A Night of Desperation

Red value detector!” Yu Hong laughed, deeply impressed by this device. He could say that without it, following Jenny’s suggested method of avoidance would have been completely ineffective.

Snap.

Dr. Xu pressed a button to test it.

Whir.

Instantly, a red glow appeared on the detector, and the data on the LCD screen began to change rapidly.

Sizzle!

The numbers surged upwards.

50!

80!

230!!

The red glow from the detector became brighter and more blinding.

Yu Hong and Dr. Xu were momentarily stunned.

Bang!!

Suddenly, Yu Hong pushed Dr. Xu away forcefully, and they both fell to the ground.

As they separated, a shadow appeared behind Dr. Xu, reaching out toward her.

Beep!!!

The sharp alarm of the red value detector sounded.

Yu Hong rolled on the ground and quickly grabbed a spiked club, swinging it toward the shadow.

The spiked club whistled through the air and struck the shadow’s head directly.

But strangely, it seemed as though the club had struck a cloud of black mist, as it passed through the shadow and came out beneath it.

The three Great Luminous stones inside the club immediately turned to ashes and vanished.

The red value detector faltered, and the numbers plummeted, dropping by 200.

Then, it dropped to 150, 100, 60, 30.

It stopped at 30, but after just a few seconds, the numbers began to climb again.

“Run!” Yu Hong grabbed Dr. Xu, and the two of them sprinted toward the distance.

The alarm of the red value detector sounded again as they ran.

The sharp warning echoed through the surrounding woods.

Back at the entrance to Jenny’s underground path, a shadow was rapidly regaining its form. In just a few seconds, the shadow fully restored itself and suddenly vanished.

Huff! Huff! Huff!!

Yu Hong was panting heavily, running while checking the large glowing stones on his body.

All three stones in his spiked club were gone, turned to white ash.

However, the talisman array and three large glowing stones he carried were still intact.

“It destroyed my three Great Luminous stones in one blow; that was definitely an evil shadow!!” He tried to steady his breathing, shouting loudly.

Dr. Xu was running quickly behind, seeming to have slightly better stamina than him.

But it was understandable; those with poor stamina wouldn’t have survived this long.

“Where… where do we go now!?” she asked.

“To my place! Only there can we possibly stop that thing!!” Yu Hong answered urgently.

“I didn’t bring my medicine!” Dr. Xu’s face changed.

“Survival comes first! We can get it later!” Yu Hong replied.

They sprinted through the woods at full speed, with no signs of anything chasing them, yet they both felt an overwhelming sense of dread, as though something was rapidly closing in on them.

The trees on both sides seemed to be retreating quickly, and the grass beneath their feet was being stamped down, leaving clear footprints.

Whir!

Suddenly, Yu Hong stopped, looking ahead.

His abrupt stop caused Dr. Xu to almost crash into him.

“What is it?” Before Dr. Xu could ask, she too saw the situation ahead.

A black figure stood silently behind a large tree, only half of its messy black hair visible.

A torn black dress, disheveled dry black hair, an unseen face, and the rapidly rising red value data—everything indicated the identity of the figure—an evil shadow!

Yu Hong slowly stepped back, but was suddenly pulled by Dr. Xu’s sleeve.

“Behind us… there’s more!” Dr. Xu’s voice trembled.

Yu Hong subtly shifted his body and tensed, looking back.

Sure enough!

There was another black-clad figure behind them, standing behind a tree.

No… not just behind them!

His entire body stiffened as he saw black-haired figures slowly moving behind every tree around them.

Ten.

Twenty!

Thirty!

Fifty!!

Perhaps even more!

They were clustered around the trees, heads lowered, long hair covering their faces. They stood silently, waiting, surrounding the two of them.

“Why are there so many!!?” Dr. Xu’s voice cracked, as if she had lost her usual tone, sounding like a completely different person.

“Do you have Jenny’s stuff!?” Yu Hong inhaled deeply and asked in a low voice.

“I… I have it,” Dr. Xu answered.

Back to back, their clothes were soaked in sweat, and they didn’t dare to move recklessly.

“Hold on tight.” Yu Hong took another deep breath, suppressing the fear in his heart, and grabbed the only talisman array hidden in his clothes.

“Stick close to me!”

He lowered his voice.

“I’ll count to three, then we run.”

Dr. Xu’s face turned pale, and she nodded hurriedly.

She no longer knew what to do, but now she understood the level of danger that the evil shadow posed—this was the force that had driven an entire town’s united army to retreat.

“One.”

Yu Hong gently clenched the talisman array and pulled it out.

“Two.”

His other hand touched the spot where the three Great Luminous stones were, ready to grab them and throw them out at a moment’s notice.

The surrounding woods were eerily quiet, and even the wind had died down. Only the heavy sense of oppression remained, constantly closing in, attempting to overwhelm the two of them.

“Three!!”

As soon as he said “three,” Yu Hong charged forward, running toward the direction of his cave.

He didn’t look at the black figure ahead but rushed straight toward it.

He raised the talisman array and, with his other hand, threw the Luminous stones.

At the same time, Yu Hong activated a cool air flow inside his body to recover his stamina.

“Stay close to me!” he shouted.

The three Great Luminous stones he threw flew toward the shadow ahead, but before they could reach it, they turned into white powder.

He quickly grabbed the talisman array with one hand and pressed it forward.

The black figure twisted rapidly, becoming blurred, clearly affected by the three Luminous stones.

At the same time, the talisman array’s wooden board quickly approached, and with the sharp alarm of the red value detector, the talisman and the shadow made contact.

Bam!!

A flash of white light, followed by a sound like a lightbulb exploding.

The talisman and the shadow exploded simultaneously, disappearing into thin air, and the shattered wooden pieces scattered across the surrounding grass.

At that moment, Yu Hong and Dr. Xu broke free from the encirclement and sprinted toward the cave.

The two of them ran for their lives, not daring to stop.

They dashed through patchy forests, slopes, and rocky areas. What should have taken ten minutes or even half an hour was reduced to just ten minutes by their frantic pace.

Both of them were drenched in sweat, their muscles growing weaker, their lungs burning with pain, and their vision beginning to blur.

“Hurry!!” Yu Hong activated another burst of cool air, quickly recovering his stamina and alleviating much of the negative physical state.

He realized then that the cool air didn’t perfectly restore his body; it just replenished his energy temporarily. The physical injuries were still there.

“I can’t go on…” Dr. Xu was barely able to breathe, already close to exhaustion.

Running at full speed for ten minutes, even for someone as fit as her, was an immense burden in this environment, lacking many essential microelements.

The fact that she had made it this far was already beyond her limits.

“We’re almost there! Hurry!” Yu Hong reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her forward.

But just as he turned back, he saw a black figure appear less than ten meters behind them.

“It’s here again!! Hurry, we’re almost there!!” he urged, pushing forward.

The stone wall of the cave entrance was ahead, the door growing closer and clearer.

They were almost there!!

Whir!

Suddenly, a black figure flickered into existence, just less than a meter behind them.

The shadow reached out, almost touching Dr. Xu.

A chilling aura enveloped them, trying to slow them down.

But it was just barely, just a fraction of a second too late.

Bang!

Finally, Yu Hong reached the door!!

He slammed into it, pulled out the key, and quickly unlocked it. Then, he pulled Dr. Xu inside, rolling them both into the safety of the cave.

Bam!

The door slammed shut, locked, and the silver talisman array on the back of the door suddenly glowed, blocking the black shadow rushing toward them.

At that moment, Dr. Xu collapsed to the ground, her eyes filled with a snowstorm of flashing lights, unable to see anything. Her body was convulsing violently, and her leg muscles were twitching visibly.

Soon, she tilted sideways and collapsed onto the ground, curling up. Her mouth opened unconsciously, saliva mixing with sweat, dripping down her chin.

She felt herself losing control of her body, starting from her legs, with sensation gradually fading away.

The loss of feeling continued to climb, reaching her thighs, then her entire lower body.

Vaguely, she thought she heard something crash into the door, creating a loud noise.

The sensation of numbness quickly spread upwards, reaching her abdomen, almost to her chest.

Bam!

Yu Hong quickly helped Dr. Xu to sit against the stone wall, then grabbed the talisman array and moved toward the door.

He had used one of the talismans, leaving two remaining. One of them was the most powerful version, centered around the silver talisman.

At the door, he pressed the talisman against the back of it.

Bang!

Another loud crash against the door.

As the silver talisman flared to life, the black shadow outside immediately dissipated.

But there were too many shadows, and soon, another black figure rushed toward the door.

Bang!!

The new shadow was also dissipated under the silver light.

But more black figures kept coming.

Bang! Bang! Bang!!

One after another, violent crashes rocked the door, causing Yu Hong to tremble as well.

The silver talisman in his hand quickly dimmed, losing its effectiveness. He quickly switched to a new one, pressing it against the back of the door.

Again and again, the light from the talismans faded rapidly, mixing white and silver light, weakening with each use.

The light was about to go out completely, and there were only two more uses left before the door would be breached.

The noise suddenly stopped.

The white light on the talisman slowly faded away, extinguishing. Half of the talisman runes remained intact, which meant the evil shadow had either left or disappeared completely.

Yu Hong didn’t dare move, still standing in place, drenched in sweat, waiting.

He endured for another ten minutes.

Finally, when the talisman was completely still, he was sure the evil shadow had either left or disappeared.

Slowly, he released the talisman and sat down heavily on the ground.

Looking down at his hands, marked with red impressions from the talisman, his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

“Damn!” His face twisted as he clenched his hands tightly, trying to calm his fear.

Yes, he still had stamina. His physical state now was purely a result of psychological stress.

This direct confrontation had made him truly understand how dangerous the evil shadow was.

Close.

So Close.

(End of chapter)

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