Night of Despair
Chapter 105 - 105: Setting Forth

"You can't go on like this, even if the tasks performed by the third team are safe, over time, the members' abilities won't improve and you'll be dragged down with them, impacting your evaluation," said Xu Fei, one of the team captains, frowning as he tried to persuade on the side.

In his opinion, useless team members should be replaced as soon as possible.

"... It's okay... My family is gone, it's just my sister left. She's stronger than me, so it's better to leave progress to her," Xue Ningning smiled casually. She was just planning to get by in life.

"A drop in your evaluation will affect your logistics support and can even lead to a reduction in equipment and supplies," Xu Fei, who had always had an interest in Xue Ningning, continued to persuade her.

"It's fine." Xue Ningning was not interested in this, just smiling. In fact, she also wanted to replace the team members, but once she did, leaving the safest third team, those three would definitely be in trouble. It had happened before, so later she gradually stopped just casually firing team members. Anyway, she only took the safest tasks...

"I'll train them in my free time. They're all good kids, and I believe they'll catch up soon," she said earnestly.

"Xue Ning, you're still so naive. According to the intel, the Evil Shadow will soon be here. By then, there might not be any absolutely safe mission zones. How many times can you lead them?" the distant captain of the ninth team, Yao Chenling, said coldly.

The ninth team also had a female captain; Yao Chenling was a tall, strong woman with both looks and strength. She had never liked Xue Ning, who rose through her sister, and now, while everyone else was striving to improve the strength of their teams, Xue Ning was still naively trying to pull the deadweight along with her.

Indeed, those with the ability could do that, but the cost was holding themselves back, even regressing.

In such a harsh environment with scarce resources and increased competition, moving backward meant fewer resources, which equated to digging one's own grave!

Xue Ningning didn't respond, just smiled, thinking that at worst, she wouldn't take any missions by then, as long as she didn't leave Hope City, it wouldn't be a big problem.

On the other side, after the team assembly, they quickly dispersed, and each team's members returned to their dormitories. Ou Li and the others split up, and since she lived with Stammering Yiyi, they also went back together.

As they entered the dormitory building and approached their door, a voice called out to them.

"Lin Yiyi," said the dormitory manager, an older woman, while patting a small box in her hand. "You have a postal package."

"A pac...package??" Stammering Yiyi blinked, somewhat puzzled.

"Yes, it's from Baiqiu Village," the woman replied casually.

"Baiqiu, Village!?" Stammering Yiyi immediately thought of a name, her face lighting up with excitement.

*

*

*

Baiqiu Village, mountain cave safe house.

Yu Hong stood alone in the basement, concentrating quietly, without moving for a long time.

The minutes ticked by, yet he remained the same, as still as a statue.

About fifteen minutes later.

Pfft.

Suddenly, his face flushed red as he spat out a small mouthful of blood.

"Failed again..."

He raised his hand, looking at the slowly fading red vortex rune in his palm, shaking his head.

Since completing the new cultivation technique yesterday, he had been trying to train according to the new method.

The new cultivation technique, as he desired, merged many functions into the Heavy Leg Skill and included the newly acquired Vortex Rune.

The enhanced booklet describing the technique's effects was indeed promising, but... the difficulty of cultivation was much higher than before....

Yu Hong slowly relaxed his body, walked to the side, picked up a red booklet from the ground, and flipped through it.

'Basic survival leg technique.'

This was the name he gave to this new cultivation technique, a name that was very fitting, as he created this technique for survival.

Upon opening the thin booklet, the three moves of the Heavy Leg Skill were still there, but compared to before, there were three additional layers, no longer just the previous three moves, totaling six layers.

Moreover, each layer now included some static exercises integrated into the specific training and cultivation process.

Yu Hong had just been practicing the static exercises part of the first layer, the low sweep leg, only to find it difficult to master.

After flipping through the booklet for a while, he confirmed he was practicing correctly; it was just that his body needed time to adapt, and hurrying was not the answer, so he could only endure it slowly.

The new cultivation technique, the basic survival leg technique, besides the usual diet, required one more thing for training, which was radiation, and not luminous stone radiation, but Red Value radiation.

This initially struck Yu Hong as odd, but he soon understood.

If he could absorb and adapt to the increasingly higher Red Value environment, then his survival rate would naturally greatly improve.

This cultivation technique perfectly achieved his intended goal.

After studying the technique for a while, Yu Hong set the booklet aside and moved up to the first floor.

The bright lights illuminated the outside, which was quiet. The entire safe house appeared peaceful and serene for a moment.

If this kind of life could be rid of its dangers, it would actually be quite nice, except for being somewhat lonely.

Yu Hong walked to the doorway, pulling back the board to look outside.

In the courtyard outside, pale glowing luminous stone grass swayed gently in the breeze, releasing invisible radiation.

Beyond that, outside the grayish-white courtyard wall, faint mist swirled in the darkness, occasionally accompanied by fleeting, indistinct sounds.

Yu Hong drew back his gaze, closed the board, and since yesterday, after acquiring some deodorizing sand from Li Rushan, he covered the outer door with a lot of fine stone powder, making it roughly the same color as the mountain wall.

Surprisingly, the Multi-eyed Birds had not come to bother him since.

He glanced at the time on the Enhanced Red Value Detector, which read 21:42 PM.

Yu Hong turned on the communicator, listening to the crackling noise, waiting for the connection with Li Rushan.

They had agreed to contact each other at around ten every night at this time.

After waiting a few minutes, activity came through the communicator.

"Sorry for the wait, I just got Nana to sleep, told her several stories... kids nowadays are really hard to handle," Li Rushan's tired voice came from the other end of the line.

"Kids are like that," Yu Hong chuckled, "By the way, thanks for your support with the deodorizing sand and disguise methods, the Multi-eyed Birds really haven't attacked, it seems to have worked."

Upon finding it effective, Yu Hong felt obliged to express gratitude both sentimentally and rationally, especially since Old Li, the penny pincher, offered friendly assistance for free this time. Although he needed help fixing something, Yu Hong had a look, and the communications equipment couldn't be repaired. What needed fixing turned into a simple small fan, and the other party agreed. He suspected this guy just needed an excuse to help him.

"Ah? It really worked?" Li Rushan couldn't help but express amazement from the other end.

".....What do you mean?" Yu Hong's smile vanished. "You weren't using me as a guinea pig, were you?"

"How could I, I'm using the deodorizing sand myself, why would I experiment on you?" Old Li chuckled awkwardly.

"Did you coat it with sunlight paint?" Yu Hong asked.

"....Yes, but you know, it depends on the grade, and ordinary sunlight materials can't withstand a level four threat," Li Rushan attempted to gloss over it.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this, how's the map you asked about? I'm planning to set out tomorrow," Yu Hong said.

"No problem, it's ready. However, are you sure about setting out at this time? The Multi-eyed Birds are still outside, and the environmental Red Value is rising...." Li Rushan said with a furrowed brow.

"It's precisely because the Red Value is increasing, I'm worried it'll get more and more dangerous later. Better to act quickly now," Yu Hong was also helpless. He originally planned to make some progress with the new cultivation technique before setting out, never expecting the external environment to deteriorate, and today's daytime measurements showed the external Red Value had reached thirty.

At this rate, he feared he might not even be able to leave in the future.

"You need to expand the breeding scale over there, otherwise, I worry there might be problems with food later," Yu Hong advised.

"Okay, the breeding boxes you wanted are ready here, just come and get them since you said you wanted to breed by yourself," Li Rushan agreed, "The situations getting worse and worse, but the only good news is that Nana's condition has stabilized a lot, it's worth me spending so much time in this lousy place... oh, I didn't mean that in a derogatory way."

"Hehe," Yu Hong just chuckled.

"Sigh, by the way, what conflict did you have with Ge Shenghao before?" Li Rushan shifted the topic.

"How would I know, they just came to attack me all of a sudden. Luckily, I hid quickly, then watched them get picked off one by one by the Multi-eyed Birds. I was so scared that I hid in the house, not daring to breathe out of concern of being spotted by the creature. Fortunately, those Multi-eyed Birds left after killing them," Yu Hong did not miss a single detail.

"They were crazy to initiate internal conflict at such a time, plus the situation was special then. The reception team couldn't wait indefinitely for them nor could they send people to disperse their strength to search everywhere. If not for picking them up, they wouldn't even want to leave the city. After picking them up, they left in a hurry, and during such times, no one cares about a few bodyguards if you don't wait on time," Li Rushan seemed to explain to Yu Hong, but it was more like setting the tone for the previous incident.

Yu Hong pondered for a moment and then agreed.

"I guess they intended to find a way to avoid the Multi-eyed Birds from me, but they didn't expect that I just had good luck, with few people, so I didn't attract the attention of the Multi-eyed Birds...."

The two sighed into the communicator together, feigning pity to wrap it up smoothly.

After a few seconds, Li Rushan concluded.

"Everything's ready for you, be careful on the road. I hope you can get hold of the nuclear generator, daylight is becoming scarce, and nights are getting longer. I tested it, and yesterday the daylight lasted only eight hours, three hours less than at the start."

"I'm worried about insufficient sunlight in the future... that'll be a real problem," Yu Hong sighed.

The nuclear generator was now tied to many of his logistical issues.

The water supply system was waiting, solar power needed replacement, and the oxygen machine required power. The communicator, electric lights, and Red Value detector all needed electricity. Once sunlight became inadequate, power supply would be insufficient, making the environment much harsher than it currently was.

"Alas, I still need to take care of Nana, so I can't go with you," Li Rushan pretended to regret.

"There are some supplies in Baiqiu Village, if you can't join, Old Li, why not bring some supplies back?" Yu Hong suggested.

"Well... now the environment is bad, and I can't temporarily leave, so let's talk about it later," Li Rushan laughed it off.

The communication was cut off.

Yu Hong started preparing the items for departure tomorrow.

He brought all three silver talisman arrays, twenty ordinary talisman arrays, as well as water, protein bars, dried mushrooms, and dried wild vegetables.

For bulletproof gear, he chose the reinforced gray lizard suit, as it was more flexible and practical for the journey compared to the White Bear suit.

Lastly, the all-important luminous stone carpet, which he had made some small adjustments to.

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