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墨書 Inktalez
The area that should have belonged to a male symbol was replaced by a mass of protruding, charred flesh. Blisters resembling toad skin covered the lower body, surrounded by a cluster of stars encircling the moon. Purple-red growths bloomed like buds, hanging around the blisters like ripe fruit, oozing pus and emitting a foul stench.
The expressions of the group changed drastically, their faces contorted, brows twisted into knots. Two young men, Direct Descendants, had poor mental resilience and turned their heads to vomit a pool of bile.
"What the hell," Jiao Ziqian said, his face pale, spitting out those two words through clenched teeth. He glanced at Brother Jiu and Wu Wentao, both of whom frowned deeply, their expressions grave.
"What kind of disease is this?" Lin Daozhang wiped the gastric fluid off his beard. He had initially held back but accidentally caught sight of the filth expelled by the young man, causing his throat to give way as well. Seeing that no one else spoke, he muttered, "We should get out of here before we catch something."
"It's not a disease." A burly Foreigner squatted down and prodded the charred scab with a dagger, shivering as he spoke. "It's burns."
"Burns?"
"Yeah, the wound is very smooth. This guy's... well, you know... was cut off." Although the scene was disgusting, it did not deter the Foreigner's curiosity. He poked at the grape-like growths with the tip of his dagger and remarked, "The incision has been burned; it must have been done to stop the bleeding. As for this thing... it looks like lymphatic granuloma."
"What?" The semi-illiterate Jiao Ziqian asked.
"It's a sexually transmitted disease," the Foreigner explained.
Old Lin suppressed his nausea and leaned in for a closer look, goosebumps rising all over him as he exclaimed in surprise, "So he got an STD and then cut it off himself? What a man."
"That's just my guess," the Foreigner shrugged and walked over to another unfortunate soul who had been dismembered. He turned back to the group and made a face: "He's the same way but without any disease."
" Brother Jiu, let's get out of here; this grassland feels eerie," Jiao Ziqian said, chills running down his spine. The two corpses exuded an unsettling aura from head to toe; they still had to deal with Zombie troubles—better not provoke any other spirits.
"Let's go." Song Jiu nodded without saying much more. He looked up at the sky; the sun had already slipped down to the mountainside, its fiery rays spilling forth in a last burst of brilliance.
The little incident had delayed them for a while. Given the strange occurrences on the highway and in the grasslands, everyone's mood grew heavy. They traveled in silence, cautiously observing their surroundings with every step feeling like walking on thin ice, afraid of stepping on something bizarre.
They say that caution brings longevity; this saying holds true. Wu Wentao continued to lead as the vanguard. While maintaining speed, he did not neglect the ground beneath him. After covering just over a hundred meters, they uncovered three or four different types of pits—some contained snakes while others had sharp white stakes sticking up. Some pits were damp with moisture while others reeked of blood, all showcasing an unsettling eeriness.
Song Jiu chatted briefly with the Foreigner who had fired first; he was somewhat curious about how they had discovered those two corpses so close by. Although everyone had been focused on avoiding snake pits at that moment, they hadn’t completely lost their vigilance—how did that Foreigner notice them?
The Foreigner's answer was predictable; this Nordic giant grinned widely and replied in a deep voice: "I used to be a sniper. At this distance, not even two living people could escape my bullet—not even a fly."
Song Jiu responded with a polite smile, thinking to himself how refreshingly bold this person was; give them a little color and they would open a dye shop.
The distance from the toll station to the other side of the field was not far. Even though everyone took a wide detour for safety, it was only about three to five hundred meters. Yet, this short stretch made everyone feel anxious and fearful. The number of traps was astonishing, and the variety of harmful mechanisms made it feel as if they were in a film set. Wu Wentao couldn't help but want to break away and take a look several times, but was firmly stopped by Song Jiu. Wu Wentao, who used to be a fierce bandit, felt somewhat displeased being led around like this. Especially with those so-called "mechanisms" in the grass, which he thought were no different from children's games. Yet at this moment, he, an experienced player with a firearm in hand, found himself on edge, filled with suspicion.
Fearing he might lose control of his emotions, Song Jiu quietly reassured him, "Our target is Coal-fired. Let's get Coal-fired back first. If you're still upset afterward, we can bring people back to sweep through. Right now, the enemy is hidden while we are exposed; stay calm."
Wu Wentao could only smile bitterly; it was truly ironic to be reminded like this by someone younger than him. He had intended to say more to Song Jiu because the kid's reactions had been somewhat strange. As an old hand at this, Wu Wentao sensed that Song Jiu seemed to have noticed something but was keeping it under wraps, which left him puzzled. However, before he could voice his doubts, a sudden sharp shriek interrupted his thoughts.
"Be alert!" Wu Wentao shouted lowly, instantly aiming his gun toward the direction of the piercing sound. Before they could fire, the rustling grass suddenly erupted with noise—mechanical springs whirred and sharp whistling sounds filled the air. Looking closer, they saw that dense clouds of arrows shot out from all around the Squad’s position.
"Dodge!" Song Jiu felt a jolt of adrenaline and kicked Lin Daozhang, who was frozen in place, aside just in time as a sharp wooden spear flew through the air and embedded itself where Lin Daozhang had been standing moments before.
"Fire!" Wu Wentao dodged a crossbow bolt and opened fire with his heavy weapon simultaneously. Flames swept through the grassland, creating a vacuum around them.
The spears came quickly and left just as fast; within three to five seconds, their previous positions were transformed into a porcupine's quills as spears of various lengths stuck out at different angles from the ground. A Direct Descendant Young Man failed to evade in time and was pierced through the back by one spear that drove deep into the earth. His companions barely had time to help him before another spear followed suit and turned him into a human pincushion. The Young Man's face still bore an expression of shock; without any bloodletting grooves on the spearhead, it remained lodged in him without moving an inch. He lay on the ground with his eyes still darting around in disbelief, mouth opening as if trying to say something before struggling a few times and then succumbing.
Wu Wentao completely exploded with rage; as a combat Field Duty member, being injured by a bunch of country bumpkins wielding wooden spears was unbearable.
"Find those monkeys!" Wu Wentao shouted angrily, tossing several barrels of gasoline aside. He turned to Song Jiu and said, "You guys go look for vehicles on the way; signal us when you find one." With that, he dashed into the grassland alongside Foreigner and quickly disappeared from sight.
" Brother Jiu, what do we do?" Jiao Ziqian's eyes were red; they hadn't even reached the Coal-Fired Power Plant yet when they lost a brother. Though he asked verbally, his actions expressed his intent clearly—knife in one hand and gun in the other—his previous lethargy vanished as he prepared to follow Wu Wentao into battle.
"Go find a vehicle," Song Jiu's eyes flickered as his expression grew increasingly grim.
"Huh?" Jiao Ziqian paused for a moment as if he hadn't heard clearly.
"I said go find a vehicle," Song Jiu gritted his teeth and picked up two barrels of gasoline before sprinting toward the road. Lin Daozhang and another Young Man stood dazed for a moment before pulling bewildered Jiao Ziqian along behind them.
The highway barrier loomed close at hand; Wu Wentao and the others were already out of sight amidst sporadic gunfire that echoed from afar as if they were scattering to hunt down their enemies. Song Jiu's mind raced as he led the three forward at full speed; just as they reached out for the barrier, suddenly there was nothing beneath their feet. With several startled cries, all four fell into a deep pit concealed by rising dust and grass stems.
“Damn it, what the hell!” Jiao Ziqian was the last to arrive but the first to fall, plummeting without a moment to consider what lay at the bottom of the pit. Just as he prepared to push himself up, he suddenly felt something strange under his hand.
“Don’t throw that crap over here!” Lin Daozhang was also panicking. He was a trained fighter and didn’t fall hard, but he was genuinely afraid of those creepy crawlers and snakes. His first thought upon landing was that he had fallen into a snake pit.
“Ugh!”
“ Brother Jiu, are you okay?”
“What the hell is this?”
Shouts and curses mixed into a chaotic mess as the four of them jumped around at the bottom of the pit. As the dust settled and the slanting rays of the setting sun streamed into the hole, the true nature of their surroundings was revealed.
“Ugh.” The Young Man leaned against the wall of the pit and spat out, suddenly jolting awake as he ripped off his shirt, shaking off a shower of small living creatures.
“Shut up!” Song Jiu shouted, managing to calm the panic among them. He switched on his small flashlight and shone it around, feeling goosebumps rise all over his body.
Brown-shelled bodies with long antennae—there were cockroaches everywhere at the bottom of the pit.
“Lift Old Lin up!” Song Jiu suppressed his shivers and yelled, pulling the two frightened companions closer. He placed his hands on Jiao Ziqian’s shoulders and shouted at Old Lin, “Climb up!”
Lin Daozhang was nearly paralyzed with fear, jumping around in an attempt to shake off the cockroaches crawling on him. Hearing this, he didn’t care about anything else; he scrambled onto the shoulders of his companions and exclaimed, “I can’t reach!”
“Find a way to reach!” Song Jiu spat as he spoke. Cockroaches rained down from Old Lin’s body; thankfully, he had kept his mouth shut, or else he might have ended up with a nest of cockroaches in his stomach.
Lin Daozhang’s mind raced as he trembled and pulled out a Steel Saw Blade from his waist. He firmly drove it into the wall of the pit near his knee and stepped on the handle with all his strength, leaning forward to grab onto the edge of the hole and climb up. The Fake Taoist was still quite loyal; after escaping, instead of immediately shaking off his clothes, he quickly leaned down and reached for below, urging, “Hurry, I’ll pull you up!”
“You go first!” Song Jiu imitated him by jamming his saw blade into the wall while swatting away the scurrying cockroaches. “Return to Roundabout!”
“Huh?” Lin Daozhang froze for a moment and stammered, “I-I’ll pull you all up together!”
"Stop talking nonsense," Song Jiu said as he pulled out the Dream Fan and tossed his handgun up to him. "Go back and tell Dream Fan she’s not dead."
Whoosh, whoosh.
The sharp sound pierced through the air again, striking hard between Old Lin's legs.
Lin Daozhang nearly wet himself, his scalp tingling with fear. Suddenly, he heard rustling behind him. Turning around, he saw several figures charging out of the grass, dressed like the two corpses from before, shrieking wildly as they hurled their spears.
Old Lin was taken aback, but anger quickly ignited within him. He executed a swift maneuver, leaping into the air to grab one of the spears and swung it back at the attackers.
The lead assailant was knocked to the ground by his own spear. The other two, seeing this, lunged forward. Old Lin hurriedly loaded his gun, dodging the spears while firing two shots that sent the bizarre attackers crashing to the ground.
"What should I tell Dream Fan?"
"Nothing important, just hurry up and go!"
Seeing the grass nearby shaking violently, he realized more enemies were approaching. Gritting his teeth, Lin Daozhang shouted a warning to take care and then rolled over the barrier, sprinting toward the toll booth.
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