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墨書 Inktalez
"This is the place," Dan Fengyan said, pointing upwards as she lifted the hem of her Fur Coat and stepped over a naturally collapsed trench.
As they approached the windward side, the night breeze surged through, starkly contrasting with the flickering torches inside the cave. Zebra Stripes and Ying Dou Dou felt a chill and wrapped their Fur Coats tighter around themselves. Ying Dou Dou glanced at the bare Jiao Ziqian, initially wanting to invite him in for warmth, but upon noticing Zebra Stripes' strange gaze, she reluctantly gave up and turned her attention to where Dan Fengyan was pointing.
Jiao Ziqian and Wu Wentao looked somewhat dazed. They had been knocked out when captured, their heads covered with cloth bags, and had been dragged along without any sense of the terrain. They never expected that the so-called exit would turn out to be a narrow, towering shaft.
Dan Fengyan quietly stepped aside and whispered, "There are guards above. The Eunuchs on night patrol will spread out for vigilance; I don't know how many there are."
"Patrol?" Wu Wentao frowned.
"Yes, both day and night. They patrol along the highway, and if they encounter Zombies or Survivors, they will take action." Dan Fengyan had calmed down by now; the madness from earlier had vanished, replaced by a hint of timidity reminiscent of a Little Woman. Her brows furrowed slightly, unsure whether she was worried about Red Mother or herself.
"What is the patrol range?" Wu Wentao gestured for everyone to avoid the windward side and asked with a frown, "How many bald heads are there in total?"
"I don't know the range; it seems quite large." Dan Fengyan glanced at Zebra Stripes and murmured, "As for the Eunuchs, I'm not sure of the exact number—there must be several dozen."
"Where did they come from?" Jiao Ziqian raised an eyebrow, curious about these bald men. How could such a group of non-combatant women command so many violent bald heads?
"Most of them are Survivors. At first, they were lured back here; later on, as numbers increased, they were captured," Dan Fengyan said with a pout, twisting her graceful waist slightly. There was a hint of disdain in her tone. "The men were all too happy when they came in; sometimes we didn't even need to use our tricks."
"How many people have you killed?" Wu Wentao skipped over the gossip and asked directly. "Was there no resistance?"
"There was, but they all died." Dan Fengyan sighed. "More were killed than left alive. Red Mother has ways to make them obedient."
"Is it all about torture and torment?" Jiao Ziqian thought to himself, shuddering at the memory of those bald heads.
"Pretty much," Zebra Stripes chimed in with a cold laugh. "The men think they've entered a land of women where they can play with us as they please—no defenses, no wariness—like walking into a market. Hmph! They were all satisfied at least; they became well-fed ghosts."
"Pervert." Jiao Ziqian shivered and muttered angrily.
"We've attacked several teams, and there were girls among them. Do you know how those girls were treated?" Zebra Stripes' brows furrowed fiercely as she glared at Jiao Ziqian, taunting, "It's only natural for you to treat women like they’re not human, but when we rise up in resistance, we're the perverts."
"A pervert is a pervert; don't make up grand excuses for yourself." Jiao Ziqian sneered continuously. She had intended to argue further on this issue when she suddenly noticed Wu Wentao's expression change. She stopped speaking and looked over, whispering, "What's wrong?"
Wu Wentao frowned and shook his head, then turned to the two guides. Loud Voice said, "This is the only entrance and exit."
"Right, yes." The two women exchanged glances, looking somewhat uncertain.
"Then how did you bring all that furniture down here?" Wu Wentao smiled, patting Dan Fengyan's pale cheek. "Don't play games with me."
"I'm not lying to you; this is the only place where you can enter and exit safely," Dan Fengyan said, her gaze evasive as she stammered, "There are other routes too."
"Go on," Wu Wentao said, scrutinizing the two women's eyes as he spoke coldly. "What about the other routes?"
"The main road has a door; the key is in Red Mother's hands." Zebra Stripes seemed to have made a decision and straightforwardly took over the conversation.
"The door key?" Jiao Ziqian and the other woman exchanged skeptical looks.
"It's true. The main road has an artificially dug tunnel that leads to an abandoned Arsenal from the sixties," Zebra Stripes revealed the truth about the underground cave while listening to the surrounding sounds.
Jiao Ziqian felt like she was listening to a story; since she didn't understand much, she couldn't ask questions. But Wu Wentao was different; having served in the military, he had some knowledge of military facilities. Hearing her mention this suddenly made him raise his brows in surprise. "An Arsenal from the sixties?"
"If you don't believe me, I can take you there. The military Special Door from the sixties still works just fine. Without Red Mother's key, no one can get out," Zebra Stripes said with some displeasure. It seemed that whether she lied or told the truth, they still didn't believe her.
"What do you think?" Jiao Ziqian felt increasingly confused as she looked at Ying Dou Dou, who was lost in thought beside her. "How did you get in here back then?"
"Ah," Ying Dou Dou was lost in thought, momentarily stunned before replying, "Like you guys, I had to put a bag over my head. I was really panicked at the time, and I don't remember exactly how I got in."
Zebra Stripes leaned closer to the vertical shaft and took a peek. The shaft was over ten meters high, and he could see a basketball-sized patch of night sky above, with the wind howling but no guards in sight.
"Arsenal, isn't there supposed to be a lot of weapons there?" Jiao Ziqian perked up, excitedly saying, "Damn, thieves don’t leave empty-handed. We should check it out."
Wu Wentao and the others stared at him as if he were an idiot for quite some time. Jiao Ziqian felt a bit embarrassed as his mind caught up, awkwardly saying, "Ahem, there must be some supplies or something."
"There's nothing at all," Zebra Stripes chuckled at his demeanor but quickly returned to a cold expression. "Didn't I say it's an abandoned Arsenal? It’s possible that due to inadequate geological survey techniques in the sixties, they didn’t realize there was such a large cave inside the mountain when they chose the site for construction. So they halted halfway through; aside from some old support structures, there's nothing else."
"Nonsense, with such a large cave, it’s impossible not to detect it," Wu Wentao countered from a professional standpoint. Of course, he couldn't pinpoint the exact reason either and casually added, "There are probably other reasons. Many desolate mountains in the country have abandoned air raid shelters and arsenals; it's not surprising."
"So you believe that?" Jiao Ziqian looked at him and scoffed. "Then why are we wasting time talking about this? Let's climb."
"Climbing is one thing, but how do we lure the zombies in?" Wu Wentao rolled his eyes at him and pointed to the vertical shaft above their heads. "Are we supposed to grab them one by one and throw them down?"
"What do you mean?"
"And there’s no guard at this back route? Just left wide open? Do you think that’s possible?" Wu Wentao shifted back to questioning the validity of what the two women had said. "I think you two don’t understand what cooperation means."
Zebra Stripes snorted dismissively. "If you're scared, just say so. Don’t dump your problems on us. Do you know where this leads? Let me tell you: outside the shaft is the mountainside. This is a desolate mountain; below the mountainside is a wild forest that hasn’t been developed. Aside from zombies, that path isn’t something ordinary people can traverse. Adding guards here is just precautionary. Besides, even if outsiders discovered this entrance and climbed in, what could they do? Would they wipe out all of us women who can satisfy every beastly desire?"
"That’s not entirely untrue," Jiao Ziqian nodded in agreement, reflecting, "Damn it, if I found this cave, I would definitely think I stumbled upon a paradise. Except for Tomboy being a bit off-putting, the other girls aren’t bad." After saying that, he laughed foolishly but quickly fell silent when he noticed Ying Dou Dou's expression darkening.
"How do you know all this?" Wu Wentao still felt uneasy. Previously, because he hadn’t listened to Song Jiu's advice, things had gone awry for him; now he was more cautious than anyone else.
"What do you mean?"
“Arsenal, the cave, Wild Mountains.”
Zebra Stripes smirked arrogantly, her expression somewhat strange as she glanced at Dan Fengyan, who also looked like she had something to say but held back. Noticing Jiao Ziqian was getting anxious again, Zebra Stripes chuckled lightly and decided to stop teasing, saying, “Do you know who we were before?”
“Grave robbers,” Jiao Ziqian began to speculate wildly.
Wu Wentao nodded thoughtfully, as if he understood something, and mused, “There are quite a few capable people in prison.”
“Hmm,” Jiao Ziqian didn’t quite grasp the meaning.
With a bitter smile, Zebra Stripes sighed and explained, “This mountain is less than thirty kilometers from North China Women's Prison. The warden is a veteran who transferred to this job; he told Red Mother that there’s a safe place here.”
Jiao Ziqian widened her eyes in surprise and realized, “You all were Female Prisoners.”
“Used to be,” Dan Fengyan seemed to dislike that label.
“Foolish women,” Wu Wentao laughed upon hearing this, mocking, “Is the prison really less safe than a cave? How stupid can you be?”
“You’ve never lost your freedom, have you?” Dan Fengyan coldly huffed. “We’ve been trapped in a cage long enough; even if we die, we want to die outside. Besides, this place is much better than prison; we can do as we please.”
“Wake up; this kind of life is ending today,” Jiao Ziqian laughed heartily, wanting to end what he deemed a meaningless conversation. Since they had confirmed this was the exit, why linger? They could talk later.
“What about your companions? Doesn’t matter?” Ying Dou Dou, seeing him clutching a dagger and preparing to climb out, asked in a flurry.
Jiao Ziqian exchanged glances with Wu Wentao, a meaningful look passing between them as he casually replied, “Let’s get out first.”
Confused by their expressions, Ying Dou Dou felt lost. Meanwhile, Dan Fengyan and Zebra Stripes exchanged a secret glance, uncertain whether it was joy or worry.
"Let's get to it," Wu Wentao said, urging everyone not to dawdle. For safety's sake, he had Dan Fengyan climb at the front, with himself closely following behind. Zebra Stripes and Ying Dou Dou came next, while Jiao Ziqian brought up the rear. Climbing up this nearly vertical shaft against the biting cold wind was no easy feat. The two rough men, Jiao Ziqian and Wu Wentao, managed well enough, but the three women struggled. They either stepped on something hard that hurt their feet or got scratched by branches against their delicate skin. Wu Wentao remained unfazed; when Dan Fengyan slacked off, he simply raised his hand and gave her a slap. It was easy to imagine where that slap landed in such a climbing position.
Just before reaching the exit of the shaft, Ying Dou Dou could no longer contain her curiosity and turned to ask Jiao Ziqian a question. However, as she lowered her head, she found someone staring blankly at her with their neck craned back, gazing at the bare skin beneath a beastskin coat. From that angle, the lush grass below was all too clear. Ying Dou Dou's face flushed bright red; if it weren't for the fear of jeopardizing their escape, she would have kicked him.
Biting her lip, Ying Dou Dou whispered, "What do you plan to do?"
"What do you mean by 'what to do'?" Jiao Ziqian replied, touching his nonexistent nosebleed and struggling to pull his gaze away.
"I mean, how are we going to rescue your companions? This place can't accommodate any Zombies," Ying Dou Dou asked quietly.
A sly smile crept onto Jiao Ziqian's face as he shook his head with a wry laugh. "You believe everything they say?"
"What else am I supposed to think?"
"Silly girl, if this were truly the only exit, then when I first mentioned letting Zombies in with Old Wu, why did they panic so much? And what nonsense about a Special Door? Did they bring keys with them when they escaped from prison?" Jiao Ziqian glanced at the two women who had just climbed out of the shaft and lowered his voice. "Those two aren't telling the truth. It's not convenient down there; we could easily be discovered. We'll take our time to teach them once we're outside."
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