The next day, in Baiqiu Village.
The warm wind blew gently as the sun blazed in the midday sky.
Before the desolate houses in the village, a tall figure clad in gray-black protective gear strolled along the gravel path, seemingly surveying the surroundings.
The figure wore a helmet and held a black wolf-tooth club, its sharp spikes glinting with a faint silver sheen in the sunlight, looking quite menacing.
Before long, the figure lifted his head, revealing the expressionless, pale countenance of Yu Hong.
He paused in front of a slightly larger, dim stone hut.
Without making a sound, he quietly retrieved a backpack from his back, opened it, and took out a yellow wooden board, roughly the size of a palm.
Embedded on the board was a circular jade talisman array.
He gently pressed the talisman board against the stone door, securing it with some nails.
After setting it down, he opened the door and peered into the darkness inside.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the shadowy space.
Soon, his figure vanished into the darkness, sinking into silence.
Time passed slowly.
Five minutes later.
Bang!!
A silhouette suddenly burst forth from the darkness, rushing toward the door.
It was Yu Hong.
His expression was calm, but the wolf-tooth club in his hand had several spikes that were now bent.
Hiss!
Behind him, a woman in black, her head crushed in, was flickering closer, reaching out a pale, decaying right hand towards his back.
Just as the woman’s hand was about a foot away from Yu Hong, he swiftly lunged forward and rolled on the ground, narrowly escaping through the slightly open door.
Caught off guard, the woman’s hand collided with the door that was pinned with the talisman array.
Ah!!!
An ear-piercing sound wave exploded, causing the woman’s right hand to rapidly turn transparent and twist, like mist being blown away by the wind, on the verge of disappearing.
Soon after, her entire body seemed to be affected by a strong disturbance, twisting violently and creating rippling waves in the air.
Poof!
Within seconds, the woman in black vanished from sight.
The talisman board on the door also changed from its jade color to a grayish-white, the array's markings cracking and breaking apart.
With the cry gone, everything returned to tranquility.
On the gravel road, Yu Hong gradually got up, his gaze fixed on the talisman board on the door.
"The effect is surprisingly stronger than that of ordinary large luminous stones. It seems that the power of both the large stones and the talisman is somehow related to the specific area of the array."
This was not even the strongest silver talisman but just a regular large luminous stone talisman that could actually repel a ghostly figure.
After retracting the nails and talisman board, he carefully assessed the effective range of the talisman.
Around the board, there was a faint gray-white ring etched onto the wooden door.
This mark had not been there before; it appeared only after the talisman made contact with the ghost.
Yu Hong lightly touched it, confirming that it could not be wiped off; it was now engraved into the door.
With a thoughtful expression, he pulled back his hand and gauged the size of the circle—it was roughly three times the size of the talisman itself.
Taking out a charcoal pencil, he recorded his findings on some paper and quickly tidied up his belongings, making his way out.
After walking a short distance, he suddenly felt a cold breeze brush past him from behind.
He quickly turned around and looked back at the stone hut he had just left.
Inside the hut, the door stood ajar, and within its shadow was a hazy figure of a woman in black.
It was the ghostly figure he had just dispelled.
However, it appeared that the figure was reconstructing, becoming clearer as time passed.
Yu Hong averted his gaze, calculating the time in his mind.
He lowered his head to jot down his numbers, then quickened his pace to leave.
Before long, he exited Baiqiu Village and gathered some firewood on his way back to the cave.
Once back, he retrieved the luminous stone ink and began repairing the broken lines of the talisman on the wooden board.
He then placed his hand on top of it.
With a flash, a countdown appeared on the board, reading: 45 minutes.
Once finished, Yu Hong moved to the corner where he took out a thin wooden talisman array he had been preparing since yesterday.
This talisman was extremely slim, almost as thick as a cellphone.
He had crafted over a dozen such boards, all stacked in the corner.
Since discovering that Ai Fu had been infected with the black handprint, he had been preparing vigorously to deal with the sinister shadows.
Ordinary luminous stones would surely not be enough.
This had already been tested; one large luminous stone had an effect comparable to a bag of ordinary stones.
Given how many had perished overnight in town, it was impossible that no one had tried using bags of luminous stones.
The more likely scenario was that the bags of luminous stones proved completely ineffective.
Hence, he needed a more effective means of countering the threat.
The talisman array was what he was preparing as his trump card.
Sitting in the corner, Yu Hong took a board and began drawing the large luminous stone talisman on it.
Crack.
At that moment, he heard faint footsteps outside the door.
Crack.
Crack.
The sound was slow and rhythmic, approaching as it stepped on dry branches.
As the noise drew closer, Yu Hong halted his drawing, placed the board down, and stood up, gripping his wolf-tooth club tightly.
His gaze was alert, fixed on the door, as he slowly stepped forward, matching the footsteps that drew near.
The door's viewing window was closed, revealing only a faint sliver of sunlight.
Although the light was bright and warm, a chilling dread gradually rose within Yu Hong’s heart.
Crack.
Crack.
The footsteps continued to approach.
Finally, the sound ceased.
It seemed that the owner of the footsteps had stopped not far from the door, pondering and hesitating, making no further movements.
Yu Hong moved to the back of the door, gripping his wolf-tooth club with one hand and holding two large luminous stones in the other, pressing them softly against the wooden door.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Three minutes.
The outside was utterly still.
Yu Hong’s taut nerves gradually relaxed.
He glanced at the large luminous stones positioned behind the door.
One had silently consumed nearly half of its energy and was now back to quiet.
Ah.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
Reaching out, he pulled back the viewing window cover and looked outside through the small opening.
Outside was bathed in sunlight, serene and empty—nothing was in sight.
Seeing this, Yu Hong let out a long breath, swapped out the large luminous stone behind the door, and pulled the cover back down.
Bang!!!
At that moment, a ghastly white face suddenly slammed against the iron mesh of the viewing window.
In a deafening crash, the rotten-corded face pressed hard against the iron grid, causing it to creak ominously, as if it might shatter at any moment.
The face fixed its eyes on Yu Hong, and with another push, it actually broke through the iron mesh, forcing its way through the viewing window!!
Buzz!!!
In an instant, the large luminous stone behind the door disintegrated into white powder.
At the same time, the other two luminous stones in Yu Hong's hands shattered together.
These large luminous stones were utterly ineffective at stopping the ghastly face's entry.
Just then, the silver talisman array on the door suddenly ignited with a spark of silver light.
This upgraded talisman array, which had taken two days to reinforce, suddenly unleashed a powerful and pure invisible pulse.
The pulse rippled outwards, enveloping the entire door and spreading across the cave walls surrounding it.
As the wave covered everything, the decayed face flickered and vanished like a mirage in the blink of an eye.
Silence fell instantly.
The iron mesh of the viewing window remained broken, but the ghastly face had completely disappeared.
Huff!
Huff!
Huff!
Yu Hong stood rigid, only then realizing he was gasping for breath.
Just now, he had been completely unable to control his body.
It was too sudden!
The attack had been so overwhelming that he had been startled, unable to react in time.
By the time he regained his senses and prepared to act, everything was already over.
‘No! There’s some kind of special force trying to bind me!’ Yu Hong recalled keenly.
Logically, he was no longer a naive newcomer in this environment.
Even if he felt fear, it shouldn’t be to the extent of being completely immobilized.
Yet that recent sensation made him feel as if he had returned to his initial state of vulnerability.
That feeling of fear...
He lowered his eyes to inspect his body.
On his jacket, he noticed a shallow gray-black handprint slowly fading away.
“Is it the withered woman?”
He speculated.
Compared to the ghostly figure, the intensity of the recent attack far exceeded anything before.
If it hadn’t been for the activation of the silver talisman array, he would have probably been caught and faced an unknown danger.
He crouched down, examining the silver talisman array closely.
He noticed that the silver hue had faded somewhat, clearly indicating that it had expended some of its energy.
“Tomorrow is the peak of the event; it seems I can't casually go out anymore.”
Yu Hong assessed the extent of the damage to the viewing window and reached out to enhance its restoration, but suddenly remembered the countdown still ongoing and realized he had to wait.
So, he simply pulled over a stool and sat down in front of the door to recover his strength.
Before long, when the countdown ended, he began to press his hand against the door, repairing the broken iron mesh.
It didn't take long for the repair to finish.
Yu Hong then started replenishing the depleted silver talisman array.
After spending a full two hours, the silver talisman array was restored to its former state; everything appeared much the same as before.
However, on the inside, Yu Hong had developed a rough estimate of the withered woman's ghostly figure's strength.
In the cave of Zhan Ni, Ai Fu was vigorously scrubbing at the black handprint on her backside with a wet towel.
Yet no matter how hard she tried, the imprint remained stubbornly dark and unyielding.
Her expression was frantic, bordering on panic.
Seeing that scrubbing was futile, she reached for a knife, attempting to cut the flesh off her own body.
Smack!
A stick struck her hand from the side with great force, knocking the knife to the ground.
The stick was held by Zhan Ni, her expression cold and laced with panic as she nervously scanned the surroundings.
“Don't do anything pointless! You’re still alive; there’s hope! Don’t give up on yourself!”
“But Mom!” Ai Fu's face was ashen, tears welling in her red, swollen eyes. “Even Old Yu is dead. I can’t escape.”
“Go into the isolation room. Hurry!” Zhan Ni commanded sternly.
Ai Fu was taken aback by fright, but gritting her teeth, she quickly turned toward a wall in the bedroom.
She pushed aside a bear skin hanging on the wall, revealing a silver metal door underneath.
She slid the metal door open and slipped inside, shutting it behind her.
“From today onwards, you must stay inside.” Zhan Ni's voice was grave, “Until the handprint completely disappears. Do you understand?!”
“I understand,” Ai Fu’s muffled voice came from behind the silver metal door.
“Tomorrow is the peak; I’m going out now to find a way for you.” Zhan Ni set down the stick, stepped forward to pull down the bear skin, and grabbed a bag of luminous stones.
She glanced at the ticking clock and quickly exited the cave.
(End of this chapter)