Peach Blossom Spring

Chapter 10: Make sure to stay alive

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"Let him out." Li Feng pointed at Xing Bi who was still trapped in the hood.

"That's a violation, Director Li." Director Zhang crossed his arms.

"It's a violation of the rules that Li Datou was still locked up in the dungeon and not killed," said Li Feng.

The muscles on Director Zhang's face twitched twice: "You don't even bother pretending now?"

"There is no time left. Just half an hour. Mr. Long's assistant will be here in half an hour. Tick-tick-tick-tick," Li Feng said. "Another 1,800 ticks. We can't give the general and Mr. Long a rough guess. Then you two can meet as father and son."

"I'll call a control team in." Director Wu would stand on Li Feng's side in most cases.

"Hurry up then." Director Zhang waved his hand.

The control team entered, Xing Bi walked out of the glass cover and sat on a special chair.

Director Wu pointed to the whiteboard in the laboratory, on which was written the code name of the second-level submarine sent back this time: A, infected symbiont.

Other than that, it's blank.

Xing Bi looked at the whiteboard and was silent for a long time before speaking: "You are so efficient...

"During an extraordinary period, no one wants to take responsibility, so no one dares to speak out," Li Feng said bluntly, "Just start by telling me what you think of this A."

"He is different from ordinary second-level submersible guards." Xing Bi said.

"For example?" Director Zhang asked.

"Offensive posture." Xing Bi said.

"This A's attack is the same as yours," Director Zhang said, "This posture shouldn't be special, right?"

"This was originally a sneak attack from behind, which is convenient for directly smashing the back of the neck," Xing Bi said, "I occasionally use it when attacking from the front."

"So, he is imitating you?" Director Wu said.

"No," Director Zhang denied Director Wu's guess, his face becoming a little serious, "I watched it many times, and the two people's movements were almost simultaneous."

"Well, he's not imitating me," Xing Bi said, "Running away, changing offensive moves, these are not what a level 2 sub would do. To be exact, he's better than a level 2 sub."

"Are you sure A is a level 2 submersible?" Li Feng asked.

"Sure." Someone from the control team answered. These people have been working in isolation here for a long time and have a much deeper understanding of biochemical organisms than Li Feng and his team.

"What do you think about this phenomenon?" asked Director Wu.

"I think it has something to do with symbiosis," said Li Feng.

Director Zhang glanced at him.

"Yeah." Xing Bi agreed with his point of view.

Director Zhang looked at Li Feng again.

This glance was too obvious to Li Feng. He was afraid of taking responsibility before, so he let Xing Bi say everything. Now that Xing Bi had almost come to a conclusion, he snatched it away.

Li Feng didn't care about Director Zhang's look. Director Zhang was a warrior and didn't have many brains. Most of his emotions were on his face. What's more, his precious son was still in the dungeon, so he needed the Security Bureau to find someone to go in and take his place.

"Will there be a chance to investigate this during tomorrow's mission?" Director Wu asked Xing Bi.

"How to check?" Xing Bi also asked.

"Wait for the general and Mr. Long's reply." Director Zhang said.

"I have another question," Director Wu said, "which we have never really discussed, which is why the number of bio-bodies has suddenly increased so dramatically... Why?"

No one spoke.

"In theory, there is no large-scale gathering point of biochemical bodies near Cloud City," Director Wu continued, "Their energy supply system cannot support this number of biochemical bodies from the base to Cloud City."

"Unless there is a large movable energy device?" Li Feng said.

"We haven't detected anything with such high energy," Director Zhang denied his idea. "This is not realistic. If there really is such a thing, it would be no problem to blow up Yuncheng directly."

"Thank you," Director Wu looked at Xing Bi, "I will tell you the specific tasks when Qiu Shi arrives tomorrow."

"Remember to give him a weapon," Xing Bi stood up, "otherwise he will drag me to jump off the cliff."

“… The Security Bureau will make arrangements.” Director Zhang glanced at Li Feng.

"I'm afraid the Security Bureau can't give him the weapons he wants," Li Feng said, "Please ask the City Defense Bureau or the general to approve it."

Director Zhang frowned tightly. "Not only is Xing Bi under control, but Qiu Shi should also be guaranteed to be 100% safe. He is much more unstable than Xing Bi."

"Don't worry," Li Feng sighed, "There is only one good person in the whole Yuncheng, and that is Qiu Shi. Just hide the shameful things in your heart and don't let him find out."

"Still no news about Zhang Sihai?" a voice asked.

"No, we don't have connections that can get us deep into the dungeon. That's where the city defense department has the most stringent security," Deng Yeye squatted down and looked at the darkest part of the mine pit where the voice came from. "Don't send anyone to the inner city yet. The level 2 guard who wanted to enter the inner city was taken away yesterday. Now the defense is even stricter. Add that level 1 undercover guard, and they're basically sending themselves to death."

"Hive One is aging," the man in the dark said, "and they're bringing fewer men in to repair the walls."

"The military has also deployed defenses on the periphery recently, so the refugees can only be brought to Nest No. 2," Deng Yeye said. "If it's faster, Nest No. 2 can overlap with Nest No. 1."

"We need a new 'Jungle'." The man in the darkness sighed.

"Don't expect random events," Deng Yeye said, "I'll try to find the corpse collector tonight..."

"No," the voice in the darkness was somewhat urgent, "Don't go. There are ambushes in that area. If you go there, you may not be able to come back. You have to find a way to get him out of the bunker."

"Leave the bunker?" Deng Yeye lowered his head and thought for a long time, "That person may not come out once a month, which may not be easy."

"Does he have a good relationship with those corpse collectors?"

"I understand," Deng Yeye frowned, "but we can only wait until they go to the tavern or somewhere outside the city. At this time, I don't know how long it will take."

"It doesn't matter," the voice in the darkness said with emotion, "It's been so many years, a little more time won't make a difference."

This mission looks extraordinary.

Qiu Shi could see from afar two black cars parked at the bottom of the slope on the other side of the tunnel, with a circle of soldiers standing guard around the cars.

The ones who came to pick him up were not Li Feng, nor the City Defense Bureau, but the army.

And the car did not stop at the entrance of the tunnel, but at the foot of the mountain.

What does this mean.

"Brother Shi is really going to die." Hu Xiaoling was almost in tears.

“…Remember to make a specimen for me to keep by Zhao Lu’s bedside.” Qiu Shi said.

This scene was indeed a bit scary. Zhao Lu insisted on hugging him again, but he did not struggle. When he got on his motorcycle, he turned around and glanced at the people standing inside and outside the bunker.

"Be careful," he said. "Our people shouldn't do the work that the soldiers can do. Remember, we are not under the jurisdiction of Yuncheng."

"Got it." Zhao Lu patted him on the back.

When he turned around and left, he saw Xiao Lei looking at him.

This time Xiao Lei didn't say anything. He went over and patted Xiao Lei on the arm: "Take good care of them."

"...Okay!" Xiao Lei was stunned for a moment before he yelled.

"Ouch." Hu Xiaoling gave him a fright.

There was no one Qiu Shi knew in the car that came to pick him up. Everyone had a serious look on their faces. Qiu Shi sat among them without saying a word.

The car had no windows, and once the door was closed, the only light in the car was from the ceiling light.

He was so depressed that he could hardly breathe. He could only close his eyes and feel the bumpy rhythm of the car.

After a while he opened his eyes and asked, "Where are we going?"

None of the soldiers in the carriage answered, and no one even looked at him. They all sat upright, looking straight ahead.

"Thank you." Qiu Shi closed his eyes again.

The car was not going to the history exhibition hall, nor to the tunnel that day. He had never taken this road before. There were two big potholes in a row on the road. This road probably did not pass through the center of the inner city, but went along the edge.

When Qiu Shi was about to fall asleep, the car stopped and the door was opened.

Qiu Shi got out of the car and looked around before he even stood firmly.

He was a little surprised. This was a huge space he had never seen before. He didn't know where it was exactly, but it was so big that it must have been hollowed out of half a mountain.

In the empty space, there were only a dozen people standing in the middle, and there was also a large table and several boxes.

When he got closer and took a closer look at what was on the table, Qiu Shi raised his eyebrows. There were a row of weapons lined up, and there were probably more in the box next to it.

It is obvious that these are not the ordinary weapons of the Security Bureau and the City Defense Bureau. These are the awesome weapons that can make Hu Xiaoling throw himself on them and cry and lick them.

"The mission will begin in twenty minutes." A woman's voice sounded.

Qiu Shi looked in the direction of the voice with some surprise, and saw a woman in combat uniform looking at him.

"This is Colonel Xu," Director Zhang introduced. "You have been assigned by the general to take full responsibility for all matters related to the mission."

"Oh." Qiu Shi responded.

Among these people, except Director Zhang, Director Wu, and Li Feng, whom he had met before, all the others were strangers. Probably to keep it confidential, Director Zhang did not introduce anyone else.

Although he hated Li Feng, among the group of people who were staring at him expressionlessly, Li Feng, who was smiling at him with his arms folded, was actually the most fucking friendly.

"These weapons are what we can carry on this mission," Director Zhang said. "You can choose. You have to consider mobility and not affect the ability to act."

"Yeah." Qiu Shi responded.

"Let the undercover guards come in." Colonel Xu said.

An engine sounded behind him. Qiu Shi turned around and saw a trailer driving in from the entrance over there. On the trailer were four black boxes, all with locks.

Qiu Shi glanced at Colonel Xu, who was also looking at him. There was no emotion in his eyes, but it made people feel uncomfortable.

Qiu Shi turned his eyes away expressionlessly, watching several boxes being placed on the ground and then opened one by one.

Xing Bi walked out from inside, without making eye contact with anyone, just looking at the ground in front of him.

The other three boxes contain the second-level submersible guards mentioned before for the mission. They look similar to Xing Bi and are in the same state when they walk out of the boxes.

During the brief time they had met, Qiu Shi had always felt that Xing Bi was special. He could control his murderous aura and his rudeness at will... But now that he had put away everything that belonged to him, he was like an empty shell with his soul taken away.

It makes people inexplicably uneasy.

Director Zhang began to assign tasks. Based on the principle of ensuring his own safety, he explored the internal situation of the nest, found the source of infection, and tried to find relevant clues about the connection between the symbiont and the source of infection... It can be seen that he was a little nervous and his voice was a little dry. After all, these people on the scene were all high-ranking military and company officials, and maybe one of them was his direct superior.

"We will be at the headquarters in a moment," Director Wu walked up to Qiu Shi, "You and your team members should continue to follow the previous mission relationship. Ensuring your and your partner's safety is the top priority."

"Yeah." Qiu Shi responded.

A few minutes later, only Qiu Shi and Xing Bi, as well as three secondary biochemical entities that should have no names, were left in this huge hole.

"Good morning." Xing Bi walked to the table where the weapons were placed.

This slightly hoarse and relaxed greeting made Qiu Shi feel relieved: "Good morning."

"You don't have to jump off the cliff today." Xing Bi took a gun from the table and put it into the holster at his waist.

"Remember to thank all the adults for saving your life." Qiu Shi also picked up a handful and put it away. There was still room on his legs, so he picked up another handful, and then picked up the third handful.

Xing Bi glanced at him.

"What are you looking at?" Qiu Shi said, "If I could pull them, I would drag the two boxes along."

"Purchasing goods." Xing Bi said.

Qiu Shi weighed the gun in his hand and said, "If anything goes wrong, leave some decent inheritance for my brothers."

"Don't shoot if you can," Xing Bi said, "it will easily expose your position."

"Yeah." Qiu Shi responded.

"The system is on." A strange man's voice came from the headset.

Qiu Shi paused and said, "Change to a voice I'm familiar with. This one sounds weird."

There was silence on the other end for a few seconds, and then Li Feng's voice rang out: "How do you think this sound is?"

"Yes," Qiu Shi said, "it can stimulate my desire to survive."

"Let's go. I wish you a successful mission." Li Feng said.

Just when Qiu Shi was about to ask where the hell they were going to start, a crack appeared on the cave wall opposite them. As the door slowly opened, the lights around them suddenly went out.

Qiu Shi glanced at the three second-level stealth guards standing behind him, and walked towards the door over there with Xing Bi. After adjusting to the light outside, he could see clearly where he was.

Just below the tunnel where Li Feng took him to see the nest that day, after exiting the door, about two hundred meters ahead was the high wall built with the lives of the refugees.

It is still a busy scene. When they walked towards the passage on the wall according to Li Feng's instructions, many people looked at them.

There was no clearing of the area for this mission, nor was there any hiding in the mission range. Anyone who saw them would ultimately be unable to leave.

Qiu Shi's eyes swept across the faces of those he could see clearly, just as he did when collecting corpses. After passing through the passage, he had no time to think about anything else.

The black forest that appeared before my eyes was even more stunning than when I looked down from above.

Black trunks, black branches, black leaves. When the wind blows, all you can see is gently swaying black. Life and death are strangely intertwined.

Qiu Shi stood there silently for two seconds. Based on the map provided by the system, he found the direction of the suspected center of the nest and reported the coordinates.

Xing Bi walked into the black forest, and then three level 2 lurkers followed him in. Qiu Shi discovered that this time the map showed small bright spots of the four teammates in front.

Xing must be red, and the other three are green, with the green dots arranged in a fan shape following the red dots.

Qiu Shi did not move too far away from them. After all, no one had explored this area, and no one knew anything about it. Even the display on the map was being corrected in details as they moved forward.

"Second-level submersible guards," Qiu Shi said, "Do you have names?"

No one answered him.

"From left to right," Qiu Shi said, "Xiao Jia, Xiao Yi, Xiao C, let's call them this for now, in case of any accidents."

The sunlight above was gradually blocked by the dense forest, and the surroundings became dim. It was so quiet that the only sound I could hear was the sound of my boots hitting the broken rock ground.

"Did you see anything?" Li Feng asked.

"No," Qiu Shi replied, "the trees are all black, and the plants on the ground are also black."

"Touch it," Li Feng said, "feel the touch."

"I'll touch your ancestor," Qiu Shi said, "and it will feel similar to your nose."

"The source of infection is fungus. It takes about five minutes from contact to infection," Li Feng said. "If you feel fine after five minutes, just touch it."

Qiu Shi didn't say anything, and of course he didn't wait five minutes. He reached out his hand and gently touched a tree next to him, then quickly retracted his hand: "Fuck! The outer layer is soft."

"It's really similar to a nose." Xing Bi said.

"Remember to take samples when you go to the center." said Li Feng.

A yellow dot appeared in the upper right corner of the map.

"Infected." Qiu reported the coordinates. This was the first cleanup item of this mission. For some reason, he was more nervous than before.

Xiao Bing accelerated and rushed over to the green dot on the far right, then the yellow dot disappeared, and Xiao Bing quickly returned to his previous position and continued to move forward.

When looking at Lair No. 1 from above, one cannot appreciate its size. Only when you are inside it can you intuitively feel the enormity of this black forest.

As they walked deeper into the forest, even the wind disappeared and the surroundings became even more silent, but because of this, any tiny sound seemed to be amplified.

"What's that sound?" Qiu Shi stopped and said, "Xing Bi, did you hear it?"

The sound was not the sound of footsteps, but rather the sound of something fine, sticky, and wet being squeezed. It did not come from any one direction, but from all directions.

It's creepy.

"The sound of fungi growing." Xing Bi answered calmly.

Qiu Shi was stunned for a moment, then approached a nearby tree and saw layers of black spreading slightly wriggling on the trunk, like sticky water stains that were constantly seeping around.

"... Is this what I just touched?" Qiu Shi frowned and looked at his hand.

"What you touched must be dead," Xing Bi said, "The source of infection here is alive. We may be close to..."

Two bright spots suddenly appeared on the map.

"Two three hundred meters ahead," Qiu Shi didn't care about feeling sick, raised the gun in his hand, and reported the coordinates at the same time, "Biochemical body."

Xing Bi and A, B and C immediately rushed over there. When they were 200 meters away, the third dot appeared on the map, followed by the fourth.

"Four," Qiu Shi stared at the movement of the dots in front of him. When the fifth dot appeared on the map, he lowered his voice and said decisively, "Five, don't rush!"

Xing Bi, A, B and C all stopped, and Xing Bi simply asked, "Status?"

"Five of them together, two in front and three in the back, like they're on patrol." Qiu reported the coordinates. He didn't know how he understood what Xing Bi meant by this. It can only be said that when people are nervous, their IQ is suppressed and concentrated.

"Spread out and surround." Xing Bi gave orders to A, B and C.

The red and green dots on the picture quickly retreated.

"Qiu Shi stays within fifty meters behind me." Xing Bi said.

"The other side has too many people, so don't engage in a head-on confrontation." Li Feng's voice rang out.

Although three second-level submersibles were arranged to die, it would be more cost-effective to send them as close to the core target as possible.

The five opponents continued to approach, and it looked like they were on patrol, always walking, neither fast nor slow.

"Try to get around it," Li Feng said again, "Xing Bi you..."

But Qiu Shi didn't hear clearly what he said in the second half of the sentence, as there was some noise coming from the headphones.

"There is interference." Xing Bi said, "Step back first."

Qiu Shi followed the direction Xing Bi retreated and slowly retreated. Xiao Jia, Xiao Yi and Xiao Bing separated into two sides and also slowly began to retreat.

"Li Feng, repeat." Qiu Shi said in a low voice.

"Xing must confirm whether the other party has a..." Li Feng's words turned into noise again halfway through.

"Human interference," Xing Bi said, "directed at us."

Although Xing Bi spoke calmly, Qiu Shi's heart sank suddenly. There were five of them. Even if none of them were level one, a head-on clash would be quite dangerous. Moreover, they had no backup, so there might be more of them...

"Xing Bi!" Li Feng's voice was filled with anxiety, "You..."

Qiu Shi didn't have time to listen to what Li Feng was saying amid the noise. After Xing Bi finished speaking, the five biochemical bodies suddenly accelerated and rushed into their midst.

Xing Bi didn't say anything. All he could see was that A, B, and C were moving towards the middle at the same time as him. Then gunshots were heard and a bright spot disappeared.

A head-on conflict is inevitable.

Xing Bi, who had told him not to shoot easily, fired first, thinking the situation would be difficult to deal with.

Qiu Shi could see figures swaying in the dim forest, but Xing Bi didn't defeat them all with one move, which meant that the one Xing Bi was facing now was probably also at level one.

The noise in the earphones suddenly increased, making it almost impossible for Qiu Shi to distinguish other sounds around him.

A bright spot rushed out from between Xiaojia and Xiaoyi at a very fast speed and headed straight towards Qiu Shi.

There was no time for Xing Bi to turn around and save him. Qiu Shi hid half of his body behind a tree and raised his gun to aim at the figure rushing towards him. However, it was not easy to hit the target accurately in such a dense forest. Even someone as steady as Xing Bi only fired that one shot.

Before the communication was completely cut off, Qiu Shi only heard half of Li Feng's words: "... Make sure you come back alive..."

How the hell can we ensure that

The author has something to say:

Ah, what should I do⊙▽⊙.

Let’s continue tomorrow ╰_╯.