Experiment II (Alliance Leader Xie Tianli)

There was no reaction, and no numbers appeared.

Looks like that won't work.

He raised his head in disappointment.

After resting for a while and thinking it over, he suddenly recalled the two people he had just seen.

Danger may not come only from monsters and Ghost Shadows. It may also come from people. So safety has to come first.

My physical condition is poor—I'm far weaker than Little Stutterer, and I haven't even fully adjusted to life here. In the short term, the fastest way to ensure my safety is equipment!

But he had nothing at hand that could count as equipment. Was he supposed to enhance an axe and hack away at people? His gaze fell again upon the axe, Saw, steel nails, hammer, and the other tools.

He shook his head inwardly, not holding much hope.

Still, no matter what, he walked over, picked up the axe, looked at the number appearing on it, and confirmed the enhancement.

There's still time. I'll enhance it first and see what happens.

After confirming the start, he placed the axe in a corner and covered it with some things.

Then he went to the door and looked outside through the Viewing Window.

There was no one outside. Everything was silent.

The wind rustled through the leaves, and there were not even any insects or birds.

Click.

Yu Hong opened the door, carrying the bag of Protein Bars as he stepped outside, cautiously looking around.

He checked the Steel Nail Glowstone Wooden Stick strapped to his waist. This thing had helped him immensely last time.

It was extremely effective against Ghost Shadows.

Though according to Little Stutterer, Ghost Shadows could not be killed and would soon reappear on their own.

Still, being able to solve an urgent crisis was enough.

After shutting the Wooden Door, Yu Hong frowned.

Without anything to cover it, if someone discovers it, everything inside might be gone.

He touched the door lock.

Inside the round keyhole was a standard metal mechanism. Cold and hard.

This Wooden Door had originally had no lock, and he did not know how to make one. Yet after enhancement, the lock had appeared by itself, complete with several keys.

This was also what made Yu Hong so curious about the Black Mark's enhancement mechanism.

Standing at the entrance, he gathered many branches, leaves, and vines from nearby, then scattered them over the cave entrance and door.

That way, it would not stand out much from a distance.

Though it was still unsafe, it was far better than before.

Only after concealing it did he quietly head toward White Mound Village.

The Protein Bars had eased the two of them's food shortage, but candles were even more crucial now.

They did not have enough candles! If the High Tide Period really extended to six days, their current three candles would be nowhere near enough.

He had to trade for a few more.

Following the familiar mountain path, more than ten minutes later, White Mound Village came into distant view.

Yu Hong was about to move closer when his steps abruptly halted.

His expression changed slightly. Looking toward White Mound Village, he swiftly ducked behind a tree trunk.

Between where he stood and the Old Highway leading to White Mound Village, someone lay on their side in the grass.

A thin, black-haired man wearing a Camouflage Uniform.

The man did not move. A large amount of blood had spilled beneath him, staining the grass red.

Dead? Yu Hong hid behind the tree trunk, his nerves tightening at once.

He remained where he was without moving, observing carefully.

He did not even dare breathe too heavily, afraid of disturbing something nearby.

He stayed hidden like that for a long while.

When the man still did not move, Yu Hong guessed that he was either dead or unconscious.

He surveyed the surroundings to both sides. Only after confirming no one was hiding nearby did he slowly emerge from behind the tree and approach bit by bit.

Reaching the man's side, he squatted down and patted his shoulder.

"Hey?"

No response.

Yu Hong reached out and touched the side of the man's neck.

Cold.

His heart lurched, and he knew the man was truly dead.

A corpse. A corpse that had once been a person he had just seen. At that thought, Yu Hong's face turned pale.

His abdomen clenched, his breathing quickened, and his pupils dilated. He faintly felt like vomiting. Even the hand that had touched the man now felt unclean.

Suppressing his nausea with difficulty.

He reached out, gripped the corpse's shoulder tightly, and flipped it over.

Thump.

The black-haired man lay flat on his back on the ground.

There was a clear dark-red bloody hole in his left chest. His eyes were wide open, his mouth agape, as though he had been roaring in fury.

Yu Hong became even less willing to look. He quickly searched through the man's pockets.

The two breast pockets, trouser pockets, and waist pouch—he quickly searched everywhere.

There was no food, no useful tools. He found only a black Radio that had been smashed and cracked.

Yu Hong grabbed the Radio and ran. He did not want to stay beside a corpse for even another moment.

Though he had anticipated that he might see a scene like this, when an actual corpse appeared before him, he could not suppress the churning in his gut at all.

He ran wildly all the way and soon rushed to Little Stutterer's door.

Bang bang bang.

He knocked rapidly.

"Little Stutterer, open up!" Immediately afterward, he rattled off a string of nonsensical numbers.

It was the secret code they had agreed on.

Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang! The relentless knocking sounded especially piercing in White Mound Village at dusk.

Normally, whenever Yu Hong came and knocked, Little Stutterer would open the door quickly.

But this time, there was no movement inside for a long while.

"Little Stutterer?" Yu Hong could not help raising his voice.

The knocking and his calls echoed continuously along both sides of the village's Gravel Road.

The sounds threaded through and scattered among the hollow black houses.

The village grew even quieter.

"Little Stutterer!?" A chill crept over Yu Hong's heart. Was she not here? He looked around, confirmed there were no Ghost Shadows, then stopped knocking.

Where had that girl gone at a time like this? It was about to get dark. If she did not find somewhere to hide, the danger would be far too great!

His breathing quickened. One hand carried the bag of Protein Bars, while the other quietly gripped the Steel Nail Glowstone Rod hanging at his side.

"Co, ming!" Suddenly, a familiar reply sounded from inside.

It was Little Stutterer!

Yu Hong's heart leaped with joy, and he knocked again.

"It'll be dark soon. Let me in first."

"O, kay," Little Stutterer answered from inside once more.

"I'll, be, right, there."

Yu Hong breathed a sigh of relief, remaining alert as he constantly checked both sides, afraid that the white-clothed apparition from last time would show up again.

This village was deeply abnormal.

There were far more Ghost Shadows here than outside the Cave.

That was one reason he was so eager to move away.

He waited for more than ten seconds.

"Are you here yet?" When the door still did not open, Yu Hong's brow creased slightly.

Outside, the sky was getting darker and darker. If he did not get inside soon, it would truly become dangerous.

"Co, ming."

Little Stutterer's voice suddenly sounded directly behind the door.

It was very close. Very, very close.

As though she were speaking with her face pressed against the door.

But Yu Hong had not heard any footsteps inside at all! In an environment this silent, there was no way he could have failed to hear sounds from within the house.

Yet between Little Stutterer's replies just now, there had not been even the faintest trace of footsteps.

It was as if... as if she had appeared behind the door in an instant.

At that moment, Yu Hong's scalp went numb again.

Click.

The door slowly opened a crack.

Boom!!! At that instant, he suddenly kicked out, slamming his foot into the Wooden Door.

The explosive crash rang out as Yu Hong raised the steel nail rod and smashed it inside! "Die, die, die, die!!!"

He was engulfed by intense terror, and the steel nail rod embedded with Enhanced Glowstone smashed down through the doorway like a storm.

Thud thud thud thud!

Before the pale figure behind the door could even reveal itself, it was smashed flat by several strikes of the rod, shattering into countless fragments and vanishing into nothing.

"Little Stutterer!!" Yu Hong roared as he charged through the door. Fear drove him to frantically sweep his gaze across the room, rod raised, ready to smash wildly at any moment.

But the room was empty. No one was there.

Only a sheet of paper lay on the table, bearing Charcoal Pencil marks.

Yu Hong panted heavily before noticing thick droplets of liquid dripping from his nostrils.

He wiped it away. Bright red—it was blood.

What kind of Ghost Shadow was that this time? It made me bleed without even touching me.

He felt a stabbing pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw that his shirt had somehow been sliced open by a finger-length cut.

The flesh beneath bore a wound as if slashed by a blade, blood slowly seeping out of it.

Clearly, the Ghost Shadow had injured him with some unknown method just now.

Bang.

He shut the door and lit a candle.

Yu Hong sat in a chair, taking deep breaths to steady himself.

"This damned place!!"

He lowered his head and cursed.

"This fucking damned place!!!"

A few breaths later, he cursed again in a suppressed voice.

The candlelight stretched his shadow long across the floor, where it swayed unceasingly.

Picking up the paper from the table, Yu Hong suppressed the ache in his heart and read it.

I went to trade for candles back tomorrow

There was no punctuation, no paragraph breaks, and the handwriting was crooked. The only fortunate thing was that it was understandable.

Setting down the paper, Yu Hong pinched his nose with one hand and waited for the nosebleed to stop.

"I'm going to build an absolutely safe Safe House! One where I'll never fear any danger again!! I swear!!"

He had had enough. This damned place was full of traps and disguises everywhere! Gripping the candle, he got up and sat beside the bed, his gaze falling on the gaps around the door and windows.

Those were the places Black Worms might crawl in through.

Black Worm attacks had no fixed schedule, coming once every three to five days.

According to Little Stutterer, there had not been so many Black Worms in the beginning, nor had they been so dense.

Now, they seemed to be growing more numerous, consuming far, far more candles.

After waiting for quite a while, the nosebleed finally stopped. Only then did Yu Hong free one hand to inspect the wound on his chest.

Fortunately, the wound was neither numb nor itchy. Without clean water, he could only endure it. If it became infected, the problem would be serious.

After confirming that it was fine, he breathed a sigh of relief. Listening to the howling wind outside, he sat alone beside the bed, an overwhelming loneliness rising in his heart.

Perhaps the entire White Mound Village has only me left now?

The villagers had all gone away, leaving only Little Stutterer living here alone.

Yu Hong did not know how she had survived, but it must have been bitter and dangerous.

He let out a long sigh and leaned back.

Suddenly, his buttocks pressed against something hard.

Hm? He reached back, felt around, and took it out for a look.

It was the Radio.

Wait, can a broken Radio be enhanced?

Yu Hong was about to set it aside when the thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

The moment the thought arose, a number appeared on the Radio's surface at once: 5 hours 12 minutes.