Chapter 149
Chapter 149
Qingshui dangled from the edge of the pit, her hands trembling and her muscles strained to their limit. Dirt continued to crumble beneath her, and she could feel her fingers slipping.
“Hold on!”
Wu Wujie’s voice came from above. Big Guy lunged forward and threw himself flat at the edge of the pit, grabbing Qingshui by the wrist with enough force to nearly crush her bones.
Ye Que rushed over as well. She seized Qingshui’s other arm, leaned back, and pulled with her entire body weight.
They dragged Qingshui out of the gaping black pit. She collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. Her back was drenched in cold sweat, and when the wind hit her, the chill cut straight to the bone.
Before she could get back to her feet, the laughter came again.
“Hee-hee-hee… There you are…”
It came from directly behind them, no more than ten feet away.
Two figures carrying pesticide sprayers appeared before them. They were so thin they looked like skeletons draped in skin.
One of the Madmen was missing all five fingers on one hand. Its remaining hand still clutched the sprayer in a death grip.
Qingshui’s hand was already moving toward her waist. There was no time to worry about the consequences of firing. She drew her gun and took aim at the Madman holding the sprayer.
Bang! Bang!
Their helmets filtered out the sharp crack of the two gunshots, leaving only two muffled thuds.
The two Madmen dropped where they stood.
Qingshui’s mind raced. They couldn’t keep running deeper into the orchard.
There were bound to be more traps ahead. The Madmen had turned this orchard into a hunting ground. If they went any farther, they would only fall into a deeper pit.
Their only choice was to retrace their steps.
“Back the way we came,” she growled under her breath. “Stay close!”
The three of them turned and ran. The instant they burst out of the orchard, the field of dark green rapeseed seedlings came into view.
They plunged straight into it, hunching low as they tore through the dense plants.
The metallic reek of rust lingered in their nostrils. The deeper they ran into the rapeseed field, the stronger it became, mingling with the stench of rotting leaves until their temples throbbed.
Qingshui’s brow furrowed. Without slowing down, she carefully wiped the liquid from her visor with her sleeve, clearing her vision.
She had no time to think about it and kept running. Just then, a light gust swept past, parting the rapeseed plants beside her just enough to reveal a face.
A deathly pale face.
A Madman.
It was crouched low among the plants, its face buried between its knees as it devoured something. It held a blackish-red lump in its hands, too mangled to identify, and crammed it into its mouth. Blood filled its mouth and streamed down its chin, dripping onto its clothes and the ground.
The instant the wind parted the plants, it saw them too. It stared blankly for three seconds. Then the muscles in its face suddenly lifted into a grin.
Perhaps even it hadn’t expected prey to deliver itself right to its doorstep.
“Hah…”
Ye Que was in the middle of the group, only half a meter from the Madman. She could clearly see the thing in its hands now. It appeared to be the remains of a rat. Its belly had been ripped wide open, its entrails trailing outside and caked with black mud and maggots. Half its tail still swung between the Madman’s fingers.
The instant Ye Que saw those blood-red eyes light up, every trace of expression vanished from her face.
Her body moved faster than thought. She thrust both hands forward, driving the pointed shovel straight through the Madman’s lower jaw.
Thud!
Caught completely off guard, the Madman toppled backward and slammed into the ground. The mangled carcass flew from its hands, landed in the mud, and rolled several times.
The instant Ye Que lunged, Qingshui shot forward like an arrow released from the bowstring. She drew the sickle from her waist with one hand and, using the momentum of her charge, brought it crashing into the Madman’s eye socket.
Thud!
The razor-sharp blade hacked into the Madman’s face.
Wu Wujie charged in as well, splitting the Madman’s skull in two with his pointed shovel.
Blood sprayed across the green rapeseed leaves, staining them red and leaving dark blotches everywhere.
The Madman’s struggles grew weaker and weaker. After a few final spasms, it stopped moving.
Qingshui rose to her feet, frowning. “We need to go.”
Ye Que quickly yanked out the pointed shovel, and the three of them picked up their pace, racing madly back the way they had come.
They crossed the rapeseed field, skirted the cluster of houses, and dashed through the neatly ordered farmland. At last, they made it over the small hill. Finally, the abandoned railway tracks appeared before them.
Only then did the three of them slow down.
Ye Que tightened her grip on the shovel, her expression grim. The Madman had been crouching barely half a meter away, gnawing on raw flesh, yet she hadn’t noticed a thing.
Qingshui raised a hand and touched the motorcycle helmet on her head. It had shielded her from the crimson fluid the Madman spat at her, but it had also muffled her hearing and blocked her sense of smell. Because of it, they had nearly met their end in that orchard.
Qingshui looked up in the direction the tracks stretched. Beneath the overcast sky lay desolate forests and a road with no end in sight. They still had a long way to go.
“Keep moving.”
They had not gone far when a raindrop landed on Qingshui’s helmet with a soft tap. None of them panicked. They immediately began searching for somewhere to shelter from the rain.
Qingshui quickened her pace and ran several strides ahead.
Not far ahead, several concrete pillars stood beside the tracks, remnants of some long-abandoned construction. Two pillars stood side by side with part of a crossbeam still spanning their tops. Branches and leaves had collected overhead, forming a crude shelter.
“Over there.” Qingshui pointed.
Ye Que’s and Wu Wujie’s eyes lit up. They hurried over and squeezed beneath the two pillars with Qingshui.
The moment they got under cover, rain began to patter down. It wasn’t the torrential downpour from before, but a steady drizzle.
Ye Que shifted the backpack from her back to her front, unzipped it, and reached inside for an orange.
She handed one to Qingshui and another to Wu Wujie before taking one for herself.
As the rain whispered around them, the three began peeling their oranges.
Qingshui lifted her visor. The fresh, sweet scent immediately flooded her nose, dispelling the lingering smell of rust. Unable to wait, she stuffed a large piece into her mouth.
A delicate sweetness spread across her tongue. Juice slid down her throat, sending an instant wave of satisfaction through her mind.
All three of them visibly relaxed.
After swallowing a mouthful, Ye Que frowned. “I think they’re starting to ferment. They’re probably about to spoil, so they won’t keep much longer. We should finish them as soon as possible.”
Better to eat them than let them rot.
So Qingshui and the others ate orange after orange until their stomachs were completely full.
The rain continued, but gradually grew lighter.
The rapid patter slowed, then slowed again, until only the occasional drop fell from the crossbeam.
The rain had stopped.
The sky remained gray and overcast, but it probably wouldn’t rain again anytime soon.
“Let’s go.” Qingshui stood. The three of them emerged from beneath the pillars and stepped back onto the tracks. The ground underfoot was even more slippery now, as slick as if it had been greased after soaking in the rain. There was nothing they could do about it. They simply moved forward one cautious step at a time.
They walked for half an hour, or perhaps an hour.
A heap of garbage blocked their path. The three had no choice but to stop and approach it slowly.
Something in the pile caught Qingshui’s eye: a large sheet of filthy transparent plastic buried among the trash. She gave it a hard tug and pulled it free.
The sheet was huge, several meters wide when unfolded. It was smeared with all kinds of foul refuse and reeked terribly, but for Qingshui and the others, it was the perfect “raincoat.”
Qingshui’s eyes brightened. She rummaged through the heap and found several more sheets. Some were smaller and some larger, but together, they had more than enough.
She shook out the plastic sheets and wrapped them around herself. The other two followed her example, bundling themselves up tightly from head to toe.