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墨書 Inktalez
The clouds obscured the moon, creating a somber and desolate atmosphere.
Wu Wentao led a team of over ten heavily armed bandits into the station entrance. At the back of the line, the Foreigner signaled with a flashlight, alternating between bright and dim, indicating that the second wave entering the square should temporarily disperse and conceal themselves. Song Jiu and Jin Bo instinctively halted, scanning the empty square, a sense of absurdity rising within them.
The two young men, close in age, exchanged glances before stealthily making their way toward the ticket booth and fast-food restaurant. Their movements were swift, like two shadows darting across the square under the night sky, silent and indistinct. Xiao Wei and Liu Yan broke away from the group, climbing up a side pipe outside an internet café, quickly disappearing behind a window. Ming Junwei and Song Yao directed the bus to retreat into a side street, vanishing from sight. Ordinary binoculars lacked night vision capabilities; they relied on Song Yao and Luci to act as human sensors, squinting to search every suspicious spot. The young man stationed on the rooftop occasionally reported via radio, but unfortunately, no valuable information emerged. The grand building loomed like a silent concrete beast, its fangs hidden in darkness, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Logically speaking, their operation was extremely risky. To Wu Wentao, it seemed like walking straight into a trap. If e was hiding in the shadows, the bus would likely be under surveillance as soon as it entered the district. Their division into three teams appeared to cover both ends but was ultimately ineffective; at best, it slightly reduced their chances of being caught all at once. But wasn't luring the enemy deeper into their territory just like this? Either the reserve team would watch coldly from the sidelines or they would jump into the fire one after another.
Everyone understood the test they faced, yet retreat was not an option; they were in a precarious situation where advancing or retreating could lead to disaster.
"Should we issue a warning to Roundabout?" The graduate student was sharp-minded but had average combat skills; he felt that sending the front-line team into danger was not suitable for his role.
Ming Junwei furrowed his brow, contemplating this issue as well. On one hand, he worried about neglecting one aspect while focusing on another; on the other hand, he feared that moving personnel at this critical moment might affect the situation at the train station. After much deliberation without reaching a conclusion, Cyclops's gaze grew increasingly intense. The reserve team left behind with the bus consisted of about twenty people, mostly Jin Bo's subordinates, including Ying Dou Dou and Yang Chun Yue, who appeared somewhat tense. They lived far away on an island and had faced many brutal battles against both humans and corpses over the years, but none felt as grave as today’s situation. From the expressions and words of several leaders, Ying Dou Dou sensed a suffocating pressure; having just emerged from a dark cave without even enjoying sunlight, they were continuously tested by relentless troubles that challenged not only their physical endurance but also their mental state.
"Yes," Ming Junwei pondered for a moment before gritting his teeth and saying, "Xiao Xiong, you go back."
The graduate student was concerned about his sister-in-law but knew he couldn't be of much help here. He nodded and asked, "What should I do? Gather everyone in the basement?"
"Uh-huh." Ming Junwei's mind felt chaotic as he hesitated to respond affirmatively. Initially intending for the graduate student to lead Roundabout's members to withdraw first, he reconsidered Wu Wentao's words and feared that e might assign personnel to target Roundabout for an attack. However, there were simply too many non-combatants in Roundabout; they couldn't spare anyone to protect them. At this time, if a group with poor self-defense capabilities left Roundabout's protection, they might not even need enemies lurking in the shadows—Zombies could easily scatter them like chopping vegetables. What made matters worse was that Dr. Zhong and Huihui were still with Roundabout; while there might be opportunities for further searches by doctors later on, there was only one Antibody—Huihui—and if anything went wrong, all their efforts would be in vain.
"I think they're likely lying in ambush inside the train station. Although there's space inside the building, under equal firepower conditions, they wouldn't gain much advantage." Luci felt her palms growing warm—perhaps due to nerves—having faced gunfire before without feeling such heavy tension today. Reflecting back on it now seemed almost like she was scaring herself.
"That's true; they can't possibly know Wu Wentao is here." Song Yao agreed with Luci's thoughts; since the front-line team had already entered the lobby without any movement so far based on Wu Wentao's experience, if there were indeed ambushes inside the building, they wouldn't have gone unnoticed for this long.
Ming Junwei refrained from commenting further; what they discussed now was merely speculation—the root issue remained Yinuo's disappearance. The hypothetical enemy could be anyone; however, recent sudden events made it hard not to associate them with Blonde Woman's escape. They had clashed multiple times with Gobi Desert bandits and were well aware of their formidable strength; it was hard to say who was stronger between Wu Wentao and e. Judging solely by their own group’s capabilities under equal force conditions left little room for optimism.
Moreover, today's circumstances differed slightly from before; previously they operated from shadows or engaged in accidental skirmishes without preparation on either side—completely relying on improvisation during encounters. This time around, however, their opponents were waiting patiently while they took initiative to attack without grasping their adversaries' intentions or strategies—indeed leaving them feeling uncertain.
"I just don't understand why they'd choose this place for an ambush against us," Ming Junwei said as he pinched his brow in confusion after much contemplation. "It feels like something is off."
Song Yao and Luci shared similar doubts but found no answers among them. Wu Wentao believed that e aimed to disperse forces for a complete takeover; yet realistically speaking wouldn’t directly striking at their core be more efficient?
Their confusion was understandable; however, the root cause lay with Wu Wentao himself. e was unaware of Wu Wentao's presence; she had merely followed traces of attacks on Signal Station back to this point and connected it with Ming Junwei’s group within the city—naturally linking both situations together. Last time she had teamed up with Gaoyang for an incursion and had just crossed paths with Ming Junwei when news arrived of Signal Station being attacked from behind. Weighing pros and cons led Blonde Woman to urgently return for defense—hence her previous hasty withdrawal. e had keen instincts but could not avoid some misdirection; she believed that attacking Signal Station was part of Ming Junwei’s strategy to lure her away—a notion not entirely unfounded since besides trains she had also witnessed Strawberry Farm’s devastation.
The opponent sent a train to attack the Signal Station to divert her attention, then gathered their forces to sweep through the Strawberry Farm. This speculation was quite reasonable. While e felt irritated, her evaluation of the Ancient City Camp increased a few notches. She had initially thought they were just a ragtag group of survivors, but it turned out they were capable of military strategy and had indeed led her into a trap. Thus, with new grudges added to old ones, e regrouped a batch of personnel and specifically requested powerful explosives from the armed side, aiming to eliminate this audacious provocateur in one fell swoop.
As for the choice of the train station, there was no special reason; it was merely unfortunate for Yinuo and Old Tian that they happened to board the train at that time, encountering the Western Girls' Group who were busy planning an attack.
e's initial plan was simple: rely on overwhelming firepower to directly clear out the Roundabout. The only reason for pausing was that her scouts had spotted a group of Armed Personnel leaving the Roundabout. e was uncertain about their departure's motive; she was confident that her side wouldn't reveal their coordinates so quickly, so those people must have had other intentions rather than fleeing suddenly. To avoid future troubles, e slowed down her steps, planning to lay an ambush while the Roundabout was vulnerable and uproot them once they returned.
Following the principle that the most dangerous places are often the safest, the Blonde Woman chose the enemy's train as a temporary stronghold while trying to find some clues about how the Roundabout learned of their Signal Station warehouse's location. Unexpectedly, at this moment when everything should have been peaceful, Yinuo and Old Tian suddenly appeared, sneaking back to the train station.
The opportunity presented itself; they could not let it go to waste. The situation was somewhat sudden, and the Blonde Woman wasn't sure if they had noticed anything unusual. Thus, she abandoned any thoughts of letting them escape and directly killed Old Tian while capturing Yinuo. She adjusted her target accordingly and made the train station her primary battlefield. With her people missing here, it was only natural that the others would come looking for them. One would be killed if they came alone; two would be killed if they came together—this would effectively tear apart their front lines and leave them vulnerable.
It could be said that this ambush required little technical skill; aside from the explosives, everything else was laid out on the Surface—if you dared to come, you would die; if you didn't come, you would still die. The Blonde Woman was brazen and confident in her plan. In fact, her assumptions proved correct as those who had left returned quickly. The only unexpected yet reasonable thing was that instead of returning to the Roundabout first, they rushed straight to the train station as if preparing for a direct confrontation.
As for why there seemed to be more people returning than leaving, the Blonde Woman didn't care at all; more people meant better odds for her. Otherwise, it would have been a waste of the grand gift she had prepared.
Ming Junwei observed the buildings in darkness while e scrutinized the command vehicle hidden in the street. One side was in light while the other remained in shadow; no one could tell what others were thinking. As far as Yinuo could see at this moment, it seemed like it was over for the Roundabout.
Yinuo heard someone reporting through the Blonde Woman's earpiece that they were in position. She couldn't tell whether it meant their attack preparations were ready or if their own people had entered the strike zone. If she could speak up now, perhaps she could warn her comrades at this critical moment, but the Blonde Woman gave her no chance—her mouth was taped shut and her limbs bound, making movement nearly impossible.
Two minutes later, the Blonde Woman replied into her earpiece and then instructed two Foreigners to carry Yinuo down through a safe passage from above, away from high surveillance. Yinuo felt cold all over and vaguely sensed something ominous; when the Blonde Woman mentioned that explosives were also planted inside the building, did leaving mean...
A few people silently arrived at the Railway Track through a safe passage. The steam locomotive laden with historical dust stood silently as if merging with the thick night.
The Blonde Woman hummed a familiar melody softly as she walked past overgrown grass and along the Railway Track. The dim moonlight elongated her shadow while the outlines of both train and building became indistinct against the night wind that quietly approached amidst rising fog.
In the waiting hall, Wu Wentao led his bandits through elevators, thoroughly checking every suitable ambush spot without finding any traces. Behind frost-covered glass windows, trains lay silently on the Railway Track with Cabin doors ajar revealing Black Muzzle compartments.
"All clear," another Field Duty reported after finishing their search and returning with updates.
Wu Wentao's expression grew serious; all his subordinates reported safety yet an increasing sense of unease weighed heavily in his heart.
The signal officer, Field Duty, sprinted towards the ventilation window, flashing a flashlight in a pattern of light and darkness toward the square.
Taking a deep breath, Wu Wentao cast aside distractions and led the team out of the building. They spread out in a line, moving swiftly and silently toward the train, with their rifles at the ready, prepared for action.
Outside, Song Jiu and Jin Bo received the signal and instructed Luo Yu to notify Ming Junwei. The others left their hiding spots and filed into the hall.
The lookout on the upper floor relayed real-time updates through the intercom.
Song Yao put away the intercom and noticed shadows moving quickly across the square. He nodded to Ming Junwei and the others, saying, "They've gone in."
Before he finished speaking, a sudden burst of blinding light erupted from a dimly lit corner of the street, tearing through the night and illuminating everything around.
In an instant, a deafening explosion shook the ground.
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