Night of Despair

"Besides water, there were constant disturbances from the shadows, and you needed to artificially create a luminous stone isolation environment. And then there's the food—mushrooms, cockroaches, and lizards all need someone to produce them consistently. Hope City has people specifically growing vegetables and raising livestock, the conditions are vastly different," Li Rushan shook his head.

"Vastly different." His daughter, Aisena, who had somehow slipped out from behind him, nodded along like a parrot.

"So," Yu Hong glanced at the girl, then returned his gaze to Li Rushan.

"So you can only seek out those who can't stay in Hope City," Li Rushan advised with a smile, "Start by using them to set up a small base. Once the water and food supply are secured, only then can you consider attracting skilled people for long-term settlement."

"Makes sense..." Yu Hong sighed.

"In a few days, there will be a group of refugees passing by here. They're using solar-powered cars, recharging only with sunlight, so they move very slowly. There will surely be people who run out of food. This group is heading toward Tianyue, trading and exchanging food along the way. You can try to recruit a few people by then."

Yu Hong nodded, but thinking about his safehouse, he shook his head internally. His current safehouse was not equipped to take in additional people. Where would they stay, in a cave with him? With so many secrets, how could he feel secure?

So there was no choice. The time was far from ripe, and he had to advance one step at a time.

He could not even achieve self-sufficiency yet; it was much too early.

After conversing with Li Rushan, Yu Hong departed and went to visit Doctor Xu on his way back, only to find that the underground cave where she stayed was empty and silent.

Knock, knock, knock.

He stood at the entrance of the underground cave and knocked.

No response.

Lowering his hand, he sighed softly, then turned to look at other places.

The surroundings were silent, save for the distant, burning fire emitting thick smoke.

The once tranquil forest was now entirely dyed red by the glow, and even nearing dusk, it was as bright as noon.

Just as he was about to leave and return to his safehouse,

knock, knock, knock.

Suddenly, there was knocking from inside Doctor Xu's underground cave.

"...."

Yu Hong glanced at the integrated Red Value Detector in his collar, watching the red value rapidly soar past eighty.

"Who's knocking?" Doctor Xu's cautious and wary voice came from inside the cave.

Yu Hong looked at the red value once more, sighed inwardly, ignored the voice inside, and left directly.

After walking a few steps, he suddenly turned back, bent down to pick up a stone, and carved on the ground in front of the wooden door, writing a line.

'The owner has left, there is a shadow inside.'

Once finished, he stood up again.

Right by the half-drawn white curtain of the cave's window, there stood a woman in white.

The woman stared blankly at him through the window, her eyes dull as she stood silently there.

Her face was exactly that of Doctor Xu, only with whiter skin exuding an indescribable decay, like a white wall about to peel.

Yu Hong glanced at her, then turned and quickly left.

*

*

*

Baihe City.

Inside an abandoned auditorium.

Rows of seats were a dark red, covered in knitted fabric.

Some of the seats had collapsed, while others were intact but covered in dust.

Masses of red seats formed a semicircle around a rectangular podium at the front.

Currently, more than twenty people stood sparsely inside the auditorium, all of them United Army soldiers in camouflage uniforms, wearing helmets and tactical vests.

In front of all the soldiers stood three officers in the same camouflage uniforms, with silver crescent moons pinned on their shoulders.

The three officers, two men and one woman, each held paper and pen, recording names.

"Xu Zhengqiu."

"Wang Xuan."

"Zhang Jiawei."

"Liu Yu."

One by one, names were called from the mouths of the three officers, and the soldiers whose names were called stepped forward to their respective officers to be assigned as squad members.

As names were called, the three teams became clearer and had more members.

And the number of remaining soldiers dwindled.

About ten minutes later.

"Ma Randon."

"Xu Dawei."

As time passed, the pace of name-calling slowed down.

Finally.

"Ding Chao."

With this name finished, the three officers stopped calling more names.

Yet the soldiers were not all assigned; two women and a man were left without assignment.

"Is it over? Why are there still three people left unassigned?" Xu Fei, one of the three officers, frowned, looking at the other two of the same rank. "I'm already full here."

"Same here," said another officer icily.

"..." The only female officer, Xue Ningning, looked at the two helplessly.

She understood the need for a mission team to be as elite as possible, but if they didn't select the remaining elite members, those left would have to form their own team to enter the mission zone.

Such a team without a leader going into a mission area, encountering an unknown type of shadow or a Blood Tide Monster, would face a high risk of danger.

So usually, before a mission, team leaders would try their best to take everyone and assign them.

But now...

Xue Ningning looked at the list in her hand.

The three remaining individuals were Ou Li, Chen Qiaosheng, and Lin Yiyi.

Each of these three had troublesome flaws, even though they were local elite recommendations and had their strengths. But compared with ordinary soldiers, they looked inferior in this entirely elite team.

"Captain Liu, there are still three left...what do you think?" Xue Ningning frowned at the tallest male officer.

"Let them form their own team," Captain Liu replied without even glancing at the three, taking his team and leaving the auditorium.

"Ouyang," Xue Ningning turned to another officer of the same rank.

"Ningning, don't look at me. I have to be responsible for my team's safety. The new evolved species of Evil Shadow will spread here within a few days, and the Blood Tide concentration nearby is increasing. More people don't necessarily mean safer, which you understand," the other officer said reluctantly, also leading his team out of the auditorium.

As they left, eyes fell on the remaining three, making it clear to everyone that these three were the least desired and none of the superiors wanted them.

Xue Ningning watched her two colleagues leave, her expression equally troubled.

She raised her hand, issuing a command for all team members to line up, ready to leave together.

But midway through giving the departure order, she noticed the hopeful yet anxious gazes of the three remaining individuals and was moved, her heart softening.

"Fine, you come and join the team too." She waved them over.

Her team was assigned the shortest exploration route, and it was also the safest one. Adding three more people should not be a big issue as long as they were careful.

"Yes!"

The last three quickly stood at attention and responded loudly.

Stammering Yiyi and Ou Li stood together, and their faces, once worried about their rejection, now brimmed with joy.

"We...got in!" She happily grabbed Ou Li's hand and shook it.

"Alright, alright, got it, don't touch me." Ou Li shook off her hand impatiently. She didn't care about which team she was in, as long as she joined. After all, her enlistment was only for a bite of food. If danger came, she'd run first. She wouldn't foolishly charge forward for any order.

Standing on the side, the third person, Chen Qiaosheng, was lackluster, with a pale face. Upon hearing the order to join, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Watching the different reactions from the three, Xue Ningning, as the team leader, slightly shook her head internally.

These three—selfish one, intelligence problem one who can't operate equipment, and physically weak one with poor stamina.

Though they each had their strengths, their weaknesses were too glaring. She wasn't sure whether taking these three would prove correct or not.

*

*

*

"How to solve the water issue?"

The sun set, and the fire still burned, but it was much smaller than before.

Maybe it was blocked by a natural barrier, or perhaps some other unknown reason, but in any case, the forest fire gradually started to die out.

In the safehouse, Yu Hong was still pondering how to resolve the water supply problem.

Sitting on a wooden stool, he held a charcoal pen, drawing on a wooden board, his face contemplative.

'I have basically adapted to the current environment. If I relocate to the stream's edge, everything would have to start anew... Everything here couldn't be moved and would have to be abandoned... it would take too long...'

With that thought, he took a cup of water, tilted his head back, and took a drink to moisten his throat.

Placing the cup down, he looked at the water droplets clinging to the inside walls of the cup, sighed, and set it on the table.

He picked up the charcoal pen again.

'Wait!' Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit him like lightning in his mind.

Just now, those droplets adhering to the cup's walls seemed to trigger an epiphany.

'What if I condense water from the air as a water source??'

The air had water, originating from various evaporated water vapors.

'High humidity in the air can cause mold, lead to microbial growth; if I can dehumidify directly, extracting water from the air, not only could I ensure a basic water supply, but I would also keep the living environment from molding easily, affecting health!'

The more he thought about it, the more feasible it became.

'So, how can I get a dehumidifier?'

He pondered, planning to start with Li Rushan's supply team. This team went back and forth between city outposts; as long as it was in stock, they could get almost anything. But the price wouldn't be cheap, and he'd owe Old Li, the tricky merchant, a mediator fee.

Fortunately, the recent haul of loot had greatly enriched Yu Hong.

More than twenty sets of basic protective gear, over twenty bulletless pistols, and more than thirty silver coins found from individual searches, over twenty knives, and other miscellaneous items like glasses, pencils, keys, pocket watches, magnesium sticks, luminous stone blankets, car keys, all sorts of things.

Xu Fan was indifferent to these, implying that the value of repairing and upgrading the Blue Whale set far exceeded this material and silver.

Coming back to the thought of car keys, Yu Hong suddenly stood up.

"Those people drove here as well; according to the previous agreement, those cars should be mine too!" He felt a surge of excitement.

Car parts had numerous components, and he eagerly anticipated how they could be enhanced.

With that thought, he decided first thing the next morning to look for the cars and then find Li Rushan to order a dehumidifier.

'Speaking of dehumidifiers, an energy source must also be prepared in advance....' Yu Hong sighed, realizing that he'd circled back to the starting point: energy. The solar power he had wasn't enough.

'Never mind, tomorrow I'll start with finding the cars. If I can directly enhance a car into a mobile safehouse, the water problem might be solved through transportation, allowing a broader exploration range around me.'

He casually strengthened a Large Pyroxene Stone and then began his daily workout.

The next morning, Yu Hong woke up early. As soon as the sky began to brighten, he equipped himself and headed out to search for the vehicles Zhao Zhenghong's group had driven.

With the sound of footsteps crunching on the ground, he walked at a moderate pace through the freshly extinguished charcoal forest land.

The surrounding temperature remained high. Despite it being the coldest part of the morning, he felt as if he were in the height of summer, uncomfortably hot.