Chapter 185 Exclusively published on Jinjiang: Night Raid!
The Lu family.
Lu Qing, carrying a plate of sliced fruit, called Lu Chen's name several times but received no response. She turned to Lu Miaomiao and asked, "Where's Chenchen?"
Lu Miaomiao took the fruit plate and placed it on the coffee table in the living room, saying, "He went out to play with Dafu and Mei Cheng."
Lu Qing sighed helplessly, "These kids have so much energy."
Since the start of the polar night, the children in the village have all been incredibly energetic, their spirits high every day.
Even when it's snowing heavily outside, they can run out and play for most of the day, and you can't call them back.
Lu Miaomiao smiled and said, "Children's curiosity is several times stronger than that of adults. The polar night is a rare sight, so it's normal for them to find it novel."
Normally, the village children don't go out after nightfall, and the elders also don't allow them to go out.
But now daytime is the same as nighttime, and the elders can't possibly keep them completely indoors and prevent them from going out, can they?
Children can experience the fun of nighttime outings even during the day, and there's a psychological thrill of doing things they wouldn't have dared to do before. How can children resist such temptation?
It's not just about playing around; the feeling of having classes with the lights on in the private school under the 'night' is also a completely new experience for the children.
As for adults, freshness is definitely the most important thing.
However, they had too many important matters to attend to and couldn't be as carefree as the little ones. Instead, they made quite a few mistakes because they weren't used to it.
It was dark outside when I ate breakfast.
At noon and for dinner, it was still dark.
When I go to sleep, it's dark.
I opened my eyes and drew back the curtains; it was still dark outside.
Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and don't even know if it's day or night.
While working, it's impossible to pinpoint exactly how much time has passed; I have to check the time several times a day.
This went on for five days, and the adults couldn't take it anymore.
Men, women, and children gathered in the village chief's large living room, their expressions full of irritation.
A middle-aged villager said with a frustrated expression, "It's pitch black outside whether I open my eyes or not. It's novel for a day or two, but it gets really annoying after a while."
The others gritted their teeth as well.
"Who says otherwise? I used to think the polar night was nothing, but now I realize it's like being slowly cut with a dull knife!"
"The thought of having to endure this for another twenty days makes me want to kill someone."
"Right now I just want to soak up the sun and get my whole body nicely sunburned."
At this point, many people showed the pain of unfulfilled desires on their faces.
Seeing everyone so distressed, Li Tie sighed inwardly.
In a sense, people and crops are not so different; both need the nourishment of sunlight.
When you have something all the time, you don't realize how precious it is. But now that you've lost it, you realize how unbearable it is to live in darkness.
Even if there are no physical problems, over time there's no guarantee that mental problems won't develop.
Zhang Wende sighed, "My Dafu and Xiaofu were very lively just two days ago, but they're listless today. They don't want to go out to play anymore, and they're even eating less than before."
Other families with children also chimed in, saying that their children weren't as energetic as they had been a few days ago.
Although the impact varies in depth depending on individual personality and coping ability, and the deep impact is not very serious, what about in three to five days, or even ten days?
"Village chief, can't you think of a way to resolve this with Lu Xuan?"
Li Tie glanced at the person who spoke and said irritably, "How do we solve this? Everyone's annoyed because of the polar night. Do you think Ah Xuan can do nothing about it?"
Liu Daxi frowned and said, "So we just have to tough it out like this?"
Seeing that the people around him looked a little depressed, Li Tie comforted them, saying, "Don't just think the worst. We live in a safe house now, and we have plenty of fish and meat every day. Each household has a lot of stored grain, as well as treasures from the general store."
The disaster victims on Huo Jiajun's side are incredibly envious of us. Right now, the polar night is just a little tough, what's that?
If the disaster victims who are still struggling to survive outside knew their thoughts, they would probably think they were being pretentious.
You can eat and drink as much as you want, and you don't have to worry about freezing to death or being killed by wild animals. The only problem is that you can't see the sun. What's there to worry about?
Or rather, even if they're annoyed, they can grit their teeth and get through it, and at least they're still alive and well, right?
Li Tie thought for a moment and said, "If you're really feeling frustrated, find something to do instead of constantly thinking about how it's always dark outside. The more you think about it, the more you'll get stuck in a rut. Go to the children's playground more often, or go ice skating during the next winter fishing trip to relax."
The villagers sighed, "That's all we can do."
Seeing their disheartened looks, Old Master Zhang said with exasperation, "You bunch of kids, you just can't think outside the box! The holographic equipment in the training room can simulate any environment, right? Location doesn't matter, just set the weather to sunny so you can bask in the sun!"
Everyone: "..."
Everyone: "!!!"
You can do that?!
Even Li Tie couldn't help but slap his thigh after hearing this, exclaiming excitedly, "How come I didn't think of this trick!"
Grandpa Zhang snorted, "You guys are still too young. You're all impetuous and your brains don't even work as fast as an old man like me."
Yes, yes, yes.
"You're the best!"
"If you hadn't reminded us, we would have completely forgotten about the holographic equipment."
The villagers were both surprised and delighted.
They only thought that the training room was the exclusive domain of the hunting team and a small number of people who could ride in mechs, but they forgot that Lu Xuan had never restricted this.
They can all go!
Choose the one with the lowest risk level, and pick a wild animal that isn't too dangerous or too fast. If you can stay inside a little longer, you can bask in the sun a little longer.
Once the villagers understood this, they shook off their recent irritability and depression, and couldn't wait to bask in the sunlight of the holographic world.
The hunting party had just left, so there weren't many people in the training room, and they weren't worried about crowding when they went over.
A group of people were excitedly preparing to go to the training room when they heard a commotion outside.
What's going on outside?
"I really want to hear someone say that the hunting party has returned."
"So early today?"
Don't you usually come back in the afternoon? It's not even noon yet.
And whether it was their imagination or not, they felt that the sounds outside were somewhat tense.
The direction from which the sound was coming seemed incorrect; it wasn't from the processing shed, but rather... Lin Langzhong's clinic.
Li Tie's brow twitched, a bad feeling creeping over him. "I'll go out and take a look."
The others realized something was wrong and quickly followed.
·
Upon arriving at the clinic, Li Tie and his group found the hunting team and other villagers gathered together, and their hearts sank.
Li Tie spotted Lu Xuan in the crowd and quickly went over to ask, "Xuan, has something happened to the hunting team?"
Before Lu Xuan could speak, the others who had arrived earlier replied, "Village chief, several members of the hunting team were injured, and Zhao Yong broke his arm."
Li Tie's expression changed. "A fracture? How could it be so serious?"
Given the hunting team's current strength and the weapons they carry, minor injuries would be one thing, but how could it escalate to the point of fractures?
Having just confirmed that her son was not injured, Aunt Chen said, "I don't know, we were just about to ask what happened."
Lu Xuan didn't go with the hunting team today because he went to Huo's army to help build mushroom houses.
Therefore, it's not entirely clear what exactly happened.
At this moment, Wu Cheng, having settled the other wounded, came out and explained what had happened to everyone.
They didn't find anything wrong when they first arrived at their target hunting spot for the day.
Not long after entering the mountains, they successfully caught several snow hares and a lone dwarf deer in the snow.
But when he later discovered the tracks left by wild boars and followed them, he found that the group of wild boars was very strange.
Wu Cheng frowned: "Wild boars are naturally irritable, so it's not surprising that they attacked us after discovering us. But those wild boars' eyes were bloodshot and red. They didn't seem to feel any pain after being attacked and continued to charge at us like madmen."
"There are too many of them, more than thirty in total, two-thirds of which are adult wild boars."
The others gasped, "How can there be so many?!"
So far, the hunting team seems to have brought back no more than ten wild boars at most, and at least half of them were still half-grown piglets.
The thought of more than twenty adult wild boars attacking like madmen sends chills down their spines.
Wu Cheng said, "Because the incident happened suddenly and there were so many wild boars, everyone was inevitably in a bit of a mess."
With sufficient weapons, they were unlikely to be seriously harmed by the wild boar herd; they just suffered some bumps and bruises while trying to dodge them.
Zhao Yong was the unluckiest; he tripped and fell while trying to dodge the charging wild boar.
Fortunately, he only suffered a broken arm and wasn't stabbed through the stomach, which is a stroke of good luck amidst misfortune.
Lin Qingfu has already repositioned Zhao Yong's bones and treated him with a therapeutic device. If all goes well, he should recover in three to five days.
If Zhao Yong and his father didn't want to wait that long, they could go into the medical pod and lie down for an hour or two; they'd be back to full of life as soon as they came out.
This is a problem that the Zhao family father and son need to consider themselves. What everyone else is more concerned about is what's wrong with those wild boars.
Wild animals generally only have estrus cycles, and they're most aggressive when competing for mates, right?
[More than thirty wild boars—could it be that the wild boars were having a mass matchmaking event, and the hunting team intruded on their meeting and disturbed them?]
[Pfft, what the hell is this? Wild boars going on blind dates? Could things get any more absurd?]
[It's probably not during heat; the season is clearly wrong. Food is so hard to find outside right now; I'm starving, I don't have the energy for anything else.]
Could it be that, like the villagers, the annoyance stems from the effects of the polar night?
[Could it be that being kept in the dark for so long caused a stress reaction?]
After reading the comments, Lu Xuan felt that what they said made some sense, but he couldn't immediately verify the truth of any of them.
Weather Companion can only simulate natural disasters, but it doesn't address animal madness and provides no clues.
That evening, at the Lu family home.
While eating, Lu Qing and Lei Yan were still discussing the reason why the wild boar went crazy.
Midway through the conversation, Lei Yan turned to Lu Xuan and asked, "Are you going to the area where wild boars roam tomorrow?"
It sounded like a question, but the tone was very certain.
After learning of the hunting team's accident, the village chief ordered them to temporarily refrain from hunting and not go out, but Lu Xuan would probably not ignore the suspicious points.
Sure enough, Lu Xuan nodded and said, "I'll go check."
Lu Chen slurped the fish noodles out of his mouth and said to Lu Xuan, "Brother, are you going alone? You must be careful and not get hurt."
【？？？】
[Chenchen, you've got it backwards! We should be wary of wild boars, not wild boars.]
The streamer is a walking human weapon; only others/beasts fear him.
[Wild boars: Don't come any closer!]
Lu Xuan pinched Lu Chen's cheek and said, "Don't worry, there won't be any problems."
Lu Qing and Lei Yan were not worried that Lu Xuan would encounter danger if he went alone; they were even looking forward to him bringing back answers the next day.
However, no one in the family, including Lu Xuan, expected that plans would change so quickly.
Before he could even leave the house the next day, the accident happened that very night.
...
It was late at night.
The village of Yunlu was completely silent.
While everyone was fast asleep, the moon, which had disappeared after the onset of the polar night, quietly reappeared in the night sky, emitting an ominous red hue.
This red is different from the red moon that appears during a total or partial lunar eclipse; it is a highly saturated crimson, so intensely red that it seems as if it is about to drip blood at any moment.
As the red moonlight shone on the polar night, the pupils of countless wild beasts in the boundless wilderness gradually turned red, their cold eyes becoming increasingly frenzied, their destructive desires reaching their peak in a short time.
In the end, only one thought remained in my mind.
—Kill! Kill! Kill!
They began to attack their own kind frantically, while also impatiently searching for other targets to attack.
Before long, animals with a keen sense of smell caught the scent of the two-legged creatures carried by the wind and snow.
Some with strong night vision spotted a distant light that stood out like a lighthouse in the darkness, and then they all ran in the same direction.
The ground trembled slightly as a large number of wild beasts charged forward.
This kind of vibration is not easily noticed by ordinary people, but Lu Xuan opened his eyes in the darkness immediately.
He first checked the system backend to confirm that there was no earthquake today, and then walked to the window, pulled back the curtains, and looked outside.
The green light and deeper, dark red glow of the mushroom lamp instantly illuminated the room.
Lu Xuan looked up and saw the blood moon hanging high in the sky.
Opening the window again, the sounds outside quickly reached my ears: the sound of wind and snow, and the increasingly close... howling of wolves.
There are a lot of them.
'Beep beep beep—' The communicator suddenly rang.
Seeing the village chief's name, Lu Xuan guessed that it must have been the person on night watch who notified Li Tie.
He casually opened a live stream, explaining the situation to the viewers who were shocked by his late-night broadcast, while grabbing his coat from beside the bed, putting it on, and jumping out of the window.
...
The young and strong men who hurriedly put on their clothes, some of the elderly women in the village, and the Huo family's helpers who lived in tents, a large group of people gathered in the open space at the entrance of the village.
The helpers looked particularly nervous.
Why is there a sudden wolf howl?
Are the wolves coming this way?
"That sounds like a lot of them, what do we do? Should we run?"
The villagers of Yunlu Village frowned and said, "Our village is here, where do you want to run?"
Some people speculated about the reason for the wolf pack's appearance: "Was it because the village was too bright, which attracted the wolves?"
"I should have blocked the mushroom lamps at night."
"But we haven't seen any large groups of wild animals attacking the village before."
Their village is built in the wild, so it's normal for there to be wild animals nearby.
However, the guards patrol the area on weekdays, and if they find any traces of wild animals, they will clear them away before they can gather in a pile.
In the two months since then, they have never encountered a wolf pack that they know there are at least dozens of wolves just by listening to their sounds.
Some of the women noticed the ominous color of the moonlight and felt a little scared.
"Why is the moon red? It's making me uneasy."
Su Ying narrowed her eyes slightly and said sharply, "Could the sudden appearance of the wolf pack be related to this Red Moon?"
The others exchanged bewildered glances. "This... can't be true...?"
In the live broadcast room, many viewers who learned of the emergency came to watch.
【How could it not be! I think there's definitely something wrong with the Red Moon!】
[Perhaps some component from the moon suddenly traveled to the streamer's dimension and affected the beast.]
[Sounds like a pretty big wolf pack. Are we going to have an extra fight tonight?]
[Exciting! Waiting for the streamer to unleash his fury!]
While everyone was filled with anxiety and the audience's anticipation was at its peak, Lu Xuan took out several night vision binoculars, kept one for himself, and gave the rest to the village chief and the others.
Those who received the binoculars eagerly brought over a ladder, climbed up, and looked in the direction from which the wolf howls were coming from.
The extreme cold season has lasted for more than two months, and the snow in the village and the wilderness within a few dozen meters of the village has been cleared away to facilitate their activities.
But in more distant areas, snow has been piling up for more than two months and has now reached a height of about ten meters. In a sense, the village is completely surrounded by snow.
The snow never had a chance to melt; instead, it froze directly as the temperature dropped. At this moment, the wolves were running wildly towards them, stepping on the thick snow.
The telescopes produced by Star Alliance have a high enough magnification and exceptional clarity.
Even when the wolf pack was still a long distance away, the person with binoculars could still clearly see the wild wolves with their bloodshot eyes, their mouths agape, baring their fangs.
"hiss--"
"How can there be so many!"
The others quickly pressed, "Are there many wolves? How many exactly?"
"Let me see it too."
As Li Tie handed the binoculars to the others, his lips trembled slightly as he said, "I can't count them all, there are at least several hundred."
"What!?" The crowd erupted in chaos. "How can there be so many!?"
They had seen dozens of wolves in the Yunlu Mountains, and the hunting team had also brought back some after the start of the extreme cold season, but hundreds... that's too many!
The elderly women in the village turned pale with fright on the spot, but they were used to big scenes and managed to keep their composure.
The helpers, however, were different.
Although they had encountered wild animal attacks during previous disasters, they were still confident because they had hundreds of Huo family soldiers and several thousand disaster victims by their side.
But Yunlu Village only has a few hundred people, just over two hundred including them. What would be the result of facing hundreds of wolves?
Many of the timid female workers fainted instantly, while others collapsed to the ground, their faces filled with despair and terror.
Li Tie asked Lu Xuan, "Ah Xuan, what do you think we should do?"
Lu Xuan slightly twitched his fingers, a hint of fighting spirit surging in his eyes. "Of course, fight!"
Li Tie paused for a moment, then took a deep breath, his face turned serious, and he quickly turned to the others and shouted, "Don't just stand there! Old people and women, hurry back inside and hide! Men, get your weapons ready!"
With so many wolves, a fierce battle is inevitable.
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