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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Forty: Reunion (Part Two)
“Damn it!” Jiang He cursed as he crawled out of the box, covered in static-cling foam debris, looking like a chicken strip ready to be fried.
Song Yao was at a loss for words, pulling him up and glancing around, unsure of what to do. From deep within the Box Stack, muffled shouts and curses could be heard, suggesting that someone had chased them quite a distance.
“What’s going on?” The short-haired girl was completely out of the loop, unaware of the situation.
Jiang He brushed the foam off his hair and pointed at the Box Stack, cursing, “This warehouse is huge! There’s a hidden passage inside the Box Stack!”
“A hidden passage?!” Song Yao’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Something like that. I need to hurry and help; I don’t know what those two are planning.” Jiang He walked over to the graduate student who was holding quail and grabbed him by the collar. “What’s behind the Box Stack?”
The graduate student realized his cover was blown and confessed straightforwardly, “It’s still a warehouse back there… This is the main storage for the Power Station; it’s all equipment and machinery.”
“Are there any other exits?”
“There are… but they’re all sealed off. This area is the Plant Area, and at the far east, it’s close to the Coal Yard; that place is crawling with Zombies.”
The two exchanged glances, vaguely recalling that Mediterranean had mentioned something similar.
‘Bang!’
Just as they were speaking, a dull thud echoed from behind them, followed by the sound of shattering glass.
Ming Junwei had remained silent throughout; it was unclear whether he had fallen behind or had been ambushed.
Jiang He picked up the crowbar and instructed, "Yao Yao, you stay here and keep an eye on this guy. Don't come in unless I call for you. If anything happens, just shout loudly."
"I know, be careful," Song Yao replied seriously, nodding to reassure him as she watched Jiang He rush into the Box Stack.
Once Jiang He was out of sight, the graduate student timidly called out, "Beautiful girl..."
"Shut up," Song Yao shot him a glare. She pondered for a moment and gathered the food and water that everyone had packed earlier.
The cardboard maze was difficult to navigate; the deeper she went, the dimmer the light became. Jiang He quickly ran down a straight path and saw a pile of boxes that had fallen over at a corner. The cardboard obstructed his way, with several holes and slashes made by sharp objects on top. Jiang He stepped onto the overturned boxes and climbed to the top, carefully pressing down to ensure that the cardboard beneath him wasn't hollow before moving forward. A few meters ahead was a colored steel partition, and he could see a raised roll-up door from a position inside.
Jiang He jumped down from the boxes and squeezed through the roll-up door, immediately spotting a large pile of sparkling glass shards on the ground.
"Wow..." Jiang He took a few steps forward, unable to suppress his astonishment.
This warehouse was clearly a storage area for discarded large items, filled to the brim with various large equipment. Many of the things were unrecognizable to Jiang He; most were components made of various pipes and things like boiler turbine water pumps. These metal pieces were mostly blackened with soot, and touching them left a layer of ash on his hands. Some were partially exposed from under huge tarps, revealing rusty furnace sections. Two rows of seemingly old large cylinders were neatly arranged, blocking other machinery behind them.
The ventilation window was completely blocked by a pile of cables stacked high, filling the warehouse with a decaying odor. Occasionally, beams of light would slant in, illuminating floating dust particles in the air.
Snapping back to reality, Jiang He ran along the cylinders and turned around a broken turbine only to see the Fat Kid standing atop a stack of pipes, lifting a massive metal blade over his head and preparing to smash it down onto Ming Junwei below!
"Watch out!" Jiang He shouted angrily, instinctively throwing the crowbar without thinking.
None of the three seemed aware of each other; Ming Junwei reacted to Jiang He's warning just in time to dodge the blade's attack. The metal blade crashed into the motor behind him, sending sparks flying. Meanwhile, after throwing down the blade, the Fat Kid didn't have time to escape before being struck in the face by Jiang He's thrown crowbar, letting out a muffled groan as he toppled off the pipes.
Jiang He hurried over to help Ming Junwei up. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine; you scared me... Damn, this place is huge," Ming Junwei replied, smacking his lips as he navigated around the pile of pipes but then noticed that the Fat Kid was clutching his face and running towards a row of cylinders.
“Where's Yi Fan?”
“He went after that guy with glasses.” Ming Junwei brushed off the dust from his clothes and didn’t rush to chase after him; instead, he began to look around.
“What are you looking at?”
“This place is too big; we can't chase him down. We need to find Yi Fan quickly.” Ming Junwei’s expression darkened. “They know this area better than we do, and if we get led around, we might end up in trouble.”
Jiang He thought for a moment and agreed. Worst case, they could just block the exit at the box end, right? If Sister An and the others really showed up, their own forces would be even stronger. Why worry about those two?
Ming Junwei glanced at him and guessed his thoughts, pouring cold water on his optimism. “Don’t forget there’s still an unknown group out there. I don’t like how this Power Station feels. You should head back and stay with Song Yao. I’ll find Yi Fan and then come back.”
Jiang He nodded, and after exchanging some reminders, they split up.
Hiding behind a pile of cylinders, Fat Kid found it strange that the two didn’t come after him but instead left in different directions. What were they up to? His question went unanswered because his father was currently being chased by an enraged Chao Yifan after failing to ambush him in the box’s secret passage.
As he ran, Glasses Man cursed himself for being useless. What a great opportunity! He could have just gone in from the front! Why did he have to attack from behind? And he messed that up too!
Earlier, in the cardboard box passage, Glasses Man and his fat son had each held a steel rod with a jagged edge, lying in wait deep among the boxes. When Chao Yifan appeared completely unguarded before them, exposing their backs, they were ready for a perfect ambush. Just then, Jiang He shouted loudly from outside the Box Stack, alerting them.
Both reacted quickly, immediately going on high alert. Seeing things were going south, Glasses Man lunged out of the box towards the gun-wielding bald man.
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