The people in the truck screamed uncontrollably as multiple gunshots rang out simultaneously, the shots chaotic and overlapping as they all targeted the monster.
Because the distance was so close, almost none of the bullets missed. The monster howled, slamming into the iron railing above the truck bed.
Its fiery red tongue dangled between the bars, and its terrifying face split open wide, the gaping mouth aimed at the people below, spraying them head and face with a nauseating stench of blood and viscera.
Fortunately, with so many bullets fired at once, the monster’s vital points were hit—it was already dead. The truck swerved in a serpentine motion to dodge the monster’s body crashing from midair, and the corpse on the roof was quickly flung off due to inertia.
But the situation did not ease. Other monsters that had landed on the ground charged toward the truck. The driver and the team members had initially feared these creatures would attack the tires first, but evidently, the fresh screams and blood in the truck bed were far more enticing.
Several monsters jumped up and grabbed onto the iron railings around the truck bed, hanging onto the vehicle as they shot out their red tongues at the people inside.
Though Molotov cocktails packed a powerful punch, they were highly unstable and prone to causing friendly fire, so the few carried on the vehicle were stored in the driver’s cabin, to be used by the driver’s team members mainly for opening roads and dealing with monsters ahead.
Inside the truck bed’s railings, one team member fired several tear gas grenades from a riot gun, but these explosives barely harmed the monsters. The creatures merely hissed a few times, shifted positions, and resumed attacking. Instead, the smoke stinging the eyes caused the civilians on the truck to cough and choke, plunging the area into greater chaos.
People inside the truck bed panicked, squeezing and retreating toward the middle of the bed for safety, but the red tongues extended half a meter and hit with great force. Within seconds, several standing at the edge of the truck bed who failed to dodge were impaled in the thighs.
A sharp metallic scent of blood spread inside the truck bed again. Gunfire resumed as the team member wielding the riot gun gave up on it and switched back to a regular rifle. Without buckshot, relying solely on tear gas grenades was useless.
Tang Siqing and her younger siblings Zhang Yu and Zhang Xin almost simultaneously pulled out their flamethrowers and alcohol sprays, targeting the two monsters closest to them.
The flames roared hot. The monsters climbing the iron railing howled and withdrew their red tongues, scrambling to the other side of the truck bed. One monster directly climbed up the railing onto the roof and leapt around the middle of the truck top.
The angle was awkward. Coupled with the alcohol spray’s flame, it couldn’t reach the monster properly, and with so many people crowded in the center, Tang Siqing feared burning her own team.
She immediately signaled a self-defense team member on the same side to attack the monster on the roof while she and her siblings defended the truck body.
That team member was barely twenty years old, a young face drenched in sweat. He fired several shots at the monster moving on the roof, but whether because of the angle or his trembling hands, all shots missed.
He bit his lip hard and squeezed the trigger several more times, only to realize his magazine was empty.
Tang Siqing burned down another monster and caught it out of the corner of her eye, hurriedly shouting, “Reload!”
The young man uttered an “Oh,” then shakily dug into his pocket for another magazine and bent his head to reload. But probably due to lack of experience or nerves, his fingers trembled constantly and he failed to complete the action.
Screams continued around them as the monsters on the roof leapt and aimed their red tongues at the crowd below the iron railings. This time, they targeted heads. Unlike legs, a head impalement meant certain death.
Everyone squatted down as low as possible, shrinking their bodies even when space was limited.
Still, some were pierced in the shoulders. More troublingly, on the other side of the truck body, two more monsters were quickly climbing up the iron railing. Their withered gray finger bones were flexible and strong; once gripping the railing, no matter how the truck swerved, they could not be shaken off.
Tang Siqing and her siblings attacked with fierce flames. All monsters on that side of the truck had already fallen off. She signaled Zhang Yu and Zhang Xin, shoved her weapon and magazine into her backpack, and turned to take the rifle and magazine from the young team member’s hands.
She swiftly ejected the empty magazine with one hand, snapped in a new one with the other, chambered a round, and raised her rifle to shoot the monsters clinging to the roof’s iron railing.
After the previous shots, Tang Siqing knew the monsters’ fatal weak point was the head. Except for the initial missed shot, the next three bullets hit accurately, killing three moving monsters.
Meanwhile, at the other side near the truck’s rear, two other team members also shot down the monsters climbing the truck one by one.
They quickly turned to check the remaining creatures that had reached the roof, only to find them already dead, exchanging looks of surprise.
Experienced shooters among the team had already gone ahead to clear the next stop. Among the three riding the truck, only those two were police officers with shooting experience, but they were ordinary cops who rarely carried firearms daily and had very little real combat experience.
The other person wasn’t even a policeman—just a medic pulled in to fill ranks, with no clue how to handle a gun.
Hence, their shooting was poor and panicked, often firing four or five shots per attempt even in relatively smooth situations.
But just now, if they heard correctly, the young girl had killed those three monsters with only four shots?
The truck took a sharp turn and finally left the densely built dangerous neighborhood.
Tang Siqing exhaled and unloaded her rifle, only then realizing how fast her heart was pounding.
She handed the empty magazine back to the young team member, who stared at her blankly and asked, “Are you—military?”
“Just had some shooting training,” Tang Siqing replied.
“You’re amazing, Tang Qing!” Zhang Xin looked at her with a mix of shock and joy. In situations like this, the more reliable their companions, the higher their chances of survival.
Tang Siqing said nothing more. Her shooting and martial arts skills had been taught by her sister. Unlike martial arts, shooting was a skill she never lost. Even in her busiest school years, she regularly went to the shooting range weekly.
In recent years, she had added mobile target training, and when her sister had time, she would take her to live-fire matches with friends.
Her sister’s friends were all top-tier shooters, and by comparison, Tang Siqing didn’t think her own shooting was exceptional.
But thanks to ample training, even though she was extremely nervous killing monsters for the first time, once the familiar rifle was in hand, her shooting instincts kicked in.
“Here, you keep it. I’m not good at shooting. Ammo is limited, so you can save it better,” the young man said, rummaging through his pocket again to hand over a handful of loose bullets. He gestured for her to reload the empty magazine first for easier swapping.
Clearly, not only were bullets in short supply, but magazines were insufficient too.
Tang Siqing glanced at the other two team members. By now, everyone inside the truck bed was crouched or half-squatted, and she quickly spotted the smoke in the distance.
“Special situation—you keep this for now. We’ll collect it back once we arrive,” one of them said. He seemed like a squad leader and spoke without consulting the other, who made no objection.
All signals were dead. Without outside help, the situation was dire. Even a little extra assistance at this moment was precious.
***
Without communication tools, the different evacuation vehicles had no way to share information, so this temporary self-defense team’s route out of the city center was decided in advance, with one primary route and two alternatives.
None of them knew the city’s road conditions; they could easily encounter traffic jams or sudden strange terrain changes caused by mountainous formations that made roads impassable.
With three predetermined escape routes and directions settled, the accompanying self-defense team members in each vehicle had to adapt on the fly. No communication also meant no way to call for help or warn others about sudden incidents on different roads.
Just like the minibus earlier—they couldn’t send a distress call or share information, which meant the truck didn’t avoid that dangerous neighborhood.
Only after leaving the crowded building area did the team members in the truck breathe a little easier—but also grow terrified. Had things gone slightly differently, they might have ended up like the minibus, forever lost along with their vehicle.
To prevent a repeat, the driver and backup driver discussed and switched to another alternative escape route.
Though this route was longer, it was wider and had fewer tall buildings nearby.
Whether because of the route change or other reasons, once the truck left the city center, the number of monsters around gradually decreased. The city’s mutation phenomenon lessened, but the areas they passed through remained chaotic—especially near the supermarket districts.
They saw many people coming out of supermarkets, some carrying large shopping bags filled with supplies, some wearing backpacks, and others pushing carts full of goods.
The roads near the supermarkets were crowded with haphazardly parked cars—some damaged and abandoned, others just driven there moments ago. Several cars still had engines running, drivers inside clutching steering wheels, nervously watching the supermarket direction.
As the fully loaded truck passed, many people looked toward it. Some even got out of their vehicles to ask if they were part of the self-defense forces.
The team members on the truck explained their identity briefly, saying the city center was too dangerous and they were moving east toward Lanhe Experimental Middle School. They advised not to stay put or wait but to bring food and water and drive themselves to Lanhe Experimental Middle School.
The truck couldn’t take more people, but the school wasn’t far.
Many still had questions: Why head east when the nearest forces were stationed west of the city? Why not stay put when there were fewer monsters nearby? They could just stock up and hunker down in sturdy buildings for a while…
“Staying still depends on luck,” a self-defense member explained. “Next time the fog rises, if you’re lucky, you can stay inside the building. If not, both you and the building might be gone…” There were many things the self-defense people couldn’t answer—they were just ordinary citizens hastily banded together.
The truck started moving again, turned sharply, and crossed the Lan River bridge. East of the Lan River was the western district of the city where Lanhe Experimental Middle School was located.
The school was a boarding school near the suburbs, with few surrounding residential buildings—mostly green spaces and parks.
Lanhe Middle School was not as large as a university campus. It included a junior high division and was strictly managed. The walls were high, and the iron railings sturdy.
Its library and gymnasium were tall, solid buildings. Especially the gym, which was fully enclosed with windows set high up. Closing and locking all security doors turned it into a very safe space.
This meant that even if the gray fog returned, it could resist the monsters in the fog when the mist rose.
When the truck was two intersections away from Lanhe Experimental Middle School, Tang Siqing finally spotted other evacuation vehicles—buses, trucks, and shared vans—all packed with people.
Some self-defense members must have arrived earlier. A security barrier had been set up outside the school gates. A fire truck was parked nearby, with team members patrolling armed with shotguns, and others standing watch on the truck holding binoculars, alert to the surroundings.
Evacuation vehicles drove directly through the barrier, passed the tall open school gates, entered the parking lot, then the sports field, and stopped near the buildings.
The school buildings showed no serious mutations, just similar damage Tang Siqing had seen before—broken doors and windows on the lower floors. On the opposite side of the sports field, the basketball court had something burning, thick black smoke billowing up, stinging the air with acrid smells.
Even through masks, Tang Siqing could smell it clearly.
People disembarking the truck lined up. Some looked bewildered at the pile of burning debris and covered their noses.
Zhang Xin took a few steps toward the smoke, suddenly realized what it was, stopped abruptly, and turned sideways to avoid looking.
It was corpses.
Those being burned in that pile—were all the human bodies cleared from around the school by the self-defense forces!
Others quickly noticed too, their faces turning pale. Although they knew these people were already dead, they had families and friends. More so since this was a middle school, most corpses were students…
Normally, in such a rush, bodies moved out of buildings should have been gathered somewhere else first to give families a chance to identify them. How could they be burned so hastily?
Zhang Xin quietly tugged on Tang Siqing’s sleeve and whispered, “Looks like the self-defense forces noticed too…”
She didn’t continue, but Tang Siqing understood—because the self-defense team had also seen the changes in the corpses, they had to resort to mass burning.
Her brows furrowed slightly as she glanced toward the smoke. Beneath the thick fumes, the charred, unrecognizable corpses reminded her of the “black growths” that were as muddy and common as sludge all over West City.
If the gray fog was some sort of communication medium that brought the red-tongue monsters, then the other mutated landscapes in the city—the “growths”—must have originated from the same place.
So, in other parts of the city beyond the fog, people had already been doing the same—burning the bodies of those killed by the red-tongue monsters. But due to haste, they couldn’t fully cremate the corpses, causing the large amounts of “black growths”…
This theory sent chills down Tang Siqing’s spine.
She recalled the rusty car fragments and broken building debris that appeared alongside the black growths, suddenly feeling a glimpse of the world’s grim future.