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In the cemetery, the old guard raised his head again and glanced at the guard's hut next to him.
He had reported the restlessness of the dead in the morgue to the cathedral in a swift letter, but had received no response so far - apparently, with the entire city covered in a strange thick fog and the sunlight in the sky mysteriously disappearing, the cathedral no longer had the extra energy to pay attention to the abnormal situation in a small cemetery.
"I can only rely on myself..." the old guard muttered, tightening his coat. The leather armor and metal plates lining the coat made a slight friction sound. "The range of this fog is not small..."
The clattering and knocking sounds broke the deathly silence in the cemetery. Under the thick fog, the coffins on several nearby morgues seemed to vibrate slightly.
"... Considering that I have to keep watch over you dead people every day, can't you behave yourself a little bit now?" The old guard frowned and raised his gun slightly. He knew that these dead bodies that had been kept there for a few days were not good enough.
His body suddenly "moved" because of this strange fog, but he had no way to stop it.
All we can probably do is wait for them to get up, and then shoot them one by one.
Just as he was thinking this in his mind, a sound different from the noise in the surrounding coffins suddenly caught the old man's attention. He was stunned for a moment, then reacted instantly and looked up at the path to the entrance of the cemetery.
A small figure stumbled out from the other end of the path, its thick white coat and skirt looking like a bouncing snowball in the dim light.
"Guardian Grandpa! Help me! Guardian Grandpa!
Are you there!?"
The jumping little snowball was shouting on the path, and its voice sounded with panic and tension that it was trying hard to suppress.
"Annie!" The old guard was no longer surprised and subconsciously shouted to the girl through the thick fog, "Come here, don't go over there!"
The little girl who ran into the cemetery in a panic finally saw the old man standing near the guardhouse. Her nervous and frightened face relaxed for a moment, and then she ran over quickly: "Grandpa Guard! I'm so glad you're here..."
"Why are you still running around outside at this hour!?" The old guard didn't bother to listen to the girl's cheers. He immediately scolded her with a stern face. Because the situation today was different from the past, the danger of this thick fog was not like the slippery streets on weekdays due to snow. "Do you know that the whole city is under martial law now?!"
"I got separated from my classmates!" Annie was startled by the old man's stern look and tone, but she quickly waved her hands to explain, "We went to visit the museum with our teacher, and when we came out, we encountered heavy fog. The teacher said to take us to the nearest night shelter, but in the blink of an eye, they walked into the fog and disappeared. The old man stared at her: "Walked into the fog and disappeared?"
"Yes, he disappeared in the blink of an eye," Anne seemed to be still in shock, but she still tried to explain her experience, "Then I went to find a place to hide by myself. The museum was blocked, and there were no adults on the street. All the doors were locked. I knocked hard but no one opened them. Then I remembered what my teacher said, that if you encounter danger, you should find the nearest priest, guardian or sheriff. The cemetery is the closest. I heard you say that you are a veteran of the guardian..."
Listening to the girl's explanation, the old guard's expression changed rapidly several times. He realized that he had wrongly blamed the little girl in a hurry. The child's response was actually calm compared to her peers, but he couldn't save face for the moment and could only keep a straight face: "So you came to the cemetery to take refuge?"
Anne nodded vigorously: "Yes, they all say that the veteran guardians are more powerful than ordinary guardians..."
"... But the cemetery is not a suitable place to take refuge," the old guard said solemnly, "especially at a time like this."
Anne was a little flustered: "I... I shouldn't be here?"
"... No, there is no better choice now. If you run around in the streets in the thick fog, the chances of getting into trouble are higher." The old guard shook his head, "You hide first..."
Before he could finish his words, a strange clattering noise nearby interrupted him. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a huge object suddenly rising from the nearest morgue.
A shadow - the lid of a low-quality coffin was suddenly pushed open, a restless arm struggled to rise from the coffin, and then the restless dead stood up from it!
There was no time to remind Annie to close her eyes. The old guard instinctively raised the double-barreled shotgun in his hand. After a loud bang, the corpse that had just staggered to its feet fell backwards and rolled to the ground from the morgue due to loss of balance.
"ah!"
Anne, who was hiding behind him, was just a child after all, and was immediately startled by the gunshot. But she was more shocked than the gunshot by the corpse that just sat up in the fog.
"That...that..." The little girl pointed at the morgue in horror, stammering.
The old guard said subconsciously: "Don't be afraid, it's just..."
"Annie finally caught her breath and shouted quickly, "The teacher said that at this time, we should immediately recite Bartok's name in our hearts, then beat the agitated person with rosewood branches or smoked ropes, and then find an opportunity to run to the nearest church for help..."
The old guard listened to the little girl's chattering words in a daze. After two or three seconds, he suddenly raised his shotgun quickly, loaded the bullet again, turned around without looking back and aimed at another morgue platform. After a loud bang, another restless person who had just crawled out of the coffin lay back where it should sleep.
"Your textbooks now are different from those when I was there. Back then, we put this lesson after high school," he said casually.
Anne subconsciously hugged her head, her small body trembling a little from the shock of another gunshot. Although she reacted quickly when reciting the text just now, her fear and nervousness were still expressed quite honestly.
"You hide in the house," the old man immediately covered the little girl and came to the guardhouse, opened the door with his backhand, and pushed Anne in. "No matter what happens outside, never leave - as long as you don't go out, this house is as safe as the iconostasis hall in the church, do you understand?"
Anne's eyes widened in horror, and she nodded subconsciously while looking at the thick fog outside. In her sight, the morgues in the fog seemed to come alive, shadows crawled between the platforms, invisible roars echoed in the cemetery, the nailed coffins broke and opened one after another, and terrifying figures were waking up and sitting up from the "beds" that were supposed to be for people to rest in peace.
The old guard pushed Annie into the small room, closed the door, turned around and fired another shot.
The caretaker's hut was sturdy and protected by spells, but if all the dead in the cemetery really got up, this flimsy little shelter might not be able to block all attacks - even if it was physically blocked, the mental stimulation brought about by the siege of the dead might penetrate the protection of the hut and affect the child.
Kill as many as you can and Annie will be safe.
"God of Death, I've been retired for ten years!"
The old soldier grumbled muffledly in his throat, and skillfully pulled the bolt, discarded the shell and loaded the bullet into the chamber. However, there seemed to be a fire in his already cloudy eyes, and he had already aimed at the next restless resident without taking any aim.
The gunshots sound, the dead rest in peace, the smoke rises, and the souls pass away.
"On the other side, the gatekeepers will be very busy today. I hope they can handle so many souls who left early in time."
The old guard muttered to himself, but his hands did not stop moving. Several restless people had already started moving towards the guard's hut. He loaded the bullets again and again, fired again and again, and sent his "guests" on their way ahead of time again and again.
More and more staggering bodies appeared around the trail.
Those shadowy figures even confused the old guard for a moment.
Are there so many bodies in the cemetery? Can all the morgues hold so many bodies
Did they just appear out of nowhere in this thick fog?!
boom!
After another gunshot, the old guard heard a roar coming from very close. Without even raising his head, he reached for his chest with his left hand, and a dagger appeared in his hand.
In a few seconds, his body seemed to disappear and reappear out of thin air and moved to a few meters away from the door. The dagger slashed in the air in an instant, and a corpse fell to the ground, and a swollen and deformed head rolled to the ground.
The old man looked down and saw that there was only one huge eye on the head.
The shock in his heart only lasted for a moment, and the old man had returned to the door of the hut again. At the same time, he raised the muzzle of his gun and pointed it at another shadow that was staggering towards him in the fog.
When I pulled the trigger, the gun didn't fire, only the clicking sound of the bolt hanging in the air was heard.
The old man's eyes changed slightly, he quickly put away the dagger, and used his free hand to touch the bullet bag on his waist - it was empty.
After a moment of silence, the old guard sighed and said, "Well, the number is about the same..."
He put down his empty shotgun, reached out for his dagger again, and looked up at the figures that were swaying and emerging from the mist.
A slight creaking sound came from behind.
The guardhouse was opened from the inside.
The old man turned his head in surprise and saw Annie looking at him cautiously.
The little girl held tightly in her hands a loaded large-caliber rifle - that was his backup weapon.
At the feet of the little girl were several bullet bags and ammunition boxes of various sizes.
Obvious scratches could be seen on the floor, and it was obvious that Anne had dragged these heavy objects from the corner with great effort.
"Grandpa Guard, use this," Annie raised her hand and handed the rifle to the old man in front of her with some difficulty, "Can it be of use?"
"...Yes," After a moment's silence, the old man nodded, took the rifle, and threw the double-barreled shotgun to the girl, "Load."