boyutpedia Chapter 374 Huaihai City (Page 12)
Chapter 374 Huaihai City (Page 12)
The morning dew hadn't yet dried when a gray minivan with peeling paint started up with a creaking sound. This dilapidated little car, which Baili Pangpang jokingly called a 'mobile iron coffin,' was now shakily driving along the national highway leading to Huaihai City.
"I'll say it again, my driving skills are fine!" Zhang Yun, dressed in black, clenched his teeth and protested, gripping the back of the driver's seat. "That was just an accident last time!"
"An accident?" Baili Pangpang waved his hands exaggeratedly in the back seat. "You call driving a car into the river an accident? If I weren't a good swimmer, I'd be a rotting corpse by now!"
Lin Qiye sat in the passenger seat and silently fastened his seatbelt.
His gaze swept across the rearview mirror—Galan was enthusiastically counting the trees flashing past the window;
An Qingyu, as always, kept her head down, fiddling with some kind of precision instrument;
The newly joined Jiang Er huddled nervously in a corner, her hands clasped tightly on her knees, as if afraid of disturbing something.
"Zhang Yun, sit tight," Lin Qiye said without turning his head. "Cao Yuan drives much more steadily than you."
Cao Yuan, who was called out, gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white.
He drove with such a proper posture that it was as if he were taking a driving test, even his breathing was deliberately kept at a steady rhythm.
The car's accelerator and brakes were malfunctioning, and each gear shift produced a teeth-grinding "squeaking" sound.
"Tch." Zhang Yun, dressed in black, curled his lip and reluctantly leaned back into his seat. He stretched out his long legs and placed them directly on the center glove compartment in front of him. "You guys are just jealous of my wild and unrestrained driving skills."
Outside the car window, abandoned towns flashed by like specimens forgotten by time.
On the collapsed billboard, the words "Welcome to Tang City" had faded, leaving only a few broken strokes.
A few crows perched on a telephone pole, tilting their heads to examine the rickety car that was panting heavily.
“At this pace,” An Qingyu suddenly spoke, her eyes still glued to the instrument in her hand, “we will probably arrive in Huaihai City by noon tomorrow.”
"Can you hurry up?" Zhang Yun, dressed in black, idly played with his dagger. "I can't wait to meet that 007 team."
The dagger flew between his fingers, its silver light flashing and almost leaving afterimages.
Jiang Er stared, her eyes wide, and unconsciously moved to the side.
"Safety first." Cao Yuan's voice was tense. "The brakes on this car aren't very reliable."
As if to prove his point, a stray dog suddenly darted out from in front of them.
Cao Yuan slammed on the brakes, and everyone inside the car was thrown forward uncontrollably—
"boom!"
Zhang Yun, dressed in black, slammed his forehead hard against the front seat.
"Cao Yuan!" he roared, clutching his reddened forehead, "You call this 'stable'?!"
Lin Qiye secretly breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, he had fastened his seatbelt.
He glanced back at the situation in the back seat:
Baili Pangpang was pressed against the back of the front seat, his face contorted in the pressure. Jialan, on the other hand, reacted quickly, bracing himself against the front seat with one hand and protecting Jiang Er beside him with the other.
"I'm...I'm sorry." Cao Yuan's ears were bright red. "That dog suddenly..."
The stray dogs had long since vanished, leaving only a dusty national highway and a dilapidated car still shaken from the ordeal.
"I'll drive." Lin Qiye unbuckled his seatbelt.
"No!" Everyone except Zhang Yun in black voiced their opposition in unison.
"Captain, have you forgotten what happened last time you drove like that?" Baili Pangpang rubbed his chest, still shaken. "We almost drove into a military restricted area!"
Lin Qiye opened his mouth, but ultimately remained silent.
That was indeed a misjudgment on his part, which almost triggered a diplomatic incident.
"I'll do it." Cao Yuan took a deep breath and shifted gears again. "I'll be careful."
The car started again, but this time the speed was significantly slower.
Zhang Yun, dressed in black, slumped in his seat, staring at the roof of the car with a look of utter despair: "At this rate, by the time we get to Huaihai City, the 007 team will all be retired."
"Say less." Lin Qiye took out a map from his backpack. "An Qingyu, double-check the information on Team 007."
An Qingyu adjusted her glasses: "Squad 007 has eight members in total. The captain is at the Klein realm, the vice-captain is at the Boundless realm, and the rest are at the Sea realm..."
His voice was calm and precise, like that of a sophisticated computer.
The car gradually quieted down, with only the roar of the engine and An Qingyu's narration intertwined.
Jiang Er quietly observed the focused profiles of everyone.
She never imagined that she would one day join such a team, let alone challenge the legendary elite Night Watch squad.
His fingers unconsciously twisted together, and his palms were already sweaty.
"Nervous?" Jialan suddenly leaned closer, blinking her amber eyes.
Jiang Er nodded gently.
"Don't worry," Garan chuckled, patting her shoulder. "I almost wet my pants the first time I went on a mission!"
"Hey!" Lin Qiye turned around helplessly, "Don't corrupt the newcomers."
Zhang Yun, dressed in black, suddenly sat up straight and twitched his nose: "I smell...blood."
The atmosphere inside the car instantly became tense.
Cao Yuan immediately slowed down, and everyone became alert.
Five hundred meters ahead, an overturned truck was blocking the middle of the road.
The car was covered in strange scratches, like the work of some giant beast.
Dark red liquid seeped from the gaps in the carriage, gleaming eerily in the sunlight.
"Stop the car." Lin Qiye's voice was deep and calm. "All personnel on alert."
Cao Yuan slowly parked the car on the side of the road.
Zhang Yun, dressed in black, had at some point abandoned his nonchalant expression, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
He was the first to push open the car door, the dagger twirling gracefully in his palm.
"I'll go scout."
"Wait." Lin Qiye grabbed him. "I'll go with you. The rest of you stay on guard. An Qingyu will protect Jiang Er and Jialan."
Baili Pangpang had already pulled out his specially made pistol, his chubby face taut: "Be careful, these marks don't look right..."
Lin Qiye and Zhang Yun in black approached the truck one after the other.
The closer you get, the stronger the smell of blood becomes.
Zhang Yun, dressed in black, frowned more and more deeply. Suddenly, he reached out and stopped Lin Qiye.
“Don’t go over there.” His voice was unusually serious. “That’s not human blood.”
Lin Qiye looked closely and, sure enough, the dark red liquid reflected an unnatural purple light under the sunlight.
Even more bizarrely, they seem to be slowly... crawling?
“It’s the ‘Heart-Eating Worm’,” Zhang Yun, dressed in black, said in a low voice. “They can mimic the smell and shape of blood to lure their prey closer.”
As if to prove his words, the pool of "blood" suddenly boiled, and countless thin, red nematodes rose upright from the liquid, swaying like a scarlet wave of wheat.
Lin Qiye felt a chill creep up his spine.
He slowly backed away, while gesturing for Cao Yuan to prepare to drive.
"Back off slowly." Zhang Yun, dressed in black, blocked his path, a dagger held horizontally in front of his chest. "Don't make a sound..."
Just then, Jialan's voice came from afar: "Qiye! Zhang Yun! Are you alright?"
The sound was like a stone thrown into calm water, and the scarlet "wheat wave" instantly erupted, turning into a blood arrow that shot towards them!
"run!"
Zhang Yun, dressed in black, grabbed Lin Qiye's wrist, and the two rushed toward the van at an astonishing speed.
Behind them, the blood arrows dispersed into countless thin lines in mid-air, emitting a chilling hissing sound.
Cao Yuan had already started the car, and the doors were wide open.
The two practically leaped into the car, and Baili Pangpang immediately closed the door.
"Hurry up! Hurry up!" Baili Pangpang shouted, patting the driver's seat.
Cao Yuan floored the accelerator, and the dilapidated van roared under the strain, its tires scraping the road and sending up plumes of smoke.
In the rearview mirror, the crimson stain had spread to where they had just been standing.
The car was deathly silent, with only the sound of rapid breathing rising and falling.
“What the hell is that…” Jialan’s face turned pale.
“‘Heart-eating worms’.” Zhang Yun, dressed in black, had returned to his usual lazy demeanor, but the cold sweat on his forehead betrayed him. “Once you’re entangled by them, you’ll be eaten down to your skeleton within minutes.”
Jiang Er hugged her arms tightly, her knuckles turning white: "How could they be here..."
.....
The last rays of twilight were swallowed by dark clouds, and the sky outside Huaihai City turned a sickly dark red.
Lin Qiye was squatting on the ground examining the strange traces of the Heart-Eating Worms when suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps came from behind him.
"Be on guard!" Lin Qiye shouted in a low voice, his right hand already on the hilt of his sword.
The squad members immediately dispersed and formed a battle formation.
Zhang Yun, dressed in black, vanished from his lazy expression, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. His spear, which had been drawn at some point, gleamed with a cold light in the dim light.
Seven figures staggered out of the woods, their Night's Watch uniforms tattered and soaked with dark red blood.
The leader was a tall man with his left eye wrapped in a blood-stained bandage, while his only remaining right eye burned with an indomitable flame.
"Squad 007?" Lin Qiye recognized the number on their uniforms, but remained vigilant.
"The Fifth Special Squad?" The one-eyed man—Guang Qingsheng—stopped in his tracks, his chest heaving violently.
"I'm Guang Qingsheng, the captain of Squad 007." He pointed to a woman with a high ponytail beside him, "Vice Captain Han Qing..."
Lin Qiye noticed that although Guang Qingsheng was at the Klein level, his aura was extremely chaotic, clearly indicating that he was nearing his limit.
Han Qing's situation was worse; her right arm hung limply, seemingly broken.
"What happened?" Lin Qiye asked in a deep voice.
A flicker of fear flashed in Guang Qingsheng's single eye:
“The Heart-Eating Worm Queen… is causing chaos.” His voice was hoarse, as if it had been sanded. “Billions of Heart-Eating Worms are swarming in… less than five kilometers from here.”
As if to confirm his words, a slight tremor suddenly came from the ground in the distance.
At first it sounded like a mild tinnitus, but it quickly turned into a chilling rustling sound, like a million feet crawling at the same time.
"Huaihai City..." Han Qing began with difficulty, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, "We must defend Huaihai City..."
Lin Qiye and Zhang Yun in black exchanged a glance.
The latter smiled dangerously and nodded slightly.
“The mother worm…” An Qingyu suddenly spoke, pushing up her glasses, “As long as the mother is killed, all the offspring will die at the same time. This is their social characteristic.”
Guang Qingsheng gave a wry smile: "The problem is that we simply can't find it! The swarm is too dense, and all our reconnaissance methods have failed."
The ground tremors grew stronger, and the trees in the distance began to sway, as if experiencing a mini earthquake.
In the sky, a flock of birds fled in panic, only to suddenly plummet in mid-air—their bodies had already been corroded by some invisible force before they hit the ground, turning into a pool of blood.
"Zhang Yun." Lin Qiye turned to look at the boy in black, "Your 'Insight Through Walls'..."