In this underground city of eternal night, there is no natural lighting or artificial starry sky like the station sky.
Except for the electric lights of the city, everything was pitch black.
The three of them packed up their equipment and it was time to set off.
They boarded the black Volga, which was still the same old car but as clean as new.
On the outskirts of this vast and lonely underground city, the wilderness on both sides of the road is hidden in darkness, and the blackness seems to suck people's eyes in.
Xueming only felt that he was on a narrow and cramped submarine. When he looked out the window, there was only pure darkness, as if he had entered the deep sea ten thousand meters below.
Seemingly to save electricity, a street light is turned on only a few hundred meters away. These street lights look like light-shaped baits for monkfish, which makes people feel uneasy.
At the distance of Wangshan Mountain, the urban building complex in the distance looks like a huge community of ugly sea monsters. Rows of faint blue light sources are scattered in an orderly manner - the temperature difference between the wilderness and the city is huge, and the cold The opposing vortices of hot air make these lights become psychedelic, as if they are slowly squirming with the dark sea water.
——That feeling comes again.
Even if he is wearing spiritual clothes, even if he is hiding in this "submarine", Jiang Xueming can feel the inexplicable spiritual pressure of facing those ancient golden eggs on the foreign-style building next to the gravel beach of Fangfeng settlement.
It was as if his body could faintly feel that he was approaching a great and unknown existence, and his body was involuntarily trembling and panicking. This was something that human willpower could not resist.
Just like when facing a natural disaster, any individual is so small and fragile.
Xueming wanted to divert her attention from the scenery outside the window.
"Sir Nanami..."
Nanami drove seriously and raised her fist: "Jessica!"
Jiang Xueming took out his notebook: "Jessica, I have a few questions..."
Nanami didn't wait for Xueming to finish speaking. She couldn't stand the complicated Chinese structure and answered immediately.
"Ask!"
"How did you get here? Chief Jessica."
"I won't tell you."
"Can you show me your employee ID?"
"No, girl, it's a secret!"
"How much do you know about BOSS?"
"Kitty! Good job!"
"where are we going?"
"B14 Living Area! B15 Water Tower, you don't have to go to the water tower if you don't want to."
"Do you often go to these places when you are on duty?"
"The dormitory is over there, my dormitory."
"Is your dormitory as grubby as your office?"
"If you have to meet guests in the office, you need to be decent, a little bit, a little bit, just so so..."
Bu Liuxing heard the shrill grinding of teeth coming from Brother Xueming's end. He was so frightened that he hugged his cane, thinking that the car had broken down.
Then there was silence——
——Tens of seconds of silence.
Only the roar of the engine was left. The road was so flat that you couldn't even hear the road noise caused by the friction between gravel and tires.
Jiang Xueming returned to normal, and he continued to ask.
"Sir Nanami, when you are usually on duty..."
"Jessica!"
"Okay, Chief Jessica, what is the most dangerous and urgent situation you encountered while on duty?"
"Meet the weirdo."
"Are these people residents of the city?"
"Yes, it was good at first, but it will become strange."
"How weird is that?"
"Take a knife, chop me, scold me, ask me for help, do homework, ask me to feed the puppy, and don't allow me to leave."
"What will you do with them?"
"Fire! Da da da da da da!"
"Uh..." Ah Xing heard the pronunciation of "Fire" and didn't react for a moment. In Chief Nanami's mouth, it sounded like "Fah!" - but the series of clicks behind it meant "Fire". Understood.
When Commander Nanami encounters the unreasonable demands of these residents, she will directly open fire.
Jiang Xueming wrote silently in his notebook.
[When encountering abnormal humans, you can fire directly.]
Then he asked: "Sir, do you have a license to kill?"
"It's not a murder, it's not a human being." Nanami paused for a moment, turned her head and glanced at the back seat. Her eyes looked like she was panicking, someone had discovered her little secret, or she was covering something up. A sign of guilty conscience.
Jiang Xueming immediately asked: "What is it if it's not a human being?"
"The BOSS said that they are [Desperados] - unkillable." Nanami's voice began to become trembling, as if she was recalling the strange things she encountered while on patrol.
Jiang Xueming heard the word "outlaw" from Teacher Victor, which refers to a person who should have been dead for a long time, but he didn't expect to be still alive in the world.
Perhaps what Teacher Victor repeatedly mentioned, the half-dead and life-dead things, are related to these "creatures".
"Sir, please tell me." Jiang Xueming continued to ask: "How did you deal with these desperadoes?"
"If you can't kill them, beat them to pieces."
"They are all broken into pieces, so how can they survive?"
"The next day, I was alive."
"Is it helpful to start?"
"The head is also broken."
"What about the legs? If you cut off the limbs of these things and take them away, can you still live?"
"If you can survive, something strange is coming. You must..."
It’s too laborious to communicate like this——
——A Xing saw Brother Ming’s anger rising rapidly, and quickly answered the question in fluent Japanese.
"I'll translate, I'll come, I'll come!"
Jiang Xueming seemed to have seen a ghost. Such a pure Japanese leftist suddenly appeared next to him. It was really a bit confusing.
Bu Liuxing said with a smile: "Japanese! I know a little bit about it!~"
Jiang Xueming: "No, why didn't you speak Japanese earlier?"
Bu Liuxing: "You didn't even ask me..."
It's much easier to handle now.
Jiang Xueming was freed from the crazy mood and thought to himself that when he returned to the station, he had to find time to learn the languages of various countries. Otherwise, if the train was thrown to Siberia at the next stop, they would have to find a few East Asian sled dogs as pawns. translate.
Bu Liuxing relayed Brother Xueming's question.
"Can a weirdo like that even recover after his limbs are amputated?"
Hearing the language of her hometown, Asaka Nanami suddenly became energetic, as if she had heard an order from an elder or a superior.
"Yes! The limbs are still alive after being taken away, and dark blood will continue to flow out of it."
Bu Liuxing then asked: "You just said that after these limbs leave their owners, there will be monsters...you said monsters, not weirdos, right?"
"Yes! It's a monster! I once wanted to dismember the monsters to prevent them from resurrecting. The limbs taken away would be taken back by the monsters. The monsters are the monsters' beasts and are loyal."
"What do those monsters look like?"
"There are cats, dogs, birds, and hamsters. They cooperate with each other, get through the cracks in doors and open windows, and close their broken limbs inside and outside. They are impossible to prevent."
"You can hide the broken pieces in the safe."
"They will try the password again and again, tirelessly, until they figure it out."
"What about burning the pieces?"
"Hui Jin followed Feng and went back."
"How about sealing it with molten iron?"
"I haven't tried it. They will also try to find the owner's remains and throw them into the steel-making furnace, right? Matter is immortal."
"Can these monsters regenerate too?"
"Yes, it was beaten into tatters or broken into pieces, and it didn't take long for it to return to its original state."
Speaking of this, Commander Nana Mei described it with a clear heart.
"Once, I went on patrol, and without knowing it, I got a finger caught in my hair. I went back to the dormitory and went to sleep. When I woke up, I found that the whole bed was covered in blood - there were two crazy dogs.
I scratched the door, the macaw on my head bit off my hair, and a bad cat hugged my finger and ran away without a trace. I was so scared that I no longer dared to fight against these weirdos and monsters. I just held a gun.
Terrorize them, if they want to harm me, I will do it!"
Jiang Xueming has written two full pages and still continues to ask questions.
"You just said these weirdos would ask you for help with their homework?"
"Weirdos also have their own weird lives. They don't seem to realize the changes in the city."
"In other words, can we communicate?"
"As long as they are not allowed to discover anything related to [death], and they are not allowed to discover that they are [outlaws], even if they think about it, death is a forbidden language in their consciousness, like killing, graves, aging, etc.
Don't mention anything related to death - they will immediately ask you to stay and live with them as they do, or else they will attack you and try to kill you."
"Have you ever been killed? Are you a dead person? Nanami..." When Xueming said this, Bu Liuxing was stunned for a moment.
——Is Brother Ming suspicious of this armed employee?
Ah Xing hesitated for a long time, but still couldn't translate this sentence.
But Nanami understood, and shouted in Japanese as if she had been greatly wronged: "I'm alive! What nonsense are you talking about?! I'm a wild man!"
"I'm sorry." Jiang Xueming replied in Japanese. He only knew a few words and used them to entertain Japanese customers at the braised food restaurant.
For example, "Hello", "Welcome", "No yen accepted", "POS credit card", etc., and this "I'm sorry", I haven't even learned "Welcome to come again next time".
"Is an apology useful? Kneel down and admit your mistake!" Nanami's reaction was very fierce: "I finally came out of this place alive! How can you say that I am dead? You bastard!"
Bu Liuxing quickly followed up with good words and advice.
After waiting for a long time, Chief Nanami regained her composure.
It's hard for Ah Xing to imagine that such a small girl has such strong energy in her heart.
Perhaps without this high-spirited emotion, without this anger bursting out from the desire for survival, I am afraid that what Xueming and Ah Xing saw was another armed employee.
Jiang Xueming apologized sincerely and asked reluctantly: "I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! Chief Jessica, I also want to know, is there the possibility of the [Desperado] characteristics being contagious? Like the Vita brand, it is
A disease?"
"No, it's like a blessing and a curse." Nanami stepped on the brakes and slowed down the car.
There was an oncoming car. When the two cars met, they flashed their high beams twice and slowed down to pass each other. The other Volga outside the waiting window ran away.
Nanami just finished speaking.
"It is not contagious, but if you live in this city for a long time, for three months or six months, you may become a [desperate] - although the possibility is slim, it is best not to try to live here for a long time. I generally
Live in the office.”
"I understand..." Jiang Xueming glanced outside. When he got into the car, Volga passed by on the left side of the car window and did not close the window.
He clearly saw the driver of the armed employee in the other car, whose face was full of anxiety and cold sweat. Farther away in the passenger seat, there was a passenger's blood-stained spiritual clothes.
As for where the passengers went.
Jiang Xueming didn't see clearly——
——Maybe he is lying in the back seat and will not be seen for a while, or maybe he is left in this dead ghost machine city and will never be seen.
Perhaps the answer can be found in the blood on the car door that looks like sticky dark red paint.
It was black and red clotted blood that had solidified into different layers. The blood was in a radial shape, with a huge amount of bleeding and a very far-reaching shape.
——It was a fierce battle.
Nanami seemed to have also seen the tragic situation in the car. She twisted her eyebrows and acted fierce, as if to drive away the fear in her heart.
"It's so long...I asked so many questions, are you scared?"
"The last two questions——"
Jiang Xueming took out the summons bell from his pocket and shook it vigorously, and a clear ringing tone immediately came out.
"——One of them, it will take at least sixteen hours for my waiter to arrive. Ring the bell now, okay?"
"Didn't you already shake it?! Are you asking me if I have any questions?" Nanami's expression became very exciting: "Hey! I'm protecting you two! The regulations state that passengers can only ring the bell when they are under fatal threat.
, and if I ring the bell, half of my salary will be gone! It is my responsibility to put you in a fatal threat!"
"I really feel a fatal threat." Jiang Xueming was full of doubts, thinking in his heart - isn't that how the summoning bell is used?
No matter how fast Brother Qi is, he still comes here by car.
In this remote town of Death Couple, whether there is network support for them to call for help after entering the city is a problem.
That's what Jiang Xueming thought when he first got the summoning bell. If he encountered something difficult to deal with, he would ring the bell immediately.
Are you really going to wait until something weird jumps into your face before shaking someone else? Doesn’t that mean you are shaking someone over to collect the body?
——Am I wrong?
Xueming wondered, could this summons bell mean that the passengers should save their lives, find a place to hide, and ring the bell to wait for rescue?
Bu Liuxing followed suit and took out the summons bell, preparing to make Chief Nanami's performance pay this month even worse.
Nanami: "Don't!"
Jiang Xueming: "Farewell."
Nanami was so frightened that her Chinese words came out: "Yes, yes! You take care of him!"
"Why?" Bu Liuxing looked confused.
"Ms. 3301 is protecting my sister. She is on vacation." Jiang Xueming said focusing on the key points.
No matter what, the bell summoning Brother Seven has already rung. The waiter must answer the passenger's call.
At least sixteen hours later, Seventh Brother, an experienced little clever guy, will come over to help.
"One last question. Chief Jessica."
Jiang Xueming leaned forward, came to Nanami's ear, and whispered softly.
"Why do you care so much... care so much about the name Jessica?"
"Because! Me! [Nostalgia·Nostalgia]!" Nanami stepped on the accelerator.
Jiang Xueming fell back into the back seat due to the sudden pushing feeling on his back.
The Volga Bridge enters the dam entrance. The bridge pillars on both sides are cliffs tens of meters high. Under the cliffs are underground rivers and inland water circulation systems.
The moment he entered the city, Xueming felt that the whole world was lit up.
Pedestrians, vendors or workers on the street, pallet trucks carrying goods, four-pile cranes with hydraulic arms that are replacing billboards, and workers on the crane platforms.
All of this, all of this, under the illumination of artificial ultraviolet headlights in various areas, seems to be alive.
Until Jiang Xueming raised his head and saw the empty platform and the signs in the workers' hands that had rotted into brown iron bars and stained with rust.
——It seems that except these people, everything has been dead for a long, long time.
This scene is very, very weird.
Many children even smiled and waved to the Volga, as if they were seeing an older brother or sister returning from a long trip, shouting greetings in an unfamiliar language.
finally--
——The three of them got off the bus at the building complex marked B14, and saw the green belt growing wildly next to the city's pavilions, and the water tower on the man-made hill further away, which was the highest point of this living area.
Nanami was fully armed and pointed at one of the old buildings to the two passengers.