"Picking up corpses. If we are lucky, my skills are pretty good," Yu Hong replied simply.
"By the way, let me ask you something," he surveyed the people around him.
"Do you know where the dried lizard meat we eat comes from? Can we raise them ourselves?"
"You should ask Old Yu. The mushrooms, cockroaches, and lizards we eat are all bought from him."
Doctor Xu pointed to a bald old man standing at some distance.
The old man wore a brown short-sleeve shirt, had a hunched back, and his eyes were dull.
He occasionally coughed, suggesting he was a bit out of breath.
"We usually call him Old Toad because he has a big belly and loves to lower his head and breathe heavily, making him look just like a toad. You should talk to him yourself," Doctor Xu whispered.
"And I advise you to hurry; several people have already inquired about this matter with him."
Yu Hong nodded, wanting to ask more.
Suddenly, a sound of a door opening came from the stone house nearby.
A sturdy middle-aged man with a buzz cut stepped out, wearing camouflage clothing with a large postal symbol printed on his chest, the red letters standing out boldly.
"Anyone who wants to go together, come over to register!" the man shouted loudly.
The crowd instantly surged forward.
Yu Hong took a step back, waiting for the others to register.
There were a few others who acted like him, but most pushed ahead.
*
*
*
At the cave safe house.
Two strong figures dressed in camouflage and wearing helmets quickly emerged from the forest, approaching the cave.
"This is the place."
One of them walked down the stone steps at the cave entrance and looked up at the wooden door.
"It's pretty sturdy. It’s on you," he glanced at the other man.
The other person took off his backpack, opened it, and pulled out several slender metal tools.
"I've opened locks like this many times, this is nothing," he chuckled.
"We’ll first empty the place, then we’ll wait a bit to catch someone."
"Good, everything else is fine, but we need the large brilliance stones."
"The trouble we encountered this time, only the large brilliance stones are useful. The higher-ups are already panicking. So this time…"
"Alright, stop the chatter, open the door first."
As the two exchanged words, they cautiously scanned their surroundings and climbed in front of the heavy wooden door.
The person with the tools bent down to examine the keyhole.
"Such a tidy lock? I wonder how long it’s been since it was opened," he sighed.
Ever since the dark disaster broke out, he, who used to be a petty thief, had joined the joint army.
There was no choice; if he didn’t join, there would be no brilliant stones.
Without brilliant stones, if they encountered those mysterious shadows, they would surely die.
"Stop dawdling; hurry up."
The other man urged from behind.
"I know, I know, don’t rush me."
The one opening the door took out his tools and cautiously inserted them into the keyhole.
A series of clicks resonated.
The opener listened carefully to the sounds, feeling the feedback from the tools, exploring the structure of the lock.
One minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
Ten minutes passed.
Sweat increasingly dripped from the opener's forehead, and his hands trembled even more, holding the tools.
"This isn’t right! This lock is unlike any I’ve ever seen!" His voice trembled slightly.
Captain Zhao had asked him to come just to open the door.
If he couldn’t manage this basic task, thinking of enjoying any special privileges in the team later might be a distant dream.
"Are you even capable!?" The other man had long lost his patience.
"I… I…" The opener hesitated.
This lock was entirely different from any he had opened before.
Its structure seemed to defy even the most basic principles of locks.
Without taking it apart and studying it, there was no way for him to open it in a short time.
"This lock is different!" the opener stammered and took out his tools, wanting to try again.
"Forget it, forget it!" The man behind pulled him back.
"I just checked; there is no one inside. Let’s hide around and wait for Yu Hong to come back, then we can ambush him."
"Then can we open it?"
"Open my foot! Let's find a place to hide!" the other man replied disgruntled.
*
*
*
In front of the stone house at the post office.
All those who registered had gone back to pack their things, preparing to leave.
After chatting with Doctor Xu and Jenny for a while, Yu Hong saw the postman was free and took the initiative to approach him.
He came this time to buy food, and if he could exchange for some good items from the postman, that would be a bonus.
Especially since Jenny had mentioned the solar power generator last time; if he could get it, he could enhance it himself.
Yu Hong felt a surge of excitement; once there was electricity, many things would become way more convenient.
The postman had a cold expression as he looked at the logbook in his hand, chewing on an unknown black food that resembled chocolate.
When he saw Yu Hong approach, he lifted his eyes to look.
"Here to register? What's your name?"
"Not to register, just want to buy some food, do you have any?" Yu Hong got straight to the point.
"Not registering?" The postman was somewhat surprised but quickly regained his composure.
Many people did not want to leave their homes, thinking too highly of themselves.
He'd seen plenty of such individuals who still had confidence before facing danger.
So upon hearing it wasn't a registration, he merely blinked and calmed down.
"We have food, but not much. Dried lizard, dried cockroach, dried mushrooms—what do you want?"
"First, take a look at what I have for trade," Yu Hong pulled out the items he had prepared for exchange.
A water filter, large brilliance stones, all packed in one bag.
"You made this water filter? And large brilliance stones?" The postman’s expression immediately showed interest.
The water filter wasn't bad; it was just a bit too finely crafted.
He himself had good quality ones issued to him, so he wasn’t lacking.
But the large brilliance stones were different, especially recently with the emergence of evil shadows; it was said that only newly discovered large brilliance stones were effective.
He had heard of large brilliance stones, but it was his first time seeing them in person.
The symbols on them were far more intricate than those on ordinary brilliance stones.
"Where did you get these large brilliance stones?" He couldn’t help but reach out to grab one, but Yu Hong stepped back.
"I made them myself," Yu Hong replied.
"Can I trade them?"
"Wait for me to check something."
The postman replied and quickly took out a small black box the size of an egg from his waist bag.
The box had a small gray liquid crystal screen in the middle, with a circular button beneath it.
It looked quite simple.
"This is a red value detector; it can check the quality of brilliance stones. It can also detect the concentration of blood waves in the surrounding environment," the postman explained.
"This can detect it too?" Yu Hong said in surprise.
The fact that brilliance stones could be tested with instruments was new to him, as was the blood wave detection.
He had always been unclear about the official research on the black disaster here, but it seemed not to be lacking.
"The research products from Silver Tower work well."
The postman smiled and pressed the button.
Immediately, it beeped twice, and the liquid crystal screen lit up with a red glow.
He brought the machine closer to the large brilliance stone, stopping just a few centimeters away.
Beep!!
The instrument emitted a high-pitched sound, and numbers flashed rapidly on the screen.
Yu Hong could catch sight of some values.
He saw the numbers suddenly change from 0 to -78, and then from -78, it rapidly varied a few times before finally stabilizing at -81.
"Wow! -81! Impressive!" The postman exclaimed, "The previous brilliance stones were at most around -20; your large brilliance stones are quite good!"
"Name a price," Yu Hong didn’t want to waste time and said directly.
"Two pounds of dried lizard for one piece," the postman thought for a moment and replied.
"I’ll take all four of yours."
He wasn’t lacking for food, but large brilliance stones were essential for survival in critical moments—no one would ever want too few of them.
"I won’t trade all for meat. I heard you have a nearly broken solar power generator here?" Yu Hong asked quietly.
"That thing can still generate electricity. What do you mean nearly broken?" The postman frowned and immediately countered.
"If you want that, it’ll cost you two large brilliance stones."
"The solar battery is on its last legs, right? Two stones are too expensive. One stone."
Yu Hong negotiated.
The two went back and forth on the price.
After discussing for several minutes, with the postman's time running short, he finally relented.
In the end, he agreed to trade two large brilliance stones for a solar power generator and a broken air purifier unit.
The rest of the large brilliance stones were exchanged for dried meat, plus a small atomic lamp.
Yu Hong had to bargain hard to get the small atomic lamp.
This item was made from radioactive elements and was a cold light lamp that could provide continuous illumination for over ten years without any energy source.
Of course, its brightness would gradually weaken over time.
However, as a supplementary light source in the cave, it was quite remarkable.
The deal concluded quickly, and Yu Hong was in high spirits, packing everything together.
The solar power generator, when folded, was only about the size of a medium-sized handbag.
Along with the other items, everything together weighed just a little over ten pounds.
Yu Hong felt that after training for over half a month, his body was much stronger now, and these ten-odd pounds didn’t feel heavy.
After finishing the trade, the postman hid the large brilliance stones away and cast a glance at Yu Hong.
"Buddy, I advise you to leave quickly. This time, the bunker won't hold. The evil shadows are nothing like the big skins.”
"What do you mean by that?" Yu Hong frowned and asked.
As if having obtained so many large brilliance stones had put him in a good mood, the postman chewed on his chocolate bar, looked around to ensure no one was watching, then lowered his voice.
"Evil shadows are different from cunning shadows. Cunning shadows usually stick to one area and focus on ambushes. But evil shadows can appear anywhere; no one knows how they operate. One moment they’re here, the next they’re over there."
He paused for a moment.
"I’ve heard some internal news, and it’s no longer considered secret. Everyone is getting ready to leave. Just listen; don’t spread it around."
"Thanks for the advice! I won’t spread it," Yu Hong quickly nodded in understanding, lowering his voice.
"I’ll tell you this… this time, the evil shadows killed enough people to fill an entire street—ordinary villagers and the joint army together, not a single one left! All dead! There are simply too many to count."
The postman's tone was solemn, and there was a slight quiver in his voice.
"The joint army in town didn’t seek external help?!" Yu Hong's heart jolted, quickly questioning.
"Silver Tower specifically researches how to deal with cunning shadows, but their reply was isolation and abandonment," the postman sighed.
"Little brother, it’s said that Silver Tower’s reply is that each evil shadow is unique and possesses different abilities, which is why they have given them various codenames. The evil shadow in our town is codenamed 'Withered Woman.' Its specific abilities are unclear and still under investigation. Therefore, there’s no way to deal with it; we can only retreat."
"What about the survivors around us…" Yu Hong couldn’t help but ask.
"Survive or perish on their own."
The postman said gloomily.
"That’s why I’m urging you to leave quickly; once there are no people left in town, the evil shadows will surely seek out the nearest places with people. We are a bit too close to town."
Yu Hong fell silent.
In his mind, he was racing through thoughts, weighing his options.
Soon, he asked another question.
"Even if we leave together, will there be no more evil shadows in other places?"
(End of Chapter)