Choice Two

Yu Hong's smile slowly faded from his face.

He needed information, enough information about the Evil Shadow. If he could find the survivor who had escaped death, the one who had been attacked by the Evil Shadow Withered Woman and lived to tell the tale, he might be able to get firsthand information.

Unfortunately, the town had relocated earlier, and that person had likely already left.

Thinking this, he decided not to strengthen himself but instead to stand up and pace around the cave.

After a while, he stopped in his tracks and walked up to the front door, peering out through the viewing window.

The forest at dusk was utterly silent.

The distant Baiqiu Village had only a faint outline and was similarly quiet.

Looking at the scenery outside,

Yu Hong suddenly thought of something, his expression changed from a slight frown to contemplative.

He pulled over the board and his gaze fell on the rune-enhanced Wolf Fang Club.

This club had started off as merely a crude steel-luminous stone club. But now, it had improved much....

Of course, the item had already been strengthened once, and a second time would be useless.

So what he was considering was not the club itself, but the idea of placing a Large Pyroxene inside the club.

"If a single piece of Large Pyroxene is insufficient, what if I combine several pieces into one, or even grind the Large Pyroxene into powder and mix it with ink to draw Advanced Physical Runes?"

"Could that enhance the effect and shorten the time?"

*

*

*

More than ten kilometers away from Baiqiu Village was Baishi Town.

On the winding, lengthy central street, dried yellow leaves were blown about by the wind, rustling as they tumbled across the ground.

The flat gray concrete street was full of potholes and cracks.

The shops lining the street had long been closed.

The dim sunlight split the street into patches of light and shadow.

Bang!

Suddenly, the door of a shop burst open from the inside.

A muscular, bearded man in gray sportswear, looking disheveled, rushed out and sprinted towards the end of the street.

He was sweating profusely, his eyes bloodshot, and in one hand, he clutched a Large Pyroxene.

The jade quality of the Large Pyroxene was rapidly turning pale from top to bottom.

This indicated it was being swiftly depleted.

"Don't... don't kill me!! Don't come any closer!!"

The man was on the verge of breakdown.

He cried out, his voice echoing eerily alone on the street.

"Please! Don't come any closer!!"

He shouted with a trembling voice, stumbling forward. He kept looking back, scared, as if something was chasing him.

But behind him, there was nothing, just a quiet, empty street.

Thud.

Suddenly, the man lost his footing and fell to the ground.

A clear Black Mark slowly appeared on his back.

The handprint wasn't large; it seemed like a child had made it. But now, that handprint emerged through his clothes, as if it had been smeared with ink, visible clearly on his jacket.

Hiss.

Suddenly, a massive amount of black liquid started oozing from the handprint.

The liquid turned his clothes black, and along with that, his arms, face, all swiftly turned black.

As his body became blackened, the man quickly started to shrivel, as if dehydrated.

He struggled, making sobbing sounds from his throat, but within a few seconds, the cries ceased.

The man's body also stopped moving entirely, turning into a charred, desiccated corpse.

A gust of wind passed.

The dried-up body suddenly vanished, leaving only a pile of clothes behind.

*

*

*

The next day.

Baiqiu Village Post Office.

In front of the stone building of the post office in the woods.

Jenny, Dr. Xu, Yu Hong, and old Yu were all gathered together.

Jenny looked somewhat haggard, as if she hadn't rested well the previous night, and her gaze was somewhat unfocused, lost in thought.

Dr. Xu held a piece of jerky, biting into it occasionally, squinting his eyes.

Old Yu was specifically responsible for breeding lizards and making jerky, his expression grimmer than before.

"Old Yu, didn't you leave? Why are you back?" Dr. Xu spoke.

"I ran back halfway. They suddenly demanded everyone to hand over half of their resources, everyone had to pay, haha, if I hadn't remembered the way back, they'd have really fleeced me!" Old Yu sneered.

He turned and his gaze fell on Yu Hong.

"Young man, Jenny said you can get Large Pyroxene? Are you sure it's a long-term stable source?"

"I can, but I need to rest sometimes," Yu Hong nodded. He had planned to take over Old Yu's breeding cave with Jenny and Dr. Xu.

After all, they needed a steady food supply, and before leaving, Old Yu had already agreed to hand over his breeding cave to those who stayed.

He didn't expect Old Yu to return so soon...

But it was good he came back; they certainly wouldn't be as skilled at breeding as Old Yu himself.

"It's good to hear that. Now we have candles and Large Pyroxene; as long as we're careful, we have a great chance to live safely. Now that everyone is here, I propose we all move into the vacated post office basement. It's the sturdiest place, rooms are big enough, equipped well, and it's good to have company," Old Yu suggested.

"I have no objections. I brought down the candle-making tools, I'll supply the candles from now on. They're not hard to make," Dr. Xu replied.

"I'd rather not, I'm used to living alone," Yu Hong refused.

"I'm fine with anything." Jenny nodded.

"We're one person short, but that's settled then. Jenny handles clothing, repair, and modification. I handle food, Yu Hong handles the Large Pyroxene Stone, and Doctor Xu handles wax creation and emergency medical care. From now on, it's just us here, so we'd better help each other out and try our best." Old Yu said, clearly anticipating Yu Hong's reluctance.

"Is there any news about that Evil Shadow in town?" Yu Hong couldn't help but ask.

Without knowing the strength of that Evil Shadow, he always felt a heavy sense of foreboding, as if something bad might happen.

"There is a bit," Old Yu said. "It's said to be related to the Black Mark. If you see a black handprint in the wilderness, don't touch it. Stay away." Old Yu lowered his head and coughed a few times.

"Anything else?" Jenny asked.

"Just this: don't think about going to town to scavenge. Some people who stayed have gone to town and not many have come back alive." Old Yu smiled strangely. "In these times, living another day is a blessing; cherish it."

After agreeing to meet at the originally scheduled time, the four each returned to their dwellings.

Yu Hong confirmed that the food source was fairly stable and the supply of candles was good, which settled his mind quite a bit.

Returning to the cave, the ground was covered with Great Pyroxene Rune Patterns he had sketched.

All of these were from his practice sessions, not using a charcoal pencil, just roughly sketching with stones.

Looking at the mess in the room, Yu Hong sighed, knowing he still had much to do.

He had shortened the enrichment time for the Large Pyroxene Stone. He had already started its formal enhancement yesterday.

Without knowing how much pyroxene was needed to dispel the Evil Shadow, he could only try to produce as much as possible.

At the same time, he had to explore new and more effective methods to resist the Evil Shadow.

Taking out a protein bar and biting it, Yu Hong took off his shirt and began exercising the Advanced Physical Training Method.

After working out for an hour, he started searching for a hammer and found a corner in the cave. He crouched down and began grinding vigorously.

He had already shattered a small primitive pyroxene stone before; the main task now was to grind it fine enough.

"If the action of dispelling shadows is constituted by luminous stone and rune together, then surely I could make it work by using pyroxene powder to trace the rune!" Yu Hong thought while grinding the stone, his mind racing for better methods.

About half an hour later, the luminous stone powder was ready.

He mixed in a bit of carbon powder, poured it into a wooden bowl, added water, and stirred—it became a batch of standard luminous stone ink.

After the success, Yu Hong glanced outside; the sky was darkening again.

'Why does it feel like it gets dark faster and faster...?' He furrowed his brows, walked over, and slid the peephole cover shut.

Ever since being startled by a shadow, he never left the peephole cover open while sleeping anymore.

With the peephole cover shut, this time he didn't light the fireplace but lit a candle instead and placed it on a wooden stool.

Then, he took a wooden stick, dipped it in luminous stone ink, and carefully drew the Great Pyroxene Rune on the side of the stone wall by the fireplace.

The stone wall was not even, so he had previously chiseled an area the size of a basin with a chisel and hammer.

Since he had already practiced elsewhere, carving the rune on the wall was not difficult for Hong at all.

After all, the requirements were not high; a rough match was enough, and it was large. It was much easier than drawing on a small pyroxene.

Yu Hong carefully wiped away the fine dust on the wall, then filled in the lines of the Great Pyroxene Rune with luminous stone ink bit by bit.

The lines were fine, not requiring much luminous stone ink.

In about fifteen minutes, the entire wall rune stone carving was complete.

Yu Hong stepped back to admire his handiwork.

Knock, knock, knock.

Suddenly, the door rhythmically knocked.

"Is anyone there?" an unfamiliar female voice came from outside, "It's gettin' dark outside, could I come in and take cover..."

"I heard noises! Is someone there?" the voice outside continued.

Yu Hong's expression remained unchanged, as if he hadn't heard a thing, glancing at the door where he saw the Great Pyroxene behind it slowly but firmly changing color, top to bottom.

He exhaled, pulled a stool over, sat behind the door, leaning against the side wall, and silently watched.

Knock, knock, knock.

The knocking continued relentlessly.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Finally, all fell silent again.

And the Great Pyroxene behind the door had depleted by a third.

Yu Hong quickly removed it and replaced it with a fully charged one.

Casually using the Black Mark to charge the Great Pyroxene, he stood up and returned to his sleeping bag to lie down and rest.

The amount of consumption of the Large Pyroxene determined the duration of recovery.

This time, the knocking shadow was not strong, only needing two hours to fully recharge.

Yu Hong, laying on his back, his hands cushioning the back of his head next to the candle.

The biggest advantage of a candle over a fireplace was that it did not need additional wood.

And according to what Jenny had told him, the light from the atomic lamp could not dispel the Blood Tide Black Insects.

Only open flame could.

'Luckily, my goal in buying the atomic lamp was just to experiment with the enhanced version. If I could directly enhance something like an energy reactor...' he fantasized.

As the days passed, he had become accustomed to living in this dangerous forest.

Accustomed to falling asleep in an ever-present state of potential danger.

Knock, knock, knock.

In the dead of night, the candle flickered.

Another round of knocking woke Yu Hong from his sleep.

He glanced at the door cover, which showed nothing but darkness outside. Knowing it was another shadow, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, stood up, lifted the pot of boiling water, and took deep gulps to hydrate.

After drinking, he ignored the continued knocking and went to the luminous stone ink rune he had drawn during the day.

The basin-sized rune stone carving had already dried.

The rejuvenated Large Pyroxene lying on the ground had also been fully recharged by the Black Mark.

Ignoring the Large Pyroxene, Yu Hong stretched out his hand and lightly pressed it to the Large Rune on the wall.

This was his experiment; if successful, it would greatly increase the efficiency of using the pyroxene compared to before.