better, Yu Hong also relaxed. Right now, he alone couldn't manage to handle all the logistics and supplies. A familiar person like Doctor Xu, with a kind nature, and a friend who stutters, was someone he naturally tried to save as much as possible.

He glanced at the countdown on the door, then looked at the stains on Doctor Xu's face and took some leaves that served as newspaper to wipe off her saliva and sweat.

Then he sat down and began searching through the bag he had just brought from Jenny and her daughter's hole.

The bag wasn't a cloth sack, but rather a somewhat thicker large black plastic bag with white handles that could be lifted with one hand.

Yu Hong pulled open the opening and took out the items one by one.

The Red Value detector was on top and was set down on the ground.

Then there was a pair of women's black leather boots.

Three candles.

One hardcover brown notebook.

A bottle of red pills, which purpose was unknown.

A dirty black cloth mask.

A short dagger with a snakeskin pattern sheath.

A small green box that looked like a handheld game console, complete with screen and directional buttons.

Yu Hong first picked up the small green box, found the black switch on the side, and flicked it.

No response.

He set it down and picked up the bottle of pills, seeing through the clear glass that the red pills inside were fresh, dry, and not moldy at all.

"Neither Jenny or Aifu showed any signs of illness... so what are these pills for? Emergency anti-inflammatory medicine? Or...."

He couldn't figure it out and could only wait for Doctor Xu to wake up before testing them.

He set down the pills and picked up the short dagger, gently drawing it out.

The sharp silver blade was very clean and had a light coat of maintenance oil. The back of the blade had a saw-like design, with a blood groove on the side, which looked very practical.

Shh.

Closing the short dagger, Yu Hong finally reached for the notebook.

He picked it up and opened it.

'Adjust the radiation time according to the dosage, and continue the next step of testing with the detailed plan of proposal number two.'

'In April, three accidents occurred, and data on luminous stone radiation was collected sixteen times.'

'In May, radiation data survey of the terrain around the Pyroxene Ore Mine was carried out, with seventy-four data samplings.'

'In June, an individual was found entering the mine, exhibiting slight illness, and successful data sampling was obtained.'

'In July, five successful animal model experiments were conducted, but due to environmental changes leading to a significant reduction in the number of insects and animals, animal experiments were forced to end.'

'In August, cells were collected from Aifu for cultivation, and radiation tests on the cultured tissue began. Through experimental comparisons with the previously collected cells of Lin Yiyi, the process of the illness was inferred.'

Under the light of the fire, Yu Hong frowned as he read the rows of text in the notebook, which were all followed by detailed charts and figures—many of them abbreviated codes that he didn't understand. But from the text, it was apparent that Jenny's family might have come here with ulterior motives quite early, and they had also covertly sampled, observed, and studied stuttering Lin Yiyi.

He kept flipping through the pages, skipping over many charts and figures, and soon he came upon some text in the middle.

"Pyroxene Disease has been confirmed to provide significant resistance against the shadow apparitions. Patients with Pyroxene Disease, even though they experience some degree of cognitive decline when infected, exhibit strong resistance in high-Red Value environments. They no longer suffer from body stiffness, convulsions, or hallucinations."

"In cell sampling experiments, cells infected with Pyroxene Disease showed a significant increase in activity, a 65.4% reduction in lifespan, and more than a 70% increase in resistance to bacteria and viruses. Therefore, it was determined that taking Aifu to the mine every five days for about half an hour could effectively contain the special inscriptions disease she had."

At this point, Yu Hong was starting to understand.

It was very likely that Jenny's family came here because their daughter, Aifu, was first targeted by something, and they came here out of desperation, seeking a research method to save her.

Unfortunately, it seems that their research was just starting to be effective when it was interrupted by him.

Aifu wasn't killed by the Evil Shadow or Black Disaster, but rather by him, an ordinary person.

"But Pyroxene Disease... Pyroxene can actually make people sick?" he thought back to Yiyi's condition.

She had diminished intelligence but showed strong resistance to shadowy beings. In any case, he'd never seen Yiyi scared and screaming because of a shadow.

"Could it be that Yiyi might also have Pyroxene Disease?" Yu Hong speculated.

If he could determine the cause, maybe he could think of a way to cure her in the future.

*

*

*

Baihe City.

On the surface.

On the sandy beach by the sea, rows of white lines created by the waves washed ashore before receding, in a never-ending cycle.

Above the beach, a hundred meters away, stood a cluster of abandoned, rusting high-rises, quietly piercing the scorching sunlight.

The pale blue glass on the surface of the buildings reflected the dazzling sun, occasionally rattling in the sea breeze.

On the rooftop terrace of one such building, full of rust marks.

A few men and women in camouflage were speaking in hushed tones.

The man's features were soft, his skin sun-tanned, with a silver-white pistol strapped to his waist. On his right forearm, on the outside of the clothing, there was a three-star badge, different from the others.

They gathered together, their clothing marked with the emblem of the allied forces.

One of these was a short-haired man with glasses, holding a piece of jade-like Large Pyroxene Stone in his hand, listening intently to the person next to him, frowning.

The man's features were soft, his skin sun-tanned, with a silver-white pistol strapped to his waist. On his right forearm, on the outside of the clothing, there was a three-star badge, different from the others.

"Guo Xudong and his companion haven't returned yet. We were too busy to care before, but now that we've finally settled down, I had someone go back to the agreed location, only to find no one there. I suspect they've run into trouble," a dark-skinned young woman said gravely.

"They each have guns, and there were rest points in between; it's unlikely something went wrong, isn't it?" another person chimed in, unable to help themselves.

"Hard to say. The Evil Shadow had been rampant recently. They might have been killed along the way. Now, with satellite signals heavily disrupted, we can't rely on long-distance contact. The only thing we can depend on for judgment is meeting deadlines. If they can't meet them on time, we can only assume they're dead," the young woman said quickly.

"So what should we do? If there really is someone in Baiqiu Village who can make Large Pyroxene Stones, it would be a pity to just give up," another voice said.

"Good point. Who's willing to take a trip back to investigate what happened and determine the actual situation?" the man with glasses asked loudly, his eyes scanning the surrounding faces.

But everyone he looked at quickly averted their gaze, unwilling to respond.

"Is there no one willing to take the initiative?" the man with glasses sighed. "If we can capture the person making the Large Pyroxene Stones, I guarantee to double the monthly treatment for him, whether it's food or supplies."

Still, no one spoke up.

They had barely escaped the Evil Shadow from that dangerous area and were not eager to return and risk their lives.

Besides, with such a long distance, they might not even reach their destination before being picked off by the shadowy creatures.

"Xu Yang, you've always been my most capable assistant..." the man with glasses fixed his gaze on a muscular man wearing a black mask.

"Leader Zhao, just relying on us to go back, I'm afraid we might encounter danger halfway there. Remember all the troubles we went through when our entire town had to move?" Xu Yang quickly said.

"Then you mean..." the man with glasses furrowed his brow.

"The key now is that Baiqiu Village is too dangerous. None of our brothers and sisters here can withstand it. So, we need to find someone who can..." Xu Yang said with a smile.

"Who can guarantee they can withstand it?" the man with glasses asked.

"I've already inquired properly. There's a black market bar in Baihe City that specifically hires Desperate Men. I met a real expert there last time. He used to be a postal worker, coming from the front lines of the Aurora City allied forces, absolutely elite, with both gunfire and hand-to-hand combat skills incredibly strong," Xu Yang explained.

"The price must be steep," the man with glasses frowned. "And why would such a good hand want to work for us? Wouldn't he earn more by catching the people himself?"

"Just don't tell him. Just let him make the capture," Xu Yang said with a smile. "If it's discovered, we can negotiate then. At worst case, we share some of the profits with him, which is better than having nothing now."

The man with glasses nodded and picked up the Large Pyroxene Stone in his hand to examine it carefully.

"That makes sense. With the current environment in Baihe City, as long as we can control the person who can continuously produce Large Pyroxene Stones, it's equivalent to holding a goose that lays golden eggs."

He paused.

"This Large Pyroxene Stone, with effects comparable to Pyroxene Marrow, its inscriptions are secondary. Many similar types are easy to imitate, but the key is the material. It's absolutely usable to counterfeit the scarce Pyroxene Marrow, and the profit margin is far beyond what most people can imagine. I really don't know how he managed to make it."

He exhaled and looked at Xu Yang again.

"Leave this matter to you then. Can you handle it?"

"Guaranteed to complete the task," Xu Yang said with a smile.

"What's the man's name?"

"White Python Guo Xudong."