Genius Chapter 109: Two Hours of Darkness

Chapter 109: Two Hours of Darkness

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

The cry for help lasted only briefly before being drowned out by the thunder. Su Mo summoned his ferret familiar and swiftly returned to the courtyard in Vicinity with its help. However, the serene atmosphere had drastically changed here under the raging wind, rain, and thunder. The fisherman’s small courtyard now bore a sinister aura. At the main entrance, several grotesque creatures had appeared—fish-like in form yet with humanoid limbs. Their bare, bluish-black skin was covered in irregular marks, and their crimson eyes gleamed with cold malice.

Su Mo didn’t want to startle them, so he halted just outside the courtyard, observing the situation inside carefully.

The fish-like creatures numbered about five, currently surrounding the small house where ScarletFruit and the others were located. The door to the house was tightly shut, and from the flickering candlelight inside, one could see a figure standing behind the door. Apart from this figure, there was no sign of anyone else.

“ScarletFruit, can you hear me? ClearWind? Apple?” Su Mo tried to contact his teammates again using the team voice chat, but the booming thunder greatly interfered with communication, making it impossible for him to hear clearly. He switched to the team text channel instead—

[Team] Momo: Are you still inside?

After a while, a chaotic message from ScarletFruit appeared in the team channel.

[Team] ScarletFruit14: Help! They can’t fight back, I’m blocking the door.

They can’t fight back? Blocking the door?

Su Mo glanced at the figure at the door and typed another message in the text channel.

[Team] Momo: ZenSlasher and ChatMasterWu, return to the courtyard. ScarletFruit, hold on for a while.

ScarletFruit stood behind the door, looking at the row of teammates lying in front of him, tears almost falling from his eyes.

However, he couldn’t find time to type and inform his brother of the situation. The voice chat was completely useless, and he couldn’t spare a hand to type. He had thought that the door was quite sturdy, but neither he nor ClearWind could open it, yet it was easy to break from the outside. If he hadn’t been quick to hold the door just now, his teammates might have been dead by now.

“How did rainwater get in?” Apple lay uncomfortably, noticing that the ground was flooded with water at some point.

“ScarletFruit has been through a lot. Just hold on a little longer. It’ll be much better when the others come back,” said Small Bear Biscuit.

There were four people in the room: Apple, ClearWind, Small Bear Biscuit, and ScarletFruit. The first three happened to be among the seven-person team left ashore who had drunk the fisherman’s tea. At the time, uncertain about the situation, they initially planned to let ClearWind and Small Bear Biscuit try the tea to see if it could advance the plot. Later, ScarletFruit assured them that the fisherman was trustworthy, so they thought everything was fine. Apple took an extra sip to taste it, leading to the current situation.

“I thought this place was the safest.” ScarletFruit was on the verge of tears. “Why do I, a healer, have to bear so much?”

ClearWind exclaimed loudly, “Brother, don’t worry. If you die, there are still three others to take the hit. Not bad.”

“We can revive ourselves… fuck! We can’t use the resurrection scrolls in this scene. Is the main system trying to screw us?” ClearWind noticed another thing. “We could use them before. Why can’t we do it now after the transition??”

“Maybe it’s because we entered a special scenario. Didn’t the quest log refresh? It’s to make us survive,” Small Bear Biscuit suggested.

“If Momo and the others don’t come back soon, you should leave us and run for it. One survivor is better than none. As a healer, you’re the hope of the whole team,” Apple advised.

Amidst the sounds of wind and rain, the banging became more pronounced. The next second, amidst the cracking sound, ScarletFruit’s attention was abruptly drawn back. One of the fish creatures had actually broken the paper window on the door and was about to break in.

A hand reached in from outside, illuminated clearly by the candlelight. It was a human hand, yet not entirely human.

ScarletFruit’s hair stood on end, and his legs went weak. Leaning against the door, he couldn’t see the creature’s hand, but some slippery, viscous substance dripped onto his head, sticking directly to his skin and sliding down his neck.

“Help!!!”

“Don’t shout.” A cold voice appeared on the Vicinity voice channel—it was Momo.

Tears nearly streaming down ScarletFruit’s face, he heard a loud bang. The creature that had been pressed against the door was instantly knocked away.

Summoned Bear landed in the courtyard, its large figure blocking the entrance. Thunder Lion and Lunar Feline followed suit, and together with Bear’s taunting, they subdued the five fish creatures inside the courtyard. Su Mo appeared at the door, noticing a paper charm affixed to it with the word “prohibition” written on it. He promptly tore off the charm, and a prompt appeared before him.

[Potent Prohibition Charm: When affixed to doors and windows, renders them unable to be opened from the outside.]

After tearing off the charm, Su Mo pushed the door, which swung open effortlessly. “Fruit, open the door from inside.”

“We can’t open it from inside,” ScarletFruit replied.

“You can now,” Su Mo said.

ScarletFruit pulled the door open without any resistance. “What’s this thing for? I couldn’t open the door just now.”

Once Su Mo entered the room, he realized the seriousness of the situation. Seeing his teammates sprawled on the ground, ScarletFruit was the only one who could move. Without time to ask the others about the specifics, it was clear they couldn’t stay in this room. Moreover, the strange fish creatures outside were formidable. Su Mo’s attacks barely scratched them, making it impossible to overpower and escape from them.

“Fruit, I’ll control the monsters. You get them out of here,” Su Mo instructed.

ScarletFruit was at a loss, looking at his teammates inside. “Bro, how am I supposed to do that? I can’t carry them all by myself…”

Before he could finish, a Black Tortoise appeared before him.

“Got it, I’ll start moving,” ScarletFruit clapped his hands, transforming into a laborer. He exerted all his strength to lift ClearWind up, but couldn’t manage to pull him. He had to resort to dragging instead, inching towards Black Tortoise’s Vicinity. After painstakingly moving one person, he was already exhausted. “This is way too heavy.”

“Physical swordsman gets a defense bonus, so he might be heavier,” Apple said, “You should carry me first. I’m definitely the lightest.”

ScarletFruit was speechless. If he had known that the life-saving cleric would come to this day, he wouldn’t have put all his attribute points into luck initially. He would have allocated some to strength or attack.

After moving ClearWind, ScarletFruit carried Apple, who indeed felt much lighter.

“Fruit, are you done?” Momo’s voice came through.

ScarletFruit remained silent for a moment. “Bro, hold on a sec, I’m taking a potion.”

With ClearWind and Apple already on Black Tortoise’s back, ScarletFruit focused on the most challenging task: handling Small Bear Biscuit. He dug into his pack and found the long-awaited Strength Potion, which increased his character’s strength by 150 points for 30 minutes upon consumption.

With all his strength drained, ScarletFruit finally managed to toss Small Bear Biscuit onto the summoned beast’s back and hastily used some vines he had left over to tie everyone securely in place.

After finishing his tasks, he stepped out of the door. Just as he set foot on the muddy ground, he saw a figure lunging towards him. He quickly dodged aside and saw his elder brother swing his staff. Another fish-like creature was struck and sent flying back into the house. With the help of his summoned beast, they completely controlled them inside the house.

The summoner, who favored physical attacks, was formidable with his staff. The power behind each swing was immense. Coupled with Momo’s agile movements, the three people lying on Black Tortoise’s back watched as he skillfully dispatched the monsters that had initially seemed powerful at the door, either knocking them back into the house or completely incapacitating them. Within a short time, all five monsters at the door had been either knocked back inside or defeated and pushed into the house step by step.

When all the creatures were inside, Su Mo took out the prohibition seal he had torn from the door earlier and slapped it back on with a crisp sound.

The prohibition seal did not fail; the powerful red runes extended and completely locked the door, impervious to the attacks of the fish creatures inside.

“Well, well, was it this thing that made the door unopenable just now?” ScarletFruit said, “Bro, you’re a real newbie. You even thought of this.”

While the summoning time of the Black Tortoise beast was long, it didn’t last long. After Su Mo locked the door, the three people fell to the ground again.

“Should I move again?” ScarletFruit asked.

“Wait a moment, let’s clarify the situation,” Su Mo said briefly.

ScarletFruit then recounted all of their recent experiences. After listening, Su Mo glanced around the house and then focused on the team. If it was a problem with the tea, then ChatMasterWu and ZenSlasher should be safe. It was just the complete loss of communication with the three at sea. Despite sending emails, they didn’t respond. It could only be that the mainframe actively cut off their contact. However, as long as they weren’t dead, they could still be contacted through other means. The most difficult thing now was to endure for two hours.

[[East Sea Fishing Village] Nightfall, Can We Survive?]

[Night Duration: 01:36:55] Two hours have passed since nightfall, and half an hour has already elapsed.

Su Mo couldn’t help but linger on Yu Zhen’s ID. Although he knew there was no need to worry, he couldn’t shake a certain level of concern. They had schemed from the start on land, and traveling with three people at sea was not necessarily simple.

Soon, ChatMasterWu and ZenSlasher rushed back. It was dangerous to stay in the small courtyard, and the best option was to find a safe place to hide for the remaining one and a half hours.

“I found a cave in this Vicinity when I was scouting during the day,” ZenSlasher said. “The entrance to the cave is narrow, but it’s actually quite spacious inside. The fish creatures shouldn’t be able to get in there. We can go there to assess the situation and perhaps hide inside.”

The fish creatures were large, and indeed, they might not fit into narrow spaces.

“Each person carries one. Let’s go immediately.”

Su Mo grabbed Little Bear next to him and hoisted Little Bear onto his back.

ScarletFruit was in the process of choosing between the remaining two people, ultimately yielding to the issue of weight. “I’ll carry Apple, and ChatMasterWu can carry ClearWind…”

Before he could finish his sentence, ScarletFruit saw ZenSlasher effortlessly lifting ClearWind onto his back.

ZenSlasher said, “I’m faster in movement, so I’ll carry one.”

ScarletFruit was instantly touched. “ZenSlasher, you’re so strong.”

ClearWind retorted, “ScarletFruit, you’re embarrassing!”

ScarletFruit defended himself, “I’m just not as strong, what’s embarrassing about that?”

Without hesitation, the group quickly followed ZenSlasher’s lead and arrived at the cave in Vicinity. However, as they entered the forest, they discovered that many areas were teeming with the same fish creatures that had been blocking their path at the door. These creatures were aimlessly patrolling the forest, posing a formidable obstacle to their progress.

At this moment, they were only about 50 meters away from their target cave, but there were a dozen or so fish creatures blocking their path. With people on their backs, it was impossible to forcefully break through. Just then, ScarletFruit suddenly approached ChatMasterWu.

“Brother, let me carry him,” ScarletFruit said.

ChatMasterWu replied, “It’s fine, it’s just a short distance. You focus on healing.”

“No, no, no, brother, let me do it. Give me a chance!!” ScarletFruit insisted.

ChatMasterWu didn’t quite understand why ScarletFruit was so insistent. He didn’t realize someone would vie to carry another person, as carrying someone wasn’t an easy task, especially when the teammates lacked autonomy. “Alright, I’ll let you,” ChatMasterWu conceded.

“Thank you for your kindness, thank you,” ScarletFruit expressed gratefully.

ChatMasterWu was puzzled.

The rest of the team remained silent at the same time. ScarletFruit finished carrying Apple and quickly stepped back a few steps.

ChatMasterWu turned his head, looking bewildered at his teammate just 3 meters away. He met momo’s confident gaze and a strange feeling crept over him. Carefully, he asked, “Are we not charging?”

“Of course we are charging,” ScarletFruit replied, with Apple on his back now behind Momo. “You charge, and we’ll follow.”

ChatMasterWu was still puzzled.

ZenSlasher and ScarletFruit stepped back two steps, while those carried on their backs like Apple and ClearWind chose to remain silent.

At this moment, Momo took charge and spoke up, “Going by the estimated combat zone over there, if you take the left path close to the mountain, you’ll probably attract 10-18 monsters. With your current health, holding off their attacks for a minute should be no problem. We’ll need about 1 minute and 30 seconds to get into the cave, leaving you the last 30 seconds to use your defensive skills, then switch to stealth and sneak.”

ChatMasterWu exclaimed, “Huh? You mean me?”

“Well, who else?” Momo replied calmly, looking directly at him. “We’re all carrying someone, you have plenty of health, and you can go invisible.”

ChatMasterWu was stunned. “What if I die?”

Su Mo replied, “Find a conspicuous spot to die. We’ll come rescue you when it’s daylight.”

ChatMasterWu immediately looked at ScarletFruit, who pretended nothing was wrong, hunching even further with the person on his back.

Author’s note: 

ScarletFruit: Opportunities are earned! 

Apple: We didn’t drink the wrong tea during the day. 

Little Bear: So this was your plan… 

ChatMasterWu: ???