Chapter 66: Splitting Up
The storm did not subside so quickly.
Just as Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui were preparing to go downstairs, Zhu Hui’s footsteps suddenly slowed down a beat.
Xu Xunyue stopped to look at him.
[Did you hear something?]
“Further away,” the Sentinel turned his head to look at the view on the balcony side and said in a low voice, “There are fighting sounds, and they’re getting closer to us. It should be another team that has alarmed a large number of cataclysmic beings.”
Xu Xunyue followed his gaze to the end of the road.
The visibility at night was not high, and the road seemed to be covered in a thick fog. Except for a Sentinel with extremely sharp senses, no one could find out what was happening there.
There were many such places in a cataclysm zone, and many lives in the past had disappeared silently in them.
The rain that had just ended had made the air extremely humid. The thick protective suit touching the skin brought a cumbersome and sticky discomfort, but he did not loosen his grip on Zhu Hui’s hand.
[Then, is it convenient for you to go?]
Xu Xunyue’s wording was very subtle. It was “convenient,” not “can you” or “are you willing.”
People had a consensus on the survival rules of a cataclysm zone: when different teams met, they should help if they could, and rescue if they could. Everything should be done according to their ability. If they were lacking in ability, they should protect themselves first.
An unknown danger was the most dangerous.
“No problem.”
Zhu Hui shook their joined hands, and both of them let go at the same time.
[I’ll help you. Be careful.]
“Yes, thank you, brother. I’ll be back soon.”
The three people downstairs once again watched a black shadow appear and quickly move away.
“Is that Zhu Hui…?” Yi Chengli asked with some uncertainty.
Yu Yuan paused for a long moment, then nodded:
“It’s him. Teacher Xu said we should just continue to provide support here. We’re preparing to switch to the new silenced guns, but we shouldn’t use them casually. We need to save bullets.” The new silenced guns not only had no sound, but also no smell, and would not cause too much damage to the surrounding environment. They were very precious military supplies.
“Understood.”
On the other side, Zhu Hui had already left Xu Xunyue’s field of vision. The black mist was layered, like the mysterious veil of the night.
The small red dot on the locator was advancing, entering a state of combat readiness. The mental link began to continuously transmit the information obtained by the Sentinel.
Distance, 1.5 kilometers.
Environment, commercial district, the surrounding buildings are relatively high, the density of the buildings is large, and there are many shelters.
Enemy, dozens… at a rough count, there should be more than thirty cataclysmic beings plus a few cataclysmic creatures transformed from animals.
Surviving humans, two.
Zhu Hui’s emotions are currently stable, and he already has a battle plan.
The most critical thing is that those two people are about to be caught up with.
“Huff—huff—huff—”
Amidst the hurried panting and the wind that scraped one’s face, the Sentinel who was running slower shouted:
“Captain, save your bullets and don’t worry about me! You take the most valuable things and go. I can’t escape. I might as well cover your rear! When you get out, remember to give my kid some more money…”
Before he could finish, the bald Sentinel running in front fired a few more shots behind him.
“Bullshit! You can run for a while, but you can’t run forever. If everyone dies and the Guide dies, do you think I can get out alive? I’ll fight to the last moment even if I die. At worst, we’ll die here together!”
The huge noise caused by the bullets hitting the buildings attracted more cataclysmic creatures. Every second, the street became more crowded than the last.
The alarmed cataclysmic beings of Ghost Town stripped off their peaceful and beautiful outer clothing and once again turned into monsters, relentlessly pursuing them.
The person who fell behind was about to be swallowed by the darkness, his expression ferocious with a hint of relief.
“Be careful!”
The bald Sentinel, who had been frequently looking back, let out a cry that could be described as desperate, knowing that there was nothing he could do at this time.
He aimed his smoking gun at his companion.
Just as the well-known poem from the Poseidon Era Empire said, “Friends, let a companion be hit in the head by a bullet as a human,” he…
Boom—!!
A loud bang, and a dazzling white smoke rose, cutting off the continuous stream of cataclysmic beings from behind.
The bald Sentinel only felt himself being pulled back by some great force, and a new silenced gun was in his hand.
A black shadow flashed by. It was the aura of a kin.
…Who lent a helping hand at this time?
The continuous loud bangs grew more and more distant, instead luring the gathered cataclysmic creatures to another place.
Zhu Hui had just given out a silenced gun when he pulled out one with particularly strong bullet penetration to attract firepower.
Xu Xunyue’s voice came from his mind.
[There’s one more. This person… do what you can. Protecting yourself is the most important thing.]
Zhu Hui’s footsteps did not stop. He rushed directly toward the injured Sentinel who was surrounded by cataclysmic beings, grabbed him by the collar and threw him in the opposite direction, then fired continuously, running a lap around the commercial district.
It was not a smooth journey. He had been surrounded twice, but both times Xu Xunyue had helped him from a distance with mental interference, distracting the opponent and slowing down their attack frequency. Zhu Hui quickly broke out of the encirclement.
The combined Guide’s spiritual power protected his eyes and ears, reducing the adverse effects of the gunpowder on his sense of smell.
He only needed to spend a little effort to kill his opponent, and Xu Xunyue did not have to choose a more consuming mental attack to fight.
The two saved Sentinels did not drag them down. After being thrown out, they very shrewdly began to run in the direction where Xu Xunyue was, looking for opportunities to use the silenced guns as they ran.
However, the speed of the injured was still not as fast as Zhu Hui’s, and besides, Zhu Hui was thinking of Xu Xunyue in his heart, and always felt that he was missing something when he was not by his brother’s side.
By the time he had led the large group of cataclysmic beings around the commercial district until they lost their target, and he himself had run back unscathed, Xu Xunyue had already taken the notebook and returned to his wheelchair, gathering with Yu Yuan and the other three.
Zhu Hui and the other two Sentinels arrived almost at the same time.
The bald Sentinel’s face was filled with the joy of escaping death. He panted heavily and thanked Zhu Hui, “Thank you… This is the only one of my sworn brothers left. Thank you for saving him.” At the same time, he fumbled in his waist pouch to bandage his companion.
Yu Yuan, who was standing with Xu Xunyue, also wanted to go up and help. She subconsciously glanced at Xu Xunyue, and seeing that he made no move, she also paused.
To the bald Sentinel’s thanks, Zhu Hui gently shook his head and did not speak.
The bald Sentinel looked at him, squeezed out an eager smile in between his gasps, and then very loudly slapped himself in the face.
“I’ve been out for so long, I’ve almost forgotten the Sentinel rules taught at the Sentinel Academy. Ahem… I shouldn’t have pointed you out in the tavern. I apologize to you. I will give you all the gains from this operation.”
Zhu Hui frowned slightly, his thin lips moving as if he wanted to say something.
“What are the values displayed on everyone’s contamination assessment meters now?” Xu Xunyue, who had been silent all along, spoke. His words were a question, but his tone was like a statement.
Yu Yuan immediately said, “I’m 31%.”
Cheng Tao followed closely, “I’m 33%.”
Yi Chengli: “37%.”
Zhu Hui also added, “15%.”
The response was timely and neat. The bald Sentinel, who was in a state of extreme tension, had almost zero thinking ability. Hearing this, he also took out his contamination assessment meter in a daze.
“49%, pretty good, hehe…”
He scratched his bald head, and was grinning at his good luck when his expression suddenly froze.
“Then you—”
He turned to his Sentinel companion, who had been surrounded by cataclysmic beings, was injured, and had fallen behind while fleeing.
The other’s blood-stained glove was clutching the contamination assessment meter, his eyes calm and sad.
“You…”
The contamination assessment meter was an instrument for measuring the concentration of cataclysmic factors on humans. 30%-50% was the danger zone.
Generally speaking, after entering a cataclysm zone once, the value measured would exceed 30%.
As long as it did not exceed 50%, the human body was still a human body. After recuperation, this value would decrease or remain stable.
Once it exceeded 50%, it was a declaration that this person would inevitably transform into a cataclysmic being, and his life as a human was coming to an end.
Irreversible.
For fourteen years, the citizens of the Empire, who had experienced disaster and life and death, had already summarized a set of coping methods, which was to personally kill these people before they successfully transformed.
Yu Yuan and Yi Chengli turned their heads at the same time, and happened to face each other.
The two of them were stunned for a moment, then tacitly turned in opposite directions.
After all, Cheng Tao was not a student who had just graduated from the White Tower. He was a little more reserved than them and expressed his regret with silence.
“I didn’t expect it, I’m sorry, I forgot, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was just so happy to escape just now, I…”
The bald man was incoherent. The person who had been shouting about dying with his brother just now was actually choking up.
The injured Sentinel slowly backed away, distancing himself from them, and sat down on the ground with a plop.
“It’s okay, Captain. I was going to die anyway. Now I’ve lived a little longer and can even say my last words properly.”
He took off his somewhat damaged protective helmet and completely exposed his head to the air.
“Give my kid some more money. My, my business…”
“Hide it from her?”
“No, tell her. She has to live for a long time, she’ll find out. You tell her not to come to a cataclysm zone to make a living.”
“Okay,” the bald man said, crying.
“Go see my dad twice a year for the next two years. Don’t tell him I’m dead. He’s not in good health. If you lie to him for two years, he’ll be gone too.”
“Okay.”
“By the way, I still owe the owner a drink. If you have money, pay it back for me. If not, forget it. He certainly won’t argue with a dead person.”
The injured Sentinel raised his head, grinned, his expression a little distorted.
“…I’m done.”
The five of them looked at the bald Sentinel.
A person with a cataclysmic factor concentration of over 50% could not stay for long.
And the injured should have their lives ended by their most trusted comrade-in-arms.
The bald Sentinel gritted his teeth, tears and snot flowing into his mouth.
He pulled the trigger of the new silenced gun.
There was one more human corpse on the ground.
Zhu Hui took back the gun he had returned, and the next moment, he quickly subdued the person.
The bald Sentinel’s facial muscles were spasming. His thick arms were held behind his back and he was still struggling, but he couldn’t break free from the control.
“Student Yu,” Xu Xunyue said, “He’s about to go berserk. Can you save him?”
“I can, I can!”
Yu Yuan ran over, her trembling hands pressing on his sweat-beaded forehead.
The surroundings fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of heavy breathing.
After a long moment, Yi Chengli walked out and thanked Zhu Hui and Xu Xunyue:
“I didn’t have a chance to say it just now. That middle-aged man—no, that cataclysmic being… thanks to you two. I have too little experience in a cataclysm zone.”
“Even if I hadn’t acted, you two could have solved it,” Zhu Hui said objectively. “It was just more convenient for me to act, so I did it.”
“Don’t feel too much pressure. You’ve made great progress,” Xu Xunyue also said.
Yi Chengli breathed a sigh of relief, his tense expression relaxing slightly.
He had begged Zhu Hui to form a team. He hadn’t found a place to contribute and help, and he felt terrible in his heart. He couldn’t even stand himself, feeling like a freeloader.
However, Xu Xunyue’s next words made him forget about all the miscellaneous things.
“Zhu Hui and I have found a clue about the depths of Ghost Town. We’ll set off after we ask this person some questions when he wakes up—it’s me and Zhu Hui who are setting off. The three of you will stay at the border for a while. It would be better if you can walk out on your own.”
“What? This…”
Yi Chengli wanted to say that this was not appropriate, but he also felt that he didn’t have the strength to go to the depths of Ghost Town—after all, his headache symptom was still unresolved, so he shut his mouth after saying a few words.
Cheng Tao had the same reaction, but with an added layer of contemplation.
“Do you have to go?” he asked. “Did you find something?”
“We did, but now is not the time to talk about these things.”
Cheng Tao was an intelligence officer, Lu Si’s subordinate. Although he couldn’t be considered an enemy, he wasn’t a direct ally either.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
At this time, the bald Sentinel who had received Yu Yuan’s mental soothing regained consciousness.
Zhu Hui stared at him tightly, preventing him from making any stress-induced movements. But the bald Sentinel only muttered in a low voice:
“How am I going to explain to them… how am I going to explain to their families? They’ve been with me for so many years. How come this time it’s just me, just me…
“Why didn’t I die? Why am I not dead yet?”
Zhu Hui tilted his head slightly.
He was probably thinking of the past.
Xu Xunyue held his hand, which was wearing a combat glove, and gestured that he could completely hand over the next part to him. He quickly received a considerable amount of return force.
Gently caressing his partner’s calloused fingertips, Xu Xunyue opened his mouth and said:
“This warrior, do you know about the manor in Ghost Town?”
The bald man’s muttering stopped.
He slowly looked up, his expression still a little dazed.
“I know. Are you going there?”
“It’s me and my Sentinel who are going.”
“Oh…” After a few words, the bald man’s mind seemed to have cleared up a bit. He nodded. “That’s a little better. It’s easy for the three of them to die if they follow.”
Yu Yuan/Yi Chengli/Cheng Tao: “…”
Xu Xunyue gave a polite smile.
“There, I know, I’ve heard of it,” the bald man continued. “I’ve lived in the Ghost Town D1 zone for eleven years. I settled here almost as soon as the Cataclysm happened and the Empire’s environment stabilized a little. I can guarantee that no one here is more familiar than me.”
His tone was certain.
“I’ll go with you. I’ll lead the way.”
“You’ll rest at the border with them,” Xu Xunyue said. “Your cataclysmic factor concentration is already 49%. If you go any deeper, you’ll die. You just need to show us the way here.”
“I always feel it’s too easy for me to just stay away like this…”
“Don’t you have to go out and take care of your comrade’s family?”
The bald Sentinel had nothing more to say.
He took out a piece of paper from his waist pouch, wrote down the route in detail, and handed it to Xu Xunyue with great care.
Unlike the map given by the tavern owner, this was drawn by an experienced explorer. The bald Sentinel had made many annotations based on the renovation of the houses and roads inside Ghost Town. It was a special limited edition, difficult to obtain at other times.
“Thank you,” Xu Xunyue said.
“I should be the one thanking you,” the bald Sentinel bowed deeply to him and Zhu Hui and said sincerely, “I’ve heard the news about you two. You’re really a very well-matched pair. Thank you.”
A cataclysm zone was not a place for chatting. After the information exchange was completed, the extra conversation did not last long.
Soon, Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui bid farewell to the four of them and headed toward the so-called manor in Ghost Town according to the hand-drawn route on the paper.
The snow wolf walking beside the two of them felt that the atmosphere was a little low and was not feeling well. So it propped up its upper body and rubbed against Xu Xunyue’s calf. After its ears were rubbed, it stood up again and bit Zhu Hui’s pant leg, pulling him so that he was almost in Xu Xunyue’s arms.
[Aiya, both of you are not in a good mood. Why don’t you two just get together and be happy?]
Xu Xunyue and Zhu Hui exchanged a look, both with a bit of amusement in their eyes.
Now is not the time for intimacy.
[Thank you for your concern.] Although so, Xu Xunyue still said a word through the mental link.
It would have been better if he hadn’t said it. Once he did, the effect was extraordinary.
The snow wolf’s tail drooped, its ears flattened, and its body stiffened.
[…]
[??]
[You know what I’m thinking?]
[Ah??]
[Little Hui? Little Hui, why didn’t you tell me?]
Zhu Hui was also stunned.
“I didn’t know brother could hear… wait, wait, brother.”
“You—so can you also know what I’m thinking?”
