Black Sky - Chapter 45

The firelight outside the car illuminated most of the dark sky, and noisy sounds came from all directions. Everyone was in a panic, but the two people inside the RV were caught in another predicament.

Looking at Bai Zi, who seemed to have suddenly fallen ill, Meng Yilan, who hadn’t wanted to pay attention to her, was anxiously holding that pale face, calling Bai Zi’s name over and over again, but she couldn’t seem to wake her up.

Meng Yilan felt the temperature in her palms. Bai Zi’s body temperature, which should have been higher than normal, seemed particularly cold at this time, as lifeless as a corpse.

But in reality, Bai Zi, who seemed to be delirious, was calmly analyzing the scene she had just seen after closing her eyes.

The fire scene, my parents’ calls, and the mysterious person.

“Bai Zi?” Meng Yilan’s soft call came from her ear again. Bai Zi raised her eyes and looked directly at her.

Before Meng Yilan could speak again, Bai Zi suddenly backed away, turned around, and rushed towards the car door. Even Mao Mao couldn’t keep up with her.

As if desperately chasing something, Bai Zi got out of the car and rushed directly towards the building where the explosion had just occurred.

Meng Yilan, with Mao Mao, also hurriedly got out of the car.

The soldiers patrolling nearby were attracted by the burning fire, and had no time to stop Bai Zi, who had gotten out of the car without permission and rushed to the side of the building.

Thick black smoke billowed from the windows on the top floor, like a black staircase leading to the sky, making people afraid to look up.

“Miss Bai, Miss Meng,” Uncle Hong, who was being supported by a soldier, saw Bai Zi and Meng Yilan, and immediately shouted to the two of them, “It’s very dangerous here, you should go back to the car!”

Meng Yilan ignored Uncle Hong. She walked to Bai Zi, who was standing blankly not far from the entrance of the building: “What’s wrong?”

Bai Zi silently raised her head, staring intently at the flickering firelight inside the window, but she couldn’t find the feeling that had suddenly appeared in the RV just now.

But at the same time, she clearly felt that she had a deep fear of the fire in front of her.

It was as if a crack had suddenly opened in her originally peaceful and serene heart, and the firelight, like the devil’s sharp tongue, stretched out from the crack, making Bai Zi want to approach but unable to face it.

A soldier wrapped in a thick cotton quilt rushed out of the gate. The quilt was soaked in water, and water dripped all over the ground.

He ran to Uncle Hong and reported in a trembling voice: “I can’t find Miss Liao, she should be at the very end of the corridor on the third floor, the road is blocked, I can’t get through!”

Bai Zi raised her foot, and took a few steps closer to the building, but Meng Yilan, who was behind her, grabbed her arm.

Just as Bai Zi wanted to raise her hand and shake the other party off, Meng Yilan took the wet quilt from the soldier and handed it to Bai Zi: “Go quickly and come back quickly.”

Again, it was “go quickly and come back quickly.” Back when Bai Zi had gone to save You Yuyi at the Ping An subway station, Meng Yilan had hesitated and kept these words in her heart, but this time she said them without hesitation.

Bai Zi was stunned, and after looking at the other party for two or three seconds, she took the quilt, put it on her body, and without saying anything, turned around and plunged into the building that was engulfed in flames.

Before, she had gone to save You Yuyi for Meng Yilan.

Now, she was doing it for herself.

Several soldiers wanted to step forward to stop her, and there was even Mao Mao, who wanted to follow Bai Zi into the building, but the heat wave coming from the building forced everyone back, and Mao Mao was burned and hid behind Meng Yilan.

The building was filled with smoke and heat, and this familiar yet strange feeling made Bai Zi feel a little frightened.

But the more frightened she was, the more she wanted to get closer.

With this mentality, Bai Zi ran up the stairs to the third floor, where the fire was the most severe.

The long corridor was filled with thick smoke, which seemed to be coming from a door in the middle of the corridor. Bai Zi, wearing the quilt, bent over and ran quickly towards the end of the corridor.

Just as Bai Zi was about to approach the burning room, there was another loud crash inside, and flames poured out of the door like a fountain. The strong heat wave pushed Bai Zi back and made her fall to the ground.

But at this time, Bai Zi vaguely heard a faint cry for help coming from the end of the corridor. She wrapped herself tightly in the quilt again, and ignoring the fire in front of her, ran forward quickly.

The water on the quilt was rapidly evaporating. Bai Zi tried hard to open her right eye, trying to find the source of the cry for help in the thick smoke.

Soon, Bai Zi came to the end of the corridor, and also saw Liao Yuting, who was lying on the ground.

At this time, one of her legs was being pressed down by a fallen shelf, and she couldn’t move at all.

Bai Zi was trying to lift the shelf, but heard Liao Yuting, who was about to faint, say: “My…leg…”

Before Bai Zi could ask, Liao Yuting reached out and groped for her leg that was being pressed down by the shelf. A clicking sound came a few seconds later, and then she completely fainted.

Bai Zi looked at the other party’s leg in confusion, and found that its shape was a little strange. Then, as if she had suddenly understood, Bai Zi directly wrapped Liao Yuting’s upper body in the quilt, and forcefully picked her up.

At the same time, Liao Yuting’s right leg was “left” behind, it turned out to be a prosthetic leg.

There was no way for Bai Zi to return the same way in the corridor. She looked at the window in front of her, and directly raised her leg and smashed the window, jumping out of the window.

The first person to notice Bai Zi coming out of the side window was Meng Yilan. She immediately called the soldiers next to her to spread the prepared mats under the window.

Holding the water pipe, she carried Liao Yuting with one hand, and climbed down the water pipe from the third floor.

While the soldiers were rushing to rescue them, Meng Yilan, holding Mao Mao’s hand, quickly walked to Bai Zi.

Looking at Bai Zi’s face, which was blackened by the smoke, Meng Yilan couldn’t help but frown. She carefully checked Bai Zi’s whole body, and after confirming that she was fine, she silently raised her hand and used her sleeve to wipe Bai Zi’s face, completely ignoring the strange gazes that were secretly cast around her.

She had been extremely cold to her these past few days, but now she was acting so considerately. Bai Zi looked at Meng Yilan with some confusion, but still stood there obediently, letting the other party clean her face.

Mao Mao climbed onto Bai Zi’s back, imitating Meng Yilan’s actions, reaching out its left hand to wipe Bai Zi’s face. Then, it looked at its black palm, couldn’t help but stick out its tongue and lick it, and then shook its hand desperately, baring its teeth.

Bai Zi turned her head to look at Liao Yuting, who was gradually waking up, and said softly, “Her leg is fake.”

Meng Yilan was stunned, and then turned her head to look at Liao Yuting, only to see that the right leg of the other person’s pants was obviously deflated.

“She and Yurou are Siamese twins,” Meng Yilan explained softly while wiping Bai Zi’s face. “When they were born, their bodies were connected, and they only had two legs. Later, my aunt sent them abroad for surgery.”

That was to say, not only Liao Yuting, but even Liao Yurou—the woman who had gone on a killing spree at the supply station—had prosthetic legs.

At this time, Uncle Hong walked closer with a towel, looking at Bai Zi apologetically: “Thanks to you, Miss Bai, we never expected that such an accident would happen.”

“What exactly happened?” Meng Yilan took the towel and asked.

Uncle Hong looked around warily: “Let’s go back to the car and talk.”

Saying that, he instructed a few of his subordinates to take care of Liao Yuting, and then, after exchanging a few words with a military officer, he led Meng Yilan and Bai Zi away from the scene.

Back in the RV, Meng Yilan wet the towel with water, wanting to personally wipe Bai Zi’s face, but was stopped by the other party raising her hand: “Thank you, I’ll do it myself.”

Bai Zi didn’t hate the other party taking care of her like this. Although she was indeed a little awkward, and felt that Meng Yilan’s hot and cold attitude was very strange, she wasn’t unable to accept it.

Anyway, she was just Meng Yilan’s assistant, and she didn’t want to dwell on these unimportant things too much.

But Bai Zi keenly noticed that when Meng Yilan personally took the towel to wipe her face, Uncle Hong, who had gotten into the car with them, had an indescribable expression on his face, and immediately spoke up to stop her.

At this time, Meng Yilan finally realized that after Bai Zi had rescued Liao Yuting, she had been too worried and had acted too solicitously, and even though she was being stared at by dozens of eyes, she had meticulously cleaned Bai Zi’s face without any regard.

Given the current relationship between us, this behavior was really puzzling.

Thinking of this, Meng Yilan couldn’t help but stiffen.

She remembered that not long ago, she had been sulking like a kindergarten child because she had seen Bai Zi draw an X over her name.

But when she saw Bai Zi climbing out of the window with Liao Yuting in her arms amidst the thick black smoke, Meng Yilan’s heart had immediately been lifted, and all her resentment had instantly vanished.

Then, Meng Yilan secretly did something that was quite unreasonable.

She couldn’t help but replace Bai Zi with Lin Quwei, and imagine what she would do if she saw the other party’s face covered in black dirt in the same situation.

Without needing half a second, Meng Yilan had already gotten the answer.

Taking a deep breath, Meng Yilan pretended to be nonchalant and handed the towel to Bai Zi.

The RV started moving forward, and Uncle Hong coughed a little awkwardly: “I heard them say that a family had escaped from a yellow zone nearby, a man and a woman, and a newborn baby.” Saying that, he sighed, “The soldiers said that the man tried to snatch a gun, so they shot him dead on the spot.”

While wiping her face, Bai Zi couldn’t help but retort: “That man didn’t snatch a gun, I saw it very clearly.”

Uncle Hong frowned, but didn’t dwell on this issue: “After the man was shot dead, the soldiers took the woman into the building, intending to lock her up temporarily, but they didn’t expect…their baby was actually a stillborn, and there was a bag of explosives sewn into its stomach.”

Hearing this, Meng Yilan and Bai Zi were both silent, and an oppressive atmosphere began to spread in the car.

“The situation is getting more and more difficult,” Uncle Hong sighed. “The resources in a yellow zone closest to Bei City are getting scarcer and scarcer, and riots are happening more and more frequently. If we don’t solve the problem quickly, it will definitely affect the stability of Bei City.”

The three people’s expressions became even more solemn, and they didn’t speak again, except for Mao Mao, who had snatched Bai Zi’s towel with a carefree expression, desperately wiping its black palms.

Soon, the RV drove into the city, and after driving for a while, it left the convoy and headed in another direction on its own.

The soldiers patrolling the area gradually decreased, but the various protective nets set up on the road increased instead of decreasing. Occasionally, soldiers would stop the RV to question them, but they didn’t get on the car to check, only asking a few simple questions before letting the car pass.

Bai Zi sat by the car window, looking at this place that she had left for more than a year—once one of the most prosperous cities in China, but now it was as suffocating as a dead city.

On the side of the highway, the various green plants that had been carefully trimmed were growing wildly because they had been left unattended for a long time, and some had even spread to the abandoned cars parked on both sides, merging with them.

The tall buildings that had been brightly lit at night now only had a few monotonous lights shining in the darkness, and even some dense residential areas were completely dark, without a trace of life.

After passing a once prosperous downtown area, Bai Zi saw packs of stray dogs fighting over food on the streets, and even some small animals that Bai Zi couldn’t name quickly crossing the road.

It was more like a mountainous area than a city, and since entering the city, there hadn’t been any ordinary citizens other than the patrolmen.

“Most areas will be under mandatory curfew after 8 PM,” Uncle Hong explained. “Although there’s no sun now, our settings for daytime and nighttime haven’t changed.”

The car drove for about half an hour, and stopped in front of an area surrounded by thick protective nets.

A year ago, this place had been a highly sought-after apartment residential area due to its prime location.

Uncle Hong led the two out of the car, and Mao Mao clung to Bai Zi’s back, curiously looking around.

Three guards with weapons were standing by the gate. One of them, a man who was shorter than Bai Zi, greeted Meng Yilan enthusiastically when he saw her: “Miss Meng.”

The other two guards looked at Bai Zi and Uncle Hong with some wariness. Meng Yilan immediately introduced: “This is an elder who’s sending me back,” and then pointed to Bai Zi, “She’s my assistant, and she’ll be staying with me for the time being. Please help her record her data.”

Then, Meng Yilan had Bai Zi take out her watch and hand it to the guard.

While recording the data, the short man said: “Miss Meng, a Mr. Lin came to look for you a few days ago. I think his name was Quwei. He said he hoped you could meet him after you came back.”

Meng Yilan nodded: “Okay, thank you.”

Hearing the guard’s words, Uncle Hong frowned slightly, but didn’t say anything. After the guard returned the watch to Bai Zi, he said softly to Meng Yilan: “Miss Meng, then I’ll leave first. Please contact me if you need anything.”

“Thank you for your trouble.” Meng Yilan responded in a low voice, but after Uncle Hong had taken a few steps, she seemed to have suddenly remembered something, and ran towards the RV even faster than him.

Before Uncle Hong could open his mouth to ask, Meng Yilan had quickly taken a backpack from the car, and then said goodbye to Uncle Hong again, leading Bai Zi into the gate.

The road was dark, and Meng Yilan walked along the narrow path, flashlight in hand.

Before long, Bai Zi, who was following behind, couldn’t help but ask softly: “Are you going to see Lin Quwei tomorrow?”

Meng Yilan frowned slightly, and asked back: “Why?”

“If you’re going to see him, can I go to that warehouse myself?” Bai Zi asked.

After a long while, Meng Yilan said: “I don’t plan to go out tomorrow.” She was already physically and mentally exhausted, and after finally returning home, Meng Yilan didn’t want to go out at all, but she added, “I’ll go to the warehouse with you tomorrow afternoon.”

Hearing this, Bai Zi nodded with a happy smile: “Okay.”

Like a child who had learned that she was going to an amusement park tomorrow, Meng Yilan was dazed by that innocent smile.

The two continued to walk forward, but before Meng Yilan had walked far, she suddenly looked at Bai Zi guiltily, and then reached into a corner of her backpack.

A lemon hard candy wrapped in paper, and a compressed biscuit that had been there for an unknown amount of time.

Then, as if nothing had happened, she led Bai Zi and Mao Mao to her home.