Ouroboros

Chapter 11

“Grrrr—–”

“Bang, bang, bang!!”

The back door of the off-road car opened, and fires were shot from the back seat. The heads of another group of zombies splattered open and their bodies collapsed onto the ground. Bright red blood pooled together, flowing into the sewer.

The underground passage was a complete mess. The various lights scattered around flickered on and off.

The car rushed towards the direction of the exit. It crossed through the darkness, crossed through the depressive gloom and crossed through the group of zombies wandering around the underground passage. Through the sea of stiff and pale hands, it rushed into the blinding sunlight ——Everything brightened up. The sun at 9:30am in summer made the car heat up but everyone’s heart was cold.

The exit of the underground passage was getting further and further away.

“Boom!” The off-road car ran into a zombie. Trails of blood trickled down the windshield.

Zhou Mingxian’s driving skills were top notch.

The main road was filled with zombies and there were also the occasional abandoned vehicle and wreckage. The car suddenly tilted over to an extremely tricky angle to navigate through a difficult corner before speeding on.

Song Qinglan sat in the passenger seat with Shen Mian blasting open zombie heads one after another. Through the rear-view mirror, Ji Yushi could only see Song Qinglan’s tense jawline as well as the slender fingers that would pull the trigger from time to time.

No one in the car spoke.

They charged through the thick wave of zombies ahead leaving trails of blood behind and finally managed to lose them behind.

The Runjin Building grew smaller and smaller in the rear-view mirror.

Gradually, it was engulfed by the gigantic black wall, disappearing into the darkness, no longer to be seen again.

Moving away from the prosperous city centre, the number of zombies wandering the roads became visibly less. There were even occasionally traces left by survivors calling for help.

Song Qinglan stored Shen Mian away and then took out a half-finished packet of cigarette from the car’s glovebox. He lit it and held it outside the window but didn’t smoke it.

In the back seat, Li Chun couldn’t help but sob, “Before we set out on this mission, Brother Wen even said he wanted to see what the cigarette would taste like in Xijing City after so many years and see if it has gotten any better.”

“But in the end we didn’t make it to the Xijing in 1460 and he never managed to try it…..”

“It has only been a few hours and we’ve already lost two people. What is this damned task? Isn’t this just sending us to our deaths? So damned unlucky to end up in this god forsaken place. The A-level mission has turned into hell-level!!”

Although Duan Wen had used his life to exchange for a way out for them, they still had to go through a fierce battle in the northeast emergency staircase. One could only imagine what it was like for Duan Wen on his end. Li Chun was on the younger end. Having narrowly escaped death once again and again losing his teammate, he could no longer control his emotions.

Ji Yushi noticed that Tang Le’s eyes were also red.

Ji Yushi never had any teammates before and had always acted alone so although he wanted to comfort him, he found that he couldn’t say a single word.

He wasn’t very good at expressing his emotions.

“Endure.” Song Qinglan said, “Endure until this mission is over. Don’t let them die in vain. Once we get back, we’ll go find those bastards and figure out why this happened and if it’s a bug or something done deliberately. If they don’t give me an answer, I’ll make the entire group of personnel there take a day trip in those capsules.”

Everyone was silent.

Song Qinglan added, “Also, no matter what happens next, no one is to fucking act on your own. Sacrificing yourself is a foolish act and shouldn’t be done again. There is nothing more important than surviving. There are still many other things our team needs to do, no need to rush to your death.”

Still no one spoke.

Song Qinglan extinguished the cigarette and threw it out the window, “Do you understand?!”

“Yes!”

“Understood.”

“Bang! Bang!”

Zhou Mingxuan ran into another two zombies one after another. As the car drove away, they could see new zombies appear from a shop behind, chasing after the car.

“Fuck——-” He cursed, “A child.”

There was a small figure amongst the group of zombies. That zombie had her hair in a pair of braids and she carried a doll wearing a red dress in her arms.

“…….Such a small zombie.”

Tang Le said, “Zombies don’t care if you’re an adult or a child.”

Just like how the black wall swallows everything up indiscriminately.

“There was an old movie where the heroine’s husband mutated into a zombie and bit his daughter first.” For some reason Tang Le suddenly raised this topic, “Once mutated, there was no reason or humanity left. The plot of that movie is actually a bit similar to our situation earlier, they were also forced to hide in a building but theirs was a shopping mall, so they at least have lots of food. Since they also aren’t in a hurry to do their tasks, they stayed there for several months.”

“Dawn of the Dead.” The one who spoke was Ji Yushi, “But it was the heroine’s daughter who bit the heroine’s husband first.”

Tang Le froze for a moment, “Was it? I just happened to see parts of it because Tang Qi was the one watching. Advisor Ji also watched it?”

Ji Yushi regretted joining the conversation a little, “Classmate was watching it and accidentally saw.”

Song Qinglan picked up a pair of binoculars and looked ahead and then looked at the map, “Advisor Ji, why aren’t we taking the main road?”

Ji Yushi explained. “There is a roadblock 400 metres ahead and there is also a damaged spacecar occupying the road.”

With a rumble, the car soon exited the alley and passed by the main road. Sure enough, there was a roadblock at the intersection.

The drone image was taken from a high altitude and it was also moving very fast. It required very careful observation to see something like this.

Once they passed through an alley, they passed a bridge.

The scenes they saw along the way were all similar, it was either zombies or more zombies.

Speeding across all this way, the car was now almost completely scrapped. Blood and flesh were everywhere on the doors and windows and there would also occasionally be strands of zombie hair still attached to the scalp fluttering in the air.

“Where are we going?”

The silent Zhou Mingxuan finally asked.

This question was a little depressing.

In this world called PU-31, apart from choosing a place with fewer zombies and a little further away from the black wall, they seemed to have nowhere they could go.

Ji Yushi glanced out the window, “Turn left ahead and go down that road for two kilometres. There is a bookstore on the side. It’s on a small slope so it will be good for watching over the situation from there.”

Bookstore?

In an age like this, paper books had long become redundant. Humans nowadays only need to press their communicator to project all the information they needed. Opening a bookstore during a time like this was a completely crazy idea. It wouldn’t even have a big enough niche market to cater for.

Song Qinglan looked at him through the rear-view mirror, “Then to the bookstore.”

*

10:20AM

Sure enough, just as Ji Yushi had said, there really was a bookstore there. Clearly, even during these desperate times, it wasn’t a place others considered taking refuge in. From the first floor to the second floor, towering shelves filled with books reached the ceiling. It made people feel like they had gone back to a century ago.

Behind the counter was a dead elderly staff. With wide open grey eyes and a mouth filled with false teeth, even after infection one could tell that he was once a kind, old man.

Song Qinglan turned him over and placed him in a chair.

Ji Yushi saw this scene and then quickly looked away.

The store was very large. The teammates patrolled through the store separately only to report back that there was no one else except for this old man. Their journey had been to smooth. There weren’t even many zombies encountered in this block. Having experienced everything that had happened earlier, everyone felt that it was too easy.

“The black wall won’t be able to reach us for a while. We can stay here for a few hours.” Song Qinglan said, “The second floor has a high view. We will use the second floor as our base. It will also allow us to spot zombies immediately if they break in. We need to find something to eat now.”

“I’ll go.” Zhou Mingcuan carried his laser gun, “Along the way I’ll scout out the surroundings. You guys be careful.”

“I’ll go with you.” Tang Le said.

In the end, Li Chun also went. Of the five, two remained. Only Song Qinglan and Ji Yushi were left.

Such an arrangement was rare. Ji Yushi wasn’t very accustomed to being alone with another person. Fortunately, Song Qinglan said, “I’ll see if I can find anything here.”

The two moved separately.

Song Qinglan found some electronic devices. Because there was no internet, nothing was gained from that. When he returned to the original place again, Ji Yushi was already gone.

Bookshelves were arranged row after row.

Ji Yushi stood in the corner holding a bottle of mineral water he had procured from who knows where. His throat moved as he swallowed something.

The next second, Ji Yushi’s wrist was grabbed.

“Advisor Ji,” Song Qinglan asked, “What is this?”

In Ji Yushi’s hand was a small rectangular box of medicine.

Being asked like this, he furrowed his brows and immediately pulled his arms back. Song Qinglan was caught off-guard, allowing him to successfully break free, but he quickly moved in to snatch the box. Ji Yushi felt the movement behind him. He suddenly landed on his knees and bent his back to an incredible angle such that he was almost pressed against the ground as he avoided Song Qinglan’s hands.

He knew that he wasn’t Song Qinglan’s opponent in close combat. After narrowly dodging, he got up and tried to escape but Song Qinglan reacted extremely quickly, grabbing his shoulder with his iron-like grip.

Ji Yushi fought back, Song Qinglan leaned back to dodge. There was another gust of wind and Ji Yushi’s fist was intercepted by Song Qinglan.

Relying on his height advantage, Song Qinglan forcefully pulled the person before him closer and used his long arm to take the medicine box from Ji Yushi’s left hand.

Ji Yushi reacted quickly, and the box drew an arc in the air.

Contrary to his expectations, Song Qinglan didn’t care about that medicine box. He instantly restricted both of Ji Yushi’s arms behind his back and pressed his entire body against the bookshelf.

Song Qinglan’s tone was very unfamiliar. His cold voice travelled from behind, “Ji Yushi, repeating the same point in time many times can result in confusions with reality and would require medication to keep the mind clear —— At least that was what I read in a certain paper.”

Ji Yushi was unable to break free. Although there were clothes separating them, it felt uncomfortable being so close to another person, “What do you want to say?!”

Song Qinglan said, “I think you have a lot of things you haven’t told me the truth about.”

From the convenience store to the beauty salon in Runjin Building and now the bookstore. From his end, it looked very suspicious. Ji Yushi was behaving too familiarly.

Taking a step back, there had never been a case in his past twelve missions where the destination changed during the transfer, resulting in them entering a different time and space. It was only until Ji Yushi was sent over. Song Qinglan couldn’t help but be suspicious.

“Can you explain why you came to the bookstore or tell me how many times you have experienced our current situation?”

Ji Yushi instantly understood, “You think I am related to the so-called Ouroboros?”

Song Qinglan: “Correct.”

“Let me go and I’ll tell you!”

“Tell me and I’ll let go!”

Song Qinglan had always been a thug like this. Even when he led his squad, he didn’t do it the normal way.

He would do anything to achieve his goal and wouldn’t relent even when faced with the most dangerous threat.

Ji Yushi’s face was pressed against the cold bookshelf, “Hurts.”

Song Qinglan was stunned for a moment. He even thought to use this trick?

“My hand hurts.” Ji Yushi said again, as if begging, “Can you let go first?”

For a moment, Song Qinglan felt like he was bullying the weak.

It wasn’t in line with his usual style. Seeing the colour slowly drain from Ji Yushi’s face and thinking that he wouldn’t be able to escape from him anyway, he released his hold.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he let go, he received a fierce punch in the face.

His cheekbones hurt like crazy.

Song Qinglan was indignant but he then saw that the ends of Ji Yushi’s eyes were faintly red. It was very clear that he was in pain and it wasn’t an act.

Ji Yushi had hit him, but his expression was still extremely cold, “Cap Song, do you know that there is an illness in the world called hyperthymesia?”