034 Trouble, Part 2 (Thank you, Saint Immortal Qitian, Alliance Master)

The three immediately left the Stone House. Jenny took the nervous Eve at the door and returned together.

Doctor Xu and Yu Hong exchanged some Glowstone for candles and went back to rest.

Carrying the items, Yu Hong didn't go back directly. Instead, he first went to Lao Yu's former residence—a Small Hillside Cellar that looked like a grave.

Opening the cellar door, a musty smell and the stench of rotten meat immediately rushed out.

Holding the stick, he endured the nausea and carefully crawled inside.

About ten minutes later, he crawled out of the cellar, covered in stench, holding a black-covered notebook in his hand, and strode away.

Back at the Mountain Cave Safe House.

Yu Hong returned to his previous regular rhythm of life. Exercising in the morning, going out to collect firewood, find water, and dig for vegetables at noon, and studying Black Mark enhancement in the afternoon.

In the blink of an eye, two days passed.

Crack.

At noon, inside the Stone House, Yu Hong broke a dry branch into two pieces, shortening it to a length that would fit into the Fireplace, then threw it aside and continued with the next one.

Suddenly, the corner of his eye caught sight of the countdown on the back of the door.

The numbers there had only a few minutes left.

'Soon, soon... Soon, I'll know what effect this enhancement to the limit will have.' His heart was full of anticipation.

Although the threat of the Evil Shadow had spread to the Post Office settlement, as long as he wasn't infected and had the Symbol Array enhanced by the Black Mark, he didn't believe the Eerie Shadow and Evil Shadow could silently harm him.

The only thing he was worried about was how effective the Symbol Array would be against the Evil Shadow. Without a real test, no one knew if it would hold up.

The few minutes quickly came to an end, and the countdown numbers reset to zero.

Chi! A blur completely enveloped the Symbol Array on the back of the door, but it instantly became clear again.

The reappeared Symbol Array had completely changed its appearance. Its original gray-white Symbol Array lines had turned into a faint silver color after being enhanced.

The Symbol Array's Symbol had also changed from the previous Glowstone level to a completely new pattern. This pattern was much more complex than the Glowstone one, and it included many details in terms of depth.

'Looks like it's very powerful... I just don't know how it will actually work.' Yu Hong looked at the Symbol Array with some joy, reached out and touched it, feeling its surface was exceptionally smooth, as if nothing had been carved on it.

"Not bad, not bad... Next, if I grind the Glowstone into powder and make Glowstone Ink, will the effect be even stronger?" He now roughly grasped the lower limit of the Black Mark.

Indeed, each object could only be enhanced once, but if the enhanced object was reprocessed, adding a large amount of his own things into it, then it could be enhanced again.

The difference was that the proportion of his own things in it had to account for the majority.

'The Evil Shadow might be nearby, and with those soldiers who came before, I must be careful at all times.'

Yu Hong had also set up some simple warning devices around the area these past few days, such as thin ropes tied between trees, hidden in the grass, making them impossible to spot without careful observation. As soon as the rope was touched, it would immediately trigger a bell connected to one end.

The bell was found in Lao Yu's Stone House and was now being used as a warning line.

Coming back to his senses, Yu Hong went to another corner, took a piece of Glowstone, and began to grind it, adding water and carbon.

Soon, with practiced ease, a brand new Glowstone Ink was made.

This time, he didn't carve it anywhere else, but instead picked up a prepared wooden board and carefully began to draw the Glowstone Symbol Array.

The symbol arrays of the silver Symbol Array were too complex. He observed them carefully, paying attention even to the depth, and couldn't learn them for the time being.

So he chose the Jade Quality Symbol, which he was becoming more and more proficient with, that is, the enhancement Symbol Array that came with the Jade Quality Glowstone.

Soon, after more than ten minutes, a brand new wooden board Symbol Array drawn with Glowstone Ink appeared in his hands.

Immediately afterwards, he stretched out his hand, pressed it on, and began to strengthen it.

And it wasn't just a general strengthening, but a strengthening to the highest limit.

After a while, a new countdown appeared on the wooden board: '2 days, 1 hour, 04 minutes.'

Yu Hong also looked like he had been completely emptied, and with difficulty confirmed the start of the strengthening.

He planned to prepare as much as possible. If Jenny and Eve's meat farming was unsuccessful, they would most likely have to go to Lao Yu's basement to move food.

And he didn't know how strong the Evil Shadow was, so he could only do what he could as much as possible.

If it really didn't work, he planned to explore and try with Lao Yu's notebook himself.

But this was the last resort, because starting from scratch would inevitably lead to many, many failures and encounter many troublesome problems.

In the blink of an eye, another five days passed.

Post Office settlement, Jenny's cave.

"The High Tide Period is coming... We don't have enough Dried Meat, Mom. Do you have any hidden food? I'm so hungry!" Eve slumped on the bed, flipping through a romance novel in her hand.

"Didn't you just eat?" Jenny's voice came from the work room. "I gave you all the Dried Meat, and there's none left at home. I'll go to Doctor Xu tomorrow and see if I can borrow some."

She had already given most of the food to her daughter, but for five days, she still hadn't managed to grow edible mushrooms.

Growing mushrooms was the first step in raising lizards, but now, she didn't even know how to start. She used to watch Lao Yu grow mushrooms very easily and quickly, and thought it was very simple, but now it seemed too slow. "But Mom, I'm so hungry..." Eve complained, "We've already borrowed from Doctor Xu once, she probably doesn't have any left."

"Bear with it, it'll be ready soon. We'll use mushrooms and wild vegetables to tide us over for now," Jenny said helplessly.

Lao Yu's disappearance put her, who had originally planned well, in a difficult situation. She had originally planned to raise food herself, but she didn't expect Lao Yu to come back halfway, and thought she didn't need to get food herself, so she stopped.

Unexpectedly, Lao Yu was gone when it was almost time to replenish food!

This left Jenny and Doctor Xu in a state of hunger due to lack of food.

"Lao Yu should have some at home, right? Why don't we just go and get it?" Eve said unhappily. "Anyway, he's gone, so isn't it the same as taking it casually?"

"No, what if there's a Black Handprint infection?" Jenny was startled and quickly said sternly. "I can help you with any trouble you have, but this time you must listen to me! Never, never, never go to Lao Yu's place, it's very dangerous!!"

Seeing her mother so determined, Eve had no choice but to nod to show that she would never go.

But her eyes rolled, she lowered her head, touching her shriveled stomach, as if her whole body was feverish, wanting to eat meat, eat meat, eat meat.

She also became more and more concerned about the many foods piled up at Lao Yu's place. It is said that Lao Yu also had candies and drinks from the Town. If she could eat them, it would be too great! 'The person has been dead for so long, that Black Handprint must have disappeared. Besides, I'm just going in to get something and leave, and I won't touch any Black Handprint, so there's definitely no problem!'

She didn't think so in her heart.

Seeing that the High Tide Period was coming soon, the family's Dried Meat reserves were running out. If she didn't hurry up and stock up, she wouldn't be bitten to death by bugs, but would starve to death herself.

Now the supplies and canned food left by her father at home were finally eaten up, and everything could only be replenished from the outside. If she didn't go out again, she wouldn't even have the strength to go out when she was hungry.

Eve agreed on the surface, but when her mother went out to find Doctor Xu to borrow food, she quietly slipped out of the cave.

She didn't wander around, and soon arrived at the smashed door of the Stone House. Then, she turned on the Atomic Lamp flashlight, a hint of fear on her face. But her starving stomach forced her to hesitate for a moment, before she mustered her courage and slipped inside.

Not long after, she tiptoed out again, climbing out of the basement.

Afraid that her mother would find out and scold her, she only rummaged around near the entrance and took out a small package of food. This was her stash of snacks, and she was determined not to let her mom find out, or she might get a spanking.

Back home, Eve carefully hid the food. Her mother didn't notice, which made her feel quite accomplished.

The next day, she used the excuse of going out to collect firewood and went to Lao Yu's basement, lit the candles inside, rummaged for food, and had a delicious meal.

The third day was the same. Day after day, time slowly passed, and Eve didn't notice that as she kept going in and out of the Stone House basement, she was venturing further and further inside.

After discovering that nothing was wrong, her vigilance gradually decreased. Every day, she lit the candles and leisurely feasted in the basement.

Soon, the Dried Meat reserves in one room were gone, and she moved on to the next room.

As time went on, she finally arrived at the bedroom where Lao Yu had been attacked.

In the dark corridor, a candle was lit every few feet, and the bright candlelight gave Eve a great sense of security.

After sneaking around for so many days, she was very sure that there was nothing wrong or dangerous in this place. Her mother and Doctor Xu were just scaring themselves.

Humming a little tune, she walked to the door of Lao Yu's bedroom and glanced at the scattered clothes on the floor. She also noticed the Black Handprint on the sleeve.

"As long as I don't touch the Black Handprint, it'll be fine. They made it sound so scary, but nothing's happened," Eve stepped over the clothes and entered the bedroom.

Using the light from the candle in her hand, she quickly rummaged through the bedroom, looking for food and good things.

The dim and gloomy basement was completely lit up by her with Lao Yu's candles.

It's true that people don't cherish what isn't theirs. These supplies that originally belonged to Lao Yu were now being wasted and enjoyed by Eve without restraint.

After searching for a while, she cheered and pulled out a bar of white chocolate from a cabinet.

"This is delicious!" She stuffed it into her mouth and hummed with satisfaction.

Pa.

Just then, there was a soft sound from the bedroom door.

Eve stopped abruptly and turned her head to look carefully. She found that one of the candles at the door of the room had gone out.

Pa.

Just as she turned her head to look at the door, there was a soft sound beside her, and the candle in her hand went out as well.

Eve hurriedly turned back, but saw nothing.

She looked at the room that was slowly becoming darker around her, and felt a little scared.

'I have to go back,' she took two steps back nervously, and hurried towards the door.

Just as she was about to step over the pile of clothes at the door.

Whoosh! Suddenly, two candles in the corridor at the door went out.

In an instant, only two candles were left burning in the corridor.

Eve was so frightened that she shivered, her foot slipped, and she fell backwards onto her bottom.

Bang! She landed squarely on the ground, her buttocks aching from the fall.

Just as she hurriedly tried to get up, suddenly, her whole body froze.

Looking down.

The spot where she had landed was exactly on top of Lao Yu's pile of clothes! "No, it can't be...!" A chill ran through her, her scalp tingled, and she got up and ran outside.

But she didn't notice at all that on her lower back, just below her waist, a clear Black Handprint was slowly forming.

Whoosh! After she left, the last two candles in the corridor were blown out.

In the blink of an eye, it was almost time for the High Tide Period to arrive.

At this time, Yu Hong, Doctor Xu, and Jenny had arranged to meet and exchange supplies.

Inside the Safe House, Yu Hong carefully packed everything he could carry. After exercising for this period, his physical fitness had improved significantly, and another wisp of cool air had appeared in his body.

In other words, he now had three wisps of cool air in his body that he could use.

"I hope Jenny can get the Dried Meat farming sorted out, otherwise... I can hold on for a while, but they definitely won't be able to."

After packing his things, Yu Hong opened the door, looked at the bright sunlight outside, and strode out, heading towards the Post Office gathering place.