Under the glow of electric lights, Yu Hong surveyed his surroundings.
In one corner, a transparent fireplace still held onto some warmth, beside it were various items piled together.
Against the wall, there was a wooden table and a set of stools, while under the table lay a sleeping bag.
Not far from the sleeping bag were two sets of enhanced gear placed on the ground, and to the right, a small wooden frame held several pistols.
Continuing to the right, there was a spiked mace leaning against the wall, along with a half-unfolded solar panel, which was connected to a communicator, a light bulb, and a red value detector among other small electrical devices.
Further along were barrels of water, plastic bags containing protein bars, array symbols, and both large and small glow stones.
Yu Hong scanned each item, and his gaze soon settled on a small glow stone that he had previously enhanced with a swirling symbol.
Over the past several days, he had studied this item tirelessly and was now able to draw the symbol with ease, succeeding every time.
However, no matter how much he researched, observed, and compared, this swirling symbol seemed to be completely useless when merged with the original patterns on the small glow stone.
Seeing this, Yu Hong quickly picked up the enhanced red value detector, pressed the switch, and brought it closer to check.
Beep.
The LCD screen displayed the red value: -9.622.
"It’s still the same. The data hasn’t changed much," Yu Hong said quietly, a hint of disappointment in his voice as he set the small glow stone down, took out a sheet of paper, and recorded the new data.
After noting the value, he put down the charcoal pencil, his mind drifting to other potential enhancement targets.
After all, his original goal was to create a set of enhancement techniques capable of dealing with the evil shadows.
Just then, a flash of inspiration struck him. “Wait a moment, I have internal energy now. What if I use that energy to draw these symbols? What effect would that have?”
He had entertained this thought before, but now with his internal energy restored, he could no longer suppress the idea.
Theoretically, his internal energy was derived from his inner strength and could be infused into external objects.
Without hesitating, Yu Hong grabbed a piece of wood, dipped the charcoal pencil into the large glow stone powder, and adjusted his stance.
Focusing his mind and calming his breath, after about ten breaths, he gently put pencil to wood.
His internal energy transformed into an incredibly thin thread, flowing from his abdomen, along his arm and fingers, into the charcoal pencil, merging into lines on the board.
Yu Hong was exceedingly careful, afraid of using too much internal energy and breaking the pencil.
Soon, after using only a slight amount of his internal energy, a new enhancement pattern appeared before him.
"Hmm," he picked up the wood board and examined it, finding nothing out of the ordinary.
So, he took the enhanced red value detector again, pressed the switch, and checked.
Beep.
“-138.116.”
"Huh!? That’s quite a jump!" Yu Hong was taken aback.
The red values that he had previously recorded for ordinary symbols usually ranged from about one hundred twenty to one hundred thirty, with the upper limit being one hundred thirty, though it was rare to reach that limit.
It required the right mix of ink, wood board, alignment, and other aspects to achieve that.
But just now, he merely doodled, with rough and uneven lines, and it had already surpassed one hundred thirty!
“Infusing internal energy really works!” Yu Hong calculated the internal energy he had just used, which was at most one-thirtieth, and the crucial part was that internal energy would continually replenish.
This bit of consumption was nothing.
“I should try again.”
One sample was not enough, so he continued experimenting with new wooden boards to create symbol arrays.
In no time, new symbol arrays started emerging.
Checking the values, almost all were above one hundred thirty, and one even skyrocketed to one hundred fifty!
This was unprecedented.
Yu Hong’s spirits lifted at once.
He quickly dipped the ink, took a new board, and began to draw the newly obtained swirling symbol.
This time, he channeled enough internal energy to solely focus on drawing the swirling symbol.
Half a minute later, he successfully completed a palm-sized swirling symbol board.
After it dried slightly, Yu Hong picked it up to test it.
“-1.025.”
“... completely ineffective?”
Yu Hong furrowed his brows again; this red value was basically just a little number that came with the large glow stone ink.
He picked up the detector and measured again.
Beep.
“-0.992.”
“... how is it even lower!?” Yu Hong was stunned.
He didn’t wish to accept it, so he picked up the detector once more, waited a while, and then leaned it closer again for detection.
Same position, same proximity, same device.
Beep.
“-0.904.”
“Really less!” His spirits lifted instantly, excitement rekindled within him.
After so long of researching the swirling symbol in vain, he had thought of many methods, yet nothing had worked.
Now, after drawing with internal energy, it actually showed some results, hinting at new changes.
Immediately, he stationed himself next to this symbol array and began checking the red values every five minutes with the detector.
After half an hour, Yu Hong was astonished as he looked at the line of recorded data.
“-0.889.”
“-0.861.”
“-0.793.”
“Just like before, the red value keeps decreasing. Compared to the start, it has dropped by nearly one-fifth.”
Yu Hong rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
“Why is it decreasing? Red values don’t just vanish without reason; where has this part of the value gone? Where was it transferred to?”
He picked up the swirling symbol board, inspecting it closely.
Suddenly, he noticed some changes.
The lines of the symbol array seemed a bit brighter compared to when he first drew it.
“Is it a lighting issue?” Yu Hong wondered, quickly taking out other symbol boards for comparison.
The standard symbol boards had gray-white lines, subtly reflecting a bit of fluorescence.
The swirling symbol board, on the other hand, had whiter lines that visibly reflected stronger fluorescence.
Additionally, it appeared as if grains resembling silver sand flickered within those lines.
Moreover, Yu Hong also noticed a triangular pattern emerging in the very center of the swirling symbol, shimmering with a colorful luster, almost like a coating.
After a moment of contemplation, he brought the enhanced detector closer to check.
After a beep, the detected value astonishingly showed zero!
“Could it be that this symbol...” A sudden realization hit Yu Hong, and he had a bold guess.
He picked up the symbol board, edged it closer to the detector, and then squeezed it forcefully.
Crack!
The symbol board shattered into several pieces.
At that moment, the detector emitted an alarm, and the red value skyrocketed.
“-234.772.”
“-391.640.”
“-518.121.”
“-722.913.”
The red value surged past seven hundred before holding steady for two seconds, then rapidly fell back and completely reset to zero seconds later.
Yu Hong stared dumbfounded at the soaring red values, momentarily frozen in place.
Suddenly, he snapped back to reality, realizing he had deduced correctly; this swirling symbol likely was...
Post office stone house.
With its crumbled walls and remains of flesh scattered throughout the yard, the gray-white stone house stood empty, its doors and windows completely smashed.
Crack.
On the living room floor of the stone house, a hidden stone slab quietly rose.
Its color matched that of the floor, both a dull gray, and the seams around its edges were skillfully made, making it hard to notice.
As the slab was lifted, a tall man dressed in a high-grade gray lizard suit emerged.
After he stepped aside, two more men in suits crawled out behind him.
The three of them covered the stone slab back up and scanned their surroundings, observing the once intact post office now reduced to a chaotic wreck.
“The second and third teams outside, they’re probably gone,” the first man out muttered in a low voice through his helmet.
“That monster was too fast; we can consider ourselves lucky to have survived,” the second said coldly. “This is their fate.”
“Next, you lead the way,” the third said to Li Runshan, his voice heavy with command.
“Alright, stick close; we might encounter that monster in the wild again,” Li Runshan nodded.
“That guy was blown apart on one side; he won’t recover quickly. We must hurry back to get enough symbol arrays, or the following strange shadows and even evil shadows will be far more deadly,” the third said swiftly.
“It’s a pity; if not for that monster, our glow stone secret room setup wouldn't have failed.” The second man complained.
“Let’s go.” Li Runshan took the lead out of the stone house, gauging the direction toward Yu Hong's safe house.
The other two followed closely behind.
The three moved quickly, nearly at full speed, while trying to keep their voices down as they accelerated.
In less than ten minutes, they reached the outer wall of the cave safe house.
On the grass outside the wall, clothes, pants, and shoes scattered thickly, an unmistakable sign of a struggle.
The grass bore deep gashes, and the dark soil below had been turned over.
Li Runshan moved forward, prodding at the clothes with his foot.
“These belong to that group driven away earlier, led by Li Jingyuan.”
“Are there no survivors?” the second man asked in a hushed tone, unable to contain himself.
“The number of clothes adds up; most of them are here. They’ve probably all perished.” The third replied, exchanging a silent glance with the second man.
Their evaluation of this symbol array dealer's danger level subtly increased.
Without uttering another word, the three approached the wall and looked inside.
Upon seeing inside, all three were taken aback.
Within the yard, on the lush grassy ground, Qiu Yanxi and her mother were diligently repairing various earth scars and pits.
Both women’s attire remained unchanged, not a single scratch on them, and their faces held an inexplicable sense of reassurance.
“Is there no attack from those Multi-Eyed Birds here?” the third man couldn't help but ask softly.
“Do you think that’s even possible?” the second countered.
The two exchanged glances again, falling silent as they let Li Runshan step up to negotiate.
Judging by the traces on the ground and surroundings, this place had indeed been attacked; bizarrely though, that mother and daughter had emerged unscathed, which surely meant there was something behind it.
After their eyes locked, they quickly reached a consensus.
There had to be a way to repel the Multi-Eyed Birds here!
After all, it was just three of them, and their weapons and gear were far inferior; how could they resist those terrifying Multi-Eyed Birds? It was clear that some special secret must be involved.
And if they could get hold of this secret, the safety issues of Team One could be mostly resolved!
Because right now, the most troublesome thing was the danger level four Multi-Eyed Birds.
“Yu Hong! Are you there?” Qiu Yanxi and her mother also noticed the three coming closer, swiftly standing up and retreating into their wooden house.
They had no intention of rashly interacting with these men.
Their current relationship with Yu Hong was still stable, and as long as they didn’t cause trouble, they would wait for their support team to arrive, ensuring a smooth transition.
These men weren't here for them; Qiu Yanxi was wise enough to yield her position to avoid disruption.
Li Runshan didn’t mind the two women; the group led by Li Jingyuan had individuals with identities and backgrounds similar to those of these women, yet they had not simply given up.
In such an environment, everyone could only act according to the circumstances.
Seeing no movement, he shouted a couple more times.
Finally, the entrance to the cave opened.
(End of chapter)