"I'll go down to keep watch." Qiu Shi wiped his mouth.
"Hmm?" Xing Bi looked at him.
"Avoid suspicion and prevent others from thinking too much," said Qiu Shi.
"How can others think too much? The most we did was just a kiss," Xing Bi said, "and what else..."
"That's enough," Qiu Shi said, "You're addicted."
"I'll go down." Xing Bi said.
"I'm going to the back to look for Li Rui," Qiu Shi said. "I've been busy since I came back today. I haven't had time to talk to them. And there's no news from Xu Jie yet."
"Okay." Xing Bi nodded.
They both jumped out of the car together. Xing Bi went to the front of the convoy, and Qiu Shi got into Li Rui and his friends' car at the back.
"Brother Shi." Li Rui was a little surprised to see him coming up.
"How was it?" Qiu Shi asked, "Did you take a break?"
"He didn't do anything, so he didn't need to rest," Li Rui glanced at Daxiong, "He did sleep for a while, probably because he had too many things to think about."
"Are you talking about me?" said Big Bear.
"I'm fine anyway." Li Rui said.
"Xu Jie will notify us immediately if there is any situation." Qiu Shi said.
"Can we get in touch?" Big Bear said, "We are getting further and further away."
"Yes, there is equipment in the car behind us. An antenna can ensure communication," Qiu Shi said, "Don't worry."
"Don't worry." said Qiu Shi.
"I'm not worried," Li Rui said. "Brother Shi, if those symbiotes just walked to Benquan City to turn themselves in to Brother Xu Jie, what if they ran away along the way?"
This question is obviously asked to show that one is "not worried".
However, Qiu Shi still answered seriously: "It's okay, if you run away, you run away. The final result is that you are doomed. Those who are willing to go will definitely get there."
"Yeah." Li Rui nodded.
"Can you write?" Qiu Shi asked.
"Yes," Li Rui raised his chin with some pride, "I'll help you write whatever you want."
"Record the itinerary of the past few days," Qiu Shi said, "I want to summarize what happened."
"Just tell me you're lazy. You don't seem to be well educated, so I understand that you can't write these things," said Li Rui.
“… Shit.” Qiu Shi looked at him. “Are you going to write it or not?”
"Write it," Li Rui patted his chest, "Leave it to me."
Finding something for Li Rui to do, Qiu Shi got out of the car, took the gun in his hand, and walked beside the car.
There was no light at both ends of the tunnel. In order not to expose the convoy in the darkness, all the cars turned off their lights and drove slowly through the dark tunnel.
If this tunnel were built in Yuncheng, it would probably be able to cross several large black mountains.
Qiu Shi slowly approached the wall of the tunnel and reached out to touch it.
Compared to the buildings outside that are exposed to wind and sun, the interior of the tunnel is relatively better protected. Although the walls can be felt to be very mottled, the fineness of the project can still be felt.
"It smells like blood." Xing Bi's voice came out in a low voice from the headphones.
Qiu Shi was stunned for a moment, and took a deep breath, but he seemed to smell nothing, only the smell of moss and various unknown fungi in the damp tunnel.
"Turn on the lights of the lead car." said Ji Sui.
The lead car turned on its headlights, and the light illuminated the tunnel all the way forward and disappeared at the bend ahead.
Ji Sui and Feng Zhi, who were standing in front of the car, had their shadows stretched out very long and reflected on the wall of the tunnel.
You can see the damaged walls, large patches of dampness caused by water seepage, and moss growing on both sides near the ground.
"We didn't find anyone," Xing Bi said, "but they are very good at hiding, so we may not be able to detect them."
There was a neat sound of gun draws in the tunnel, and the biochemical creatures took up their guns at the same time.
"Do you have to be so neat? This is a performance." Qiu Shi said, holding his gun in his hand.
Xing Bi didn't say anything. He took the gun in his right hand and tapped it lightly against his left arm, which made a "click" sound. Then Ji Sui and the others also tapped their guns against their arms at the same time, and a series of neat "click" sounds were heard.
"Fuck." Qiu Shi laughed, "You guys are awesome."
Joking aside, if anything happens in such a long tunnel, it would be extremely dangerous. If both ends are blocked, just lighting two fires would be enough to choke people inside to death.
The tunnel was not straight but curved. The bend ahead was still pitch black, but was gradually illuminated by the lights.
After slowly turning the bend, the tunnel became straight again, and light could shine forward, but the exit was still not visible.
But at this moment, as the wind suddenly rushed in from the tunnel entrance in front, he smelled a faint smell of blood.
This bloody smell was not fresh, but more like the old smell that he smelled when he encountered injured and dead refugees while collecting bodies, and it had been mixed with other scents.
Xing Bi, who was walking in front, paused slightly.
Qiu Shi saw blood.
The top and sides of the wall were covered in blood.
It was as if someone was wiping a piece of blood-stained clothing along the wall.
When vision and smell were synchronized, the smell of blood around suddenly became strong.
The blood was indeed not fresh and the color had begun to darken.
"Did anyone fight a battle here?" Qiu Shi whispered.
But there were no signs of a battle on the ground, no dropped objects, and no marks on the walls from bullets or common weapons such as knives and axes.
"This may be..." Xing Bi sighed softly, "It is left for us."
"What's wrong?" Qiu Shi asked.
"There is biochemical blood," Feng Zhi said, "mixed with human blood."
"Is it different?" Qiu Shi asked.
"It's different," Ji Sui said, "We can smell it."
“Then…” Qiu Shi felt a little chill in his heart.
"It might be one of ours." Song Heng said softly.
"Fuck." Qiu Shi gritted his teeth, "Did 249 do this?"
“There are two campsites nearby,” Xing Bi said, “They’re not very close, but the time we have to drive here is enough for us to do something.”
No one spoke anymore and everyone quickened their pace towards the tunnel entrance.
Compared to their movement speed, 249 moved very quickly. While talking to them on the phone, it attacked Benquan City. When they came east, it attacked the resistance organization here and "decorated" the tunnel.
This is why Xing Bi suggested to Li Feng that they should find a way to let the vagrants destroy the camp. If they only rely on single-point movement, they will never be able to keep up with the speed of 249.
Although not all of the 249 camps are of the same level as Zheng Ting, the number is not limited to the ones they know. The vagrants are distributed everywhere. While destroying the camps, they can also find out the strengths and weaknesses of each camp.
It just takes some time for the news to spread and for the vagrants to take action.
Before that, all they need to do is go east, clear all obstacles and reach 249's hiding place.
The tunnel entrance has appeared in front of us, a round bright spot in the distance.
The smell of blood became stronger and stronger.
There are three sections of tunnels passing through this mountain range, connected by two extra-large bridges over 100 meters high. Except for the first section of the tunnel which is relatively long, the next two sections are about two kilometers each.
If 249 wanted to ambush them, this distance would be suitable.
The cannon on top of the heavy weapons vehicle at the back had already been protruded from the roof, and the soldiers in the vehicle had also set up their weapons, ready to fight at any time.
But the tunnel entrance was already in front of us, and there was no unusual movement.
Ji Sui quickened his pace and ran towards the tunnel entrance, while Feng Zhi and Sang Fan followed behind to provide cover.
"There is a non-security situation outside..." Ji Sui rushed out of the tunnel and paused for half a second, "There is a non-security situation outside."
Qiu Shi didn't understand what this sentence meant, but he still rushed out behind Xing Bi.
The bright light outside the tunnel made him a little uncomfortable. It took him a while to see the situation outside clearly and understand what Ji Sui was talking about.
Outside, above the bridge connecting the two tunnels, there were a dozen people hanging.
More than a dozen bodies, to be exact.
They were all hung in the air naked with ropes, their bodies covered in blood. The strong wind blew through the valley, and the corpses kept shaking, like a strange and cruel wind chime.
"Oh—shit!" Qiu Shi had seen many bloody scenes, but the scene before him still made him feel indescribable anger.
"Song Heng," Xing Bi said, "is he one of yours?"
"Yes." Song Heng replied.
"Stand up," Xing Bi put away his gun and climbed up the steel frame next to the bridge, "Put the man down."
Sang Fan ran forward across the bridge and stood guard at the entrance of the tunnel. After making sure it was safe, the convoy drove onto this extra-large bridge.
Feng Zhi and Xing Bi quickly climbed to the top steel beam, cut the rope, and the body fell down. The remaining biochemical bodies caught the body on the roof of the car and put it on the bridge.
There are seven people in total, four humans and three biochemicals.
"We are going to their contact station," Song Heng checked the bodies, "This is a small team of theirs. They might have been intercepted while on a mission."
The systems behind the biochemical body's neck had all been destroyed, and it was pulled out alive by hand.
The humans had their necks twisted and their throats slit to let their blood flow.
The symbiotes from the two camps attacked the team at the same time, and there should be a first-level submersible, or a controlled second-level submersible.
Only a stealth guard could have such a deadly killing power.
Xing Bi didn't say anything else. He bent down and closed the wide-open eyes of these people one by one.
As the third man's eyes closed, dark lines began to appear on the back of his hands.
After closing the eyes of several people, he slowly stood up, and the black on the side of his neck slowly extended upwards.
"Since symbiosis is temporarily irreversible," he looked at the corpses scattered on the ground, then raised his head to the sky, "let 249 know that even in this way, he will not be the leader."
Qiu Shi didn't say anything, just stared into his eyes.
Before this time, the abilities Xing Bi displayed in the laboratory were already amazing, but apart from briefly controlling those symbiotes and infected people in the previous camp, he did not use them more.
This scene obviously angered him.
And this method is probably the "optimal solution" at the moment.
However, Xing Bi did not control Ji Sui and Sang Fan. He did not turn their kind into his own canned thoughts. This was his bottom line.
"How do we deal with these bodies?" Feng Zhi asked Song Heng, "You can do it your way."
"Let's abandon the bridge," Song Heng glanced at the valley a hundred meters deep under the bridge, "to save time."
"Yeah." Feng Zhi responded.
Sang Fan picked up a corpse, walked to the bridge and pushed it down.
Several people silently threw the bodies down one by one. The wind was very strong and no sound could be heard as the bodies disappeared into the dense green at the bottom of the valley.
"Active target detected," the driver of the lead vehicle's voice came through the headset, "He came from the mountain, most likely an infected person."
"Quantity?" Xing Bi made a gesture, and several biochemical bodies did not get on the car, but jumped onto the roof at the same time.
Qiu Shi looked back and found that Li Rui had gotten out of the car at some point and was looking over here. He pointed at Li Rui and said, "Get in the car!"
Li Rui quickly jumped back into the car.
"Hundreds," the car in the headset replied, "There are also in the tunnel."
Qiu Shi returned to the car and positioned the gun through the firing port.
Xing Bi did not get in the car, but turned and rushed into the tunnel, saying, "Follow me."
The convoy started and followed Xing Bi into the tunnel.
Xing Bi ran very fast, and the convoy followed closely.
The visibility in the tunnel was poor, and Qiu Shi did not open the map in front of him, but he no longer needed the map. He could see the infected people jumping down from the mountain from the tunnel entrance at the back with his naked eyes.
"Blow up the entrance." Xing Bi said.
After a loud bang, the entrance of the tunnel began to collapse, followed by another loud bang, and the light at the entrance of the tunnel disappeared.
At this time, you can see densely packed bright spots on the screen in the cab. They are all infected people pouring in from the tunnel ahead.
Sang Fan and his men, who were squatting on the roof of the car, began shooting forward.
"There are symbiotes mixed in there." Ji Sui said.
Qiu Shi couldn't see Xing Bi who was at the front of the convoy, so he opened the shooting port on the roof, leaned half of his body out, put the gun on it, and shot at the infected people on both sides while looking forward to see Xing Bi clearly.
But before he could find Xing Bi among the continuously pouring in infected people, there was a sudden silence in the tunnel. All the infected people stopped moving, and then began to rush in one direction in groups.
Xing Bi controlled the infected, and the infected knocked down their previous subjects.
"Rush out." Xing Bi's voice rang out.
The convoy accelerated and rushed forward.
"Blow it up." Xing Bi ordered again.
Qiu Shi turned around and saw that after the convoy rushed out of the tunnel, the entrance to the tunnel was also blown down by two artillery shells, and the infected people and the main body were sealed in the tunnel. Xing Bi ran across the bridge, and the infected people on the bridge stood silently on both sides of the bridge, watching Xing Bi rush into the last section of the tunnel.
When the convoy rushed across the bridge, Qiu Shi could see black fungi spreading under the feet of the infected people, as if they had taken root in the ground and prevented the infected people from moving.
Qiu Shi knew that this was an ability that Xing Bi had demonstrated in the laboratory. Now when he saw this scene, the vague uneasiness in his heart deepened little by little. He didn't know whether Xing Bi's current condition would be dangerous and what the consequences would be.
But he had no way to stop them. There were at least two or three hundred infected people who suddenly appeared, which was the total number of the two camps. If he didn't use this method, he didn't know how he could escape in the shortest time with the least casualties.
Xing needs to move at such a fast speed for another purpose, he wants to find the super symbiote.
An attack of this scale must be followed by the Super Communists. Only by killing the Super Communists can we cut off 249's control over the camp.
There were no infected people in the last tunnel, and the convoy passed through quickly behind Xing Bi.
But when Xing Bi rushed out of the tunnel and the convoy followed him, a large black net fell from behind Xing Bi and blocked the front of the convoy.
The leading car didn't have time to brake and crashed into it.
The net was woven from a mixture of metal and some kind of elastic fabric. The speed of the leading car was not very fast, and when it hit the net it did not break it, but was wrapped in the net and rushed forward for a distance. Qiu Shi could even see that the car was pulled back a short distance by the strong elastic force of the net.
The cars behind had no time to slow down and collided with each other one after another.
Taking advantage of the inertia of the collision, Qiu Shi jumped out from the roof of the car.
Several biochemical bodies that had been on the roof of the car also rushed forward using inertia. As they jumped up, the knives in their hands cut towards the net.
In front of the right side of the net, the green belt on the roadside has turned black, and a super communist is standing in the black bushes. This is a temporary small camp.
Xing Bi walked towards Chao Gong.
Two entities rushed out from behind Chao Gong, and judging from their skills, they were obviously stealth guards.
The net had been cut open, and Ji Sui and his men rushed out. The soldiers in the car also rushed to the tunnel entrance with weapons in hand.
But at this moment, the Super Communist Party raised its head.
When the sharp sound rang out, Ji Sui and Sang Fan stopped where they were.
"Explode!" Feng Zhi was not a symbiote and was not affected. He stepped forward and pulled Ji Sui and Sang Fan back into the tunnel.
The soldiers in the rear vehicle rushed to the tunnel entrance carrying cannons and opened fire at the Ultra-Communists over there.
But the Chaocom only shook twice and did not suffer much damage.
When Feng Zhi and several other biochemical bodies were about to rush over, Xing Bi's voice came from the headset: "Don't come over."
A person over there had already rushed in front of Xing Bi and swung a knife towards Xing Bi's throat.
Xing Bi raised his hand to catch the knife, and pulled the hand holding the knife back. As the subject was pulled over, he reached out and pinched the subject's neck.
The moment his hand touched the subject's neck, black lines spread from his hand to the subject's neck and then to his face.
The second one also stopped at this time, maintaining the posture of blocking the super common.
The sound of Chao Gong was still continuing. Xing Bi dragged the main body to his front amid the sound, smashed the main body onto him, and then punched into Chao Gong's body.
The sound of the supercommunist stopped.
"Come out." Xing Bi said in a calm voice.
The Chao-communist did not move or make a sound.
"Ji Sui," Qiu Shi couldn't tell what was wrong, but he was sure that Xing Bi was not in the right state, "Kill him."
Several biochemical creatures rushed over and stabbed the super communist's neck with their knives at the same time.
"Go away." Xing Bi spoke, his voice filled with murderous intent.
Ji Sui also noticed something was wrong and reached out to grab Xing Bi's arm, trying to pull him away. However, Xing Bi swung his arm violently and Ji Sui was pushed away.
Qiu Shi didn't hesitate and pressed down with his left fist.
Li Feng sat in the corner of the command room, looking at a screen in front of him. On it was a map with several highlighted locations.
After Yun Cheng's search for the light green cylinder spread, he began to receive feedback that the vagrants were moving faster than he had imagined. Although no group of vagrants had actually destroyed the camp yet, they were only testing their sincerity with small items looted from brief battles in the camp. However, they were already able to mark the location of the camp based on this information.
"We also need to increase the number of sentry towers that provide exchange services," Li Feng whispered to Colonel Yu beside him, "Add a few more."
"Well, but it can only be increased slowly within the distance where we can support each other." Colonel Yu said.
"That's for sure." Li Feng nodded.
"Director Li," the communicator came over, "the convoy will contact you."
"Okay." Li Feng stood up immediately, walked quickly to the communication desk, and signaled the communicator to help him connect to the next position.
"Do you have any news?" Qiu Shi's voice came out, and it sounded the same as when he contacted two hours ago.
"The reinforcement team has passed Benquan City, Xu Jie followed, and the people from Benquan City have also been transferred to Xingchuan," Li Feng said, "The vagrants have also started robbing everywhere, and the immunes arranged by Chen Dang will also approach you. They will try their best to find out the situation on your route in advance."
"Yes," Qiu Shi responded, "We are now resting at Song Heng's contact station and will set off at dawn."
"How is Xing Bi?" Li Feng asked.
"Same old, not awake yet." said Qiu Shi.
"Is it still... black?" Li Feng asked.
"Yes." Qiu Shi replied.
Li Feng felt that Qiu Shi had indeed grown a lot now. Facing Xing Bi's condition, he was able to remain calm. There was no other emotion in his voice except fatigue, which surprised him a little.
"How are you?" he asked.
"What do you think I can do?" Qiu Shi said, "Can I be good? What kind of nonsense are you asking?"
Li Feng smiled. He had grown, but at heart he was still the corpse collector.
"Director Wu's opinion is that we shouldn't have too much contact for now," he said, "especially with Ji Sui and the other symbiotes. Xing Bi's control is not stable, and I'm afraid it will have an impact on them."
"Yes, I know. He is isolated in the car now," said Qiu Shi.
"Don't have too much contact with them." Li Feng said.
“… I didn’t,” Qiu Shi said.
"You must be in the car." Li Feng said.
"Get lost." Qiu Shi said.
"He will wake up," Li Feng said, "Don't worry, take a rest if you can. It won't be so difficult later, and there will be more and more support."
"It's not like you to talk like that," Qiu Shi said.
"This is another side of me," Li Feng said. "I show it occasionally, for fear that I will forget it if I hide it for too long."
"I'll contact you if there's any news," said Qiu Shi.
"Okay." Li Feng said.
When Qiu Shi got out of the communications vehicle, Li Rui and Daxiong were standing outside the vehicle.
"Your sister has arrived in Xingchuan and everyone is safe," said Qiu Shi.
"How is Brother Xing Bi?" Li Rui asked.
Qiu Shi walked towards the car that was isolating Xing Bi: "He hasn't woken up yet, but it won't be long, don't worry."
"I'll go and guard the car," Li Rui followed him, "You take a nap."
"No need." Qiu Shi glanced at him, "There are beds in their room, you two can go in and rest."
"I'm not going," Li Rui said in a displeased tone, "They wouldn't even let Brother Xing Bi's car in."
"For safety reasons," Qiu Shi said, "it's normal not to let people in."
"I just slept in the car outside." said Li Rui.
"Don't get close to Xing Bi's car," Qiu Shi said, "You are not immune, and the inhibitor is not a panacea."
"Got it." Li Rui stopped.
Qiu Shi walked to the car, opened the door and got in.
Xing Bi was lying in the car, in the same state as before.
He took a closer look and saw that the black lines on Xing Bi's face were fading, but very slowly. This state made him feel that if Xing Bi used his control ability like this again, he might become a super symbiote.
He sat down in the seat next to him and sighed softly.
"Happy birthday." Xing Bi suddenly spoke.
"What?" Qiu Shi rushed over, "Xing Bi?"
Xing Bi didn't open his eyes, but repeated: "Happy birthday."
"Happy birthday to you," Qiu Shi didn't understand what this meant, but he could tell that Xing Bi was singing. Although he had long forgotten the tune of the song, he still forced himself to sing it, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you... How many times? Happy birthday to you..."
The author has something to say:
To be continued tomorrow⊙▽⊙.