Chapter 14
Chapter 14
For someone with so little energy, this day and night of intense escape attempts had almost drained Lin Yinxi dry.
Beyond a certain point of exhaustion, she stopped feeling afraid.
She pushed the handcart up to the security booth.
The monster inside noticed the movement. Before she could press the button, the guard lowered the newspaper and pressed four protruding, cloudy eyes in a row against the glass to look out.
Lin Yinxi immediately produced her electronic staff badge. Tapping its center switched it to a QR code.
The guard did not come out. The grayish-white eyes rotated slowly, while several jointed legs shifted slightly below, making a grating noise that set her teeth on edge.
Up close, Lin Yinxi could see that two of the guard’s hands were joined together like a restraint strap. They could cinch tight around anyone caught.
Two more hands could move freely.
One strong hand held the recorder-shaped [Eye] and scanned Lin Yinxi. It flashed rapidly and sounded an alarm. The guard raised the hands that had become a restraint strap, looking fierce.
Beep, beep, beep!
Along with the alarm, a broadcast came directly from the guard’s throat without the mouth opening. “A student is attempting to escape campus. Initiate arrest immediately.”
“I’m an employee assigned to clear rubbish from the campus entrance. This is temporary work, so it’s normal that you haven’t received a notification. Here’s my badge. Scan it.” Lin Yinxi’s palm was soaked in sweat, but she did not run. She extended her phone screen. When the red light reached it, it suddenly flickered and turned green.
The guard tilted his head. The modified face could no longer show an expression, but Lin Yinxi felt the guard was confused.
Another broadcast sounded. “Identity confirmed. Organizer.”
“False alarm. Alarm cleared.”
Before Lin Yinxi could breathe in relief, the red light came on again and slowly swept toward the black bin bag on the cart.
Deng Miao was hiding inside.
Lin Yinxi watched the red light travel slowly over the bag’s surface.
Her heart pounded as she prayed the guard would not discover Deng Miao.
Then the guard’s broadcast sounded.
“Collection target confirmed.”
“One item of rubbish.”
The red light could only scan from the front. Deng Miao was hidden behind the corpse, beyond its reach.
Hearing the voice from inside the bag with the corpse, Deng Miao clenched her teeth. Even though her legs were numb, she dared not move.
Once the guard confirmed Lin Yinxi’s identity and that the work was correct, a hand reached for the electronic key at the waist.
“Internal employee. Passage permitted.”
With a beep, the cantilever gate slowly opened.
Lin Yinxi dared not pause. She immediately pushed the cart forward.
Step by step, she passed through the campus gate into the dense mist outside. She could not see a hand before her face, let alone the roads nearby. Only after leaving the security booth’s line of sight completely did she finally dare stop.
At last, her tightly stretched nerves could relax a little.
Her vision darkened, her ears buzzed, and she could barely stand.
A faint smell of blood mixed with the mist. The longer she smelled it, the dizzier she grew.
She had finally left the school alive.
Lin Yinxi still intended to find somewhere to burn and bury Heng Jiangyue’s corpse, letting her rest in the earth.
She also had to let Deng Miao out. Heng Jiangyue was about to mutate.
As those thoughts surfaced, the mist before her seemed to thicken. Her consciousness sank rapidly like a kite with a severed string, plunging into the deep sea.
So sleepy. So heavy…
No. She had to stay awake!
But she was too exhausted to hold on. Even if her own mother told her their family’s bankruptcy was fake and ordered her to get up and go on a shopping spree, she would not have the strength.
Lin Yinxi’s vision went black, and she collapsed into the mist.
She woke because she could not breathe.
It felt as though she had fallen into the deep sea and was about to suffocate, then had suddenly been dragged above the surface.
She opened her eyes and found she had been sleeping face-down on a cold table.
It was an enclosed room with neither windows nor doors.
An electronic display stood in the middle.
[Countdown: 10 minutes]
[RM.417 Deep Blue Aquarium]
Lin Yinxi looked down. All the acid-rain wounds on her body had healed.
Her body felt light. While fleeing through Jincheng University, she had stayed up all night, run intensively, and worked her brain. She had been utterly exhausted.
Now it was as if she had revived with full health.
Her back did not ache, her legs did not hurt, and staying up late no longer made stars dance before her eyes.
Deng Miao, Heng Jiangyue’s corpse, and the bin bag were absent. The cart and phone were still there.
The phone still had no signal.
Including Lin Yinxi, six people were in the room: three men and three women, unfamiliar faces. They too seemed to have only just awakened.
Directly opposite Lin Yinxi sat a woman with brown hair in large waves and a gray suit.
She looked to be in her thirties. Her thin lips made her seem rather fierce, and deep lines ran from her nose to the corners of her mouth. She had something of a leader’s air.
She was the first to settle down. Clapping her hands, she drew everyone’s attention.
“Everyone, look this way, please.”
“I’ll introduce myself first. My name is Xu Haitang. I used to be a team lead at a major company. In the scenario that’s about to begin, listening to me will keep you alive longer.”
Everyone quieted and looked at Xu Haitang.
She spoke quickly, as though this were not her first time saying these words.
“Entities appeared on Blue Star a year ago.”
“Over the past year, people have gone missing one after another. Those missing people all entered contaminated zones…”
“Contaminated zones?”
Someone scoffed. Lin Yinxi followed the sound to a short, thin man sitting in a corner.
He wore tight trousers and driving loafers and had a sleazy air.
With appalling manners, he spat on the floor.
“Miss Xu, we’ve seen all that on the news too. It’s no secret.”
“But didn’t the authorities divide everything into contaminated zones and safe zones ages ago? I’m an ordinary citizen living in a safe zone!”
“It’s spread,” Xu Haitang said tersely, fixing him with a sharp gaze. “One of the five major safe zones has fallen. Humanity has lost another fifth of its territory. That’s why ordinary people like you have appeared in this room.”
The man in tight trousers widened his eyes. “What? It’s spread!”
The others started chattering again.
“Then we’re doomed. I saw on the news that even powerful people the authorities sent into contaminated zones barely survived. Ordinary people like us will lose our heads the moment we go in.” The girl beside Lin Yinxi kept crying weakly. “I want to go home…”
A dark-skinned student athlete beside her kept trying to comfort her. “Baby, don’t cry. We’ll follow the group. With an expert carrying us, we’re bound to live.”
Their relationship looked like that of a couple.
The final man was very quiet. He wore a black shirt with two buttons undone, exposing his pale collarbones. His fringe was a little long and covered one eye. He had a pointed chin and had not spoken since appearing in the room.
Xu Haitang frowned, drew a pulsating gun from her waist, and slapped it onto the table. “Quiet! My patience is limited. Don’t make me keep repeating the rules!”
With the ultimate argument in her hand, everyone’s yammering stopped.