Black Sky - Chapter 32

On the highway, the jeep sped along at nearly 200 kilometers per hour.

Lin Quwei, sitting in the back seat, gripped the handle nervously, while Sister Hua silently fastened her seat belt.

Mao Mao, oblivious to the danger, stood on the passenger seat, excitedly looking out the window, seemingly knowing that the car was heading towards Bai Zi’s location, and occasionally let out excited cries.

Only Meng Yilan, who was driving, was the most calm.

She leaned back against the seat, her cold face revealing a hint of leisure. Except for the right hand holding the steering wheel being wrapped in a blood-soaked rag, which seemed a bit out of place, uninformed people would have thought she was driving to some place for a picnic.

But upon closer inspection, one could find that Meng Yilan’s eyes were fixed on the end of the road, with a terrifying murderous aura in her eyes, and her right foot had never been released from the accelerator since she stepped on it.

“Yilan,” After about half an hour, Lin Quwei finally dared to speak, “Going back rashly like this is truly dangerous…”

Before he could finish speaking, the car suddenly made a sharp turn, stopping abruptly.

The sudden braking caused Lin Quwei to hit the iron mesh again, while Sister Hua was unharmed because she had fastened her seat belt early on.

Meng Yilan pulled up the handbrake: “Get out of the car.”

After saying that, she got out of the car with Mao Mao, without even turning her head back.

Lin Quwei and Sister Hua, looking at each other in confusion, got out of the car and found that it was parked in an inconspicuous abandoned ranch.

This was one of the places that the freckled woman had stopped at on the way here. It was probably an unmanned supply point that they had set up in advance, with gasoline, food, and water hidden inside, and even a radio communication machine secretly set up.

Unless you were an insider, it would be impossible to find the valuable supplies in such a remote place.

On the second day after they left the prison, the freckled woman had used the radio communication machine at one of the supply points on the road to report the situation of the journey to the prison.

“This has nothing to do with you,” Meng Yilan said in a low voice, standing in front of a dilapidated wooden house. “You stay here, and I’ll have someone come and pick you up back to Bei City.”

“You’re going there alone?” Lin Quwei immediately objected. “Yilan, I don’t agree!”

Meng Yilan didn’t reply, turning around and walking into the wooden house with Mao Mao.

She lifted a few pieces of broken iron sheet in a corner on her own, and then found a pull ring. With a forceful tug, she pulled up a wooden board, revealing the stairs leading to the underground storage room.

Finding that he had been completely ignored, the expression on Lin Quwei’s face became even more unsightly.

In the past, no matter how big or small the matter was, Meng Yilan would patiently listen to Lin Quwei’s opinions. Even if his opinions were contrary to Meng Yilan’s thoughts, she would respect them, and had never treated him so coldly as she was now.

While Lin Quwei was still struggling, Meng Yilan had already started the radio receiver, and had connected with the Black Bridge Company, communicating in a voice-encrypted manner.

“Yes, Mr. Ma has already helped me find the ‘goods,’ but,” Meng Yilan’s originally calm tone suddenly sank, “On the way back, Mr. Ma and a group of people had a quarrel, and they took Mr. Ma and my ‘goods’ back to their camp. The other party…seems to be from ‘Yongtai’.”

Since the outbreak of the virus, besides “Black Bridge” rapidly developing domestically due to its own position, a new security company called “Yongtai” had also emerged, but in reality, they were always disrupting or secretly stealing “Black Bridge’s” business.

In just half a year, the power of Yongtai Company had grown several times, and Black Bridge Company had begun to try to suppress Yongtai in every possible way, driving the people of Yongtai out of several major green zones in the country, and then secretly searching and eliminating their camps throughout the country, intending to wipe them out completely.

When the people from Black Bridge heard the first half of Meng Yilan’s words, they had originally wanted to deny it, but after hearing the words “Yongtai,” they immediately said that they would seriously deal with it, and asked for the detailed address.

“In a deserted area south of the Qifu Interchange Bridge,” Meng Yilan said, and added, “There aren’t many guards in that place. It should be a supply depot converted from a prison, with a lot of cargo boxes.”

“Miss Meng, you’re our old customer, we will definitely send someone to deal with it immediately, and find the ‘goods’ for you. Please rest assured.”

After ending the call, Sister Hua, who was leaning against the wall, couldn’t help but complain: “You want to use ‘Black Bridge’? But relying on them alone is just like hitting a stone with an egg.”

Meng Yilan ignored Sister Hua, and lowered her head to operate the radio receiver again, connecting to another channel, and once again communicating through voice encryption: “Yes, it’s me. This is how it is, there’s an emergency situation…Yes, I need you ‘Yongtai’ to come and deal with it. It’s the people from ‘Black Bridge’…”

She said almost the same words again, only the two roles in the conversation had been switched.

After ending the call again, Sister Hua’s attitude had completely changed, and she even looked at Meng Yilan with a hint of awe: “I didn’t expect that you could contact ‘Yongtai’.”

Ever since being suppressed by the Black Bridge Company, the Yongtai Company had become very cautious in its actions, and it was difficult to contact them unless you were an extremely important customer.

Although she knew Meng Yilan’s identity, she also knew that Meng Yilan didn’t have any contact with “Hongya” at the moment.

Meng Yilan ignored Sister Hua’s question, and instead asked, “How much explosives do we have?”

Sister Hua was stunned, nodded, and added: “Not much.”

Lin Quwei still refused to give up, and tried to persuade Meng Yilan to abandon this plan again. The always gentle and refined Lin Quwei rarely showed anger: “Yilan, are you sure you can succeed one hundred percent? You should know that if this kind of thing goes wrong, you’ll lose your life.”

Meng Yilan of course knew that this plan was full of loopholes, and that if anything went wrong, all her previous efforts would be in vain.

At that time, not only would she not be able to rescue Bai Zi, but she would even lose her own life. But this was the fastest and most direct solution that Meng Yilan could think of in the current situation.

What she wanted wasn’t certainty, but definitely.

She had to be one hundred percent certain.

“Sorry,” Meng Yilan turned her head, and said to Lin Quwei and Sister Hua, “I have to contact one more person, but the content of the call has to be kept secret.”

Lin Quwei’s anger was extinguished by Meng Yilan’s indifferent words. He knew that Meng Yilan wouldn’t listen to a single word he said, and could only sigh, following Sister Hua out of the underground storage room.

About ten minutes later, Meng Yilan returned to the car. She still didn’t pay attention to Lin Quwei, and directly said to Sister Hua: “Take out the explosives.”

Then, Meng Yilan opened the back of the car, and dragged the freckled woman, who was tied up inside, out of the car.

In Lin Quwei and Sister Hua’s confused eyes, Meng Yilan wrapped all the explosives around the freckled woman’s coat.

After confirming that the explosives couldn’t be easily removed, Meng Yilan took out a remote control, and waved it in front of the freckled woman’s eyes: “Next, you’ll do whatever I tell you to do—otherwise, if you want to run away or do anything else, I’ll press this button without hesitation, just like you did before. At that time, you won’t just be ‘shocked’.”

The freckled woman stared blankly at Meng Yilan’s cold and beautiful face, which was so beautiful, but exuded a murderous aura that made one tremble.

Seeing that the freckled woman seemed to be frightened, Meng Yilan leaned closer slightly, and asked patiently: “Do you understand?”

The freckled woman nodded quickly.

Then, Sister Hua took the initiative to step forward, and together with Meng Yilan, helped the freckled woman back into the back of the car.

When Meng Yilan refueled the car, and was about to return to the car with Mao Mao, she was stopped by Sister Hua: “I’ll go with you.”

Lin Quwei also stepped forward: “I’ll go too.”

Meng Yilan glanced at the two, and only said to Sister Hua: “Get in the car.”

Then, she turned to look at Lin Quwei, her tone finally softening: “Quwei, I finally rescued you, I don’t want you to take this risk with me again.”

“Yilan…” Before Lin Quwei could open his mouth, Meng Yilan added: “Sorry, this matter, I can only succeed, I can’t fail. Sister Hua was originally in this line of work, but you…”

Although she didn’t finish her words, Lin Quwei quickly understood, Meng Yilan is worried that I would hold her back.

In the world a year ago, Lin Quwei was a dazzling young man who attracted everyone’s attention. He was not only knowledgeable, but also handsome, and was a talent that major media companies were vying to snatch.

But in the current situation, Lin Quwei, who had been imprisoned and had just been released, could be said to be useless.

“There’s enough food and water in the storage room,” Meng Yilan closed the car door. “Stay here, and someone will come to pick you up soon.”

After saying that, without waiting for Lin Quwei to respond, Meng Yilan stepped on the gas pedal again, quickly driving away from the farm.

Back on the road, she once again gazed towards the end, unlit by the headlights. This time, Meng Yilan’s eyes held a touch of confidence, a touch of grace.

Meng Yilan was certain that she could definitely bring that person back to her side.

No matter if it was too late, and no matter if it was already too late, as long as she could rescue the other party, there would still be room for maneuver.

Even if the price was…Meng Yilan didn’t think about it any further. She pursed her lips, and pressed her foot on the accelerator even harder.

The jeep sped towards the end of the highway, and the car lights disappeared after turning a corner, and the surroundings fell into darkness again.

…

Similarly, in the darkness, there was that narrow operating room.

As if she hadn’t moved at all, Bai Zi was still cuffed to the operating table.

This was already the second day since she had been brought to this operating room, and the seventh day since she had stopped drinking human blood.

At this time, Bai Zi could no longer be described as a “person,” or even as a “zombie.”

The wounds all over her body had swelled up due to severe inflammation, and her originally thin body was slightly bloated because of this.

The area around the wounds was covered with bulging pustules, and yellow pus oozed out. The scalpel was still stuck in her shoulder. All of this made Bai Zi look like a grotesque monster in the middle of transforming.

This state was even worse than the worst time during that year.

But fortunately, she was no longer feeling pain—although she wasn’t sure if it was because she really didn’t feel pain, or because her senses had been damaged, making her unable to feel pain.

Whichever it was, at least Bai Zi was no longer in such a state of suspense. She even fell asleep for a while.

When she woke up again, Bai Zi found that although her physical condition was terrible, her mental state was surprisingly good.

A feeling of relaxation and joy was tightly wrapping around Bai Zi. She even wanted to stand up and jump a few times, if she could.

Besides this strange feeling, there was also an indescribable wrongness in Bai Zi’s heart. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she was quite certain that something seemed to have gone seriously wrong.

But she thought about it again and again, but still couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong.

Just then, the door of the operating room opened.

Bai Zi opened her eyes, and saw a person wearing a protective suit walk in.

The person was of medium height, and she couldn’t tell their gender. Bai Zi couldn’t identify the other party. Maybe it was Shi Lei, or that middle-aged woman who had injected her with the unknown liquid.

Or perhaps…this was the person who was going to perform the craniotomy on me?

Before Bai Zi could think too much, the other party directly stood by her side.

At the same time, a scent that was very subtle, but very strange and familiar suddenly rushed in.

Bai Zi immediately remembered the person who had fed her human blood when she was lying in the incinerator, and had tapped her chin three times.

Just like that person had done before, a thin tube was inserted into Bai Zi’s mouth, and the other end of the tube was inserted into a blood bag.

Then, the blood flowed into Bai Zi’s mouth through the tube.

Having been thirsty for many days, she immediately tightened her throat, sucking all the blood into her stomach.

The familiar feeling of comfort appeared again. Then, Bai Zi saw the person stretch out a finger, and tap her chin three times again.

Sure enough, it was the same person.

But who exactly was it?

Bai Zi tried hard to think about this question, but for some reason, unlike last time, what followed the comfort wasn’t sleepiness, but a kind of restlessness that surged from the bottom of her heart.

Bai Zi heard the person leave the side of the operating table, and then open the door and leave.

At this time, that feeling was still lingered around Bai Zi, and was even getting worse.

When the door closed, the restlessness in Bai Zi’s body completely erupted.

She closed her eyes forcefully, uncontrollably raising her hands, but couldn’t move because she was bound by the straps on the operating table.

But the more she couldn’t break free, the more desperately she struggled.

She didn’t know how long had passed, but the door opened again.

This time, it was the middle-aged woman who had given Bai Zi the injection. She seemed a little puzzled: “What’s going on?”

Then, the lights turned on, and Shi Lei’s surprised voice came: “Her…her wounds…”

Bai Zi tried hard to suppress her restlessness, trying to listen, but she still couldn’t understand the conversation between the two.

She could hear every word clearly, but when they were put together, she couldn’t understand their meaning at all.

“Could it be that it was successful?” The middle-aged woman’s tone couldn’t hide her excitement.

Then, Bai Zi noticed the two approaching her, and at the same time, the rising irritation surged out like boiling water.

Bai Zi suddenly swung her right hand, and the strap binding her wrist suddenly broke.

Then, she opened her eyes.

Bai Zi saw that Shi Lei and the middle-aged woman wearing protective suits seemed to be startled by her. They took several steps back, and one of them even fell to the ground in a mess, pointing a trembling hand at Bai Zi on the operating table: “Her…her eyes…”

Bai Zi recognized that it was Shi Lei’s voice.

At this time, he was trembling all over, sitting on the ground in a cowardly manner, staring at Bai Zi on the operating table in horror.

On the operating table, Bai Zi’s originally ugly body had completely recovered, even better than it had been before it had rotted, no different from an ordinary young woman—except for the scalpel stuck in her shoulder, and her eyes.

In that originally clear and delicate almond eye, there was a terrifying thin white pupil.

And around that thin white pupil, there was a bottomless, suffocating darkness.