Chapter 117: Intermittent 1
Plop.
Plop.
Plop.
Bucket after bucket of rocks were moved out of the mountain cave by Yu Hong and dumped in the yard.
Then he picked up his stone carving tools and returned to the cave, continuing to work on the new chamber. This ti, however, his fourth chamber was not being dug downwards but extended into the mountain itself.
...
He intended this fourth chamber to be used for entertainnt, relaxation, and rest.
Having his bed in the front entrance room for a long ti significantly affected his rest.
So he planned to make a separate room for rest and entertainnt, where he could also keep so of his most valuable belongings. If the entrance was breached, he’d still have strategic depth for a secondary defense.
From seven o’clock in the morning until noon, a total of five hours, he spent all his ti digging.
After lunch, he took a one-hour nap before he got up to practice his skills.
The Basic Survival Leg Technique was now combined with the Vortex Rune and the Heavy Leg Skill, allowing him to cultivate Inner Qi at a much faster pace than before. According to the enhancent of the Black Mark, this Cultivation Technique should be able to resist the shadow.
Thus, it also made Yu Hong look forward with so anticipation and curiosity as to how the technique should resist the shadow.
After practicing for three hours, he headed to the post office and finally brought back the breeding boxes that Lao Li had prepared for him. In addition to the breeding boxes, there were also spawn bags as he needed to first cultivate mushrooms before he could start breeding cockroaches, and only after having a stockpile would he begin breeding lizard hatchlings, which would be fed with cockroaches to produce dried lizard.
“How should I start this breeding?” Next to the communicator, Yu Hong carefully poured team after team of humus into the box, spread it out evenly, then picked up the spawn bags and looked at the instructions left by Lao Li.
The instructions were very detailed.
“….First, sterilize to ensure that only the fungus from the spawn bags exists.”
He thought for a mont, poured out all the humus, and boiled it in a large pot with a little water.
But soon, the bottom of the pot was burnt… it seed sothing in the soil had charred.
He hurriedly poured it out and found the bottom of the pot was almost burnt through. If it weren’t for the redy of the Black Mark…
Just the sterilization process took him all afternoon, and finally, he ca up with a thod: steaming over water, steaming it bit by bit in batches.
By evening, he got the soil ready, then he put in the spawn bags, sprayed water, covered it with a layer of plastic cloth for insulation, and then it was just a matter of waiting.
‘I hope it works.’
Yu Hong placed the breeding box in the basent and after getting everything else in order, he continued with his evening practice.
This life continued for three days, during which he watched as white mushroom caps sprouted from the black soil in the breeding box.
This sight quickly relaxed Yu Hong’s sowhat anxious heart.
Early on the fourth day, he went to the post office to check the situation.
Knock, knock, knock.
A clear knocking sound was quickly followed by the stone house door being opened. The two won, who had been inford of his arrival through the communicator, were waiting inside.
Aisena was also there, wrapped in a luminous stone blanket as if she had just woken up.
“Uncle Yu!”
Upon seeing Yu Hong, she hurriedly greeted him crisply.
“Nana, have you been alright these past few days? I’ll look after you until your dad cos back. Rember to tell if anything cos up.” Yu Hong entered the house and pinched the girl’s cheek.
“Yeah, there’s nothing wrong,” Aisena shook her head, looking very well-behaved.
“Mr. Yu… Nana’s been fine, but yesterday when we went out to fetch water, we found a dead body… a body lying by the water,” said one of Lao Li’s won. She had her hair tied in two braids and, without makeup, looked fresh and pretty, and seed to be in her early twenties at most.
“A dead body?” Yu Hong raised an eyebrow, “Was it a recent death?”
“No… no, it was a body that had died a long ti ago,” the woman shook her head.
“What’s your na?” Yu Hong sized up the woman who had a slight figure but clearly possessed a lively gaze, unlike the other one who didn’t seem to be just another stereotypical beauty without brains.
“Lin Haini,” the woman answered promptly, “With the wilds now often covered with Blood Tide Black Insects, it’s impossible for bodies to remain. So when I saw it, I found it very strange.”
“Where do you draw water from?” asked Yu Hong.
“It’s near Baiqiu Village, Sange made a small pond for collecting rainwater,” the other woman seed not to want to be ignored, so she butted in. “Mr. Yu, I’m Song Wei, I also discovered the body, and I can take you to see it.”
Lin Haini glanced at her companion but said nothing more, seemingly deliberately yielding.
“Alright, there’s enough ti. You lead the way,” Yu Hong didn’t care who led, his aim was to see the body.
A body preserved from the Blood Tide Black Insects definitely held so hidden secrets.
Imdiately, Song Wei took the initiative, grabbed a rune board, and led Yu Hong along a familiar route out of the stone house towards their regular water collection site.
Before long, they passed through the stone house and arrived at a dim stone wall hidden behind so bushes, shielded by several large trees.
Underneath the stone wall, a duckbill-shaped pond was dug, dotted with floating leaves.
The pond was full of water, crystal clear to the bottom. On the grassy edge, there lay a completely dried-up black body, quietly prostrate on the ground.
The body was clad in gray-black loose clothing with many pockets and wore a wide-brimd sun hat. One hand was tightly clutching sothing, the other hand reached forward as if trying to continue crawling forward, perhaps trying to drink water.
“Did you find a corpse here when you gathered water before?” Yu Hong asked.
“No, it must have just appeared,” Song Wei quickly replied.
She was still sowhat afraid of the burly stranger in front of her.
Yu Hong nodded and moved closer to the corpse, pulling out a Red Value detector from his bag.
To his surprise, even as he approached within one ter of the corpse, the detector still showed the environntal Red Value of about twenty, with no fluctuation whatsoever.
Yu Hong pulled out the Wolf Fang Club and gently flipped the corpse over.
Plop.
The body lay face up, its hollow eye sockets devoid of eyeballs, as if sothing had gouged them out.
He looked like the withered body of an old man, but the type of shoes he wore indicated that he definitely was not an elderly person.
At least an old man would not wear shoes much too large for his feet, especially in such an extrely dangerous environnt.
Quickly, Yu Hong noticed that the man’s clenched hand seed to be holding sothing.
He squatted down, pried the corpse’s fingers open one by one, and pulled out a yellowed wad of paper from its palm.
Unfolding the paper, he saw a series of hasty, scribbled lines.
“….My dear Wasanna, by the ti you read this letter, I will no longer be of this world. The family’s fall to this state was never my intention. That reckless gamble—if we had won, we would have soared to great heights, but having lost… this is the result.
Everyone must bear the price for their choices, myself included, as does the family.
But do you think that losing everything ans we will forever plumt, unable to rise again? No… That’s not it. We are one of the oldest families in Frilika, the most united family without equal. Centuries ago, due to our unity, we accomplished feats beyond the imagination of ordinary people. We haven’t lost yet; there’s still hope!”
Yu Hong frowned slightly, sensed his surroundings to ensure there were no dangers, and continued reading.
“….According to the map I left in the safe, return to our family’s place of origin… All our secrets are there. They are all buried there.”
“What’s this? A mber of a decayed family who ca here for an adventure, seeking treasure?” Yu Hong reviewed the letter carefully after reading it.
Apart from a na at the bottom of the paper, he found nothing else.
“Lurs isha.”
He read the na aloud. This na clearly didn’t follow the style of Donghe but seed more typical of a Frilikan na.
Yu Hong thought for a mont, then quickly checked the corpse’s pockets.
However, other than pulling out assorted items like a flashlight, a magnesium rod, a simple water filter straw, and a backpack stuffed with food packaging, the man had nothing else, not even a silver coin—he was utterly penniless.
Standing up, Yu Hong’s brow furrowed deeply.
“Let’s go, we’ll head back first and talk,” he instructed.
The mist around them was becoming denser—it would be dangerous to stay out much longer.
“Okay!” Song Wei quickly nodded.
The two hurried back to the post office, where they happened upon Old Zhou moving items.
Zhou Xueguang was transferring items from the post office to the underground safety bunker where Jenny and her daughter lived.
With a large sack on his back, he nodded to Yu Hong and prepared to leave.
“Old Zhou, just the man I needed to ask so questions,” Yu Hong called out to him. “How about coming in and sitting down together?”
Old Zhou was silent for a mont, taking several seconds before he replied.
“Alright.”
The group entered the post office and sat down, while Song Wei and Lin Haini conscientiously took Nana down to hide in the cellar.
Leaving Yu Hong and Zhou Xueguang facing each other.
“What’s up?” Zhou Xueguang exhaled tiredly.
“I found an abnormal corpse. Have you seen anything like it on the front lines?” Yu Hong described the blackened mummy he had just seen and handed the letter over for the other to read.
“….I’m just a low-ranking officer; I know a lot about front-line intelligence, but I’m not familiar with the situation in Frilika,” Zhou Xueguang shook his head.
He gently fluttered the letter in his hand.
“This is strange. In the current dangerous environnt, how did this person from Frilika cross the vast sea to Donghe, and co to our vicinity?”
“Could it be like you, having also retreated from the front lines?” Yu Hong asked.
“Donghe doesn’t recruit rcenaries. It’s possible that the joint army might have so exchange officers. But why would he co all the way here?” Zhou Xueguang frowned.
“According to what the letter says, this place seems to hide a big secret of their family,” Yu Hong said.
“Not necessarily, it’s also possible that this person died on the way before reaching the destination marked on his map,” Zhou Xueguang countered.
“That makes sense,” Yu Hong nodded. “Indeed, aside from a Pyroxene Ore Mine, there’s not much else of value in this place.”
While saying this, Yu Hong couldn’t help but feel the corpse was more complex than it seed.
“For now, let’s not worry about the rest. Since the Multi-eyed Bird is also avoiding the area, we must make all the necessary preparations quickly,” Zhou Xueguang reminded.
“Understood,” Yu Hong nodded firmly. The mushrooms in his cultivation box were sprouting, and the life of self-sufficiency beckoned. Soon, he would be able to stay at ho without going out, completely hidden away.
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