A Night of Desperation-Chapter 105: Departure (3)

“In the quiet village, snow drifts down.”

“Under the overcast sky, pigeons take flight~~~”

“The birch tree, carved with those two names.”

“Hmm~~~ hmm~~~”

Amidst the gray fog, deep in the mountains and forests, a long stretch of gray-white highway extended into the distance.

A dark green jeep sped forward along the road, resembling a tiny green insect crawling slowly yet steadily along a strip of gray paper.

Layers of mist were torn apart at the front of the vehicle, swirling and twisting as they parted to create a narrow passage.

Yu Hong rested his hand on the steering wheel, softly humming a tune under his breath.

The only sound in the vehicle was the whirring of the electric motor.

For over two hours, that monotonous hum was the only thing accompanying him.

He was alone.

After hearing the motor for so long, he could even make out the subtle rhythms of his own breathing and heartbeat. In such solitude, his senses became unnaturally sharp.

Yet, instead of comfort, this heightened awareness only made the loneliness more unbearable.

Driving alone.

Noise alone.

A long road ahead, alone.

Unable to endure the silence any longer, he started humming his favorite song from his past life.

He had forgotten some of the lyrics, only recalling fragments, but it didn’t matter—he still remembered the melody. Whenever he couldn’t recall a word, he simply hummed.

The jeep rolled forward quietly. Occasionally, Yu Hong picked up his map to glance at it.

The enhanced map had transformed into a three-dimensional projection, displaying different areas in shades of gray, black, and white, with varying concentrations of red values.

By checking the red intensity, Yu Hong could avoid high-risk zones to prevent encounters with more creatures or Ghostly Shadows.

The hum of the vehicle continued, and he must have hummed his song dozens of times. Taking a sip from his water pouch, he moistened his lips, keeping one hand lightly on the steering wheel while allowing the vehicle to move forward in a straight line.

The road ahead was completely straight, so he could afford to relax just a little.

After drinking, Yu Hong retrieved a protein bar and took a bite. As he began to chew, he noticed a change in the landscape.

To his right, the thick forest gradually gave way to towering, steep gray rock formations.

The rocky cliffs stretched upward into the mist, their true height unknown—like an immense, gray wall.

The rough, jagged stone surface was covered with dark, vine-like growths.

From a distance, these vines looked like clumps of gelatin clinging to the rock face. Their surface was glossy and wet, resembling peach resin or amber.

Yu Hong drove past, watching as the strange substance clung to the mountainside for hundreds of meters.

“What the hell is that?”

His red-value detector, attached to his collar, began flashing urgently, the readings spiking past sixty.

Without stopping, Yu Hong slightly accelerated and quickly left the cliffside, once again entering a section of road surrounded by forest.

But this time, things were different. The rock wall on the right side was gone, and the newly emerging forest was covered in a thick, gelatinous substance resembling peach resin.

The dark, sticky substance clung to tree trunks, stretched into viscous strands connecting to the ground, and even draped over entire tree canopies, as if digesting them.

Yu Hong’s expression grew solemn as he continued forward.

At this point, the mist gradually thinned, and visibility improved significantly.

The car hummed forward, soon exiting the forest and entering a large curved section of road.

As he turned, one side was a mountain cliff, the other a dense forest.

From the cliffside, a distant view of the landscape unfolded.

In the misty gray expanse, a hazy, abandoned city stood silently in a basin-like depression.

A pitch-black river, like a ribbon, wound through the city.

Towering buildings stood eerily still—no lights, no signs of life.

Skyscrapers, hotels, office buildings, landmark structures, and even a television station—everything was silent, deserted, and dark.

Strangely, most of the buildings were covered in a thin layer of black, viscous substance—the same gelatinous material he had just seen along the road.

“What the hell is this stuff?”

A heavy feeling settled in Yu Hong’s heart. He sensed that passing through this area could bring trouble.

He glanced at the black mark on the back of his hand. Ever since leaving the safe house, the mark had been warning him that the bound Luminous Stone Grass would wither and be eroded by the Red Value once he moved a kilometer away. To maintain it, he needed to use internal energy to stimulate growth again.

“So this is how the binding works? Troublesome, but it does serve as a portable temporary base.”

Yu Hong calculated in his mind and withdrew his gaze. As he rounded another bend, he glanced at the city once more.

Suddenly, his body tensed, and his heart pounded.

“What the hell!?”

The massive black gelatin covering one of the tallest buildings in the city had just moved.

That lifeless, tar-like substance had actually shifted!

Yu Hong stared in shock as a black, tentacle-like appendage slowly extended from the gelatin coating the upper portion of a skyscraper, reaching toward another building that was not yet covered.

“That thing… it’s alive!?”

A chilling sensation surged through his body, spreading like an icy tide.

Without hesitation, he pressed the accelerator, speeding away from the city.

For over half an hour, he drove at full speed until the eerie city was swallowed by the mist behind him.

Only then did he exhale slightly in relief.

He pulled out a map.

“Huànfēng City.” That was the name of the strange city he had just passed.

“I better never go near that place again. There’s definitely something seriously wrong in there.”

He muttered to himself. In such an utterly desolate environment, he instinctively used his voice to keep his ears engaged—ensuring they didn’t fall into an unnatural silence.

In extreme monotony, the human brain can either adapt by perceiving silence where there is none or, worse, start hallucinating sounds.

As night fell, Yu Hong decided not to continue forward. Instead, he pulled over in a relatively open area.

After parking, he took out an energy-free atomic lamp, casting a faint greenish glow inside the vehicle.

He quickly handled personal hygiene, tying up the waste in plastic bags to prevent any odor from spreading.

Then, he used black cloth to cover the car windows, ensuring no light escaped.

Click.

Yu Hong opened the car door and stepped out, carrying the plastic bag.

The surroundings were an open field of overgrown weeds—once farmland, now long abandoned.

The shortest grass reached his knees, while the tallest stood over a meter high, obscuring much of the view.

Exhaling, his breath formed thin white mist in the cold night air.

He walked to the roadside, dug a small hole, and buried the bag.

Then, he turned back toward the car.

Click.

Suddenly, from behind him, a faint rustling came from the grass.

Yu Hong froze, then swiftly turned to look.

The grass swayed in the wind—empty. Nothing was there.

He scanned his surroundings carefully, but after confirming there was no threat, he continued toward the car.

Follow current novℯls on ƒгeewёbnovel.com.

Once inside, he blocked out the atomic lamp’s glow and lay in the back seat, listening intently.

In the sealed space, he had to periodically replace the air supply.

This required maintaining a constant state of awareness.

Not long after, a faint, eerie sound drifted in from outside—like singing.

Immediately following it came a wet, sticky noise, as if something gelatinous was repeatedly pulling apart and sticking together.

Yu Hong narrowed his eyes, moved closer to the car window, and lifted a corner of the black cloth to peek outside.

A massive, two-meter-tall humanoid figure was walking slowly along the road.

Its entire body was pitch black, composed of the same viscous, gelatinous substance he had seen before.

With every step, clumps of black sludge peeled off its body and splattered onto the ground.

The creature didn’t seem to notice Yu Hong at all—it simply trudged forward, disappearing into the gray fog.

Yu Hong let out a quiet sigh of relief. He had no intention of engaging an unknown entity. The capabilities of these creatures and the Ghostly Shadows were a mystery, and their danger levels were only an estimate of their threat, not their strength.

Fortunately, after the humanoid figure passed, the night remained quiet.

With the Red Value detector set to alert him of any changes, he managed to rest a little.

The night passed uneventfully.

By morning, he restarted the car and continued along the highway.

Humming a tune, he continued driving for over an hour. Finally, buildings began to appear on both sides of the road—rural houses scattered across the farmland.

These houses were all old and abandoned, covered in dust, with some showing obvious signs of damage.

Between the houses, the farmland was filled with black, viscous sludge. No weeds grew there, and the air was thick with the stench of decaying flesh.

Yu Hong estimated his battery power. After driving for so long, he had at most a third of his charge left—he’d need to find a way to recharge before heading back.

Buzz.

The car passed through the blackened fields, and the number of buildings increased. The rural houses gave way to an abandoned town with single-story houses and low-rise buildings.

It seemed like he had entered the county’s outskirts.

Unconsciously, Yu Hong slowed down, carefully observing his surroundings.

The streets were littered with abandoned electric scooters, tricycles, and a few cars with shattered windows and twisted frames, as if they had been crushed by something massive.

“Help… help me…”

A faint voice suddenly came from the right.

The voice belonged to a young girl—soft, weak, and filled with pain.

Yu Hong frowned and turned his head.

At the entrance of a gray, two-story building, a little girl with long, unkempt hair was crouching. She was completely naked.

She hugged herself tightly, shivering, and lifted her head to look at his car with tearful, pitiful eyes. Her pale skin was smeared with dirt.

“Please help me!” she cried out desperately.