A Night of Desperation - Chapter 7: Decision (1)

Chapter 7: Decision(1)

Bright golden sunlight poured down.

Baiqiu Village, surrounded by dark green mountains and forests, looked like a piece of dark chocolate in the middle of a green cake, standing out sharply.

The entire village sat atop a large patch of grayish-white hills, at the top of the ridge.

There were more than thirty scattered tile-roofed houses in the village.

At this moment, at the western edge of the village, a pale-faced man was leisurely strolling, glancing around from time to time, looking nervous.

The man wore a gray T-shirt and yellow casual pants, both dirty and wrinkled, clearly long overdue for a wash. His hair, oily and sweaty, was styled into a mohawk.

On his feet were a pair of gray, nearly unrecognizable sneakers, which were not suited for the muddy ground beneath him.

Around Baiqiu Village, there were no sounds of insects or birds, only the soft crunch of the man’s steps on the ground.

“About fifteen minutes now.”

Yu Hong took out his old phone from his pocket and looked at it. The phone, which he had kept because of sentiment, had unexpectedly become an essential tool in this place.

He had been lying in bed for several days. If it were a smartphone, it would have run out of battery long ago. But this old phone had a small screen, a large battery, and a standby time of over a week. It was also durable, resistant to damage and water.

At such a critical moment, it provided him with much-needed reassurance.

The phone’s screen clearly showed the time: March 5, 2024, 15:32.

“Sigh,” Yu Hong sighed softly. This was the time from before he came here.

But now it meant nothing.

Looking at the empty signal bar in the top-right corner of the screen, he understood that he was probably no longer in his original world.

From the newspaper reports, to what Little Stutterer and Dr. Xu had mentioned, and the strange and bizarre things he had encountered, it was clear that this place was not his world.

He looked up at the bright sunlight.

Yu Hong lowered his head and marked the ground with a few stones, forming a small triangular structure.

It was a mark to prevent getting lost.

It had been fifteen minutes since Dr. Xu and Little Stutterer left. In these fifteen minutes, he had walked around the village for a while.

But to his disappointment, it seemed that there were no other living people here besides the three of them.

‘Maybe the living people are hiding, after all, even in daylight, there could be great danger.’

Yu Hong sighed inwardly, his hand always clutching the reinforced white stone.

From his previous encounters, he had learned that in this place, the effect of the white stone was his only guarantee of safety.

According to what Dr. Xu said before leaving, there would be no black insects in the daytime when there was sunlight, and at most, there would be a rare encounter with a ghost shadow.

As long as he had the white stone, the danger during the day was not great.

Because these ghost shadows seemed to be very weak during the day.

Yu Hong believed this, otherwise, Little Stutterer and Dr. Xu would never have been so bold as to keep going outside.

He looked back at the marks he had made along the way, confirming they were still there, and then continued walking forward.

Quiet.

Dead silence.

Shh.

Shh.

Aside from the occasional crisp sound of grass being stepped on, there was no other noise.

Even the wind was barely noticeable.

After more than ten minutes, Yu Hong had finally circled the entire village.

He stood at the initial gravel road, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and tried to remember some important locations he had just discovered.

The most important of these was the well.

Earlier, he had seen a well in a yard from a distance.

There were many footprints around the stone-built well, clearly indicating it was a rare water source for the village’s living people.

However, from a distance of more than ten meters, he had felt a chilling, bone-piercing cold emanating from the well. Even the sunlight couldn’t suppress it. He felt something was wrong, so he didn’t approach and only remembered the location.

“Strange. A well on a hilltop in a small village?” Yu Hong thought. Normally, wells are dug in lower ground, since water flows downhill.

But this place was different.

Standing on the gravel road, he looked around again.

The village was surrounded by endless dark green forests.

The forests stretched out like a sea of trees.

There were no bird calls, no visible animals, and even the dark green trees and grass gave an eerie, uncomfortable feeling.

Yu Hong stood motionless, staring at the only old road leading out of the village for a long while before turning back.

The journey was uneventful, and he returned to Little Stutterer’s house.

He didn’t relax until he had firmly closed the wooden door behind him.

“This place is too creepy,” Yu Hong thought. The idea that he might have to live here without knowing for how long, with no hope of returning, filled him with despair.

“I’ve already looked around. There are no vehicles, but there are tire marks on the ground. This suggests that there were vehicles here, but they were taken away.”

Yu Hong picked up a piece of charcoal from the corner of the room and began drawing a map of Baiqiu Village on the wall.

The map was simple, just some basic lines with small squares representing houses.

He marked the well, the old road, and Little Stutterer’s house on the map.

The three locations formed a triangle.

‘What should I do now?’ Yu Hong thought as he stared at the map, pushing down his feelings of despair and considering his next move.

‘I can’t keep relying on Little Stutterer. I need to learn to deal with these dangers myself and figure out how to find food and shelter.’

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, he drew on the wall with the charcoal.

Then he raised his hand, looking at the black mark on the back of his hand.

‘And this mark. If I don’t want to be discovered, I have to choose to live alone. Otherwise, in this extremely dangerous environment, letting others know about my ability could be very risky!’

Although he wasn’t sure if others had similar abilities, he was certain that Little Stutterer and Dr. Xu didn’t.

He could tell from some subtle signs.

“First, I need to learn how to find food and water, then move out!” Yu Hong quickly made up his mind.

Having made the decision, he got up and returned to the bed, planning to rest again and wait for Little Stutterer to come back.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Suddenly.

There was a rhythmic knock on the door.

Yu Hong’s throat tightened as he glanced at the wooden door. He didn’t make a sound.

The knocking wasn’t right.

But he didn’t respond, gripping the reinforced white stone tightly, taking a deep breath, and lying down quietly, preparing to rest.

Bang, bang, bang. The knocking continued.

One after another.

But Yu Hong remained silent, pretending not to hear.

He lay sideways on the bed, his gaze fixed on the door, his hand clutching the reinforced white stone, his body tense, ready to react at any moment.

Fortunately, after seven knocks, the sound stopped.

Instead, there seemed to be someone peeking through the window.

Peering in through the gap in the seal.

Yu Hong’s hair stood on end, and he turned to stare at the window, holding his breath and taking deep, controlled breaths.

A strong sense of danger continued to stimulate his adrenaline, making his blood rush and circulate rapidly, his face flushed red.

He didn’t know how long it had been.

It seemed the figure outside the window lost patience and quietly left.

The window no longer blocked the light, and everything returned to normal.

Yu Hong tightly gripped the reinforced white stone, feeling sweat on both the stone and his palm.

He lowered his head, took a deep breath, and adjusted his body. He got up, picking up another white stone, this time one he hadn’t used before.

He looked at the stone, and the number displayed on it: 2 days.

‘So unused stones only take two days to strengthen?’ He sighed with relief.

Listening to the sound of inquiry in his ear, he silently confirmed the strengthening process.

Soon, the number on the surface of the white stone vanished, and the entire stone seemed to be coated with a layer of oily substance as it began the black mark strengthening.

Yu Hong didn’t even look at it, shoving it into the other pocket of his pants.

He then lay back down, squinting his eyes, setting an alarm on his phone, and soon drifted into a drowsy sleep.

This time, he didn’t sleep for long, nor did he sleep soundly. He woke up quickly.

‘Little Stutterer won’t be back tonight, which means I’ll be alone in the house tonight,’ Yu Hong glanced at the dim sunlight through the window gap, his heart sinking slightly.

He got up and went to the storage corner, taking the large candle and match-like items that Little Stutterer had left for him.

He prepared them and placed them beside the bed, within easy reach.

Then, he lay half-awake on the bed, waiting for nightfall.

Time slowly passed, and soon, the outside world grew darker, sinking into pitch black.

This time, it was very quiet, with no black insects and no ghostly shadows.

It seemed as if everything had forgotten about him, and there was an eerie peace.

In the weary waiting and vigilance, the night passed quickly.

By morning, when Yu Hong saw the bright sunlight streaming in from outside, he sighed with relief.

Though it was daylight, and nothing had happened overnight, the prolonged vigilance and tension had left him mentally and physically exhausted.

This made him yearn even more for a truly safe resting place.

He wasn’t like Little Stutterer—if this continued, he wouldn’t be able to rest properly, and he’d die.

He got up, filtered some water to drink, and his stomach growled again.

Although he had eaten all of Little Stutterer’s remaining food yesterday, it had been a while, and his stomach had long digested everything.

He went out, taking advantage of the perfect sunlight, and wandered around the gravel road for a while.

This time, he walked down the old road, trying to find edible plants or insects.

But unfortunately, he didn’t find anything on the road. There were no insects, and he didn’t recognize any of the plants.

None of the plants here were familiar to him. Even the common wild chrysanthemums and dandelions were nowhere to be seen.

Fortunately, Little Stutterer and Dr. Xu finally returned.

Thud.

Inside the house, Little Stutterer struggled to place a large bundle off her back onto the floor.

She then opened the bundle.

Inside were neatly packed bags of dried meat, dried mushrooms, and dried insects.

Yu Hong stepped forward to help, noticing that the dried meat mainly consisted of dark, unidentifiable meat chunks from some unknown animal.

The dried mushrooms were also broken and unidentifiable.

As for the dried insects…

“Is this… a cockroach??!” Yu Hong’s face changed slightly.

“It’s a ‘mouthful fragrance,” Little Stutterer shook her head and corrected him. Then, she casually grabbed a cockroach-sized dried insect and popped it into her mouth.

(TL note :- In this context, “一口香” (yī kǒu xiāng) is a phrase that could refer to something being very flavorful or aromatic, often used to describe food that is particularly tasty or fragrant. In this case, it seems to be a lighthearted or humorous way of describing something, especially given the context of eating a cockroach.)

“Delicious!” She gave a thumbs-up, chewing quickly with a crisp sound. Her eyes widened with delight, full of joy.

“…” Yu Hong was speechless.

(End of Chapter)