14:40.
A manhole cover was pushed open, and the man in military uniform stuck his head out, looked around, made sure there was nothing wrong, and then quickly climbed out.
After this person, seven people climbed out of the manhole one after another. The last one to come out carefully restored the manhole cover.
Everyone's body smells bad. Fortunately, it's still raining outside, and the amount of rain is not light. After being washed away for a while, the smell will fade away.
Walking at the front were captain Zhang Di and Zhang Jian who were leading the way, followed by Xiao Mo and Xue Lihong.
The city is extremely quiet. After entering the city, the traces of the war are more obvious. Bullet holes and explosion traces can be seen on the walls, roads, cars... almost everywhere. The traces of high-rise buildings are even heavier. The closer you get to the city center, The more shell casings rolled to the ground.
Abandoned vehicles are everywhere in the city, and there are also many armored vehicles and tanks left in the city. These vehicles have obvious scratches and cracks. It's okay for tanks to have tracks, but the tires of vehicles like armored vehicles will be attacked first by mutant rats. The mutant rats didn't know to attack the tires, but the angels did.
Fires were still burning inside some buildings, with black smoke billowing. The doors and glass windows of the roadside shops were all smashed or shattered. Human skeletons were occasionally seen, but not a complete human body.
The flesh on each skeleton had been chewed clean. If you pick up a skeleton and look at it, you can clearly see the dense tooth marks on it.
Xiao Mo picked up a white leaflet on the ground, which indeed stated the bomb drop and other matters. "17 o'clock" was enlarged and highlighted in red, which was very conspicuous.
In addition, there are instructions for this morning's raid, and the location of the shelter.
The flyer stated two shelters, one in the west, in the direction they came from. Unfortunately, the bridge across the river had been blown up. Therefore, the other shelter, the Chengdong Grain Bureau, became the only survivor in the city. s Choice.
It also says that the shelter is not particularly safe, and calls on those who have the ability to stay away from City H instead of choosing two shelters close to City H.
Xiao Mo felt a little strange when he saw this sentence. The shelter was already out of the explosion range. Why was it still said to be unsafe? But he was in a hurry and didn't think much about it.
There were eight people in the group, and everyone walked very lightly. They used hand gestures when they had something to convey, and they didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
When a group of people ran past an office building, three people suddenly rushed out. The three people were extremely excited, but they did not dare to shout and only ran after eight people.
When Xiao Mo turned around, someone caught up with them and gave him a smile that almost made him cry.
These are probably the three remaining survivors who have not evacuated so far, and I don’t know why these people have not left City H until now.
When these remaining survivors saw Zhang Di and others, they thought the army had come to rescue them, and they were extremely excited.
But this is not the time to explain. Anyway, running with them is better than waiting to die. Maybe these people think so.
Xiao Mo was nosy and made a gesture of shutting his mouth to the three people.
The three people nodded desperately.
Zhang Di only looked back and didn't care about the three people who followed him.
Half an hour later, the group arrived in front of the Qianrui Building in the city center.
At this time, the number of people had increased from the original eight to over twenty.
Xiao Mo looked up at the huge billboard hanging outside the building. There were several voluptuous beauties printed on it. The big golden characters looked so conspicuous even on a rainy day: Rongguang Plastic Surgery Hospital.
Someone seemed to be waving to them upstairs. Xiao Mo was about to squint and take a closer look when Xue Lihong pushed him gently from behind.
Xiao Mo no longer delayed and followed the lantern mercenary team into the building lobby.
The dozen or so people following saw Xiao Mo and others entering Qianrui Building, thinking they were taking a break, and they all hurriedly ran into the building.
The glass door of the hall closed, and "Phew!" Most of the people who ran in breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
Xiao Mo wiped the rain off his face and raised his wrist to look at the time. It was already 15:12, less than two hours before 17:00.
The team that originally only made sounds of running and panting did not dare to make other sounds until now.
Zhang Di waved his hand, and Zhang Jian and others immediately dispersed to check whether there was any danger in the hall.
Qianrui Building is an office building specially used for rental. The reception desk is right at the entrance of the lobby on the first floor. The rest of the building is divided into several restaurants and a convenience supermarket. The second floor and above are mostly offices of various companies.
Xiao Mo and Xue Lihong stood in a relatively loose back-to-back posture intentionally or unintentionally. Their eyes quickly scanned the hall, looking for safe exits and relatively concealed and easy hiding places.
Someone walked towards Zhang Di, who was wearing military uniform. He smiled before saying anything, as if he wanted to talk to him.
Zhang Di didn't wait for the other party to speak, and dispelled most of these people's hopes with one sentence: "We are not soldiers, we are mercenaries. We are here to rescue the mission target. If you follow us, we will not expel you, but you must keep quiet along the way. , don’t cause trouble for us, and we will not be responsible for your safety.”
After hearing this, some people collapsed on the spot, covering their faces and whimpering.
But most people had a sense of determination on their faces that "if I don't take this opportunity, I will never leave again." Some people boldly asked Zhang Di how long they would stay here.
Zhang Di replied: "At most half an hour."
After hearing this, those people immediately collapsed to the ground, drinking water and eating. Half an hour was enough for them to have a good rest. Some people were resting, and many people ran to the supermarket and restaurants on the first floor.
Xiao Mo glanced at this group of people. They were all young and strong. There was no old man or child. The youngest was only seventeen or eighteen years old, and the oldest could not be more than fifty.
He thought that it was not that there were no old and weak people hiding in this city, but even if they saw soldiers, they would not dare to run out when they saw only a few soldiers. Some old people even waited for death and stubbornly stayed in In your own home.
The people who followed them into the building comforted each other and asked each other why they had not escaped until now.
Xiao Mo listened for a while, and some said that their relatives, friends, or lovers were scattered, and they wanted to find them, but they were delayed until now; some were sick and could not follow the large troops to evacuate in time; some laughed at themselves and said that they originally wanted to wait to die. But now there are many people who don’t want to die.
The above reasons are relatively normal, but two of them have the weirdest reasons.
One person said that he had to protect the company's property until the last minute. Well, judging from his face, he was also a very serious and responsible person to the point of being a bit arrogant.
One person said that he was so deep in sleep that he had no idea about the leaflet distribution in the morning. When he heard the drone's broadcast, he thought it was a dream. Later in the morning, fighter jets came to attack the angels, and he was too scared to come out until he secretly went out just now. I was looking for something to eat before I saw the contents of the flyer, and then I hurriedly ran and finally saw them.
Xiao Mo suspected that some of these people were taking advantage of the situation. They might have robbed too many things and were reluctant to leave like this. Such people always wanted to get more, and as a result of their growing greed, they stayed until now. However, there were several people carrying many backpacks, and he had no way of telling which of these people was the more dangerous robber.
"Did Qiu Feng call?" Xue Lihong asked him. He saw that Xiao Mo wanted to call back.
"That's right! I almost forgot if you didn't mention it." Xiao Mo quickly turned around and asked Xue Lihong to take out the satellite phone from her backpack.
Xue Lihong didn't want people in the hall to see that they had a satellite phone, so she pulled Xiao Mo to a secluded area, then found the satellite phone and made a call back.
Zhang Di walked up to Xiao Mo. He originally wanted to give the command directly, but he suddenly changed it to: "Is that a satellite phone?" He looked envious.
Xiao Mo did not answer directly, but asked him: "What are the arrangements?"
Zhang Di reassessed the value of the two of them in his mind. At this time, there were only a handful of people who had a satellite phone and could still make calls. Apart from the military and the government, there were only a handful of people.
"It's safer inside the building. We'll go find someone upstairs. You can stay on the first floor. It would be better if you can find some water in the supermarket."
Xiao Mo agreed. It was not that Zhang Di was so generous that he could give up the entire supermarket, but that from their perspective, the convenience supermarket could see that there was basically nothing inside except the shelves.
"We will gather here when the time comes and we will contact you via walkie-talkie if anything happens."
Zhang Di raised his wrist and looked at his watch: "In half an hour at most, we will come down on time regardless of whether we can find the mission target or not."
Xiao Mo told him the time, "Okay, see you in half an hour!"
Zhang Di looked at Xue Lihong who was on the phone in a hidden place again, and led people upstairs.
When Xue Lihong came back, the satellite phone had been put into his backpack.
Xiao Mo also felt that it would be safer to leave the phone with him, "Is it General Qiu?"
"Well, he also knows that City H is going to be completely bombed, and he wants us to evacuate immediately."
Xiao Mo was curious, "How did you answer him?"
Xue Lihong leaned against him, "I said that we have entered City H, saw the flyers, and are fleeing. General Qiu was very worried. He suggested that we find a bicycle."
"Haha." Xiao Mole pulled Xue Lihong down and sat down, taking some time to rest. "What else did General Qiu say?"
Xue Lihong leaned down and whispered in his ear.
Xiao Mo was shocked, "The superiors actually agreed?"
Xue Lihong shrugged, "It's not a nuclear weapon, why don't you agree? Those mutant rats are not easy to eliminate."
"Fuck!" Xiao Mo muttered: "Then we really have to run faster. I don't know if I have the ability to recover when you and I turn into a puddle of black water."
Xue Lihong chuckled.
"I don't know where I can get protective clothing." Xiao Mo shook his head, "Forget it, don't think about it so much. You are as big as an emperor. No matter what, let's fill our stomach first."
Then he took out a lunch box, took out two salted duck eggs, and handed a pack of compressed biscuits to the young man next to him.
Xue Lihong disliked this combination, "I don't want to eat compressed biscuits, I saw you hiding beef jerky."
"There isn't much beef jerky, so I have to keep it. This pack of biscuits has been opened. It's hot, so finish it quickly." Xiao Mo himself took a piece of compressed biscuit and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Maybe we'll be blown up, and there's no use keeping the beef jerky."
The corner of Xiao Mo's mouth twitched, he peeled off the duck egg shell and gave the two complete yolks to the young man, "Eat it!"
Xue Lihong raised her lips and said, "I prefer egg whites."
Xiao Mo ate all the two egg whites and threw him a pack of beef jerky.
Xue Lihong ate two red and fragrant egg yolks and was unpacking the beef jerky when she heard a commotion on the stairs to the left.
They did not wait for half an hour. In fact, not long after Zhang Di and others went upstairs, they saw people rushing down from the stairs, including their mission target.
Because of the mutant rats, the survivors did not dare to stay downstairs, and all stayed above the fifth floor. When Zhang Di and others ran over, these survivors who did not dare to run out on their own and could only wait for rescue had already seen them.
Xiao Mo patted Xue Lihong, took a sip of water, quickly packed up and stood up.
Xue Lihong took two pieces of beef jerky and stuffed them together with her mouth wide open, chewing slowly, then wrapped the rest and stuffed them into Xiao Mo's backpack.
Xiao Mo wondered how he could fit two large pieces of beef jerky into his mouth and still make his teeth move.
Zhang Di stood in the hall and shouted to the survivors who ran down together: "Who is Ni Wei? Yang Kangping? Li Yong? Feng Lan? Gong Yangling? We are the Lighting Mercenary Team. Your family hired us to take you out of the city. .”
"Me! We!" Several young people crowded forward.
"I am Ni Wei, did my cousin send you here?" A man carrying a huge travel bag rushed to Zhang Di and shouted softly.
Xiao Mo and Xue Lihong noticed at the same time that this man was surrounded by two men and two women. These five people all carried a bag on their backs and held bows and arrows and other weapons in their hands.
All five people had expressions of joy and joy on their faces.
There are five mission targets, each of them quite a lot. Although they look a little haggard and a little injured, they are young and not very hungry. They still have the energy to run with them.
Xue Lihong looked at the five people up and down, outdoor training club? The equipment is okay.
Xiao Mo was more curious about the reason why these five people were stranded in the city. If their parents had the ability to contact mercenaries to pick them up at this time, why didn't they come to rescue them when they could still escape? And these five young men were all good with their hands and feet, so why didn't they evacuate with the large army
Zhang Di nodded, "Everyone is here, let's set off immediately."
Ni Wei shouted urgently: "Hurry up! Get out of the city quickly! If you don't come, we will leave too."
Xiao Mo suddenly asked: "Why have you five delayed until now?"
Ni Wei looked at him, and the other four people also looked at him.
Xiao Mo shrugged, "I just don't want any problems to occur along the way."
Seeing that Zhang Di didn't stop him, Ni Wei said with an ugly face: "It's nothing, it's just a delay in personal matters."
The other four people had different expressions, some looked sarcastic, some sneered, some lowered their heads, and some bit their lips.
Xiao Mo looked away, "Is everything solved now?"
"Yes!" Ni Wei glared at Xiao Mo.
Xiao Mo turned around and smiled at Zhang Di, saying that he had no problem. He still didn't know the real reason for these people's stay, but he had already seen that there was definitely an emotional dispute between these five people.
Zhang Di frowned. He just hoped that these five young people would look at each other during the escape process and not cause trouble for him, otherwise...
After that, Zhang Di, who was more cautious, simply verified the identities of the five people again based on the photos provided by his employer.
Those five people were more anxious than Zhang Di. Ni Wei kept urging Zhang Di to leave quickly.
The eagerness of the five young people also infected other people. Everyone who was resting in the hall stood up, and those who went to search supermarkets and restaurants also came back.
"Okay, let's go now!"
Zhang Di didn't waste much time, verified that the target was correct, and immediately handed the five people to his team members one-on-one.
"Quick, quick, quick! If you don't want to die, move now! You have to run even if you can't run! Remember, don't make any noise. People who scream when they see a mouse should first cover their mouths with something. Everyone should get weapons. , try to lighten your load as much as possible, and you are not allowed to bring pots, pans, and other things that make noise! Remember! Only you can protect yourself, don’t expect others to come back and save you! Including you!”
Zhang Di turned to the five men and women and said mercilessly: "If you do anything that drags down the entire team, I won't care if you are the mission target. If you need to give up, I will give up! We protect you, but we are not yours." nanny!"
A trace of disgust and impatience flashed across Ni Wei's face, and the other four people also had unhappy expressions, but they wisely did not speak out to object.
Xiao Mo and Xue Lihong were at a disadvantage as outsiders. Each was assigned a girl to protect them. This might be something to be happy about in normal times. After all, both girls were very beautiful, but when they were escaping... But neither of them said anything. .
The heavy rain became lighter.
Nearly thirty people of various costumes and ages, led by a few strong men, walked through the abandoned city quickly but extremely quietly with their bodies half-crouched.
Not long after they came out of Qianrui Building, their number increased by a few more.
Later, when walking through the city, I don't know if it was Zhang Di's military uniforms that had an effect, or because there were so many of them, more and more people came out.
You can't even imagine that there are so many remaining survivors in this city that has been devastated by war once!
Xiao Mo looked up at the sky with a little worry. They had met no more than one angel along the way. When the rain stopped completely, there would probably be more angels coming out to look for food. As for the people who ran out from various hiding places, some followed them, while others alerted the angels and had trouble hiding, so they were captured by the angels.
Xiao Mo was carrying a military backpack and a tool belt tied around his waist. Various portable tools were hung or inserted on the belt. He held a fire ax in his hand and followed the two young girls.
Next to him was Xue Lihong, who looked like she was recovering from a long illness and was extremely thin.
Apart from his backpack, which he never left without when going out, Xue Lihong only had a modified nail gun in his right hand.
The two girls and the person in front of them were out of breath, but they were still running hard.
"Whoa!" Snow-white wings flew across the sky, and the rain stopped at some point. The angels probably heard the sound or smelled the smell, and were looking for escaped food all over the city.
Xue Lihong fell down. Before lying down, she dragged down the girl holding the hammer on her right, kicked her into the bottom of the car, and rolled to the belly of the car on the other side.
The girl was so angry that she gave Xue Lihong her middle finger.
Xue Lihong's face was expressionless.
Xiao Mo's reaction was not slow. The backpack he was wearing made it difficult for him to get under the car. Seeing that there were two cars very close to each other nearby, he immediately pushed the girl with the bow on the left to the middle of the two cars. He also ran over and lay down on the girl, then became motionless, like a dead person.
The girl smelled the stench of sweat coming from the man's body and endured it, not daring to move.
Some of the people running in front heard the flapping of wings and quickly found a place to hide, but some people did not react at all.
Fortunately, no one spoke.
Someone was about to scream, but someone with quick reflexes rushed over, covered his mouth, and dragged him down. No matter how anxious some people are, they will only rush out to help push down or drag those who have no time to react to a hiding place. During this process, everyone is also trying hard not to make a loud noise.
"Swish!" The sound of flapping wings faded away.
Xiao Mo slowly turned his head to look at the sky. He didn't see anything, but he still waited for a while until the girl pushed him hard and he got up.
The girl gave him a look, as if she thought he was deliberately taking advantage of her.
Xiao Mo's mouth twitched and he ignored her.
Under the car, in the shadows... human figures appeared one after another in every place where people could hide.
Zhang Di, who took the lead, turned back and made a gesture, indicating that everyone should continue moving forward.
Xiao Mo tightened his backpack and was about to follow the large army, but his wrist was grabbed by Xue Lihong who was leaning against the car.
Xiao Mo mouthed: What
Xue Lihong pointed at the sky, then at the person running in front, waved her hand, and made a powerful cutting gesture.
Xiao Mo couldn't understand what he meant correctly and mouthed again: We didn't go the wrong way.
Xue Lihong shook her head.
In front, the two girls who were assigned to protect them turned back to glare at them, waving to them desperately, urging them to follow.
Xue Lihong didn't feel like saying anything more, so she just patted Xiao Mo and continued on her way.
The system spoke: "I suggest you give up your current mission immediately. You see, that bastard also regrets it."
Xiao Mo sighed in his mind: "Shut up, Your Majesty!"
The number of people is increasing little by little, the destination is still some distance away, and the risk of exposure is getting bigger and bigger.
Xue Lihong wanted Xiao Mo to give up this mission and take another detour, but she thought that if those people successfully reached their destination, the meeting between the two parties would inevitably cause a quarrel because they broke their promise halfway. Besides, Xiao Mo was not the kind of person who was in danger. He had the temperament to give up on the mission, so he could only choose to continue performing it.
Xiao Mo is not afraid of getting lost. He always has map reminders in his mind. If he were not worried about being seen, he could run faster than Zhang Di. Zhang Di occasionally needs to stop and check the map to avoid making mistakes, but he doesn't have to worry about it at all.
There are too many abandoned vehicles on the road, and some roads are tightly blocked even with four lanes. The large population and large number of vehicles in big cities can be regarded as a major feature of China.
Xiao Mo paused for a moment and saw someone waving to them in a building in front of him again.
Those people were not far away from them, a hundred meters at most, but they were at least six floors above. If they couldn't shout, if they wanted to keep up with their team, they had to run down by themselves.
But by the time they ran down from the sixth floor or above, they would have probably already passed this street at their current speed.
Xiao Mo looked ahead. He didn't know if the people in front had seen the people in the building, but no one in front stopped.
Xiao Mo caught up with Xue Lihong, patted his arm and pointed to the building.
Xue Lihong glanced at her, her steps even slowing down.
Xiao Mo didn't dare to let the people in front stop and wait for those people. Everyone was racing against time.
Now I just hope that those people can run down as quickly as possible and catch up with them, just like the people who saw them running out before and are now running with them.
Xiao Mo ran past the building and saw someone rushing out of the building.
Xiao Mo! Someone was shouting at Xiao Mo.
Xiao Mo seemed to feel something and turned around.
Lao Wu!
Xiao Mo saw an acquaintance who turned out to be Wu Wufan, the chef at his eldest brother and sister-in-law's shop.