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墨書 Inktalez
Liu Squad Leader letting other warriors run ahead touched me for a moment, but I had no intention of following him to the grave. He was the one I disliked the most, and it was already commendable that I hadn't kicked him while he was down. Stay behind to keep him company? Unless I had lost my mind.
I ran past him, panting heavily. Seeing his struggling figure made me feel a bit reluctant, so I tilted my head and said, “Liu Caozi, do you know why American Guy is running so fast?”
Liu Squad Leader's eyes widened in surprise. “Why?”
“Because we have something behind us.”
“Wasn't the Giant Mosquito retreated?”
“It's not a mosquito.”
“What is it?!” Liu Squad Leader's voice changed, and his face turned as pale as a sheet. “Brother Qiang, don't scare me.”
“It’s…” I furrowed my brows as I looked at him. “Forget it, you'll see it soon enough. I've never seen anything so terrifying.”
With that, I took off running.
“Brother Qiang, wait for me!”
“Damn it, Zhang, don’t let me catch up to you! If I have to drag you along, I'll change my last name!”
I could hear Liu Squad Leader cursing and pleading behind me. The effect of my scare was evident; even though I didn’t look back, I could still hear his voice. He hadn’t been left behind.
At one point, Liu Squad Leader’s voice disappeared. I could sense he was still not far behind me, but his voice was drowned out by a more intense sound of rushing.
The noise ahead suddenly grew louder, as if that group of creatures was right on top of us. At the same time, I could almost feel the air carrying a pungent odor pressing against me like a wall.
“Damn.” I cursed loudly in a voice only I could hear.
My speed had noticeably slowed down. It wasn't that my will to survive had diminished, but rather the wind, filled with a pungent odor, created too much resistance. It was a miracle that I wasn't pushed back or stopped by the oncoming gusts.
In a fleeting moment, I even entertained the thought of turning back. Running forward felt too difficult. The pressure in my heart was greater than the physical force of the wind against me; giving up seemed like an acceptable option.
Fortunately, this thought vanished as quickly as it appeared. I did not give up; I did not stop for even a second in my struggle against the foul wind blowing toward me.
Although I held little hope of surviving this run, I was not someone who easily surrendered. As long as there was a glimmer of hope, I would not give up lightly. Besides, I was not accustomed to turning my back on the enemy; even if I were to die, I would prefer the bullets to come at me from the front.
At that moment, my endurance began to pay off. While it was impossible to outrun the centrifugal force, I could still shift my steps slightly to the left. I assessed that my speed hadn’t dropped drastically. There was still hope.
I didn’t look back; Liu Squad Leader had a limp and couldn’t possibly withstand the oncoming wind. If I could fight against it with all my might, he certainly could not. The only reason I could harden my heart and abandon Liu Squad Leader was that I didn’t have to witness it firsthand—much like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
Liu Squad Leader had betrayed me time and again, and I felt justified in leaving him behind. However, if I were to see him die right before my eyes, I knew I wouldn’t be able to bear it. He deserved punishment and retribution, but not death.
For now, I could no longer concern myself with him. Looking back would only lead to both of us perishing here.
Suddenly, a glimmer of light appeared in the dark passage ahead. In an instant, this light illuminated a figure—it was Xiao Guolin.
He ran toward me against the wind as if he were flying. His feet barely touched the ground; he seemed to be running along the wall of the Metal Passage rather than on the ground itself.
It reminded me of an acrobatics performance I'd seen where someone rode a bicycle inside a giant cylinder, using acceleration to ride up along its walls. At that moment, Xiao Guolin looked like he was running on the wall of a massive cylinder.
He slowed down by rubbing against the wall of the Metal Passage, stopping right in front of me. "The resistance is too great; I can only carry one person back with me—either you or him."
I turned in shock and saw that Liu Squad Leader was still behind me. It didn’t surprise me that he hadn’t run away; aside from ghosts, he feared nothing else. The fact that he managed to keep up with me made it hard for me to believe—I thought I had shaken him off.
“Brother Qiang, you go ahead. Don’t worry about me.”
I didn't know if Liu Squad Leader was acting out of fear of Xiao Guolin's terrifying appearance or if he had a sudden change of heart, but he unexpectedly gave me a glimmer of hope.
But this was life-threatening for me.
If Liu Squad Leader and I were to argue, I would definitely slap him aside. I wasn't Mr. Dongguo; I wouldn't protect a backstabbing wolf.
However, his surprising decision to let Xiao Guolin carry me first struck a chord deep within me, touching the softest and most fragile nerve in my heart.
I blurted out, as if I had misfired my nerves, "You go first."
As soon as my words fell, Liu Squad Leader jumped onto Xiao Guolin's back like a gymnast. Tears streamed down his face as he exclaimed, "Brother Qiang, your heart..."
My heart instantly sank; the icy tears didn't flow down my cheeks but instead pooled within me. I regretted it so much that I wanted to slap myself to death. What a self-inflicted disaster.
"We're close now; you need to hurry," Xiao Guolin said before turning and running.
"Old Xiao, what do you mean we're close? Is the house still filled with those big guys?" I desperately chased after him, raising my voice to ask.
"Very close..." With a burst of speed, Xiao Guolin left me behind. All I could hear were those three words at the beginning; the rest was drowned out by the rumbling noise around us.
If it were for Fatty, Jack, or even A San or Tang Yumo, I would accept sacrificing my life. It was astonishing that in these final moments of my life, Tang Yumo came to mind.
But for Liu Caozi, I felt that dying would be truly unjustified.
Was I really going to die here? I was prepared for death, but I didn't want to die before completing my mission! Damn it, I wanted to live long enough to see the Eternal Gate and blow it up!
I felt like my universe exploded once more; the instinct to survive allowed me to temporarily set aside my fatigue and all negative emotions. My eyes fixed on the increasingly unclear light and figures ahead as I ran with all my might.
I kept silently repeating to myself: Catch up to him… Catch up to him…
Xiao Guolin was willing to return once more to save someone, which meant he was confident he could make it back. He knew this place better than I did. As long as I could keep up with him, I had a chance of survival.
Running against the wind while carrying someone, Xiao Guolin's speed was not as terrifying as when he first arrived. I surprisingly hadn’t fallen too far behind. Even though I could feel the light ahead drifting away from me, the difference in our speeds wasn’t that great.
If Xiao Guolin got too close, then I would have hope of reaching the shelter. I was racing against the others across from me; I couldn’t afford to lose.
Suddenly, the light ahead stopped. It vanished in the blink of an eye.
My heart leaped into my throat. It was excitement. I knew that where the light had disappeared was the safe zone. The distance was now within reach; it didn’t require endurance—just a sprint, and I could survive. I charged toward that point with all my might.
But in the next moment, terror struck as I lost the strength to move my legs. In the beam of my One-Eyed Beast Flashlight, the figures I had imagined appeared before me.
(To Be Continued.)
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