Trouble (1/3)

"If we don't go down, there's no food, Eve," Jenny whispered, frowning as she urged. "I'll go down, and you can cover me from above, okay?"

"Okay, but Mom, you have to be careful," Eve said softly. As soon as she heard she didn't have to go down, she immediately stopped objecting.

"Alright, enough nonsense, let's start," Doctor Xu glared at Eve, displeased.

She reached out her hand towards Yu Hong.

"Give me the stuff, I'll open the door."

"Let me do it," Yu Hong shook his head, carrying the Chiseling Set, and walked to the front of the Post Office stone house door.

"Open this door first, then where's the entrance to the basement?"

"Inside the house, so we have to open two doors," Doctor Xu replied.

Without another word, Yu Hong took out the hammer and chisel and started smashing at the door lock.

Thump, thump, thump muffled sounds echoed continuously.

After dozens of consecutive hits, finally, the stone house door lock was smashed to pieces, wood chips scattered all over the ground, and a fist-sized hole was smashed into the lock.

The Wooden Door loosened.

Yu Hong retracted the hammer, took a step back, and kicked forward.

Bang.

The Wooden Door didn't budge.

"Wait!" Doctor Xu, speechless, reached out and grabbed the doorknob, pulling it outwards.

With a creak, the door was gently pulled open, revealing the dark environment inside.

"Okay..." Yu Hong was speechless, putting away his tools.

The first thing the group saw as they stood at the door was a mesh bag lying on the ground at the entrance.

Inside the red mesh bag were chunks of grayish-white Glowstone.

But at this moment, all of these Glowstone had turned pale white. Clearly, they had all been used up.

Seeing the depleted Glowstone bag, the group exchanged glances, their expressions becoming serious.

"The Glowstone has all been used up... Clearly, an Eerie Shadow has been inside, everyone be careful. Eerie Shadows love to hide in this kind of dark environment," Jenny was the first to speak. In reality, her skills were the best among the group.

"I'll go in first," Jenny thought for a moment, then took out a round, large Glowstone from her waist bag. The material of this large Glowstone was exactly the same as the one Yu Hong had enhanced, but the patterns on it were completely different, still the old simplified version.

"This is Glowstone Marrow!?" Doctor Xu exclaimed in surprise. "This isn't ordinary stuff, one piece is worth ten ordinary Glowstone, and the price is extremely high, how do you have it?"

"My husband left it behind," Jenny replied coldly. If she didn't feel this was extremely dangerous, she wouldn't have been willing to take it out to use. This was originally a trump card for saving her life.

"It's been many years, right? I heard that the runes on it have new changes recently, and more complex versions with better effects have come out. Why didn't you wash it and redraw it?" Doctor Xu asked curiously.

"It can't be washed off, and it's useless even if it is washed. These runes serve to guide the arrangement, the effect has already taken place the moment it's drawn, and even if you erase it afterwards, it won't have any effect," Jenny explained.

As she spoke, she hung the large Glowstone around her neck, pulled out the Trailblazer Knife from the outside of her thigh, held the Red Value Detector in her other hand, and cautiously walked into the door.

She walked in the front, Doctor Xu in the middle, and Yu Hong at the rear. As for Eve, unwilling to go down, she stayed at the stone house entrance to keep watch.

The three of them formed a line and headed inside, soon arriving at the stone house's central hall.

In the center of the hall floor was an open basement door, the entrance to the dark basement within.

Gusts of cold wind surged from the entrance, spreading around, as if making the entire stone house incomparably cold and gloomy.

The three exchanged a glance. Jenny took out an Atomic Lamp flashlight, aimed it at the entrance, and opened the flashlight's shield. Immediately, a green fluorescent light shone in, illuminating a section of somewhat rusty silver metal vertical ladder.

"I'll go down first, don't rush in. Wait until I'm settled and I'll call you," she took a deep breath, instructing the two.

"Okay!" Doctor Xu responded, and Yu Hong nodded along.

Confirming that the two were okay, Jenny flipped over and lightly clung to the metal vertical ladder, climbing down like an ape.

Before long, she descended to the more than ten-meter-deep basement hall.

While Jenny went down, Doctor Xu took out a hand-drawn map and unfolded it for Yu Hong to see.

"The main structure below is a series of corridors. We're going down to the junction where all the corridors converge. Taking this as the center, it's linked to three corridors, each with many rooms and storage rooms. After all, this place was built for refuge, the initial purpose was to defend against weapons of mass destruction in war," Doctor Xu sighed, "I just didn't expect it to be used at this time."

"Are the corridors narrow?" Yu Hong looked down below, frowning as he asked.

"A bit. I've been down a few times before, all to bandage the Postman. The corridors below are at most a meter wide, also to save materials and space, and the height isn't high either," Doctor Xu nodded.

Yu Hong no longer spoke. He stood on one side of the basement, his hand unconsciously stroking the handle of the Glowstone Wolf Fang Mace, his expression more serious than usual.

Time passed bit by bit.

About five minutes later, Jenny's voice came from below.

"It's okay, come down, there's nothing inside." Her voice revealed a hint of fatigue, accompanied by the faint green light of the Atomic Lamp shining over.

Yu Hong and Doctor Xu simultaneously looked at the Glowstone on their bodies, confirming that there were no signs of consumption, and then slowly climbed down the metal vertical ladder.

The two descended all the way to the central small hall of the basement, stepping on the ground and surveying the surrounding environment.

Under the green light, the entrances to the three corridors were distributed on the surrounding walls of the small hall, like three dark and terrifying caves, constantly blowing out cold wind.

"I've already found Lao Yu's usual room. Follow me," Jenny held the flashlight, her tone somewhat low.

"You found him?" Doctor Xu's expression tightened, and she quickly asked. It wasn't that she cared about Lao Yu, but without this guy, everyone's future food might be much more troublesome.

"I don't know." Jenny shook her head, turned around, and led the way towards one of the corridors.

The two followed her together, passing through the dark corridor, heading towards one of the rooms on the side.

"Lao Yu doesn't lack supplies, why doesn't he get some Atomic Lamps to light up the place? Isn't he afraid of this place being so dark?" Doctor Xu couldn't help but ask.

"He said before that the radiation from Atomic Lamps is too high, and he's afraid of getting cancer. Now it seems..." Jenny didn't continue. Among the three present, she had spent the most time with Lao Yu.

As for Doctor Xu and Yu Hong, they were actually outsiders rescued by Little Stutterer later.

So Jenny knew the most about Lao Yu.

"He's just a cowardly guy who's afraid of death, stingy and miserly, and also a pervert, he even pursued me before..." As she spoke, she sighed again.

The other two were speechless. Although Jenny was older, it could be seen that she had a very good figure, was strong and vigorous, and her face had no wrinkles. Moreover, during this period, everyone's skin had turned pale due to lack of light, which made her even more like a Western vampire beauty that Yu Hong had seen before.

So, it's actually possible that Lao Yu pursued her before.

"This is the place, be careful." Jenny held the large Glowstone in one hand, looking at the ajar iron gate, her expression becoming more serious.

She used the tip of the Trailblazer Knife to gently touch forward, using the force of the tip to push the door.

Creak.

The iron gate slowly opened wide, revealing the dark bedroom inside.

The bedroom was empty, the bedding on the bed in the corner was messy, as if someone had stayed there before. The other tables, chairs, and cabinets were normal, without any strange traces.

Jenny was about to walk in.

Suddenly, she retreated sharply, her breathing becoming rapid.

"Careful!"

She spread her arms, blocking the two people behind her.

"Look at the ground!" she said quickly.

Yu Hong and Doctor Xu looked over at the same time.

On the black floor of the bedroom, a set of gray male overalls was scattered.

The overalls had long sleeves and long pants, with a dirty, yellowed white shirt inside, and a pair of long rubber boots below the trouser legs. The shiny white rubber glowed with a faint green light under the illumination of the Atomic Lamp.

"It's Lao Yu's clothes and shoes..." Jenny said in a low, complex voice.

"He should be gone..." Doctor Xu looked at the remaining clothes, her emotions also a little low. The settlement already had few people, and now another one had died, and it was a key person who produced food. This had a great impact on them.

She squatted down and reached out to pick up Lao Yu's clothes.

Suddenly, her pupils shrank, and she quickly got up and retreated.

"Wait!! Everyone back up! Don't touch these clothes!!"

Hearing her words, Jenny and Yu Hong retreated quickly without saying a word.

"What's wrong!?" Yu Hong also became nervous, holding the stick tightly and looking around.

"Look at the back of the clothes!" Doctor Xu said, gritting her teeth. Her voice was a little trembling.

Yu Hong quickly looked over with the light of the Atomic Lamp.

He saw that Lao Yu's clothes had been turned over by Doctor Xu, and a clear small Black Handprint was exposed on the sleeve of the back! "Black Handprint!!?" His heart sank. He had just heard the characteristics of the Evil Shadow and Withered Woman, and now he immediately saw this special Black Handprint.

"Retreat! We can't stay here!" Jenny decisively turned around and left.

The other two also felt a chill in their hearts and followed closely behind.

The three of them didn't dare to touch anything, quickly returned to the small hall, climbed up the vertical ladder, and returned to the stone house.

Bang.

Jenny pressed the entrance to the basement with a metal cover.

"We can't go into this place!" she said decisively.

"That Lao Yu, he definitely didn't escape on his own! Thinking about it now, he must have been infected with the Black Handprint a long time ago, which is why he was kicked out and couldn't be relocated with everyone else!" Doctor Xu's face turned pale. "That old guy actually hid it from us! I think I came into contact with him, could I have been infected too?"

"Everyone, check each other carefully. I heard that as long as there's no direct contact, you usually won't get infected. The Black Handprint can show through clothes," Jenny said, her scalp tingling as she inhaled sharply. She was also very angry now. After all, Lao Yu's concealment could bring a catastrophic disaster to everyone here.

"Let's check each other," Yu Hong said after a long silence.

Instantly, the three of them fell silent.

Then, the three slowly moved away from each other and began to check each other for Black Handprints.

Several minutes later, fortunately, none of the three were infected, which visibly relieved them.

"We can't stay here, let's get out first," Jenny said in a deep voice.

"What about food?" Yu Hong asked. "Without Lao Yu, we have to get our own food. Wild vegetables alone definitely won't be enough."

"I know some of Lao Yu's breeding processes. Let's figure it out, and if it really doesn't work, we'll go down and look for some," Jenny replied.