“I can’t stay here any longer.” Xu Ruoying nodded, her expression dim. “The little stutterer told me about the situation in the city. It’s quite safe. Although it’s a bit chaotic, for someone like me with some skills, the city is not bad.”
“What about before?”
“Before, I hadn’t figured out how to use anti-inflammatory herbs, but this time is different.” Doctor Xu lifted her head, revealing a hopeful smile. “So, once the little stutterer and I establish a good foundation in the city and settle down, we’ll be able to bring you over as well.”
“...” Yu Hong remained silent.
Doctor Xu seemed to realize something, and her smile faded a little.
“Living in the city is still much better than being alone out here,” she said softly.
“Then I wish you good luck,” Yu Hong replied quietly.
Turning around, he made his way back toward the cave’s safe house.
He had long expected that others without the black mark would leave because the outside environment was getting increasingly dangerous, but he didn’t think it would happen so soon.
However, it could be understood.
After all, for ordinary people in the wild, surviving safely was truly difficult.
Back in the cave, he took out the letter he received, tore it open, and unfolded the paper.
This time, the writing was clearly more hastily scribbled.
Many words were misspelled, punctuation was misused, and in some places, there were no punctuation at all.
Clearly, this time it was written by the little stutterer.
“Things have been received! They work well and I’m safe, you don’t need to worry. Everyone is fine, and it’s very safe here. I feel so happy. I don’t need to prepare food or water; I can wear clean clothes and shower, I am so happy!”
Yu Hong felt a bit of a headache reading it.
This guy really needed to learn how to use punctuation properly; it made for a tough read.
He continued down the letter.
“Because there’s a big wall made of sunshine material here, the monsters and bugs outside can’t get in. Plus, recently, we’ve started producing various talisman papers using luminous stone powder, effectively curbing the eerie shadows and evil apparitions. So, I plan to look into my parents’ whereabouts; I want to find out where they went.”
Seeing this, Yu Hong let out a helpless sigh and took out some charcoal to segment the letter and add punctuation.
In just a few minutes, the letter finally made sense.
“I’ve also found friends who are looking for news about their loved ones, and they are all doing well. We plan to form a small group to collect all the information. By the way, I’ve already asked around. There are still some elders from Baiqiu Village who might know about my parents. I plan to ask about it later, but for now, I have to carry out my patrol duties.”
At this point, the letter abruptly stopped.
Yu Hong folded the letter back up and placed it away.
Unexplainably, after reading it, he felt slightly more relaxed, as if his mood had improved a little.
Thinking of the little stutterer in faraway Baihe City, it brought a slight smile to his lips as he imagined her earnestly pondering over writing a letter to herself.
Suddenly, an idea struck him.
He found a package of anti-inflammatory herbs that Doctor Xu had given him.
He understood the herb combination now and thought that since the little stutterer might very well get injured in the military and face potential infections, he should do something.
He pressed his hand against the herb powder package.
“Enhance anti-inflammatory medicine, direction: improve effect.”
Soon, a black line flowed out, and a countdown appeared: 2 hours and 21 minutes.
Yu Hong confirmed the enhancement of the black mark, watching the countdown start to tick before pulling back his hand.
“I’ll send her the enhanced medicine, and since the talismans can be delivered, it indicates that this mailing system still has some guarantees—though it is a bit pricey. The fact that the little stutterer can send letters to both me and Xu Ruoying at once suggests that there might be some military benefits involved.”
He stood up and practiced the heavy leg techniques.
Although he was injured, his thighs and calves were fine.
Practicing the heavy leg techniques wouldn’t pose a problem.
Two hours passed quickly.
The countdown on the herb powder suddenly disappeared.
In an instant, the package of powder flashed and transformed into a block of compressed pills, wrapped in some unknown silver packaging.
Yu Hong picked it up and glanced at it.
There were a total of twelve pills, clearly marked with usage instructions.
“For adults weighing 50 to 100 kg, take one pill daily after meals. For children, adjust the dosage according to their weight. A week constitutes one treatment cycle, with a required day off in between.”
“It treats symptoms such as muscle inflammation, lung and bronchial tonsil inflammation, gastrointestinal inflammation, and oral inflammation. It can also be used externally for wound inflammation.”
“Not bad!” Yu Hong nodded in satisfaction.
This should be able to help the little stutterer considerably.
He promptly began writing a reply to her, including the medications to send along.
A week later, Baihe City.
Seaside base.
Waves crashed against the concrete walls of the base, sending up white sprays of water.
Inside the base, soldier dormitories were filled with the raucous chatter of young female soldiers.
In one of the dormitories, the room was dimly lit, with two sets of bunk beds along the walls.
The little stutterer was leaning against a black iron table by the window, reading the letter she had just received.
The letter was from Yu Hong, and it contained a block of anti-inflammatory pills, making her very happy.
Recently, she had overeaten and was suffering from an upset stomach.
While she had taken the military-supplied medication before, it hadn’t been effective and was clearly not the right remedy.
In this current environment, although there were medicines available, the variety was much less than in peacetime.
“Lin Yiyi!” A girl with a ponytail suddenly burst into the dorm.
The girl looked to be around sixteen or seventeen, dressed in camouflage fatigues, with a slightly foreign high nose and fair skin, suggesting a mixed heritage.
“I just got the notice! Tomorrow we need to gather our team to investigate the explosion at the water plant in the south. We need to prepare something; the situation might not be good.” The girl, Ou Li, was one of the little stutterer’s closest friends among the four in the dorm.
Due to her stutter and somewhat clumsy demeanor, Lin Yiyi was not particularly liked by others.
Coupled with her less-than-attractive appearance and her intelligence shortcomings, she often found herself unable to use various gear and devices, leading to her being very unpopular in the face of rapid outside dangers.
Nowadays, it was quick thinkers who were most favored.
However, Ou Li was also one of those who were less favored.
Because they were both isolated, they naturally gravitated towards each other.
“Tomorrow, gather?” The little stutterer tucked the medicine away and turned to look at her friend.
“This task is a bit dangerous, so make sure you have everything packed; don’t leave anything behind.” Ou Li reminded her.
“Understood, thank you,” the little stutterer answered earnestly.
“Just help me carry my bag.” Ou Li waved her hand.
“Okay!” The little stutterer nodded.
She hesitated for a second before speaking again. “You, tomorrow, want to, be with me—”
“No way! I can move much faster alone than you can. You can’t do anything, and you’re too slow,” Ou Li said bluntly.
“Alright then.” The little stutterer lowered her head, feeling a bit disappointed.
Ou Li pouted and muttered a few words before heading out.
“Oh, by the way, remember to wash my underwear and socks!” Her voice trailed after her as she left the room.
“Got it!” The little stutterer quickly responded, her face breaking into a happy smile.
“This time in combat, the biggest problem is that I can’t keep up with the opponent’s speed, and I can’t predict their actions. Of course, these are secondary issues.”
Yu Hong was reviewing the fight in the cave.
“The main point is that I’m not durable enough.”
He recalled the previous fight.
“If I could stabilize my body when I was struck, I could retaliate in an instant. But unfortunately, more often than not, I couldn't stabilize myself and ended up losing my balance, preventing any counterattack. My legs instinctively retained balance, which meant I lost my chance to retaliate.”
“So for me, the key now is to increase stability and ensure that my body remains steady. This is in line with the principle of the heavy leg techniques,” he thought.
Suddenly, a pivotal thought struck him: to increase weight.
“Rather than merely adding weight, I could enhance the thickness of protective gear for better defense. This would serve a dual purpose, strengthening both stability and defense."
Yu Hong realized he wasn’t one of those martial arts masters who could hone their stances to strengthen stability with years of practice.
He didn’t have that kind of endurance nor the time.
But...
He looked at his full set of enhancement gear, shifting his gaze to his lower body.
“I can’t train my lower body techniques, but I can make the lower part heavy enough!”
With that thought, he quickly began to modify the bulletproof suit he just acquired.
This suit featured a small white bear on the chest with the same brand label, so Yu Hong decided to simply call it the White Bear Suit.
One leg of the White Bear Suit was damaged, and there was a small hole in the chest area, but that didn’t matter; with enhancements, it would naturally be fixed.
The point was that Yu Hong began adding weights to the legs and feet of the suit, inserting hard wooden boards as shields and ripping up old clothing into strips to wrap around it.
Before long, an unusually heavy lower-body protective suit emerged before him, light up top and heavy below.
He reached out his hand, ready to enhance it.
“Enhance the White Bear Suit to the limit, direction: increase weight on the lower half, reinforce full-body armor, and enhance the hardness of the breathing valve.”
He recalled how the breathing valve nearly became a lethal point after being damaged in the attack.
This left a deep impression on him, leading him to make specific requests targeting it.
At that moment, as the black mark began to enhance, he vividly envisioned the protective suit he wanted in his mind.
This was a small trick he had recently developed: as long as he could visualize the exact image he wanted during the enhancement process, he could often guide the direction of the enhancement, resulting in a final product that aligned with his intentions.
Before long, the black line flowed out, and feedback came back.
“Would you like to enhance the White Bear Suit?”
The cold mechanical voice echoed again, bringing a sigh of relief to Yu Hong.
At least he could enhance it.
He then looked at the countdown number that appeared.
“7 days, 7 hours, and 05 minutes.”
“...”
He decided to temporarily cancel the enhancement since he needed to prioritize enhancing other short-term items over the next few days before he tackled this long-term enhancement.
Moving the White Bear Suit aside, he went to check out the other loot that had just arrived.
“What’s this luminous stone blanket even for?” Sitting in the cave, he carefully examined the item in his hand.
He recognized the substance stuck to this blanket as luminous stone powder since he had frequently encountered this material.
“Could it be used to create a makeshift luminous stone chamber?” he wondered.
(End of Chapter)