Chapter 35.2 The Promised Land
“Li Su? Do you know him?” The man said, “My name is Fang Wenshu, and I am the recorder for Li Su’s team.”
“My name is Lin Banxia, and I am a monitor.” He was a little embarrassed when he said this because he felt that he was a far behind other monitors, and he didn’t have any life-saving skills.
“The situation is very bad.” Fang Wenshu said, “The people you brought seem to have stimulated that thing, and the alienation around them is getting more and more serious…” He looked around with a troubled expression, “Yes, we still have to go back.”
Lin Banxia said: “Go back, where are you going?”
“Of course, it is the central area.” Fang Wenshu said, “The thing we are looking for is there.” He gestured, “There is a big, big platform there, and the thing we are looking for is on it. God, how far is it to go back from here…” He muttered.
Lin Banxia didn’t know anything about finding the way, and he didn’t understand what the situation was like now, so he had no choice but to follow Fang Wenshu back.
On the way back, Lin Banxia asked Fang Wenshu what that thing was. Fang Wenshu said that he didn’t know, but the closer he got to that thing, the more serious the alienation would be around him. For example, it might only appear in the wasteland. The thing you desire most is here. As long as you relax a little, the thing you desire subconsciously will appear in front of you.
“Then what if I want to leave?” Lin Banxia asked doubtfully, “Then why didn’t it send me away?”
“Of course you can think about it.” Fang Wenshu glanced deeply at Lin Banxia, ”But the moment you achieve this wish, you will also belong to it.”
Lin Banxia was dumbfounded. He really didn’t expect this. The realization of the wish was also the beginning of the sacrifice, so it was destined to be a paradox. However, it obviously would not let go of this loophole. After all, there were many ways to leave.
While the two were discussing, Lin Banxia suddenly stopped and said hesitantly: “Did you hear something?”
Fang Wenshu said: “Don’t scare me.”
Even so, he was still vigilant, and the two of them deliberately walked slowly. However, even so, when they turned the corner, Fang Wenshu was startled by the figure standing in front of him. He almost shot. Fortunately, Lin Banxia stopped him. Lin Banxia recognized the identity of the person in front of him and taught him in surprise: “Sergey!”
Sergey turned his head and looked at Lin Banxia.
Lin Banxia was about to step forward, but he made a silent gesture, indicating to Lin Banxia to keep his voice down. He turned around again and stared intently at a stone room in front of him, as if there were some rare and exotic animals inside. Lin Banxia and Fang Wenshu walked behind Sergey, and through the gap next to Sergey, they also saw the scene in the house.
There were actually seven or eight people in the room. Some of these people were kneeling, some were lying on their stomachs. They were all surrounding an unknown corpse. They were engrossed in eating at this time, with a look of satisfaction on their faces and each of these seven or eight people had the exact same face as Irina.
Fang Wenshu’s scalp crawled. Although he didn’t know Irina, he knew that the thing in front of him was definitely not human. He swallowed, tugged on Lin Banxia’s sleeves, and whispered: “You the person inside?”
Lin Banxia said: “…we sort of know each other… She was the record keeper in our team.”
“Is that guy next to her her friend?” Fang Wenshu asked.
Lin Banxia nodded.
After Fang Wenshu listened, his next action was to load the pistol. Lin Banxia saw something was wrong, reached out to stop him, and whispered: “What are you going to do?”
“Of course I must kill him!” Fang Wenshu said, “Don’t you want to know what the thing was that chased me just now?” He looked at the figures in the room, which seemed to be about to be full. “I’ll tell you; it was the thing you saw… It’s all caused by him.” Fang Wenshu angrily accused Sergey, “If we don’t kill him and stop his subconscious, we will all die!”
Lin Banxia suddenly had an idea: “Why should we kill him directly? Can’t we just knock him out?”
Fang Wenshu was stunned: “Huh? You can also… try that?”
Sergey couldn’t understand Chinese and didn’t care what they were saying. His gaze fell on the Irina in the room, gentle and soft, as if the person in front of him was not a monster, but his partner who had been with him for several years. Lin Banxia winked at Fang Wenshu, and Fang Wenshu acted accordingly. He raised his hand and touched Sergey’s neck. Before Sergey could react, he made a muffled sound and fell to the ground.
The moment Sergey lost consciousness, the movements of Irina and the other figures in the room stopped at the same time. They did not continue eating. They all slowly turned their heads and stared coldly at the two people at the door with their green eyes.
Fang Wenshu swallowed his saliva and asked, “Why are they staring at us? Have they suddenly been influenced?”
Lin Banxia thought to himself that it was okay to be slow, but why did Fang Wenshu feel even slower than himself? He said helplessly: “You can see in their eyes that they seem to be influenced, so run quickly.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the seven or eight Irinas covered in blood came out and rushed towards the two of them.
It was actually a little too late to run at this time, so within a dozen steps, those things were in front of them. Fang Wenshu fired without hesitation, while Lin Banxia took out his dagger.
Because the distance was too close, after dealing with a monster, Lin Banxia was thrown to the ground by two others. They opened their mouths and bit Lin Banxia, as if they were sharing some delicious food, and their expressions were extremely ferocious. Lin Banxia screamed and lashed out with the dagger in his hand. Sure enough, it was just as Li Su said, if it didn’t hit their vital parts, what flowed would be blood. If it hit their vital parts, they would turn into a puddle. The screaming mud disappeared into the ground. Lin Banxia killed the one on his chest, turned around and got rid of the one on his back, then ran to help Fang Wenshu and got rid of the last one, and then the two of them regained their breath.
The only good thing was that these people could only use their teeth, while Lin Banxia and the others had weapons, so they probably successfully solved this disaster after paying the price of about twenty tooth marks on their bodies.
Fang Wenshu was unlucky, and his face was covered in blood. He sat on the ground and cursed his mother angrily. When he got up, he kicked Sergey and said that he was not afraid of enemies but his pig teammates. Lin Banxia was also bitten, and his forearm was a bloody mess. He sat on the ground and gasped, saying, “How many Irinas did you see?”
“At least twenty.” Fang Wenshu swallowed, “Now, I really think that these things are everywhere.”
Lin Banxia thought that he couldn’t be bitten anymore. If he was bitten again, he would be chewed into gum.
“Let’s go to the center first.” Fang Wenshu gritted his teeth, “It’s okay to wait like this.”
Lin Banxia said: “Okay.”
The two originally wanted to put Sergey in a relatively safe place, but Fang Wenshu was afraid that Sergey would wake up halfway and start missing his lovely teammate Irina, so they didn’t dare.
So, in the end, Lin Banxia slowly walked behind with Sergey on his back, and Fang Wenshu was exploring the way in front, but he didn’t go far forward, his expression became unnatural, and he kept looking back.
Lin Banxia saw this and asked him what was wrong.
“No…” Fang Wenshu whispered, “It seems like something is following us.”
Lin Banxia was stunned: “What is it?”
“I don’t know.” Fang Wenshu said.
“Then let’s leave quickly.” Lin Banxia didn’t want to fight with countless Irina anymore.
Fang Wenshu nodded and walked a little faster, but after all, there was still a very heavy Sergey holding him back. Even if the two of them wanted to go fast, they couldn’t go any faster. After a while, Lin Banxia knew what Fang Wenshu meant when he said something was following them. The thing was hidden far away in the darkness, and the sound of it squirming on the ground could be vaguely heard. However, when they looked back, they couldn’t see anything, they could only see endless corridors and rooms. When they turned around, the thing would continue to follow them. Lin Banxia was okay, but Fang Wenshu obviously couldn’t stand it anymore. He started to look back frequently, but these glances reminded Lin Banxia of Sergey’s expression before. He considered: “Maybe, let’s put Sergey aside first and dispose of these things?”
Fang Wenshu smiled bitterly: “How can you be sure that it is us who deal with it and not it who will deal with us?”
Lin Banxia was speechless.
“Forget it.” Fang Wenshu said, “Let’s keep going…”
Lin Banxia said, “Yes.”
The two walked forward for more than an hour. Finally, Lin Banxia couldn’t stand it anymore and said that he wanted to rest for a while. Fang Wenshu agreed, and whispered: “Who do you think is following us?”
“I don’t know.” Lin Banxia said, “I think… it doesn’t matter what it is. Anyway, you just need to know that it has no intention of killing you at the moment.”
Fang Wenshu smiled bitterly: “The monitors are indeed monsters. I would rather they kill me quickly than suffer such torture.” The fear before death was more painful than death, but obviously, the indifferent Lin Banxia in front of him couldn’t feel it anymore.
While the two of them were talking, Sergey groaned in confusion after being knocked unconscious. Lin Banxia became nervous when he heard his moans, and without hesitation reached out to knock him out again. Seeing how decisive he was, Fang Wenshu extended his thumb to him and made a thumbs up gesture.
In the darkness, that sticky sound sounded again, but this time, the source of the sound was closer to them.
Fang Wenshu finally couldn’t stand it anymore, so he picked up a flashlight and started searching carefully. After searching for a while, he suddenly reached out and wiped the wall, and there was a layer of black sludge-like liquid on his fingers.
“No… no way, it shouldn’t be.” Fang Wenshu’s eyes widened. He looked at the wall and saw that the original stone wall gradually melted and softened, forming a black sludge-like texture, just like a human being. There was a heartbeat like a pulsation, and something in the mud made a shrill cry and began to try to pour out of it. Fang Wenshu, who was standing next to it, was startled by the sudden appearance. However, before he had time to react, he saw a human face in the mud. It seemed as if it wanted to break through the boundaries of the mud and forcefully squeeze itself out.
“What is this?!” Fang Wenshu screamed in fright.
Lin Banxia said: “Don’t be stunned. Run quickly.”
After he yelled, he dragged Sergey’s body and ran forward. Fang Wenshu followed behind him, not daring to look back.
The two of them ran all the way again. When they were sure that the sound behind them disappeared, they stopped holding on to the wall. Lin Banxia’s physical strength was already finding it a bit hard to keep up. Not only did he have to escape for his own life, but he also had to drag a weight of more than 100 kilograms. Carrying Sergey, it was like running long distance with heavy weights. The room where they stayed happened to have a stone bed. Fang Wenshu panted and fumbled to sit on the stone bed, collapsed on it, and said: “I can’t run anymore! I can’t run anymore!”
He managed to catch his breath, struggled to sit up from the bed, and wanted to say something to Lin Banxia, but as soon as he straightened up, his face immediately changed, and he said in a trembling voice: “Lin, Lin Banxia?”
Lin Banxia looked at him strangely and said, “What’s wrong?”
“Can you help me look under the bed?” Fang Wenshu’s face turned pale, “It seems like something grabbed my feet from underneath…”
When Lin Banxia shined the flashlight, he actually saw a pair of pale hands stretching out from under the bed and grabbing Fang Wenshu’s ankles. Lin Banxia said, “Fuck, there seems to be someone under your bed.”
“What, who is it?” Fang Wenshu asked.
Lin Banxia didn’t say a word. He walked to Fang Wenshu’s side, squatted down, and tilted his head to see what was going on under the bed. Fang Wenshu was frightened by Lin Banxia’s actions, his eyes widened, and he said: “You, you are not afraid?”
Lin Banxia glanced at him: “Even if I am scared, can I still leave you and run away?”
Fang Wenshu looked ashamed and said, “Brother, I cannot thank you enough for your kindness.”
Lin Banxia used the light of the flashlight to see something under Fang Wen’s study bed. It was a man lying on the ground, looking like he was dying. Lin Banxia reached out and pulled him out from under the bed. When he turned him over and saw his face, Lin Banxia took a breath. The person lying under the bed was actually Song Qingluo!!!
“Song Qingluo! Song Qingluo, are you okay?” Lin Banxia shouted.
Song Qingluo’s face was pale. There were bloody marks everywhere on his face and body. There were traces of being scratched by wild beasts on his chest and there were wounds on his waist and abdomen that were deep enough to show the bones. He raised his eyes and whispered: ” Quick…run…”
Lin Banxia said: “Why are you here? What happened?”
“Leave here…” After Song Qingluo said this, he fainted.
Lin Banxia was very anxious and wanted to help him treat the wound, but after taking off his shirt, he found that there was almost no good piece of meat on Song Qingluo’s body. He could not imagine what happened to Song Qingluo.
“Are you okay?” Fang Wenshu whispered from the side, “Is this your friend?”
“Yes, yes.” Lin Banxia was so anxious that he was covered in cold sweat. He covered Song Qingluo’s wound and said, “This won’t work, he will die…”
Fang Wenshu hesitated to speak, obviously feeling that Song Qingluo was hopeless.
Lin Banxia was very anxious. He had never thought that the Song Qingluo in front of him was fake, but Fang Wenshu didn’t know Song Qingluo, and Sergey was still unconscious. There was no way he wanted Song Qingluo to get hurt. Whose fantasy could this dying Song Qingluo be in?? Moreover, Song Qingluo had been fatally injured. If it was fake, he should have turned into mud.
Lin Banxia was extremely anxious. He gritted his teeth and said, “This won’t work. I have to take him back… You can walk the rest of the way by yourself.”
Fang Wenshu sighed: “Calm down, you can’t go back. Think about it, after leaving this city, there is still boundless wilderness. After passing the wilderness, there is still forest, and there are such terrible bears in the forest. How can you… Maybe he can be saved…”
Lin Banxia ignored him, took off his backpack, and planned to simply bandage Song Qingluo.
Fang Wenshu said: “Ok, I have a special suggestion, maybe you can give it a try.”
When Lin Banxia heard this, he suddenly raised his head and glanced at Fang Wenshu with a strange look. He said, “What did you just say?”
Fang Wenshu said: “I said that if I go back, I will die.”
“The previous sentence.” Lin Banxia stood up and clenched the dagger in his hand.
“I mean, you can’t go back…” Fang Wen wrote.
“No, that’s not what I’m talking about.” Lin Banxia calmly caught the loophole in Fang Wenshu’s words, “You said that outside this city, there is boundless wilderness, and beyond the wilderness, there are still forests. And that there are scary bears in the forest!”
Fang Wenshu asked doubtfully: “What’s wrong?”
Lin Banxia took a step forward, stood in front of Song Qingluo, and said, “You are on the same team as Li Su and the others, right? They didn’t encounter a bear, so how do you know there are bears in the forest?”
Fang Wenshu was silent for a moment: “I only met him later…”
“We met them later?” Lin Banxia said, “You were scattered everywhere. Even if you were lucky enough to enter the forest and happen to encounter a bear, what would you do to escape? Before us, yet coming back here faster??”
Fang Wenshu stopped talking. He tilted his head and smiled: “Just because of this, you say I’m a fake?”
Lin Banxia stood up: “Sergey is unconscious, and there is no way I would let Song Qingluo die. The only possibility is you. You know Song Qingluo, right, what are you thinking? In other words, what wish do you want to realize??”
Fang Wenshu looked at Lin Banxia silently, the warmth in his eyes gradually faded, turning into coldness and murderous intent. He raised the gun in his hand and pointed the muzzle at Lin Banxia. He sighed; his tone full of regret: “Why do you have to be so smart? Wouldn’t it be nice to be stupid? I didn’t want things to end up like this.”
Lin Banxia didn’t expect that he would suddenly attack. At this time, the distance between the two was only one meter. He only had a dagger in his hand. Once Fang Wenshu fired, he would die here. However, could Fang Wenshu really shoot? Lin Banxia thought of Alexei… If Alexei really wanted him to die, it would probably be an easy thing, just shoot him while he was sleeping.
However, Alexei didn’t do that, he just wanted to seduce him with gold.
Did such anomaly indicate a certain pattern? The black sludge could not directly harm them, but it could be transmitted through spiritual pollution. Only monsters generated by human inner desires could harm the humans, just like that headless monster bear in the forest.
So, what about Fang Wenshu? Was he human, or was he that kind of creature, and would he shoot him? Lin Banxia became more and more confused, until at a certain moment, he saw Song Qingluo lying on the ground, and suddenly his soul was blessed. Lin Banxia realized that there was a paradox in Fang Wenshu. Regardless of the authenticity of Song Qingluo lying at his feet, it meant one thing – Fang Wenshu’s wish had come true.
It was precisely because he achieved his wish that Song Qingluo became like this, and here, all those who have achieved their wishes had only one destination.
Lin Banxia licked his dry lips and asked Fang Wenshu a question. He said, “Are you the product of a wish? Someone… wanted Fang Wenshu to get away, so that’s why you were born?”
Fang Wenshu stopped laughing completely.
The author has something to say:
Lin Banxia: I finally saw Brother Song today. I don’t know if it’s true or not. Let’s all watch together.
Song Qingluo:??
Translator’s comments:
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