A Night of Desperation

Chapter 118: Intermittent (4)

The whistling wind flashed past, but the silver rune array struck nothing. There was nothing behind—only a vast expanse of mist.

Yu Hong got up, looked around, and quickly glanced at the detector. The numbers remained normal.

‘Trouble.’ He knew in his heart—this must be a new kind of Ghostly shadow.

The style, the method—it was still daylight. This was definitely not one of those crude blood tide monsters.

Thinking for a moment, he quickly stepped out of the courtyard, glancing back one last time at the stone house.

Inside, it was empty, as if nothing had happened.

‘I should go ask Zhou Xueguang immediately, but with the current situation, the outside environment could be extremely dangerous. If I just go over like this…’

‘No, even if I don’t go, he’ll definitely come out sooner or later to collect firewood or transport supplies. I should go warn him now!’

It wasn’t out of kindness—if what appeared just now was truly a new Evil shadow, he had to gather as much complete information as possible. This would be crucial for strengthening his Black Mark in the future.

And Zhou Xueguang had come from the frontlines—he had seen much and likely knew relevant intelligence.

So he had to find him quickly and warn him before anything happened, ensuring he could provide key details in time.

Yu Hong made a decisive choice, turning towards the underground safehouse where Old Zhou—also known as Jenny—resided.

He moved swiftly, nearly running.

The mist swept past him on both sides, and the cold wind howled.

Beep!

Suddenly, a sharp sound rang out from the detector in his hand.

Yu Hong’s heart skipped a beat. He looked around but found no movement at all.

Yet the detector continued its relentless alarm.

He picked it up and looked.

‘1842.215’

!!!

Yu Hong’s expression changed drastically. This number had already exceeded his estimated safety threshold.

Alarms rang in his mind. He waved the detector around, but the numbers barely fluctuated.

‘Why is this happening? Is the detector broken? Or is the red value in this area particularly strong?’

He quickened his pace, attempting to leave the area and escape the red value’s influence.

But even after reaching Zhou Xueguang’s burrow, the detector in his hand continued its relentless alarm.

Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock.

Three consecutive knocks—this was the second secret signal he and his companions had agreed upon.

“Old Zhou. Don’t open the door—it’s me, Yu Hong.”

Yu Hong surveyed his surroundings, crouching near the burrow as he spoke.

“The situation outside isn’t right. I need to ask you a few questions!”

“No need. I’ve already written it down—about the most common frontline threats and the trouble we are about to face.”

Zhou Xueguang’s voice came from below the burrow.

Soon, a rolled-up piece of white paper was pushed through the wooden ventilation slit of the burrow, falling onto the grass beside it.

Yu Hong grabbed the scroll and picked it up.

“The outside feels off. Don’t come out for now.”

“I understand. Be careful—I can feel something approaching. You’d better return to your safehouse immediately,” Zhou Xueguang warned quickly through the wooden board.

Whoosh.

Without hesitation, Yu Hong stowed the scroll away and bolted.

While running, he swiftly unrolled the paper to check its contents. The first thing written was exactly what he wanted to see.

‘The Intermittent Man 1—The Behind Person.’

‘This is an Evil Shadow that always lurks behind people. Victims typically see it three times, and on the third sighting, it suddenly strikes from behind. The method of attack is unknown. The means of prevention are unknown.

Handling method: The Behind Person only attacks one target at a time. Once this target dies, it moves on to the next. Back on the frontlines, two Blood Marks worked together to lure it into an abandoned underground cave. After detonating the cave, we completely buried and isolated it.’

There was a second entry on the paper, but Yu Hong had no time to read further.

Because the detector in his hand was beeping even more sharply.

The number on it had skyrocketed from over a thousand to more than three thousand in the blink of an eye!

3422.548!!

The sheer magnitude of this number made Yu Hong’s heart tighten.

Even with all his rune arrays combined, he wouldn’t be able to offset such an overwhelming red value!

Crack.

Crack.

Crack.

As he sprinted, an icy chill crept up his back, as if something cold was pressed against his skin, gradually lowering his body temperature.

Before long, the mist ahead began to disperse, revealing the one-meter-high courtyard wall of his safehouse cave.

At that moment, Yu Hong suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Because outside the white courtyard wall, a faint white figure stood still, peering inside.

‘How many times is this now?!’

Yu Hong realized that he was likely dealing with the Behind Person from the Intermittent man category of Evil Shadows.

Fortunately, he did not panic. This wasn’t his first encounter with an Evil Shadow, and besides, he still had silver rune arrays on him. Right in front of him was his small courtyard, planted with Luminous Stone Grass.

Hiss!

He took a deep breath, staring at the figure beyond the courtyard wall.

Clutching a stack of rune arrays, he charged forward.

Although he couldn’t neutralize the red value entirely, he could withstand a moment’s exposure and rush into the courtyard.

Besides, he still had that…

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The detector’s shrill alarm reached an unbearable pitch.

The closer Yu Hong got, the louder it became.

Whoosh!

Suddenly.

The white figure vanished soundlessly. Just as Yu Hong approached, it disappeared entirely, as if it had never existed.

He struck nothing. The alarms on his body instantly stopped, and he leapt over the wall into the Luminous Stone Grass field.

After rolling once, he got up.

‘Where did it go??’ Yu Hong straightened up and turned back. Behind him was the uniform gray-white wall, and beyond it, the mist concealed the distant trees. There was no trace of the figure.

Confirming that it was safe, he let out a breath and quickly checked his rune arrays.

“!!!”

One by one, he pulled them out. To his shock, all his rune arrays had turned into dull gray, signifying they had been used up.

Even the two silver rune arrays had lost their color, exhausted completely in that brief moment.

Looking at the depleted rune arrays, his heart grew heavy.

‘It hasn’t even launched a full attack yet, and even the silver rune array couldn’t withstand it.’

All signs indicated that the entity attacking them was most likely a high-tier Black Disaster. Given the timing, it was likely an Intermittent Person that had slipped through from the frontlines.

‘The Black Mark is still reinforcing the entire safehouse—I can’t rely on it right now. I have to hold out on my own.’

Taking out the paper scroll, Yu Hong walked up to the wooden house and knocked lightly.

“Old Li?”

Click.

The wooden door swung open abruptly, and a hand grabbed him, pulling him inside with force.

Bang.

The door shut behind them again.

Li Runshan gestured for silence, facing the slightly startled Yu Hong.

The two crouched against the wall, sitting close together.

“Old Li??” Yu Hong, sensing his unease, grew even more tense and lowered his voice.

“Shh, don’t make a sound. Listen.” Li Runshan whispered.

His face was covered in sweat, his lips were dry and cracked, and his eyes darted around unnaturally, as if constantly scanning his surroundings.

Yu Hong slowed his breathing and listened carefully.

Sure enough, now that everything was silent, the surrounding noises became much clearer.

Aside from their own sounds, there was another faint set of footsteps behind them.

The sound seemed to be approaching slowly from behind—not far away. Even through the wooden walls, they could hear the faint crunch of footsteps pressing into the soil.

Getting closer.

And closer.

“I’ve been hearing this sound ever since you left. It repeats every little while.” Li Runshan whispered. “No matter where I sit, the sound always comes from behind me. Even when I sit against a wall—or lie down on the ground—it still happens!”

“I felt something was off as soon as I got back. Do you still have rune arrays? Give me more!”

He pulled out the silver rune array Yu Hong had given him earlier. Most of its silver sheen had already faded, leaving only a small trace of silver, clearly on the verge of being depleted.

Yu Hong’s heart tightened.

The Black Seal was still reinforcing the safehouse. Once the silver rune arrays were exhausted, they would be left defenseless against this unknown new Evil Shadow. And with no way to craft new silver rune arrays, the situation could become truly dangerous.

“You went outside just now?” he asked in a low voice.

“Just for a little while. I wanted to test the pattern of that thing.” Li Runshan nodded. “Using the silver rune array you gave me, I managed to figure out one of its behavioral rules.”

“What?” Yu Hong’s mind stirred. As expected, Old Li was more capable than most other survivors.

“This thing is different from the Whisperer. The Whisperer explode in one violent burst, but this one steadily wears a person down. It attacks constantly, eroding us little by little.” Li Runshan said quickly. “So just like Zhou Xueguang said, this thing starts its erosion as soon as it appears. It’s just not very fast. If someone has something to counteract it, they might be able to hold out for a while.”

Yu Hong took out paper and pen, quickly jotting down Li Runshan’s observations on the white paper Zhou Xueguang had given him. This would help refine their defensive strategies for the Black mark reinforcement.

“See if there’s anything to add. I’ll go grab more rune arrays.” He stood up and handed the paper to Old Li.

So far, this new Evil Shadow felt dangerous, but it hadn’t gone into full attack mode yet.

He had to buy as much time as possible—until the Black mark reinforcement was complete.

“Be careful.” Li Runshan took the paper and watched as Yu Hong quickly opened the door and stepped outside. Then he lowered his head and began reviewing the notes.

As soon as Yu Hong stepped out of the wooden house, he scanned his surroundings—and immediately noticed something was off.

Standing in the middle of the Luminous Stone Grass patch, he looked down at the ground.

‘The grass field… it’s shrinking.’

The Luminous Stone Grass marked a purified zone—one that forcibly repelled the surrounding harsh environment. But now, that safe area was shrinking.

Taking a deep breath, he rushed into the cave and grabbed a fresh set of rune arrays.

Back at the main entrance, Yu Hong reviewed everything that had happened.

‘First, everything started when Li Runshan returned. It’s possible he unknowingly brought something back with him from outside.’

‘Second, if this Evil Shadow is confirmed to be the Behind Person from the Intermittent man, its threat level is at least a six. At this level, it’s nearly impossible to resist directly—it can only be lured away using Blood Marks. But my Black Seal reinforcement isn’t done yet.’

‘So what can I use to temporarily stall for time?’

He paced inside the cave, gathering every remaining rune array.

He had one silver rune array left.

Over twenty normal rune arrays.

That was all.

And that wasn’t even counting the rune arrays embedded in the cave walls—they were meant for completing the Luminous Stone Chamber and couldn’t be touched.

‘This is bad.’ Yu Hong’s heart tightened. ‘This isn’t enough to hold off whatever just arrived.’

He walked up to the entrance and gazed outside.

Now that he was inside the safe zone, the chilling sensation at his back had disappeared.

But he couldn’t stay in here forever.

Water, food, materials for breeding—he had to go outside to get those.

Standing at the doorway, deep in thought, Yu Hong suddenly froze.

His eyes locked onto something in the outermost part of the courtyard grass.

A new ring of black had appeared there.

(End of Chapter)