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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Eight: The Door of Life
"Yao, Yao!" Luci exclaimed, her eyes wide with disbelief as she rushed over to embrace Song Yao. "Ah! You scared me to death!"
Song Yao stiffened for a moment but gently patted Luci's back, reassuring her, "It's okay now."
Cao Liang snapped out of his shock, his face still showing uncontainable surprise. Just as he was about to say something, he noticed Luci suddenly release Song Yao and step back, raising her hands in alarm.
"Yao Yao, you... you're hurt?" Luci's hands were covered in blood. Although the grayish view made it hard to distinguish other colors, the stickiness and metallic scent of blood were unmistakable.
Cao Liang hurried over to check, but Song Yao stopped him. She smiled faintly and shook her head, signaling him not to worry. "Don't be concerned; it's nothing serious."
"Let me see what happened! Did you... fall?" Luci trembled as she steadied herself against Song Yao's shoulder, a sense of foreboding rising within her. When she had embraced Song Yao, her hands had felt not only the warmth of blood but also something sharp that had grazed her. Luci dared not dwell on it but found it hard to comprehend.
Song Yao lowered her head and remained silent for a moment before responding, "Yeah, Old Six wasn't very lucky; he fell to his death."
"Then you..." Luci wiped the blood from her hands and resolutely moved behind Song Yao. Sure enough, on the left side of her back, a bloody broken bone had pierced through the skin, glaringly visible. The makeshift robe made from a blanket was already soaked in blood. Luci trembled as she lifted the blanket; Song Yao's spine had already been deformed, with a section of her back caved in.
Luci looked helplessly at Cao Liang, hoping someone could provide an explanation.
"Can we talk about this later?" Song Yao hugged Luci and gave a knowing glance to the stunned Cao Liang while her gaze drifted toward Huihui, who was watching from the sidelines.
"You can see this, right?" Song Yao asked.
"Yeah," Huihui replied, shrinking back slightly, feeling intimidated by the woman who had fallen from such a height and managed to climb back up.
"Good," Song Yao nodded and addressed everyone. "This place isn't safe anymore; someone has been trying to come up here. We need to get down and leave."
"What did you find?" Cao Liang leaned over the cave entrance and peered down. The visibility was still low, and the sounds of fighting and shouting continued. It felt as if the number of Zombies was increasing, though he couldn't tell if it was just his imagination.
"The isolation door over there keeps opening repeatedly. Just now, I saw a variable number of Zombies coming in each time. We can only find a way to get out from there," Song Yao pointed to a corner shrouded in darkness and said, "It's tougher down there than we imagined; the loss of living people isn't significant."
"Really?" Cao Liang found it hard to believe and asked, "Can they see clearly?"
"Not just that." Song Yao rubbed his forehead and smiled bitterly, "I can't explain it. In any case, we have to leave here."
The three of them immediately got to work, ignoring the screams of Flower Boy. They each picked up weapons that had been dropped on the ground and prepared to break through. Bull Terrier stood helplessly in place and suddenly spoke up, "This is for you." Ignoring Huihui's protests, he handed over a pistol he had hidden in his clothes.
The three exchanged glances, and Luci asked in surprise, "Where did this come from?"
Cao Liang recalled Huihui's evasive gaze earlier and waved his hand to signal not to ask further. He took the gun and unloaded the magazine, revealing nine shiny bullets inside.
Bull Terrier pulled the girl hiding behind him to the front and said, "Don't misunderstand; Huihui means no harm. She's just afraid you might leave us behind... Can you take her with you?"
"Huh?"
"I... I still can't see, so I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up with you. So..." Bull Terrier gently pried Huihui's hand off him and pleaded, "Please."
Cao Liang looked at Song Yao, who nodded in agreement. He handed a Machete to Bull Terrier and said, "Try to block the entrance; maybe there’s a chance for survival."
"Okay, I understand." Bull Terrier licked his lips and sat down with the Machete, falling silent.
"Let's go." Song Yao was the first to climb down. Luci pulled Huihui along closely behind him. Cao Liang dragged the nearly unconscious Flower Boy to the cave entrance. Before going down, he glanced at Bull Terrier, who was huddled silently in the corner. He wanted to say something but swallowed his words when he noticed Bull Terrier's shoulders slightly trembling.
Song Yao moved quickly and soon reached the middle of the descent. Luci saw several people rushing up ahead and shouted urgently, "Yao Yao, be careful!"
Song Yao turned her head at the sound, only to see three men climbing up with knives clenched in their mouths. Upon seeing Song Yao coming down, they angrily waved their hands, signaling her to clear the way. Song Yao had no intention of wasting words with them; she grabbed the handrail to steady herself and stomped on one man's face. The man was caught off guard and reflexively let go to cover his face. Song Yao then kicked him in the chest, causing him to scream as he fell back, inadvertently dragging down the person behind him who was also climbing the ladder.
"Follow me!" Song Yao shouted, and before the third man could climb up, she let go and jumped down, using the momentum of her fall to knock him off the ladder as they both landed on the ground.
Luci was completely stunned and hurriedly grabbed the handrail to slide down. She just caught sight of Song Yao getting up from the ground, seemingly a bit dizzy from the fall, swaying slightly before steadying herself. The man who had been knocked down lay on his back, a pool of dark blood slowly spreading from the back of his head.
"Charge that way!" Song Yao picked up a dagger that had fallen to the ground and thrust it into a Zombie's eye socket as it lunged at her. She kicked the Zombie away and helped Huihui down.
Luci finally understood Song Yao's intentions. The number of Zombies in sight was astonishing, while on the other side was a line of surviving humans. Both sides seemed to regard the Escalator as a boundary, neither willing to give way, forming a chaotic battle. Some Zombies gathered around the Escalator, blocking the upward path, while the survivors formed a circle, desperately hacking at the Zombies pouring in from all directions. The circle was continuously shrinking. There were always those who couldn't contain themselves and jumped out of the defensive circle, trying desperately to carve a bloody path to the Escalator, but all ended in failure.
The position where Song Yao and her companions landed was just at the outer edge of the Horde of Zombies. Someone inside the encirclement noticed their situation amidst the chaos and shouted, "Quick! Clear a path!"
Cao Liang was the last to jump down from the Escalator. The Zombies near the iron ladder had already been mostly dealt with by Song Yao and Luci working together; their target was not the encirclement but rather an exit door, so they avoided the densest areas and retreated instead. Those within the encirclement clearly noticed these fleeing Survivors and angrily shouted while concentrating their firepower on the densely packed side of the iron ladder, abandoning coordinated defense in all directions as they surged toward the ladder.
The saying "there's strength in numbers" proved true; the Zombie encirclement quickly collapsed under visible pressure as several leading individuals stepped onto the ladder. However, abandoning their formation came with consequences; without any obstruction behind them, a wave of Zombies overwhelmed a group of stragglers at the rear. In an instant, blood rained down as dozens of lives vanished into darkness.
Song Yao and her three companions had no time to pay attention to what was happening behind them. Taking advantage of the commotion over there, Song Yao broke through the encirclement with determination, leaving a trail of corpses behind while successfully bringing three people out!
The next part became much simpler; there were about ten meters from the ladder to the exit door. A large number of Zombies were drawn into the central area by those moving around, making that section near the exit door relatively sparse. The four retreated while fighting, maintaining a steady pace and trying not to disturb most of the Zombie horde while clearing away any trailing stragglers. After several minutes, exhausted, they leaned against the exit door and saw that no more Zombies were rushing toward them. The area around the ladder was crowded with people desperately trying to climb up Escalator; their fighting spirit was astonishing.
"What do we do next?"
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