LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 60: Weakness (2)
Chapter 60: Weakness (2)
“I can’t wait any longer.” Xu Ruoying nodded, her expression somewhat downcast. “The little stutterer told me about the situation in the city. It’s safe, though a little chaotic, but for someone like me with some skills, the city offers decent treatment.”
“So, before you…”
“Before, I hadn’t figured out the anti-inflammatory herbs, but this time is different.” Dr. Xu looked up, showing a hopeful smile. “So, once I establish a foundation with the little stutterer in the city and settle down, we can help you join us.”
“…” Yu Hong remained silent.
Dr. Xu seemed to realize something, and her smile faded.
“City life is still much better than being on our own out here.” She said quietly.
“Then I wish you good luck.” Yu Hong also said quietly.
Turning around, he headed back towards the cave’s safe house.
Although he had expected that the others without the Black Mark would eventually leave due to the increasingly dangerous external environment, he hadn’t anticipated it would come so soon.
But he understood—after all, for ordinary people in the wilderness, surviving safely was incredibly difficult.
Back in the cave, he took out the letter he had received, tore open the envelope, and pulled out the letter.
The handwriting was much messier this time, with many errors, punctuation marks being misused, and even some places entirely missing.
Clearly, this letter was written by the little stutterer.
‘Yu, I received the things. They’re really handy. I’m doing well here, don’t worry. Everyone is fine, it’s safe here and I’m very happy. No need to worry about food or water, the clothes are clean, and I can even wash myself and take a bath. So happy.’
Yu Hong felt a bit of a headache reading this. This guy really needs to learn punctuation and paragraphing, it’s so hard to read.
He continued reading.
‘Because there are big walls made of sunlight materials, the monsters and bugs outside can’t get in. Recently, there have been various talisman papers made from glowstone powder, which have effectively restrained the Ghostly shadows and evil shadows. I plan to investigate my parents’ situation, I want to know where they went.’
Yu Hong sighed helplessly as he took out a charcoal pencil and began dividing the letter into sections and adding punctuation.
After a few minutes, the letter was finally legible.
‘I also found friends who want to find their relatives. They are all doing well. We plan to form a small group to collect all the information. By the way, I’ve already asked around, some old people from Baiqiu Village are still alive, and some seem to know something about my parents. I plan to inquire more about it, but for now, I need to carry out tasks and patrol.’
The letter ended abruptly here.
Yu Hong folded the letter back up and put it away. For some reason, after reading it, he felt a bit more relaxed, as if his mood had improved slightly.
He couldn’t help but smile faintly, imagining the little stutterer in the far-off Baihe City, Hope Town, trying to figure out what to write in the letter.
Suddenly, he had an idea. He went over to a corner and grabbed the anti-inflammatory herbs Dr. Xu had given him. He knew the herb composition and thought about how the little stutterer might get injured in the military, especially with possible wound infections.
He placed his hand on the herb powder packet.
‘Strengthened anti-inflammatory medicine, direction: effect enhancement.’
Black lines began to flow out, and a countdown appeared: 2 hours, 21 minutes.
Yu Hong confirmed the enhancement query and watched the countdown begin ticking, then pulled his hand away.
‘Sending the enhanced medicine to her is a good idea. Since the Rune Arrays can be delivered, it means the postal system has some guarantees, even if the price is a bit high. And since the little stutterer was able to send letters to both me and Xu Ruoying, there’s likely some military benefit involved.’
He stood up and practiced his leg exercises. Though injured, his thighs and calves were unharmed, so the leg exercises were not a problem.
Two hours passed quickly.
The countdown on the medicine packet disappeared, and the whole packet flashed before transforming into a sheet of compressed tablets, wrapped in silver packaging from an unknown source.
Yu Hong picked it up and inspected it. There were twelve pills in total, and the packaging thoughtfully included instructions.
‘For adults weighing 50 to 100 kg, take one pill after meals daily. For children, adjust the dosage based on weight. One week per course, with one day off in between.’
‘Treats: systemic muscle inflammation, lung and bronchial tonsillitis, gastrointestinal inflammation, oral inflammation. Can also be applied topically for wound inflammation.’
“Not bad!” Yu Hong nodded in satisfaction. This should help the little stutterer significantly.
He then began writing a reply and prepared to send the medication along with it.
*
*
*
One week later, Baihe City.
Coastal Base.
The waves crashed against the cement wall outside the base, spraying white foam.
Inside the base, the soldiers’ dorms were full of young female soldiers chatting and laughing.
In one dorm room, the light was dim. Four iron beds were set up along the walls.
The little stutterer was lying on a black iron table by the window, reading the letter she had just received.
It was a letter from Yu Hong, and it even contained a sheet of anti-inflammatory tablets, which made the little stutterer very happy.
Recently, she had been having digestive issues from overeating, and the army-issued medicine didn’t work at all. It was obviously the wrong prescription. In the current environment, although there were medicines, the variety was much less than in peacetime.
“Lin Yiyi!” Suddenly, a fiery girl with a ponytail rushed into the dorm.
The girl appeared to be around sixteen or seventeen, dressed in camouflage military clothing, with a high nose and fair skin—she seemed to be mixed race.
“I just got the notice. Tomorrow we’re gathering our team to investigate the explosion at the southern water plant. We need to prepare in advance, the situation might be bad.”
The girl was named Ou Li, and she was the little stutterer’s closest friend among the four in the dorm.
Because the little stutterer was somewhat clumsy and had a bit of a silly side, she was not very popular with others. Her appearance was also considered unattractive, and due to her intellectual disabilities, she couldn’t use most equipment or handle the rapidly changing dangers outside. As a result, people didn’t favor her much.
Quick thinkers were the most popular in today’s world.
Ou Li, however, was also someone who wasn’t very popular. The two of them, being isolated, naturally came together.
“Tomorrow, gathering?” The little stutterer put away the medicine and turned to look at her friend.
“This mission is a bit dangerous. Make sure you have everything packed, don’t forget anything,” Ou Li reminded.
“I know. Thanks.” The little stutterer responded with a firm nod.
“Just help me carry my bag tomorrow,” Ou Li waved her hand.
“Okay!” The little stutterer nodded. She paused and then spoke again. “You, tomorrow, do you want to…”
“No, I’ll be faster alone. You can’t do much, and you’re too slow,” Ou Li said without hesitation.
“Okay.” The little stutterer lowered her head, a bit disappointed.
Ou Li shrugged, muttered something, and then left.
“By the way, don’t forget to wash my underwear and socks!” Her voice floated back into the room.
“Okay!” The little stutterer quickly responded, a happy smile appearing on her face.
*
*
*
“This fight’s biggest issue was that I couldn’t react to the opponent’s speed or predict his moves. Of course, those are secondary,” Yu Hong reflected on the battle in the cave.
“The real problem is I couldn’t take the hits.”
He recalled the previous encounter.
‘If I had been able to stabilize my body when hit, I could have countered immediately. But unfortunately, most of the time I couldn’t stabilize myself and was knocked off balance, which made it impossible to counter. My legs instinctively went to maintain balance, preventing me from fighting back.’
‘So, my current key point is to increase stability and ensure my body stays steady. And this, happens to align with the heavy leg training.’
An idea popped into Yu Hong’s mind—adding weight.
‘Rather than increasing the weight, I could increase the thickness of the protective suit, which would improve both defense and stability.’
He looked at his full set of reinforced gear, his gaze shifting to the legs.
‘I can’t practice martial arts, but I can just make the lower half of my body heavy enough!’
Thinking of this, he immediately started modifying the new bulletproof suit he’d obtained.
The suit had a small white bear logo on the chest with the Aurora brand name, so Yu Hong casually referred to it as the “White Bear Suit.”
The legs of the suit were damaged, and the chest had a small hole, but that didn’t matter. After reinforcement, it would be as good as new.
What was important was that Yu Hong began adding weight to the lower body—he stuffed heavy wooden boards into the legs and feet as shields and wrapped them with torn clothing for extra protection.
Soon, an abnormally heavy protective suit, with the lower half weighted down, appeared before him.
He reached out to try enhancing it.
‘Enhance protective suit to the maximum, direction: increase weight and size of lower body, reinforce armor for full-body protection, and strengthen the breathing valve for better defense.’
He also specified the breathing valve issue, which had almost been a fatal weak point during his previous attack.
As the black lines flowed out during the enhancement, Yu Hong focused on visualizing the exact suit he wanted in his mind, a trick he had recently discovered. This mental visualization helped guide the enhancement process to align with his intentions.
The black line continued to flow, and soon the prompt appeared:
‘Do you wish to enhance the White Bear Suit?’
The cold mechanical voice echoed in his head, and Yu Hong sighed in relief. At least he could enhance it.
He looked at the countdown that appeared:
‘7 days, 7 hours, 05 minutes.’
“…”
At this point, he canceled the enhancement. The short-term items that needed enhancing were more urgent, and he needed to address those before tackling this long-term project.
After setting aside the White Bear Suit, Yu Hong began inspecting the other spoils of war he had recently acquired.
“This Luminous stone blanket… what is it for?” He carefully examined the item in his hands.
He had recognized it immediately because of its contact with Luminous stone powder. It was likely part of an item used for creating a simple Luminous stone chamber.
“Could it be used for that?” he wondered.
(End of Chapter)