Chapter 69 - 62: The Lamp

Chapter 69: Chapter 62: The Lamp

Time flowed quietly under the Eternal Night. For Xu Mo, who lived alone in Cyan Pine Ridge Town, the past few days had been relatively peaceful.

After dealing with the attacking mutant wolf pack that night using traps and firearms, the subsequent attacks he had anticipated never came. An unnerving, deathly silence returned to the area around his shelter. Aside from the occasional cry of the cold wind and the sounds of his own movements, there was nothing else.

Days of continued peace led Xu Mo to a gradual realization: there were likely no significant beastial threats left in the vicinity of the town.

This conclusion wasn’t just baseless speculation. During his daily cultivation of the Thirteen Grand Protectors’ Cross Training, he had intentionally extended his time in absolute darkness. On one hand, it was to continue tempering his willpower and resist the mental corrosion. On the other, it was also a form of "fishing"—placing himself in a lightless environment to test if he would still attract predators corrupted by the darkness.

In the end, aside from the omnipresent, oppressive darkness that constantly tried to erode his mind—a feeling that could only be effectively resisted by circulating his qi and blood—none of the anticipated threats appeared. It was as if that wolf pack had been the last large-scale, threatening dark creature in this area. Their annihilation had carved out a safe zone for Xu Mo.

’It seems the previous zombie tide, coupled with the drastic environmental changes after the Eternal Night’s arrival and likely instances of cannibalism, has reduced the biological density in and around the town to an extremely low level,’ Xu Mo analyzed inwardly.

This was undoubtedly good news for Xu Mo. It meant he could focus more on his own cultivation without having to be constantly on guard against external physical threats—at least for the time being.

However, the Eternal Night didn’t just bring hardships and challenges. Amidst the daily cycle of cultivation and quiet vigilance, Xu Mo happened to discover a subtle change within himself.

It happened after he finished his Posture Stance practice in the dark. Instead of immediately turning on the light, Xu Mo habitually glanced around. Suddenly, he realized he could actually make out the general outlines of the objects in his room.

It was no longer the pitch-black, sensory-depriving darkness where he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. Instead, everything was veiled in a faint, grayish light. He could vaguely discern the blurry shapes of the table and chairs, the silhouette of the weapon rack, and even the grain of the floorboards. While it was nowhere near as clear as it would be with light, and all color was lost, he was truly "seeing," not just experiencing pure darkness.

’Night vision?’ Xu Mo was both shocked and delighted.

He tried moving around in the dark, avoiding obstacles, and even picking up a small object to examine it. Everything was much smoother than before, when he had to rely entirely on memory and touch.

After careful thought, Xu Mo came up with a relatively plausible theory about this change. ’The Thirteen Grand Protectors’ Cross Training is a divine external cultivation technique that tempers the muscles, bones, and skin. It focuses on comprehensively improving the body’s functions. Strength, defense, reaction speed, recovery, and even the five senses should all be part of its enhancement. Perhaps my eyesight has been slowly improving as my cultivation level rose, but the progress in my "low-light vision" or "dark adaptation" wasn’t obvious back when there was a day-night cycle. The extreme environment of the Eternal Night has acted as a catalyst, forcing my visual system to undergo some kind of adaptive evolution or potential activation under these continuous low-light conditions.’

In other words, it wasn’t the Eternal Night that gave him night vision. Rather, his body, tempered by the Cultivation Technique, already possessed a greater potential for vision. The extreme environment of the Eternal Night had simply unlocked that potential early and to a significant degree.

This discovery invigorated Xu Mo. The significance of having good night vision in the Eternal Night environment was self-evident. It meant his mobility, reaction speed, and even his chances of survival in the dark would be significantly enhanced. This was undoubtedly a huge step forward on his path of individual evolution.

And so, several more days passed in relative peace as he steadily improved himself.

One day, Xu Mo was on the rooftop as usual, doing some stretches to limber up his muscles. He habitually gazed into the distance, observing the dead, snow-covered ruins and the inky black horizon beyond.

Suddenly, Xu Mo’s gaze froze on a point in the distance. He narrowed his eyes.

At the edge of his seemingly unchanging, ink-black field of vision, a string of moving lights had appeared.

The lights were a faint yellow, steady but weak, slithering slowly through the boundless darkness. This string of lights formed a long, albeit untidy, dragon with a clear direction, moving resolutely forward along a snow-covered path that might have once been a highway.

’Is that... a convoy? A convoy of survivors?’ Xu Mo’s heart skipped a beat. This was the first time since he’d transmigrated to this post-apocalyptic world that he had personally witnessed signs of large-scale human activity!

Standing on the edge of the roof, Xu Mo watched carefully. The "Light Dragon" formed by the headlights was not turning toward Cyan Pine Ridge Town. Instead, it followed a set trajectory, passing straight by several kilometers from the town’s edge and heading in a clear direction—the general direction of the Jiang City Shelter.

The convoy was quite large; by his estimation, there were at least thirty or forty vehicles, maybe more. They maintained a safe distance from one another, their lights not only illuminating the path ahead but also serving as a signal for communication and to bolster their courage.

’Looks like some smaller shelters or groups of survivors have made up their minds to migrate to the Jiang City Shelter,’ Xu Mo understood immediately. He instantly guessed the reasons that had prompted them to make such a difficult decision.

On one hand, there was the recent incident with Rock Shelter’s distress call and Jiang City’s powerful response of dispatching a squadron of bombers. This had undoubtedly sent a strong signal to all survivors who could receive the information: Jiang City possessed formidable defensive power and the ability to maintain order, capable of providing effective sanctuary in times of crisis. This stood in stark contrast to the vulnerability Rock had shown during its own crisis.

On the other hand, there was the Jiang City Shelter’s subsequent announcement of the "Everlight Project," offering free 24-hour lighting—an almost unimaginable luxury and temptation in this post-apocalyptic world. It didn’t just represent light; it symbolized the Jiang City Shelter’s stable order, powerful resource reserves, and technological strength. It represented a call to something that was almost "civilization."

For smaller groups struggling in the darkness of the Eternal Night, constantly worried about mental corrosion, this temptation was fatally attractive.

Weighing the risks and rewards, a considerable number of survivors had clearly decided that the dangers of a long-distance migration were worth the chance to gain entry into the "Fortress of Light."

Watching the "Light Dragon" stubbornly pushing forward through the endless darkness, ripples formed on the long-still lake of Xu Mo’s heart.

His strategy had always been to focus on his own survival, silently accumulating strength in these ruins with the help of his Golden Finger and Cultivation Technique. But now, witnessing other survivors migrating en masse toward a large human settlement, a thought sprouted in his mind unbidden:

’In the future, maybe I should go check out the Jiang City Shelter, too.’

This wasn’t an impulsive thought. Xu Mo had no intention of abandoning the shelter he had worked so long to establish just to live under someone else’s roof. His idea was more along the lines of "limited contact" and "information gathering."

Since transmigrating, Xu Mo had been surviving alone. He knew very little about the state of broader human society, technological developments, the distribution of power, or any deeper research into the Eternal Night and the mutated creatures. The information he could get from his radio was limited and filtered. Going to a human settlement in person and interacting with different people would undoubtedly broaden his horizons and allow him to acquire more accurate and in-depth intelligence.

Besides, Xu Mo wanted to see with his own eyes what human civilization had become in the post-apocalyptic world under the protection of a power like the Jiang City Shelter. What was their order like? What was their level of technology? What were the living conditions of ordinary survivors? This would help him more accurately determine his own place in this world and judge the future direction of things.

’I don’t have to settle down in Jiang City, but it would be good to go take a look,’ Xu Mo thought as he watched the convoy’s taillights gradually recede and finally disappear into the darkness. He had already listed "a trip to the Jiang City Shelter" as a potential future plan.

Of course, not now. He needed to be stronger, he needed to be more prepared, and he needed to choose the right time.