A Night of Desperation

Hearing the voices, Yu Hong’s spirit was lifted, and through the translator, he quickly understood what these people were saying.

If this were not an illusion or a false scenario that had been somehow fabricated, then just by these meanings alone, he could deduce that perhaps his previous judgment was not wrong!

This place, this island, was highly likely no longer the location where Yiyi and the others were!

It was very possible that there was no Cold Disaster here, no black fog, and even living people daring to wander around casually!

Just thinking about the possibility that could emerge, even someone as composed as Yu Hong couldn’t help but get excited.

If they could migrate over here… wouldn’t this be the land of vitality represented by the Black Ship?

It had been so long since he had encountered a civilized society that he had almost forgotten what a peaceful world looked like…

‘So, is it an illusion, or is it real… Going to have a look will tell…’

He unconsciously took steps towards the direction from which the voices came.

There were five of these people in total, two men and two women.

The two men were wearing floral shirts, beach shorts, and flip-flops. They looked handsome, each wearing a mechanical watch that appeared quite exquisite at a glance, but one was somewhat haughty while the other appeared calm and natural, much more normal.

Among the three women, one wore brown yoga pants and a white T-shirt, a white cap, and shoulder-length hair, heavily made-up, flamboyant, and with a bountiful chest.

The other two wore standard red and blue hoodies with white jeans, their tight jeans outlining full figures, with one having delicate features while the other had an ordinary, common face.

The two walked very closely, seemingly purposefully maintaining a distance from the heavily made-up woman.

As the five of them walked and talked along the roadside and moved forward, suddenly, ahead of them, a dark shadow loomed.

“Wait, there’s someone ahead!” The young man with the normal demeanor suddenly frowned, stopped, and pointed ahead.

Hearing him, the group looked and indeed saw a strong, tall figure on the road ahead.

The shadow also seemed to notice them, standing still.

Only when they got closer did the five realize that the figure was very sturdy.

Dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans, the contours of robust muscles made the normally loose T-shirt seem tight.

Getting even closer, the five noticed that this was a young man in his twenties, with stubble on his face as if he had not shaved for a long time, pale skin, and common features, neither handsome nor ugly.

“Buddy? Are you also here to explore Huangsong Island?” The male with a more flamboyant demeanor took the initiative to step forward and greet the other.

As they approached, they saw the other man’s evident robust build, which, combined with a two-meter height, stood like a wall before them, causing his breathing to pause and a feeling of being overwhelmed.

The person being approached, naturally, was Yu Hong, who did not understand what they said, just sized up the group, pointed to his mouth, and shook his hand.

The translator converted the spoken language into text, but had not recorded the corresponding pronunciation, so he needed time to match the pronunciations to understand the language here.

“You can’t speak?” The man laughed, looked at the other’s old, wrinkled clothes, then compared his own expensive watch and the simple but valuable clean beach shorts and short sleeves, and immediately felt a resurgence of confidence.

“No worries, as long as you can understand,” he said with a smile. “We just got to the island too, came here to film a show with friends, also to vacation. I’m Gao Wen. Buddy, did you find anything fun or interesting on the island? Ever since the incident a few years back, Huangsong Island has been deserted, but I heard there are a lot of thrilling things here.”

“…” Yu Hong looked baffled and pointed to his mouth again, indicating he could not understand.

Gao Wen frowned a bit upon seeing this, wanting to continue speaking.

But one of the three women behind him, the one with delicate features wearing jeans, stepped forward and spoke to Yu Hong in a different language, similar to French.

“@[email protected]!”

Still not understood.

Yu Hong continued pointing to his mouth, shaking his head.

Then the woman swiftly switched languages three times until…

“Hello, how about this time? Can you understand now?” Her companions behind her looked on admiringly and with a hint of pride.

Having a friend who was a language genius was a face-giving matter in any circle.

This time, Yu Hong really did understand.

His eyes narrowed slightly, concealing the surprise in them.

It was the Second Night Language!

What the girl was speaking now was none other than the Second Night Language that he had just grasped not long ago!

“Hello, I can understand this,” he replied. He had learned quite a bit of the Second Night Language and had studied it with the translator for a while, so now he could manage basic communication, albeit awkwardly.

“You’re Antonian, right? That’s good. My name is Song Siyu, and these are my friends. We’re here to film a show on the island and take a vacation along the way. We haven’t found even a small store since we started walking, not to mention hotels. We can only wander around looking for a place to rest.”

The girl was relieved to be able to communicate and quickly introduced herself.

“My name is Yu Hong, and I came to this island by accident. Seeing that there was nobody around, I found it strange and came up to look around and see what was going on,” Yu Hong replied.

“So you’re also from outside. Yes, it’s very weird. Officially, they’ve debunked it, saying that the previous incident on Huangsong Island was closed, that it was just a mentally ill criminal creating trouble, and they caught and executed him. But now there’s still no one around… it always feels so strange,” Song Siyu nodded and said.

She quickly translated the situation briefly to her companions behind, then continued to talk to Yu Hong.

“And there’s not even a single base station on this island, and the satellite signal is bad, you can’t even connect to the internet with a cellphone. The weather forecast also mentioned a storm is coming…. Mr. Yu, did you see anywhere that could provide shelter when you arrived?”

Yu Hong shook his head, just about to reply when suddenly he remembered the little houses he saw when he was on his way here.

He shared this discovery with the others.

Song Siyu and her companions were instantly delighted, clamoring to go and check out the abandoned houses.

Yu Hong turned around to lead the way, while his translator device continuously collected the content of their conversations as material to quickly complete the voice pack for the Second Night Language.

In just a few minutes of casual chatting with Song Siyu.

He quickly learned that the girl was a small-time social media influencer, mainly producing shows about exploration and unsolved mysteries. She came to Huangsong Island because, three years ago, there had been a vicious murder case here.

A mentally disturbed fat man on the island attacked and killed three members of his own family, then went out and killed seven more people in a spree, injuring over ten, before finally being captured. During interrogation, however, he could only cry loudly, not uttering a word, only able to scream in fear.

This was the famous Huangsong Island serial killing case that shocked the nation at the time.

Song Siyu came here for this very reason, bringing friends along for an adventure.

Another girl dressed like her, in jeans, was named Zhao Sisi. Although she had an ordinary face, her legs had nice curves; a little dressing up, and she could be considered a beauty.

The third girl, with heavy makeup, was named Qi Siyan, she was Gao Wen’s ostentatious girlfriend and wasn’t very familiar with the rest.

Gao Wen was her friend, a college classmate.

The last cool-headed young man’s name was Wei Chengjun; he was her childhood friend who took the initiative to come here to protect her after hearing the news about Huangsong Island.

In sum, it was an adventure vacation for Song Siyu and her friends.

Yu Hong made small talk while subtly probing for information from them.

By the time they reached the small pier with two rows of houses and shops, he had successfully activated the voice function of the language pack.

He could now understand their normal conversations.

“Alright, since I’ve brought you to this place, thank you, Brother Yu,” Song Siyu gave him a smile.

“It’s no big deal. What are you planning to do next? Settle down here?” Yu Hong asked.

“Yeah, there might be a storm coming soon, we need to find a suitable place to stay first. We’ll start filming when things get better tomorrow morning,” Song Siyu said.

“That’s…” Yu Hong was about to say that he would also find a place to stay, but suddenly he paused mid-sentence, turning his head to look in the depth of the island, his brow furrowed slightly.

“I’ll take my leave now; I plan to look around deeper inside the island.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow, Brother Yu,” Song Siyu nodded with a smile.

Yu Hong glanced at Gao Wen, who kept staring at him; this rich second generation, despite having a girlfriend, couldn’t help but show hostility towards him.

It was obvious that he had a bit of a crush on Song Siyu; even with his girlfriend by his side, he couldn’t hide his protective instincts.

On the other hand, the childhood friend Wei Chengjun seemed quite mature, simply observing Yu Hong without saying a word from beginning to end.

Yu Hong gave the group a once-over, waved goodbye, and turned toward the direction he had sensed something earlier.

Just a moment before, he faintly felt a strange presence flicker somewhere deep within the island.

That presence was somewhat like the Black Disaster shadow, but also quite different—only a small part of it seemed similar.

After getting preliminary information from Song Siyu, he decided to investigate the source of that presence.

This group looked like ordinary people; they wouldn’t leave for the time being, so there would be opportunities for further contact.

Before long, he disappeared into the night, completely out of sight.

Song Siyu and the other four watched him leave, and Gao Wen asked,

“What does that guy do, Xiaoyu?”

“He’s here for adventure on the island, just like us. He said it was an accident that brought him here. Judging by his clothes and the fact that he didn’t bring any backpacks, it seems true. He just didn’t specify what the accident was,” Song Siyu replied.

“Still, it’s better to be cautious. Better to have less contact with him. With his build, we would not stand a chance if there were any conflicts,” her friend Zhao Sisi couldn’t help saying.

“What’s the use of muscles? When we go back to the boat, I’ll get Ah Biao and the others to come over. If any trouble arises, one shot will bring him down, you know? Ah Biao and his crew have gun permits,” Gao Wen said nonchalantly.

The rest fell silent.

This trip, they’d taken Gao Wen’s father’s yacht.

For wealth and power, indeed he was formidable.

The group quickly began searching for a house, and in less than fifteen minutes, they found two relatively intact cottages.

After tidying up and putting down their backpacks, they started setting up tents inside the cottages.

With the tents set up, the five gathered around a campfire in one of the cottages, listening to the wind and rain outside growing more intense, feeling a strange sense of security.

They chatted about their college days, talked about some online current affairs and gossip, while Wei Chengjun took care of boiling water and cooking food.

Thud, thud, thud.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door from outside.