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墨書 Inktalez
The next day, at noon.
Song Jiu stretched lazily as he pushed open the door, warm sunlight spilling into the room, bright and inviting. After yawning, he looked up to see Qianqian and Chef Jia washing something by the water tank, a large basin at their feet filled with clear water, where peeled potatoes rolled around, stacked one by one.
Song Jiu moved his stiff neck and glanced back into the room. Jiao Ziqian and Jin Bo were still sprawled out, snoring loudly. The two young men’s faces were smeared with paint, now resembling colorful masks, drooling as they slept soundly.
Voices came from the cafeteria where Cao Zheng was calling the women left behind to move out some wooden tables. He retrieved various pots and pans from the kitchen and placed a large black iron pot on the mud stove in front of the flowerbed. Noticing Song Jiu standing there in a daze, he offered him a friendly smile.
"You're awake," Cao Zheng said, brushing off the dust from his hands. His short hair was still damp from washing, and he had changed out of his flashy battle attire into more casual farm clothes, his shirt unbuttoned and his undershirt soaked with sweat, his complexion slightly flushed.
Song Jiu smiled back and nodded, still feeling a bit dazed as his mind struggled to catch up.
Seeing this, Cao Zheng didn’t say much more. He grinned and returned to the cafeteria to get busy. Song Yao and the others had woken up early; they were over by the warehouse working hard, pointing and writing as if planning something significant. The sunlight bathed the courtyard in warmth, each person’s hair shimmering with golden light, accompanied by a gentle breeze that brought life to the scene.
Song Jiu exhaled slowly and walked unsteadily to the water tank, scooping up some cold water with a spoon and gulping it down to soothe his dry throat.
The two women picking vegetables were startled. Qianqian quickly said, "There’s boiled water inside."
"It’s fine; I’m just thirsty," Song Jiu replied with a smile. He noticed Chef Jia's shoulder was bandaged and frowned. "Sister Jia, if you're injured, you should rest."
"It’s nothing serious," Chef Jia said as she set down the clean vegetable leaves and waved her arm to show she was fine. She reached out to touch Song Jiu's forehead. "You look pale; are you feeling unwell?"
Last night, everyone had gathered on the main road of the park but didn’t linger long after collecting weapons and vehicles from Field Duty casualties. They left Industrial Park without delay and hurried back to camp. Those waiting behind had not slept all night; seeing fewer people return naturally weighed heavily on their hearts. Coupled with everyone having run around for most of the night, they were exhausted. Thus, upon returning to camp, they didn’t go through their usual routine of tallying casualties or counting spoils. Aside from the injured who waited drowsily for Dr. Zhong’s treatment, everyone else simply climbed into bed without even changing clothes, falling into a deep sleep until dawn.
Song Yao and Chef Jia maintained a regular schedule; they woke after four or five hours of light sleep without anyone lingering in bed. In contrast, among the men, except for Wu Wentao, everyone else wished they could sleep forever. Song Jiu had slept for a long time but found his sleep quality poor; he kept dreaming and waking up repeatedly in cycles until he finally fell into a deep slumber when the women had already risen.
Feeling a heaviness in his head, remnants of last night’s dreams lingered in his mind. Whenever he relaxed completely into sleep, he would find himself in a pitch-black space with no one around him. The darkness felt tangible—thick and suffocating—making it hard for him to breathe. Familiar yet strange voices echoed around him as departed companions appeared one by one in the shadows, silently gazing at him before fading into nothingness. When he tried to speak to them, the vast darkness dissipated into an enormous skull where every strand of hair was thicker than his waist, curling at the ends while round objects dangled from them like ripe fruit. As Song Jiu approached and picked up one of those heavy fruits, it turned towards him—it was a graduate student’s face, pale and devoid of color, smiling directly at him.
Startled awake, Song Jiu found himself drenched in cold sweat with Ziqian's snoring filling his ears while outside dawn broke through with cool hues like an abstract painting.
Sitting up, Song Jiu lit a cigarette as drowsiness washed over him again. Closing his eyes once more brought back that familiar darkness—thick black mist and deceased companions watching him eerily yet vividly transform into an enormous skull with dangling faces of graduate students smiling pallidly at him. Song Jiu resisted leaving this place; he told himself there was no need for fear because those were his companions.
He stepped back, trying to distance himself from the endless mass of hair. He ran to the enormous Skull's face, where the skin beneath his feet seemed insubstantial. Looking down sent chills down his spine; it was still the face of a graduate student, speckled like freckles, with countless faces dotting the giant visage. Each face stared wide-eyed in all directions, their gazes piercing like swords, relentlessly stabbing at Song Jiu.
This sleep had been excruciatingly painful, and eventually, he decided not to sleep at all. Song Jiu sat up, leaning against the wall in a daze, striving not to think about the dream and focusing instead on everything that had happened in the Industrial Park. He concentrated on how to inform everyone about the graduate student's death. In truth, Song Jiu could have chosen silence. When he and Wu Wentao and Jiao Ziqian rushed to meet up, the others had already guessed something was amiss. One team was pursuing Yuan An while the other searched for the graduate student; Song Jiu and his group returned empty-handed, no questions needed.
However, Song Jiu felt restless. He couldn't forget the expression of relief mixed with sorrow that appeared on the graduate student's face when he plunged the blade into his temple. He could still feel the chilling cold seeping into his palm as he held that solitary Skull.
This group of people had struggled for three long years, whether in survival or mere existence. Many companions had fallen along the way; some were devoured by Zombies, others succumbed to injuries or illness, and some perished in conflicts among Living Persons. All of this was understandable; it was a process everyone had to endure after the disaster—survive through it or perish early and be reborn.
Yet, the graduate student's death was hard for Song Jiu to accept. Although he hadn't spent much time with that group, their lives in Roundabout were vivid in his memory. Their efforts, optimism, and strength were deeply etched in Song Jiu's heart. In his eyes, those people from Roundabout might die, but they certainly did not deserve such a fate. The graduate should have died fighting against a Zombie siege or in battle; even if taken by injury or illness, Song Jiu wouldn't feel as tormented as he did now.
The graduate's death felt utterly meaningless—devoid of any dignity.
Confused and unclear.
" Jiu Jiu," Chef Jia waved her hand in front of him. She was somewhat worried about his state and asked if he was feeling unwell. He didn't respond; his gaze suggested his thoughts had drifted far away.
Song Jiu snapped back to reality upon hearing Chef Jia's question.
"I'm fine; I probably just didn't sleep well," he said, forcing a smile as he dragged his weary body into the open cafeteria. Wu Wentao and others were sitting there, along with Song Yao and a few others who had just been busy in the warehouse.
Upon seeing Song Jiu enter, everyone paused their conversation and looked over with curious expressions.
Luo Yu stood up to help him into a chair and couldn't help but feel concerned at his poor condition.
"I'm okay; what are you all talking about?" Song Jiu shook his head, trying to shake off the chaotic thoughts swirling in his mind.
Wu Wentao cleared his throat and raised what he held in his hand. "Do you want to see what that researcher brought out?"
Song Jiu looked up and saw a leather document bag.
"Just tell me what it is," Song Jiu said, not in the mood to look at the documents. The expressions of Song Yao and the others were off, clearly indicating that the information inside was not good news.
Song Yao took the file and pointed to a line of small print at the seal, saying, "This document is about a research experiment, and its owner was one of our former companions."
"Oh," Song Jiu glanced at the elegant small print and murmured, "Su Lan."
"Yes," Song Yao nodded and added, "There's another piece of bad news."
"What is it?"
"Old Wu interrogated that Field Duty. According to him, a vehicle left last night ahead of schedule." Song Yao sighed, frustrated. "The area is too large; we probably didn't run into them."
"We did," Fang Fei, sitting at the table, suddenly spoke up. Her expression was somewhat guilty as she murmured, "We encountered a vehicle that ran away when they saw us. I didn't think much of it at the time; if only I had known..."
"What do you mean?" Song Jiu frowned, confused. "A lot of people ran away; what's the problem?"
Luci handed him a cup of water and explained, "Those people were originally planning to capture us. The team that left early was going to report to the Gobi Desert." Seeing that Song Jiu was about to ask again, Luci proactively clarified, "The lab said they discovered an Antibody, so they urgently needed to notify headquarters. We can't stay here for long; we need to rest briefly and head out as soon as possible."
"Wait," Song Jiu said, growing more perplexed. "I don't understand the Antibody part."
"We don't understand either," Song Yao shrugged. "That lab coat said that what they referred to as Antibody is Yuan An."
"How did that come about?"
"Dr. Zhong doesn't understand either. We don't have the means to test it, but that lab coat seemed very certain about it; Dr. Zhong seemed to grasp something." Song Yao turned back and pointed to the corner where Dr. Zhong was talking with Huihui and Yuan An. The two women had different expressions, with Yuan An looking particularly bewildered.
"In any case," Wu Wentao interjected at the right moment, summarizing the current information. "The messenger is already on their way; perhaps they won't need to go to the Gobi Desert after all. There may be other Zombie strongholds nearby. The Antibody is crucial; E will definitely take action personally. Moreover, the information about the Antibody has already leaked; we need to leave here as quickly as possible and get out to sea, providing conditions for Xiao Zhong. What we know about the Antibody is still very limited."
The cafeteria fell silent as everyone wore grim expressions. No matter how much they tried to hide, they ultimately couldn't escape this situation; now even the Antibody had leaked out. But the question remained: why had Yuan An suddenly become associated with the Antibody? Was it because she had been with Huihui all along? If so, did that mean anyone who had come into contact with Huihui would also become an Antibody?
Initially, the lab coat had been quite arrogant and unwilling to disclose any information, seemingly in control of the situation. After Wu Wentao took him away for some training and broke two of his fingers, he finally spilled everything about what had happened in the lab. After hearing all this, Dr. Zhong's attitude changed; it seemed he had realized something significant but was constrained by current conditions and could only conduct verbal inquiries for now.
Song Jiu listened quietly as everyone finished speaking, pondering for a moment before saying, "Then it's settled. Let's rest for another day. Are there any other issues before we set off?"
"They," Wu Wentao said, gesturing toward the door. Song Jiu turned to look and saw Cao Zheng and Yang Xiaomeng helping Chef Jia with the cooking, chatting and laughing, already feeling quite familiar with each other.
Wu Wentao toyed with the envelope, his voice low as he remarked, "We have someone to steer the boat; you figure out the rest."
"Understood." Song Jiu nodded in acknowledgment, grasping the implication.
There were many questions lingering in his mind, but unfortunately, they couldn't be answered at this moment. With the current situation clarified, everyone felt a bit more relaxed and began to rise, ready to set aside their worries for a meal.
Watching the others leave, Song Jiu hesitated several times before finally gritting his teeth and calling out to stop Song Yao and the others.
"Hey."
"Little Bear, let me say goodbye on his behalf."
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