Night of Despair

About eighty kilometers from Baiqiu Village.

A man in a gray hiking suit, carrying a large backpack and with a helmet and mask on, was rapidly moving along the winding road towards Baiqiu Village.

The road was desolate and silent, stretching endlessly like a thin gray-white line deep into the forest.

The man walked for a while, stopped to carve a triangular mark on a tree with a small knife, and then looked around the environment.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Suddenly, he heard someone's footsteps slowly approaching from behind.

He spun around, but saw nothing.

"Tch, it's this damned thing again."

The man reached up to remove his backpack, hung it on a nearby branch, then swiftly climbed up a large tree, retrieved the backpack, and unzipped it.

With a rustle, he pulled out a large dark green cover and enveloped himself entirely within it.

The moment he cloaked himself, he completely blended with the surrounding environment and vanished.

At the same time, the mysterious footsteps behind him faded away completely.

After waiting for a while, the man removed the cover, folded it back into the backpack, jumped down from the branch, and continued on his way.

Suddenly, he turned left sharply, dove to the ground, and lay flat.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out.

The grass beside him was hit, sending up a small spray of dark earth.

"You're dead, White Python!! Daring to go after my boss's woman!" a man's voice with a heavy foreign accent came from the distant forest.

The man's expression remained unchanged as he drew a black dagger with a reverse grip, rolled swiftly across the ground.

Bam bam bam!

Three consecutive shots hit the spot where he had just been, sending up three clods of black dirt.

Taking advantage of this moment, the man sprang up from the ground, using one hand to push himself upright, and once steady, he sprinted like a cheetah towards the source of the gunfire.

With continuous zigzagging movements, he dodged several shots and finally closed in on the shooter.

"Shit!"

There were three gunmen in total, all burly men wearing stab-proof vests.

Seeing him approach, the three dropped their guns, drew waist knives and surrounded him.

"Kill him!"

The three raised their knives and lunged at the man.

But before they could reach him, the man effortlessly ducked out of the way.

Compared to his agility, they appeared like cumbersome hunks of metal, their dagger swings hitting nothing but air.

The man ducked under the first attacker, then thrust his right hand forward, precisely stabbing it into the attacker's abdomen.

Rolling forward, his short knife sliced across the second person's calf, then rising, he delivered a powerful hook punch to the third person's right ear.

In a matter of seconds, the three before him collapsed to the ground, but before they could react, the man pounced, each receiving a swift knife across the throat.

Thud thud thud.

Three precise cuts sliced across their throats.

Blood gushed forth, accompanied by a trickling sound, and everything returned to tranquility.

The man stood up, gathered the loot, shouldered his backpack, and continued on his way.

From start to finish, he never even took off the backpack on his back.

*

*

*

The heavy rain poured down.

Inside the mountain cave safehouse, a fireplace blazed brightly, completely driving away any moisture and chill.

The bright yellow firelight made the somewhat dim cave as bright as day, although it was currently daytime anyway.

Yu Hong stood in the open space of the cave, practicing the Heavy Leg Skill's low sweep leg repeatedly in front of him.

He had already discovered that if he didn't use Inner Qi to enhance it, merely practicing the Heavy Leg Skill could accumulate new Inner Qi faster than high-level cultivation techniques.

This cultivation technique surprisingly integrated training and combat into one high-cost-performance package.

So he simply focused on practicing the Heavy Leg Skill.

After practicing for a while, he drank some water and sat down to rest, and then continued to enhance the new Talisman Array.

He now had more than twenty ordinary Talisman Arrays, since it only took a little over an hour to strengthen one. In another two days, he would gather enough to exchange for a bullet-proof gray lizard suit.

Yu Hong later bargained with Li Rushan, successfully negotiating for forty-two Talisman Arrays. The Talisman Arrays were also tested by the other party and received affirmation.

Thus, he took this price and reached a deal with the newcomer Lao Zhou for thirty Talisman Arrays to exchange for a second-hand gray lizard suit.

"Almost there, almost there..." Yu Hong lifted a bowl of protein sweet soup and drank it all down.

Then he stood up and began adding weights to himself, tying things to his legs.

With the added weight, he continued to practice the Heavy Leg Skill, clearly feeling another surge of warmth spread throughout his body.

*In this dangerous environment, the warmth nourishing his entire body brought him an intense sense of reassurance.*

Rumble.

The thunder rolled outside, and the rain fell even harder.

Raindrops drummed on the wooden door with a dense sound.

Outside was cold, damp, and rainy, obscuring everything from view.

Inside was warm like spring, dry and peaceful, making Yu Hong's heart settle down, completely immersed in the arduous training of his Heavy Leg Skill.

'I don't need to know many techniques, I just need to master one to perfection, use it with ease, and be able to defeat the enemy in one blow.'

With renewed focus, he practiced diligently, using his rest periods to draw Talisman Arrays and strengthen the Talisman Array planks.

After three days of continuous rain, it finally stopped.

The entire forest had been washed clean, pure and pristine, with any bloodstains long washed away, leaving no trace.

Yu Hong gathered up the Talisman Arrays, a large stack bundled together, and packed them into his backpack, heading towards the stone house post office.

He had amassed the necessary quantity and even prepared extra for his own use. Now it was time to trade for Lao Zhou's second-hand gray lizard suit.

Actually, whether second-hand or not didn't matter, as he would reinforce it himself anyway.

Soon he arrived in front of the stone house, and following a newly made sign, he found Lao Zhou's dwelling not far away.

Lao Zhou's place wasn't much different—it was exactly where old Yu used to live.

Several items had been moved out of the ground hole, where Lao Zhou was sitting on a wooden stool, carving some furniture with a chisel.

Seeing Yu Hong approach, he quickly stood up.

"You came just in time. I'm going out the day after tomorrow. If you didn't come now, our deal would have to be postponed."

He put down the chisel, clapped his hands clean, and went inside the ground hole, coming out shortly with a somewhat worn camouflage suit.

"This is my spare suit. Did you bring the Talisman Arrays?" Lao Zhou looked at Yu Hong.

"Of course." Yu Hong nodded. "Can I ask, what do you want so many Talisman Arrays for? Technically, it's more convenient to have Old Li take them to the supply team for exchange. For someone alone..."

"I tend to run into trouble when I go out. The Talisman Arrays are much lighter than the Large Pyroxene Stone and cover a bigger area; they're really useful." Lao Zhou forced a smile in response.

"Alright then..." Yu Hong took the Talisman Array planks out of his backpack and placed them to one side for inspection. He then examined the gray lizard suit himself.

This gray lizard suit was indeed, as mentioned, undamaged, just a bit old with more than ten bullet holes on the chest.

But the bullet holes hadn't penetrated the inner alloy plates, so they didn't affect usability.

The helmet and mask remained perfectly intact and undamaged.

Yu Hong was quite satisfied with this.

Over there, Lao Zhou had finished checking the Talisman Arrays with the Red Value Detector and was equally satisfied in expression.

"Pleasure doing business." He squeezed out another smile.

"Pleasure doing business." Yu Hong nodded with a smile, both having successfully circumvented the crook Lao Li to reach a deal.

"Mind if I ask how long you've been staying here?" Lao Zhou suddenly inquired stiffly.

"Not long, maybe a few months." Yu Hong casually replied with a timeframe.

"Have you seen a young man, shorter than me, with a dark-red number 8 birthmark on his face, pass by?" Lao Zhou asked softly.

"I haven't seen anyone like that... After all, we mostly hide out in our own places, as you know, and rarely venture out wandering." Yu Hong shook his head slightly.

"Alright... Thanks anyway." Lao Zhou's expression darkened a bit as he hugged the Talisman Arrays and walked towards the ground hole's entrance.

Watching his back, Yu Hong surmised that he was probably looking for someone.

And the person Lao Zhou described might be very important to him.

But, unfortunately, this time of year, someone alone outside for too long was bound to encounter trouble sooner or later...

Equipping the gray lizard suit, Yu Hong didn't dwell on it further, turning back towards the mountain cave. On the way, he passed by the stone house post office and saw Li Rushan playing a stone-throwing game in the yard with his daughter, Aisena.

When Li Rushan saw the gray lizard suit in his hand, the smile on his face instantly vanished.

However, Aisena was still very excited, waving to Yu Hong from afar to greet him.

Even though Yu Hong was fully clad in the stab-proof suit and helmet, the little one recognized him at a glance.

"Uncle Yu Hong!"

Yu Hong waved back to her from a distance. Seeing her chubby little face, fair and bouncy, shaking with excitement, it brightened his mood considerably.

Without extra words, he continued straight back to the mountain cave safehouse, walking through the muddy and damp ground, carrying the twelve-pound gray lizard suit, a slightly more cumbersome journey than before.

When he returned to the cave, his pant legs were already covered in grass clippings and black mud spots.

Closing the wooden door, he laid the suit flat on the ground, reaching out to press on it.

Yu Hong was filled with anticipation. A complete bullet-proof suit would elevate his safety level to a new tier.

Immediately, he thought in his mind about how to reinforce and the direction of reinforcement.

Soon, after deciding everything, he silently recited in his mind.

'Enhance the heavy-duty bullet-proof suit, direction, strengthen bullet-proof effect, enhance the filter mask effect. Add inner pockets to facilitate the installation of new components. Also enhance flexibility.'

At this moment, what flashed in his mind were the appearances of heavily armored machine-gunners from various shooting war games he had played before.

This time the requirements were rather many, and Yu Hong was prepared for an extended period.

Quickly, black lines emerged, flowing into the suit, a clear countdown appeared.

'5 hours 15 minutes.'

So short?

He was slightly surprised, but upon considering, although his requirements were numerous, the extent of enhancement wasn't huge. The gray lizard suit was already bullet-proof, and slightly strengthening the effects and tweaking the design wasn't actually difficult.

'With this view, I can certainly add more features.'

After some thought, he took out the Red Value Detector he had obtained before, placing it on the suit.

Again, he placed his hand on the detector and the suit, mentally stating the requirements, with an additional one for red value detection capability.

Soon, the new countdown appeared.

This time, the duration was much longer than before.

'17 hours 21 minutes.'

Yu Hong exhaled and confirmed the enhancement.