Black Sky - Chapter 3

The stifling heat pressed down like a giant net, and a pungent smoke filled the air, with the crackling sounds faintly mixed with hurried shouts coming from far and near.

Red light rose all around, and a ball of fire smashed head-on.

Fear struck suddenly, Bai Zi opened her eyes abruptly, the ball of fire suddenly dissipated, and all was dark before her.

Another nightmare.

Bai Zi’s heart was beating fast, she breathed out and closed her eyes.

Without looking, she knew where she was lying – walls on all sides, not even a window, only a single bed against the wall, no different from a prison cell. And Bai Zi’s attire at this time was also similar to that of a prisoner – a white T-shirt and white trousers printed with a code, a mask on her mouth, and an electric shock collar around her neck.

The reason why Bai Zi ended up in this place was all due to the wound on her arm where she was bitten by the little boy.

At that moment, although Bai Zi didn’t feel any pain, the “not very painful” bite mark, which had only oozed some red stains a second ago, was now gushing blood like a downpour.

Facing a pair of eyes staring at her, Bai Zi lowered her head to look at her arm, as if a little annoyed, then she looked up at Meng Yilan again, and after a while, she didn’t even know why, she actually raised the corners of her mouth and unfolded a smile again.

The smile was very pure, like a three-year-old child, sad for accidentally falling, but soon relieved.

At this time, Bai Zi saw Meng Yilan suddenly walking towards her, but was immediately stopped by Huo Luxiao. At the same time, a group of policemen rushed out of the elevator behind her, including several medical staff in white protective suits.

Someone pointed at Bai Zi and said something to the police.

“She has a bite wound on her hand!” A medical staff member suddenly raised his voice and shouted.

Immediately, all the police pointed their guns at Bai Zi.

“Put your hands up.” A policeman ordered Bai Zi in a deep voice.

Bai Zi’s smile faded, and she looked up at the gun in the policeman’s hand.

She remembered the zombie movies she had watched. According to convention, she should be shot in the head by the police – to prevent the spread of the zombie virus.

“Put your hands up!” The policeman added in a heavier tone.

Unexpectedly, Bai Zi actually curled the corners of her mouth again, but this time, she didn’t look at Meng Yilan again, but stared at the dark gun hole pointing at her.

At this time, Meng Yilan, who was being stopped by Huo Luxiao, suddenly changed her face. Bai Zi just wanted to turn her head to take a closer look, but a slight sting came from the back of her neck. Then, she realized that there was a white figure standing behind her, holding a thin needle in his hand, the tip of which had been inserted into the back of her neck.

Two policemen rushed forward and pressed Bai Zi to the ground without any effort.

Bai Zi’s cheek was pressed tightly against the ground, and the reek of blood rushed into her nose. In just a few seconds, Bai Zi fell asleep before she could steal one last glance at Meng Yilan.

At that time, Bai Zi hoped that she would sleep forever and never wake up again.

But things didn’t go as she wished.

Thinking of this, Bai Zi, who had just woken up from a nightmare, couldn’t help but sigh again. She didn’t sit up from the bed but raised her hand. As she expected, the skin on her arm felt a needle-like sting.

The sting came from the festering cracks seeping blood on Bai Zi’s arm. At this time, Bai Zi’s arm was no longer as smooth and delicate as before, but cracked like dry land, and the skin was swollen and presented a terrifying color of red and purple. Not only her arms, but Bai Zi’s whole body had festered into a bloody mess.

Bai Zi sighed again and thought with a wry smile that the sun was so bright that day, I should have jumped off the building directly.

If Bai Zi used to live in hell, then now, she is in purgatory.

On the first day she opened her eyes in this prison-like room, Bai Zi vaguely wondered, with a net muzzle over her mouth and a collar around her neck, had I not turned into a zombie, but into a dog?

In fact, her life afterwards was not even as good as a dog’s.

“This is just to prevent accidents from happening, you don’t have to worry about it.” At that time, a kind-faced white-haired old man stood by the bed, comforting Bai Zi who was trying to take off the net muzzle.

Then, while wiping the gold-rimmed glasses on his hand, he explained to Bai Zi in an extremely gentle tone that she had to undergo isolation treatment because she was bitten by a “mutant”, and then said in an extremely sad tone,

“We tried to contact your family, but found that your parents have already… But you still have a half-brother. Although we can’t contact him at the moment, we will try to contact your other relatives. Until then, you must stay here for isolation treatment.”

Finally, the white-haired old man gently put on glasses for Bai Zi, and asked very patiently: “Do you have anything you want to ask?”

Bai Zi finally saw the face of the white-haired old man clearly. She thought for half a minute and opened her mouth: “Why, why do you call them mutants, instead of… ‘zombies’?”

The white-haired old man raised his eyebrows and was silent for half a minute, answering: “Because they are not dead, they cannot be called ‘corpses’.”

Bai Zi asked again: “Can, can I, change to a room with, with a window?”

The white-haired old man was silent for another half minute, then offered Bai Zi an extremely polite yet obviously perfunctory smile: “I will report it to them.”

After that, Bai Zi was locked up.

On the second day of confinement, Bai Zi was taken out of the room by a medical staff member in a protective suit.

Outside the door was a white corridor so long she could hardly see the end. On both sides of the corridor were countless iron doors. As she passed these iron doors, Bai Zi could hear gasps and roars from within, and smell the fetid stench of rotten meat, as if restless, prehistoric behemoths were locked inside.

The caregiver took Bai Zi to another floor and gave her a very detailed physical examination.

During this period, Bai Zi had been looking for two things – a window and a clock. But strangely, she didn’t even see the shadow of these two things, whether in the corridor or in the examination room.

After drawing blood, Bai Zi opened her mouth and asked the medical staff member who had been staying by her side: “Excuse me, what time is it now?”

The medical staff member had not said a word since letting her out of the room, and was wrapped in a protective suit from head to toe, only revealing a pair of eyes. Bai Zi could not read the medical staff member’s emotions from them.

Sure enough, the other party did not answer Bai Zi’s question, but silently sent her back again.

The next day, the same thing happened.

On the third day, it was still the same.

After that, it was the same every day.

Strangely, during this period, the medical staff did not send Bai Zi any medicines, food or drinks.

Even stranger, Bai Zi never felt hungry, nor did she feel thirsty.

But at the same time, a inexplicable “desire” suddenly appeared in the depths of her heart.

This “desire” had nothing to do with sex, but an extreme need for some unknown thing. Bai Zi’s mood became increasingly irritable and unable to sleep because of this feeling that she had never experienced before. It was at this time that her body began to show signs of decay.

First, her hair began to fall out. In the beginning, it was just a small tuft, but later, a large handful would fall out with a casual grab, and Bai Zi soon went bald.

Then, her skin began to ulcerate. The bite wound not only did not heal, but became more serious. Other originally intact parts also cracked due to Bai Zi’s occasional small bumps, and then bled, became inflamed, and finally oozed pus until they ulcerated.

If the burn scars around her left eye were once Bai Zi’s “ugly spot” that was difficult to show to others, now her entire festering body had become an “ugly spot” that she couldn’t face the world.

Days passed, and no one came to visit Bai Zi, neither the brother who could not be contacted, nor a distant relative whose appearance she could not even remember, nor the person hidden in the deepest part of Bai Zi’s heart.

Meng Yilan.

As soon as she thought of this name, Bai Zi would overturn her assumption – the sun was so bright that day, she should have jumped off the building directly – fortunately she didn’t jump, otherwise, she couldn’t imagine, and didn’t dare to imagine what Meng Yilan would have encountered.

For Bai Zi, who was suffering in purgatory, Meng Yilan was her only anesthetic.

But now, the anesthetic seemed to be useless.

Bai Zi’s physical condition was getting worse and worse. She, who could have faced life and death calmly, was increasingly unable to endure the bone-eroding pain and the strange desire that was becoming more and more manic in the depths of her heart.

Despite this, the medical staff still recorded Bai Zi’s physical condition as usual. Rather than calling this “isolation treatment”, it was more like “isolation observation”.

After who knows how many days and nights, Bai Zi didn’t even have the strength to get out of bed.

She could only lie on the bed, motionless, listening to the low roars coming from the other side of the wall. Those were people who, like Bai Zi, had to undergo “isolation treatment” because they were bitten by “mutants”. Bai Zi estimated that there were at least hundreds of them in total.

Although she had not communicated with another “patient” so far, she could still explore their condition through hearing and smell.

Unreasonable beasts – Bai Zi could only describe the state of those people in this way.

Maybe she would soon become like them. She even looked forward to it, anticipating the moment when she would completely mutate, lose her mind, and become a crazed beast, so she would no longer need to so clearly experience the double torment on the physiological and psychological levels.

But conversely, compared to her increasingly weak body, Bai Zi’s thinking became more and more active, and also more agile and clear than before. Her brain was like a non-stop motor, grabbing onto a small detail and starting to think about it over and over again, so that even her nightmares became more detailed and vivid than before.

For Bai Zi, this was the most cruel torture—whenever she fell asleep in exhausted pain, the nightmare of the fire that night would replay itself over and over again in her mind.

And now, Bai Zi woke up from the nightmare for who knows the nth time, and the exclamations of her parents and the whistling of the fire seemed to still be hovering in her ears. But before the fear brought by the nightmare could fade away, a sense of unease from reality suddenly appeared.

Something is wrong.

Since there was no window or clock, Bai Zi could only rely on her intuition to calculate the passage of time. She always used falling asleep in exhaustion as the end of the day, followed by waking up in a nightmare, and starting the day with being taken to check her body.

But today, she had been awake for a long time, but the medical staff had not yet appeared.

Bai Zi couldn’t even count how many times she had repeatedly fallen asleep and how many times she had repeatedly woken up, but the iron door was still not opened.

This was also good, anyway, she couldn’t walk anymore, and she didn’t even have the strength to open her eyes – even if she opened her eyes, Bai Zi couldn’t see anything – not long ago, she couldn’t help but smash her glasses against the wall to vent her anger because of the extreme pain in her head. The lenses were broken, and even the frames were broken because of this. Without glasses, I am no different from a blind person.

As Bai Zi thought this, footsteps came from outside the door.

The door opened.

Although she didn’t even have the strength to open her eyes, Bai Zi clearly noticed that today was different from usual – two people came.

The two people did not speak. After they entered the door, there was a rustling sound. Bai Zi felt that her body was lifted up like cargo, and then placed on a mobile bed.

Bai Zi heard the sound of wheels rolling on the ground.

The mobile bed was pushed into the elevator. After a while, the mobile bed was pushed away from the elevator again.

As soon as she left the elevator door, the temperature dropped sharply.

Bai Zi immediately knew that this was not the way to check her body.

In the cold air, there was a smoky smell mixed with a fetid stench. Although Bai Zi couldn’t move, the inexplicable sense of unease made her hair stand on end.

The two people who transported Bai Zi here finally spoke.

“Lao Gao, is it really burning?”

“What else? Wait for the Dongchuang incident, and let the two of us take the blame?”

“This is all the team leader’s plan, what does it have to do with the two of us?!”

“Then you find the team leader back?”

“He’s been missing for a month after the explosion, how can I find him?”

“Then why are you talking nonsense?”

“But, that woman said she was coming…”

“Coming for what? If we don’t burn it, the King of Hell will come first! Hurry up!”

Immediately afterwards, Bai Zi felt that she was being hugged onto a cold, long iron plate. Then, an ear-piercing sliding sound rang out, and her body seemed to be pushed into a narrow place along the iron plate. At the same time, the smoky smell became more and more intense.

“Wait a minute…”

Bai Zi felt the jade on her neck being pulled off.

“You’re taking this too?”

“Brother, in this world now, we can’t take care of so much.”

“Ahh, that’s right, if she hadn’t turned into this ghostly appearance, I was still thinking about…”

“You’re really an animal!”

In the laughter, a loud “bang” came from above Bai Zi’s head, as if an iron door had been closed.

The two people outside the door were going to burn her to ashes – Bai Zi thought this, and the fear suddenly increased. She seemed to hear her parents frantically calling out to her in the raging flames again. She wanted to open her eyes, but she couldn’t even muster the strength to frown. She only felt that her body seemed to be suspended at the top of an endless abyss, and would lose weight and fall at any time.

Bai Zi could jump off a hundred-story building without caring. She didn’t care about life and death.

But she couldn’t bear it, the nightmare turned into reality again.

There was a crisp sound of metal being pulled, followed by a deafening roar.

A heat wave struck, and flames rose all around.

As usual in the nightmare, intermittent shouts came from afar.

Xiao Zi…fire…

A sharp pain came from her arms, and the smell of burning flesh entered Bai Zi’s nose.

Run…Xiao Zi…

Bai Zi felt that her body was slowly merging with the surrounding fetid stench.

Fire…run…Xiao Zi…

Finally, Bai Zi sighed and curled the corners of her mouth.

Don’t run, what else is there to run for?

Maybe, for someone like me, dying in a nightmare is the most perfect ending, but—

Meng Yilan.

These two words suddenly appeared in Bai Zi’s mind, as well as the other person’s face that she missed so much.

That’s right, if it weren’t for Meng Yilan, she, Bai Zi, would have left this world nine years ago. Bai Zi was quite fortunate to be able to meet Meng Yilan again in these extra years.

At this moment, the roar in Bai Zi’s ears suddenly stopped.

The sound of metal being pulled rang out again.

The iron door was opened.

The fetid smell of smoke dissipated, and cool air blew in. Bai Zi’s body was pulled out of the incinerator along the iron plate.

A strange breath approached Bai Zi, but rather than a breath, it should be called a feeling, both familiar and strange. Bai Zi’s panic gradually dissipated because of the approach of this breath.

Then, Bai Zi felt a small tube being inserted into her mouth, and liquid was injected into her mouth along the tube.

This was a cold liquid with a strong, metallic scent. It flooded Bai Zi’s taste buds and poured into her throat. Suddenly, the unknown desire in the depths of Bai Zi’s heart seemed to awaken, compelling Bai Zi to tighten her throat in an instant and suck the liquid into her mouth.

Her weak and powerless body seemed to have regained some moisture, and Bai Zi actually had the strength to open her eyes.

Under the dazzling incandescent light, she saw a blurry figure staring at her.

Before she could see clearly, fatigue forced Bai Zi to close her eyes again.

But this fatigue was not as painful as before, but with a comforting ease, as if floating on a cloud, allowing Bai Zi not to think about anything, nor needing to think about anything.

Before Bai Zi lost consciousness, she felt something slightly cold gently tapping her chin three times.