Night of Despair-Chapter 106 - : Departure 2

Chapter 106: Departure 2

The next morning,

Yu Hong, carrying a large pack, left the cave and made a trip to the post office. He took with him the items prepared by Li Rushan, along with the crucial map, and then headed towards Lulong County.

“Safe travels,” Yu Hong heard Li Rushan’s blessings as he left the road surface; he looked back to see Li standing at the doorway waving at him.

Soon, a thin white fog rolled in, slowly obscuring Li Rushan and Aisena as well as the dilapidated white stone house that was the post office.

Yu Hong sighed, turned back around, and continued along the trodden path toward the highway.

The map showed that sticking to the highway would prevent him from losing his direction.

...

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

His boots snapped the dry branches and leaves underfoot, creating a distinct, grating sound.

Through his breathing valve, Yu Hong could still smell a faint scent of burning in the air around him.

He walked in the grey fog, able to see only about three meters around him; beyond that was just a grey blur, obscuring everything else.

Pressing on, he followed the path for about fifteen minutes until the trees ahead parted, revealing a thirty-meter-wide grey and white expressway.

The road surface had some cracks and collapses, but it was mostly intact. Several grey trees had broken and fallen across most of the roadway.

Hu.

Yu Hong breathed out, tightened the straps of the large pack, and carefully slid down the slope to step onto the lower surface of the highway.

He looked around; the fog was slightly thinner here, allowing visibility up to about five or six meters.

Pulling a talisman array from his chest, and holding it in his hand, Yu Hong continued along the highway toward the left.

After a few minutes, a large dark shape finally appeared ahead.

He didn’t stop but passed by it on the right.

As he got closer and the fog cleared, the shape revealed itself to be a charred and dilapidated bus.

The bus was entirely black, its structure twisted and partially melted, with collapsed wheels and one side higher than the other, leaving just a hollow shell.

As Yu Hong passed by, he slowed down a little and suddenly heard a soft beeping sound.

His complexion changed slightly as he glanced at the Enhanced Red Value Detector embedded in his collar.

The Red Value on the LCD screen had already soared to 92.331.

“There’s something hiding in there!” Yu Hong immediately became alert, his expression stern, and quickened his pace, trying to make as little noise as possible as he moved forward.

It wasn’t until he had moved about ten meters away from the bus that the Red Value on his collar rapidly dropped back to the normal range of twenty to thirty.

Yu Hong breathed a sigh of relief and cautiously continued on.

Following the highway for about another five minutes, he finally came across two intact dark green military jeeps.

The two vehicles were quietly parked on the side of the road, showing signs of having been tampered with.

“Why are there only two?” Yu Hong frowned slightly and cautiously approached the vehicles, stopping beside the last one.

Only then did he see that the front jeep had somehow rolled down the slope off the road; through the fog, he could barely discern signs of impact, the whole structure twisted and collapsed as if flattened by an elephant’s foot.

Yu Hong was inwardly alarmed. Disregarding the first vehicle, he inspected the remaining two.

He quickly chose the one closer to the front as his vehicle for the journey.

Taking out the keys, he opened the door to inspect the interior.

Inside, there were three rows of seats, totaling eight seats, with a trunk space in the back that could fit two or three more people.

Yu Hong assessed the seating, judging the space he’d need. After deciding, he grabbed the middle row of seats, shook them, and then yanked hard.

Crack.

He tore a row of leather seats entire out, extracted them.

With the seats discarded, the space inside the vehicle opened up considerably. Satisfied, Yu Hong climbed in, set down the pack, and took out a set of solar panels that he had previously removed from this vehicle.

Holding the solar panels, he suddenly realized he wasn’t sure how to install them back…

He thought about it, decided to leave the solar panels in the vehicle, and stepped out with the backpack, standing beside the vehicle while placing his hand on its body.

“Enhancing the vehicle, direction….”

Yu Hong dared not make too many demands in his mind, as taking too long wasn’t optimal for setting out.

He merely imagined a regular vehicle installed with a solar engine, with all gaps and holes sealed.

No reinforced structures, no strengthened shells, just one requirement: to seal all the existing gaps and cracks in the vehicle, creating a simple enclosed space, which would allow him to use the luminous stone ink he had brought to draw rune inscriptions on the Large Pyroxene Stone inside, thereby crafting a kind of luminous stone carpet for concealment.

Having established his requirements for enhancement, a Black Mark flashed on the back of Yu Hong’s hand, flowing into the vehicle.

Soon, a feedback sound was heard.

“Enhance the vehicle?”

Simultaneously, a large red countdown number appeared on the side of the vehicle facing Yu Hong.

Time: 32 minutes.

“Yes.”

Yu Hong glanced at the time and quickly responded.

Then he climbed back into the vehicle, lying sideways on the rear seats, quietly waiting.

The rear seats were somewhat hard and narrow, making them uncomfortable for lying down.

Yu Hong’s back pressed against the leather seat, staring through the front window at the grey fog outside, he felt an inexplicable sense of security.

Despite the vehicle’s protection being far inferior to a safe house, or even to the grey lizard enhancement suit he was wearing, in such grey fog where he couldn’t see or hear anything, with dangers lurking all around and shadows abounding, having a place to hide, although flimsy, that could shield him from some dangers was comforting.

Lying on the seat, watching the fog roll and surge in front of the vehicle like smoke belching from a fire, growing denser.

Minutes later, faint footsteps passed by on the left side of the vehicle, near the center of the road.

A soft, whisper-like noise started to arise around Yu Hong.”]){

Yu Hong lay motionless inside the car, like a corpse, trying to breathe as lightly as possible.

From his angle, he could see through the left window, figures in ragged clothes slowly passing by the vehicle, moving along the highway.

They emitted indistinct noises and spoke unintelligible murmurs, not noticing Yu Hong as they continued straight on, step by step, gradually disappearing into the grey fog.

Yu Hong couldn’t see the faces of these people; he could only make out their blurry attire and skin and couldn’t even distinguish whether they were men or women. The only clear thing was the diversity in their heights and ages.

“Are these ‘shadows’?” he silently watched as they vanished into the fog.

“If they are shadows, why don’t I hear deceitful, misleading speech?”

“Could it be that the real sound of the shadows is like this? Only targeting someone with deceitful words when necessary?”

He didn’t know and couldn’t test it, his mind filled with nothing more than conjectures.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, perhaps ten minutes, perhaps twenty.

The murmurs outside the window gradually faded, receded, and disappeared.

Yu Hong still didn’t get up, dressed in a full set of enhanced gray lizard armor; he lay on the leather seat, motionless, looking like an unused set of armor placed on the seat.

The car window was one-way, only allowing views from inside out.

Yu Hong stared out at the gray fog, quietly holding a talisman board, waiting for the Black Mark to be enhanced.

Thud, thud, thud.

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Suddenly, a finger tapped on the car window.

“Is anyone there?”

A somewhat familiar voice came through.

“No one? Then we’ll move this car.” The voice continued.

“Lucky us, finding two jeeps in this place.” Another voice came from a slightly further distance.

“True, having a car can make our journey much faster.”

“Will you open the car door?”

Then there was a series of knocking on the car door.

“I have a wire here, try it.”

“Okay.”

The sound of the wire moving through the lock followed.

Click.

The lock opened.

Yu Hong still lay on the leather seat, unmoved.

He quietly looked out the window; the outside was still full of gray fog, utterly devoid of any human figures.

The car door lock had been opened, but there were no signs of the car door itself being opened. The voices of the two people just now also completely disappeared.

Everything seemed to have completely quieted down.

After waiting another two minutes, Yu Hong slowly sat up.

“Time’s up,” he murmured to himself.

Hiss!

Instantly, the car interior blurred for a second before returning to clarity.

Inside the jeep, all the interiors were coated with a layer of transparent hard film.

It was as if glue had been applied inside the car, covering every gap and hole completely with this layer.

At the same time, the solar panel, which had been on the car floor, had disappeared. In front of the driving seat, there was now a control switch for the solar panel.

Besides, the previously torn seat was also gone, replaced by a smooth and solid car floor.

Yu Hong breathed a sigh of relief and quickly took out the Large Pyroxene ink from his pack and a homemade twig pen, beginning to draw variously sized luminous stone enhancement talisman arrays inside the car.

After more than an hour, all the areas inside the car were covered by the protection range of the talisman arrays.

The entire vehicle had formed a temporary luminous stone carpet enclosed space.

Having done all this, Yu Hong then moved to the driver’s seat, looking forward through the windows painted with runes.

Snap.

He turned on the solar panel and pressed the start button.

Buzz.

A subtle motor sound instantly began, much quieter than a gasoline vehicle.

Confirming the car was fine, he quickly turned off the engine, took out a map, and placed one hand on it.

This map was hand-drawn by Li Rushan; he had visited Lulong County, so based on his memory, he had drawn this route map.

However, the route map was too rough, so Yu Hong decided to optimize it himself.

“Enhance the map, direction: finer detail, three-dimensional.”

Black lines flowed from the back of his hand into the map.

Feedback noises synchronized, and a countdown appeared: 8 minutes.

Yu Hong confirmed the enhancement had started, then pressed the start button, pressed the throttle, turned, and slowly drove back on the rear highway.

Although the map was being enhanced, he had looked at the general direction before. He wouldn’t get it wrong.

Buzz.

The dark green jeep moved slowly on the highway, passing through the fog.

The sound of the tires crushing the ground echoed faintly and lonely through the quiet surrounding woods.

It seemed like the only sound reverberating in the whole surrounding forest.

“86 kilometers, if all goes well, it should take four hours to arrive…” Yu Hong estimated in his mind, careful not to drive too fast, always attentive to the road conditions to guard against possible sudden attacks.

Although daytime was theoretically the main activity time for the shadows, after experiencing the attack by the Multi-eyed Bird, he understood that in the current environment, encountering any trouble wouldn’t be surprising.