Chapter 177
Chapter 177
Ye Que lay motionless in the snow.
She watched as bullets rained down from the opposite slope with terrifying precision. Every shot found its mark, sending the Madmen’s vehicles swerving wildly and throwing their entire formation into chaos.
She should have been relieved that someone had stepped in to help Qingshui.
Instead, her fingers curled even tighter, and she clenched her molars until they ached.
Who were those people? Why were they helping them?
Ye Que had no way of knowing. All she knew was that aside from the crazed Infected, there was a third pair of eyes in this snowy wilderness, watching their every move.
Wu Wujie lay beside her, peering toward the slope through his binoculars. He gently shook his head and signaled with his eyes: Can’t see them clearly.
Don’t rush, Ye Que… Qingshui and An Xiaolin are still down there. Wu Wujie is injured. You’re the only one who can guard their escape route now.
You can’t act impulsively. You have to find out what those people’s true objective is!
Gritting her teeth, Ye Que forced all her doubts back down and kept her gaze locked on the battlefield, not daring to relax for even a second.
…………
The instant the bullet struck her abdomen, An Xiaolin felt a strange sensation-burning hot, yet numb.
An electric current of pleasure blazed from the wound and tore through every inch of her body, detonating inside her brain.
Her pupils dilated sharply, and the corners of her mouth pulled upward beyond her control, twisting into a savage, frenzied grin.
She glanced down at her abdomen. Blood was gushing out and staining the seat red, but she wasn’t afraid. All she felt was-ecstasy!
“Hahahahaha…”
“I… I feel… fucking amazing! Hahahahahahaha!”
The extreme pain transformed into extreme exhilaration. Adrenaline erupted through her nerves like a volcano. Laughing wildly, she forced herself upright and stomped the accelerator to the floor.
The off-road vehicle’s engine unleashed a furious roar. Like a wounded beast, it muscled through the pressure closing in from both sides and burst free.
Amazing! Who knew getting shot could feel this amazing?! Hahahahahahaha!
An Xiaolin wanted to rip the steering wheel off, jump out, and tear every last one of those gun-toting Madmen apart. She wanted to pull out their intestines and hang them from the trees!
“Hahahahahahaha–”
An Xiaolin’s pupils contracted, and her very soul trembled. She stared fixedly at the vehicle racing alongside her, kept the accelerator pinned to the floor, and rammed forward!
The two vehicles were practically glued together, their doors separated by less than a finger’s width. Sparks shrieked from their sides as they scraped together at high speed, the screech of grinding metal piercing their eardrums.
On the other side of the window was another face contorted with manic laughter.
“Ram me to death! Hahahahahahaha! Faster! Faster, you bastard!”
The Bald Madman showed no intention of backing off. Its eyes were blood-red as it wrenched the steering wheel over, pressing its vehicle against hers and forcing ahead. It, too, reveled in the thrill of hovering on the brink of death.
The pleasure grew more intense as her wound was torn wider, but An Xiaolin’s vision was already beginning to blur.
Soon, she could feel her body heat draining away. She could feel her strength leaking out through the wound.
Hold on…
An Xiaolin clutched the steering wheel in a death grip, nothing but desperate, all-or-nothing madness left in her eyes.
“Heh… heh-heh…”
His eyes red, Cat watched the vehicle bearing down on him. He could also feel the sniper’s gaze that had remained trained on him the entire time, and he began to laugh as well.
What an incredible rush!
He was drenched in blood and looked utterly wretched, yet a strange, manic smile hung on his face. Of course he knew that ever since the apocalypse, people from some unknown faction had been watching him. They had tried everything they could think of to capture him, but they had never once succeeded.
In its eyes, there had only ever been Cat catching mice. Since when could a mouse catch Cat?
But now, it no longer cared about the pursuit. The madness and exhilaration surging inside it had completely overwhelmed every thought of escape.
It stared at the pitch-black muzzle aimed at it, the smile on its face growing increasingly savage. When it finally spoke, its voice was hoarse and sinister.
“Hello. Hello…”
“I’m Cat. On behalf of my mother, I send you her regards.”
“I’ve been looking for you for so long. I really must thank that mouse, Ji Feifan.”
It had long since noticed something unusual about Ji Feifan and realized that he knew Qingshui far too well. It had originally planned to capture Qingshui and bring her back so it could watch Ji Feifan suffer. It had never expected this unexpected windfall: it had finally found the person it had searched so desperately for.
It hadn’t wanted to kill Qingshui. It had wanted to capture her and “raise” her, just as it had done with Ji Feifan.
But now, its obsession with what it could never possess had completely consumed it, and savage madness churned in its eyes.
If it couldn’t have her, then it could only destroy her completely.
Cat pulled a grenade from its pocket and yanked out the pin, giving Qingshui a twisted smile.
“She’s waiting for you in the Rift. Waiting for you in the depths of hell.”
But… it had forgotten that there weren’t only three Madmen between the two vehicles.
There was a fourth Madman.
Under its feverish, possessive stare, Qingshui remained expressionless as her lips curved into a cold smile.
“Don’t know her.”
Cat’s face contorted instantly, the light in its eyes shattering.
“You–”
Before it could finish, Qingshui fired.
Bang! Bang!
The two shots came so fast that no one even had time to blink.
Under the disbelieving gazes of the boy and the Bald Madman, blood burst from the centers of both their foreheads.
The grenade slipped from Cat’s stiff fingers and landed on the seat with a metallic clatter.
“Jump!”
Qingshui lunged at An Xiaolin and shoved open the car door. The two of them tumbled into the snow.
Boom!
A deafening explosion erupted behind them. A towering wave of fire, stone, and metal fragments unleashed a violent shock wave that sent them flying.
While airborne, Qingshui desperately twisted her body and pulled An Xiaolin against her chest, shielding her with everything she had. The instant they hit the ground, Qingshui forcibly turned so her own body took the impact. An Xiaolin crashed heavily on top of her, making her chest seize as something metallic and sweet surged up her throat.
The world fell deathly silent.
Bracing herself on her arms, she raised her head through the haze.
Her vision was a blur. All she could make out were severed limbs and chunks of flesh scattered everywhere–and a familiar figure lying motionless in the snow.
That Madman… was dead?
They… were alive?
The moment that thought struck her, her mind went completely blank.
The gunshots that had been exploding beside her ears only moments ago seemed to cut off all at once. She gulped down breath after breath, each one bringing tearing pain. Her body was still caught in the momentum of battle, but her mind had completely shut down.
She remained kneeling in the snow, drenched in blood, like a puppet with all its strength drained away.
Tears poured from her eyes without warning, blurring her vision. Yet the corners of her mouth kept pulling upward beyond her control. She laughed and cried at the same time, like a Madman.
Xiaolin… Xiaolin had been shot… She needed a bandage…
Ye Que… Where was Wu Wujie?
“YE QUE!”
A raw scream tore from her throat, her voice so hoarse it barely sounded human. Blood sprayed from her mouth onto the snow, staining a patch of pristine white red.
But she couldn’t spare a thought for the pain. She only screamed that name as if she had lost her mind, over and over again.