The wind was blowing very fast, and the sand and rocks it blew up covered the sky and the sun. The light around was quickly dissipated bit by bit at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"I can't run anymore..." The girl grabbed her mother's hand, staggered to her knees on the ground, and gasped heavily.
The woman who had been running forward with her daughter stopped.
Looking around, there was nothing but windy sand and clumps of dead grass on the ground, no shelter for them to rest, and she knew very well that even if there was, it would be meaningless in the face of the impending danger.
Those things hidden in the wind and sand, hidden in the coming darkness, things that no one has ever seen, can easily devour ordinary humans like them.
All they could do now was to run, run forward, run for their lives like those people in front of them who had already run out of sight.
The huge black shadow faintly visible in the yellow sand in the distance is their destination. Getting there before being swallowed by darkness may be their only chance to survive.
In her anxiety, she roughly pulled her daughter up from the ground, panting and shouting with difficulty: "We are almost there! Just another 500 steps and we will be there! Do you see the black mountain in front? We are almost there! We can't stop here..."
As she spoke, dust had already filled her mouth, choking her to the point where she could hardly breathe. However, she did not bother to adjust the scarf around her face. She simply tightened the cloth around her daughter's head, silently pulled her up, and continued to run forward.
The daughter did not say anything else. She was dragged forward staggeringly. Her overdrawn strength did not allow her to utter a single sound.
To the mountain ahead, the black mountain.
"I thought today would be a calm day." Qiu Shi said softly.
When a madly running figure appeared a few hundred meters outside the protective wall, a blue lightning also struck from behind.
And in the distance, there were more blue flashes in the wind and sand, as if they were chasing the runners, pressing towards this side little by little.
Qiu Shi watched through the telescope.
"We're almost there." Zhao Lu stood nearby, squinting his eyes and looking in the same direction as him. He pulled his scarf and moved his arms, feeling a little uneasy.
Although in such a strong wind, without the help of any equipment, he could only see chaos except for the large-scale lightning, but with his years of experience, he could judge what the situation was over there. There must be people over there, otherwise Qiu Shi would not be so interested in staring at them.
Sandstorms are not uncommon, and there will be one every now and then. It is a daily routine that everyone is used to. What makes Zhao Lu uneasy is the densely populated lightning groups called "jungles" in recent years, and the things that may appear along with the lightning.
It is uncertain when the "jungle" will appear. The only rule is that it moves from south to north. For ordinary people without protection, whether they can encounter it depends purely on luck, but whether they live or die if they encounter it is not a matter of luck.
Everyone must die.
The person running in the lead fell down, but quickly struggled to get up. It was obvious that he had exhausted all his strength and was only holding on by willpower.
After a few seconds, several figures appeared behind him.
There are quite a few people this time.
"Do you think they can make it?" Zhao Lu leaned over and asked quietly, "I bet the bodies will be collected today."
Qiu Shi took away the telescope, lowered his head and pulled Zhao Lu's clothes to wipe the dust off the lens, then raised the telescope back to his eyes. After a while, he replied, "They are all dead."
"Okay." Zhao Lu nodded and continued to look over there with squinted eyes.
Even though Qiu Shi had never won, their bet remained the same, simple and boring.
These men would all be dead if they could not get into the protective tunnel before being overwhelmed by the "jungle".
And the tunnel is not at the foot of the mountain.
For defense reasons, the entrance to the tunnel is on a cliff nearly 100 meters above the ground. When they get here, they still need to climb up the rugged stone slope by their own ability...
Brigade Zhao glanced at the timer in his hand. The daily opening hours of the tunnel were about to end. Even if they hadn't encountered the "jungle", these people might not be able to enter the city today, although they would not die.
But what happens once we enter the city
"There are children too." Qiu Shi saw the mother and daughter staggering between two lightning bolts.
"Where? Are you sure?" Zhao Lu asked anxiously. For almost half a year, there were hardly any children among the refugees entering the city.
Qiu Shi threw the telescope into his hand, pulled down the goggles on his head, turned around and walked out of the shelter.
"Where are you going!" Zhao Lu shouted immediately, turned his head to look at Qiu Shi, took the telescope and took a look, and sure enough, he saw a mother and daughter.
Qiu Shi did not answer. Zhao Lu chased out of the bunker, but saw no one. He only heard the sound of the engine. He suppressed his voice and shouted, "Brother Shi! It would be fine at other times, but today the people from the head office are still downstairs!"
"Don't be afraid of eggs!" someone next to him said in a hoarse voice.
When Brigade Zhao turned his head to look, he saw a four-wheeled motorcycle leaping over the rocks behind the bunker, rushing out of the protective wall and landing on the gentle slope outside.
In his peripheral vision, he only saw Qiu Shi's signature blue tattered scarf, which was dragging behind him and would have been caught in the wheels if it was an inch longer, but never was.
"You're afraid of eggs, right?" Zhao Lu pointed in the direction of Qiu Shi and looked at the person who was talking next to him, "Then you go with him."
"My strength doesn't allow me to be so arrogant." Hu Xiaoling answered sincerely in his rough voice.
The sound of the engine was carried far away in the wind. Several people in the bunker came out and climbed to the top of the bunker. Someone used the spotlight in his hand to shine in front of Qiu Shi.
In less than a minute, Qiu Shi had reached the halfway point on his motorcycle.
"What's going on!" The only person in the bunker who had not climbed to the top shouted with binoculars in hand. This was the team leader sent by the company. "Who went out?"
No one answered. Everyone stared at Qiu Shi. The spotlight was moving tacitly not far in front of him until a reflection in the rock lit up and Qiu Shi stopped.
"Qiu Shi!" The team leader yelled into the walkie-talkie, "Qiu Shi! Answer immediately! Explain to me what you are doing now!"
"He didn't take that thing." Zhao Lu took out a walkie-talkie from his waist and answered.
"Why not take it!" asked the team leader.
"I'm sick." Zhao Lu said.
"What? Who are you?" The team leader was so surprised that he even forgot to stare at Qiu Shi. He turned around and looked around, trying to find the person holding the walkie-talkie. "Who are you scolding?"
"When he scolded Qiu," Zhao Lu said, "he was sick."
Several people around the team leader started laughing.
A sudden burst of light from the bottom of the gentle slope interrupted the captain's anger. When he turned around to look down, his anger rekindled: "What is he going to do!"
“Did you see that?” The woman pointed at the faint light circle and a few letters in the light circle in the black fog ahead. Although she didn’t know what they meant, her fingers were shaking with excitement. “That’s not lightning! Someone is giving us a signal!”
happy.
"I see." The little girl immediately quickened her pace.
"It's closer than the gate they mentioned!" the woman said confidently. "It's closer than the gate. We can catch up! Someone will help us when we get to the signal! Someone has given us a signal! It's safe there!"
"Yeah." The little girl nodded.
These few simple letters ignited the last bit of energy in the body of the person who was still struggling.
Because of the clear feedback, the mother and daughter's exhausted energy seemed to be replenished again. That place that seemed much closer than imagined was hope.
"What on earth is he doing?" the team leader whispered, moving the telescope back and forth between the people who wanted to enter the city and Qiu Shi, "Where did he get that thing?"
There is a small ball floating in the air beside Qiu Shi's shoulder. This is a robot that follows the butler. Different appearances can be selected. Most people choose the appearance of small animals, so this thing is also called a small pet by those living in the inner city. The small pet can provide users with some simple functions such as video calls, taking pictures, and swiping ID cards.
Of course, you can also use a laser to type a meaningless word on the approaching black sand.
This thing is not uncommon, but in the captain's opinion, it should never appear around Qiu Shi.
Qiu Shi and his team were corpse collectors who were not allowed to enter the inner city.
One more suspicious incident that needs to be recorded and reported.
The team leader's telescope turned to the middle of the slope, and Qiu Shi was sitting astride the motorcycle, motionless.
Turning to the distance, people kept falling down in the increasingly dense lightning.
When they reached the halfway point, Qiu Shi and his pet ball lay motionless.
Turning to the distance, the mother and daughter were struck by a bolt of lightning while running wildly. They fell to the ground at the same time and were motionless.
At the same time, the word "happy" typed on the black fog also disappeared.
The team leader quickly turned halfway up the slope... The sound of an engine was heard.
Qiu Shi's motorcycle also turned around and rushed back up the slope. The wheels rubbed against the rocks and cracks, producing white smoke. It was unknown where the friction even produced sparks.
It can be seen that the car has been modified, but no matter how powerful the modification is, it is easy to rush down the hill, but it takes fire and lightning to climb back up the hill. If the skills are not good enough and the position is not found correctly, both the person and the car will fall to the bottom of the mountain.
A halo like water ripples flashed behind Qiu Shi. After the halo disappeared, lightning struck over, but failed to land on the ground, and exploded into spider-web-like light threads in the air.
The protective net was opened.
It was the first time for the team leader to go out of the city to carry out a mission, and also the first time to see the protective net unfolded. He was stunned for a few seconds and watched the scene that was like a fireworks show before he suddenly came to his senses, turned around and rushed back to the bunker, rushing up the slope along the tunnel under the bunker.
"Team leader." Several of Qiu Shi's men immediately followed behind him.
"Why are you following me?" He turned his head while running.
"Brother Shi said that you have to follow me wherever I go," the big guy who followed me the closest replied, "Outside is different from the city. If you are not careful, you can lose your life... I'm afraid you won't be familiar with the environment and something might happen."
He sneered, and when he came out of the tunnel and arrived at the bunker of Qiu Shi's "office", he said, "You want to monitor me."
"Isn't that your job?" Qiu Shi's voice came from the front.
This man was very fast. He parked the car and returned to the shelter in just a short time.
"Qiu Shi," he was really angry at this moment. He walked up to Qiu Shi and pointed his finger at his nose. "Don't talk to me like that. I remind you, I didn't come here to play hide-and-seek with you. I'm not your subordinate! I was appointed by the head office..."
"I won't take it. I have the final say here," Qiu Shi interrupted him and impatiently pulled off his goggles. "Don't say you are just a small captain. Even if you are a captain, you are nothing outside the tunnel."
The team leader looked at Qiu Shi and said, "I am the team leader. My last name is Xiao."
Everyone in the room fell silent.
This is a bit embarrassing.
Qiu Shi glanced at Zhao Lu, and Zhao Lu cleared his throat.
He was the one who reported the title of team leader, but even if the team leader's surname was Xiao, his behavior of eagerly claiming the nickname proved that he was not very smart.
In the next few days when he works hard here, the nickname "loud fart" will always follow him. "Get out." Qiu Shichong tilted his head towards Zhao Lu.
Brigade Zhao left the bunker with a few people.
"Xiao, Captain," Qiu Shi used the correct address, raised his hand and rubbed his face with his sleeve, "Sit down."
"Xiao Lei, just call me by my name." Xiao Lei said. The areas on Qiu Shi's face that were not protected by the goggles were covered with tiny cuts. They were caused by small stones blown up by the strong wind. They were all bleeding, but Qiu Shi seemed to feel nothing. He frowned and pointed at Qiu Shi's face, "Do you want to treat the wound first?"
Qiu Shi touched his face and laughed: "You call this a wound?"
"Since there's no need to deal with it, let's get started." Xiao Lei took out his butler and gently threw it into the air. It was a small pet in the shape of a cat's head. "Record and record the time. Automatically select the current... Qiu Shi, I need you to explain to me what you did just now."
The cat head moved to the side of the two people and began to record and film.
Qiu Shi looked at him, glanced to the side, the smile on his face slowly faded, and he only said four words: "Hospice care."
"...What?" Xiao Lei was stunned.
"They will all die, or become... in short, they are all dead," Qiu Shi said, "You know this, right?"
of course I know.
Xiao Lei thought about it for a long time, listed various understandings related to the word "hospice care", and finally came to an incredible conclusion.
"Don't tell me you want them to think they can get into the city before they die." Xiao Lei said.
"There's no them," Qiu Shi said, "just that kid."
"If you were a second late, you would have been stopped outside the protective net and killed!" Xiao Lei's voice gradually increased, "Just to give some false hope to the refugees who came from nowhere and whose authenticity is unknown? Have you ever considered the consequences of doing such a meaningless thing! You can't even be sure if they are still human!"
Qiu Shi raised his left eyebrow, and the look he gave him suddenly became sharp.
"I won't be late for even a second," Qiu Shi said, "Captain Xiao."
"What if it's too late!" Xiao Lei was very angry. Having lived for more than 20 years and always strictly abided by the rules, he really couldn't accept Qiu Shi's crazy behavior, although he knew that Qiu Shi was actually not subject to his rules.
"If it's too late, I'll die," Qiu Shi leaned back in his chair, "Those brothers outside will scatter my ashes for me."
"I will report to the company truthfully." said Xiao Lei.
"Who cares?" Qiu Shi smiled.
"Also," Xiao Lei glanced at his shoulder, but after hesitating for two seconds, he suppressed the idea of asking him about the butler who followed him. Qiu Shi and his people didn't seem to get along well, so he still needed to leave some room for them. "Let's stop here today."
After Xiao Lei left, Zhao Lu walked in: "Did Xiangpi leave?"
"Be careful with your words." Qiu Shi took off his coat and shook it.
"I'll go out with you later," Zhao Lu said, "I think some of those people are not in good condition today. I don't trust others to go with you."
"Yeah." Qiu Shi responded, "Remember to have someone keep an eye on Xiao Lei. Sending him here is definitely not a routine inspection. Things have been unsettled inside recently, so they probably want to investigate something."
"Don't worry." Zhao Lu nodded. After a moment of silence, he suddenly became excited. "It looks like it's a big deal?"
"It seems that this person's brain is not very useful," Qiu Shi did not answer his question, "but who knows, sometimes it seems that your brain is not very useful, but in fact it can still be used."
Zhao Lu looked at him and nodded: "I can see that you really have no one to use."
Today's "jungle" transit time was relatively long in recent times. Zhang Sihai waited in the house for nearly two hours before the phone in the living room rang. It was his father calling back.
"Are you coming back?" Mom asked. "Yes."
My dad is still in the company. At times like this, he has to stay in the office and wait for his subordinates in various places to summarize the damage to the city's facilities.
When Zhang Sihai slipped out of the door, his mother was still on the phone. He heard a few words about the waterway area and missing persons.
There have been rumors recently that there have been attacks by unknown creatures in the waterway area. For safety reasons, his parents do not allow him to go out at night. Today he found a rare opportunity.
However, there are still many people on the streets, and the various flashing light boxes and billboards are as lively as usual. People here don't seem to care about the attack.
After all, the waterway area is in the outer city, and the inner city built between countless blade-like rock peaks is relatively much safer. Except for a few open-air main roads, most of the activity space is within the mountain.
"Xiao Ding." Zhang Sihai walked along the street towards the outer city, threw his pet out, and looked up at the strip of night sky that appeared between the towering rock peaks on both sides.
It was pitch black.
The little pet was just a little butterfly, and the voice was a slightly hoarse female voice: "I'm here."
"Call Lao Deng." Zhang Sihai said.
"Uh-huh." replied the little butterfly.
"Stop humming," someone said in the darkness beside him. It was exactly the same as Butterfly's voice, but it was colder. "I'm here."
Zhang Sihai turned his head and saw two people coming out of the cracks in the rocks nearby. They were Lao Deng and a thin man. He asked in surprise, "Why are you here?"
"I knew you would definitely come out," Lao Deng tied up his hair. "Today, the number of people at the Rock Summit Second Checkpoint was half of the usual number, so I slipped in without any effort."
Zhang Sihai looked at the man next to her: "Who is this?"
"My assistant, Xiao Xia." Lao Deng said.
"What about the previous one?" Zhang Sihai was a little wary.
"Missing," Old Deng looked at him. "He's the third person I know who's gone missing since we came to the jungle today."
After confirming that there was no problem with assistant Xiaoxia's identity, Zhang Sihai asked, "Where are you going today?"
"Waterway District," Old Deng said, "I'll give you two minutes to hesitate."
"Let's go." Zhang Sihai didn't hesitate, "But I want to record a video."
Lao Deng and Xiao Xia looked at each other, then nodded at him: "Whatever."
"Ding," Zhang Sihai said, "Automatically shoot, current time."
"Got it." The little butterfly rose above the heads of the three of them, circled around, and then began to follow and film.
"Hello everyone," Zhang Sihai began, "I'm Li Datou."
Xiao Xia glanced at him and said, "You also have a commentator?"
"Nonsense," Zhang Sihai said, "Haven't you seen my previous videos?"
"I've been out of town," Xiao Xia said, "I don't have the equipment."
"Oh," Zhang Sihai said nothing more, but continued to explain in a low voice, "You should have heard about the recent disappearances. I am 80% sure that this is related to the incident two years ago. Today is my first step to reveal the truth."
"To be honest," Deng said, "your commentary is stupid."
Not only was his commentary stupid, his skills were not very smart either. When Zhang Sihai was climbing over the rock next to the second checkpoint, he missed a step and rolled down the mountain with his butt and head tumbling. Lao Deng followed closely on the gravel and grabbed him by the back of the neck when he rushed forward for the third time.
"Fuck." Zhang Sihai sat on a protruding rock, still in shock, looking at the outer city street about 20 meters below, and touched his face, "Hello everyone, I'm fine, so don't be too confident, even the strongest people can make mistakes..."
"Shut up." Old Deng said suddenly.
"You..." Zhang Sihai turned his head away, not understanding what she meant.
Lao Deng didn't say anything, but covered his mouth with his hand. At the same time, Xiao Xia made a gesture to him to keep silent.
Zhang Sihai reacted and slowly crouched down with the two of them, quickly looking around. The lighting in the outer city was not as good as that in the inner city. Apart from the colorful signboards on the streets below, they could only see various shades of black around them.
But he heard the voice.
It's a breath.
It sounded like someone was breathing heavily, but it was a little too rough for a human.
The air was filled with weirdness, and Zhang Sihai's hair stood on end.
left.
No, like above.
Zhang Sihai slowly raised his head to the sound of his own heartbeat.
There was a vague black shadow on a protruding rock above.
As he tried hard to see what it was, a pair of eyes blinked at him in the shadows.
Only then did Zhang Sihai realize how close he was to the black shadow. He could even see the red bloodshot in its eyes.
He immediately forgot Lao Deng's request for him to remain silent and opened his mouth to shout.
But before he could say anything, the black shadow had already leaped down in his direction.
At the same time that Xiaoxia slapped him on the mouth, Lao Deng pounced towards the black shadow, and the knife in his hand swept past his eyes, bringing up a gust of cool breeze.
"Don't go over there." Zhao Lu looked ahead, swinging the spotlight in his hand back and forth. Except for a few people lying on the ground motionless, they didn't see anything in the night fog.
But his intuition told him that there must be something.
"One person is missing." said Qiu Shi.
"What?" Zhao Lu asked.
"Using that mother and daughter as the boundary," Qiu Shi waved the spotlight in his hand and drew a line at the position of the mother and daughter, "there should be five people here."
"One, two, three, four, four," Zhao Lv counted carefully and put his hand on his waist. "Do you want to report?"
"Let's look for it first." Qiu Shi turned around.
I saw a pair of blood-red eyes.
The intercom on Zhao Lu's shoulder rang: "Brother Shi! It's behind you!"
Qiu Shi was very touched. Although the information was not timely, it was quite accurate.
The author has something to say:
Ah, nothing more to say, my dears! It's a difficult reunion! I will update every day for two or three days, and then I will update every other day. The time is still 7:40.
Also, children who like modern Chinese, please grit your teeth and wait a little longer, the next one will be here and it won’t be delayed for two years. I love you guys.
There is some more nonsense that I will talk about in the following speech ╰_╯.