Chapter 21 – Rainy Night in Hua City (13)
◎The Fake Holy Father◎
Song Ke and Jiang Rui held the entrance of the parking lot.
The engine of the bus behind them roared, and the headlights in front flickered, casting a dim light through the pouring rain.
People kept rushing over, putting all their strength to climb onto the bus, collapsing onto the seats, gasping for air. At this critical moment of life and death, no one cared about their appearance anymore; it was considered fortunate to save one’s own life.
Song Ke and Jiang Rui waited for a full five minutes, but very few of the expected arrivals made it here.
“No one’s coming, let’s go,” Jiang Rui closed his eyes, his voice hoarse.
Due to the sudden attack of the zombie cockroaches, their escape this time was rushed, resulting in more casualties than anticipated. Out of the originally over one hundred people, almost half were lost, leaving less than fifty. Jiang Rui clenched the whip of fire in his hand and at that moment, he realized very clearly that he couldn’t save everyone.
Any movement in the rainy night would be magnified infinitely. From their direction, a faint light penetrated and caught the attention of the dark creatures. On the playground a hundred meters away, thousands of zombies raised their heads and started moving toward them.
“Hurry, get on, we’re closing the door!!” Zhang Hao leaned half his body out of the driver’s window and shouted at them.
“Wait!” Song Ke slammed her palm against the bus door. She saw Kongzi Qi and Tian Yi stumbling towards them, followed by several hideous-looking zombies and a tide of cockroaches.
Her wrist moved slightly, the spear flew out like lightning, and with incredible speed, it pierced through the enemies. Song Ke sprinted forward, using a move called “Whirlwind Snow Sweep,” creating a powerful airwave that knocked down the pursuing zombies and cockroaches, giving them a momentary buffer.
Kongzi Qi and Tian Yi scrambled and managed to get onto the bus.
“Let’s go!”
Zhang Hao roared, started the engine, and in the rainy night, the bus swerved and accelerated. It crashed into the path, overturning the zombies and cockroaches in its way. It then rushed through a gap in the iron fence and onto the road. After more than ten minutes, they finally shook off the densely packed pursuers.
The bus was an old model with hybrid power. Even if it lost its automatic driving energy, it could still be manually controlled. In recent years, automated driving had become popular in the Alliance, and fewer and fewer people were getting driver’s licenses. Zhang Hao had repeated a year and was two years older than them. Last year, he had casually taken a driver’s license for fun, never imagining that this seemingly useless skill would become a life-saving straw.
It normally takes about two hours to drive from No.1 Middle School to the downtown area of Hua City. However, it was raining now, visibility was poor at night, and there might be zombies and insect swarms appearing at any moment. Zhang Hao didn’t dare to be careless. He slowed down and drove forward vigilantly.
Three hours later, the bus neared the city area of Hua City, and Zhang Hao was the first to notice that something was off.
It was nearly 5 o’clock in the morning, but the highway was still packed. Many private cars were heading in the same direction as them, all rushing towards the city.
They were being chased by zombies and insect swarms. So why were these people doing the same thing? Why were they heading back to the city at this time?
“Thump, thump, thump!”
A series of intense pounding sounds shattered the silence, and the people in the bus looked out immediately, startled.
A young woman was pressed against their bus, weaving through the traffic without any care. Her shoes were gone, her toes covered in blood. She ran while desperately pounding on the bus door. From her lip movements, you could faintly make out the words, “Help me.”
Her actions were extremely dangerous. Lin Xia’s face showed sympathy, “Should we… save her?”
Zhou Anqi suddenly stood up, her voice sharp and cold, “Don’t open the door!”
Her sudden shout startled the others. No one spoke, and no one moved. They all sat stiffly in their seats, as if the person outside didn’t exist.
The woman saw that the bus door was not opening, and the light in her eyes gradually dimmed, eventually giving way to despair. The people on the bus averted their gazes.
Several fierce zombies stomped on the roof of the car, leaped from the other side, and pounced on the young woman.
Looking from the rear window, her outstretched hand gradually fell.
“Look at this! She’s been bitten! We can’t let her on,” Zhou Anqi muttered nervously to herself, “We can’t let her on…”
In the back row of the bus, Song Ke was observing the outside environment when she heard the commotion and turned her head.
Zhuang Qingyan approached her, his voice soft, “Don’t you think she’s too noisy?”
Song Ke was briefly taken aback and upon closer thought, it was indeed the case. Since Zhou Anqi awakened her ability, it seemed like her emotions had become increasingly uncontrollable. She either shouted loudly at the slightest provocation or spoke incoherently, making it hard to comprehend.
“Someone is controlling her using spiritual power.”
“Zhou Anqi is an E-level awakener; someone who can silently influence her behavior and character, the other party is at least a C-level awakener with mental ability.”
“Care to guess who’s the one behind the scenes?”
Zhuang Qingyan’s breath was close, and the warm air made Song Ke’s ears itchy.
When did this person get so close?
Song Ke extended two fingers, pushed him away with a slightly disgusted expression, thought for a moment, and provided an answer.
“Xu… Li… Ren.”
She recalled the peculiar sensation when she locked eyes with Xu Liren on the first day she arrived in the safe zone.
At that time, Xu Liren must have released his mental ability to try to influence her, but he failed. This led him to suspect that she was an awakener, and thus began the various tests and manipulations. After realizing that Song Ke was difficult to control, he seemed eager to drive her out of the safe zone.
“Bingo!” Zhuang Qingyan snapped his fingers.
“He can control even E-level awakeners; of course, he wouldn’t spare ordinary people. In his eyes, these people are all his puppets, expendable scapegoats when necessary. No wonder he’s willing to keep so many ‘wastes’.”
“This Mr. Xu is a complete fake Holy Father, the true hypocrite～”
At the mention, Song Ke looked at Xu Liren. He was sitting in the front row of the bus, his frameless glasses set aside with visible cracks. He was wiping his face with a towel, his current expression unclear.
Zhuang Qingyan followed her gaze, saying, “You want to expose his true identity? Don’t forget, we’re the ‘outcasts.’ They won’t believe your accusations.”
“Don’t worry, Xu Liren’s tricks can deceive all of you… those naive high schoolers because they were all in a safe environment. But the more life and death situations arise, the more his sinister thoughts will be revealed.”
…
At 5:40 in the early morning, the bus entered the inner ring of Hua City.
The sky was as gloomy as if it hadn’t even lit up yet. The city was in chaos, with collapsed buildings from impacts, debris and wreckage of starships scattered around, and the piercing sound of air raid sirens echoing through the streets and alleys.
“This is a Level 1 alert,” Kongzi Qi stood up, gripping the back of the chair with a serious expression. “My dad is the designer of the Bagua Formation. He once said that a Level 1 alert only sounds when Hua City experiences the most severe natural disasters.”
Lin Xia added with a pale face, “I’ve participated in safety drills in Hua City. I remember that the highest priority order during a Level 1 alert is to enter the Bagua Formation as quickly as possible.”
“That’s right, the Bagua Formation is Hua City’s last line of defense. Once activated, it means the outer perimeter of Hua City is completely abandoned.”
Hua City is naturally a basin-like terrain, with lower elevation in the center. The concentric transportation network extends downward layer by layer, reaching the central eye of the Bagua Formation—an airborne mall, also the most famous landmark in Hua City. Whether day or night, it shines brightly and is bustling.
When Hua City faces an unstoppable disaster, the eight entrances leading to the eye of the formation will close urgently. The entire Bagua Formation will hide underground, forming excellent air-raid shelters.
Kongzi Qi listened carefully to the frequency of the alerts, becoming anxious. “Quick, Zhang Hao! Drive forward quickly! The entrance is about to close!”
In the distant sky, the floating mall was slowly descending. As the alarm became more urgent, enormous cracks appeared all around the ground, making way for its descent.
Zhang Hao pressed the accelerator like mad, rushing forward. The streets were filled with people running in panic, various vehicles, and the ever-present shadows of zombies, making it nearly impossible to move. Even the survivors who had been hiding in their homes came out, desperately sprinting toward the various entrances of the Bagua Formation.
The entire Hua City was in the process of falling.
The cracks in the ground grew deeper and deeper. Tall buildings and circular skybridges lost their support, swaying and collapsing, crashing heavily to the ground.
Suddenly, a steel bar pierced through the bus’s window. The glass shattered like a spider’s web, and wandering zombies crawled in through the window. They grabbed Lin Xia’s arm and pulled her out. She didn’t even have time to scream before she was dragged out. The others inside the bus looked bewildered, not knowing whether to save her or not, but Song Ke had already jumped out right after her.
“Zhang Hao, slow down!” Jiang Rui stood up suddenly.
Zhang Hao was nervous and sweating profusely. He clenched his teeth and pressed the brakes hard.
In mid-air, Song Ke had already swung out her spear. In one swift motion, the spear was like a snake darting out of its hole, its tip like a snake’s fang, piercing through the zombie’s head in an instant, firmly pinning it to the ground! Then, she swiftly picked up Lin Xia, ran, and with one hand, grabbed onto the window, flipping back into the bus.
Lin Xia tightened her grip on Song Ke’s arm, trembling uncontrollably. Luckily, she was wearing long sleeves and pants today, and she had put on a thick raincoat on top. Apart from a few scratches from the fall, she hadn’t been bitten by the zombies.
However, with this delay, the crack from behind had already caught up to the bus’s wheels.
“Ah—!!”
Zhang Hao pushed the accelerator to the floor, and the bus lost control, swerving forward. The intense acceleration made the passengers dizzy and disoriented.
Amidst the chaos inside the cabin, Kongzi Qi grabbed Tian Yi’s shoulder.
“Tian Yi, Tian Yi, listen to me!”
“After entering the Bagua Formation, there’s a hidden door inside. It’s right below the main control room. This is the ‘Life Gate’ of the Bagua Formation, and it’s the most crucial design my dad was involved in. It’s not on the map. I’m going to tell you the route and the password now. You must remember it!”
Tian Yi had a bad feeling, “Kongzi Qi, what’s wrong with you… You, you just remember it. I’ll follow you.”
Kongzi Qi fell silent. A few seconds later, he rolled up his pant leg.
“I was bitten by a zombie.”
Tian Yi’s eyes widened, looked down in disbelief, and the next second, tears burst forth.
On Kongzi Qi’s calf, there was a clear torn wound. After a few hours, the surrounding veins turned a dark black, and the whole leg had become swollen and festered.
“How is this possible? When did this happen…”
Tian Yi suddenly went quiet. He remembered just outside the dormitory building, when Kongzi Qi had accidentally bumped into a zombie while trying to shield him from Xu Liren’s view. Could it be, was it that moment?
Kongzi Qi’s eyes were red, “During that incident at the cafeteria, I didn’t intentionally leave you and run. I just didn’t react in time.
“I, Kongzi Qi, am not that untrustworthy. Plus, you’re my best friend.”
Tian Yi held back tears, “Kongzi Qi, you’re also my, my best friend.”
Kongzi Qi wiped his tears, his expression turning serious. He glanced toward the front of the bus, “Did you see it?”
“…Yeah.” Tian Yi knew what he was referring to. Both of them had just witnessed how Xu Liren, to ensure his own survival, callously pushed others to their deaths.
“Remember, no matter what happens later, don’t follow Xu Liren. Stay as far away from him as possible.”
Kongzi Qi took out the indigo leaf-shaped knife from his pocket and handed it back to Tian Yi, “Go find Jiang Rui or stick with Song Ke. Song Ke managed to save Lin Xia, so she definitely won’t abandon you.”
Tian Yi held onto his sleeve, “Kongzi Qi, let’s think of a solution. There must be a way!”
Kongzi Qi tugged at the corners of his mouth, “There’s no solution, Tian Yi. I’m feeling really uncomfortable. Look, my hand isn’t listening to me anymore.”
His eyes were bloodshot, and the base of his nails had a faint grayish-white hue. His fingers were twitching uncontrollably.
“I want to live too. I want to remain human. I don’t want to turn into a zombie…”
Kongzi Qi’s smile was uglier than crying.
“Tian Yi, you must stay alive.”
