Mist

Chapter 11: Ouroboros

“Grrrr—–”

“Bang, bang, bang!!”
The back door of the off-road car opened, and fires were shot from the back seat. The heads of another group of zombies splattered open and their bodies collapsed onto the ground. Bright red blood pooled together, flowing into the sewer.
The underground passage was a complete mess. The various lights scattered around flickered on and off.

The car rushed towards the direction of the exit. It crossed through the darkness, crossed through the depressive gloom and crossed through the group of zombies wandering around the underground passage. Through the sea of stiff and pale hands, it rushed into the blinding sunlight ——Everything brightened up. The sun at 9:30am in summer made the car heat up but everyone’s heart was cold.

The exit of the underground passage was getting further and further away.
“Boom!” The off-road car ran into a zombie. Trails of blood trickled down the windshield.

Zhou Mingxian’s driving skills were top notch.
The main road was filled with zombies and there were also the occasional abandoned vehicle and wreckage. The car suddenly tilted over to an extremely tricky angle to navigate through a difficult corner before speeding on.
Song Qinglan sat in the passenger seat with Shen Mian blasting open zombie heads one after another. Through the rear-view mirror, Ji Yushi could only see Song Qinglan’s tense jawline as well as the slender fingers that would pull the trigger from time to time.

No one in the car spoke.
They charged through the thick wave of zombies ahead leaving trails of blood behind and finally managed to lose them behind.

The Runjin Building grew smaller and smaller in the rear-view mirror.
Gradually, it was engulfed by the gigantic black wall, disappearing into the darkness, no longer to be seen again.

Moving away from the prosperous city centre, the number of zombies wandering the roads became visibly less. There were even occasionally traces left by survivors calling for help.
Song Qinglan stored Shen Mian away and then took out a half-finished packet of cigarette from the car’s glovebox. He lit it and held it outside the window but didn’t smoke it.

In the back seat, Li Chun couldn’t help but sob, “Before we set out on this mission, Brother Wen even said he wanted to see what the cigarette would taste like in Xijing City after so many years and see if it has gotten any better.”
“But in the end we didn’t make it to the Xijing in 1460 and he never managed to try it…..”
“It has only been a few hours and we’ve already lost two people. What is this damned task? Isn’t this just sending us to our deaths? So damned unlucky to end up in this god forsaken place. The A-level mission has turned into hell-level!!”

Although Duan Wen had used his life to exchange for a way out for them, they still had to go through a fierce battle in the northeast emergency staircase. One could only imagine what it was like for Duan Wen on his end. Li Chun was on the younger end. Having narrowly escaped death once again and again losing his teammate, he could no longer control his emotions.
Ji Yushi noticed that Tang Le’s eyes were also red.

Ji Yushi never had any teammates before and had always acted alone so although he wanted to comfort him, he found that he couldn’t say a single word.
He wasn’t very good at expressing his emotions.

“Endure.” Song Qinglan said, “Endure until this mission is over. Don’t let them die in vain. Once we get back, we’ll go find those bastards and figure out why this happened and if it’s a bug or something done deliberately. If they don’t give me an answer, I’ll make the entire group of personnel there take a day trip in those capsules.”
Everyone was silent.
Song Qinglan added, “Also, no matter what happens next, no one is to fucking act on your own. Sacrificing yourself is a foolish act and shouldn’t be done again. There is nothing more important than surviving. There are still many other things our team needs to do, no need to rush to your death.”
Still no one spoke.
Song Qinglan extinguished the cigarette and threw it out the window, “Do you understand?!”