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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Twenty-One: Silence
Jiang He suddenly stopped in his tracks, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
"Someone's here!"
With a startled cry, the others who had been running also halted, turning to look at the narrow path Jiang He was pointing at.
The alley was empty, the moonlight dancing on the concrete ground.
"Are you okay?" Song Yao tugged at the dazed Jiang He, concern etched on his face.
"Someone?" Chao Yifan asked in disbelief.
"I swear, just a moment ago..." Cold sweat trickled down Jiang He's forehead. Although he had turned around suddenly, that figure had truly been lurking in the shadows!
"Let's go." Bai Yudong, who was leading the group, didn't understand why they had stopped and urged them in a hushed voice.
The group started running again. Song Yao waved his hand in front of Jiang He's face and asked with concern, "Are you too tired?"
Jiang He remained silent, his brow furrowed tightly. The shadow had vanished, not stumbling like a zombie but instead pausing for a moment before slipping back into the darkness.
Seeing that he didn’t respond, Song Yao chose not to press further and walked alongside him in silence.
The narrow path stretched for about a hundred meters, with no walls on either side. At the end stood a low railing with an asbestos roof overhead.
Ming Junwei was still eight meters away when he shone his flashlight ahead, illuminating the objects beneath the roof with bright light.
"A bicycle shed?" Chao Yifan followed closely behind Bai Yudong. As the light swept across, two rows of parked bicycles came into view.
"This is a staff bicycle shed. The Boiler Room is also for residential heating; it seems we haven't gone astray," Ming Junwei grinned, glancing back at Jiang He and Song Yao who were trailing behind. His expression turned serious.
Ming Junwei stopped and leaned against the wall to let Pan Luo and the others enter the shed. When Jiang He and Song Yao caught up, he couldn't help but ask, "What happened to you two?"
"It was him, not me." Song Yao was equally confused as he pushed the two into the bike shed and then swung the low gate shut.
"What's wrong with you?" Ming Junwei patted Jiang He on the shoulder. The latter offered a vague, bitter smile and waved his hand dismissively.
The bike shed was quite spacious, with beams of bright searchlight sweeping across like jade pillars. Three rows of bicycles, each with a different style, were neatly arranged, and there was an opening in the middle of the right wall.
The group carefully made their way through the bike shed to the entrance, crouching down behind a row of bicycles to peek outside.
From this angle, they could see a long stretch of concrete road. On the left stood a red-and-white building that resembled a factory, with signs reading "No Smoking" and "No Fire" flanking its large gate. The factory doors were closed, and it was impossible to tell from here whether they were locked. Above the doors were circular holes resembling windows. The entrance curtain was only about four or five meters long but extended far back, covering an area roughly the size of half a football field. The bike shed was not far from the building; it would take just a few minutes to reach the entrance, but there was no direct path between them—only a two-story Small Building stood at the corner.
The building and bike shed formed a right angle, with an open area in between that lacked street trees or Green Belt. To the right was the gray-white building, and adjacent to the bike shed was the Boiler Room. The group had just come out from the back door of the Boiler Room; if they slipped away now, they likely wouldn't be detected by any Zombies trapped inside.
Bai Yudong squeezed one of the nearby bicycle tires; it felt slightly deflated but not completely flat.
"Let's ride out," Bai Yudong said as he mounted his bicycle and twisted the handlebars to check for issues—everything seemed fine.
The bicycles in the staff area were mostly unlocked; it seemed that employees often rode around with their girlfriends in the Living Area after work.
Jiang He sat quietly to one side, lost in thought about that fleeting shadow he had seen earlier, feeling an unsettling prickle at his back.
Each person found a bicycle with air in its tires and pushed them forward, waiting for Bai Yudong's command to pedal out.
The sounds of Zombies roaring from the Boiler Room continued unabated, with the Iron Gate being forcefully pressed against, producing an ear-grating noise. The open stretch of road outside the bike shed lay empty under a cold moonlight.
A small boy sat on Ming Junwei's bike, clutching his waist tightly, his little face pale.
Jiang He couldn't shake off his thoughts; he was sure he hadn't imagined things. That intense feeling of unease made him speak up at last: "There are still people in that factory."
The group paused in surprise, looking at Jiang He in confusion.
"I really saw a figure just now; it wasn't a Zombie—it had to be a living person!" Jiang He frowned as he sensed their disbelief and felt somewhat irritated.
"Are you saying on the other side of that path?" Ming Junwei asked, noticing that Jiang He had been silent for so long and guessing he must still be preoccupied with what had just happened.
As everyone rushed away in a hurry, Jiang He's sudden exclamation made a few of them stop, but when they turned back, they saw nothing. The urgency of the moment caused them to forget about it, but now that Jiang He brought it up again, a sense of unease settled over them.
"Before we ran into the Boiler Room, I think I saw something..." Jiang He recalled the scene carefully. At that time, he had been pulling Song Yao along and had indeed seen a Zombie ahead. Instinctively, he shone his flashlight in that direction, but the figure vanished in an instant.
Song Yao also remembered Jiang He asking her if Zombies could run while they were fleeing. In the panic of escaping, she hadn't paid much attention to it, but now seeing Jiang He's serious expression made everyone feel a bit dazed.
"Could it be Brother Mao and the others..." Pan Luo started to speak but quickly felt it was unlikely, lowering his voice.
Bai Yudong and Ming Junwei exchanged glances, both hesitant. After all, they hadn’t seen anything themselves. However, thinking about it more carefully, in such a large Power Station, it wasn’t entirely impossible for a few Survivors to be around; it was just that no one had considered this possibility until now.
"Should we go take a look?" Chao Yifan suggested from his bicycle, glancing at the silent group.
" Jiang He, can you be sure you saw living people?" Ming Junwei asked with a furrowed brow, suddenly realizing why Jiang He looked so troubled.
If there were indeed Survivors in the Power Plant, then after several incursions into the Power Station that night—stirring up Zombies and causing chaos—those people had been watching them from the shadows without revealing themselves or offering help. What were their intentions? Moreover, their purpose for coming to the Power Station was to gather supplies; if there were Survivors present, those supplies would likely have already been taken by them, leaving nothing for the group.
Bai Yudong clearly grasped this point as well; his expression changed immediately. "Big Mousy and Second Brother..."
"Why didn’t you say anything earlier?" Song Yao said, scanning their surroundings warily, fearing that a few people might suddenly appear.
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