A Night of Desperation-Chapter 247: Train of Thought One

Several days later.

Snow had blanketed the entire Black Wind Camp once again.

“The temperature is too low.”

Inside the cave, Yu Hong stood at the entrance, looking outside through the observation window.

The ruptured pipe of the nuclear heating system had long since frozen, and the circulating hot water pipes inside the cave no longer risked overheating due to the declining external temperatures.

Roar!

In the night sky outside, another loud roar of the Multi-eyed Birds echoed.

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Dark masses of the Black Disaster surged forward like a tide towards them once more.

The high walls surrounding the camp stood firm, staunchly blocking the large groups of monsters that rushed towards them with great speed.

The Array operated over its capacity, releasing dense flocks of air crows that pounced on the invaders.

All the monsters that entered the Array were either directly extinguished by the crows, or if they weren’t immediately destroyed, they would be ignited and forced to slow down by the crows.

Yu Hong watched the lively confrontation outside.

“This is the third time… It has only been a few days and they have already come three times… Are they that impatient?”

The outer walls of the courtyard were severely damaged and could collapse at any moment.

The dragon lizards were no longer able to stay on top of the walls to breathe fire;instead, they were on the ground grappling with the incoming Black Disaster.

With the help of the Array’s slowing and continuous damage effects, the dragon lizards relentlessly killed the high-risk Black Disaster creatures entering the camp.

Spear-men appeared and disappeared within the Black Fog, their spears continuously thrusting out from behind, making it impossible for any slower Black Disaster creatures to avoid them. Together with the Array, they significantly relieved the dragon lizards of their burden.

Puff!

In the darkness, six muscular spears shot through the fog and pierced two ape-like, blood-soaked creatures, shredding them into pieces.

The muscular spears quickly retracted, and the Black Disaster creatures attempting to pursue were immediately cut down by streaks of black fire.

The spear-men maximized their killing potential.

“Very useful weapons…”, Yu Hong withdrew his gaze from the door and returned to the wooden table.

On the table lay a sheet of white paper documenting his summary of tracking techniques, most of which he had learned from Chen Yaofeng and Zhang Kaijun.

Now, this paper was about to be enhanced.

He had had enough of the unknown opponents who frequently disrupted the camp.

A few minutes later.

The white paper instantly blurred, transforming into a small notebook with a dark red plastic cover.

There was no text on the cover of the notebook, but its edges had a worn, aged look.

Yu Hong exhaled and picked up the notebook.

The notebook was only the size of a palm and about as thick as a human hand.

He flipped open the first page.

“Flashback Studies.”

The clear and neat handwriting appeared before Yu Hong.

He leafed through it meticulously, discovering it was a collection of special tracking techniques left by a master hunter from an unknown era.

The techniques ranged from basic to advanced, extremely comprehensive and complex.

“It won’t be possible to master them thoroughly in a short time, but I can learn gradually. It’s much better than being clueless like before.”

Yu Hong set down the booklet, not worried about someone stealing it since all the text was in Chinese, which no one but him could understand.

Listening to the constant sounds of combat outside, he looked at the crescent mark on the back of his hand.

“Speaking of which, the summoning targets of the Moon’s Call itself are problematic. Even if I later increase the density of the Moon God’s bloodline and qualify to summon, there could still be backlash issues. Maybe I should extract only the valuable aspect of the Moon’s Call’s capability…”

“Since everything but me can be enhanced, then… can the ability of the Moon’s Call be enhanced again?”

He instantly thought of a method.

“The crescent is already an enhanced product, to enhance it further, I must add other new items.”

Thinking this, he rose from his seat and headed to the corner where miscellaneous items were stored.

In the wooden frames here, he had accumulated various remains of the Black Disaster from his hunting outside.

Most abundant were nearly half a basket of ordinary black broken bones.

Next were some stone-like oval and round objects.

Finally, there were several model-like severed hands and feet, wooden pieces with patterns, and more.

The days of combat had allowed Yu Hong to amass quite a collection of various remains.

He approached, bent down, and rummaged inside.

“In the calling ability, what I need most is the pure summoning. How can I enhance the summoning alone and stably decide on the target autonomously?”

“Since there’s a problem with the Moon God’s subordinates, then I should strip away that section.”

Yu Hong quickly sorted out a peanut-sized red gemstone, then grabbed a handful of black bone fragments, mixed them together, and placed them on the crescent mark on his left hand.

“If I can enhance a stable and reliable summoning ability, then I can solve the problem of not being able to leave the base for long periods. The power of the dragon lizards is too weak, and although it can be enhanced, the higher in level the longer it takes, and the resulting abilities might not necessarily meet my needs, lacking specificity.”

Yu Hong contemplated for a moment, his right hand resting over the crescent on the back of his left hand. His consciousness included a pile of remnants, thinking about strengthening the crescent.

‘Strengthen Moon’s Call, direction: enhance calling ability, optimize the unstable Moon God system.’

He didn’t impose many restrictions, just suggested a general direction.

Soon, the Black Mark exuded black lines, which flew from his fingertips and entered the crescent.

‘Would you like to strengthen Moon’s Call?’ The feedback from the Black Mark sounded instantly.

Similarly, a dark red countdown appeared on the back of the left hand where the crescent was located.

’17 hours 51 minutes.’

‘That short?’ Yu Hong was stunned, but he immediately realized. He guessed that perhaps the optimization of Moon’s Call was extremely simple, or there were many ready-made templates available.

After all, considering the previously strengthened Unlimited Demon Palace Array from the Black Mark… If there was a ready-made template, it might just be transferred over, without even changing the original creator.

He confirmed the start of the strengthening.

The countdown began.

Yu Hong raised his hand, curiously observing the ticking countdown.

‘I hope it works. If I can obtain a decent summoning ability, combined with the increasing numbers of dragon lizards, the effect will grow stronger!’

He closed his eyes and sensed the imprint in his mind.

The burden of the Array’s imprint was growing heavier, and the erosion from the wooden bridge was intensifying.

‘At most by tomorrow… If I don’t resolve the burden from the Black Ship at the wooden bridge, the Array will definitely be damaged.’

Boom!

Suddenly, an explosion shook the area from outside.

Bright red flames lit up the Black Fog-engulfed, freezing forest, illuminating the surrounding mist.

Yu Hong’s expression turned cold in an instant, his figure flashed, appearing in front of the main gate.

The door flung open, and he was already rushing out of the cave, heading towards the tall outer wall.

Within tens of meters in the blink of an eye.

On a piece of land blackened and smoking, the bodies of two dragon lizards were blown apart, heads gone, as if cut off by some sharp blade in an instant.

They were deader than dead, their bodies slowly dissolving into a viscous black liquid, evaporating and dispersing.

‘The same way of dying as the Black Disaster…’

Yu Hong crouched beside the two dragon lizards, his expression grim.

He looked around.

More than ten meters away, there was a track clearly yet to be closed by the mist, a pathway made by some flying object breaking through, creating a unique path through the fog.

Yu Hong stood up and circled around, but he didn’t find more traces.

Hiss!

With a burst of strength, he rushed into a large swarm of Black Disasters not far away.

Bizarre and grotesque giant bugs, faint and visible various shadows, Evil Shadows, under the burning of Inner Qi, shone with white light, all dispersing into black smoke.

Returning to the camp, the Black Disaster outside also began to retreat.

Yu Hong entered the inner courtyard and discovered that another dragon lizard was missing.

Along with the increased erosion from the wooden bridge, the troubles at both ends made his resentment towards the Eternal Life Association grow stronger.

‘Disperse, secretly patrol all around for any suspicious living people.’

He ordered in his mind, sending the remaining dragon lizards to scour the surroundings.

Although he knew the search was unlikely to yield results, he still returned to the basement. Through radar scanning coordinated with thorough searching by the dragon lizards, he kept busy for well over half an hour. Except for finding a pile of charred mechanical wreckage a few hundred meters away in an open field, nothing else turned up.

“It’s highly likely a simple AI carried out its commands then self-destructed.”

Hours later.

Yu Hong discussed this matter with Zhang Kaijun through the communicator, and Zhang Kaijun immediately conjectured.

“The Eternal Life Association’s intelligence leaks aren’t going smoothly. You should’ve heard from Brother Chen Yaofeng, right?” continued Zhang Kaijun.

“My camp has been under constant attack these past few days, the intensity much greater than before,” Yu Hong said, “The temperature keeps dropping. Isn’t the Eternal Life Association affected at all?”

“They are affected, but much less so than us,” Chen Yaofeng’s voice sounded through the communicator, heavy with fatigue. “The three major Aurora Cities are now East River’s last force. We’ve formed a joint action team and recently annihilated a temporary stronghold of the Eternal Life Association, uncovering their early preparations for the Cold Disaster.”

“This means they likely knew the Cold Disaster was coming long ago!” Yu Hong said.

“Exactly. Also, our support team sent to the mushroom area vanished en route. I suspect they had a hand in it. Right now, we are unclear about the exact strength and influence of the Eternal Life Association, how they operate, where their armed forces are stationed, or why their actions aren’t hindered by the Cold Disaster or Black Disaster,” explained Chen Yaofeng.

“Is it Shu Cheng’s team?” Yu Hong frowned. Initially, Shu Cheng hinted that the goods he transported had problems, which was actually an indirect reminder. Regardless of the motives, Yu Hong recognized this favor.

“It wasn’t led by him personally. It’s one of the trade teams under Shu family from Shu Cheng. The Shu family has developed quickly, with over ten fearless trade teams earning desperate money,” clarified Chen Yaofeng.

“This can’t go on;we’re too passive,” Zhang Kaijun added, “The temperature keeps dropping because of the Cold Disaster, and I’ve had several people freeze to death. So we either resolve this quickly or temporarily ignore it, waiting till we figure out how to handle the Cold Disaster before proceeding.”

“Yu Hong, you just mentioned your camp has recently been frequently attacked, right?” asked Chen Yaofeng.

“Yes… what are you getting at?” Yu Hong was about to ask when he suddenly realized, “Are you saying the Eternal Life Association is also worried about the Cold Disaster continuing to drop in temperature?”

“That’s very possible. Otherwise, if the Cold Disaster had no effect on them, why wouldn’t they simply wait for it to get colder, when our burden would be greater, before they act?” analyzed Chen Yaofeng.

“That makes sense. Since they are also struggling, they hope to resolve the situation at Yu Hong’s side quickly. Yu Hong disrupted Xin Zhilei’s arrangement and thwarted their plan to erode the second Aurora City. Retaliation was inevitable,” agreed Zhang Kaijun.