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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Eighty-Two
The air raid shelter had excellent acoustics. Although Jiang He couldn't immediately determine the source of the screams, it served as a guiding light. Despite the abruptness of the cries, Jiang He recognized that it was Song Yao's voice.
The passage was empty, and Jiang He didn't need to hide his tracks. He sprinted forward, glancing at the walls on either side, hoping to see numbers marking the passage.
Beret Boy had made it clear that this was Passage 13, while Uncle Two was in Passage 2. However, during his journey, he hadn't noticed any similar numerical markings and had forgotten to ask how to distinguish these identical air raid tunnels.
The tunnel had many branching paths, making it feel like a maze. According to Beret Boy, there were about thirty to forty men in their group. As the end of the month approached, some had gone out to search for supplies, but many remained in the tunnels, mostly near Passage 2. Their search through the passages had taken considerable time, ultimately identifying a few routes leading to the surface while abandoning all deeper tunnels.
After a moment of thought, Jiang He devised a plan. Initially worried about accidentally wandering into an abandoned tunnel and getting lost, he realized after running for several minutes that it was relatively easy to identify whether a passage was abandoned—just look for light. After all, these people didn’t treat this place like a palace; the guards were just fellow villagers who knew to place torches in frequently used passages but didn’t think to set up any traps. However, Jiang He soon understood that in this world, only zombies roamed outside; who would come to this remote underground bunker for trouble?
Song Yao's cries echoed through the tunnel for a while before fading into silence again. The flames of the torches flickered gently on both sides, indicating that there were more than just one or two exits leading to the surface.
After running for about five minutes, Jiang He suddenly stopped in his tracks, puzzled by an opening in front of him. This passage lacked torches on either side; its concrete walls were mottled and worn, and the arched entrance was bricked with red bricks that hadn’t been plastered with cement.
Jiang He recalled Beret Boy mentioning that many of the arched rooms were blocked off with furniture and other items, but this place didn’t seem like a room at all. Cautiously approaching, he noticed that there were no red bricks near the curved ceiling, leaving a crescent-shaped gap. The red bricks were tightly stacked together; from the crescent opening, he couldn’t tell if there was light inside but could faintly smell sulfur.
"Strange," Jiang He thought to himself. "Could this be an abandoned chamber? I’ve been running for five minutes without seeing anyone; this is the only place that looks different from the others."
Jiang He gritted his teeth; finding Song Yao was more important than anything else—even if there turned out to be a hot spring behind him. He took off running again and turned a corner, catching sight of a figure entering one of the side arches. His heart leaped with joy; finally seeing another living person after so long spurred him on.
This archway had two wooden doors that appeared to have been taken from above ground and simply secured on either side of the archway. A flickering light shone from within.
Jiang He glanced around to ensure no one was watching. With his knife in one hand and his finger poised on his shotgun trigger with the other, he stepped inside. There was no bright light beyond the door; boxes were stacked on either side with a curtain separating them from where the light emanated.
He held his breath and listened for a moment behind the curtain; it seemed there was only one woman inside who occasionally coughed and mumbled something. Jiang He lifted a corner of the curtain to peek inside and saw clothes hanging everywhere. A woman in her fifties or sixties sat on a mattress scrubbing clothes without noticing the young man standing outside with ill intentions.
The woman appeared to be responsible for laundry here; behind her were two old-fashioned cabinets blocking off the archway entrance. Jiang He relaxed his trigger finger, tucked his weapon behind him, cleared his throat, and stepped through the curtain.
"Uh, doing laundry?" he asked casually as he turned his face away and pretended to look around.
The woman glanced up at him briefly before returning her focus to washing clothes. "Oh? Why aren’t you on guard? Just wandering over here? You must be new; aren’t you afraid Uncle Two will deal with you?"
"Uncle Two sent me to ask why those two girls haven’t been delivered yet." Since the woman didn’t question his identity, Jiang He decided not to hide anymore.
"Just went there, didn't the ocean bring the clothes?" The woman looked at him strangely and said unhappily, "You should tell your Uncle Two as well. It's almost autumn, and it's getting chilly down here. He should bring back some jackets."
"Okay, I'll let Uncle Two know," Jiang He replied, glancing down at the clothes the woman was washing. His eyes flickered with curiosity as he asked, "Are these the clothes of that girl from earlier?"
"Yes, I'm washing them. That girl is quite pretty."
Jiang He leaned closer to the wooden cabinet and peered through a gap. It was dark outside; it seemed to be an abandoned passage. He turned and asked, "Aunt, I've only been here a few days and I'm already confused. Which cave is this?"
"This is Cave Seven. Don't wander around too much; this cave twists and turns, and if you get lost, it won't be easy to find your way back." The woman shook off the foam on her hands and guided Jiang He outside the cave. "Just follow the left side; there are markers for the candle-lit areas. After a couple of turns, you'll reach Cave Four, and then you'll know your way back."
"Got it, thanks Aunt!" Jiang He smiled and turned to leave, but suddenly the woman's expression changed. She pointed at his face and exclaimed, "Why is your face covered in blood?!"
Jiang He cursed inwardly; the blood on his face had dried. In the dim light of the cave earlier, the woman hadn't noticed, but now that they were outside in the bright light, she caught sight of it.
"It's nothing; I just had a nosebleed," Jiang He said as he shook off her hand and hurried out. As he turned a corner, he glanced back to see the woman still standing at the cave entrance, looking in his direction.
"Hey! Why are you running away?!"
Suddenly someone called out from behind him, startling Jiang He. He quickly turned around to see a half-grown kid poking his head out from a shadowy archway. The kid looked around sneakily before stepping out with a grin while adjusting his pants.
"You scared me! I thought Ocean found out—wait? What happened to your face?"
"It's nothing; I just got some blood on my nose," Jiang He replied, feeling cold sweat trickle down his back. He thought to himself: Are these people blind? They don't even recognize a stranger?
The half-grown kid looked about seventeen or eighteen years old, bare-chested with his pants secured by a belt. He snapped his fingers and another girl emerged from the cave behind him. She appeared slightly older than him, with a fair complexion and wearing a sweater paired with sweatpants. Her hair was somewhat messy, and her cheeks still bore a hint of redness.
The boy took a large red hoodie from the girl and put it on. Noticing that Jiang He was silent, he leaned closer and winked, "Brother, keep this a secret; don't let Ocean know."
Jiang He swallowed hard and glanced at the blushing girl before whispering, "Is she Ocean's...?"
The boy chuckled awkwardly, "Haven't you seen her before?"
"I just arrived not long ago," Jiang He waved his hands repeatedly in denial, feeling anxious inside while forcing a smile on his face. "Uncle Two is looking for me; I need to go."
"De'er, let's go. I haven't seen Uncle Two in a long time." The young man was lean and looked neither tall nor big, but his calloused hands revealed a hint of a practiced fighter. Ignoring whether Jiang He was willing or not, he pulled out a crumpled pack of Chinese cigarettes from his pocket and handed one to him, then turned to the girl. "Xiuer, you head back first. In a couple of days, I'll get you a fur coat to wear."
Xiuer smiled sweetly, waved at him, and ran back into the cave.
"How did she get in there?" Jiang He asked curiously.
The young man chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "You really just got here, huh?"
"Yeah... I just arrived a couple of days ago." Jiang He sighed in relief; new faces often appeared in this strange place.
"I knew it." The young man was about the same height as Jiang He, wearing faded jeans and bright red sneakers. His hair was short and slightly damp from recent exercise. When he smiled, he revealed two rows of white teeth, completely different from Beret Boy's lanky appearance. Upon closer inspection, he had a refreshing handsomeness that explained how he managed to attract that girl from the ocean.
"There are plenty of hidden paths leading back; you can sneak back without anyone noticing." The young man grinned. Noticing Jiang He armed with weapons, he asked curiously, "I saw you running earlier; what happened?"
"Nothing much, just caught two girls. Uncle Two is anxious for them," Jiang He replied casually, observing the change in the young man's expression.
"This old bastard is causing trouble for the girls again."
Jiang He noticed that his tone was serious and cautiously probed, "Are you not afraid of Uncle Two?"
"Afraid of what? You're from outside, right?" The young man flicked away his cigarette butt. "I like your face; let me give you a heads-up: this world has gone mad. If you're here looking for safety, try not to get involved in any wrongdoing."
Jiang He looked at him in surprise; this kid was clearly younger than him but spoke with an air of maturity. Moreover, from his words, it seemed he wasn't entirely aligned with the locals either.
"What are you staring at?" The young man glanced at him and laughed. "What's your name? I'm Jin Bo."
"Ginger... Jiang He," Jiang He hesitated before stating his name and then asked, "You're not a local?"
"Nope, I escaped from the city." Jin Bo waved at a guy standing by an archway in the distance. "From your accent, you're not local either?"
"Yeah, just got here." Jiang He's mind raced as a bold idea formed. He lowered his voice and said, "I don't want to stay here."
"Oh?" Jin Bo looked at him with mild surprise before returning to his usual demeanor. "What's wrong?"
Jiang He took a deep breath, putting on a pained expression as he whispered, "Uncle Two is going after that girl... she's my girlfriend."
"What!" Jin Bo exploded in anger, slapping Jiang He on the back of the head and cursing, "Are you even a man?!"
The slap was hard enough to nearly knock his eyes out. Jiang He almost lost his temper and retaliated against the guy. He silently cursed, suppressing the rising anger within him, and gritted his teeth, "So I have to go save her."
After hitting him, Jin Bo seemed to feel a bit guilty. Seeing Jiang He like this, he stopped in his tracks, pulled him away from the guards, and led him into a deserted hole. He said seriously, "How do you plan to save her? Tell me what happened. Uncle Two usually doesn't touch his own people."
Jiang He's eyes darted around as he opened his mouth to deliver a sob story: "I brought my girlfriend and sister here to escape, but then we got caught by the Ocean. Uncle Two saw that I was still strong and made me help guard the passage. When he saw how pretty my girlfriend and sister were, he... well..." Jiang He lowered his head and squeezed his eyes tightly, trying to force out a few tears.
"The Ocean? You’re such a Big Guy, and you couldn’t even handle that bean sprout?" Jin Bo was indignant, rolling up his sleeves. "You just said those two girls are your girlfriend?"
"Yeah, so how did you end up here?" Jiang He asked urgently when he saw that Jin Bo wasn't suspicious.
"There's no rush right now; Uncle Two probably hasn't come back yet." Jin Bo plopped down on the ground, lit a cigarette, and continued, "Uncle Two saved my life, so I stayed here. Even though it's dark all the time, it's better than being chased by Zombies every day. Plus, there's food and drink and girls."
Jiang He frowned slightly; this guy didn't seem trustworthy at all. He decided to press on. "Listen, I'll keep your thing with Xiuer a secret. Can you take me to where Uncle Two is staying? You don't need to worry about anything else. Trust me; I won't drag you into this."
"Is that what you're worried about? Am I someone who shies away from trouble?" Jin Bo puffed up with pride, showing off a bit of swagger reminiscent of Chao Tianwang. However, while Chao Tianwang had an air of menace about him, this guy was just full of himself.
"Uncle Two saved you; I can't let you get into trouble either," Jiang He feigned sincerity with impressive acting skills.
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