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墨書 Inktalez
In 1995, Timothy McVeigh drove a Pika filled with homemade explosives, resulting in the Oklahoma City Bombing. Nearly half of the nine-story building was destroyed, walls collapsed, and the deafening blast reverberated for miles. The explosion claimed nearly two hundred lives and injured over five hundred, severely damaging surrounding residential buildings and countless vehicles.
He used C4 plastic explosives, which are as powerful as TNT, if not more so than homemade explosives. Perhaps the amount was insufficient to completely obliterate the nation's fourth-busiest train station, but it was more than enough to devastate unsuspecting individuals.
The main building of the train station measured approximately one hundred forty-two meters long and fifty-two meters wide, with a waiting area exceeding thirty thousand square meters. The main waiting hall stood twenty meters high and featured four large general waiting rooms. The explosives were concentrated in the waiting room leading to the Steam Train; once detonated, the waiting hall would inevitably collapse. Even those who managed to escape the center of the explosion would not be safe from falling walls and ceilings. Even if some fortunate souls survived the dual onslaught of explosion and collapse, it would not matter. The thunderous roar and flames that followed would serve as a beacon for all the Zombies in the city.
Time rewound a few seconds back to when Luo Yu left the group to rush around the corner, when Xiao Wei and Liu Yan entered the VIP waiting hall through a window, when Song Jiu and Jin Bo rushed up the escalator in the center of the hall, and when Wu Wentao approached the train while Chu Guangxu squeezed into a carriage.
Without warning, a pillar of fire erupted from the west side of the building, its blinding light appearing so suddenly that those accustomed to patrolling in darkness were momentarily blinded. In an instant, the flames transformed into a massive fireball that rose with thick smoke. At that moment, the earth-shattering explosion finally arrived, its overwhelming shockwave roaring like an angry earth, bursting forth with unstoppable force. The main building of the station emitted a terrifying rumble as countless doors and windows shattered instantly. Flames and smoke coalesced into a horrifying blaze that spread like a tidal wave, crashing through walls.
Everything happened in an instant; there was no time to react.
The human eye could only catch a fleeting glimpse of blinding light before an almost discernible shockwave swept through with dust and smoke. Everyone felt their feet shake violently as a buzzing filled their ears while everything spun around them.
Boom!
Crash!
The deafening sound of the explosion was like thunder from above, striking abruptly at their ears. The surging shockwave destroyed everything around it, accompanied by the sound of countless windows shattering. A bus hidden at the street corner let out a painful wail as if it were a fallen leaf easily overturned by the gusts of wind, pushed four or five meters away.
The violent collision caught everyone off guard; those remaining behind—some sitting, some standing—were tense as they stared at the concrete behemoth. They never expected such an explosion; their minds went blank as they processed this surreal sensation of reality flipping upside down. Then came a series of shattering sounds as their senses gradually returned to function amidst screams; the rolling bus lost its momentum and heavily tipped over before being quickly engulfed by smoke.
Across the street, flames blazed brightly while dust billowed at the intersection.
After a moment, violent coughing and pained groans erupted together. The fragile bus body seemed to have been struck by a heavy hammer; one side caved in while metal skin was pierced by something unknown, creating a horrifying gash. Shattered glass and debris flew like bullets toward passengers who had crumpled together in chaos; in that brief moment of tumbling bus, unimaginable carnage ensued.
The only two girls inside who were unscathed by physical impact struggled to crawl out of the wreckage. Their ears rang incessantly, darkness clouded their vision, and overwhelming pain coursed through their bodies, leaving them disoriented.
Song Yao covered her side as she crawled out through a vent on top of the bus, her mind swirling in confusion.
“Cough, cough.” Luci was right beside her. At the moment when the shockwave surged like a tidal wave, the two girls grasped each other tightly, trying to use their bodies to anchor themselves in place. However, all of this was in vain; it was a dream to think they could counteract the overwhelming force with mere human strength.
As the swirling dust began to settle, a radial gap appeared where the bus had been parked, leaving chaos in its wake, with oil stains creating an eerie inkblot pattern on the ground.
“Qixi.” Song Yao leaned against the twisted bus frame, her mind momentarily clouded with confusion. She couldn’t even spare a thought for her brother at the center of the explosion and could only focus on her surviving companions nearby.
Luci crawled to one side, her body numb as she coughed and said, “I’m... I’m okay. What about everyone else?”
Song Yao touched her tingling cheek and felt her palm covered in warm blood. Glass shards were embedded in her skin as if they had grown from within her flesh. Hearing Luci’s response eased some of Song Yao’s panic. She looked at herself; aside from a gash on her side where the bus frame had torn open, she didn’t have any other severe injuries. Her right arm felt weak—she couldn’t tell if it was broken or dislocated. However, none of these injuries were life-threatening, so Song Yao didn’t dwell on them. She struggled to move toward the cabin area, hoping to find Ming Junwei.
Just before the explosion, the cold night wind had briefly died down. Afterward, dust rose into the air while the night wind returned with a vengeance. The thick smoke around the bus was swept away by the wind, and a burnt odor mixed with the scent of blood assaulted their senses. The people inside had been thrown into a heap—some lay sprawled beneath the bus while others cried out in pain as the smoke cleared. A few individuals who appeared relatively unscathed crawled out one after another, all covered in blood.
Without needing to say much more, they each took a moment to catch their breath and joined in the rescue efforts with a sense of survival against all odds. At that moment, they paid no mind to the billowing smoke nearby; most were still in shock, their bodies’ defense mechanisms forcing them to block out the explosion scene as they concentrated all their energy on rescuing any survivors from within the bus.
Ming Junwei was the last to be pulled out. He had been standing next to the driver, leaning against the coin dispenser and about to say something when the shockwave flipped over the vehicle. In that instant, he had thrown himself over both girls, but his sacrifice proved futile as the bus rolled over completely out of control, tossing them aside while he fell into a pile of people below.
The young driver beside him had already lost his life; glass shards were embedded in his face, his eyes wide open in shock at the sudden burst of blinding light.
Ming Junwei still clung to life—barely. Outside there were no visible fatal injuries, but Song Yao noticed that his chest seemed slightly concave; he likely had broken ribs from a heavy impact and might have internal injuries as well. He was temporarily in shock, but his faint breathing indicated that he was still fighting for life.
From down the street came coughing sounds. Song Yao hurriedly glanced over and remembered that someone had seemed to leave the square just before the explosion.
Luo Yu stumbled over to the bus's side and stared blankly at the scene before her.
Everyone inside had been pulled out except for the young driver; six others had tragically perished, one of whom was Yang Chun Yue. The girl’s throat had been slashed by a piece of twisted metal from the bus, and blood pooled beneath it like a crimson puddle. Ying Dou Dou and Fang Fei were alive but bore various degrees of cuts and bruises; they had been seated with people on either side of them at that moment—an unfortunate stroke of luck amidst calamity. The others suffered severe injuries from flying glass shards but managed to protect both girls from worse harm. Additionally, four or five others were in similar conditions as Ming Junwei—still unconscious and uncertain if they would ever wake up.
Luo Yu felt utterly drained of strength as she leaned against the bus, gazing at the train station building stained red by flames and smoke in the sky, her face pale as death.
Song Yao and Luci gradually emerged from their daze, completely engulfed in an unprecedented sense of helplessness.
“ Jiu Jiu,” Luo Yu felt as if a hot iron was lodged in her throat, causing a sharp pain and dryness. She had just dashed out of the square, barely noticing the flames igniting behind her. The sound of the wind roared violently, and then she was thrown into the air, crashing heavily onto the asphalt road. She only suffered some minor injuries, without any damage to her internal organs.
Those who could still stand were frozen in place, their dim eyes reflecting the flickering flames. A chilling wave cascaded down from the crown of their heads, penetrating through their entire bodies.
As if mocking their panic, a dazzling fireball flashed several kilometers away, shaking the ground for a moment before another deafening explosion reverberated through the air.
Song Yao struggled to turn her stiff neck and looked into the distance, her heart plummeting into an icy abyss.
“It’s all over.”
At that moment, several heavily armored Hummers came to a halt on a long street near the Roundabout.
E sat in the driver's seat, excitement flushing her pale face. Her eyes sparkled with fervor as her crimson lips curled into a beautiful smile.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” E's tone was light-hearted, like a child proudly showing off their toy, as she playfully lifted the pale face of the passenger beside her with her slender fingers.
Yinuo stared blankly at the flames leaping above the Roundabout, completely breaking down. Tears uncontrollably streamed from her eyes, gliding down her soft cheeks like gentle rivulets.
“Say goodbye to the past,” E said cheerfully, gently stroking Yinuo's silky hair and leaving a crimson lip print on her cheek.
Gaoyang sat in the back seat, unable to suppress his delighted smile. His pale face bore an expression of lingering satisfaction as he rubbed his prosthetic hand, almost regretting that he hadn’t pressed the detonation button himself.
The convoy lingered for a moment when a figure slowly emerged from around the corner. Upon seeing the parked vehicles, they hurriedly quickened their pace towards them.
E lit up a lady's cigarette and waved at the approaching figure through the car window.
A shadow approached, wrapped in a dirty cloak that obscured its face, making it impossible to discern its features.
"I did it. I fulfilled your promise," the figure rasped, its voice sounding as if its vocal cords had been torn into several strands, hoarse and deep.
"Where's the stuff?" the Blonde Woman asked, taking a light drag from her cigarette while playing with the silver-white Bayonetta pistol in her hand.
The cloaked figure hesitated for a moment and replied hoarsely, "I couldn't get in; this is as far as I can go."
"Then why should I fulfill my end of the bargain?" The Blonde Woman looked puzzled and pouted slightly.
The figure seemed a bit anxious, grunting a few times before saying, "It’s all going to blow up anyway; nothing will be left. If the fire goes out, I’ll look again."
"I don't have time." She let out a casual whistle, slammed on the gas pedal, and the powerful vehicle sped away without a backward glance. The convoy followed closely behind, racing past without acknowledging the person left standing by the roadside.
As the rush of traffic swept by, a corner of the cloak was lifted by the wind, revealing half of a burned and disfigured face. The scarred skin held a gaze full of resentment as it watched the convoy disappear into the darkness.
End of Volume Three: The Cave Maze.
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