Night of Despair-Chapter 144 - : Clearing Up

Chapter 144: Clearing Up

Returning to the camp in the cave, Yu Hong quickly practiced Qi cultivation to restore his two strands of Thunderbolt Inner Qi. Then he meticulously recorded the new monster he encountered today to keep it as a reference for future intelligence trading.

Meanwhile, Ding Shao and Yao Feiling, after collecting water, clearly showed their reluctance to leave and their intense desire for the camp.

The two women lingered around the camp for a long time and even engaged in conversation with Old Zhou and Nana before they finally left with heavy hearts.

In the following days, as Yu Hong sequestered himself to diligently cultivate his Inner Qi and train in the Thunderbolt Leg Technique, the two women seemed to change their strategy, frequently engaging in idle chatter with Old Zhou to build rapport.

Since Old Zhou hadn’t received an order from Yu Hong to limit their water collection, he didn’t pay much attention to their frequent water retrieval, considering that the underground water was essentially inexhaustible.

And as the women continued to cozy up, the countdown to the completion of the Inner Strength enhancement kept ticking closer.

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Yu Hong’s anticipation also rose gradually.

How much would a twelve-day enhancement increase the refining speed of his Inner Strength? He couldn’t imagine.

After all, the operation of the Black Mark could very possibly grant him access to a Cultivation Technique from who-knows-where.

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As time continued to slip by.

As the black lizards steadily secured new safe zones, a 200-meter radius around the camp gradually became stable and was cleared of shadows.

Yu Hong realized that the resurgence spots of the shadows were decided by their places of death, so he used the black lizards to lure each shadow away from their original position, a 200-meter distance from the camp, before killing them.

Thus, the resurrected shadows would emerge at these new locations, wandering only in their vicinity.

Perhaps they would gradually drift and approach this area again, but then it would just take another luring session with the black lizards.

Following such a strategy, except for the ashen humanoids perched on rotten logs, all the other shadows in the area were driven away.

Yu Hong began to cultivate luminescent grass intensely, infusing it with Inner Qi, spreading its growth across a larger area.

However, this growth was exceedingly slow, with radiation from the luminescent grass weakening the further away it got from Yu Hong, the growth and recovery rate slowing down likewise.

Breaking through the bounds of the courtyard walls, the growth of luminescent grass spread out for over ten meters, forming a massive circle.

No matter how much Yu Hong urged his Inner Qi, the outer layer of the circle would not grow anymore. It seemed that the ambient Red Value radiation had completely suppressed and neutralized it.

With the expansion of luminescent grass proving difficult, on the other hand, the countdown to the fortification of Inner Strength finally reached its end.

Inside the cave.

Yu Hong sat beside the communicator, holding a charcoal pencil, listening intently to Wei Song explaining the specific methods, means, and measures employed by the allied forces in response to the Black Disaster.

“…the Sunlight series of weapons, equipment, and materials are closely guarded strategic resources in the military. From Sunlight One to Nine, all series have the effect of expelling and interfering with the resurrection of shadows and Blood Tide. These effects enhance with each iteration. Even War-Level Black Disasters, when faced with Sunlight Nine weapons and items, experience intense discomfort and their resurrection points are severely disrupted, causing deviations and departures from the original location.”

“So, the allied forces shouldn’t have their defense lines so easily breached, right?” Yu Hong asked in a grave tone.

“Yes. The Sunlight series is key to the support the allied forces have maintained for so long,” Wei Song confirmed. “But… the true decider of victory on the frontlines is still the supply of resources.”

“You mean… resources are running low?” Yu Hong frowned.

“It’s easy to say that, but the actual reason is the Silver Tower’s sudden collapse and loss of contact. Without the support of technology and intelligence, the frontlines completely fell apart,” Wei Song sighed.

“Old Yu, if you can pull through this time, we’ll be able to use your Black Wind Camp as a fixed contact point later and include you in the long-distance trading caravan alliance. We’ll provide you with material support,” Zhang Kaijun spoke up.

“Indeed, the information you provided on the second form of Language Persons was a great help to my side. When two of my teams encountered Language Persons, they used the information you provided, the double attack strategy, and successfully suppressed an attack from a Language Person temporarily,” Wei Song agreed, his voice filled with sincere thanks.

“That’s what’s expected,” Yu Hong replied with a calm expression. “You’ve given me quite a lot of information as well.”

“No! The information you’ve given has been verified as authentic, whereas the information we traded to you lacks the specific methods for defeat. This is not something that can be measured on the same level,” Wei Song retorted earnestly.

“According to calculations from radiation satellite images, roughly two months from now, the influx of Black Disasters resulting from the collapse of the frontline will gradually enter a period of equilibrium. The domains of the Black Disasters will stabilize and solidify, and by then we can recount and map out new paths between the Black Disasters and establish new trading caravans,” Zhang Kaijun stated gravely.

“Let’s hope everything goes smoothly,” Guan Cao sighed.

“It will go smoothly…” Wei Song unusually revealed a hint of fatigue.

“That will be all for today; we just took in two refugee teams here, totaling over three hundred people, and now there’s trouble starting up again; I need to go handle it,” Zhang Kaijun’s typically indifferent voice came through.

“Alright, you planning to handle it the same old way?” Guan Cao couldn’t help but ask.

“How so?” Just by the sound of it, one could imagine Zhang Kaijun frowning deeply.

“I don’t mean to interfere, but with so few left, I just think maybe you could soften your methods a bit, going forward there will only be fewer and fewer people…” Guan Cao sighed.

“My methods are already quite restrained,” Zhang Kaijun said flatly, “Just killing the whole family of troublemakers is already quite restrained for me.”

“…” Guan Cao was left speechless, only hearing the communicator abruptly disconnect.

“I’ll be going too,” Wei Song said wearily, “That’s just his character. His closest teacher and senior sister died tragically because they were implicated by internal troublemakers. There’s a reason for his personality to be like this. Try to understand more.”

“I just feel that killing half of those met is somewhat too cruel,” Guan Cao replied, helplessly.

Yu Hong had nothing to say.

Zhang Kaijun had such a cute nickname, yet he was this brutal?

He had chatted with Zhang casually before and thought he was the cold exterior, warm heart kind of person. To think…

“Germ’s base has ten absolute kill orders; as soon as they’re broken, there’s no discussion of personal feelings, death to the whole family. You could say his rules are the harshest among all bases,” Guan Cao continued, sighing, “Forget it, let’s not talk about this. You prepare well, facing a danger level eight Black Disaster… it will be tough for you too…”

“I’m signing off.”

“Okay, talk to you later.”

All communicators went offline.

Yu Hong turned off the device and set down the charcoal pen before standing up to stretch his body.

Communicating for an hour each day had become an essential habit he’d cultivated.

Usually, after chatting and collecting external intelligence, he should now be practicing the Thunderbolt Leg Technique, then eat something, wipe his body, and go to sleep.

But today was different.

Yu Hong walked to the wooden door and pulled open the cover to look out into the courtyard.

The courtyard at night was illuminated by lights that held back the surging Blood Tide Black Insects on the perimeter.

A combination of luminous grass and electric lights, along with a large talisman array hidden underground, had turned Black Wind Camp into a fortress of safety.

But Yu Hong knew that in just over two weeks, a truly greater trouble would arrive in full force.

If they couldn’t hold off the threat, he, Old Zhou, Nana, and perhaps everyone else might die.

He had considered moving to a different location to avoid the perilous Black Disaster, but the camp couldn’t be relocated. To leave rashly would likely lead to a significant drop in protective strength and potentially lose the ability to protect themselves.

Swoosh.

After pulling the cover closed, Yu Hong turned around and headed to the basement.

He had moved the papers for inner strength fortification to the second basement level.

The first basement level was now being used for practicing martial arts, while the second stored various miscellaneous goods and supplies.

The third basement was quite small and served as the main control room.

Inside the basement, it was as bright as day with the lights on.

Yu Hong first washed his hands at the sink along the wall and dried them with a towel.

Then he seated himself at a new wooden table against the wall.

The countdown on the paper on the table had two minutes left before it would end.

He didn’t move, just quietly waiting.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Snap.

Suddenly, the countdown ended.

The paper on the entire brown wooden table blurred and vanished.

0.1 seconds later, a thin, bronze-colored booklet appeared before Yu Hong.

‘It’s here!’ Yu Hong’s spirits lifted, and, suppressing his strong anticipation, he stood up to carefully examine the newly appeared booklet.

The booklet was the size of a regular dictionary in length and width, with a thickness of about a dozen pages—not many.

There were four big characters printed on the cover.

‘Internal Cultivation Methods.’

Because that was what he had named it during the fortification process, the same four characters appeared.

Yu Hong didn’t mind and reached out to pinch the corner of the booklet, gently turning a page.

The material of the booklet didn’t feel like paper, but rather more like cloth—soft to the touch and slightly warm.

‘This time it’s been strengthened to the limit, the highest degree possible in one go… I hope… it won’t disappoint me.’

With great anticipation, he carefully looked at the first opened page.

‘Infinite Qi Condensing Technique.’

As expected, five new and prominent characters with a texture resembling that of gray rocks appeared before his eyes.

Below the large characters was a small line of annotation: ‘One of the fundamental introductory methods of Wuji Palace.’

“…” Speechless, Yu Hong knew that the Black Mark had, once again, acquired someone else’s internal cultivation methods from some unknown place.

He turned the pages without a word.

The following page contained line after line detailing the specific effects of this mental method.

‘This method grasps the true meaning of the Infinite, based on the 9,672 Vacuum Particles determined by this sect’s founding ancestors, aiding in strengthening ninety-nine percent of all kinds of cultivation techniques and accelerating their practice. Its adaptability is extremely strong.’

Below that was an explanation of how to define and absorb Vacuum Particles.

‘Countless types of particles exist in the vacuum of space, infinite universes nest within each other, each encompassing the other, with each type of particle potentially representing a unique system of power, possibly originating from a tremendously distant special universe. Therefore, the absorption of Vacuum Particles must not be done crudely, all at once. Instead, it requires a meticulous approach, selecting from the endless surrounding grains that which suits oneself…’

With passages of text paired with specific illustrative diagrams, Yu Hong was utterly captivated.

He had never imagined that the countless particulate substances he sensed during his Inner Qi practice hid so much mystery.

In no time at all, he had finished reading the entire thin booklet.

The seven visualization charts included, coupled with a rather complex Breathing Control Method, were thoroughly committed to memory, repeatedly recalled and reflected upon.

On the last page of the booklet, the required time for practicing this method was mentioned—three days.