The skin of this thing is black - the color of Anthony's skin. However, at this moment, his human face has been distorted. The places where the eyes were originally are covered with dense brown scales, and the nose extends diagonally downward into a huge

The mouth protrudes outwards, and a long, curly black tube protrudes from the middle.

He stopped, and the edge of his wings scraped against the car wall, making a sharp sound.

"Anthony, what are you doing?" Huo Sen's dissatisfied voice sounded: "I don't like to be looked at."

After saying that, he lowered his head again, An Zhe's body sank, and he felt teeth bite into his shoulder and neck, and the skin was grinded by the tips of the teeth, and a fine pain came over him. But he couldn't care less, his whole body tensed up, and he was with that Anthony

The mutated monsters looked at each other.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

The wings behind Anthony vibrated slightly, and his mouthparts rolled in the air.

"Afraid?" Huo Sen, who was lying on top of him, seemed to feel the stiffness of his body and cursed vaguely: "What are you pretending to be?" Then he grabbed his waist and bit his skin hard.

At this moment——

The buzzing sound of vibrating wings came over, and Anthony's six slender legs were lying on the ground, leaning forward, sinking and accumulating strength, and rushing towards them like a slender spider!

The sound of wind sounded in the small space. An Zhe's pupils dilated in an instant, and his body changed instantly, switching to the soft and sensitive state of the mushroom body. Mycelium rolled up inside the carriage, almost filling the entire space, temporarily blocking Anthony's sight.

Immediately afterwards, Anzhe suddenly felt that the body on his body stiffened for a moment, coughed a few times, and then started to panic with his limbs on the ground: "Damn, this is-"

He looked down and saw that Huo Sen had bitten off countless soft hyphae in one mouthful and choked them into his airway and esophagus. He looked frightened and painful when coughing.

At the same time, countless hyphae were cut off by Anthony's forelimbs. The hyphae were soft and easy to break, without any toughness, and they could only gain less than five or six seconds of escape time.

Anzhe estimated the distance between himself and Anthony, quickly rolled up his clothes with mycelium, flowed out from the gap in the messy Huo Sen's body, and regained his freedom.

His snow-white hyphae surged toward the door like a snow-white tide. He turned back to his human state at the car door and pressed the switch at the car door.

With a muffled sound, the car door popped open. An Zhe retracted all the mycelium in an instant, stretched out a hand and pulled Huo Sen's collar and rolled it outward. The two fell out of the car together and fell solidly into the sand.

inside.

——This is at least safer than the small space in the carriage.

However, within a moment, Anthony also showed his head from the car door, and a harsh buzzing sound sounded. He first fluttered his wings and flew to an altitude of four or five meters, and then suddenly dived down -

An Zhe quickly got up the moment he flew up and ran back quickly.

But they saw Huo Sen just lying on his back on the sand with his eyes distracted, and Anthony's sharp forelimbs pierced his chest in an instant.

——An Zhe had seen too many monster hunting and escaping methods in the abyss. He knew how to escape. He thought Huo Sen knew it too. However, it was not until the moment the blood spattered that Huo Sen suddenly came back to his senses and shouted.

, grabbed Anthony's front legs with both hands, and kicked Anthony's body that had turned into a long black pupa with both legs, trying to retreat.

There was a roar on the ground, and An Zhe quickly turned around and saw the armored vehicle that had already driven far away suddenly turned sharply, turned around and sped towards this direction - Van Si finally realized that something was wrong.

He took a few breaths and ran towards the armored vehicle.

Fan Si's anxious look could be seen through the car window. Before it arrived, the door of the armored vehicle had already opened. When Anzhe passed by the armored vehicle, a pair of strong arms suddenly pulled him up from the ground.

, he followed Vans's movements and got into the cockpit. Vans quickly threw him to the other side of the cockpit and closed the door tightly with a "bang".

An Zhe said: "They..."

"It can't be saved!" Vance turned the steering wheel again, and the armored vehicle turned around and drove back to its original direction, stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, and sped towards the north.

An Zhe leaned on the back of the passenger seat and took a few breaths. After calming down his breathing, he looked into the rearview mirror - the mutated Anthony and the seriously injured and dying Huo Sen were tangled in a ball and rolling to the ground.

Anthony raised his forelimbs, then dropped them violently, piercing Hossen's abdomen hard and pinning his body to the ground. Then, the thing raised its head and looked in their direction. After about five seconds, it seemed to give up chasing the armored vehicle.

, lowered his head, and pierced Huo Sen's head with his slender mouthparts. Huo Sen's body went completely limp after a burst of convulsions.

The car drove very fast, but after a while, their figures had disappeared among the yellow sand and shrubs, and were no longer visible.

Fan Si said: "Anthony has mutated?"

An Zhe turned to look at Fan Si and saw that his eyes were a little red.

He lowered his head: "I'm sorry."

He was still alive, but Vans lost two teammates.

"What are you sorry for?" Fan Si forced a smile: "We are used to people dying often when we go out to work. Maybe we will be the next to die."

But Anzhe did feel guilty. Anthony was infected - if he had told Vans about the traces of a few drops of suspected human blood on the ant nails, they might have discovered that Anthony was infected in advance.

He lowered his head and told the story.

Vance was silent for a while, and his voice became slightly lower: "Anthony is not an ant. He may have been infected before. We encountered a group of mutated wild mosquitoes before we met you."

An Zhe: "Then... was he stabbed by the armor again?"

Fan Si looked out the car window, and after another long silence, he said: "The pollution level of the Second Plain is very small, two stars. If you are stabbed or slightly injured, you may not be infected. But if you speak out, you will definitely be thrown away by the team.

Well, many people don’t talk about it after being injured.”

His voice lowered a little: "...because I want to go home."

An Zhe: "What about Huo Sen?"

If Anthony was found to be infected in advance, Hossen might not have died.

"Don't take it to heart, Huo Sen died unjustly," Vance lit up a cigarette and took a puff. "He did a lot of evil things, and at least five lives were lost under his hands. If it weren't for the lack of manpower this time,

Anthony and I will not cooperate with him. What was he doing at that time? Bullying you?"

An Zhe said nothing, Fan Si turned his head to look at him.

In the dusk, the boy's silhouette looked quiet and peaceful, like a crystal clear drop of water. Such a person might have unspeakable reasons for appearing in the dangerous wilderness, but he didn't ask.

Similarly, Anzhe didn't know what to say to Fan Si. He was recalling the scene before Huo Sen's death. At the beginning, Huo Sen seemed to have briefly lost his mind and did not wake up until he was stabbed.

What did Hosen do before this?

He took a bite of the fungus.

An Zhe frowned. He actually didn't know if he, as a mushroom, was poisonous.

Now he suspects that he is a poisonous mushroom.

Further along, the vegetation became even sparser, and there were no living creatures on the endless desert. Only their armored vehicles drove alone.

At night, when the aurora appeared in the sky again, Vans planned to park the car and rest. He put out the cigarette butt on the steering wheel, opened the gate connecting the cab and the rest room, jumped in, and the voice rang out in the dark rest room: "

Go to sleep first, then drive for a day and a half to reach the base."

An Zhe also came to the gate. In order to have a wide field of vision, the driver's cab was placed very high. In order to save space for the storage compartment, the lounge was placed lower and very low. The height difference between the driver's cab and the driver's cab was more than one meter. He had to

Jump down.

He stood there and hesitated for a moment. After only three seconds, Fan Si seemed to notice his hesitation and said, "You sit there first."

An Zhe sat down on the edge as he was told, with his legs dangling in the air. Then, Fan Si reached out and grabbed his upper body and helped him down.

An Zhe landed steadily and whispered: "Thank you."

"It's okay." Van Si smiled, his voice showing a slow tenderness: "My brother is afraid of heights and is often like this. He is about the same age as you."

An Zhe tried hard to figure out the rules of human communication and asked tentatively: "Is he coming to the wild with you too?"

"Yeah." Vance said, "We were always together before."

"Aren't you here this time?"

"Dead." Fan Si said: "It's been two months. He was killed by the inquisitor at the gate of the base."

Judge, this is the third time An Zhe heard this word.

The first time was Anze, who was trying to dissuade himself from going to the human base, saying "You can't escape the eyes of the judge."

The second time was Anthony. He didn’t want to join the team, saying, “We are not judges and cannot confirm that he is 100% human.”

And in the memories of Anze he obtained, this seemed to be a term that appeared very frequently.

So he repeated: "...Judge?"

"You don't know?" Van Si's voice was high and full of surprise: "Where did you come from?"

An Zhe whispered: "I didn't deal with others before."

"I see." Fan Si turned on a knob on the wall of the carriage, and a dim white light lit up from the top of the wall, barely illuminating the small space. He took out the dry food from the grid on the wall, and Anzhe also took out the food from his own

He took out food and water from his backpack and sat down opposite Vans.

Just listen to Fan Sidao: "The base has a system called the "Judge Act", and then there is an organization, which is affiliated with the military and has a high level, called the Tribunal. The members of the Tribunal are judges." Fan Si said: "They generally

They all take turns at the gate of the base, everyone has a license to kill, and killing someone is not illegal."

After hearing this sentence, An Zhe vaguely remembered it, and he found relevant things in the memory he got from An Ze.

He said: "...Do they judge whether the people entering the base are human beings or infected people?"

Vance: "Well, in addition to the infected people who can be seen, there are also some people who cannot be seen. The mutation process has not started, or the mutation level is too high, and their appearance is no different from humans. The base calls those people aliens.

.”

An Zhe opened his eyes wide.

If you put it this way, then he is a different species.

Vance unbuttoned his coat and put it aside, unscrewed the bottle mouth of the kettle, and continued: "The base is too densely populated. After the alien species enters the base, they will massacre wildly, followed by widespread infection. The responsibility of the Inquisition is to judge everyone who enters the city.

The process of judging whether a person is a human or an alien species is called 'trial'."

"Then..." An Zhe: "What happens after the alien species is discovered?"

"What else can we do?" Fan Si raised his eyebrows and said, "Kill him on the spot."

An Zhe didn't say anything. He lowered his head and took a bite of the compressed biscuit. He had just learned to eat in the human way. Human food was a bit rough for him, and his mouth and throat would be scratched when he swallowed it. He ate slowly, but

Fast heartbeat.

After a while, he asked again: "Can you really identify all the alien species?"

Van Si took a sip of water, leaned against the car wall, closed his eyes, and said with a hint of despair, "Who knows, there is no proof of death. No one knows whether the people who were killed were really mutants.

My brother is like that."

An Zhe didn't speak. Fan Si seemed to have answered the question incorrectly, but he still listened quietly.

"He... I went to the First Plain with me that time. The pollution level there was lower than that of the Second Plain. I kept looking at him and I could confirm that he was not injured." Van Si smiled, but his voice was hoarse: "

Back at the gate of the base, the person on duty that day was not an ordinary judge, but their boss. Everyone called him "Judge". Other judges would give reasons for killing people, but he didn't. He didn't need a reason to kill anyone, nor did he.

If you accept the plea, you will kill him even if he is a high-ranking member of the base. He was like that that day, he only looked at my brother and then he shot."

"I don't believe it, but I can't help it. There are many such things. He has killed many people. There are too many people in the base who hate him, including me. Maybe one day, I will be beaten to death by him."

Having said that, Fan Si stared at his right hand in a daze for a while, then threw the kettle aside and lay down on his arms, but still looking at the roof of the car. He finally got back on track and answered An Zhe's original question: "They would rather

Even if you kill someone by mistake, you won't miss it. If a alien species really sneaks into the base, it will definitely be discovered. There has only been one alien attack accident this year."

Anzhe felt uneasy. In order to cover up this uneasiness, he closed his eyes and rubbed his eyes with his left hand.

Vance said: "Go to bed, kid."

An Zhe lay down next to him. No matter what happened tomorrow, at least he was safe tonight. There were no monsters or Huo Sen, only Fans who was very kind to him.

Before falling asleep, he held the bullet casing and looked at the car door at the end of the aisle.

If - if now he quietly opens the car door, gets out of the car and leaves, returning to the wilderness full of monsters, he can still live, he will not face trial, and will not be shot to death on the spot. He doesn't know how long he can live, but he will definitely be better than tomorrow.

longer.

But are spores something larger than life?

--yes.

For the creatures in the abyss, death is the most insignificant thing. And in this short day outside the abyss, he witnessed Anthony's mutation and Huosen's death. Human life is not precious.

An Zhe closed his eyes, knowing that he had to go to the northern base.

Early the next morning, they continued to drive towards the base. Because Van Si was the only one driving and lacked energy, their rest time began to become irregular. They started to rest in the afternoon of this day and continued to drive north at midnight on the third day.

When the aurora began to dim and the sky turned white, Fan Si said: "It's almost there."

An Zhe looked ahead. In the gray morning fog, a circular city gradually appeared from the horizon.

Cities, he knew the word, were inhabited by humans like mushrooms in the rainy season.

The armored vehicle continued to drive forward. After the early morning fog gradually dispersed, more details of the front were revealed. The circular city had gray steel walls, as high as the tallest mushroom. Twenty people were stacked on top of one another.

Even if you hold another person's shoulder, you may not be able to climb over the city wall. Some steel fangs and thorns protrude from the city wall, which are sharp and cold in color, like rocks and soil in winter.

The edge of the city wall is covered with surveillance equipment and laser devices. Intruders will be discovered immediately. The two city gates are the only ways in and out. One can only enter and the other can only exit. Now they are at the gate that can only enter but not exit.

one.

Later, Anzhe saw many teams similar to Vans coming back from all directions. Some of them were lightly armed, some were wearing heavy equipment, holding weapons in their hands. They were in teams of four or five, driving similar armored vehicles in designated areas.

Stop, then get off the car and walk into the city gate, where cars and people will be inspected separately.

Fan Si got out of the car first, and An Zhe grabbed his arm and jumped out of the car. He felt that Fan Si's arm was a little tight. He thought that this city gate might have evoked Fan Si's bad memories of his younger brother.

They walked to the city gate together, where there was a long queue. There was a bit of commotion at the head of the queue, but they couldn't see clearly. People were entering one by one.

An Zhezui walked behind Fan Si and walked to the queue, looking around as he walked.

Soldiers in black uniforms stood on both sides of the city gate, with two guns, a thermal weapon, and a laser gun on their waists. Behind them were huge heavy weapons, facing the city gate. It is conceivable that once a monster tries to invade,

It will be blown to pieces by these heavy weapons.

After looking around, he was attracted by a black figure - in an open space under the distant city wall. The man was also wearing a black uniform. He seemed to be a casual and undisciplined soldier who had left the army, unlike his colleagues.

He was standing guard like that, but he was half-leaning on the city wall, lowering his head and slowly wiping a black gun.

However, his uniform with black background and silver tassels seemed to be much more refined and straighter than the others, perhaps because his figure was more slender and well-proportioned.

Van Si glanced over there, and for some reason his pace sped up a lot. He pulled him forward and just when they were about to merge into the end of the line——

An Zhe saw the man in the distance slowly raise his head.

Under the brim of the black uniform hat, a pair of cold green eyes were revealed.

In an instant, An Zhe's footsteps stopped abruptly, and he felt a coldness rising around him, as if there was ice.

Vance turned around and said, "How did you—"

The voice stopped abruptly.

There was a gunshot.

Van Si's tall body swayed on the spot and fell to the ground with a thud. His eyes were wide open, his throat crackled, and blood flowed from his temples. After his body twitched a few times, there was no movement.

But Anzhe couldn't even reach out and grab a piece of his clothes, and he didn't have any time to think about what happened in the moment just now. He could only raise his head and look at the officer in black uniform, because at this moment, the officer was looking at him.
Chapter completed!