A Night of Desperation-Chapter 272: Vitality Two

Thinking of this, Yu Hong’s resolution grew even firmer, and his consciousness moved again.

“Enhance the camp, direction: Merge with Wooden Bridge Dock, Black Ship, acquire the same mode of movement.”

Sss!

This time, the Black Mark on the back of his hand shot out black lines, which quickly submerged into the ground.

After several seconds.

The synthetic mechanical sound of the Black Mark finally rang out.

“Do you want to enhance the camp? Because the Black Ship is not a single entity, it contains a large number of active entities, and is badly damaged, the enhancement time could be overly long, please check carefully.”

Accompanying the mechanical sound was a huge dark red countdown number, generated right beneath Yu Hong’s feet.

“142 days 21 hours 9 minutes.”

“!!?”

Yu Hong had not expected it would take so long…

That was almost five months!!

It was the first time he saw such a long period since using the Black Mark.

But according to the rules of the Black Mark, the longer the enhancement time, the better the finished product would undoubtedly be.

Yu Hong calmed his emotions and began to consider if there was anywhere else he currently needed the Black Mark for.

Assuring himself there was no urgent need for it at the moment, he stared at the exaggerated countdown on the ground, and finally gritted his teeth.

“Yes!”

He affirmed in his mind.

Soon, a faint glow flashed on the surface of the Black Mark, and the countdown on the ground solidified.

Whew…

Yu Hong took a long breath, and as he exhaled, the breath turned into tiny ice crystals and fell in the cold winter.

Having confirmed the start of the enhancement, he felt more settled in his heart.

Every day, apart from cultivating the Taiyuan True Method, he was observing the changes in the surrounding environment.

Quickly, seven days later, as the temperature dropped to negative one hundred degrees, communication was cut off again.

This time it wasn’t a signal problem, nor was there an issue on his side, but when he turned on the communicator, he simply couldn’t find any place that could be contacted.

Whether Aurora City or Zhang Kaijun’s side, both had completely vanished.

“Perhaps the device is malfunctioning.” Yu Hong turned off the communicator, looking at the scenery outside the window that was completely frozen over by ice and snow.

The dim blue light of the Ultimate Gate was always faintly releasing, illuminating a certain range of the open area around it.

Watching the increasingly harsh environment outside, Yu Hong fell silent for a moment, feeling the Taiyuan True Method inside him progressing towards the Second Layer.

“At this rate, even I won’t be able to find food from the outside…” he realized internally. Water could be tackled with the Condensing Water Technique, but what about food? Without living creatures, once his stored food ran out, no matter how strong he was, he would face the predicament of running out of food and starving.

He hadn’t reached the level where he could sustain his life without eating at all.

Staying in the cave that was warm as spring, he carefully thought about countermeasures.

The Black Disaster had the Light Disaster to counterbalance;the current situation was still okay. Everything was stable.

But there was no way with the Cold Disaster, the extreme cold outside was totally unsuitable for human activity.

“Old Zhou probably really can’t come back anymore…” Yu Hong suddenly sighed.

Old Zhou had gone out to find his own family, and had never returned since he left.

“Perhaps, while I still have some leeway, I should collect more materials and then strengthen reserves, looking for another way out.”

He thought of a function possessed by the Black Ship, which would randomly dock at the land of vitality—an inherent feature of the Savior Ship.

“Once the enhancement completes, I’ll try transferring the camp to a better location, where there is enough material to build an internal ecological cycle,” he began to consider establishing a small regional ecosystem, at least ensuring the food supply for himself or a few others shouldn’t be a problem.

“But the premise is, the Ultimate Gate needs to maintain its current state. To keep a balance with the Black Disaster.”

After setting his thoughts straight, after eating lunch in the afternoon, Yu Hong returned to the cave, continuing to cultivate.

When the night turns dark.

A slight feeling of discomfort suddenly emerged from the depth of his mind, from the mark of the Black Ship.

Yu Hong, who was meditating in the basement, suddenly frowned and opened his eyes.

Sensing the mark of the Black Ship carefully, he immediately saw a blurry image in front of him.

A tumultuous black river was constantly battering a huge Black Ship, causing it to tilt violently.

From a distance, it seemed like it could be knocked over at any moment.

The Black Ship began to experience increasingly strong pulling forces, a propulsive force generated by the black river’s battering, seemingly intending to drag the Black Ship to flow down the river.

“No wonder the Black Ship moves to another place periodically, now it seems… it must be due to the periodic torrents generated by the Black River.”

Yu Hong suddenly realized.

As clear as it was, whether to go or not was still a question.

But this question, when he noticed the mark of the Black Ship starting to slowly weaken, becoming blurry and fragmented, he no longer hesitated.

Because the current had already begun to affect and damage the Black Ship.

Immediately, he stood up, called over three Dragon Lizards, and quickly arranged the Secret Technique Infinite River Technique within the Heavenly River’s Agrius.

The Imperial Spearman had died once, and was already repaired in the Heavenly River. Now, given to Yiyi for protection.

Agrius was also in good condition, but too large to be casually released.

Yu Hong thought for a moment, tried to put the three Dragon Lizards into the Heavenly River, but failed.

Helplessly, he brought the Dragon Lizards onto the Black Ship behind.

One Dragon Lizard carried supplies and water, one brought spare clothes, and another was responsible for watching the surroundings and maintaining vigilance to supplement Yu Hong’s own safety preparations.

Standing on the Black Ship, Yu Hong leaned on the railing, watching the tumultuous black river below.

He gently released his control over the pulling force of the Black Ship.

Creak creak…

After a faint sound of noise, the body of the ship started to flow down the black river.

Under the extreme cold, the Black Ship also seemed to be affected, its body becoming more brittle, losing any toughness.

The originally extremely hard hull, under the battering of the black water, occasionally showed signs of debris falling.

Standing by the railing, Yu Hong simply decided to wait quietly here.

“Come to think of it, since I merged with the Black Ship and turned it into my own mark of possession, this is the first time I’m taking a trip out in the ship.”

His gaze continuously wandered through the black mist and Black River on both sides.

Not long after, about half an hour later.

The black fog in front of the Black Ship gradually dispersed, revealing an elliptical gray island.

The surroundings of the island clearly had traces of human modification, with gray-black stone beaches sporting rusted dock posts painted with white paint.

Pole by pole, they were inserted into the shallow water, connected by long silver metal chains.

Beside the dock’s stone beach, there was a dilapidated, abandoned white-painted wooden water house.

The house was cubic, only five or six meters in length and width, and the outer wall was written with red paint, seemingly cautionary signs.

Yu Hong touched the translator he wore on his ear, quickly recorded the inscriptions, and stored them, waiting to accumulate more for analysis and translation.

Soon, the Black Ship entered the shallow water area in front of the poles and slowly came to a stop, motionless.

Yu Hong thought for a moment, then appropriately picked up the anchor from the deck, threw it into the water, and stabilized the ship.

Then he went to the side of the ship, bringing along three Dragon Lizards and leaped down one by one.

Plop.

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He executed the Thunderbolt Leg Technique, leaping out, and his substantial weight only left two shallow pits upon landing.

“This place….” Yu Hong glanced at the detector on his collar, and suddenly his expression became serious.

Although he was no longer wearing the suit, he still detached the detector and pinned it on the collar of his shirt, convenient for checking at any time.

The temperature at this moment was: -4 degrees.

“What’s going on??” Yu Hong thought he read it wrong, carefully wiped the LCD screen, and looked again.

It indeed was minus four degrees!

“A Cold Disaster outbreak, even if in distant other Aurora Cities the temperature is minus one hundred degrees, the sea frozen solid, all life withered, a vision of desolation, perhaps some places due to special terrain could raise the temperature to minus ninety degrees or even higher and warmer. But…”

Yu Hong looked around.

This island wasn’t big, and only now he realized, upon stepping onto the island, that there was actually no black fog here.

The cold night wind blew, bringing a burst of sea smell.

Wait, the smell of the sea!?!

Yu Hong seemed to realize something, standing on the gray-black stone beach, suddenly turned his head.

In an instant, his pupils contracted, as if he saw something unbelievable.

At this moment, the Black Ship behind him, was actually not parked in a black river, but in a vast dark blue ocean.

Beyond the Black Ship, further out at sea there was no black mist, only distant, faintly twinkling yellow lights from ships at night.

The ship lights slowly moved, just departing towards the distance, and then new ship lights appeared from other directions.

Yu Hong rubbed his eyes and looked again carefully.

The wind that carried the smell of the sea, the waves washing the gray-black stones on the beach, and the occasional white seagulls passing by, all proved he wasn’t hallucinating.

Hum.

Suddenly, in the black sky, a large passenger plane slowly glided by, carrying flashing yellow navigation lights, heading towards the far horizon.

Yu Hong looked up, watched this familiar scene, and suddenly felt a block in his heart.

An indescribable feeling surged within him.

How long had it been since he last saw such a plane…

He watched the airplane fly further away until it completely disappeared into the night sky, then reluctantly withdrew his gaze.

He turned his attention back to the small island.

Yu Hong then realized that something seemed off about this place.

The dock connected to two rows of simple white painted houses.

The paint on the houses was peeling off, exposing the gray-black wood underneath, which looked quite old.

Some shop signs still featured models in fiery hot, super short skirts with black hair.

Yu Hong scanned the surroundings and saw no trace of any living person.

He thought for a moment, waved to let the three Dragon Lizards go back to the ship, and took off his bulletproof suit, examined the models’ attire on the billboards to make sure he was unproblematic, then changed into a plain white long-sleeved T-shirt and black jeans, and stretched his limbs.

Step by step, he walked onto the island like an ordinary person, following the white-gray road connected to the dock.

Between the abandoned houses on either side, he gradually slowed his pace, allowing the translator to collect as many local words and corresponding use scenarios as possible.

After about ten minutes,

The translator made a soft prompt sound.

“Unknown script recorded, by comparing and referencing similar language systems, translation progress accelerated to completion, please name it.”

“Second Night Language,” Yu Hong casually said.

“Confirmed as Second Night Language, would you like to start real-time voice translation?”

“Start.”

Instantly, the shop signs were all verbally translated.

Plaques and signs, in Yu Hong’s eyes, all changed.

Grilled squid, sweet rice ball shops, seafood fresh grilled, dried seafood, tourist information, and all kinds of shop signs were available.

Walking to the end of the road between the two rows of houses, the largest billboard appeared in front of him.

‘Welcome to Holiday Tourism, this is the first-class scenic area of Huangsong Island.’

Besides the text, there was also a collage picture of many people engaging in various water activities.

Swimming, fishing, surfing, sailing, and more.

Yu Hong moved his gaze from the sign and looked beneath.

From here, the road split into two directions.

To the left was a white stone road heading to a deeper part of the island up a slope.

To the right led to another beach.

“This way, this way!”

“Why are there so few people here?”

“Isn’t this said to be a first-class scenic area? There isn’t even a snack stand to buy from, only an idiot could live here, such a poor experience, next time I will pick the location.”

“We’re here already, let’s explore a bit anyway. Don’t you all think this place is thrilling?”

A burst of conversation from young men and women came drifting from afar.