A Night of Desperation

Chapter 120: Information (2)

“Something’s wrong! Completely wrong! The Whisperer, the Whisperer is coming!!”

Fang Shijun was drenched in sweat, his body trembling as he took steps backward.

“What’s the data?? Recalculate the passage! Chen Xinji, hurry!” Xue Ningning shouted anxiously, her face pale.

The last time this happened, they lost several teammates. Now, history seemed to be repeating itself.

“The data hasn’t changed! There’s no time!!” Chen Xinji was just as frantic, his hands flying over the keyboard, desperately running calculations.

The sky around them gradually darkened, as if an invisible veil had been draped over it.

It wasn’t even close to nighttime, yet the daylight was fading fast.

“What’s the Red Value now?!” Xue Ningning shouted.

“Still zero! It’s not registering at all! We can’t measure anything!” Chen Xinji’s hands were shaking.

“Move! We have to get out of here!” Xue Ningning gritted her teeth, bracing herself as she led the charge forward.

The group followed her, quickly weaving through the buildings.

But, strangely, minutes later, they found themselves back where they had started.

Back in front of the same twenty-story building they had just left!

Their faces turned grim as they tried again.

But the second time, the third time, the fourth time—

No matter which direction they ran, they always ended up back in the same spot. Even running in a straight line felt like moving in circles.

“We’re done for!!” Fang Shijun collapsed to the ground, trembling. “We’re dead. We’re so dead… This isn’t even the Whisperer!! What if it’s some other kind of evil shadow? Our equipment is completely wrong for this…”

The others fell silent. A faint sense of despair spread through the team.

“Are we… going to disappear in this park, just like the other teams?” Chen Xinji murmured.

Xue Ningning couldn’t answer. At that moment, she grasped the metal pendant hanging from her chest, her eyes filled with sorrow—yet also a glimmer of determination.

“Everyone… leave behind a will. If anyone makes it out, deliver them to our families.” Chen Xinji lowered his head. After a moment of silence, he pulled out paper and pen with trembling hands and started writing first.

There was no way out.

They were completely trapped in this eerie park.

—Beep.

Suddenly, a sharp alarm sounded.

Little Stutterer froze. The others turned to her, and after a moment of thought, she smacked her forehead and started rummaging through her backpack.

Soon, she pulled out a Red Value Detector.

This detector looked different from the ones issued to the team—it had a more advanced display with additional data points and parameters.

“…The alarm… went off,” she mumbled, still unsure why the others were so hopeless. Holding the detector, she slowly operated it. “There’s a Red Value… change!”

She adjusted the device, scanning around before stopping at a specific direction in front of them.

“It says… run that way! The Red Value is lowest there.”

Xue Ningning also had her own detector turned on, but hers remained silent. Her despair briefly interrupted, she glanced at Little Stutterer’s detector out of the corner of her eye—and suddenly froze.

“Yiyi… why does your detector have decimal points??”

She quickly checked her own. The screen still displayed 0. But Lin Yiyi’s detector showed 0.122.

Not only that, but it also marked a specific direction as the source of the reading.

“My… friend… gave me… this. It’s high-level.” Lin Yiyi grinned proudly.

“A high-level detector??” Xue Ningning was stunned. She examined the device and then looked around at their surroundings. There were better detectors?

She tapped her own detector—still zero.

Glancing at the despairing Fang Shijun and Chen Xinji, an idea flashed in her mind. She made a quick decision.

Since they had no way to escape this park, and since Yiyi’s detector was showing something—rather than running blindly, they should take a gamble.

“Let’s go! Follow her detector’s direction!” she ordered.

“Okay!” Lin Yiyi confirmed the path, grabbed Ou Li with one hand, and held the detector in the other. She took off at a sprint, heading toward the lowest Red Value.

The others, pulled along by Xue Ningning, quickly followed.

Before long, Lin Yiyi had run over a hundred meters. Ahead, another exit gate from the park came into view.

They were only a few dozen meters away.

Fang Shijun and Chen Xinji’s despair turned to excitement.

“A gate! We’re getting out!!”

They never expected that Little Stutterer, using nothing but a single detector—without any of their usual instruments—had actually found a way out!

The two had no time to think; they immediately turned to rush toward the gate.

—Beep! Beep!

Suddenly, the detector sounded again. Little Stutterer halted, checked the screen, and, without hesitation, changed direction according to the detector’s guidance.

She trusted Yu Hong completely—so she executed the detector’s instructions without a second thought.

“Wait! That way leads straight out!” Ou Li couldn’t help but shout. “Put me down!” She began to struggle.

“Can’t… go.”

—Smack.

Little Stutterer slapped her. Ou Li instantly fell silent, her gaze clearing up.

“We… are friends. We go… together!” Little Stutterer said seriously. Without hesitation, she picked Ou Li up again and sprinted away.

On the other side, Xue Ningning and the others paused, exchanged glances, and made a decision.

They cast one last reluctant look at the gate—then resolutely followed Little Stutterer.

If she could find one way out, she could definitely find another.

They were logical people. They had seen hope—and they made the smartest choice.

That was to follow Lin Yiyi!

Over the next fifteen minutes, the group kept adjusting directions, jogging nonstop. Surprisingly, not once did they end up running in circles.

It was as if this deadly park was nothing more than a movie set, its eerie dangers all just an illusion.

Even that sinister presence did not interfere with them at all.

At first, Xue Ningning was on edge. But as time passed, her expression gradually shifted—from anxiety, to doubt, to shock—before finally settling into serious contemplation.

Then—ten minutes later.

—Bang!!

A section of the iron fence was shoulder-rammed by Little Stutterer, breaking apart. She kicked away any jagged edges that could cause injury, then led the way out with ease.

The detector’s alarm immediately fell silent.

All five of them climbed through the gap and sprinted five hundred meters away before stopping.

“…Safe. We’re safe!” Little Stutterer set down the detector and Ou Li, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and grinned.

Ou Li was still in shock, gasping for air.

Xue Ningning, still half in disbelief, only fully relaxed once she confirmed they were truly out. Then, her gaze shifted toward the special Red Value Detector—the one that had just led them to safety.

“Yiyi… where did you get this detector??” Her voice wasn’t just filled with relief—there was something more.

If this device could detect Whisperers… if it could be mass-produced…

How many teams could avoid death?!

“This… my friend… gave it to me,” Lin Yiyi answered honestly.

“Your friend?” Xue Ningning was stunned. If this wasn’t just luck…

Then she wanted to meet that friend too.

Fang Shijun and Chen Xinji still couldn’t believe they had actually made it out.

They quickly checked their equipment data, reestablished contact with their higher-ups, and finally confirmed—their communication signals were back.

They had truly escaped the park.

After a moment of silent relief, they both turned their eyes toward Little Stutterer.

Neither spoke.

“You two said we were just a burden, didn’t you?” Ou Li finally snapped out of it, glaring at them with a mocking smile.

She was still shocked by how capable Little Stutterer had suddenly become. But venting the anger from earlier—when they had been treated as useless—was the best way to release the pressure of nearly dying.

Fang Shijun fell silent for a moment, then shook his head.

“This time, we do owe Lin Yiyi. But…” She looked at them with a solemn expression. “Let’s be honest—if not for that special detector, what could you have done?”

“Without that device, weren’t you really just a burden? Especially you.” She extended a slender finger and poked Ou Li’s chest.

“What are you so smug about? If we hadn’t saved you, you would’ve died in there sooner or later!” Ou Li was instantly enraged, raising her voice.

The others quickly stepped forward to separate them.

“The one who saved me was Lin Yiyi, not you,” Fang Shijun said coldly.

Then, she took a deep breath and turned to Little Stutterer.

“No matter what—I owe you my life.”

She placed a firm hand on Little Stutterer’s shoulder.

“If anyone dares to bully you, I’ll make sure they regret it.”

Little Stutterer blinked in confusion. She glanced at Fang Shijun, then at the still-fuming Ou Li.

“I feel the same,” Chen Xinji said, stepping forward and placing his hand on Little Stutterer’s other shoulder.

Xue Ningning watched this unfold, holding onto Ou Li, a relieved smile spreading across her face.

At that moment, she felt incredibly lucky.

If she hadn’t insisted on letting Lin Yiyi join their team back then…

Perhaps, just like the other missing teams, they would have vanished into the park—killed by the Whisperers.

Maybe this was what people meant when they said good deeds bring good fortune.

*

*

*

Yu Hong carefully concluded his training, adjusting his breathing as he slowly stood up.

The second fusion and optimization of his technique was far stronger than before.

As he trained, he could distinctly feel countless tiny particles being absorbed into his body.

These particles came in various types and shapes, each giving off a unique sensation. However, only a small portion could actually be absorbed.

Even so, his inner energy was accumulating at an astonishing speed—far faster than before.

In such a short amount of time, his second layer of inner energy had already condensed two-thirds of the way.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before it was fully completed.

He stood up, returned to the first floor, and stepped to the doorway, gazing out into the courtyard.

There, the lush Luminous Stone Grass glowed faintly white under the dimming sky.

But something was different—the outermost ring, the part he had cultivated using his newly enhanced inner energy, seemed… unusual.

Yu Hong focused his gaze.

He could vaguely tell that the glow from that ring was brighter than the rest.

“Could it be… that my inner energy is also enhancing the quality of the Luminous Stone Grass?”

(End of Chapter)