Black Sky - Chapter 4

A thunderous roar awakened Bai Zi.

She stared at the ceiling in front of her, spacing out for a good while. Due to years of disrepair, large areas of the light gray paint on the ceiling had peeled off, and the mottled patterns looked like an unknown map of a continent.

For some reason, Bai Zi felt that something was wrong. After a long while, when she saw the light bulb in the center of the ceiling that was not emitting light, she finally realized – the night blindness that had plagued her for many years had disappeared.

What’s going on?

Is it daytime?

Bai Zi immediately denied her guess.

The room she was in had no windows, and the only iron door was tightly closed.

Moreover, not only had Bai Zi’s night blindness disappeared, but her night vision ability had also increased a lot. Although her left eye still couldn’t see anything, her right eye, which suffered from severe myopia – even without wearing glasses, could clearly see an ant wiggling its antennae in a cracked crevice on the ceiling in an unlit environment.

After the ant crawled into the depths of the crevice, Bai Zi focused her attention on herself. No longer so weak that she didn’t even have the strength to open her eyes, she got up from the cold, hard iron bed very easily. When Bai Zi turned her gaze to her arm, she was stunned again for a long time.

The wound on her hand had healed.

The originally swollen and festering bite wound only had a few dark purple tooth marks left. Not only that, but the other rotten parts had also returned to normal, as if Bai Zi’s purgatory-like life in the past few days was just a daydream.

Bai Zi raised her hand and touched her head. Short, stiff stubble had grown on the originally smooth skin.

Memories gradually returned – the two people who carried her onto the mobile bed, the sound of wheels rolling rapidly on the floor, the jade that was torn off her neck, the roar of the fire that rang in her ears, the strange liquid that was poured into her mouth, and… that familiar yet unfamiliar aura.

Involuntarily, Bai Zi touched her chin again.

Before losing consciousness, it seemed that someone had gently tapped it three times.

Who was that?

Although she had no clue, she didn’t care.

Bai Zi got off the iron bed. She turned around and saw that the wall behind her was full of dozens of small iron doors. Behind each small iron door was an incinerator that could burn a corpse to ashes.

Without the fear of almost being burned to ashes, and without the joy of surviving a disaster, the calm Bai Zi opened the iron door and left this place.

Cold, this was Bai Zi’s first feeling after stepping out of the door.

The temperature had obviously dropped sharply, as if she were in a freezer, but strangely, Bai Zi didn’t feel any discomfort. She didn’t shiver or sneeze, nor did she get goosebumps from the cold.

She felt like an ice cream, being placed in the refrigerator’s freezer compartment – it couldn’t be more suitable.

Even without the illumination of lights, Bai Zi could still clearly see every corner of the narrow corridor.

She slowly strolled to the end of the corridor and came to the elevator door. The elevator was not powered on, so Bai Zi turned to the fire escape next to it. The passage could only go up, not down, so it seemed that she was currently at the very bottom of the entire building.

Bai Zi walked upstairs without hesitation. She didn’t care whether she would encounter a caregiver at the corner, nor did she care whether she would be imprisoned again. She was just walking upwards aimlessly.

But even when Bai Zi came to the floor where she was imprisoned, she still didn’t encounter anyone.

Not only did she not encounter anyone, but what Bai Zi saw was a scene of desolation.

The originally clean and spacious corridor had become chaotic, with shredded pillows and bed sheets scattered all over the floor, as well as trampled documents and bottles of medicine, containing colorful, unknown pills.

It was as if a tornado had struck.

The iron doors on both sides of the corridor, which had always been tightly closed, were all open, and the people who had been imprisoned inside were all gone.

Suddenly, a loud noise came from behind Bai Zi. This loud noise was exactly the same as the roar that had awakened Bai Zi not long ago.

Bai Zi walked towards the direction of the sound.

It was a corner that she had never been allowed to go to before, but she knew that behind that corner, there was a door that could lead her out of this hellhole.

But now, although this door was open, Bai Zi still couldn’t leave.

The door frame, which was about three meters wide, was filled with sand and rock, which was obviously a blockage caused by a collapse – Bai Zi suddenly realized, and she suddenly understood why she had never seen a window in this place – because the entire building she was in was built underground.

The loud noise just now seemed to have come from behind this door that was blocked by sand.

Bai Zi looked up. She saw that the ceiling was covered with cracks, as if it would collapse in the next second. In addition, sand was constantly falling from the cracks, forming a thin mist curtain in front of the door.

Suddenly, Bai Zi heard some sounds coming from the other side of the door.

It seemed to be the sound of soil being constantly excavated. Before Bai Zi could think about it, the sand on the door poured towards Bai Zi’s direction like an avalanche. Finally, a ray of light shone through the gap.

“It’s open.” A slightly hoarse male voice came.

Immediately, a hurried “shush” sound rang out, as if someone was stopping the man from speaking.

Then, Bai Zi saw a shovel sticking out from the gap. The shovel was turning around the surroundings, intending to dig a large hole. Soon, most of the loose sand and gravel blocking the door was cleared away, and several rays of light shone in.

Bai Zi quietly took a few steps back and hid in a nearby laboratory.

Almost in the next moment, six people wearing thick clothes drilled through the sand hole on the door and walked in.

Although they didn’t speak, the cold air that they exhaled from their mouths and noses revealed the tension in these people’s hearts.

Leading the way was a man holding a shotgun. He was tall and burly, with a thick beard on his face. At this time, he was using a mini flashlight equipped on the gun barrel to scan the empty corridor.

Behind the burly man, a man and a woman stood. The man was slightly short, wearing a military cap and holding a baseball bat wrapped with iron thorns, while the woman had short, ear-length hair, wearing a bulky down jacket, and holding a handgun tightly in both hands.

The three of them looked alert and slowly walked forward in the corridor.

Behind these three people, there were also two men and one woman.

Standing at the back of the team was an extremely obese man. He didn’t have a gun, nor was he equipped with any weapons. He only held a small machine tightly. The fat man was panting, his face was pale, and he seemed very tired. He would look down at the map in the machine for a while, and then look up to observe the surrounding situation.

In front of him was a man wearing night vision goggles, of medium build. Although his face could not be seen clearly, he had a slicked-back hairstyle, revealing a temperament that was out of tune with the people around him.

Beside the slicked-back man, a woman with most of her face covered by a scarf was walking slowly. She was tall, her long curly hair was tied up high, and she was wearing a trench coat, which was slightly thin.

The six people walked into the laboratory where Bai Zi was hiding.

The fat man, the slicked-back man, and the trench coat woman stood by the door, while the burly man, the military cap man, and the short-haired woman began to carefully search the surroundings.

The burly man came to a slightly covered iron cabinet by the wall. He raised his chin towards the military cap man, who held up the baseball bat and slowly stepped forward, carefully opening the cabinet. At the same time, the short-haired woman took a deep breath and prepared to shoot.

The cabinet was filled with various test tubes and reagent bottles, and there were also many small cardboard boxes.

The burly man turned and walked towards a bed at the innermost part of the laboratory.

Once again, with the burly man and the short-haired woman providing cover next to him, the military cap man knelt down on one knee by the bed. He took a deep breath, lowered his head to look under the bed, and then raised his hand to indicate that there was no discovery.

The few people looked around and confirmed that there were no other hiding places in the laboratory before signaling to each other with their eyes.

They were about to withdraw from the laboratory when the fat man suddenly spoke: “I…I really can’t walk anymore!”

“Shush!” The short-haired woman raised her index finger to the fat man in horror.

The pale-faced fat man put the backpack behind him on the messy desk and sat down on the office chair with a plop. Because he was too heavy, the office chair made an ear-piercing “creak” sound.

“You…” The short-haired woman was about to reprimand him, but the burly man raised his hand to stop her, then patted the fat man’s shoulder, and turned to whisper to the slicked-back man and the trench coat woman, “You guys guard here.”

The slicked-back man nodded lightly, then looked at the trench coat woman next to him, but the latter looked out the door, as if she was thinking about something.

The fat man smiled gratefully at the burly man, and panting, took out a water bottle from his backpack and poured out a cup of steaming boiled water.

The three people with weapons walked out of the laboratory. The trench coat woman standing by the door followed, the slicked-back man reached out to pull her, but she broke free and quickly left the laboratory.

The slicked-back man took a breath and helplessly followed.

At this time, only the fat man was left in the laboratory – and Bai Zi, who was hiding under the desk, in front of the fat man’s feet.

After the five people left the laboratory, they walked into another empty room, searched it in the same way, and after confirming that it was safe, they continued to walk to the next room. On the other hand, Bai Zi curled up under the desk, yawned, and just closed her mouth when she heard a heavy snoring sound – the fat man had fallen asleep.

Bai Zi was about to quietly crawl out from under the desk when she suddenly heard a familiar sound.

It was the kind of sound that Bai Zi could hear every minute and every second during her days of confinement, a roar full of despair and bestiality coming from outside the room.

And now, this roar was mixed with the fat man’s snoring, rising and falling.

Bai Zi closed her eyes and tried to distinguish the direction from which the sound was coming.

Along with it came the slow, heavy footsteps of someone stepping on sand and gravel. At the same time, a fetid breath spread out. Bai Zi was almost certain that the source of the sound had come to the door of the laboratory.

Contrary to the tense atmosphere, Bai Zi’s heart was still quite calm. She even felt a little amused.

The fat man, who was immersed in his dream, was unaware of this. His snoring became louder and louder, even forming an echo in the corridor.

At the end of the corridor, the five people came out after searching the last room. Their expressions were slightly relaxed, but they also looked puzzled. After hearing the loud snoring floating in the corridor, the short-haired woman rolled her eyes. She sneered disdainfully: “That fatso is really carefree.”

The five people walked back slowly, accompanied by the annoying snoring.

“Didn’t you say it was right here?” The military cap man asked softly, “Why can’t we find it?”

“There’s another floor below.” The burly man raised his eyebrows.

Suddenly, the snoring stopped, but no one cared.

The slicked-back man said in a deep voice: “The incinerator should be there.”

The short-haired woman immediately put her hands on her hips to express her attitude: “Let that fatso go, I…”

Suddenly, an electrical sound came from the trench coat woman’s pocket, and then the fat man’s voice sounded: “Mu…”

Everyone stopped and looked at the trench coat woman.

The trench coat woman immediately took out the walkie-talkie from her pocket, pressed the talk button, and asked in a deep voice: “What’s wrong?”

Before the other party could answer, the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground came from the laboratory.

“…Mutant!” The fat man’s panicked cry rang out.

The burly man, carrying a shotgun, strode towards the laboratory, and the short-haired woman and the military cap man also followed closely with their weapons. The trench coat woman was about to follow, but was pulled back by the slicked-back man behind her. This time, she couldn’t break free.

Before the others had run far, hurried footsteps came from the front. The burly man immediately stood in place, raised his gun, and illuminated the front with a flashlight. He saw the fat man, sweating profusely and with a pale face, running clumsily towards this side, but accidentally stepped on a reagent bottle on the way and slipped to the ground.

At the same time, a man with rotting wounds all over his face roared and pounced on the fat man on the ground. This man was obviously the “mutant” the fat man mentioned. Just as he was about to pounce, suddenly, a pair of slender arms stretched out from behind the mutant’s waist and hugged his hands and waist tightly.

Everyone was stunned by this strange scene. The mutant kept twisting, unable to move forward for the time being, but seemed to be about to break free in the next moment.

In a flash, the short-haired woman decisively raised her hand and pulled the trigger at the mutant’s rotten face.

After a gunshot, the pair of slender hands that were tightly holding the mutant loosened, and in the next moment, the mutant fell to the ground.

At this time, everyone saw the owner of the pair of slender arms.

Wearing thin long clothes and trousers stained with blood, it was impossible to distinguish the gender due to being too thin and having dirt all over the face. The hair was almost shaved off, and there were terrifying burn scars around the left eye.

This ghost-like face made the short-haired woman raise her handgun again.

“Wait a minute!” Behind everyone, the trench coat woman’s urgent voice came.

Ignoring the slicked-back man’s obstruction, the trench coat woman quickly walked to the front of the “ghost”.

The two faced each other, as if in another lifetime.

Finally, the one who spoke first was Bai Zi, who was regarded as a “ghost”.

“It really is you,” Bai Zi was stunned by her fluent words, then curled the corners of her mouth and showed a smile to the trench coat woman, “Meng Yilan.”