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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Five: Heat Wave
“Ah! Ah—thud—ouch—”
In a panic, Jiang He dropped his lighter, momentarily forgetting the low ceiling of the passage. Instinctively straightening up, he bumped his head against the top of the tunnel and cried out in pain.
“What happened?!” Luci was startled by his sudden outburst. The two of them were squeezed into the narrow passage, unable to turn around. Jiang He pulled her back, but she instinctively turned to check, and their movements were uncoordinated, causing them both to fall to the ground.
“Someone’s there!” Jiang He finally managed to steady his tongue, shielding Luci behind him as he raised his gun toward the tunnel entrance, shouting angrily, “Who’s there?!” It wasn’t that he was cowardly; anyone would react strongly upon suddenly seeing a pair of lifeless eyes staring at them from the darkness. Although it was pitch black ahead, having a gun in hand gave him some confidence. The damp and gloomy passage lacked the characteristic stench of zombies, leading Jiang He to conclude that the owner of those eyes must be a living person. But what kind of person would lurk silently in such a place? Had the team of Spider-Men that came in earlier not noticed?
Upon hearing that someone was ahead, Luci quickly got up and moved forward. Her vision in black and white was certainly better than Jiang He ’s blind eyes. As her gaze swept across the tunnel entrance, two figures darted past and ran deeper into the passage.
“Don’t chase them!!” Luci hurriedly grabbed Jiang He, who was about to pursue the footsteps, and said gravely, “There’s no need to chase.”
“Huh? Did you see them? Who were they?” Jiang He calmed down and crouched to pick up the fallen lighter, striking it again to create a flickering flame. The dim light illuminated the entrance of the tunnel, revealing faint bloodstains—fresh ones. The footsteps inside gradually faded away; it seemed they had already run far.
“Poor souls.” Luci’s mood suddenly dipped as she blew out the flame and moved forward, pulling Jiang He into another passageway. “We need to focus on what’s important first.”
Noticing a change in her tone but receiving no explanation, Jiang He chose not to press further. He heightened his senses and listened intently for any sounds around them. Although Luci could serve as his eyes, he couldn’t rely solely on her during unexpected situations. The inner passage widened and no longer felt as low as before; it seemed more like a corridor now. However, both walls were mottled and rough with exposed concrete, indicating that little care had been taken during construction. Moreover, the passage sloped downward; he could clearly feel they were going deeper without much effort in running but needed to be cautious about controlling their speed.
Luci walked quickly, seemingly intent on putting distance between them and that shadowy figure. Jiang He followed closely behind, increasingly anxious until he began to jog slightly. Unable to hold back any longer, he whispered, “Qianqian, do you know who that person was?”
“I know her somewhat; let’s try to avoid them. We have important matters to attend to.” Luci clearly didn’t want to elaborate further. After they hurried along for a while, an unsettling feeling crept over them as if they were delving deeper into the earth. Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from within the passage—a sound resembling something heavy striking metal. The deep silence of the tunnel made the noise seem particularly jarring as it reverberated and faded into the distance.
“Shh.” Jiang He suddenly grabbed Luci, frowning as he listened for a moment before lowering his voice. “The person you’re hiding from is coming.” His eyes were temporarily dulled, but his ears were keen. Just as a loud noise echoed through the passage, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him in the corridor—deliberately muffled, quickening with the noise, inadvertently revealing their target.
“Let’s go.” Luci didn’t want to linger. She glanced back at the curved corner and said while running, “These people know this base very well.”
“Yeah, they don’t come with good intentions.” Jiang He nodded silently, his suspicions strengthened by Luci’s words. Someone had once told him that this place was complicated and advised him not to come, hinting at a deep understanding of the area.
Both Jiang He and Luci were lost in their thoughts as they hurried along, saying nothing more. After turning several corners, a cool breeze rushed toward them, and the darkness of the passage seemed to dissipate somewhat, no longer as thick as ink black. Some outlines began to emerge ahead. They both understood that this should be another exit-like area and cautiously approached. Luci covered her mouth and gasped softly.
Jiang He vaguely saw what appeared to be a square door frame ahead, with something leaning against one side. He caught a whiff of an old, rusty smell. He fumbled for his lighter to illuminate the area and finally got a clear view of what it was.
It wasn’t anything particularly special; it was a red iron door of ordinary quality, welded with horizontal and vertical iron bars behind it. There were welding marks around all four sides, along with chunks of concrete that had been smashed off. Jiang He moved closer to the open doorway and noticed cracks on all sides. Clearly, this door had been thought to be welded shut before; those spider-men had violently broken it down and left the mess behind without cleaning up.
“This must be deep underground, right?” Jiang He stepped outside and found the ground level outside the door was flat, showing no signs of continuing downward. He asked, “Is this the bottom?”
“The bottom…” Luci repeated softly, hesitating. “I’m not sure if the layer we were in before was the bottom.”
“Bang! Bang!”
Suddenly, gunfire erupted from the darkness—brief but precise—and then fell silent. The two remained puzzled about the meaning of the gunshots and hesitated before taking a few steps forward when Luci abruptly stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
“There are zombies here; we need to move.”
As soon as she finished speaking, chaotic footsteps came from the direction of the gunfire, followed by their old acquaintance—the survivors’ nemesis—zombies making their reappearance once again.
“Are there still Zombies down here?!” Jiang He exclaimed, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. It seemed they were everywhere.
“I think I know how many floors we’ve gone down,” Luci said, flipping off the safety on her handgun. “Try not to shoot unless absolutely necessary; this place will attract a horde of Zombies. But I have a plan.”
Luci led Jiang He around the bodies on the ground, carefully feeling their way forward. The deeper they went, the more shocking it became. The number of corpses increased along the path—some were living people, others were Zombies. It was clear that these were Survivors who had escaped from the Testing Ground, but they hadn’t truly found a way out; instead, they had met their end here. Luci picked up a Machete that had been driven into a Zombie's skull and quickened her pace as the sounds of Zombies faded ahead.
Jiang He remained silent, keeping an eye on their pursuers behind them. The two people seemed unaware that they had been discovered, still trailing closely behind at a distance, though it was unclear what their intentions were.
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