043 Thoughts 1 (Xie Yu Xian, Alliance Master Qi Tian)

Mountain Cave Safe House.

Yu Hong sat down, panting heavily to recover his strength.

He placed the Symbol Array in his hand on the ground, covered in sweat, his eyes blurred, making it difficult to open them.

After resting for a few seconds, he looked back at Doctor Xu, finding her with her eyes closed, seemingly resting as well. He then reached out and pressed his hand on the Silver Symbol Array on the door.

After a few seconds, he released his hand and saw a black countdown timer appearing on the surface of the Symbol Array, indicating its recovery and replenishment. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

It wouldn't take long, just over forty minutes to fully recover to its complete state.

"Doctor Xu, are you alright?" Yu Hong finally had time to ask.

"."

There was no response.

Yu Hong frowned and turned back again, only to see Doctor Xu still curled up on the ground, motionless, sweat and saliva constantly dripping from her chin. Her body was also twitching and trembling slightly.

"Doctor Xu?" Yu Hong called out again, vaguely sensing something was wrong, his expression becoming serious.

Reaching out, he nudged her, but found she didn't react at all.

So he quickly stood up, poured a glass of boiled water, and tried to feed it to her.

Unfortunately, Doctor Xu's mouth was already closed, and her breathing was extremely erratic. Feeding her water like this could easily cause her to choke.

Yu Hong could only carefully moisten her mouth with a little water. Then he dragged her up and placed her on the softer sleeping bag.

"I don't have any first aid medicine, and I don't know what happened to you. The only way now is to rely on you to save yourself." He sat beside her and said quickly. "If you can hear me, can you tell me what to do to help you?"

Doctor Xu didn't move, just lay on the sleeping bag with her eyes closed, twitching all over, unable to move.

Her body was a little cold, but sweat was constantly seeping out.

Soon, the fire in the Fireplace lit up, emitting a strong warmth, which slightly eased her body. Her breathing also seemed to gradually ease with the warmth.

Seeing her getting better, Yu Hong also breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, he couldn't handle the logistics and material production alone. A familiar person like Doctor Xu, who was of good nature and a friend of Little Stutterer, should be saved if possible.

He looked at the countdown timer on the door, then at the dirt on Doctor Xu's face, and wiped away the saliva and sweat with leaves and newspaper.

Then he sat aside and rummaged through the bag he had just brought from Jenny and her daughter's underground cave.

The bag wasn't a cloth bag, just a thicker large black plastic bag with white handles that could be lifted with one hand.

Yu Hong tore open the opening and took out the contents one by one.

The Red Value Detector was on top and was taken out and placed on the ground.

Then there was a pair of women's black leather ankle boots.

Three candles.

A hardcover brown notebook.

A bottle of small red pills of unknown use.

A dark and somewhat dirty cloth face mask.

A snake-skin patterned short knife with a sheath.

A green little box that looks like a handheld game console, complete with a screen and a D-pad.

Yu Hong first picked up the green little box, found a small black switch on the side, and flipped it.

No response.

He put it down, then picked up the small bottle of pills. Through the transparent glass bottle, he could see that the red pills inside were new and dry, not at all moldy.

"Jenny and Eve couldn't find anything wrong, so what is this medicine for? Emergency anti-inflammatory? Or..."

He couldn't guess, he could only wait for Doctor Xu to wake up before testing it.

Putting down the medicine, he picked up the short knife and gently pulled it out.

The sharp silver blade was quite clean and had been lightly oiled. The back of the blade had a saw-like design, and the side of the blade had a blood groove, making it look very practical.

Chi.

Closing the short knife, Yu Hong finally reached for the notebook.

He picked it up and opened it.

'Adjust the radiation time according to the dosage, and continue the next test according to the detailed plan of Scheme Two.'

'In April, there were three accidents, and glowstone radiation data was collected sixteen times.'

'In May, radiation data was surveyed around the Glowstone Mine, and sampling data was collected seventy-four times.'

'In June, an individual was found to have entered the mine, and their body underwent slight pathological changes. Data was successfully sampled.'

'In July, five successful animal model experiments were conducted. Due to environmental changes, the number of animals and insects decreased significantly, and animal experiments were forced to terminate.'

'In August, Eve's cells were collected for cultivation, and radiation testing was started on the cultured tissue. Through testing experiments, the pathological process was inferred by comparing with the previously collected Lin Yi Yi cell tissue.'

Under the firelight, Yu Hong frowned as he looked at the rows of text in the notebook. Below the text were detailed chart character data, and many characters used abbreviated codes, so he couldn't understand the meaning. But judging from the text, Jenny's family probably came here with impure intentions very early on. And they also conducted secret sampling, observation, and research on Little Stutterer Lin Yi Yi.

He kept flipping through the pages, skipping many data charts directly. Soon, he saw some text in the middle again.

'It has been determined that Glowstone Disease can produce more resistance to the Eerie Shadow. Under the same infection conditions, although patients with Glowstone Disease will experience a certain degree of intellectual decline, they will also show stronger resistance when in a high Red Value environment. There will be no more body stiffness, convulsions, hallucinations, and other conditions.'

'In cell sampling experiments, the activity of cells infected with Glowstone Disease is greatly improved, the lifespan is reduced by 65.4%, and the resistance to germs and viruses is increased by more than 70%. It has been determined that taking Eve to the mine for about half an hour every five days can effectively curb the special mark disease on her body.'

Seeing this, Yu Hong already understood somewhat.

This Jenny family probably came here to seek a research method to save their daughter Eve because she was targeted by something.

Unfortunately, their research seemed to have only taken effect a little before he interrupted it.

Eve was not killed by the Eerie Shadow Black Calamity, but died at the hands of an ordinary person like himself.

"But Glowstone Disease... Glowstone can actually make people sick?" He recalled the Little Stutterer's situation in his mind.

Her intelligence was indeed declining, and her resistance to Eerie Shadows was extremely strong. Anyway, he had never seen the Little Stutterer being frightened by the Eerie Shadow.

"So, Little Stutterer might also have Glowstone Disease?" Yu Hong guessed in his heart.

As long as he could determine the reason, perhaps he could think of a way to help her heal in the future.

White River City.

The surface.

On the beach, waves of seawater drew white lines, crashing and receding, endlessly repeating.

Above the beach, a hundred meters away, was a cluster of abandoned, rusty high-rise buildings, standing quietly in the scorching sunlight.

The pale blue glass of the buildings reflected the dazzling sunlight, occasionally clanging in the sea breeze.

Atop one of these buildings, on a rusty rooftop terrace.

Several men and women in Camouflage Uniform were speaking in low voices.

They were gathered together, their clothes marked with the insignia of the United Army.

One of them, a short-haired man with glasses, held a Jade Quality Large Glowstone in his hand, head down, frowning as he listened to the person next to him.

The man had a gentle face, a bronze complexion, and a silver-white Handgun tucked at his waist. On the outside of his right forearm, his clothes bore a three-star mark different from everyone else's.

"A-Dong and the others haven't returned yet. We were too busy to pay attention before, but now that we've finally settled down completely, I sent someone back to the agreed location to wait, but found no one there. I suspect something happened to them," a young woman with dark skin said in a deep voice.

"They have two guns, and there's a rest stop in between. It's unlikely something happened, right?" another person couldn't help but say.

"It's hard to say. With the previous Evil Shadow flooding and spreading, maybe they were taken out halfway. The satellite signals are too disrupted now, making long-distance communication impossible. The only thing we can rely on for judgment is giving the agreed signal on time. If they can't make it on time, we can only assume they're dead," the young woman said quickly.

"Then what do we do? If there really is someone in White Mound Village who can make Large Glowstone, it would be a pity to give up like this," another person said.

"That's right, so who is willing to go back and investigate what happened, to determine the real situation?" the man with glasses asked loudly, looking around.

But everyone around him quickly looked away when their eyes met his, unwilling to respond.

"Is there no one willing to make a sacrifice?" the bespectacled man sighed. "If we can catch the person who makes the Large Glowstone, I guarantee to double their monthly treatment! Whether it's food or supplies."

Still, no one spoke.

They had finally escaped the Evil Shadow and fled from that dangerous area, and no one was willing to return to their deaths.

Moreover, at such a long distance, they might be killed by Eerie Shadow monsters halfway before even reaching their destination.

"Xu Yang, you have always been my most capable assistant," the bespectacled man's gaze fell on a strong man wearing a black mask.

"Team Leader Zhao, relying on us alone to go back, I'm afraid we'll encounter danger halfway. Think about how much trouble we encountered when our entire town migrated here?" the strong man Xu Yang said quickly.

"Then what do you mean?" the bespectacled man frowned.

"The key now is that White Mound Village is too dangerous, and none of our brothers and sisters here can handle it. So, we have to find someone who can handle it," Xu Yang smiled.

"Who can guarantee to handle something like this?" the bespectacled man asked.

"Your little brother has already inquired thoroughly. There's a black market bar in White River City that specializes in hiring desperadoes. The last time I went there, I met a real expert. He used to be a Postman, from the front lines of the Aurora City United Army, an absolute elite, extremely skilled in both marksmanship and combat," Xu Yang said.

"The price must be very high, right?" the bespectacled man frowned. "And why would such an expert be willing to be hired by us? Wouldn't he earn more if he caught the person himself?"

"Just don't tell him, just let him catch the person," Xu Yang smiled. "If he finds out, we can negotiate then, and at worst, share some of the profits with him. It's better than us having nothing now."

The bespectacled man nodded, picking up the Large Glowstone in his hand and examining it carefully.

"Makes sense. With the current environment in White River City, as long as we can control the person who can continuously produce Large Glowstones, it's like having a goose that lays golden eggs."

He paused.

"This kind of Large Glowstone, with an effect comparable to Glowstone Marrow, the Symbol Arrays on it are secondary. There are many similar types, and imitation is easy. The key is the material. It can definitely be used to fake the rare Glowstone Marrow, and the price difference is far beyond what ordinary people can imagine. I really don't know how he does it."

He exhaled and looked at Xu Yang again.

"I'll leave this matter to you. Can you handle it?"

"I guarantee the completion of the task," Xu Yang said with a smile.

"What's that person's name?"

"White Serpent Guo Xu Dong."