hsntnovel Chapter 37 Numbness
Chapter 37 Numbness
"Help me..."
The voice sounded weak and listless. Xu Yang stepped onto the train carriage.
Inside the carriage, Mann lay in a pool of blood, his face ashen.
He was holding a pistol, not even dressed properly, with a gash in his abdomen from which intestines and blood were spilling out. The culprit was lying next to him, an infected person with a shattered skull.
"Quick, save me..."
Xu Yang stood at the back of the carriage, the faint light behind him casting a shadow on the ground.
In the center of the shadow, the curly-haired man's face was distorted, and wisps of gray-green roots emerged from his pupils.
It has been infected with a fungus.
"Help me, please help me!" Mann rubbed his elbows against the metal sheet, struggling to support himself like a stranded fish. "I'll give you some, however much you want—"
"what!"
His words caught in his throat, his body involuntarily curled up, his hands trembling as he covered his eyes, and he let out a beast-like growl.
Xu Yang's face turned ugly as he pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Mann.
pat.
The gun was empty; the bullets were all used up when it encountered the first infected...
"Ugh!"
With another roar, Mann suddenly released his hands, his eyes fixed on the dark muzzle of the gun, and fell into an eerie silence.
Then, a slight smile appeared on his lips: "Ita."
Bang!
The bullet instantly shattered his brain. Xu Yang looked over and saw Newt standing behind him, leaning against the edge of the carriage, one hand holding up a pistol.
His face turned pale from blood loss.
Xu Yang didn't hold back, taking a bottle of healing potion from his backpack and tossing it to him: "It's for healing, drink it."
"Thank you." Without hesitation, the latter drank the blood of the thorns in one gulp, then collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.
"What on earth is going on? How did those monsters suddenly appear?"
Xu Yang shook his head, jumped off the train, and walked to the fire.
"It didn't just appear out of nowhere; it's probably been following us the whole way."
He looked toward the spot where the first infected person had appeared: "I came over the moment I heard the gunshot. Eisen was already dead, and the infected person was shot from under the car."
Under the car?
Newt was taken aback at first, then immediately realized what he meant, his pupils shrinking sharply: "Wait, all the way? You mean when we stopped on the highway!?"
Xu Yang sighed and said with a wry smile, "I'm afraid so. At the time, I thought I misheard and only checked the back of the car. I didn't expect this thing to be hiding under the car."
"That means this guy has been with us for a whole day and night." Newt's eyelids twitched.
Xu Yang nodded with a grim expression.
He stood in front of the infected corpse, whose bones were still partially exposed and whose flesh had been ground to shreds.
Meanwhile, Newt, lying on the ground, kept glancing at the chassis of the three transport vehicles.
After a long while, he finally exhaled a breath of stale air.
He slowly got up from the ground, walked to Eisen's body, frowned, and asked, "If the infected were always there, why was it Eisen who died?"
Why?
"Because of time."
Xu Yang glanced around; limbs and bones were scattered everywhere, a bloody mess. "There's only one infected person under the car; it's waiting for the other infected to arrive."
"I think after we drove away, a group of infected people in the vicinity kept following us. They couldn't outrun the car on two legs, so it took us an extra night."
At this point, he looked at Newt and said in a low voice, "We're fine, but that's only because the other infected hadn't arrived yet. These bastards probably planned to wipe us out from the very beginning."
"Kill the night watchman first, and then the other monsters will rush into the carriage simultaneously. There was no nighttime ambush, simply because there wasn't enough time..."
Xu Yang gave a wry smile: "If the three of us had switched our watch times initially, it wouldn't be Eisen lying here now."
Newt swallowed hard, a chill running down his spine. "Are these still monsters? They're actually planning something..."
Xu Yang crouched down and picked up Aisen's shotgun, a hint of apprehension flashing across his face as he looked at the infected corpse on the ground.
"Haven't you noticed? These infected individuals are intelligent; they'll pick up guns and use knives to attack."
"Moreover," Xu Yang looked back at the road they had come from, "there must be some kind of communication between them, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to sneak up behind us at night."
"Perhaps right now," his gaze was fixed on the distant wasteland, "there are even more infected people approaching this side."
Upon hearing this, Newt's expression turned serious, realizing the gravity of the situation. "Then we need to pack up and get going."
"Do you know where to go?" Xu Yang asked.
Newt replied, "Mann mentioned it last night; just keep going along the highway, and you'll see Settlement Nine at the end."
Xu Yang nodded, then squatted down and closed Eisen's eyes, sighing inwardly.
In a sense, this guy died in their place.
hum...
It was a very faint sound.
Xu Yang's gaze instantly locked onto the target, and then he was visibly taken aback.
Nearby, Newt noticed the other person's unusual behavior, reached back into his holster, and quickly asked, "Are they here?"
Xu Yang gently shook his head.
He gestured towards the bracelet on Eisen's wrist: "There's a phone call, should I answer it?"
The two fell silent for a moment.
The vibration seemed determined to persist, stubbornly seeking a response...
Xu Yang took a deep breath and removed the bracelet.
With a flick of the finger, a childish voice came through the phone: "Daddy, Daddy! Why aren't you answering the phone? I've called so many times. Mommy said it'll be a long time before you come home. Can you bring me that sour candy from last time? I was very good all day yesterday and didn't make Mommy angry. Daddy, can you come home soon? I miss you so much, Daddy."
"Dad, um?"
Why aren't you saying anything?
Xu Yang listened to the child's voice, and time seemed to pass slowly. After a while, Xu Yang listened to the child's voice.
"dad?"
Xu Yang didn't know what to say next, so he could only whisper, "Little friend, please give the phone to your mother, okay?"
"..."
Da da da…
A series of hurried footsteps came from inside the bracelet, then it fell completely silent. After a while, a somewhat hoarse and sluggish female voice came through.
"Hello... what's wrong with my husband?"
"Feel sorry."
"..."
The bracelet fell silent again, and when the voice sounded again, it seemed even hoarser.
"knew…"
"Could you bring it for me... never mind."
The bracelet beeped, but there was no hysterical crying; the tragedy remained aloof, far away.
Xu Yang put down the bracelet and suddenly felt a little dazed.
Perhaps having become accustomed to the gruesome corpses of his fellow human beings, he began to slowly diminish his own reverence for life, as if Eisen's death was merely a reminder of the existence of an enemy, rather than something more tragic.
The end of a phone call connects the living and the dead, and the corpse before them even seems to have a living quality.
It's utterly pathetic.
He shook his head and began to carry Eisen's body into the carriage, along with Mann and two other staff members.
Beside him, Newt watched his movements, holding onto the car door: "You seem like a good person."
boom.
The carriage door was tightly closed. Xu Yang walked to the passenger door and said, "Maybe. Anyway, I'm fine. It's not realistic to take the body back, but we can bury it when we get to Settlement Number Nine. It'll be worth the trip."
"You really are a good person." Newt opened the car door and got into the driver's seat.
……
The vehicle slowly started moving. Xu Yang leaned against the window, the wasteland outside looking like a withered, yellow painting.
My thoughts gradually drifted away.
Unlike the world of the past, in this world, people who were looking forward to tomorrow one second may stop today the next.
And he can never go back.
The traveler from another world gradually grew accustomed to this cruelty; the world was like this, and so were people. In the future, he might become even more numb than he is now.
Kill humans like you kill infected people?
In fact, infected people are not much different from normal humans, except for some differences in their eye sockets, but he did not hesitate at all when he tore their bodies open with the blade.
Clearly, he is better suited to this world.
As Xu Yang thought this, he felt a sense of loss and looked at the bloodstains on the blade.
……
Suddenly, he glanced at Newt, who was driving intently; the two of them had now been through thick and thin together.
Having had a question before, Xu Yang figured he could ask it now, so he simply asked, "Brother Newt, the other night, I noticed you kept looking at the weapon in my hand. Have you seen the same one before?"
After a moment of silence, Newt slowly said, "No, it's my brother. He's been saving up to buy a similar weapon. Yours looks a lot like the one he was talking about, so I took a second look."
"I see."
"Your brother has good taste; this thing is really useful." Xu Yang grinned, his mood improving considerably as he listened to the wind. "By the way, is he also in foreign affairs?"
Newt glanced at him: "That was true before."
"And now?"
"He's dead."
Xu Yang's smile froze for a moment, and he turned to look at the scenery outside the window, while Newt focused intently on the route ahead.
The air fell silent again.
The transport vehicle smoothly rolled across the road...
No more monsters appeared. As the vehicle moved, the outline of a large mountain gradually appeared ahead of the road, with a large hole in the middle emitting a familiar hazy white light.
The underground entrance to the gathering place.
On the road directly ahead, a gray line became increasingly clear.
Gray wall.
The vehicle slowly came to a stop, and a beam of red light shone from the wall, sweeping across the car body.
buzzing...
A buzzing sound suddenly rang out.
On the wall, the ornaments originally used for testing now seemed to have scattered into a bunch of particles, which then quickly formed laser cannons aimed at the vehicles.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, and Xu Yang's eyes widened instinctively.
The next moment, a shout came from inside the wall: "Hazardous substance detected in the vehicle! All occupants, get out of the vehicle immediately and retreat at least 50 meters away!"
Xu Yang wanted to say something, but Newt pulled him aside and shook his head.
The two then got out of the car and moved to the designated distance.
……
Time passed by, second by second.
Twenty minutes later, the gray wall slowly descended, and a team of fully armed personnel emerged.
They were dressed in black combat uniforms, with specially made gas masks on their faces, and holding various weapons in their hands. They stared intently at the transport vehicle in front of them, ready to unleash a barrage of fire at any moment.
It has a distinctly tough style.
At a glance, Xu Yang noticed that almost everyone's description contained the words "mutation" and "biochemical plugin".
"Open the carriage."
A cold female voice rang out; it belonged to the leader, a tall figure.
Beside him, a tall, imposing figure with a sword at his side walked to the rear of the car, and suddenly, a deep red blade was drawn.
Swish!
The entire carriage door was cut in half, spread outwards into two halves, with the middle open, exposing everything inside.
Behind him, Xu Yang, his face filled with worry, stretched his neck and saw a dark figure enter the carriage and carry out a corpse.
Judging from the clothes and figure, that is...
Mann.
Then, a burly man walked up to the corpse, carrying a crudely designed gun, and pointed it at the body without saying a word.
boom……
Flames shot out from the "muzzle".
The body was instantly submerged.
The nauseating smell of barbecue wafted to Xu Yang's nose from fifty meters away. He wrinkled his nose, but his eyes seemed to be deep in thought.
Just then, the cold, indifferent female voice at the head of the group said, "You can come over now."
The tall figure waved to Xu Yang and the other person.
She removed her gas mask, revealing a cold and aloof face with short hair, deep-set features, and a small scar at the corner of her eye that, instead of detracting from her beauty, added a touch of wildness.
【Humanity】
[A normal adult female. The brutal trials of the past failed to destroy her mind; instead, they made her more resilient. She possesses biochemical implants and mutations within her.]
[Note: Want to give it a try?]
……
"Huang Xi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Settlement No. 9." The aloof woman took off her gloves and extended one hand.
Xu Yang extended his hand and shook it back: "My name is Xu Yang, and this is Newt. We are members of the External Affairs Department of Settlement Three."
Huang Xi didn't reply, but looked down at the hand being held, her brows furrowing slightly.
Xu Yang was taken aback, and belatedly released his grip. The other person's fair palm was stained with a layer of dark red blood. He was immediately embarrassed: "Uh, sorry."
"..."
Do you have any paper?
Xu Yang took off one glove, pulled a crumpled piece of toilet paper from his pocket, and handed it over: "This is all I have."
"..."
"Thanks."
Huang Xi wiped the blood from her hands, looked at the corpse that was almost burned to ashes, and brought up the main topic: "What happened to that corpse? What did you encounter?"
"That was our contact person. He was attacked and died. I was thinking of bringing him to the settlement to be buried," Xu Yang replied honestly.
Huang Xi frowned slightly and quickly asked, "What attack?"
"It's a bunch of infected people, according to the previous survivors," Xu Yang recalled the bald man's words. "They were infected by some kind of mushroom, and it seems there's some kind of green tower in the quarantine zone."
"Oh, right, the last thing the infected people said was 'One Tower'."
The moment the two sounds were uttered, Huang Xi's expression suddenly turned serious.
"It's Ita."
"What is it?"
"The collective consciousness of a fungal monster." A gloomy look appeared between the woman's brows as she said to the people following her, "Close the entrances and exits to the settlement for now. Send someone to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building to keep watch. I'll go and handle this matter first."
She turned and took two steps, then turned back to look at Xu Yang and the other person again, glancing at the cut-open transport truck compartment: "The information is very useful. Remember to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building. There's a room at the end of the right corridor. Someone will pay the corresponding contribution points there."
The woman turned away after speaking.
Custom-made combat boots pounded the ground, accompanied by a rhythmic clatter, as they walked into Settlement Nine.
Behind the tall figure, Xu Yang looked somewhat surprised.
Everyone thought this trip would end in failure, but unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better and there was a pleasant surprise.
He turned to the man who had pulled out his knife and broken down the carriage door, raising an eyebrow: "Brother, can we leave now? The things in the carriage should be alright, right?"
The man stepped aside and nodded slightly: "Of course, please go ahead."
Xu Yang was about to board the train when he glanced inside and stopped, saying, "Brother, is there a cemetery around here? Those guys in the train need a place to sleep."
The man with the knife looked him up and down before saying, "Go west to the end of the reconstruction area. There's an old man in the guardhouse there who will take you into the cemetery."
"Okay, thanks." Xu Yang boarded the transport vehicle.
Newt then stepped on the gas.