Night of Despair
Chapter 104 - 104: Cultivation Technique 2

Yu Hong looked at the Red Value Detector again, discovering that the values within the safe house had returned to single digits, nearing zero.

*"It seems the Talisman Array in the safe house might have had some effect,"* he thought.

He let out a sigh of relief, turned on the light, and pulled down the shield,

but he didn't take off his suit. In this situation, the constantly emerging Multi-eyed Bird forced him to remain vigilant at all times.

Picking up the Vortex Rune board, he sat down to ponder carefully.

*"If I apply the storage function of the Vortex Rune to the safe house, could it serve as a stable battery for converting and storing luminous stone radiation energy?"*

*"Then, what can luminous stone radiation energy batteries be used for besides making grenades?"* he considered, returning to his original thought—creating a Cultivation Technique that would grant him the ability to handle the shadow.

*"Suppose... suppose I could use my body to create an explosion of luminous stone radiation energy similar to the Vortex Rune, wouldn't that easily solve the problem of dealing with the shadow?"*

Following this line of reasoning,

Yu Hong took out a sheet of paper and wrote with a charcoal pencil.

"Special Attack Cultivation Technique for the shadow,

using Inner Qi as the pen, constructing a Vortex Rune within the body to create a luminous stone radiation battery-like structure that can absorb external radiation.

This structure needs to remain extremely stable under normal conditions, only temporarily disrupting the battery structure when I make specific actions or enter specific states, causing a massive radiation release that results in a luminous stone radiation attack to counteract external shadow or Evil Shadow."

"When I exit the special state or action, the Talisman Array will return to its original state, starting to absorb and store energy automatically again."

"Side effects: The luminous stone radiation will cause harm and mutation to the body. This issue might be countered by my continuously strengthening physical fitness."

After writing these words, Yu Hong carefully reviewed them, ensuring there were no typos or significant flaws before placing the paper on the wooden table.

*"The enhancement of the Black Mark must have a viable foundation as a prerequisite. Now, let's see if the foundational Cultivation Technique I've envisioned is feasible, perhaps the Black Mark can enhance and perfect it into a better technique."*

Looking at the Cultivation Technique speculation, Yu Hong extended his hand and pressed it against the surface.

*"Enhance the Special Attack Cultivation Technique for the shadow. Direction: Integrate Heavy Leg Skill."*

Soon, a black line flashed, and a feedback tone quickly sounded.

"Enhance technique?"

Feasible!

Yu Hong was thrilled, not expecting success on the first attempt.

He glanced at the countdown displayed on the paper: 1 hour and 4 minutes.

*In such a short time, it seemed the difficulty was not high.* Thinking of this, he pressed his hand down again.

*"Enhance the Special Attack Cultivation Technique for the shadow, direction: Integrate Heavy Leg Skill, enhance control, reduce side effects, increase power, and optimize the Vortex Rune to increase the total storage of radiation energy."*

Yu Hong added everything he wanted in one go.

Then, as he awaited the feedback tone, he quickly checked the emerging countdown.

"1 day, 23 hours, and 11 minutes."

*"That's about right; any longer and the risks would be too great,"* he sighed.

He confirmed the enhancement process.

This time, obtaining the Vortex Rune greatly aided in his response to the Evil Shadow, enhancing his means more than double.

Pressing the page undergoing enhancement with a block of wood, Yu Hong got up and went to the first basement, which was the one he initially dug.

In the basement, he picked up the Vortex Rune board he had made earlier. This board, inscribed with Inner Qi, had now completely turned silver.

It looked very similar to the previously enhanced silver Talisman Array.

But the patterns of the two were entirely different.

Yu Hong held the detector close and measured it, finding that the red value was only a negative single digit. Clearly, the Talisman Array's absorption and storage capability was strong.

After giving it some thought, he decided to take this board out to test the waters.

Now that the Black Mark was enhancing the new fusion technique, once the fusion was complete, he would gain a similar ability to counter the shadow while training in the Heavy Leg Skill.

Currently, ensuring the safety of the safe house was the top priority. Under these conditions, obtaining an energy core externally was difficult, and it was better to wait for the situation to stabilize further and for the Cultivation Technique training to become stronger.

Yu Hong made up his mind.

Taking the board, he returned to the first floor and activated the communicator.

"Old Li, are you there?"

After the crackling static, a somewhat surprised male voice came through quickly.

"So clear? How did the signal suddenly get better again?" Li Rushan asked in astonishment.

Yu Hong guessed it might be the result of his enhanced communicator, estimating it would only work well during communication with Old Li. But he didn't mention it, quickly changing the topic.

"Got a question, is there a way to avoid the Multi-eyed Bird? How did you guys avoid its attacks before?"

"... Vision, smell, hearing, these strange birds use sensory organs like humans to track. However, they have a very keen sense of smell," Li Rushan replied. "We missed the scent aspect before. Later, when the support team came over, they gave us some odor-removal sands, and the Multi-eyed Birds didn't get close temporarily. I have twenty pounds of odor-removal sand here."

"Are there other methods?" Yu Hong frowned.

"There's the sunray series materials. Multi-eyed Bird is quite a familiar creature at the front line of Aurora City and is one of the monsters restrained by the sunray series materials," Li Rushan replied.

He paused before continuing.

"If you need it, I'll try to get some for you. It should arrive next month, hold on until then."

"How much does it cost?" Yu Hong was a bit surprised, realizing the miser was finally willing to spend.

"I have a set of communicators here, could you take a look for me? Apart from contact with you, all other communications here are very poor, it's all unclear and relies entirely on Morse code," Li Rushan said casually.

"Alright," Yu Hong agreed. "By the way, about your postal delivery, can you still send things? I need to send something to Baihe City."

"Yes, but it will cost extra. Baihe City is currently under invading speech people. You know this thing can't be detected, you can't even notice until it attacks. Also, there are too many Multi-eyed Birds outside right now, you wouldn't dare to step out without some sunray series luminous stone blankets, travel costs are getting higher. What are you sending?" Li Rushan asked.

"I'll bring it to you later. It's a small thing," Yu Hong replied. He needed to send the enhanced Red Value Detector to Stammering Yiyi in time, just in case of the invading speech people.

"Alright, tomorrow a postal expert will pass by, and I can ask them to take a detour for you. By the way, there's something else; remember to be cautious in future endeavors. The thing you left behind, I tossed it in the charred wood forest near you. Don't forget to retrieve it," Li Rushan said finally, before disconnecting the communication.

*Thing? What thing?*

Yu Hong squinted slightly, swiftly putting on his gear before heading out. Soon, he found a lifeless male camouflage-clad body clutching a black one-meter-long rifle with a scope by a section of charred wood forest to the right of the courtyard wall.

The rifle looked unfamiliar in its model, and Yu Hong couldn't identify it.

He reached out forcefully to pull out the rifle, then proceeded to inspect the body.

Everything was gone, thoroughly cleaned out, leaving only the rifle in the hand as the sole item suggesting that this guy was very likely the only companion Ge Shenghao managed to escape with.

*"Why even bother running back then? Wouldn't dying by my hand have been more straightforward?"*

Yu Hong carried the rifle, realizing this item was probably left by Li Rushan as evidence. Otherwise, it would have long been gone.

A sudden bizarre cry from a Multi-eyed Bird echoed from deep within the forest.

Yu Hong quickly sped up, darted into the cave, closed the door, and hid quietly without making a sound.

*He had had enough of this damned bird.*

*

*

*

Three days later...

Baihe City.

At the entrance of a huge underground pipeline on the outskirts, task teams assembling to clear potential threats had gathered one after another.

There were over ten teams, many of them consisting of newly recruited soldiers.

From 1 to 16, each team had members holding wooden signs as landmarks.

Behind the sign marked with the number 3, a scattered line of eight young soldiers stood. Some looked listless, others with vacant stares, and among them, three individuals caught attention—Ou Li, Chen Qiaosheng, and the somber-looking Stammering Yiyi Lin Yiyi.

"Alright, everyone, quiet down." A squad leader emerged slowly from the pipeline entrance.

The leader, a tall man with a crew cut, clapped his hands loudly to get their attention.

"Organize your teams now. Once this exploration mission is over, you may go to the system registry to calculate your contribution points based on your respective findings," the man instructed before turning away, not even glancing back at the group, and left on his own.

This left each team leader to return to stand in front of their own team.

Xue Ningning, with one arm bound and hanging in front of her chest, returned to the sign of Team 3.

She assessed her team members in front of her and shook her head slightly in exasperation.

Despite navigating relatively safe routes during the exploration and clearing tasks, they had still encountered several dangerous situations.

When critical moments hit, the team's lack of coordination forced Xue Ningning to personally intervene, using luminous stone weapons to fend off several attacking monsters. She got injured and two team members were seriously hurt and had to leave the team to recuperate.

The mission almost went unfinished. In the end, it was nearly by sheer force that she pushed her team to hurriedly complete the task.

Now reflecting back, Xue Ningning realized that Ou Li and the other two had little real value, contributing almost nothing along the way.

She considered replacing them, but doing so would mean elimination from here. Given their situation, Ou Li, Chen Qiaosheng, and Lin Yiyi couldn't likely be accepted by other teams...

"Ningning, word has spread about your team. Are you thinking of replacing them?" whispered another female team leader nearby.

In Team 3, Ou Li was alright, average in most respects. Chen Qiaosheng was physically weak and just tagged along, barely useful. Lin Yiyi often foolishly charged forward, unafraid of death or pain but frequently disrupting Xue Ningning's plans.

However, if they were replaced, Lin Yiyi's only option would be to move to even more dangerous teams. Team 3, thanks to Xue Ningning, was relatively the safest. Given Chen Qiaosheng and Lin Yiyi's traits, switching to other teams would increase their risk substantially above Team 3.

Considering this, Xue Ningning shook her head.

"Just recruit more people to fill the gaps, no need to replace anyone." It's better to have these three follow safely behind the team than send them to other teams to face certain death.

Each had significant shortcomings; apart from Ou Li, joining other teams would genuinely be a death sentence.

As for Ou Li, she had recognized that while protective towards herself, it only served as a shell hiding her true self.

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