The skin of this thing was black—the colour of Anthony"s skin. However, his human face had been distorted. The original place where the eyes were was covered with dense brown scales. The nose extended downward into a huge fissure. The mouth protruded outward and a long, curly black tube protruded from the middle. He stopped, the edges of his wings sc.r.a.ping against the wall of the car and making a loud noise.
"Anthony, what are you doing?" Horsen"s voice was full of displeasure. "I don"t like to be looked at."
Once he finished, he bowed his head again. An Zhe felt the teeth biting his shoulder and neck. The skin was grinded by the teeth and fine pain overflowed. However, An Zhe couldn"t care. He was tense and looking at Anthony who had changed into a monster.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
The wings behind Anthony vibrated slightly and the mouth moved in the air.
"Are you afraid?" On top of him, Horsen felt the stiffness of his body and vaguely scolded, "Why are you pretending?" Then he gripped An Zhe around the waist and bit him severely.
At this moment—
There was the humming of the wings flapping. Anthony"s six slender legs lowered and his body tilted forward, acc.u.mulating power. Then he rushed towards them like a slender spider!
Wind was heard in this small s.p.a.ce. An Zhe"s pupils shrank and his body instantly changed. It switched to the soft and sensitive state of the mushroom body. Mycelium rolled around the car, almost filling the entire s.p.a.ce and temporarily blocking Anthony"s vision.
Immediately afterward, An Zhe felt the body on top of him stiffen. Horsen coughed a few times and then his limbs moved in a panicked manner, "f.u.c.k, this is—"
He looked over and saw Horsen biting countless soft mycelium. They entered his airways and esophagus, causing him to choke and cough with panic and pain. At the same time, countless mycelium were cut by Anthony"s forelimbs. The mycelium were soft and easy to break, with no toughness at him. It could only buy five or six seconds of escape time.
An Zhe estimated the distance between himself and Anthony. He quickly rolled up his clothes with mycelium and flowed out of the gap between Horsen"s messed up body, regaining his freedom. His mycelium rushed to the door like a white tide. He changed back to a human state at the door, pressing the door"s switch.
There was a m.u.f.fled sound and the door popped open. An Zhe instantly recovered all his mycelium and pulled at Horsen"s collar. The two of them fell off the car together and onto the sand. It was at least safer here than the small s.p.a.ce of the carriage.
However, after a moment, Anthony also emerged from the car door. There was a harsh buzzing sound as he flew up four or five metres before swooping down sharply. An Zhe got up quickly when Anthony was flying up and ran to the rear.
He saw Horsen lying on the sand with blank eyes and Anthony"s sharp forelimbs piercing his chest. An Zhe had seen too many monster hunts and escape methods in the Abyss. He knew how to escape and thought Horsen did as well. Even so, it wasn"t until the blood splattered that Horsen screamed and grabbed Anthony"s front legs with both hands, kicking Anthony"s body away as he frantically tried to escape.
The ground roared. An Zhe turned his head quickly and saw the armoured car that had driven quite a distance away make a sharp turn. It was heading to this side. Vance had finally discovered that something was wrong.
An Zhe gasped for a few moments before running in the direction of the armoured vehicle. Through the window, he could see Vance"s anxious expression. Before he got there, the door of the armoured car opened. Once it pa.s.sed by An Zhe, a pair of strong arms suddenly pulled him from the ground. He cooperated with Vance to enter the cab. Vance quickly threw him to the other side of the cab and slammed the door shut.
An Zhe muttered, "They…"
"We can"t save them!" Vance slammed the steering wheel again and the armoured vehicle turned back to its original direction. The accelerator was stepped on and the vehicle sped north.
An Zhe leaned back in the pa.s.senger"s seat and took a few breaths. Once his breathing calmed down, he looked in the rearview mirror. The mutilated Anthony and the dying Horsen were tangled up in a ball, rolling on the ground. Anthony raised his forelegs and abruptly lowered them, piercing Horsen"s body and nailing it to the ground. Then he looked up after them. After five seconds, Anthony seemed to give up on chasing the armoured vehicle. He bowed his head and his slender mouthpiece pierced Horsen"s head. Horsen"s body twitched before softening.
The car was moving fast. After a while, their figures had disappeared between the yellow sand shrubs and could no longer be seen.
Vance asked, "Anthony mutated?"
An Zhe turned to look at Vance and saw that his eyes were a bit red.
An Zhe bowed his head. "I"m sorry."
He was still alive but Vance lost two of his teammates.
"Sorry for what?" Vance reluctantly smiled. "Those who go outside to work often die. We are used to it." Perhaps the next one to die was himself.
Nevertheless, An Zhe felt guilty. Anthony was infected. An Zhe had found traces of suspected human blood on the ant sh.e.l.l at that time. If he had told Vance then they might"ve found that Anthony was infected in advance.
He bowed his head and told it.
Vance was silent for a moment before his voice lowered, "Anthony didn"t become an ant. He might"ve been infected before. We met a group of mutant wild mosquitoes before running into you."
"Then… he was stabbed again?"
Vance looked out the window and spoke after a long silence, "The Second Plains pollution level is very small. It is two stars. If he was stabbed then such a small injury might not mean infection. However, anyone who says it will be left behind by the team. That"s why many people won"t say it after they"ve been injured." His voice lowered. "…Because we want to go home."
An Zhe wondered, "What about Horsen?"
If Anthony had been found to be infected early, Horsen might not have died.
"Don"t worry about it. Horsen is dead." Vance lit up a cigarette and took a breath. "He did many wicked things and there are at least five lives under his hands. Anthony and I wouldn"t have worked with him this time if it wasn"t for the fact that there isn"t enough staff. What was he doing at the time? Bullying you?"
An Zhe didn"t speak and Vance turned to look at him.
In the twilight, the boy"s silhouette seemed quiet and peaceful, like a crystal clear waterdrop. This type of person appearing in the dangerous wilderness might have inexplicable difficulties but Vance didn"t ask.
Similarly, An Zhe didn"t know what to say to Vance. He was thinking about the scene before Horsen"s death Horsen seemed to have lost his mind briefly and didn"t wake up until he was stabbed. What did Horsen do before that? He took a bite of the mycelium.
An Zhe frowned. He himself didn"t know if he was poisonous as a mushroom. Now he suspected himself to be a poisonous mushroom.
Along the way, the vegetation became scarcer. There were no creatures in the endless desert, only their armoured vehicle travelling alone.
In the evening, when the aurora appeared again in the sky, Vance planned to stop and rest. He pressed the cigarette b.u.t.t against the steering wheel and opened the gate connected the cab and the rest room. He jumped down and a sound rang out in the dark rest room. "Sleep first. We will arrive at the base after driving for a day and a half."
An Zhe also came to the gate. In order to have an open view, the location of the cab was very high. In addition, to save room for the storage compartment, the rest of the vehicle was in a low position. The height difference between the cab and rest area was more than one metre high.
He stood there with a bit of hesitation. After a brief three seconds, Vance seemed to see the hesitation. "You sit there first."
An Zhe sat at the edge, his legs dangling. Then Vance reached out and held his upper body, helping him down. An Zhe landed safely and steadily. "Thank you."
"It"s fine." Vance smiled, his voice revealed a slow gentleness. "My brother was afraid of heights and I often helped him like this. He"s around the same age as you."
In an effort to explore the law of human communication, An Zhe tentatively asked, "He also went with you to the wild?"
"Yes," Vance replied. "We used to be together."
"He isn"t here this time?"
"He died. Two months ago, he was killed by a judge at the gate of the base."
Judge. An Zhe heard this word for the third time. The first time was An Ze, trying to dissuade him from going to the human base, saying, "You can"t escape the eyes of the judges."
The second time was Anthony, who didn"t want An Zhe to join the team. He said, "We aren"t judges and can"t confirm he is 100% human."
In addition, it seemed to be a term that appeared frequently in An Ze"s memories. Thus, An Zhe repeated, "…Judge?"
"You don"t know?" Vance"s voice became high with surprise. "Where the h.e.l.l did you come from?"
An Zhe whispered, "I didn"t deal with people before."
"I can see it." Vance unscrewed a k.n.o.b on the wall of the car and a dim white light turned on at the top of the wall, barely illuminating the small s.p.a.ce. He took dry food out of a grid on the wall. An Zhe also took out food and water from his backpack and sat down opposite Vance.
He heard Vance say, "The base has a system called the Judges Act. There is an organization that belongs to the military and it has a very high standing. It is called the Trial Court. Members of the court are judges. They are usually on duty at the gate of the base and they all have a license to kill people. Killing won"t violate the law."
After listening to this sentence, An Zhe thought back and found something relevant in the memories he obtained from An Ze. He asked, "Do the judges determine if the people who enter the base are human beings or infected people?"
"Yes. In addition to the infection that can be seen, there are some that can"t be seen. The mutation process hasn"t yet begun or the mutation level is too high and they look no different from humans. The base calls this type of person "heterogenous"."
An Zhe"s eyes became wide. In that sense, he was a different kind.
Vance unb.u.t.toned his jacket and put it to one side. He unscrewed the bottle of the kettle and continued, "The population of the base is too dense. If a heterogenous enters the base then there will be a crazy ma.s.sacre, followed by large-scale infections. Whether a person is human or a heterogenous, the judgement process is called a trial."
"That…" An Zhe wondered, "How can they discover a heterogenous?"
"What else can they do?" Vance frowned. "They are shot on the spot."
An Zhe didn"t speak. He just lowered his head and took a bite of the compressed biscuit. He had just learned to eat the human way and human food was a bit rough for him. Swallowing scratched his mouth and throat. He ate slowly but his heart was beating quickly.
Slowly, he asked again, "Can they really recognize all the heterogenous people?"
Vance took a large sip of water. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, a trace of mourning in his tone. "Who knows? Death isn"t proof. No one knows if the people killed were really heterogenous. My brother was like that."
An Zhe didn"t speak. Vance seemed to have answered the question but An Zhe just listened quietly.
"He… went to the First Plains with me at that time. This place has a lower pollution level than the Second Plains and I kept watching him. I was sure he wasn"t injured." Vance smiled but his voice was hoa.r.s.e. "However, there wasn"t an ordinary judge at the door of the base that day. It was their boss and everyone calls him "The Judge." Other judges who kill will give reasons but he doesn"t. He doesn"t accept any defense. Even if it is a top member of the base, killing is killing. He was like that on that day. He just looked at my brother and fired."
"I don"t believe it but there is no way. This type of thing happens a lot. He has killed many people and too many people in the base hate him, which isn"t bad for me. Maybe one day, I"ll be killed by him."
Saying this, Vance looked at his right hand for a while. Then he threw the kettle aside and lay on the pillow. His eyes were still looking at the top of the car and he finally got back on track, answering An Zhe"s initial question. "They would rather kill by mistake than let one go. If a heterogenous really mixes into the base then they will definitely be found. It has been a whole year since an incident of a heterogenous attack occurred."
In order to hide his uneasiness, An Zhe closed his eyes and rubbed his eyes with his left hand.
Vance told him, "Kid, go to sleep."
An Zhe lay next to him. No matter what happened tomorrow, at least tonight was safe. There were no monsters and no Horsen. There was only Vance, who was good to him.
Before going to sleep, he held the bullet cartridge and looked at the door at the end of the aisle. If—If he now quietly opened the door, got out of the car and left, returning to the monster wilderness, he could still live. He wouldn"t face trial and wouldn"t be killed on the spot. He didn"t know how long he could live in the wilderness but it would definitely be longer than tomorrow.
Was the spore more important than his life?
—Yes.
For the creatures in the Abyss, death was the most trivial thing. In just a short day outside the Abyss, he witnessed Anthony"s mutation and Horsen"s death. Human life wasn"t precious. An Zhe closed his eyes. He knew he had to go to the Northern Base.
Early the next morning, they continued to drive towards the base. Since only Vance was driving and he lacked energy, their rest time became irregular. From the afternoon, they started to rest and continued to drive north at midnight on the third day. Once the aurora dimmed and the sky looked white, Vance stated, "We"re almost here."
An Zhe looked forward and a circular city gradually emerged on the horizon, covered in the grey fog of the morning.
"City", he knew this word. Humans congregated in cities, just like mushrooms gathered in the rainy season.
The armoured vehicle continued forward. After the early morning mist gradually dispersed, more details in front appeared. The circular city had grey steel walls, the height of the tallest mushroom. 20 people could be stacked on top of each other, one person"s feet on the other person"s shoulder, and they might not be able to go over the wall. Steel fangs and thorns protruded from the wall, sharp and cold, like winter rocks and soil.
The edges of the city walls were covered with surveillance equipment and laser devices. Any intruders would be found immediately. Out of the two city gates, one could only enter and one could only exit. They were now heading for the one that could only enter.
Later, An Zhe saw many Vance-like teams coming back from all directions. Some were light equipment while some were wearing heavy equipment. They held weapons and were in teams of four or five, driving similar armoured vehicles into the designated area. Once they stopped, they got out of the car and walked to the city gate, the car and people being checked separately.
Vance got out of the car first. An Zhe grabbed his arm and jumped out. He felt that Vance"s arm was a bit tense and thought that perhaps the gate evoked Vance"s bad memories of his brother.
They walked together to the gate, where there was a long queue. The head of the queue was somewhat turbulent but the situation couldn"t be seen. People were entering in turn. An Zhe was behind Vance as they walked to the line, looking around as he walked.
Soldiers in black uniforms stood on both sides of the gate holding two guns, a hot weapon and a laser gun at their waist. Behind them were huge heavy weapons, right at the gate. It could be imagined that if a monster tried to invade, they would be blown up by these heavy weapons.
As he looked around, he was attracted by a figure in black. In an open position under the city wall in the distance, the man was also wearing a black uniform and seemed like a loose, undisciplined soldier. Unlike his colleagues standing on guard, he was leaning against the city wall, looking down and slowly wiping a black gun. However, the black and silver uniform on his body seemed much more refined than others, perhaps due to his slender body.
Vance glanced over and for some reason, his pace accelerated a lot. He pulled An Zhe forward and just as they were going to join the end of the line-—
An Zhe saw the man in the distance slowly raising his head. Underneath the black uniform cap, a pair of cold green eyes were exposed. An Zhe suddenly stopped. He felt a chill around him and was frozen.
Vance turned back. "What are you—"
His voice came to an abrupt end.
A shot rang out.
Vance"s tall body shook in place. Then he fell to the ground with a thud, eyes wide open and throat rattling. Blood spilled from his temples and after twitching several times, there was no movement from his body.
An Zhe couldn"t even reach out to grasp a corner of his clothes. He didn"t have time to think about what happened in that moment. He could only raise his head to look at the officer in the black uniform. It was because at this moment, the officer was slowly turning the dark muzzle—it was pointed at him.