Chapter 101 – Rain
Shi Yuan looked at the holographic map.
The aircraft was a blue dot on the map, and the location of Elton was marked with a red dot. They were getting closer day by day, only 1200 kilometers away from Elton.
1200 kilometers.
Lu Tinghan told him that the distance was not long for the aircraft, but the thunderstorm was too strong.
Shi Yuan watched intently. The holographic map was very interesting. The aircraft slowly moved forward, showing the scanned terrain around it, and coupled with the rhythmic “beep-beep-beep” sound of the radar and the rippling sound wave effect, there was an inexplicable sense of decompression.
He had been watching for almost 20 minutes. He heard that they would soon arrive in an Empire city called “Masluni”.
There was the sound of footsteps behind him, and then a hand reached out and touched his head.
Lu Tinghan said, “Shi Yuan, it’s time to eat.”
“Okay,” Shi Yuan agreed.
Dinner was still cooked by Chi Yongge.
Canned tomatoes were served with instant noodles, as well as dehydrated vegetables. There was not enough space so some people ate at the table and some ate on the sofa, and mole people sat in dark corners and ate raw meat.
At first, the mole people were afraid of the aircraft and huddled in the warehouse. Fortunately, they quickly adapted.
These days, Shi Yuan tried to make friends with them.
The mole people were so scared to death, they responded with “um”, “oh” and “ah”, their voices as small as a mosquito, and immediately slipped away. Shi Yuan was unhappy, because of the lack of words, he couldn’t give them ten nicknames, so he complained about them to Lu Tinghan several times.
Lu Tinghan couldn’t solve this problem, so he took out a fooling method. Shi Yuan got a head rub and returned with satisfaction.
Di Wen was very suspicious of Shi Yuan’s identity.
After all, Shi Yuan was a good-looking and eye-catching person no matter how you looked at it.
Even if he had the characteristics of infection, it should not be a source of fear.
She asked tentatively a few times, but the few people in the Alliance kept their mouths shut, so she stopped asking, thinking to herself, perhaps there was such a metaphysical thing in the world.
She let go of her doubts, and the others groaned, thinking that indeed, no one could have thought that the abyss had become a human.
Not only did the abyss become a human, the abyss was also playing cards on the aircraft.
In Gleaning City, Shi Yuan and Zhou Ping’an played cards and lost completely, ruining the reputation of the Lu family who refused to admit defeat. After so long…he continued to lose.
Sometimes when Lu Tinghan was free, they played cards in the activity area. Di Wen passed by, watched from the sidelines several times, and finally couldn’t hold back a deep sigh.
“Shi Yuan,” she said, “If you go to the casino, you can lose your self in half a day.”
“Really?” Shi Yuan asked.
“Yes,” Lu Tinghan helped answer.
Throw the dice a few times and play the cards a few times, and you can take the fresh abyss home.
Shi Yuan never had any bargaining chips, and his meager savings couldn’t make up for the huge amount of money.
General Lu educated him about why people should avoid the dirty gambling poison and strive to be excellent citizens.
He said: “In ancient times, if you owed a lot of debts, you would either be a cow and a horse or promise your body.”
Shi Yuan: “Which one am I?”
That night, Lu Tinghan told him the answer.
The rain was dripping outside the window, and Shi Yuan’s tail roots were soft, and he said in Lu Tinghan’s arms, “This does not count as dirty?”
Lu Tinghan said, “I have nothing to do with gambling.”
Shi Yuan: “……”
The next day, Shi Yuan ate dry bread in the morning.
Chi Yongge was checking on a mole man – his name was Bruno and he volunteered for an inhibitor injection.
Chi Yongge first injected him with a dose of 0.05 ml to observe the effect.
Over the past few days, Bruno had often suffered from nausea and loss of energy, but his vital signs were stable, and the concentration of infection in his blood had dropped a little. He was still afraid of light, and his fingernails and teeth would still grow endlessly, but this was a good sign.
Chi Yongge was very cautious and slowly increased his dosage.
When they arrived in Masluni in half a day, the weather was slightly better.
The lightning and thunder seemed to be tired, and they were no longer so crazy. Shi Yuan woke up and sleepily leaned over the window to look. A few droplets of water slid down the glass, and the rain was so fine that he could actually see the black mountains in the slight distance.
He thought, is the rain going to stop?
He didn’t hate the rain.
When it rained in the wasteland and high forest, it was dark and gray everywhere. He would find tree holes or rock caves to take shelter temporarily. Streams of water flowed down from above and seeped into the soil under his feet, leaving only a moist luster. After the rain, the air would be fresh, and all kinds of strange monsters would run out, which belonged to the monster’s vitality.
In the city, if it rained sharply, people would always walk in a hurry, covering their heads with their overalls. Shi Yuan didn’t like to watch the weather forecast very much. Once, he was trapped by the rain after work. Just as he was planning to take Lin Yeran’s coat to block the rain, he saw a black car parked on the corner of the street, and Lu Tinghan walked towards him with a pure black umbrella. Then, Lu Tinghan hugged him and they walked through the street. His umbrella was so low that others could not recognize the general, so they could walk leisurely.
Shi Yuan also held an umbrella for Lu Tinghan.
However, the height gap was there, and he had to work hard to raise his umbrella high so as not to hit Lu Tinghan’s head.
He worked really hard… As for how many times Lu Tinghan’s head was hit by the umbrella skeleton, only he himself knew.
Many people would be depressed because of the rain, but Shi Yuan liked the light rain, drizzle, heavy rain, typhoon rain, he liked the rain, and he also liked the end of it.
The lines of the mountains in the distance were very beautiful, and the tip of his tail began to sway happily.
However, it didn’t take long for radar and infection detectors to sound the alarm.
Behind the aircraft, in the dense clouds, there seemed to be a group of things following them.
Shi Yuan went to the command room, and Lu Tinghan was staring at the screen intently.
There was too much interference caused by the thunderstorm, and the signal of that group of things was faint and fleeting, it was almost like an illusion. After observing for an hour or two, he said, “It’s the group of flying fish.”
Shi Yuan asked, “The group we saw in that secret city? The group with whales and dolphins?”
“Yes, it’s them,” Lu Tinghan replied.
Chi Yongge shuddered: “Wait, wait, wait, how many kilometers have we flown out here? Have they – have they been following us?!”
“It seems so,” Lu Tinghan said, “The Empire’s climate is bad and visibility is very low, so if they are far enough away, we won’t be able to detect them. After entering the area of influence of the Delta Abyss, the thunder clouds are dense, and they are better hidden.” He pointed to the screen, “The larger ones can be seen, such as the whale.”
“Why?” Chi Yongge asked, “Why are they following us?” He scratched his head irritably, “They are all fish raised by the princess. Isn’t it good to stay by the fish tank honestly?”
“It’s not all the princess’s fish,” a hoarse voice sounded, and Di Wen walked in with her back hunched, “That whale is not.”
Everyone looked at her. She paused and explained: “The aquarium in the secret town is still too small. Before, the princess wanted to raise whales, the king shipped one back from the south sea. There was not enough space. The whale hit the glass every day, hitting it with its head, body, and tail.”
Lu Tinghan said: “Animals with high IQ often have high needs, so they shouldn’t be raised. If you lock people up like this, they will go crazy.”
“Yes. But why would the little princess care about that?” Di Wen let out a sarcastic chuckle, “That whale died of depression and loneliness. She didn’t care. She said that whales are not fun and will not be raised in the future. There have been no whales in the aquarium since then. Therefore, the whales in the fish group did not come from there.”
Chi Yongge asked, “Where did that come from?”
“Who knows.” Di Wen shrugged, “It’s not surprising that infected creatures do anything.”
With such a group of monsters following behind, it was a bit unsettling. When the thunderstorm started again, the traces of the fish group were difficult to catch, and they had to travel more carefully.
At night, Shi Yuan lay in Lu Tinghan’s arms and said, “If the school of fish comes, should I kill them?”
“No, don’t kill them until you have to,” Lu Tinghan said, “In case we don’t make it, at least the Empire side can hold out a little longer.”
If the Deep Dive failed and the infected creatures in the main city finished evolving, the Alliance would not be able to survive.
Those creatures had endless time and would come to the territory of the Empire sooner or later… However, the Alliance and the Empire were far away. Before they arrived, the people of the Empire would have a buffer period.
How long is the buffer period? No one knows.
What can the people of the Empire do during the buffer period to avoid extinction? No one knows.
But they couldn’t give up any hope, even if it was fainter than a dying candle.
“Well,” Shi Yuan said, “I see, I won’t kill them until I have to.”
Lu Tinghan kissed his black hair.
Fortunately, the fish group just followed from a distance and didn’t mean to attack.
Chi Yongge and Bruno have also made new progress.
At dinner, Shi Yuan was dealing with corn soup when he suddenly heard a shout!
The cry was between a human and a beast, full of ecstasy. As soon as he turned his head, he saw Bruno standing in the light, and the bright light fell on his deformed body and black fur.
This was unprecedented, most mole people were hiding in dark warehouses.
Bruno’s eyes were moist.
He said: “…I’m not so afraid of the light anymore.”
A day later, they arrived in Masluni.
It was indeed a big city. The aircraft flew in a circle, and Shi Yuan estimated that it was about half of the size of Fengyang City.
As before, 10 mole people descended first and followed Di Wen into the soil. With them, it was much more convenient to explore underground cities.
They came back just an hour later.
Di Wen shook her head.
The city was also destroyed and uninhabitable.
Everyone was mentally prepared, but they were still disappointed.
Di Wen said again: “However, we also found a clue to General Liszt. On the military uniforms of the bones in the city, some had blue armbands.”
General Liszt was the greatest general of the Empire and was deeply appreciated by the king.
In recognition of his achievements, he himself and the senior generals under his command wore blue armbands, which means “heroic division”.
These days, everyone took a detour and went to nearby cities, large and small. Several times, the mole people came back, Shi Yuan heard them say that they saw the blue armband.
They seemed to follow the armband and retrace the path of old times. It was as if they saw General Liszt and his army, holding on again and again, losing, slowly withdrawing toward the capital.
——They were defeated in a mess and failed to defend the city.
They were still alive.
Next, there was no longer a city that could be visited along the way.
Di Wen said: “It seems that we can only go to Elton to have a look.”
Two days later, the main city of the Alliance contacted them.
Professor Guan said that a group of reptilian creatures infected by Shi Yuan were restless and would soon break open the crystals. Lieutenant General Fu Xiu made all preparations, and the army was ready to go.
In the past few months, they have made a lot of efforts, such as finding ways to detain small infected creatures, such as calling troops and building a line of defense, such as trying to destroy the black crystal and directly kill the monsters in it…
The black crystals were almost indestructible, and the main city did not have so many resources to ensure the absolute security of the infected creatures in custody.
War was a matter of time.
Lu Tinghan finished listening to the reports of Professor Guan and Lieutenant General Fu.
“I see,” he said.
Professor Guan said: “Don’t worry about us, there is still time.”
Fu Xiu also promised: “General, please trust us.”
Lu Tinghan instructed them some matters and hung up the communication.
Shi Yuan, with his tail in the air and holding a Sudoku, just happened to push the door in. He said briskly: “I have finished another page, can you take a look for me?” He asked again, “Were you on the phone just now, what happened?”
“Nothing.” Lu Tinghan said with a smile, “Come here, let me have a look.”
In the warm light, Shi Yuan nestled beside him, wrapping his tail around him.
Lu Tinghan checked carefully and told Shi Yuan, “It’s all right.”
Shi Yuan: “Wow!!”
He was happy all night.
Two days later, they received a call from the Empire.
“Broadcasting the coordinates：58.8911，-120.72…… Shaaaa..shaaaa… Any survivor can go to this coordinate, the Empire is with you! This is correspondent 0293…Ziiii—shaaaaa…”
“Broadcasting the coordinates again: 58…Beep beep—the Empire is with you! This is correspondent 0293, the 29th call ends, the 29th call ends.”
The pouring rain shot through the earth like a billion sharp arrows, and when the wind blew it was like smoke and fog. The call on the airwaves was like a ghost, floating in the cold night, wandering in the rain that had not stopped for a hundred years.
They were still 150 kilometers away from Elton.
