Desperate Night.

Chapter 179
Gray fog filled the dark forest.

A long-haired figure wrapped in a black cloak walked quietly in the woods.

She was filthy, her cloak and the clothes underneath thick with black mud.

Her long black hair was draped behind her back in a messy manner, and the hair on her forehead, which had not been trimmed for a long time, covered most of her face.

Snapped.

Snapped.

After walking a few steps, she suddenly stopped and saw a cluster of brown mushrooms at the foot of a dead tree.

He rushed over at full speed, squatted down, and carefully picked the mushrooms one by one and put them into a cloth bag under his cloak.

The cloth bag looked very dirty, with dried black mud stuck to it, and it was impossible to tell what its original color was.

After loading all the mushrooms, the figure slowly stood up, looked around, and continued to move forward cautiously.

"Shanshan."

Suddenly a familiar voice came from behind her.

She paused suddenly, stood still, did not turn around, but just tilted her neck back.

Then he looked behind him tremblingly out of the corner of his eye.

Behind him, in the hazy gray-white woods, withered yellow leaves fell from time to time. On the moist forest ground that had just rained, a familiar woman in black clothes appeared without him noticing.

"Shanshan, it's mom." The woman's face was gentle, and her eyes, which should have been sharp, now showed a trace of heartache as she looked at the cloaked figure.

"Come here. Come to mommy."

The woman said softly, waving her hand gently.

The cloaked figure trembled all over and took a step forward without looking back, as if he had not heard anything at all.

"Shanshan, where are you going?" The mother's voice continued to come from behind.

But she didn't dare look back.

He just bit his lip and walked forward.

Fortunately, this was a black disaster rift, and the other party did not approach, but just stood there, staring at her quietly.

"Shanshan, your father has reoccupied a small stronghold. He asked me to find you and take you back with him. You have suffered a lot these days."

The familiar female voice made the figure's steps slow down further and further.

Tears slid down her face little by little, leaving two lighter marks.

Ignoring the sound behind her, she kept moving forward, step by step.

After a while, there was no movement behind him.

She breathed a sigh of relief, quickened her pace, and soon arrived at a simple camp surrounded by a fence.

There were several small black tents set up in the camp. Some refugee-like people were wrapped in pyroxene carpet cloaks, not daring to take them off. They were either squatting or lying down, as if they were half-dead, and most of them did not move.

They all had various injuries on their bodies to varying degrees, some of which had already rotted away, but they still stayed there numbly.

This was a refuge area they discovered by accident, located right in the middle of the two black disaster areas, and even the ghost shadow didn't dare to enter at will.

"Sister Xu, I brought today's mushrooms." The figure tidied up the messy hair on his face and raised his voice.

Although her revealed face was covered in mud and stains, one could still vaguely see Wei Shanshan's original appearance.

The sound echoed in the woods, but strangely, no one responded.

Everyone remained in their original positions, motionless, as if they hadn't heard anything.

"Sister Xu?" Wei Shanshan's nerves tensed up again.

She looked around and found that for five seconds in a row, the other people in the camp had not changed their movements and were still in the same posture!

She broke out in a cold sweat again, and her vision was a little blurry due to lack of nutrition for a long time, but even if it was blurry, she could see that something was wrong.

"Sister Xu?!" Wei Shanshan slowly stepped back. She remembered what Sister Xu said when she saved her. This area should be safe for a short time. Once something abnormal happened, it would mean that the balance of the black disasters on both sides was broken.
In this case, if you find something wrong, run away immediately!
The further you run, the better!

She still remembers the map of the Black Scourge Rift, and everyone must remember it.

Wei Shanshan quickened her retreat and quickly recalled other escape routes in her mind.

"Wait, the other mushroom pickers haven't come back yet, and Sister Xu isn't here either!"

Sister Xu who rescued her had gone out to collect firewood. If she didn't notice it when she came back,
Wei Shanshan really wanted to stay and remind Sister Xu, but her intense fear made it impossible for her to just stand there.

Her legs seemed to be running away, moving quickly away from the camp.

For some reason, tears welled up again, blurring her vision.

Wei Shanshan quickened her pace and ran towards the distance.

Puff puff puff puff.

Her messy footsteps kept echoing in the woods, making her feel even lonelier. Suddenly, in her blurry vision, a blurry figure in a grey coat and long pants suddenly appeared in front of her.

The figure stood there, and through the blurry face one could vaguely see that he was smiling at her.

laugh.

laugh.

laugh.

The figure approached her step by step.

"Who!?" Wei Shanshan paused, then quickly stopped, rubbed her eyes with her relatively clean forearm and wiped away her tears.

But something strange happened, the other party disappeared.

Wei Shanshan quickly looked around and found no other traces.
After making sure that everything was fine, she reached out and grasped the only large piece of pyroxene in her arms, followed the route in her memory, and ran towards the distance again.

She didn't know where she was going, she only knew to survive and live with all her might.

*
*
*
Black Wind Camp.

Inside the stone castle.

Yu Hong put down the envelope in his hand and looked quietly at the mountains and forests in the distance outside the window.

Yiyi's letter gave a detailed account of their current situation. On their way to Heishu Village, they encountered several types of black disasters that they had never seen before.

Fortunately, with the help of enhanced detectors, they discovered the black disaster before it broke out, quickly found the black disaster cracks, and left the danger zone.

They then explored a pyroxene mining area, but unfortunately the pyroxene there had also been exhausted.

After some searching and investigation, Lin Yiyi found a new stone talisman that Yu Hong needed, and brought it over through a postman she rescued along the way.

"A letter from a friend?" Lao Zhou came in, washed his hands, and sat down to rest.

He then went to maintain the outer courtyard fence and repaired the damaged parts.

"It rained so hard and lasted for so long that the ground was almost flooded. A lot of the fences were soaked and loosened, and some of the symbols on the wall were washed away and damaged. They need to be repaired."

"Well, let's wait until the rain stops." Yu Hong was playing with the new stone talisman in his hand. The black seal had not yet ended, and he didn't know what effect the stone talisman had. He needed time to test it.

"Speaking of which, Old Zhou, have you ever heard of a black disaster that can cause people to disappear without any warning?"

Yu Hong also read about the black disaster they encountered in the letter from the little stuttering Yi Yi. It was in a small stronghold they came across by chance. When exchanging supplies, they found that this stronghold was under the threat of a mysterious black disaster, so they ran away overnight.

"No signs? Are you sure?" Lao Zhou frowned. Being in such a safe environment in the camp, he actually didn't want to think about those horrible black disasters at all. But since it was the boss's problem, he still tried to find clues from his memory.

"Yes, the only common point is that the missing people all had an experience of being alone before." Yu Hongdao.

Wei Song had also encountered this kind of black disaster, and now Yiyi also mentioned it in the letter. It was able to threaten Wei Song's underground stronghold where elites gathered. Obviously, this was a very dangerous black disaster.

"Among the black disasters I encountered on the front line, there are two that somewhat fit this clue." Zhou Xueguan is a veteran and he immediately thought of the key.

"Please speak." Yu Hong's expression became serious.

"One is the Gray Shadow. The specific attack rules are unclear, but the scene left after the attack is the same as what you described. There are no traces or signs, and the people just disappeared. The Gray Shadow is a level six black disaster. It is impossible to defend against it, but its lethality is not high. Compared with other black disasters that can easily kill dozens or hundreds of people, it just kills people one by one, and the speed is very slow."

"The second type is an underground lake. This is a war-level black disaster. It causes people to instantly fall into a large lake out of thin air. They cannot breathe, cannot float up, and can only drown. Then their bodies will sink into that mysterious lake forever, leaving only their equipment and clothes. The characteristic of underground lakes is that they cover a large area at one time. Once they appear, they will cause a large area to be submerged at the same time, and the death toll can easily reach three digits."

"Gray Shadow. Earth Lake"

Yu Hong stood up and looked out the window where it was raining again.

"What was your response?" he asked.

"Gray Shadow ignored it and just isolated the dead. In a battlefield where thousands of people die every day, no one cares about such a small number of people. They disappeared after a while if they stayed away. As for the underground lake, they bombed it on a large scale, creating a big pit at the location where the underground lake first appeared, and then it disappeared." Zhou Xueguang shrugged, saying that he didn't know. "It seems that the professionals from the Silver Tower at that time came to deal with it, but I don't know the details of how it was done."

"Is that so?" Yu Hong thought, "By the way, what have you been doing these days?"

"Prepare some equipment for going out later." Zhou Xueguang said with a smile, "I was just about to tell you, boss, that I plan to go out and look for my family in a while. I can feel that they are not dead and are still waiting for me."

"How long?" Yu Hong was stunned. He didn't expect that the other party would still leave.

"Wait about two more weeks. As for supplies, I will squeeze them out from my quota, don't worry." Zhou Xueguang said easily, "This time when I go out, I also plan to continue mapping the Black Disaster Rift and try to complete the surrounding routes. Don't worry, I will be able to bring back some good stuff no matter what."

Yu Hong did not stop him. Lao Zhou was a very mature person and obviously a very thoughtful guy.

"Come to think of it, things have been a lot more peaceful outside recently, and it seems like the Black Disasters have behaved themselves. Where did they come from? What are they planning to do? Are they just here to divide up their respective territories?" he asked softly.

"Not sure. The initial rumor said that the Black Disaster came out from the Gate of Despair, and the Gate of Despair came from the Black Well. The Black Well came from the ruins. And the ruins are located next to the pyroxene mine. It's hard to say this is a coincidence. After all, every ruins is the same." Zhou Xueguan nodded.

"What about the Door of Despair? Has anyone been inside?" Yu Hong asked.

"How can we get in if we can't even get close? No one even knows the exact location of the Door of Despair. Just stopping the invasion of the black disaster has already consumed all our strength." Zhou Xueguan smiled bitterly.

Yu Hong sighed, turned and walked towards the public passage outside the stone fortress.

"I'm going to study this new stone symbol. You should go to bed early."

"Thank you for your hard work, boss." Zhou Xueguang smiled. Looking at Yu Hong's back as he left, the smile on his face slowly faded. He held the pendant on his chest again with his right hand, opened it, and looked at his wife and children with bright smiles inside. He took a deep breath, put the photo to his lips and kissed it.

(End of this chapter)