The noise was deafening, and worse still, at the air vent above them, a second heavy object was plummeting down.
“Clatter—” Another loud crash echoed nearby, and from above came the harsh, reckless laughter of several men.
Two heavy objects falling from the sky in quick succession, accompanied by those jeering laughs—this was no accident! It was deliberate, malicious throwing of objects, making noise aimed at them. Were these people so resentful of their successful escape from Shopping City that they intended to cause trouble?
If those men were using this tactic to divert the monsters’ attention and facilitate their own escape, they might have deserved some grudging respect. But now, doing something so stupid and self-defeating just to cause harm? That was both foolish and cruel!
“Move!” Tang Siqing snapped to attention and yanked Zhang Xin, who was staring upward, “Don’t pay them any mind—get in the car!”
They had climbed down from upstairs; the same way back up in such a short time was impossible—the speed and strength simply couldn’t match. With their current equipment and fighting ability, it was unthinkable to return into the monster-infested Shopping City to look for shelter again.
They had no way out; the plan was clear—they had to get in the car immediately. Wasting time dealing with those scumbags upstairs was out of the question!
Luckily, the commotion near the drone was loud enough that the Red Tongue Monsters gathered around the truck were not immediately drawn to the noise here.
But the parking lot was vast, shaped like a long rectangle—longer left to right, narrow front to back. The drone couldn’t possibly lure all the nearby monsters away, and on the greenbelt at the edge, other monsters were still wandering.
Those monsters hadn’t been attracted by the drone, but the continuous crashes of falling heavy objects had caught their attention. One by one, they emerged from the vegetation, lashing their long red tongues toward them.
They ran away from the area where the objects fell, but the monsters emerging from the greenbelt kept their eyes fixed on the fleeing group, the number of pursuers growing.
At this point, no one dared stop and try to lose the monsters by freezing in place. Five seconds was enough for these monsters to catch up nearby. Even if they stopped moving to lose their targets, they would be surrounded, and the wildly flailing red tongues could hit them any second. Then they’d truly be trapped.
Just as they were about to reach the employee parking area on the right side of the lot, a large chunk of building debris suddenly blocked the space between two cars—and a monster burst out from behind it.
Zheng Ying and Zhang Xin, who were running at the front, had just passed this spot, so when the monster charged out, it aimed for Zi Jiang and Chu Yi, who were in the middle.
Chu Yi shouted in alarm and immediately sprinted the other way. Zi Jiang instinctively let out a low cry but quickly covered her mask, froze in place, and reached out to pull Chu Yi, urging him to do the same—freeze with her.
Chu Yi was faster; Zi Jiang couldn’t grab him. Then she realized a problem—she’d forgotten about the safe distance! The monster was too close; freezing now wouldn’t buy enough time. She would still be locked onto.
“Get down!” Tang Siqing’s voice came sharply from behind.
Zi Jiang’s legs were weak already; upon hearing the command, she immediately dropped to the ground with a thud. At the same time, she felt a scorching stream of air spray right above her head.
She cautiously glanced back from her prone position. Tang Siqing stood behind her, wielding an Ignition Blowtorch set to its highest flame, while her other hand rapidly pressed the Alcohol Spray, spraying out alcohol vapor that passed through a four- or five-centimeter-long ghostly blue flame, transforming into half-meter-long crimson fire jets directed at the monster.
Tang Siqing had read many apocalyptic novels—all kinds of monsters feared fire, and flames inflicted far more damage than cold weapons. Sure enough, the monster’s reaching red tongue was halted by the flames. It gave a hoarse low growl, stepping back while clutching its ugly mouth. The tip of its tongue burned painfully, twitching wildly.
Zhang Yu seized the chance, yanking Zi Jiang to her feet and shouting, “Run!” They dashed toward the employee parking lot again.
Tang Siqing didn’t linger to fight. After driving back the monster, she turned and sprinted to catch up with the others.
Chu Yi, who had run the opposite way, seemed to realize the monster was retreating and doubled back, but this time, he fell to the rear.
Ahead was the employee parking area. The gate on the right side of the Iron Fence separating the two areas was open. Zhang Xin stood by the gate. A small, round White Compact Car was parked there, its front facing the outer driveway. Zheng Ying sat in the Driver’s Seat, rolling down the window and urging them to hurry inside.
The group rushed through the Iron Fence gate. Chu Yi, trailing behind, was followed by a horde of Red Tongue Monsters. Gasping from the sprint, he had pulled his mask down, revealing his pale, bluish face.
He stretched out a trembling hand, panting, “Don’t… don’t close it…”
The person standing inside the gate had changed from Zhang Xin to Zhang Yu. Zhang Yu had been waiting there to cover their retreat. Seeing how effective Tang Siqing’s combination of Ignition Blowtorch and Alcohol Spray was, he had brought the same gear, ready to assist. Once everyone was inside, he planned to latch the gate.
But Chu Yi’s first words were to tell him not to close the gate. Clearly, he didn’t trust Zhang Yu, causing Zhang Yu to frown in displeasure.
Chu Yi scrambled through the gate, not looking back, rushing toward the car.
The Red Tongue Monsters pounced on the Iron Fence almost simultaneously. Zhang Yu sprayed flames at the monsters at the front, burning them back temporarily, but couldn’t free his hands to shut the gate.
“Chu Yi—” Zhang Yu called out sharply, urging him to come back and close the gate.
At that moment, someone quickly crouched down, dodging the flames, and pushed the gate closed, swiftly sliding the latch into place.
Zhang Yu stepped back a few paces and glanced sideways, spotting Tang Siqing coming to help.
Turning back, he saw Chu Yi already at the car. The passenger door was open; it seemed he had wanted to get into the front passenger seat but was pushed to the back by Zheng Ying.
The car was small. Zhang Yu, being tall and broad, couldn’t squeeze in with three others in the back. The front passenger seat was best suited for him.
Zhang Xin and Zi Jiang were already inside. Tang Siqing closed the gate and quickly got in beside Zhang Xin. Chu Yi had no choice but to squeeze into the back next to Zi Jiang.
Zhang Yu took the backpacks from the front passenger seat and climbed in quickly.
The moment the doors shut, Tang Siqing patted the driver’s seat. “Drive!”
Zheng Ying had never shifted gears and was holding the brake. Upon the command, she released the brake and pressed hard on the accelerator. The engine roared loudly, struggling but gaining speed.
Tang Siqing looked back. The monsters were crouched at the Iron Fence, their grotesque faces pressed through the bars, hoarse cries escaping as they repeatedly flicked their long red tongues toward them. From her angle, it looked like a swarm of red worms fluttering in midair—chilling to the bone.
The White Compact Car finally picked up speed. Zheng Ying skillfully weaved around other employees’ cars. At the exit, the gate automatically rose as it sensed their license plate, then quickly closed behind them.
The car drove onto a two-lane road, disconnected from the main road opposite Shopping City. There were no traffic jams here, but monsters still roamed the streets.
Tang Siqing glanced back at Shopping City. Strange vines had begun hanging down from the outer walls in several places. On one corner of the rooftop, a large, dilapidated metal billboard had appeared.
The scenery ahead became increasingly surreal. Rusted steel debris intertwined with the road in all sorts of twisted shapes, dense, chaotic vines growing wildly, piles of trash-strewn concrete ruins. Slowly, abandoned broken vehicles, cracked pavement, clusters of wild grass, and polluted water appeared.
All this decay seemed like parasites that shouldn’t exist in this world, using the once neat city as a breeding ground, growing wild in disorder, familiar yet alien.
Tang Siqing looked out the window at the bizarre world and suddenly felt this wasn’t just a mutation of the world—it was being assimilated by some invisible force.
Was this really the world she once knew?
Two hours later.
The White Compact Car stopped again. Zhang Yu at the front passenger seat peered through the glass, confirming they were truly lost.
How was that possible?
Zhang Xin had been enrolled for over two years. He’d driven the route from Western City to University City countless times, either by elevated highways or surface roads, sometimes detouring due to construction. He could navigate to University City with his eyes closed.
Yet this was the third time they’d had to stop because he’d lost their way.
Zheng Ying had never been to University City and assumed Zhang Yu’s confusion was caused by the monsters and the bizarre piles of architectural debris along the route.
Tang Siqing, watching Zhang Xin’s expression all along, noticed her face growing paler with each passing moment, though she hadn’t spoken.
“The road’s wrong?” she finally asked.
Zhang Xin turned back, giving a brief affirmative.
It wasn’t just that the road felt off; they couldn’t describe their experience. It wasn’t the monsters wandering about, nor the sudden heaps of construction rubble or metal debris entwined with green vines—it was the road itself.
At first, the road matched his memory. But as they drove deeper into the outskirts, the road grew unfamiliar and winding, with unexpected forks and desolate wastelands. Occasionally, they’d spot a landmark building corner from memory, but after passing it, the road would become strange again.
And now, they had to stop because the road ended.
The lane’s end was a pile of rubble, beyond which stretched a lifeless, deadwater-like lake.
The lake was vast, twisting and turning, with varying depths. A few blackened, tilted trees stood in the shallow water along the shore, and the surface was littered with abandoned trash. Near the bank lay a half-sunken, battered old speedboat—everything spoke of desolation and decay.
It was around three or four in the afternoon, but the overcast sky dimmed the light. Farther out, the water seemed covered by a thin gray haze.
This was not the Western City outskirts!
Or rather, the original Western City outskirts had undergone inexplicable, scientific anomalies.
For Zhang Xin, this was scarier than the Gray Fog or monsters. They could hide indoors and escape the fog and monster attacks, but now they were trapped in this simultaneously familiar and alien outskirts, as if caught in an endless waking nightmare.
They couldn’t understand why. Just yesterday, several cars had driven out of the city along the elevated highway. If the roads out of the city were broken, why hadn’t those cars returned?
“What do we do?” Zi Jiang shivered after hearing Zhang Xin’s words. “Should we keep looking?”
“We can’t just keep driving aimlessly. The car will run out of gas. Once that happens, we’re in trouble.” Zheng Ying glanced at the fuel gauge. She recalled a gas station near Shopping City, though it wasn’t on the road they had left.
She wanted to turn back and find that station. Though the area around Shopping City had changed too, it wasn’t as bizarre as here—roads hadn’t changed, and there wasn’t even a lake.
In the end, Zheng Ying suggested returning to the city. The monsters didn’t spread out randomly, so a place with fewer people wasn’t necessarily safer.
“But crowded places aren’t safe either…” Chu Yi shuddered, remembering the heavy objects thrown down from the building during their escape. The malice behind it chilled him.
“I know,” Zheng Ying nodded. “But crowded places can share information. There are also police, medical, and rescue forces inside the city. Maybe we can get some news, find other ways out…”
Besides, their food was nearly gone and needed replenishing. Night was coming, and staying outside after dark was too dangerous.
All in all, turning back to the city to think and plan was better than being trapped in this empty, unfamiliar wilderness.
After the group decided, Zheng Ying prepared to turn the car around. Tang Siqing suddenly spoke up, “Wait.”
She held a Folding Binoculars and was peering through the car window in the direction of Deadwater Lake.
“What’s wrong?” Zi Jiang’s heart skipped a beat.
“It’s fog.” Tang Siqing’s binoculars were small but crystal clear. She had suspected something earlier, and now confirmed the gray haze at the far end of the lake over the shallow water was indeed fog.
Unlike the Gray Fog that blanketed everything, this fog was confined to the area across the lake, as if trapped by some invisible force, forming a barrier-like zone at the far side.
Within it, thick fog swirled endlessly—and within the fog, shadowy shapes flickered.
All of them were monsters.
The White Compact Car sped away from the Deadwater Lake area as if fleeing for their lives. Following the route they came and relying on faint remnants of the road in memory, they spent over an hour traveling a remote, lightly traveled side road and finally returned to the city.
This road had almost no buildings, only greenbelts and vacant wasteland. Monsters roamed nearby, as did strange piles of architectural debris that didn’t belong.
Monster numbers were low, and they drove fast without worrying about the monsters’ line of sight. They refused to try freezing in place until the car was fully surrounded.
With no traffic jams and no sudden unfamiliar turns, the drive was relatively smooth. They even got lucky and found a small gas station.
There were many such gas stations in the outer city, but without navigation and confidence, they had never found one before. They originally intended to return to the station near Shopping City, as Zheng Ying was familiar with that area, thinking that even with monsters around, they could lure them away and refuel.
But before they reached the Shopping City entrance, a huge explosion suddenly rocked the direction of Shopping City, sending billowing black smoke and fire into the sky.
At first, they were relieved, thinking the rescue troops had finally arrived. But as they rolled down the window to listen carefully, they realized otherwise.
The autumn cold wind carried chaotic cries for help and screams, countless monsters’ hoarse roars, and car horns—but no gunfire.
This wasn’t rescue—it was disaster worsening due to some unknown sudden incident.
The passengers inside the car felt both frightened and thankful. Thankfully, they had chosen to save themselves; otherwise, they would now be trapped inside Shopping City with everyone else.
Perhaps the loud explosion had attracted nearby wandering monsters, as from then on, their journey went exceptionally smoothly.
The small gas station had only two pumps. The cashier’s room was small, and half the space inside was taken by shelves stocked like a mini convenience store.
When they cautiously pulled in, no other cars were there. By one pump lay a corpse, likely a victim of a Red Tongue Monster attack, just like those in Shopping City. The body was swollen. Although it wasn’t moving, it was still unsettling.
The cashier’s door was wide open. Besides dried bloodstains on the floor, several bags of intact but trampled cookies and instant noodles were scattered about.
Inside, one shelf had toppled, another leaned, and drinks, instant noodles, small cakes, and chocolates were spilled everywhere. Some items lay between shelves; others were crushed underneath.
It seemed that when the Gray Fog arrived, there had been other people here, but they had fled immediately, even taking some supplies.
However, the escape had been rushed—they left a lot behind.
Tang Siqing had plenty of these supplies stored in her space. She wasn’t too concerned but was already figuring out how to handle the gasoline.
Zi Jiang worried aloud. She was used to paying by phone and had almost no cash. Did that mean they had to just take these things without paying?
“Take them.” Zheng Ying sighed. “Exceptional times call for exceptional measures. Survival comes first. We can deal with consequences when the disaster is over.”
After confirming no monsters were in or near the gas station, they all got out and began to spread out.