Black Sky - Chapter 13

For a moment, there was no sound other than Mao Mao’s smacking as she chewed on the biscuit.

Bai Zi stood blankly by the dead tree, looking at Meng Yilan sitting next to her, feeling utterly perplexed by the sudden chill in the atmosphere.

She believed that she hadn’t said anything wrong, nor had she done anything out of line.

That way, we can completely sever ties—what should have been a perfect answer that earned full marks had instead led to Meng Yilan suddenly darkening her face and falling silent.

Bai Zi was truly at a loss. What did it matter to Meng Yilan whether or not I wanted to return to Bei City? But she still honestly answered the question, and then told a lie.

She did want to return to Bei City, but not to sever ties with Meng Yilan, but because she wanted to spend more time with her.

Perhaps her acting was too poor, and the other party had seen through her lie?

Just as she was about to add a few more sentences, emphasizing that she really only wanted to sever ties and was prepared to never see each other again, Meng Yilan suddenly took out the watch from her collar, looked at it, then took it off and handed it to Bai Zi.

“I forgot about this,” she said, standing up, a faint smile on her face, as if the oppressive atmosphere from just now had never existed. “Although it can’t pinpoint the location of the gas station, it can show people who also have this watch within a thousand meters.”

Bai Zi took the watch and saw a dot that wasn’t far away on the water ink screen emitting a pale green light. “Could it be Fatty Qiu?” She suddenly thought of the fatty she had forgotten about for a long time.

Meng Yilan pulled out the handgun from her waist: “Or it could be someone else.”

Bai Zi nodded, but couldn’t bring herself to be happy.

It should be easy to find that person within a thousand meters. No matter who it was, it was an opportunity for them to go to Bei City smoothly—an opportunity for them to sever ties smoothly.

Bai Zi secretly bit her lip. She didn’t like her current mental state.

Just a few tens of minutes ago, she was like a wild horse, running carefree through the forest.

And now, that feeling of “reluctance” towards Meng Yilan was like a demon’s claw, dragging her into some terrifying abyss.

What Bai Zi found even more unacceptable was that the her from a year ago had never had this kind of messy, clingy state.

Could it be that the mutant virus could also make the infected become sentimental?

Perhaps, only by leaving Meng Yilan could I get rid of this emotion. But immediately, Shi Lei’s face appeared in Bai Zi’s mind. What if that person was going to do something to Meng Yilan again?

Bai Zi pondered secretly, perhaps, I should do something before leaving.

Seeing that the two of them looked ready to go, Mao Mao smacked her lips and also stood up.

Meng Yilan stroked its bald head and asked, “Do you want to come with us?”

“You want to take it with us?” Bai Zi frowned.

“Although I don’t know how it survived,” Meng Yilan sighed, “It must have suffered a lot.”

Bai Zi suddenly realized that Meng Yilan’s way of treating Mao Mao wasn’t much different from how she treated her.

For some reason, Bai Zi felt her mood darken even further.

Mao Mao, however, couldn’t read the atmosphere at all. She raised her left hand, which was holding the blanket, and climbed onto Bai Zi’s shoulder, unceremoniously climbing onto Bai Zi’s back like before, her feet wrapped around Bai Zi’s waist.

Meng Yilan frowned: “Is it heavy? Or should I…”

“It’s not heavy,” Bai Zi turned sideways, avoiding Meng Yilan’s outstretched hand. “Let’s go.” After saying that, she walked slowly in the direction indicated by the watch.

In just a few tens of seconds, the mental states of the two seemed to have completely reversed.

Although she clearly felt that Bai Zi’s attitude had changed, Meng Yilan didn’t delve into it or try to persuade her any further. She just quickened her pace to follow, but suddenly felt a darkness in front of her eyes.

Meng Yilan quickly stood in place, stabilized her mind, and then caught up with the person who was already walking further and further away.

Bai Zi hadn’t noticed this scene. Right now, all she was thinking about was, returning to Bei City, the sooner the better.

The surroundings were still dim. Although it was almost six in the morning, the color of the sky was no different from what Bai Zi recognized as late at night. Fortunately, there was no sign of any mutants nearby. Therefore, Bai Zi also deliberately quickened her pace. At this speed, they should be able to find the person who also have a watch in less than ten minutes.

But for some reason, just as the two stepped out of the square, Mao Mao on Bai Zi’s back suddenly jumped to the ground.

As if there were fierce beasts ahead, Mao Mao behaved extremely anxiously, using its only remaining left hand to pull Bai Zi back hard. When it discovered that Bai Zi was unmoved, it began to tug at Meng Yilan’s pants, seemingly wanting her to return to the square with it.

“What’s wrong with it?” Meng Yilan squatted down, wanting to gently stroke Mao Mao’s head, but the other party dodged sideways, bared its teeth, and tugged at Meng Yilan’s coat, retreating hard.

Bai Zi increasingly felt that Mao Mao’s posture at this time was exactly the same as her own, who was unwilling to sever ties with Meng Yilan a year ago.

Back then, in order to protect Meng Yilan, she had pushed Shi Lei and that small bomb into the sea, but had instead incurred Meng Yilan’s disgust. But at the time, she wasn’t overcome with sadness, she only wanted to explain the situation to her. But Meng Yilan ignored her, only treating her like a lunatic.

Thinking this, Bai Zi was secretly startled, I was actually resenting Meng Yilan.

What right do I have to resent Meng Yilan?

Bai Zi once again realized that this kind of mentality had never existed before.

After realizing this, Bai Zi couldn’t help but feel an extreme sense of disgust towards herself.

She immediately stopped herself from thinking further, hardened her heart, stepped forward and forcibly pulled Mao Mao’s hand away, and then shielded Meng Yilan behind her: “It probably doesn’t want to leave this place. We’ll have a chance to come back and find it later.”

As if sensing Bai Zi’s stubbornness, Mao Mao angrily opened its mouth and slapped Bai Zi hard on the stomach, then turned, grabbed the blanket, and with a whoosh, climbed up the nearby tree, disappearing in an instant.

“It might want to tell us something.” Meng Yilan looked up, searching for Mao Mao’s figure.

Bai Zi turned around and continued to walk forward: “That’s not important.”

Meng Yilan looked at Bai Zi’s back, frowned, and finally didn’t say anything more, silently following behind.

The two hadn’t walked for long when the wind suddenly picked up. Bai Zi’s hearing was affected, and she couldn’t determine whether there were any mutants nearby, so she slowed down her pace.

The zoo was very large. After leaving the square, the two continued to walk in the park for more than ten minutes, and the road signs changed from the feline animal area to the bird area. The watch’s positioning system was relatively crude, and couldn’t accurately measure the distance between them and the other watch, but fortunately, the other party didn’t seem to have moved.

The two walked forward silently, step by step, getting further and further away from the square, and the position of the other dot became more and more convergent with theirs, but just at this moment, they were forced to stop.

Not because they were tired, nor because there were mutants nearby, but because there was no road.

Bai Zi and Meng Yilan, after passing through a small forest specially for raising ostriches, suddenly discovered that they were standing above a bottomless abyss, or rather, standing on the edge of a long and deep chasm.

And the other dot displayed on the watch was right in the chasm under their feet.

“Look.” Bai Zi used the flashlight on the shotgun to illuminate the distance.

Meng Yilan turned her head and saw a two-story shopping mall standing on the edge of the cliff, but when the two approached, they discovered that this shopping mall only had the front half, including the entrance, while the back half was on the cliff on the other side of the chasm.

Without needing to think too much, the two could infer that this chasm wasn’t a natural landscape formed by geological changes hundreds or even thousands of years ago, but a strange phenomenon that had only appeared recently—this shopping mall that had been split in two was the evidence.

The glass door of the shopping mall had been shattered, and there were many bloodstains splattered on it.

Bai Zi stood by the door, and shone the flashlight into the store: “There shouldn’t be anyone inside, I…” Just as she was saying this, she discovered that Meng Yilan next to her was swaying as if she was about to faint, so she quickly reached out and pulled her.

“What’s wrong?” Bai Zi pulled Meng Yilan to the base of a tree opposite the store.

Meng Yilan took a deep breath, leaned against the tree trunk, and said softly: “Probably a bit of hypoglycemia.”

“You haven’t eaten anything from yesterday afternoon until now,” Bai Zi said, and turned her head to look at the store, “I’ll go in and see if there’s anything to eat.”

Just as she turned around, she was grabbed by Meng Yilan: “I’ll go with you.”

“You sit here,” Bai Zi raised her hand and pressed it on Meng Yilan’s shoulder, forcing the other party to sit down, “I’ll be right back.”

Meng Yilan wanted to insist on going with her, but found that she didn’t even have the strength to open her mouth. She could only sit blankly under the tree, watching Bai Zi quickly walk to the store door, use the butt of the shotgun to smash the glass shards on the door, and then, that thin body bent down and carefully crawled into the door.

After she couldn’t see Bai Zi, sleepiness suddenly swept over her. Meng Yilan closed her eyes and instantly fell asleep.

The half-remaining store had obviously not been visited for a long time, and was covered in sand everywhere, but what made Bai Zi feel despair was that this was a store selling animal dolls.

The shelves were filled with animal toys of all sizes, especially in the center of the store, a large teddy bear that was taller than a person was innocently staring at Bai Zi, as if carefully apologizing for the store not having any food.

The wind kept blowing from the broken opening of the store, and Bai Zi had to bend down to steady herself. Just as she was preparing to search at the counter, she accidentally kicked something soft.

That thing was kicked by Bai Zi under the counter. Before she could take a closer look, loud music suddenly rang out.

In this situation, playing music so blatantly was no different from courting death.

Bai Zi quickly lay on the ground, reached her hand under the counter, and grabbed the thing out.

It was a red panda doll, and the deafening music was coming from it.

Bai Zi slapped its head hard, and the music stopped immediately.

Then, she quickly returned to the door, and looked at Meng Yilan – that person was sitting under the tree, resting with her eyes closed.

Bai Zi looked around again, listening carefully. Apart from the sound of the wind, the vicinity was silent, and it seemed that the music just now hadn’t attracted anything.

Bai Zi breathed a sigh of relief, and then returned to the counter, and began to search for food. After searching for a long time, she finally found a small piece of sealed compressed biscuit from the deepest part of the drawer. Just as she happily picked it up, preparing to rush back, she suddenly held her breath when she looked out the window.

Meng Yilan, who had been sleeping, had opened her eyes at some point, but her face was pale and her expression was panicked.

Not far behind her, an extremely tall and strong figure was leaning against a small tree. Judging from its hunched posture and the festering wounds on its body, it seemed to be a mutant, but it was even taller than the mutants Bai Zi had encountered before, with a height of at least two meters, and its strong muscles were completely exposed.

At this time, it was supporting the tree while drooping its head and looking around – Bai Zi’s hair immediately stood on end, that guy could actually see things!

Bai Zi suddenly remembered the anxious look on Mao Mao’s face when it kept pulling her and Meng Yilan before leaving the square. Perhaps, this two-meter-tall monster was the monster that Mao Mao was afraid of.

The extremely tall mutant suddenly took two steps forward, and Bai Zi’s heart skipped a beat with its movements. Meng Yilan was sitting under the tree next to the mutant. As long as she made a little sound, or if that mutant suddenly turned its head, it could immediately discover Meng Yilan and tear her to pieces.

Meng Yilan bent her index finger on the handgun, she tried to raise the handgun, but was unable to move due to fear.

The mutant slowly turned its head, and was about to discover Meng Yilan next to it, when Bai Zi shouted loudly: “Hey!”

The mutant immediately turned its head and rushed towards the store.

Unlike Bai Zi, who carefully crawled through the glass hole, this guy swaggered and crashed open the door of the store, directly straddling in front of Bai Zi. Bai Zi immediately raised the shotgun and fired a shot at the other party’s chest.

The instantaneous impact caused the mutant to be knocked three meters away and fall to the ground. Even the toys and doors and windows behind him were scattered, but then, Bai Zi actually saw the mutant’s bloody gunshot wound healing at an extremely fast speed.

Bai Zi pulled the trigger again, but found that there were no bullets left.

The mutant stood up again. It roared angrily at Bai Zi, and violently reached out and snatched the shotgun, throwing it several meters away. Bai Zi resolutely turned her head and ran towards the edge of the cliff, with the mutant chasing closely behind her.

At this time, Meng Yilan was standing outside the store door, nervously holding the handgun, but was unable to shoot because she was afraid of hitting Bai Zi.

The wind was getting stronger and stronger. Bai Zi stood on the edge of the cliff, turned her head, and made eye contact with the two-meter-tall mutant. Only then did she see the other party’s face clearly.

Unlike the mutants she had encountered before, its skin was like it had vitiligo, covered with festering sores, and its eyes were even more bizarre, with tiny white pupils and jet-black whites – Bai Zi felt that what was standing in front of her wasn’t a mutant that had been transformed from a human, but a real monster.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and a bloody hole appeared in the mutant’s forehead.

Bai Zi turned her head and saw Meng Yilan standing at the door of the store, holding the handgun towards the mutant with a look of helplessness. But before Bai Zi could speak, she actually saw the mutant shake its body. Then, on its forehead, the bloody hole healed and disappeared as if by magic, leaving only a little bloodstain on it.

As if unharmed, the mutant charged again, and this time, Bai Zi had already prepared to hug the other party and roll off the cliff.

Just then, she heard a “goo” sound from above her head.

Bai Zi immediately looked up, and actually saw a familiar figure.

Mao Mao, who should have left long ago, had appeared on the second floor of the store. She was using her feet to grab the giant steel bars protruding from the broken walls, and was reaching out her only remaining left arm towards Bai Zi on the first floor.

The mutant was about to pounce on Bai Zi. In a split second, Bai Zi jumped up, grabbed Mao Mao’s left hand, and gritted her teeth to climb onto the second floor. Then she immediately turned around, just in time to see the mutant on the first floor pounce into empty air. Bai Zi then jumped down again, and stepped hard on the mutant’s hunched back.

In the next moment, the two-meter-tall guy was stepped on and fell forward, plunging into the abyss.

The terrifying roars faded away, and Bai Zi sat down on the ground, looking at the pitch-black chasm, panting heavily.

Hurried footsteps came from behind her, but stopped not far away.

Bai Zi turned her head and found Meng Yilan standing motionless by the shelf, staring straight at her.

Although there was no light, Bai Zi, who had gained night vision ability, could still see the other party’s extremely stiff face clearly.

“I found the compressed biscuits,” Bai Zi said, sitting on the ground, and weakly took out the biscuits from her pocket. Then she looked up at Mao Mao on the second floor, “Although you made a great contribution, you can’t eat these biscuits.”

Mao Mao pouted, grabbed a furry little yellow duck doll next to her and stuffed it into her mouth, biting it unwillingly.

Bai Zi turned her head to look at Meng Yilan again, but the other party was still motionless, like a stone statue. Remembering that the other party was hypoglycemic, Bai Zi quickly stood up, but before she could take two steps, Meng Yilan suddenly said nervously: “Don’t come over.”

Bai Zi immediately stopped in place, her heart shrinking into a ball.

Because, even though Meng Yilan used an extremely tough tone to say those cold four words, Bai Zi could still clearly hear the tremor in her voice that she couldn’t hide.

Meng Yilan is crying.