A Night of Desperation

Chapter 4 – Danger Part (2)

This stone could hurt the white-clad ghostly figure, so it was likely some sort of special item. Additionally, its small size made it harder to notice, even if there was some noise.

Moreover, if it could truly be enhanced, the power of the white stone would increase, making it much safer to deal with the previous ghostly figure.

With this in mind, Yu Hong picked up a white stone and looked at the little stutterer.

“Could you give me one? Thanks for saving me earlier! I’ll repay you,” he said earnestly.

The little stutterer shook her head.

“This one… it’s already useless,” she explained. “If you want it, just take it.”

Yu Hong nodded, took the white stone, and examined it.

The stone was about the size of a thumb’s nail. Its surface was marked with a dark red complex symbol that resembled some kind of religious talisman. A third of the stone had turned black, though it wasn’t clear why.

The stone felt icy to the touch, like an ice cube—chilling and somewhat bone-piercing.

Ssss.

Soon, a number appeared on the stone’s surface: 3 days.

A thought flashed through Yu Hong’s mind. It seemed the black mark sensed it and immediately transmitted a voice.

‘Would you like to enhance the target?’

Yu Hong stuffed the white stone into his pants pocket.

He tried responding in his mind: Yes.

The moment he confirmed, the black mark on the back of his hand heated up slightly, then quickly returned to normal.

At the same time, the white stone in his pocket also heated up briefly before returning to its usual state.

The little stutterer didn’t react at all to the movement of the white stone.

“Are you okay?” she asked curiously, looking at him.

“Almost… the sky is getting dark quickly. We… must prepare,” she stammered.

“Prepare for what?” Yu Hong asked. After the recent emotional and physical strain, his already weakened body was now returning to a normal state due to hormones dissipating.

He was still sick and inflamed. Earlier, he had only been able to fight off danger temporarily with physical and mental strength. Now, with the threat gone, his body was fighting off the virus and bacteria.

His immune system had started rapidly splitting immune cells again, and his body temperature was beginning to rise.

“At night… monsters are dangerous,” the little stutterer replied.

She glanced out the window. The sunlight outside was rapidly dimming.

The darkness was… abnormal. It was too fast.

It got so dark that Yu Hong could feel with his eyes that the light was fading.

This strange phenomenon made him feel increasingly anxious.

Clink, clink, clink…

The little stutterer suddenly pulled out a hammer and began hammering nails around the edges of the door and windows, seemingly reinforcing the surroundings.

The door was locked with thick chains from the inside, and three heavy bolts were placed across it.

Each bolt was as thick as an arm. The contact points between the bolts and the door panel were already worn smooth, showing that this wasn’t the first time such measures had been taken.

The light continued to grow dimmer and dimmer.

Yu Hong stood still in the room, stunned for a moment before he quickly reacted and tried to help check the safety of the cracks.

But because he was unfamiliar with the environment, the little stutterer soon pushed him back onto the bed, annoyed by his interference.

“You, don’t make trouble,” she said seriously.

She then crawled under the bed and pulled out a large black cloth bag.

Inside the bag were densely packed white stones. She carefully picked up a red pen and began writing red symbols on each of the stones.

‘So, she drew these red symbols herself?’ Yu Hong thought as he watched, realization dawning on him.

Suddenly, a very faint, sharp, theatrical-sounding female voice echoed from outside the room.

The voice was high and low, melodious yet eerie, like crying or acting, with a strange sense of being both real and fake.

Clink.

The little stutterer obviously heard the sound as well. She quickly grabbed a few white stones and handed them to Yu Hong, then took a large yellow candle from a corner, rubbing it with something like a magnesium stick to light it. She held it up, nervously watching the doors and windows.

Yu Hong stood behind her, noticing that the candle was unusually large—about the size of an egg.

“It’s here,” the little stutterer suddenly said.

At this point, Yu Hong noticed that the light outside the window had completely disappeared.

Only an unrelenting blackness remained, seeping through from outside.

Was it already night? How could it happen so fast?

He wanted to speak, but suddenly, a wave of dizziness hit him, impacting his consciousness. His body was growing hotter, and his throat became increasingly painful.

He needed to drink water and take medicine… fever medicine.

Otherwise, things might not turn out well.

He knew his own condition—whenever he had a fever from a cold, it felt like this. The last time he had a fever of 39°C, he wasn’t this weak; it was likely the shock had taken a toll on him.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he tightly gripped the white stone, staring nervously at the doors and windows.

The room was quiet, with both of them waiting.

The air was filled only with their breathing and heartbeats.

This state didn’t last long.

Clink.

Finally, a faint noise came from outside the door.

“It’s here!” the little stutterer shouted.

Her body tensed, her muscles visibly tightening. She held the thick candle high, creating a circle of light that covered as much of the room as possible.

Yu Hong, also tense, watched nervously.

He wasn’t sure what would happen, but from the little stutterer’s reaction, something bad was likely about to occur.

After all, the white ghostly figure from earlier hadn’t made her this nervous.

Soon, their wait bore fruit.

Outside in the dark, the sound of bugs crawling on the door and windows grew increasingly louder.

The sound was sudden, intense, and frantic, like a quiet void suddenly filled with the noise of a desert storm.

The sand-like noise continued to scrape the doors and windows of the room.

Yu Hong’s eyes widened as he saw that through the small gaps in the door and window—less than a centimeter wide—small black bugs were crawling in.

They were swarming in, hundreds, maybe thousands of them, all small like ants, with oval-shaped exoskeletons on their backs and monstrous, centipede-like mandibles. They had no eyes but many pairs of legs.

They looked like tiny black centipedes.

The bugs flooded the room, the scraping sounds growing louder, while the high-pitched female voice from the air grew closer and clearer.

“Get out!!” the little stutterer screamed. But she remained strangely still, holding up the candle and yelling furiously.

Yu Hong, sitting on the bed, wanted to stand and help, but his weak body didn’t have much strength left.

His back was sweating, but it quickly evaporated due to his high fever.

As he watched the black bugs pouring through the cracks in the room, his body tensed in fear, trembling.

His mind filled with horrific images of the bugs crawling all over his body, gnawing at his flesh.

It was a primal fear, impossible to suppress.

But then, something unexpected happened.

Ssss.

The first group of black bugs that crawled into the circle of light from the candle quickly dissolved, turning into black smoke and evaporating into the air.

The bugs seemed to be melting away, as if they were being burned, but they didn’t retreat. They continued to surge towards the little stutterer, relentlessly.

Soon, a ring of black bugs surrounded her, constantly dissolving, turning into black smoke, then dissipating into the air.

The smoke rose and quickly disappeared, leaving behind a pungent, foul smell.

Yu Hong stood there, shocked by the sight.

He racked his brain for an explanation, but couldn’t think of any bugs that would dissolve into black smoke when exposed to light.

This strange scene shattered all his previous assumptions and expectations.

Monsters.

Suddenly, a term mentioned by Doctor Xu earlier popped into his mind.

Yes, monsters.

The black bugs before him were truly monsters, weren’t they?

They were endless, like a tide, yet disintegrated and disappeared at the touch of light.

Yu Hong fell into a state of mental fog, carefully observing the black bugs and the candle, trying to find any signs of trickery.

Occasionally, he pinched his thigh hard, using the pain to keep himself awake, trying to prove that what he saw wasn’t a dream.

But all his actions confirmed that this was all real. It wasn’t a dream, nor was it an illusion.

And he noticed one more thing.

As the black bugs dissolved, the large candle in the little stutterer’s hand, which should have lasted for a long time, was quickly melting down as well, burning faster as the bugs attacked.

It seemed like fighting these black bugs was rapidly consuming the candle’s energy.

Time continued to pass in this tense, still silence.

Ten minutes.

Half an hour.

An hour.

Two hours.

They remained in this state without moving.

The candle in the little stutterer’s hand shrank from the size of her forearm to the length of her palm.

Suddenly, Yu Hong jumped up, turned, and reached back, grabbing a black bug from behind.

As soon as the bug was exposed to the light, it dissolved into smoke.

But Yu Hong quickly touched his backside.

His left cheek had been bitten by a bug, and blood soaked his pants, clearly indicating a deep wound.

The black bugs seemed to be attracted to the blood and began to surge towards him, but the candlelight remained firm, turning them into smoke.

Yu Hong covered his wound and limped towards the little stutterer, standing by her side, both of them watching the scene unfold.

The bugs surrounding the light ring continued to melt, turning into black smoke.

This strange, dangerous scene was like a meteor shower, shattering his worldview into pieces.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

Finally, the high-pitched female voice faded away, becoming distant.

As the voice disappeared, the black bugs entering the room started to thin out.

A faint light began to shine through the cracks in the door and window.

Finally.

The last few bugs were enveloped by the light, struggling to dissolve into smoke.

Everything returned to calm.

(End of this Chapter)