The sun shone brightly, and the shadows of the trees swayed.
Eve, whose clothes had been swallowed by the wind, rolled about uncontrollably but remained rooted in place due to the pressure of a stone. It remained motionless.
On the grass, a tiny black centipede slowly crawled out of the soil, moving toward the pile of clothes.
The centipede didn’t directly crawl on top of the clothes. Instead, it circled around, turning back and forth, again and again.
After realizing it couldn’t crawl into the clothes, the centipede grew impatient, turned, and scuttled off in another direction.
Poof!
At that mont, a black hand shot out from the pile of clothes and pressed down on the centipede.
Whoosh.
The black hand withdrew into the pile of clothes, vanishing with the centipede.
Soon, the pile of clothes seed to be seized by sothing and was pulled sideways, causing the stone to roll away to the side.
The clothes seed to be moved by the wind, rolling about as if alive, heading toward the gathering place near the post office.
*
*
*
With a rustling sound, the envelope was torn open, and the letter unfolded.
Yu Hong carefully read the precious letter.
“I am Lin Yiyi. I’ve been at this seaside base for three days now. According to the regulations, our squad will be stationed here for a long ti, so in the future, you can send letters directly here. The address is at the end of the letter. But rember, don’t send any valuable items; they may be lost along the way.”
“Just as I thought, it’s Yiyi.” Yu Hong sighed in relief. Seeing that the stutterer was safe, he finally eased his worried mind.
He continued reading.
“That day I left in a hurry, but honestly, I don’t regret leaving. Baiqiu Village beca increasingly strange and dangerous.”
There were marks of sothing crossed out, clearly more words had been written but erased.
“My father and grandfather went missing, and my mother disappeared one day when she went out and never returned.
I rember, when the food ran out at ho, I started eating rats and bugs. Later, even the rats and bugs beca scarce, and I ate tree bark and mud. Eventually, my stomach grew larger, and my mind beca more and more unclear. That’s when I realized, tree bark and mud couldn’t be eaten anymore. So, I started walking outside.” ŘἈℕоᛒÊṧ
“I stayed out one night. You probably wouldn’t believe it, but luckily there were no black bugs that night, so I survived. I stayed at the Luminous Stone mine near the village. If you ever find yourself in a situation you can’t handle, you can go there too. But don’t stay too long. After I ca back from there, I got a fever that sa day. I don’t rember much after that, just that an old man who wanted to steal sothing from the house saved .”
“I was still young and stupid back then, didn’t understand anything, so I gave him everything. Afterward, whenever I was close to dying, he would co and give so food. But after I grew older, I never saw him again. He might have died.”
“Anyway, I’m telling you all this just to let you know that I’m fine, doing well, and you don’t have to worry. By the way, this letter was written by my roommate Anseline. She’s a good person and treated well. If you have anything nice, you can send it to her.”
When Yu Hong read this last line, he couldn’t help but laugh. This line clearly wasn’t written by the stutterer herself. It was likely added by her roommate. The smoothness of the language indicated it had been polished by her.
But it didn’t matter. At least this proved that the stutterer was safe.
Moreover, the fact that she had ti to reminisce about the past ant she must be in a relatively stable environnt.
After finishing the letter, he flipped it over and, just as expected, saw a sowhat scribbled map.
The map marked Baiqiu Village, the post office, the town, the Luminous Stone mine, and the ruins.
Lines connected these locations, each marked with a number.
Yu Hong carefully examined the numbers, which seed to correspond to the estimated ti taken for walking between locations.
His face softened. With this simple map, he now had a clear idea of the locations of the mine and the ruins.
Just as he was about to fold the letter and keep it, his gaze seed to land on a spot on the map.
He stopped his actions and unfolded the map again for a closer look.
Indeed.
On the map, right next to the ruins, there was a small black dot.
This black dot didn’t stand out much on the map, but it was marked with a red “X” and a small line of text next to it.
“Don’t go there!”
“Even Baiqiu Village wasn’t marked like this, so this place must be even more dangerous.” He carefully rembered the location.
After securing the letter, he quickened his pace, heading toward the cave where Jenny and her daughter lived.
He soon arrived at the entrance of the cave.
He stopped and scanned the surroundings, making sure no one else was around before he took out a Great Luminous stone from his pocket and approached the door step by step.
He squatted in front of the door, took out a key, gently inserted it, twisted, and pulled upward.
Click.
The wooden door, camouflaged as part of the grass, made a distinct unlocking sound before being pulled open.
Yu Hong took a quick glance inside. It was a dark, deep tunnel.
A hint of hesitation flashed across his face.
Places like this, once you go in and soone blocks the exit, it’s a certain death.
If Jenny and her daughter were still around, they would know if there were any other exits in the tunnel.
But he wasn’t the owner, and didn’t know what dangers or exits might be inside.
Poof.
He quickly shut the wooden door again, locked it, and turned to leave.
“I need soone to guard the outside if I’m going to try searching inside.”
There was another way, but it wasn’t the right ti to use it.
He left Jenny’s house and went straight to Dr. Xu’s house.
Unlike Jenny’s cave, Dr. Xu’s residence was a typical underground cellar.
The door was solid, with a cross-shaped window on one side. From the outside, it looked as though the entire hill had been hollowed out.
Knock knock knock.
Yu Hong knocked on the door.
“Who’s there!?” Dr. Xu’s cautious voice ca from inside.
“It’s , Yu Hong.”
“When did we last part ways?”
“Before the outbreak of the climax period, you were to check if the Luminous stone reacted,” Yu Hong reminded.
There was silence behind the door, followed by the unmistakable click of the door being unlocked.
Dr. Xu’s tired and haggard face appeared, but her eyes were much brighter than before.
“You ca just in ti! My herb worked!” She said, filled with joy. “I tested it on rats and found that it can really substitute for the treatnt of wound inflammation and disinfection! It’s only slightly weaker than antibiotics like penicillin. Of course, I’ve also been making penicillin and streptomycin, but they can’t handle contamination interference. I need better disinfection equipnt.”
She pulled Yu Hong inside, locked the door, and excitedly led him into the house.
The cellar had three rooms: one for her bed, another full of various tools and containers, obviously a workshop, and the last was a storage room, which seed to double as a bathroom.
The whole place reeked of mildew and was damp and cold, which was typical of most cellars and basents.
“Co, co here!! The herb I promised you is really ready!” Dr. Xu’s face was flushed, clearly in a state of ntal excitent.
She dragged Yu Hong into the workshop and pointed to a pile of green mush that had been stirred into a sticky paste.
“This is it! I did it! I tested it on rats, and the inflammation disappeared completely! This is a brand-new anti-inflammatory drug. If society were still intact, I’d definitely make a fortune and earn tons of money!”
“Very impressive!” Yu Hong nodded, raising his assessnt of Dr. Xu considerably.
Creating such a herb, if it truly works, ans they will have a continuous supply of dicine, which is a huge boon considering the severe shortage of drugs.
But that wasn’t why he had co here today.
Once Dr. Xu cald down a bit, he carefully chose his words and said seriously, “Do you rember Jenny’s daughter, Eve? The one who tried to infect us with the black handprint.”
“Of course. She must be dead by now, right?” Dr. Xu frowned, her mood cooling from the excitent. She had a feeling there was sothing off about Yu Hong’s unexpected visit.
“She’s dead.” Yu Hong nodded. “Her mother, Jenny, is also dead.”
“Jenny’s dead too?” Dr. Xu was a bit surprised, but quickly accepted it.
“Well, her daughter was a ss, so maybe she passed the infection to her. It’s better that they’re both dead. At least I’ve seen their true colors.”
She paused, then suddenly looked at Yu Hong.
“A new mailman ca, did you know?”
“Yeah, I saw him just now. His na is Li Runshan, looks like a decent guy,” Yu Hong nodded.
“He can send letters. Yiyi sent one, and I plan to reply, but the price is a bit high.” Dr. Xu frowned.
Yu Hong had been considering the sa thing. Luminous stones were heavy, making them difficult to mail, and they might be lost along the way. No, they definitely would be taken.
“That’s good, then. Jenny and her daughter are dead, but their stuff and supplies are still there.” Yu Hong said in a deep voice.
Upon hearing this, Dr. Xu’s eyes lit up.
After a mont, the two headed back to Jenny’s cave.
Yu Hong opened the cover, revealing the dark tunnel below, and then looked at Dr. Xu.
“Who’s going in?”
Though he trusted Dr. Xu more than others, it was still concerning to enter a sealed tunnel.
“I’ll go,” Dr. Xu said without hesitation and crouched, heading into the tunnel.
Before long, she disappeared into the darkness.
Yu Hong stood guard at the entrance, alert.
About five minutes later, there was movent from the tunnel again. Dr. Xu struggled to drag a large plastic bag out of the tunnel.
“It worked!” She was covered in dirt, her hair soaked with sweat, and her gray top was drenched, revealing her full body curves, though she didn’t mind.
“There are many good things inside, but… I didn’t dare take much. There were many things I didn’t dare touch.”
“Why?” Yu Hong frowned, pulling her out.
“Many things inside had no markings, but when I got close with the Luminous stone, it reacted.” Dr. Xu pulled out a Luminous stone from her chest, which she had been wearing as a pendant. Half of the stone had already turned a dull gray.
“But the most important thing is that I managed to take it out. The rest can wait for another ti.” She changed her expression and pulled a small black box from her pocket. It looked like a pager, palm-sized, with a gray LCD screen in the middle.
(End of Chapter)
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