# Night Without End-2 > Chapter 2 Fire Spring **Published by:** [Novel-Cat](https://paragraph.com/@novel-cat/) **Published on:** 2024-12-11 **Categories:** book, novel, night, fantasy, mysterious, suspenseful **URL:** https://paragraph.com/@novel-cat/night-without-end-2 ## Content The fire spring is surrounded by stones, and the mist is steaming. In this world full of night, it is particularly bright. Qin Ming squatted down and fished out a glowing stone from the pool. It was more radiant than red coral and shone with mist. The sunstones used by each family come from the fire spring. After the stone is extinguished, it can be put back here and it will be restored to its original state after a period of time. The fiery red light in the pool is as bright as magma, but it is far less than the temperature of human body surface. The pool is shimmering and the fire is jumping. It is neither real fire nor spring water, but a very special substance. Nowadays, the day is gone and the night is long. There is only the difference between light night and late night. In such an era, the fire spring is particularly important. Whether it is the mutant grain silver wheat or the ordinary crops such as potato, all crops need the watering of the fire spring to grow. Moreover, people will feel uncomfortable if they don’t see the fire spring for a long time. It can be said that it is the foundation for people's survival. In this world without daylight, four seasons can also be divided. Spring and summer are the active periods of the fire spring, which gurgles out to meet the needs of farming. Winter is its dry period. For example, here in Shuangshu Village, although the pool is still bright, it can only be used to warm the sun stone for lighting. In general, in the era without daylight, people "follow fire" to survive. The fire spring is so eye-catching in the dark that it will naturally attract the attention of various creatures in the dark, but fortunately, they all have their own territories and can maintain a certain balance most of the time. Shuangshu Village lacks food, mainly because it was attacked by strange birds during the harvest season. When the bird's beak touched the wheat ears, it was like a sickle, and several clusters were left bare in one bite. In addition, there have been ant disasters and some human factors, which have led to people almost starving to death in winter. It is now early night, the night is relatively light, and there is occasionally "ground light" rising in the distance, making the blurred outline of the dense forest vaguely visible. As for the late night, nothing can be seen. Everything is silent and the night is dark. Qin Ming wondered when he could go out to solve the problem of severe food shortage. He looked out into the wild. It was very dark and he could not see the scenery in the distance. The snow had already covered his chest. The living environment was quite bad. Here at the head of the village, the fire spring reflected a bright land. The cold wind blew, and the fire pool, which was six feet square, was sparkling. The black and white trees in the pool shook off the accumulated snowflakes, which were colorful and bright in the fire. The leaves of the two trees had a slightly jade texture and were not afraid of the cold. However, except for the effect of repelling mosquitoes in summer, they were of no great use. Qin Ming felt the cold snowflakes falling from the tree to his neck. He came to his senses. After all, he had to take care of his body. It was very dangerous outside. He walked back along the original path, the lights of each house were shining, and the wilderness behind him was extremely dark, everything was withered, like a giant beast that wanted to swallow everything. Qin Ming stood in the yard, practicing various specific movements, very skillfully and smoothly, because he had been doing this for many years, it was almost an instinct. After a long time, sweat appeared on his forehead and his whole body felt warm, so he stopped. He entered the room and took out a pocket crystal bottle, only the length of a thumb, with delicate carvings, transparent and exquisite, and blue liquid with ice crystals inside. He watched carefully, facing the fire glow of the sunstone. Two words were engraved on the small bottle: mineral element. The liquid inside was intoxicatingly blue, and when it was gently shaken, the blue mist flowed in the bottle, giving a sense of fantasy. Qin Ming restrained his impulse and did not open the small bottle, because he had just recovered from a serious illness, and using blue liquid would do more harm than good. This was something he got unexpectedly in the dangerous area of ​​the mountain. Before this, he had only heard of "mineral element" and had never touched this level of precious material. When the human body is adjusted to the best state, it can improve physical fitness and replenish spirit. After escaping from the mountain, he fell seriously ill and never had the opportunity to try it. "Maybe I can use it in a few days." Qin Ming put away the exquisitely crafted crystal bottle. The cold wind blew, and sporadic snowflakes fell. Qin Ming lived alone, and the quiet yard was deserted, even a little desolate. He was used to it. As time passed, the night deepened, and the early night was about to end. Lu Ze came, followed by a boy about five years old. Although he was wrapped tightly, his little face was still red from the cold. "Wenrui has grown taller again." Qin Ming gestured the boy's height. "Uncle, are you feeling better?" Lu Wenrui looked up and asked with concern, his eyes big and clear, just the age of innocence and loveliness. Qin Ming smiled and responded, "No problem. I'll help you catch the 'Yu Que' you've been dreaming about in a few days." "Yu Que that can talk to people, really? That's great!" Little Wenrui was extremely happy when he heard it, his eyes full of sparkling light. "Something is wrong outside recently." Lu Ze said, handed the food box to Qin Ming, and told him not to rush out. Although the rock rice was relatively rough and had a hard texture, Qin Ming's mouth was still salivating. He only had two meals a day, and he was really hungry. There were actually a few red dates in the rock rice, which was extremely soft, smooth, delicate, sweet and delicious. Qin Ming found that little Wenrui was staring at it and swallowed his saliva. He felt guilty and squatted down, saying, "Wenrui, tell your uncle, are you not full yet?" Lu Ze shook his head and said, "No, he must have seen the red dates." Qin Ming immediately picked out a few red dates and gave them to the beautiful and simple little boy to eat. Lu Ze stopped him and said, "This is what your sister-in-law put in there to replenish your blood and qi. Don't pick it out for him." At this time, Liang Wanqing also came and looked at Wen Rui and said, "Your uncle Qin is weak. Now there is no meat or tonic. Don't be greedy." She was not a bad person. She had thought that Qin Ming would not survive like the other three villagers, and it was useless to help him, so she quarreled with her husband. Now that he was getting better and no longer groggy, Liang Wanqing wanted to help him even though she knew that there was not much food left in her family. Little Wen Rui nodded obediently, blinked his big eyes, and said, "Uncle, eat quickly, get better quickly, I'm not hungry." How could Qin Ming eat it? He insisted on feeding the dates to little Wen Rui. At the same time, he felt very uncomfortable. He had to go to the dense forest recently. He was very grateful to the couple, but he didn't say many polite words. He just asked them about the current situation outside. Liang Wanqing sat down and chatted for a while before going back, because she had a two-year-old child at home who needed to be taken care of. "Recently, a huge monster has appeared in the dense forest, and some people have been killed or injured..." Lu Ze told him that he could not act alone now, and it was very dangerous outside. Qin Ming nodded and listened carefully. I don't know if it was because of the raging snowstorm, the difficulty of mountain beasts to find food, or other reasons, there was a lot of noise in the wild. Especially in the area where Qin Ming contracted the strange disease, there were pupils brighter than sunstones that pierced the darkness in the mountains, causing the dense forest to be silent instantly. When he heard this, Qin Ming inevitably thought of the dangerous experience a month ago. That day, in the dark forest, he and his three companions suddenly stepped on empty air and fell into a crack in the ground. The underground was quite abnormal. After the extreme darkness, there was a dazzling light, which made his eyes hurt and tears flowed. What made him most uneasy was that his heart began to beat overload, like beating a drum fiercely, and the strong and powerful sound was transmitted outside the chest. When he recalled this, he was still in shock. At that moment, he could not move, the blood in his body flowed faster, and he heard the sound of a waterfall in a trance. Qin Ming thought he would die and his heart would explode. Soon, the deep crack was not so dazzling. He saw silver light after silver light, like silk and spider web, intertwined, making people confused and losing their sense of space. At that time, Qin Ming felt dizzy, and the other companions fainted. Until the silver light disappeared suddenly and it was completely dark, Qin Ming's heartbeat gradually returned to normal, and his body could move. He took the three companions out of the crack one after another, and waited for a long time before they woke up. During this process, Qin Ming also found several corpses not far from the crack. They were well dressed and should have died not long ago. Based on the simple principle of not wasting, he quickly checked and picked up the crystal bottle with blue liquid at that time. Qin Ming did not mention the small bottle to Lu Ze, because the dead people looked like they had a background, and he was afraid that something might happen. There were many ferocious beasts in the mountains, and it was expected that nothing would be left there, and all traces would be wiped out. Qin Ming and his companions gradually felt unwell on the way back to the village, staggering, and their consciousness began to become drowsy. Three of their companions died on the same day they returned, their bodies turned black, and only Qin Ming survived for a month before recovering. After eating brown rice, Qin Ming and Lu Ze talked for a long time. Wen Rui was very sensible and listened quietly. Then, the atmosphere relaxed, and Qin Ming looked at the slightly shy boy and said, "Wen Rui, when your uncle recovers from his illness, you will have enough dates and hazelnuts to eat later." "Is there any meat? I... haven't eaten it for a long time." Little Wen Rui whispered, and couldn't help swallowing his saliva again, as if he recalled the taste of the past, and his rosy little face was full of hope. "It will happen!" Qin Ming patted his head lovingly. As the night deepened, Lu Ze stood up and took Wen Rui away. In the room, the flames released by the sunstone in the copper basin faded. Qin Ming sat quietly with his eyes closed, shaping his own figure in his mind, practicing various specific movements, exercising his consciousness, until he finally emptied his mind. When he opened his eyes, he vaguely saw a faint silver light flashing and disappearing. "Is it an illusion?" Qin Ming was startled. Although it was a quick glance just now, he thought he was not wrong. There were indeed very faint silver ripples on the surface of the body that dissipated and disappeared in a flash. He has been doing this special exercise for many years, but there has never been any "movement". Today, something unusual happened! Qin Ming found that a layer of fine sweat had appeared on his body, as if he had experienced an intense exercise, but he was in high spirits. He came to the courtyard with a bright look in his eyes, and used his body to show those specific movements one after another. He was very involved, and soon his body began to heat up, with a kind of vigorous vitality expanding, like a light rain in a long-dry desert. After a long time, Qin Ming was sweating profusely, with white mist coming out of his head, and he felt very comfortable all over his body. The last of the sickness seemed to be discharged with a lot of sweat. Until he felt tired and stopped this special exercise, he really saw that there was a very faint silver light emerging from his body surface and quickly dissipated. "It's really different." This time he could see it clearly. Qin Ming felt a sense of satisfaction, and there was a real warmth flowing in his body, slowly nourishing his whole body, and his spirit became more and more full. After a short rest, he wanted to practice those specific movements, but his stomach growled and he felt hungry, and he had already eaten dinner. Qin Ming immediately stopped, not daring to waste his energy, he didn't have the face to ask Lu Ze for food again. He was wet all over, his clothes were completely soaked with sweat, and he went down to boil water to wash. Qin Ming looked at the handsome face reflected in the basin, no longer pale, but with a rosy complexion, and said to himself: "I'm almost recovered, I'll leave tomorrow morning." He didn't want to cause trouble to others and become a burden. When he could move, he wanted to solve the food problem as soon as possible and get rid of the current predicament. Qin Ming sent the extinguished sunstone back to the fire spring, and when he came back, he only took a small piece to light the way. The lights of each family dimmed one after another, and the whole village merged into the darkness. A strong wind blew on a cold winter night, and the snow in the wild was rolled up, a vast expanse of white, and much of it fell in the village, flooding many yards. "I'm so hungry!" Before it was time to fall asleep, Qin Ming was so hungry that he couldn't stand it. His stomach seemed to be on fire. Not to mention delicious food, he wanted to eat even a mole in front of him. Unfortunately, in this year, the rat holes in the village were deserted. Qin Ming hypnotized himself to go to bed early, but he was so hungry that he couldn't fall asleep at all. He forced himself to divert his attention and think about some beautiful people and things, such as the blurred faces in his mind. Then he thought of his special way of training, which was really different. He began to have "movements", which made his body surface appear very faint silver ripples. This made him look forward to what changes will happen next? Then his thoughts diverged, thinking of the sweet berries covered with ice and snow in the dense forest, and the golden and shiny lamb legs roasted on the bonfire. "I'm crossing the line. How can I think about these things!" He pinched himself quickly. He decided to set off as soon as the night came, all for the purpose of satisfying Xiao Wenrui's wish as soon as possible, and then he couldn't help swallowing his saliva. Accompanied by the desire and longing for food, Qin Ming finally fell asleep slowly. ## Publication Information - [Novel-Cat](https://paragraph.com/@novel-cat/): Publication homepage - [All Posts](https://paragraph.com/@novel-cat/): More posts from this publication - [RSS Feed](https://api.paragraph.com/blogs/rss/@novel-cat): Subscribe to updates - [Twitter](https://twitter.com/chencherry19740): Follow on Twitter ## Optional - [Collect as NFT](https://paragraph.com/@novel-cat/night-without-end-2): Support the author by collecting this post - [View Collectors](https://paragraph.com/@novel-cat/night-without-end-2/collectors): See who has collected this post