Chapter 67
Chapter 67
By the time the last rays of sunlight had completely vanished below the horizon, Qingshui, An Xiaolin, and Ji Feifan were already standing at the door.
They wore masks over their faces and gripped weapons in their hands as they looked down at the agitated Lin Hao.
“The yellow crate is still by the rockery, but there are four Madmen around it.” Lin Hao kept his voice low, his eyes fixed on the live feed. “The red one by the lake… Damn, two more just went over. There are about twelve now. And the last one…”
Frowning, he sent the drone climbing rapidly and swept it over the park. “Found it! It’s by the exercise equipment at the very back. Shit, there are at least twenty of them packed together. I can’t see what they’re doing.”
The twisted crimson figures in the night-vision footage made their scalps crawl.
“Fuck. There weren’t nearly this many before. Where the hell did they all come from?”
“We’ll take the one by the rockery first,” Qingshui decided at once. “It’s the closest and has the fewest Madmen. Once we secure it, we’ll observe the situation by the lake from nearby. I’ll lure them away. You two grab the supplies.”
“No problem.”
The three of them immediately turned and slipped toward the park.
As the park’s outline grew clearer, the cloying stench in the air made An Xiaolin and Ji Feifan increasingly tense.
No matter how many times they faced the Madmen, the terror rooted deep within their souls never faded.
Every encounter meant gambling with their lives.
All for the slimmest chance of survival.
The three approached the rockery without a sound.
Qingshui stopped first and gave the signal to take cover. Through the gaps in the overgrown grass, they could see the yellow airdrop crate surrounded by several naked Madmen.
Two of the Madmen had taken the parachute cords and wound them around the waist of another one, nearly cinching its body in half.
Foul excrement kept spilling from beneath it, only making the other two Madmen even more excited.
“Again! Again! Hahahahahahaha, it’s leaking shit!”
“Come on! I want to squeeze its guts out! Squeeze out its guts!”
One of the Madmen hoisted the airdrop crate and repeatedly rammed its hard casing into the flesh between the legs of another. Blood sprayed everywhere, accompanied by delighted shrieks that made all three of them sick to their stomachs.
Disgust flashed through An Xiaolin’s eyes, while Ji Feifan held his breath.
Qingshui pointed at a tree several yards away. Understanding immediately, An Xiaolin took the tiny Bluetooth speaker from her backpack’s side pocket, darted lightly beneath the tree, and carefully wedged it onto a high branch. Then she quickly retreated into the grass.
The three lowered themselves, completely concealing their bodies beneath the cover of the withered grass and the night.
Qingshui signaled Ji Feifan to get ready.
A few seconds later, an incredibly lifelike cry for help suddenly erupted from the tree.
“Help! Aaaaaah! Get away from me, Madmen!”
“Help!”
The four Madmen engrossed in their games beside the rockery froze. Their crimson gazes instantly locked onto the source of the sound.
Without the slightest hesitation, enormous smiles spread across their vacant faces, and all four began chuckling under their breath.
“Rescue is here! Ohohohoho, heeheehee! You can trade us your guts for it!”
“You little bastard, I’m going to skewer you with my hand, hehehehe…”
The one holding the airdrop crate looked at the box in its hands, then at the other Madmen already leaving. It tossed the crate to the ground with a thud and scampered toward the sound, shrieking with laughter.
The figures soon vanished behind the other side of the rockery.
The noise continued for about ten seconds before abruptly stopping.
Dead silence descended once more, broken only by the night wind rustling through the dry grass.
Qingshui patiently waited another five seconds, making sure no footsteps were returning or approaching. Then she gave the signal. Like cheetahs that had been poised to strike, the three burst from the grass and lunged for the yellow crate on the ground.
There was no time to inspect it. Qingshui shoved the crate into An Xiaolin’s backpack. It wasn’t small and barely fit. Just as Qingshui finally managed to pull the zipper closed–
“Fresh little piglets… Heehee… Just looking at you is enough to send me over the edge!”
A wet, raspy voice drifted down from above, thick with undisguised, malicious delight.
All three of them froze.
The next moment, two figures stumbled out from within the rockery. They were even filthier than the Madmen wandering outside, their skin caked with grime and their naked bodies skeletal. Their eyes gleamed in the darkness like starving wolves as they stared hungrily at the three people within arm’s reach.
“Fuck you… I’ll rip out your intestines… use them as a jump rope…” One of the Madmen wielding a length of rebar grinned, revealing a jagged row of yellow-and-black teeth.
There was no time to hesitate and no need for words.
The instant it finished speaking, Qingshui moved. Instead of retreating, she lunged forward. The moment her opponent raised the rebar to swing, her left hand shot out and seized the other end.
Using the attacker’s own forward momentum, she drove the rust-streaked rebar straight into its eye socket, wedging it into a crevice in the artificial rockery behind it.
One of the Madmen had been pinned dead against the rocks!
At the same time, Ji Feifan sprang in from the side and kicked the other charging Madman into the rockery wall. As it struggled to pick itself up, An Xiaolin brought her axe down on the back of its neck.
Its crazed laughter was replaced by the dull crunch of shattering bone.
The fight began and ended in a little over ten seconds. Two of the Madmen lay crumpled at the foot of the rockery.
“Move!” Qingshui barked.
An Xiaolin quickly tightened the straps of the heavy backpack, and the three of them slipped back into the weeds, crawling toward the lake. The pack was heavy, but still within what she could handle.
Lying low in the weeds, they could just make out most of what was happening along the lakeshore.
The red parachute was snagged on the railing by the lake.
Dozens of Madmen had gathered around the railing. They seemed uninterested in the red parachute, however. Instead, they had formed a circle around some kind of sickening “game.”
At the center was one small, scrawny Madman. Its abdominal cavity had been torn wide open, and the others were gleefully playing with what was inside.
Both its arms and legs were gone, leaving only four gaping, bloody wounds. Four or five of the Madmen knelt beside those wounds, using them to sate their lust!
The surrounding Madmen laughed and laughed without end.
The one on the ground was laughing too.
Qingshui narrowed her eyes and studied them carefully. None of the Madmen engrossed in their “fun” appeared to be carrying proper weapons. At most, they had stones or sticks picked up from the ground. More importantly, their attention was completely focused on the small circle before them.
She whispered to Ji Feifan, “Turn it on.”
Ji Feifan understood. A second later, the familiar sound of human voices rang out again!
The standing Madmen erupted into a grotesque frenzy. They raised intestines ripped from their own kind and flung them through the air like festive streamers.
Slick organs sailed overhead, scattering viscous droplets of blood before landing on the ground with wet slaps.
The terrified cries for help coming from the nearby Bluetooth speaker were like oil poured onto a raging fire.
Their hoarse laughter rose sharply, becoming even shriller and more deranged.
Length after length of slippery tissue was dragged across the ground, leaving winding trails of crimson behind!
A handful of Madmen remained where they were, still lost in the act of sating their urges.
“I’ll draw them away. You two move fast.”
The others nodded.
Qingshui slowly rose from the weeds. Rather than charging straight toward the lake, she followed the shadows along the shore, swiftly and silently making her way to the railing opposite the Madmen. Then she took a deep breath and slammed the spine of her military knife against the railing!
“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
The clear, ringing crash of metal echoed through the night.
The Madmen by the lake all shuddered at once and whipped their heads around. The moment they spotted the unmistakably human figure across from them, their primal urge to hunt instantly overwhelmed their desire for “entertainment.”
“Aaaaaah! You bitch! I’ll fuck your brains to mush! I’ll use your skull as a cup!”
“Tear her apart! Tear her apart! Cut her in half!”
They charged at Qingshui on all fours, their grins stretching almost to their ears as uncontrollable laughter spilled from their throats!
Qingshui spun around without hesitation and sprinted into the pitch-black woods behind her.
The instant she drew the Madmen away, Ji Feifan and An Xiaolin shot out of the weeds like arrows loosed from a bow and raced toward the lakeside railing!
Ji Feifan headed straight for the section where the parachute was caught. He grabbed the red cords and hauled them upward, only for his hands to suddenly meet no resistance.
It was empty!
Only a broken clasp remained at the end of the cords. The crate was nowhere to be seen!
“Fuck!” Ji Feifan swore.
“The lake! Look in the lake!” An Xiaolin urged, scanning their surroundings warily.
Ji Feifan braced one hand against the railing and vaulted over without hesitation, straining to see the pitch-black surface of the lake below.
Mud and enormous rocks lay exposed along the water’s edge. On the side closer to him, something faintly reflected the light!
The case! It really had fallen down there, but it was wedged between the rocks. Thank goodness it hadn’t slipped all the way into the water!
He lay flat on the ground with most of his body hanging over the edge, stretching his arm as far as he could. His fingertips brushed the cold surface of the case several times, but it was always just beyond his reach.
Just then, two of the Madmen staggered toward them from opposite directions!
“You filthy little bitch! Here I come!” the one on the left howled, lunging at An Xiaolin first.
“Ji Feifan! Hurry!”
An Xiaolin’s voice cracked. Her scalp prickled, and she could practically smell the foul stench rushing toward her!
There was no time to think. She twisted sharply aside, dodging the hand grasping for her, then swung the axe with all her strength at one of the Madmen!
But the axe only buried itself halfway into the side of its head near the ear, failing to kill it in one blow. Instead, the pleasure made it even more excited, stretching the grin on its twisted face wider.
“Keep going, you whore! Ahhh, you’ve got me c**ming! Ahhh, you bastard! I’m gonna make you feel just as good!”
Ignoring its wound, it pushed its body against the axe and threw its arms wide, trying to wrap them around her!
The one on the right arrived with a shrill cackle, its fingers already brushing her coat.
An Xiaolin was slammed against the railing with a metallic clang!
“Ji Feifan!!”
Veins bulged across Ji Feifan’s forehead. Gritting his teeth, he strained with all his might and stretched his arm another inch.
Damn it! Still not enough!
The moment those blood-caked hands seized An Xiaolin’s wrist, her breath stopped and her mind went cold and blank.
They would break her skin… She would be infected… She would become one of the Madmen, just like them!
“Get off me!”
Like an animal driven into a corner, she let out a piercing howl and kicked out with both legs, slamming her feet into the stomach of one of the Madmen!
It stumbled back two steps, its grip loosening.
An Xiaolin tore herself free. Blood roaring in her head, she threw herself forward without a thought, raised the axe with both hands, and hacked furiously at the two heads that were still cackling!
“I’ll make you feel good! Feel good! I’ll make you feel real damn good!! Now…”
“Die!!”
Once!
Twice!!
Three times!!!
One on the left!
One on the right!
Viscous fluid splattered across her mask, the rancid stench flooding her nose.
She stood there panting, still reeling from the bloody counterattack. Then she looked up, and her pupils abruptly contracted!
More swaying figures were slowly closing in from every direction through the darkness.
Pale, grinning faces turned toward her.
The Madmen carried clubs, and some even had knives. Chuckling under their breath, they advanced on the pair.
…This was bad.
Meanwhile.
Using the trees as cover, Qingshui darted along the outskirts of the park, leading the howling pack of Madmen behind her in circles!
Her plan was to lure them deeper into the park, lose them amid the complicated terrain, and then circle back to the rendezvous point.
But just as she rounded an exceptionally thick tree and prepared to turn down another path, the scene before her brought her to an abrupt halt.
In a relatively open clearing within the grove, a mutilated human body had been impaled on rough branches and suspended in midair like a sacrificial offering.
Dozens of figures crouched around it, their heads lowered as they indulged in a bloody feast.
The instant Qingshui appeared at the edge of the clearing, all those figures raised their heads in perfect unison.
On their blood-smeared faces, the corners of their mouths slowly split toward their ears in horrifying grins.
For a heartbeat, the air fell deathly still.
Behind her, the pounding footsteps of her pursuers drew rapidly closer through the woods, accompanied by an increasingly overpowering stench.
Ahead, the Madmen slowly rose to their feet and began closing in.
She was trapped between them.