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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Two: Unpredictable
"If humanity truly reaches its end, this must be what it looks like," Cao Liang thought silently as he stood in the center of the escalator, gazing at the gray and white world before him.
Although there was no sky falling or rivers reversing, the impact and shock he felt inside were no less significant. Here, there were only the living and the dead, coexisting in the same space, just a step away from true death. He saw the vast area resembling a black backdrop, with the living and Zombies appearing as flickering shades of gray and white against the pure black curtain, like an old silent film depicting the final act of life and death.
This scene was not one for sentimentality; the roars of Zombies and the cries of the living pulled Cao Liang back to reality. Luci had already climbed up ahead, tugging at his shoulder and shouting loudly.
"Brother Cao!? Are you okay?" The brief flash of light had undoubtedly served as a beacon for everyone. Cao Liang saw her, and she had naturally spotted him too. Meanwhile, below them, the living realized they were under attack by Zombies while also noticing the strange structure suspended in mid-air.
"Get up quickly! It's a trap!" Cao Liang snapped back to his senses, stepping aside to let Luci and Song Yao pass one after another. Huihui struggled behind them, and Bull Terrier supported her from behind, gritting her teeth as she helped Huihui climb up step by step.
"What on earth is happening?" Song Yao gasped for breath after climbing a few steps and turned back to ask, "Where's Old Six?"
"He's up there; just go up first," Cao Liang replied as he assisted Bull Terrier with Huihui and turned to climb higher. Looking back, he saw chaos below—a complete mess. If the living and Zombies were compared to black and white chess pieces, what Cao Liang witnessed was: black pieces scattering in disarray while white pieces surged forward en masse. The panicked living were fleeing and screaming everywhere, while the Zombies pressed on relentlessly; nothing could halt their advance except death.
The rectangular prison area contained at least two hundred injured individuals of varying severity. The number of incoming Zombies was uncertain, but judging by their momentum, it was at least several times greater than that of the living—this was clearly a massacre. If there had been light, perhaps things would have been different; after all, those present here had survived in a city fraught with danger. Given a moment to react, forming a defensive line wouldn't have been difficult; at least they wouldn't be completely blind and powerless as they were now.
Cao Liang sighed inwardly, turning his head away from the chaos below. For now, no Zombies seemed to have noticed the unusual situation ten meters above them. He estimated that they should be safe here; he had never seen a Zombie that could climb stairs. The five of them cautiously climbed to the top cage where Old Six crouched at the opening to help them up.
"Damn it, what are we going to do?" Old Six fretted anxiously, rubbing his hands together as visibility was limited; below the square opening lay an impenetrable darkness filled with chaotic sounds.
"Don't panic; Zombies can't come up," Cao Liang whispered soothingly. He intended to show Song Yao and the others that piece of paper but remembered they couldn't see anything right now. Instead, he recounted what had happened earlier, including details about the cylinder.
After listening in silence for a moment, Song Yao asked, "How many syringes?"
"Three," Old Six said as he pulled out the cylinder from his waist and hesitated before adding, "Well... I panicked earlier and accidentally... accidentally used two..."
"Ah?" Cao Liang grimaced, expressing regret. "According to what it says on the paper, this should be something that saves lives."
"I'm sorry... I..." Old Six, realizing he had dropped the ball, felt a bit embarrassed. He scratched his head for a long time, clearly uncomfortable.
"It's fine; we don't have to use it," Song Yao smiled at Old Six, signaling him not to apologize. She wasn't sure if he could see her, as the dark shadow in front of her was swaying, making her feel quite uneasy. She decided to close her eyes to reduce the distractions.
"What’s going on down there?" Cao Liang asked.
"You guys just got up here when suddenly there was commotion on both sides, like 'bang bang bang,' it sounded like a train starting up," Luci said, rubbing her wrist that Huihui had gripped tightly earlier. While climbing the escalator, that girl seemed terrified of being left behind and held onto her with such force that her nails dug into Luci's skin. After a pause, Luci continued, "We couldn't see anything and didn't know what to do. It was Huihui who sensed the danger, and that's when we decided to climb up." At this point, Luci became curious and asked, "Huihui, how did you notice something was wrong? Yao Yao and I didn't realize it at all; we owe you one."
"It's nothing..." Huihui's voice was very low, giving off a timid vibe. She nestled against Bull Terrier's side and whispered, "Actually, I'm just scared; I panicked when I heard strange noises..."
"Hahaha, being scared has its advantages," Bull Terrier said lightly, not letting his mood dampen despite the situation.
"True. If you had been any later, the consequences would have been unimaginable," Cao Liang sighed in relief and patted the little girl's shoulder in comfort. However, he noticed Huihui shudder slightly and quickly turn her head away. This puzzled Cao Liang; he and Old Six were the only ones with full color-blind vision—though visibility was limited, they could still "see." Huihui's little movement raised a hint of doubt in his mind. He turned to look at Old Six beside him and saw Old Six shrug slightly while glancing at Huihui before shaking his head gently.
Clearly, Old Six also sensed something was off with Huihui.
Luci pondered for a moment before hesitantly saying, "I think there's nothing good in that syringe; it's best not to use it. Besides, we're safe here for now."
"For the time being," Song Yao raised her head and said. "If the people down below suddenly regain their sight like Brother Cao and Old Six did, then this place won't be safe anymore."
"Maybe they won't even need to regain their sight," Bull Terrier interjected. "Wasn't there a flash earlier? They might have already noticed us."
Luci recalled that moment and her expression fell. She tapped on the ground and said, "Isn't this just raising rabid dogs? This lightweight wall panel has limited load-bearing capacity; it definitely can't hold that many people. Are we going to dodge zombies only to end up fighting live humans?"
"From what it looks like now, that's exactly what it means," Song Yao sighed while holding her forehead.
"What exactly is the purpose of this? Are they training henchmen?" Bull Terrier struggled to understand the intentions of those who had captured them.
"Could it be..." Song Yao hesitated for a moment before speculating, "that it's to make those who want to survive use whatever is in the syringe?"
"Huh?" The others voiced their doubts in unison, feeling a chill run down their spines.
"I'm just guessing," Song Yao said, rubbing her tired eyes. "But if they wanted to recruit strong men, why put us in such danger? After all this trouble, it would be lucky if one-tenth of us survived. So I think what they want might not be us..."
"You mean..." Luci followed Song Yao's line of thought and continued speculating, "to use us as test subjects? Inject this stuff into us and see what happens?"
"Then why go through all this trouble? They could just inject it while we were unconscious," Bull Terrier rolled his eyes, thinking these two girls were overcomplicating things, as if they had figured something out.
"You’re right," Cao Liang suddenly had a thought, his voice trembling slightly. "The fact that Old Six and I can see... isn't a coincidence. I meant to mention earlier that what we're seeing now isn't normal; it's more like being completely colorblind. Do you understand?"
"That’s it," Song Yao looked around in the darkness, confused. "The syringe isn’t the main point; it’s just a distraction thrown out for us to fight over. Perhaps, like Brother Cao and Qianqian said, we were tampered with while we were unconscious. Now that we’re here, maybe it’s to let whatever was done take effect..."
"I almost forgot about that," Old Six suddenly slapped his forehead and pointed at the bandage wrapped around his side. "I was ambushed when I went out looking for water; that bastard shot me with an arrow. But when I woke up, I didn’t feel much pain... Shouldn’t it take longer to heal?"
The others recalled their own situations and began checking their wounds. Lowering their heads reminded them of their blindness, so they reluctantly stopped.
"That's true," Cao Liang gasped in shock, despair creeping into his voice. "We’ve all been shot... and our wounds are already healing over. My God, how long have we been unconscious?!"
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