Black Sky - Chapter 11

Bai Zi couldn’t understand Meng Yilan’s actions, just as she couldn’t understand the “no daylight” thing at all.

Just a dozen minutes ago, she had prepared herself to never see Meng Yilan again in this life.

Earlier, when Bai Zi, holding a shotgun, was leading Fatty Qiu and being chased by a dozen mutants, she didn’t feel any fear, any anxiety, or any sadness. The only emotion that surged in her heart was excitement.

A year ago, “running” was never something that the frail Bai Zi liked to do. This didn’t mean that she hated running, she just couldn’t find a reason to “love” running.

Back then, running only made her breathless, sweaty, and waste of time. She had never experienced things like “the endorphins produced by the body during running filling her with pleasure.”

She would only feel tired, and her legs would ache.

But just a dozen minutes ago, after not running for nearly a year, Bai Zi’s legs were like a cell phone that had just been fully charged, or a can of soda that had been shaken hundreds of times by a kid and was about to explode. They couldn’t wait to release their energy wantonly in the mud and grass.

What made Bai Zi even more excited was that, while running fast, in the pitch-black night that should have been impossible to see anything, she could use her right eye to see everything coming towards her and passing by her extremely clearly—although it wasn’t in color, only monotonous gray—but every branch, and even every leaf, was meticulously recorded in her eyes.

This was a wonderful experience that she had never even thought of before.

Bai Zi felt like she was a “runaway wild horse.” The reins that had been binding her all along had suddenly disappeared, and everything that had been suffocating her seemed to vanish in an instant. She felt that if she jumped a little harder, she could even jump to the moon.

In this extremely excited mood, this wild horse ran faster and faster, and then she finally discovered that Fatty Qiu, who had been following behind her, and those dozen mutants were all gone.

So she stopped, but not to turn back and look for Fatty Qiu, but to stand in place and rest for a while.

Bai Zi didn’t care at all whether the others were dead or alive. As long as Meng Yilan was safe in the gas station, that was enough.

Just as she was standing in place, wholeheartedly feeling the tranquility and comfort of the dark forest, she suddenly saw Meng Yilan, who should have been hiding in the gas station, running towards her breathlessly at the end of the dense forest.

The person she thought she would never see again had reappeared in the blink of an eye.

It was also at this time that she discovered that a mutant who had been wandering in the forest had turned his head and walked towards Meng Yilan because he heard her movements. So, Bai Zi stepped forward lightly and quickly pulled Meng Yilan behind a boulder.

To Bai Zi’s surprise, this wasn’t just a simple boulder, but a hollowed-out giant stone ball.

Almost immediately, Bai Zi put her arm around Meng Yilan, bent down, and hid in the stone ball. Like a mother hen protecting her chicks, she faced the other woman and hugged her, who was sitting on the ground, in her arms.

Although Meng Yilan was taller than Bai Zi, she looked incredibly petite when squatting in the stone ball.

Because she was tense, Bai Zi didn’t realize that her actions were too intimate, but Meng Yilan, on the contrary, didn’t feel too nervous because of a strange sense of security. However, what Meng Yilan cared about wasn’t their tightly pressed bodies, but Bai Zi’s surprisingly warm body temperature.

Like a personal heater emitting warmth, closely wrapping Meng Yilan’s body in all directions, this feeling actually reminded her of soaking in hot springs in the snowy wilderness abroad in the past, which was also so gentle and comfortable.

As if possessed, Meng Yilan relaxed her body, letting the other woman hug her so tightly.

The mutant standing behind Bai Zi made bursts of gasps and stench. Although he didn’t find his prey, his feet seemed to be nailed to the spot, neither coming in nor leaving.

Bai Zi didn’t notice Meng Yilan’s strangeness at all. She closed her eyes and carefully identified the sounds in the darkness. In addition to the mutant standing outside the stone ball and refusing to leave, there were several others wandering around, so, even though she had a shotgun in her hand, she didn’t dare to act rashly—after all, the person she was protecting now was Meng Yilan, and she couldn’t allow any mistakes to occur.

She didn’t know how long had passed, so long that Bai Zi had begun to ignore the gasping sound behind her, when suddenly, the sound of branches shaking rang out not far away. Immediately, the mutants behind her and around her were all attracted by the movement and walked towards the direction of the sound.

After confirming that there were no mutants within a hundred meters, Bai Zi immediately lowered her head, preparing to help Meng Yilan up and take her away.

But she found that Meng Yilan in her arms was closing her eyes, her eyebrows relaxed, and her breathing was slow and steady—she had actually fallen asleep.

Bai Zi estimated that it was probably around two or three in the morning, so she quietly took off her coat, draped it over Meng Yilan, and maintained the kneeling position, blocking the cold wind from the outside, so that the person in her arms could sleep longer and more soundly.

Bai Zi, who was only wearing two thin shirts, didn’t feel cold, but rather felt like she was in an autumn night, cool and comfortable. She closed her eyes and listened carefully to the surrounding movements—apart from the “rustling” sound of the branches swaying occasionally after being blown by the wind, and the sound of Meng Yilan’s breathing in her arms, there were no other sounds.

After confirming that there were no threats nearby, Bai Zi breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, a little fatigue spread to her limbs, but she still stiffened her body and didn’t want to move even a bit.

After who knows how long, Bai Zi suddenly felt the person in her arms jolt—Meng Yilan woke up.

At the same time, Bai Zi discovered that a faint green light was flashing continuously under the other party’s collar.

In the darkness, Meng Yilan looked dazed, as if she had been awakened by a shock.

The light continued to flash, and Bai Zi couldn’t help but ask in a low voice, “On your body…”

These few words made Meng Yilan suddenly come back to her senses, and within two seconds, she remembered the situation she was in. She immediately lifted the coat that Bai Zi had put on her, groped around at her collar, and quickly took out a necklace with a small, glowing thing hanging on it.

Bai Zi recognized that it was a watch with the strap removed, the style was exactly the same as the watches that Shi Lei, Uncle Ma, and Sister Hua wore on their wrists.

Meng Yilan gently pressed on the edge of the watch, and the light immediately stopped flashing. The screen showed that it was 4:30 AM, which was exactly the wake-up time that Uncle Ma had set yesterday.

It had only been one night, but there had been earth-shattering changes.

“Sorry,” Meng Yilan said apologetically, “I forgot to turn off the alarm…” Then she asked a little incredulously, “I fell asleep?”

“Yeah,” Bai Zi nodded, and asked in confusion, “Why does your alarm only flash lights, and not make any sound?”

Meng Yilan, who had just woken up, was obviously not fully awake. She let Bai Zi take the coat again and wrap herself tightly, thought for a long while, and then explained patiently: “This is a kind of alarm specifically for mutants…” She suddenly stopped, and looked up at Bai Zi, “Can’t you hear it?”

“Hear what?” Bai Zi asked back.

Meng Yilan said in a low voice: “The sound of this alarm, only mutants can’t hear it.”

The two looked at each other, speechless for a moment.

Finally, Bai Zi nodded stiffly, and changed the subject: “Just now…how did you untie the leg ropes?”

Meng Yilan coughed lightly, tacitly avoiding talking about the sound, and said casually: “I burned them with the boiler.”

After A Ben finished boiling the ginger soup, he casually left the boiler aside, and it was easy for Meng Yilan to get it.

Bai Zi looked down, and found that a large hole had been burned in the pants at Meng Yilan’s ankle.

“I shouldn’t have stopped you from leaving earlier.” Meng Yilan sighed softly.

That way, Bai Zi wouldn’t have been dragged into this mess, and almost been used as feed and thrown into the trap.

Bai Zi lowered her head and didn’t speak.

“How did you know,” Meng Yilan asked again, “that there were no bullets in the handgun?”

“When Fatty Qiu went to the toilet,” Bai Zi said softly, “I accidentally pressed the magazine release.” That’s why she was so fearless and directly pressed Fatty Qiu’s hand away, not letting him point the gun at Meng Yilan – even though there were no bullets inside, Bai Zi couldn’t bear anyone threatening Meng Yilan in front of her.

Meng Yilan was slightly stunned: “He doesn’t even trust Fatty Qiu.”

“In the end, Fatty Qiu did point the gun at A Ben.” Bai Zi said.

Meng Yilan chuckled lightly: “A fence-sitter, you clearly saved him… By the way, where is he?”

After meeting Meng Yilan, Bai Zi had completely forgotten about that fatty: “I ran too fast just now, he probably got lost.”

Meng Yilan was about to say something, but suddenly realized that the coat that was draped over her should have been worn by Bai Zi, so she quickly handed the clothes to the other party, but was stopped: “I’m not cold.”

Holding Bai Zi’s hand in confusion, Meng Yilan then realized that Bai Zi’s body temperature was still extremely warm, just like it was in the basement.

Bai Zi, who had hugged Meng Yilan and slept for a while without feeling anything wrong, felt extremely nervous because of the sudden physical contact between the two. She withdrew her hand: “You shouldn’t have chased after me.”

Meng Yilan then realized belatedly that her posture of holding Bai Zi’s hands was too intimate, and that her behavior of chasing after Bai Zi regardless of everything was even more incomprehensible. It was completely opposite to her usual calm and self-possessed self – as if Bai Zi was someone very important to her that she couldn’t bear to part with.

How could that be.

“Don’t misunderstand,” Meng Yilan deliberately cooled down her tone. She stood up, wrapped herself tightly in the coat that Bai Zi had just worn, and walked towards the outside of the stone ball, “I’m not worried about you, I said, you shouldn’t always block in front of me…”

Suddenly, the watch hanging around Meng Yilan’s neck fell to the ground because it wasn’t fastened properly, and rolled along the stone crevice behind the two of them.

Meng Yilan immediately turned back, wanting to pick up the watch, but found that the watch, which was emitting a little light, kept rolling forward along the stone crevice, and finally, it turned a corner and disappeared into the darkness – but the sound of rolling still came clearly, like some kind of bouncing sound with an echo, rolling down from a very high place.

Bai Zi followed Meng Yilan forward, and she quickly saw clearly that what she thought was just a narrow space dug out of a huge stone block actually had an extremely long slide leading to the underground.

Before Bai Zi could remind her, Meng Yilan accidentally slipped, and Bai Zi grabbed the other party’s elbow as if by instinct, but it was too late. The two of them, like that watch, slid down the dark passage.

In the chaos, Bai Zi calmly grabbed the shotgun, and then quickly flipped over, putting herself at the bottom, tightly hugging Meng Yilan in her arms, protecting all the parts of her that might be injured.

At this time, Meng Yilan suddenly remembered that a year ago, on the day the sun disappeared, Bai Zi was also like this, relying only on a water pipe, tightly hugging her and slowly falling from the rooftop. But the difference was that the current Bai Zi was like a ball of fire, gently wrapping her in her arms.

The slide was very long, and the two probably slid for nearly ten seconds. Bai Zi had already prepared herself to fall half to death, but in the end, they landed on a rather soft place – an old air cushion covered with dirt and dead leaves.

It was as if someone had deliberately placed the air cushion here to prevent people from being injured by the rapid fall.

Not far away, there was a faint green light, which was Meng Yilan’s fallen watch.

Bai Zi helped Meng Yilan stand up: “Are you hurt?”

Meng Yilan was about to shake her head, but by the dim light, she discovered that Bai Zi’s sleeve had been torn during the slide, and a deep bloodstain had been scored on the skin underneath.

She immediately grabbed the other party’s wrist: “Your hand, you have to stop the bleeding immediately.”

Bai Zi looked down, and said indifferently: “It’s just a small injury.”

Suddenly, the sound of branches shaking came from above the two’s heads.

Meng Yilan quickly pulled out the handgun from her waist, turned on the small flashlight on it, and aimed it at the air, ready to pull the trigger at any time.

However, the shaking sound didn’t ring out again, and no creatures were seen in the light.

After a long while, Bai Zi, confirming that there was no movement, bent down, picked up the watch, and handed it to Meng Yilan.

Meng Yilan took the watch and put it back on, but still held the handgun tightly, not daring to relax.

Bai Zi led Meng Yilan slowly to a wall covered with vines. Through the gaps, Bai Zi saw a piece of paper pasted on the wall.

Suddenly, Bai Zi let out a soft laugh.

For some reason, this soft laugh made the extremely nervous Meng Yilan feel a little annoyed.

After reuniting with Bai Zi, she gradually realized that it wasn’t just her body temperature that had changed, but her entire mental state.

The former Bai Zi always gave people a very gloomy feeling, but now, she was like someone with no worries, saving her again and again, but always seemed relaxed and comfortable, even though there was a bloodstain on her arm that probably needed stitches, she didn’t care at all.

Meng Yilan glanced at Bai Zi’s arm, and seeing that the bleeding had stopped, she deliberately resisted asking about Bai Zi’s injury, but instead pushed the other party away and looked at the paper on the wall – “Precautions for the Children’s Playground Corner of Yongle Wildlife Park”.

Bai Zi laughed softly: “The last time I went to the zoo, it should have been when I was seven years old.”

Meng Yilan started to speak, then stopped abruptly, clamping her mouth shut. She inwardly cursed herself for almost letting Bai Zi’s attitude sway her, for nearly blurting out the last time she’d visited the zoo—of all things—in this desperate situation.

She pretended not to hear Bai Zi’s words, and instead looked around warily with the flashlight.

In addition to the dark passage that the two had just slid down, there were also some dilapidated small amusement facilities nearby, such as swings and seesaws.

“Since it’s a playground, there must be a way to get back up.” Bai Zi said, and walked forward on her own.

Meng Yilan wanted to stop her, but was worried that her voice would attract danger, so she could only follow Bai Zi quietly.

The two walked forward along the wall, the vines on the ground were dense and difficult to step on. Meng Yilan almost tripped several times, but was steadily supported by Bai Zi.

This feeling of being protected by the other party at any time made the displeasure in Meng Yilan’s heart even heavier.

The light of the handgun’s flashlight was limited, and couldn’t illuminate very far. Meng Yilan, who wasn’t wearing night vision goggles, couldn’t see everything around her clearly, and she became more and more nervous as she followed Bai Zi.

Suddenly, the sound of branches shaking rang out again not far away.

The two immediately stood in place, but soon, Bai Zi raised her leg and continued to walk forward.

“Bai Zi,” Meng Yilan finally couldn’t bear it anymore, and called out anxiously in a low voice, “Come back!”

Bai Zi ignored Meng Yilan, and still walked on her own, but soon stopped suddenly at a corner.

Meng Yilan immediately raised her handgun warily towards the corner, not daring to ask anything easily.

But Bai Zi turned her head, and said to Meng Yilan with a happy expression: “Come here!”

Looking at the smile on the other party’s face, Meng Yilan, who thought she was going to fight with mutants, was about to lose control of the anger in her heart, and almost raised her gun and shot the other party in the head to vent her inner dissatisfaction.

She took a deep breath, deliberately ignoring Bai Zi, and still stood in place, motionless.

“Hurry!” Bai Zi actually raised her voice, and waved to her – the bloodstain on Bai Zi’s arm was so dazzling that Meng Yilan’s eyes ached, so, she had no choice but to raise her gun and approach slowly.

Then, Meng Yilan saw the most psychedelic scene she had ever seen in her life.