SWNOVELXO Chapter 126: Imprint (4)
Chapter 126: Imprint (4)
Just moments ago, Li Runshan watched as Lin Haini blinked in front of him—then completely disappeared.
Like a missing frame in a video, a living, breathing, beautiful woman flickered out of existence right before his eyes.
That moment sent a chill down his spine. He bolted, rushed to his daughter’s room, wrapped her tightly in a Luminous Stone blanket, and fled.
But as soon as he stepped out, the once-familiar underground corridor of the shelter stretched endlessly, warping into something long and unrecognizable.
He followed his usual escape route, trying to reach the surface, only to find himself inexplicably lost.
The eerie distortion of reality made his anxiety spike.
In desperation, he shut his eyes, grasped the rune board Yu Hong had given him, and charged forward blindly.
Just now, Li Runshan watched as Lin Haini vanished right before his eyes.
It was like a missing frame in a video—one moment, a living, breathing, beautiful woman stood before him, and in the next blink, she was gone without a trace.
That moment truly terrified him. He jumped up and ran, rushing into his daughter’s room, wrapping her in a Luminous Stone blanket, and bolting out the door.
What he hadn’t expected was that after leaving the room, the familiar underground air-raid shelter corridor suddenly stretched out infinitely, becoming both unfamiliar and unnervingly long.
He tried to follow the usual route to the surface, but somehow, he kept getting lost.
This eerie, twisting force made him even more aware of how dire the situation was.
In desperation, he closed his eyes, gripped the rune board Yu Hong had given him, and sprinted forward blindly.
He relied on the route he had memorized in his subconscious and, with great difficulty, finally broke out of the underground.
After comforting his daughter, a deep doubt arose in Li Runshan’s heart.
Why… why didn’t the Luminous Stone blanket work?? He clearly remembered Zhou Xueguang saying that on the front lines, they used Luminous Stone blankets to conceal themselves just fine and returned alive.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, Li Runshan suddenly heard a faint cracking sound behind him. Instantly, he pulled a rune board from his pocket and held it tightly in his hand.
The patterns on the rune board slowly turned gray—it was losing its effect.
Li Runshan glanced at the rune board and quickly reached into his waist pouch, retrieving an oval-shaped stone that resembled a river pebble.
Staring at the stone, his face showed a hint of reluctance. But with the current danger looming over him, if he didn’t use it now, he might never get another chance.
Gritting his teeth, he hurled the stone backward.
Buzz!
A flash of white light erupted behind him, exploding into a bright glow. The scorching wave of energy carried a faint negative-value radiation, momentarily suppressing the white figure lurking in the fog.
But it lasted only for an instant—the figure continued accelerating toward Li Runshan and his daughter.
Li Runshan hadn’t expected such a weak effect. By the time he realized it, it was nearly too late. He quickly rolled to the ground, barely dodging in time.
Swish!
The white figure brushed past the spot where he had just been, shooting forward more than ten meters before twisting around to charge at them again.
Thud.
Just then, a distinct sound echoed from behind Li Runshan.
At that moment, his nerves tensed.
Wait… could it be that the thing in front of me isn’t the real threat? Is the real danger behind me?!
The realization struck him.
The “Behind Person”… naturally, it should be attacking from behind!
Without hesitation, he rolled again, swiftly dodging the direct attack of the white figure.
At that moment, the white figure and the entity behind him collided.
Poof!
The white figure instantly vanished, disappearing as if it had never existed.
Thud.
Another crisp sound echoed from behind Li Runshan.
A bone-chilling cold surged up his back.
He tried to keep running forward, but after only a few steps, his body became increasingly rigid. His movements slowed, becoming more sluggish with each step.
Move! Run!! Li Runshan frantically willed his body to move, trying desperately to regain control of his limbs.
His entire body tensed, his blood pumped faster, and he began to tremble involuntarily.
But if sheer willpower could change reality, there wouldn’t be so many who had perished.
Realizing this, Li Runshan reached into his collar and yanked out a silver-black metal eagle pendant.
He gripped the pendant tightly, his eyes filled with reluctance.
But after just two seconds, he slowly loosened his grip.
Snap.
He tore the pendant from his neck and flung it backward.
A burst of golden light erupted from the pendant, radiating like the sun. The dazzling gold illuminated the dark night, resembling a beacon in the abyss.
In an instant, the blurry, smiling humanoid figure behind him was forced to retreat.
Seizing the opportunity, Li Runshan’s face lit up with joy. He grabbed Aisena and sprinted toward Yu Hong’s direction.
After running more than ten meters, he suddenly noticed a silhouette rapidly approaching from the side.
“Yu—” He shouted, a look of relief appearing on his face.
But before he could finish his sentence, his joy abruptly froze.
Because the person coming toward him wasn’t Yu Hong.
It was Zhou Xueguang!
Old Zhou was covered in blood, wrapped in half a tattered Luminous Stone blanket. One of his arms hung limply at his side, and his face bore an expression of indescribable terror.
Behind him, another white smiling figure was approaching, slowly raising its head to look at Li Runshan and his daughter.
The figure subtly shifted its position, completely blocking their escape route.
Its grin was eerily bright, arms outstretched as invisible distortions rippled through the air.
The surrounding radiation values soared at an alarming rate.
A web of crimson radiation spread across the night, descending upon the three of them.
“No!!!”
Li Runshan wanted to scream, but an overwhelming despair choked his voice.
Two Behind Person attacking from both sides, the air thick with paralyzing cold.
His legs were frozen stiff, almost devoid of sensation.
If it were a physical battle, he could think of many ways to handle it. But against an attack from the Evil Shadows…
Li Runshan clenched his teeth, using all his strength to set his daughter down from his arms.
“Run!” He forced out the word.
Seeing Aisena standing there in a daze, he mustered every ounce of his energy again.
“Run!!”
But Aisena still remained motionless, her small face lifted blankly as she pointed behind Li Runshan.
“Uncle Yu Yu…”
Li Runshan was stunned and struggled to turn his head.
The first thing he saw was the eerie, twisted smile of the Behind Person, inches away from reaching him.
But more importantly, behind that Behind Person stood a towering black silhouette, half a head taller than him.
That was Yu Hong’s Enhanced White Bear Suit!
At this moment, the ferocious, burly armored figure was elegantly pinching a dark, rod-like object between two fingers as if embroidering delicate patterns.
Realizing he had been spotted, Yu Hong smiled slightly at Aisena.
“Shhh~~”
He raised a finger to his lips, signaling silence.
BOOM!!!
In an instant, the black rod-like object shattered and exploded, dispersing into a spreading ring of black powder.
Simultaneously, an invisible spherical shockwave erupted outward from Yu Hong, covering a radius of over ten meters.
The Behind Person behind Li Runshan froze abruptly, motionless.
In that split second, a large hand grabbed the top of its head, yanked it up, and slammed it downward!
“Die!!” A burst of laughter accompanied the impact.
BOOM!!!
The Behind Person’s upper body was brutally smashed into the ground, forming a deep crater.
Yu Hong grabbed it again with one hand and began slamming it wildly against the ground.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!
For the final strike, he leaped high into the air, his right arm swelling with muscle, pressing the Behind Person’s face downward as he plummeted.
At that moment, right at the impact site, a radiation grenade—its switch unknowingly already activated—lay on the ground, counting down to its final second.
BOOM!!!
In a flash, Yu Hong’s arm, along with the Behind Person, plunged deep into the earth. The explosion of the radiation grenade clashed with his strength, creating a powerful shockwave.
In absolute silence, the Behind Person’s white body disintegrated into countless white ashes, vanishing without a trace.
Crack.
Yu Hong pulled his arm from the dirt, shook off the dust, and looked at the three stunned figures.
Then, he turned his gaze to the figure behind Zhou Xueguang.
That figure, its form blurry and flickering, also began to fade away.
With such a high concentration of negative radiation, this area would be off-limits to any Ghostly Shadows or Evil Shadows for the time being.
“Looks like I arrived just in time,” Yu Hong said, smiling as he extended a hand toward the fallen father and daughter.
Li Runshan stared at the massive black hand—though the suit made it appear larger, he still vividly remembered the first time he had met Yu Hong.
Back then, he had been completely different from what he was now.
“The third time,” he murmured, his face contorting into a complex expression of relief and gratitude, mixed with laughter and tears.
“You’ve saved me for the third time.”
Clap.
He reached out and firmly grasped Yu Hong’s hand, standing up. He had no idea how Yu Hong had done it or why he had appeared here at this exact moment.
All he knew was that he and his daughter were saved.
“So, how do you plan to repay me?” Yu Hong joked.
“…I have nothing to offer in return.” Li Runshan wiped the sweat from his face and grabbed his daughter’s small hand.
“Would devoting myself to you be enough?”
Yu Hong’s expression stiffened, but he quickly realized the joke and his eyes lit up.
“Thank you, Uncle Yu,” Aisena suddenly added, her little face serious. “When I grow up, I’ll marry you with my dad!”
“…That joke was ice-cold.” Yu Hong twitched at the corners of his mouth before walking over to Zhou Xueguang and pulling him up as well.
“You okay?”
“My arm’s broken, but I’m not dead,” Zhou Xueguang exhaled, looking at Yu Hong with a complicated gaze.
“What did you just use?” he couldn’t help but ask quietly.
“A newly developed radiation grenade. How was it? Pretty effective, huh?” Yu Hong grinned.
“More than just effective… In all my years at the front lines, I’ve only seen those Behind People react like that when hit by large-scale Luminous Stone missile strikes.” Zhou Xueguang found Yu Hong more and more mysterious.
At first, he thought Yu Hong was just an enhanced human—just slightly stronger than normal.
But now… the research capabilities Yu Hong displayed far surpassed mere physical strength.
Behind People had slaughtered countless United Army soldiers at the front. The Silver Tower had spent ages trying to develop weapons to counter them, but the only viable solution was large-scale bombing to alter the environment’s red values—brute-force saturating an area with extreme negative radiation.
Yet, this guy…
With just two tiny grenades, he had achieved the kind of results that would cost Silver Tower’s Aurora City an entire regional battle’s worth of Luminous Stone reserves to accomplish.
“Yu Hong, have you ever considered working with the United Army?” Zhou Xueguang suddenly asked. “If we had your radiation grenades, we might actually have a real chance…”
“If it were possible, I’d be happy to,” Yu Hong said, but he knew exactly how his radiation grenades were made. Without Inner Energy, he couldn’t craft the vortex rune at their core, and he also needed Black Marks for secondary optimization.
Simply put, he was the only person in the world capable of making them, and the production rate was extremely limited.
“Let’s go. We’ll head to my place first—this area isn’t safe,” Yu Hong said, lifting Zhou Xueguang with one hand and motioning for Li Runshan and his daughter to follow.
Then, without hesitation, they quickly made their way toward the cave.
(End of Chapter)