Chapter 19.2 – Rainy Night in Hua City (11)
◎Insect Tide◎
At exactly 7:00 in the evening, Liu Zixuan stood up on time and said, “It’s time, I need to get ready to open the door.”
The team that went out for exploration this time was particularly large. Everyone hoped for unexpected gains. They gathered at the door, ready to welcome the returning people. Zhuang Qingyan’s wheelchair stopped in the slightly shaded area further back. He had nothing with him, only waiting for the door to open so he could leave with Song Ke.
Liu Zixuan placed his hands against the wall and began to release his special abilities. Soon, the outline of a door gradually became clear and fixed. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and exhaled a breath. His expression became more relaxed, and he smiled as he pulled the door handle. The wind and rain outside poured in an instant, hitting people’s faces so intensely that they couldn’t open their eyes. Others hadn’t yet seen the specific situation – an unexpected event had occurred!
A burst of crimson flames shot up into the sky, sweeping sideways, forcing the people inside the door to retreat continuously. In the next second, they smelled the strange scent of burned protein, followed by the eerie sound of crackling and rubbing.
Jiang Rui’s loud shout was caught in the midst of the raging storm, “The door is open! Hurry inside!”
“Everyone, step back!!”
A thunderous roar came from the sky, illuminating a large open space outside the door. Liu Zixuan, closest to the door, looked dazed. In his retinas, there was an endless and densely packed tidal wave, along with countless pairs of gray-white unsettling pupils.
One by one, disheveled figures rolled in. Zhang Qi, Zhang Hao, Jiang Rui… finally, at the forefront, was Song Ke. The artifact umbrella in her hand was fully open, with menacing spikes raised on it. The sound of impact echoed, and the umbrella surface kept bearing weight, pressing down, and pressing down again… The noise wasn’t the rain; it was the sound of thousands upon thousands of living things hitting it.
Some fish that slipped from the net crawled in through the gaps in the door, swiftly making their way inside. Jiang Rui cracked his whip, flipping over a section, but a few still managed to rush into the crowd. “Ah—!!” Fearful screams echoed, but fortunately, Zhang Hao and the others successfully entered. They had weapons in their hands, and with concerted effort, they managed to kill those things.
Song Ke wedged the umbrella handle against the wall, rolled on the spot, and slid inside the door. “Bang—” she forcefully closed the heavy door behind her.
Zhang Qi’s arms bulged with veins as he held onto the door frame, but things outside were increasing in number. The sounds of impact grew louder and louder. Others realized the situation and rushed to help prop up the door panel and the wall. They held on for more than ten seconds like this, but the supernatural gate gradually disappeared as it exceeded its time limit. The intruders were blocked from entering, at least for the time being.
“What… what are these things!!!”
In the terrifyingly quiet atmosphere, someone pointed to the floor and shouted in desperation.
…
Ten minutes ago, Jiang Rui led the team back to the side wall of the enclosed stadium.
This time, there were more people in the group, and they had walked a bit further. They went eastward, approaching the outskirts of the city’s outer ring. The supplies outside were becoming scarcer, and the survival conditions were becoming increasingly harsh. If they continued to roam around in the same place, they wouldn’t have any gains. Fortunately, from yesterday to today, they hadn’t encountered hordes of zombies. This heavy rain seemed to make them disappear. The safety of going outside had improved significantly.
The team members were wearing raincoats, resting against the corner of the wall, either sitting or standing, chatting and waiting for Liu Zixuan to open the door. Several boys had a particularly positive attitude. They were shooting vlogs at the corner, saying that they would post them on social platforms after they were safe. They were sure to gain a lot of views.
The heavy artifact umbrella covered most of Song Ke’s figure. She had a pen in her mouth and was at a loss while looking at the spread-out city map. Her geography had always been poor, and now, apart from the cardinal directions and a few circular traffic networks, she couldn’t make sense of anything.
Jiang Rui approached her gently and said in a low voice, “Before the network went down, I saved the locations of nearby shelters. Should I send it to you?”
“No need,” Song Ke refused. She didn’t plan to take Zhuang Qingyan to crowded places, and besides, she didn’t have a phone. “Thank you.”
Jiang Rui fell silent. His hair and face were wet, like a wet dog – pitiable and stubborn.
Song Ke glanced at him and tilted the umbrella to cover his head.
A few minutes later, she paused and suddenly looked up, “Do you hear, hear any sounds?”
“What sounds?” Jiang Rui was puzzled.
Song Ke frowned. She couldn’t quite describe it. It was like the buzzing of wings in motion, or the sound of many feet walking on the ground. The frequency was fast, and it was extremely dense, causing her eardrums to pulse and swell.
Song Ke looked in the direction of the distant mountains meeting the horizon. Apart from a black dividing line, there was nothing else.
She shifted her gaze away, circling left and right a few times, but she found nothing.
The next second, Song Ke abruptly turned back.
She hadn’t seen wrong; that dividing line was clearly moving!
The rustling sound was getting closer to her ears, soon becoming extremely close. Song Ke held her breath and focused her senses. The people around her were influenced by her serious expression and stopped talking, their expressions becoming vigilant.
The grass in front swayed gently, and suddenly a large insect leaped out. The insect had black wings that vibrated rapidly and harmoniously behind it, as if it were flapping, and it flew towards them.
Zhang Qi was closest to the insect, and his reaction was swift. His biceps bulged as he swung his machete, cutting the insect in half from its abdomen, cleanly dividing it. Black pus flowed out from the insect’s belly, creating a foul-smelling puddle in the water.
Before the others could catch their breath, the second, third, and countless more insects flew out.
It wasn’t a moving horizon at all; it was a dense horde of insects!
Several guys who were shooting videos stood slightly forward. Their steps hesitated for a moment and were instantly engulfed by the swarm of insects. Within moments, layers upon layers of insects crawled over their calves, arms, and faces. They emitted heart-wrenching screams, frantically trying to swat the insects away, but their movements became slower and slower. In the end, what fell were broken, blood-soaked skeletons.
“Get closer, everyone!” Jiang Rui’s ring emitted a red light, and a massive whip of fire shot up into the sky, pushing back a part of the insect vanguard. The remaining people quickly raised their weapons, standing in formation to defend themselves.
After devouring the flesh and blood, countless pairs of compound eyes among the insects quivered slightly, then they turned their gaze towards Jiang Rui and the others, locking onto their next prey.
…
The commotion outside the door gradually subsided, but inside the safe zone, it was a deathly silence.
“What on earth… what the hell are these things?”
The shattered remains of insects on the ground were about the size of a volleyball, oval-shaped, entirely brown-black in color. They had two long antennae on their heads and cloudy gray compound eyes. They bore a striking resemblance to the mutated zombies. Just looking at them was enough to send shivers down one’s spine.
“These are cockroaches,” Zhuang Qingyan suddenly spoke from his wheelchair.
The crowd showed a puzzled expression.
“Flattened body, dark brown, medium-sized, long filamentous antennae, well-developed compound eyes, membranous wings in front and back. Based on the biological data from the ancient civilization, these are cockroaches, commonly known as roaches.”
Most people still looked bewildered, but a boy with good academic performance remembered something, “But didn’t cockroaches go extinct a long time ago?”
He was someone who enjoyed studying prehistoric creatures. Recalling the books he had read, he furrowed his brow and said, “According to the Alliance records, cockroaches went extinct in the 4th year of the New Era. And besides, how could… there be such huge cockroaches!?”
Normal cockroaches were no more than a few centimeters long. The ones before them were nearly the size of a volleyball!
Zhuang Qingyan wrapped a stick with a tissue and flipped over the bodies on the ground. “Because these are mutated cockroaches, you could also think of them as zombie cockroaches. Like zombies, they feast on carrion, and they possess the characteristics of cockroaches – rapid reproduction, fast movement, and appearing in groups.”
—Rapid reproduction, appearing in groups.
It was as if the sky had fallen, and many people, upon hearing this, looked utterly hopeless.
Could there be any worse news? Dealing with zombie humans was already difficult enough, and now there were zombie cockroaches as well. Could they still make it out alive? Was there any hope of waiting for the next Alliance rescue?
“Don’t lose heart, everyone!” Lin Xia’s hands and feet were trembling, but she mustered the courage to console, “These… zombie cockroaches aren’t that terrifying. Didn’t we kill some of them?”
Someone immediately chimed in, “Yeah, they’re dead, right?”
“We have weapons, so we can just kill them!”
“Exactly, one by one, ten by ten, a hundred by a hundred. Let Brother Jiang burn them all!”
The teenagers became excited, each one shouting louder than the other: “We have weapons, and we still have Brother Jiang! What’s there to fear?”
However, Jiang Rui’s expression wasn’t optimistic. Fire-based abilities were the most suitable for dealing with these creatures, but unfortunately, it was pouring rain in Hua City, greatly diminishing the power of his abilities. His true strength was less than forty percent of its usual, and facing so many zombie cockroaches alone, he had no chance of winning.
Amidst the clamor, Xu Liren made a gesture to quiet everyone down.
He pushed up his glasses, his face unusually serious, “That’s right, we can kill one or two, maybe even ten or a hundred. But what about a thousand, or even ten thousand?”
“Based on our numbers, which one of you has the confidence to kill ten thousand zombie cockroaches outside?”
Song Ke frowned, recalling the densely packed black swarm of insects. It even seemed challenging for her.
No one could answer this question, and the hope that had just ignited was quickly extinguished.
Ten thousand zombie cockroaches – that number was like an insurmountable mountain, crushing everyone’s will.
A boy who had narrowly escaped death at the Starship Port suddenly broke down. He angrily raised the knife in his hand and viciously stabbed the abdomen of the zombie cockroach over and over again, muttering, “I don’t believe it. It’s all fake, all fake! There are no zombies, no apocalypse!!”
Zhang Hao managed to restrain him in time, but it was too late. Someone couldn’t bear the oppressive atmosphere any longer and burst into sobbing tears.
Fear and panic were contagious. Soon, the safe zone was immersed in sorrow and confusion.
“Perhaps… there are more than ten thousand,” it was at this moment that Zhuang Qingyan spoke up.
“When you spot a cockroach under the sunlight, it means that there are so many in the dark places that they can’t fit anymore.”
Everyone: “…”
Wuwuwu!!
