A Night of Desperation

Inside the cave’s safe house.

Yu Hong sat down and panted heavily, recovering his strength.

He placed the talisman array on the ground, drenched in sweat, his eyes clouded with it, making it hard to open them.

After resting for a few seconds, he glanced at Dr. Xu and noticed she had her eyes closed, seemingly resting as well. He then extended his hand and pressed it against the silver talisman array on the door.

After a brief pause, he released his hand and saw a black countdown appearing on the surface of the talisman array, indicating the recovery process was in progress. He sighed in relief.

It wouldn’t take long—just over forty minutes for him to fully recover.

“Dr. Xu, are you okay?” Yu Hong finally found the time to ask.

“…”

There was no response.

Yu Hong furrowed his brows and looked back again, noticing that Dr. Xu was still curled up on the ground, motionless. Sweat and saliva dripped from her chin, and her body twitched and trembled slightly.

“Dr. Xu?” Yu Hong called again, sensing something was wrong, his expression becoming more serious.

He extended his hand and pushed her, but there was no reaction.

He quickly stood up, went to get a cup of water, and tried to feed it to her.

Unfortunately, Dr. Xu’s mouth was too tightly shut, and her breathing was irregular, making it dangerous to try to feed her water.

Yu Hong carefully moistened her mouth and then dragged her over to a softer sleeping bag.

“I don’t have any first-aid medicine, and I don’t know what’s happening to you. The only thing I can do now is hope you can help yourself,” he said quickly, sitting by her side. “If you can hear me, can you tell me what to do to help you?”

Dr. Xu did not respond, her eyes still closed as she lay in the sleeping bag, twitching and unable to move.

Her body was cold, yet sweat kept seeping out.

Soon, the warmth of the fireplace flared up, making her body relax a little. Her breathing seemed to calm with the warmth.

Seeing her condition improve a bit, Yu Hong breathed a sigh of relief. At this point, handling logistics and making materials on his own was impossible. A person like Dr. Xu, who was not only a good person but also a familiar acquaintance, was someone he wanted to save if possible.

He glanced at the countdown on the door, then at the grime on Dr. Xu’s face, and used a piece of tree leaves and newspaper to wipe off the sweat and saliva.

Then, he sat down and started rummaging through the bag he had just retrieved from the cave of Jennie and her daughter.

The bag was not a cloth bag but a large, thick black plastic bag with white ear straps, allowing it to be carried with one hand.

Yu Hong tore open the opening and began pulling out the items inside.

At the top was a red value detector, which he placed on the ground.

Next came a pair of black leather boots for women.

Three candles.

A hardcover brown notebook.

A bottle of small red pills with an unknown use.

A black, somewhat dirty fabric mask.

A short knife with a scabbard, featuring a snake-skin pattern.

A small green box resembling a handheld gaming device, complete with a screen and cross-button.

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

Nothing happened.

He put it down and picked up the small pill bottle. Through the transparent glass, he could see the red pills inside—new and dry, not a trace of mold.

“Jennie and Eve couldn’t find any signs of illness. So what is this medicine? Emergency anti-inflammatory medicine, or…?” he wondered.

Unable to figure it out, he decided to wait until Dr. Xu woke up to test it.

He set the pills aside and picked up the short knife, gently pulling it from the scabbard.

The sharp silver blade was quite clean, with a faint layer of maintenance oil. The back of the blade had a saw-like design, and the side of the blade featured a blood groove, making it look very practical.

“Shh.”

After closing the short knife, Yu Hong finally reached for the notebook.

He picked it up and opened it.

“Adjust the radiation time according to the dosage, continue the next step of testing based on the detailed plan of Solution 2.”

“In April, three accidents occurred, and 16 samples of radiation data from the Luminous Stones were collected.”

“In May, radiation data surveys of the surrounding terrain of the Luminous Stone mine were conducted, with 74 samples taken.”

“In June, it was found that an individual entered the mine, and slight physical mutations were observed. Data was successfully collected.”

“In July, five successful animal model experiments were conducted. Due to environmental changes, the number of animals and insects drastically decreased, and the experiments had to be halted.”

“In August, Eve’s cells were collected and cultured. Radiation tests were then conducted on the cultured tissues. The comparison between these and Lin Yiyi’s previously collected cell tissues revealed the mutation process.”

Under the firelight, Yu Hong furrowed his brow as he read the rows of text in the notebook. Below the text were detailed charts and character data, many of which were coded abbreviations that he didn’t understand. From the context, however, it was clear that Jennie’s family likely had ulterior motives for coming here, and they had also been secretly sampling and observing Lin Yiyi.

He kept flipping through the pages, skipping over many data charts, and soon came across some key text.

“The Luminous Stone disease has been confirmed to give the illusion creatures increased resistance. Under similar conditions of infection, individuals with the Luminous Stone disease experience some level of cognitive decline, but in high red-value environments, they show a stronger resistance. Symptoms such as body rigidity, twitching, and hallucinations will no longer occur.”

“In cell sampling experiments, the cells infected with the Luminous Stone disease showed a significant increase in activity, but their lifespan decreased by 65.4%, and their resistance to bacteria and viruses improved by over 70%. It was determined that taking Eve to the mine every five days for about half an hour can effectively suppress the special marking disease she suffers from.”

By now, Yu Hong had started to understand.

Jennie’s family had likely come here seeking a research method to save their daughter, Eve, who had been affected by some unknown source. Unfortunately, their research had barely shown some results before being interrupted.

Eve hadn’t died from the evil creatures but was instead killed by this ordinary human.

“But the Luminous Stone disease… the Luminous Stone can actually cause illness?” Yu Hong recalled the situation with Lin Yiyi.

She had cognitive decline, yet she was highly resistant to the illusion creatures. He’d never seen Lin Yiyi so scared of the illusion creatures.

“Could it be that Lin Yiyi has the Luminous Stone disease too?” Yu Hong speculated in his heart.

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

*

*

*

Baihe City (White river City)

On the surface.

On the beach, the waves repeatedly carried white lines of water, rushing up and then retreating, over and over.

A hundred meters above the beach stood a group of abandoned, rusted skyscrapers, quietly standing in the scorching sunlight.

The faint blue glass on the buildings reflected the glaring sunlight, occasionally making a clanging sound as the sea breeze blew.

On top of one of the buildings, at the rusted rooftop.

Several men and women in camouflage clothing were speaking in low voices.

They were gathered together, their clothes marked with the United Army insignia.

One of the men with short hair and glasses held a large piece of jade-like glowstone, his head lowered, frowning as he listened to the others.

The man had a gentle face, a bronzed complexion, and a silver-white handgun at his waist. A unique three-star insignia appeared on his right forearm.

“A Dong and the others still haven’t returned. We didn’t have time to pay attention before, but now that we’ve finally settled down, I sent people to the agreed location to wait, but there’s no one there. I suspect something happened to them,” said a dark-skinned young woman, her voice low.

“They both had guns and resting points along the way. It shouldn’t be possible for anything to have happened, right?” another person interjected.

“It’s hard to say. The evil creatures were rampant before. They might have been killed halfway. Now the satellite signals are too disrupted, and we can’t contact them from a distance. The only thing we can rely on is whether they show up on time. If they don’t, we’ll have to assume they’re dead,” the young woman replied swiftly.

“What should we do? If someone at Baiqiu Village is capable of making Great Luminous Stones, it would be a huge waste to give up now,” another voice said.

“True. So who’s willing to go back and investigate what happened to confirm the truth?” the man with glasses asked loudly, scanning the people around him.

But every time his gaze met someone’s, they quickly looked away, unwilling to respond.

“Isn’t anyone willing to take the lead?” the man with glasses sighed. “If we can capture the person making Luminous Stone, I’ll guarantee double the treatment every month—food, supplies, whatever.”

Still, no one spoke.

Having just escaped the evil creatures, no one wanted to go back to their deaths.

Besides, with such a long distance, they might not even make it to their destination before encountering those creatures and dying.

“Xu Yang, you’ve always been my most reliable assistant,” the man with glasses said, focusing his gaze on a strong man wearing a black face mask.

“Team Zhao, if we go back on our own, we’ll likely encounter danger along the way. Think of how many problems we ran into just migrating here,” Xu Yang said quickly.

“Are you saying…” The man with glasses frowned.

“The key right now is that Baiqiu Village is too dangerous. None of us here can handle it. So we need to find someone who can,” Xu Yang smiled.

“Who can guarantee they can handle it?” the man with glasses asked.

“I’ve already found someone. There’s a black-market bar in Baihe City that hires outlaws. I met a real expert there last time. He used to be a mailman, and he comes from the Aurora City United Army frontline. He’s elite—his shooting and hand-to-hand combat skills are top-notch,” Xu Yang said.

“Sounds expensive,” the man with glasses frowned. “And why would such an expert be willing to work for us? He could catch people and earn more himself.”

“Just don’t tell him. Let him catch people, and if he finds out later, we can negotiate. At worst, we’ll share some benefits with him. It’s better than doing nothing,” Xu Yang smiled.

The man with glasses nodded and carefully examined the Great Luminous Stone in his hand.

“Good point. In the current environment of White River City, if we can control the person making these Luminous Stone, it’s like having a goose that lays golden eggs.”

He paused.

“This is the equivalent of Luminous Stone marrow. The symbols on it are secondary. Many similar types can be easily replicated. The key is the material. It can be used to fake the rare Luminous Stone marrow, and the price difference is far beyond what most people imagine. I really don’t know how he made it.”

He exhaled and looked at Xu Yang again.

“Take care of this. Can you handle it?”

“Guaranteed,” Xu Yang smiled.

“What’s his name?”

“Bai Mang, Guo Xudong.”

(End of chapter)

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