Chapter 137: “Wu You, you’ve become so strong! The strongest combat power!”
Upon seeing Shen Ti, An Wujiu’s heart clenched tightly.
“Are you okay?” An Wujiu put down his gun and checked the wounds on Shen Ti. “Why is there so much blood?”
Shen Ti, exhausted, put down the weapons he brought back. With one arm, he loosely embraced An Wujiu, half-hugging him but not touching him, and softly reassured him, “It’s not all my blood, some of it belongs to others.”
An Wujiu’s mind was filled with thoughts of Shen Ti’s injuries. After checking, he found a bullet graze on Shen Ti’s shoulder, still bleeding.
He turned to the medical kit to get some medicine, his hand suddenly pausing. He looked up at Shen Ti, his brows slightly furrowed. “Others… humans?”
Shen Ti nodded. He hadn’t intended to deceive An Wujiu.
“I killed all the pollutants at the gas station, then swapped for a better car and filled it with gas. Suddenly, a group of people arrived. They wanted to take my time and got out of the car and shot at me.”
He described it simply, in a relaxed tone, as if he were an observer. “Four men, two young and two middle-aged. I killed one of them, and severely injured another. He probably won’t survive long after escaping.”
After explaining, Shen Ti lowered his eyes and withdrew his bloodstained hand.
“I’m sorry.”
Human lives held no value to him, but An Wujiu was very important. He didn’t want to go against his values and harm others.
He had seen An Wujiu struggle to uphold his kindness and wanted to be like him—to be a good person.
Seeing Shen Ti like this, An Wujiu felt as if an invisible hand had squeezed and shattered his heart.
He raised his arm to hug Shen Ti, but Shen Ti dodged a bit.
“A bit dirty.” Shen Ti spread his arms, showing the blood and mucus on his clothes.
An Wujiu shook his head, stubbornly stepping forward to hug him without saying a word.
“Shen Ti, you didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t blame yourself.” An Wujiu leaned on his shoulder, hugging him tightly. “It’s good that you came back.”
He didn’t need Shen Ti to be a perfect person.
An Wujiu hated the word perfect.
Shen Ti only needed to be Shen Ti.
Perhaps because he wasn’t of the same species, Shen Ti occasionally felt some anxiety and fear of not being accepted, but An Wujiu smoothed all those feelings.
He silently sighed in relief and rested his chin on An Wujiu’s shoulder.
“Wujiu, it hurts.”
Shen Ti’s tone sounded somewhat aggrieved, making the already sad An Wujiu unable to hold back a laugh.
In fact, he wasn’t in pain; those people were not his match at all.
Shen Ti hadn’t intended to kill, but when he fired, the man moved from his original position, and as he fled, he ended up getting hit fatally.
If he had known, he would have aimed for the thigh.
An Wujiu quietly bandaged Shen Ti’s wound. Shen Ti watched his shoulder for a while, then turned his head to look at Wu You.
Wu You’s condition wasn’t good. The number of his tentacles had increased, and they started secreting mucus. When a drop fell to the floor, it made a sizzling, corrosive sound.
Shen Ti hoped he wouldn’t have an accident or lose his humanity. Otherwise, choosing to keep him might endanger everyone.
“All done.” An Wujiu bit the end of the bandage, tying a secure knot. He kissed Shen Ti’s shoulder and looked up at him with a gentle smile. “Does it still hurt?”
Shen Ti shook his head and touched his forehead to An Wujiu’s with the cleanest part of his own. “Thank you.”
An Wujiu gave him a kiss in return.
“You’re welcome.”
After Shen Ti returned, An Wujiu finally dared to close his eyes and sleep. However, his subconscious remained on high alert. He only slept for about two hours, but during those two hours, he repeatedly dreamed.
The dreams were the same as the hallucinations he saw when he closed his eyes.
He was certain it was Shen Ti’s voice, speaking intermittently.
But back then, he was still a child.
When he woke up, the night had not yet faded, and the sky was just turning light. An Wujiu realized he had been sleeping on Shen Ti’s lap.
He lifted his head slightly and saw Shen Ti looking at him, blinking in a way that reminded him of an animal.
An Wujiu smiled and got up, stretching his body.
“Didn’t you sleep?”
Shen Ti shook his head. “I’m not tired.”
He wasn’t sleepy at all. On the contrary, Shen Ti was extremely energetic. For some reason, his hearing had become exceptionally sharp. He could hear the slight movements of Wu You’s tentacles and almost all the sounds within a kilometer, making it too noisy to sleep.
“My god!”
Zhong Yirou’s voice caught their attention, and An Wujiu followed her shocked gaze and turned around, seeing Wu You’s face.
No, to be precise, it was the pair of extra eyes on Wu You’s face.
These eyes were completely opposite to his original ones; they were entirely black.
“Wu You? Wu You?”
Hearing the voice, Wu You woke up from his sleep, surprised to find that he could actually see An Wujiu in front of him, although the view was dark, and An Wujiu appeared as a red image, like a scene from an infrared surveillance camera.
He turned his head and saw Zhong Yirou walking towards him from the bed, easily recognizable by her signature big, wavy hair.
Wu You turned back and looked around the room.
He suddenly realized someone was missing.
[Wujiu-ge, where is Shen Ti?]
Shen Ti, who could also hear Wu You, was quite surprised and waved his hand at Wu You, “I’m right here, aren’t I?”
Wu You heard him this time, but he felt it was strange and stared in the direction of the voice.
[You’re here, but I can’t see you.]
Shen Ti laughed in exasperation, “In your current state, who can you see?”
Two of Wu You’s tentacles emerged, one pointing at An Wujiu and the other at Zhong Yirou.
This was awkward; the other two turned to look at Shen Ti in unison.
“Maybe I’m just special.” Shen Ti shrugged.
An Wujiu glanced at Shen Ti from the side, but Shen Ti just changed the subject, telling them that it wasn’t safe here and they needed to leave quickly. So they packed up hastily. While they were sleeping, Shen Ti had already scavenged everything that looked useful from the place and put it all in the car.
After they started the car, belatedly, An Wujiu suddenly spoke.
“If Wu You can’t see you, does that mean other pollutants can’t see you either?”
Shen Ti said he wasn’t sure, but he recalled what had happened the night before.
“Those pollutants were pretty stupid, hovering around me.”
“Then that’s it,” Zhong Yirou thought for a moment, “In that case, you’re perfect for ambushes.”
“But people can still see me,” Shen Ti said casually while driving.
But in fact, there weren’t many surviving humans left, and even fewer who could be enemies.
They drove along Highway 413 towards another city, their destination being Shāwén Enterprises. Along the way, An Wujiu saw countless dead people and pollutants, who were once humans.
Just as they were about to enter the next city, they witnessed an unforgettable scene.
It was An Wujiu’s first time here, so it was also his first time seeing the landmark of this city—the Rotating Metal Tower, a tower structure built from a semi-liquid alloy. It seemed to rotate within a specific range due to the unique properties of the alloy.
This was originally the symbol of this technological city.
But now, the rotating tower was covered with human corpses and remnants of pollutants, with blood and mucus mixed together, appearing dark brown in the morning light. It no longer looked like a tower but more like a disgusting dish served at a pretentious restaurant, with a bizarre tower-like plating, and a strange food covered in thick syrup.
Zhong Yirou almost couldn’t hold back and vomited.
“They must have fled to the top,” Shen Ti said in a low voice, driving past the building without looking.
He didn’t want An Wujiu to see it, but a glance in the rearview mirror showed An Wujiu turning his head to look.
Every place they passed, every cold corpse, added a heavy burden to An Wujiu’s heart.
An Wujiu even wondered if he should have lived to this moment.
Dying earlier might mean restarting sooner, giving these people a chance to be reborn.
“Wujiu, you can’t think about anything else now.”
Shen Ti saw through his thoughts and told him directly, “You must live until your time runs out.”
An Wujiu raised his head.
“You have a chance to go back to the past, but if you don’t gather enough information and understand the situation now, even if you go back, you won’t solve the fundamental problem.”
Zhong Yirou nodded, “Shen Ti is right. To succeed, we can’t rely on luck. We need to understand why the Altar invaded reality and if there’s a way to break it. Otherwise, even if you can go back repeatedly—”
She turned to look at him and said, “Wujiu, you’ll just keep falling into the same pain.”
An Wujiu looked out the window in silence. It was already daytime, but the two moons in the sky hadn’t disappeared, and the cracks in them were clearly visible.
“I understand,” he said, “I won’t take shortcuts easily.”
He couldn’t afford it.
Each time he went back, his life would shorten, and the life he had during the loops might not last long. He also had a card that required life points to use.
No matter how he calculated it, it wasn’t enough.
They drove into the city. Once a bustling metropolis, it was now desolate overnight. There were no more aircraft in the sky, and barely any cars. In just a few hours, the place seemed “emptied.”
Collapsed buildings were everywhere, and in the distance, the sounds of pollutants gnawing and scavenging could be heard. The air was filled with a foul stench.
Zhong Yirou held a gun in her hand, cautiously observing the surroundings, “Let’s find a supermarket first to replenish our—”
She hadn’t finished speaking when there was a bang, and the car window shattered—
But it wasn’t shattered from the outside in; rather, it was the opposite. Wu You’s tentacle had pierced outward through the car window at an extremely fast speed!
Zhong Yirou was caught off guard by Wu You’s actions. She quickly turned her head and saw that his tentacle had pierced through a pollutant, which was still attacking them but now could only be impaled by Wu You’s tentacle, dragged along the ground by the fast-moving car.
Not long after, Wu You’s other tentacle suddenly shot out, this time shattering the window on Shen Ti’s side. It happened so fast that Shen Ti was startled.
“Are you trying to stab me in the neck?” Shen Ti recoiled, his body pressed completely against the driver’s seat, making room for Wu You’s tentacle while struggling to keep driving.
An Wujiu saw that Wu You had already wrapped his tentacle around the leg of the massive creature, so he lowered the car window, aimed his gun at the creature’s head, and finished it off.
Wu You then retracted his tentacles, but at that moment, the car roof shook violently!
Zhong Yirou looked up, feeling as if a claw was about to tear through the metal roof. A pollutant had jumped onto the car! She hastily raised her gun, but Wu You’s tentacle had already shot out through the broken window, quickly and agilely capturing the creature like a giant python.
They couldn’t see the specifics of the struggle, only hearing the sounds of fighting, the pollutant’s roars, and the rolling and crashing on the roof.
Finally, with a thud, half of the pollutant’s body fell down, sliding off the windshield and finally rolling onto the ground.
Looking at the blood-smeared windshield, Shen Ti sighed and activated the self-cleaning mode.
Zhong Yirou, however, was very excited, “Wu You! You’ve become so strong! The strongest combat power!” She was about to slap Wu You on the shoulder, but his reflexes were too fast, and a tentacle extended first.
This tentacle was different from the one that had just killed the monster, small and lacking mucus or sharp teeth, soft and smooth.
Zhong Yirou was stunned, her hand still in mid-air. The small tentacle suddenly reached out and patted her hand.
Like a high-five.
“You’re too cute!” Zhong Yirou hugged Wu You’s head from the back seat, scaring Wu You into trembling his tentacles. He couldn’t control the corrosive mucus, which dripped onto Shen Ti’s leg.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch…” Shen Ti frantically wiped it off with his sleeve.
An Wujiu was amused by them.
They sat in the car, traversing through a brief moment of safety, finding joy amidst the hardship. Everyone laughed heartily as if nothing terrible had happened, and their loved ones hadn’t left.
The car windows were broken, and the wind howled in. Shen Ti kept grumbling at Wu You along the way, until Wu You had to block his ears with two tentacles, pretending not to hear.
“Hey, hey, there’s a big supermarket ahead.” Zhong Yirou patted Shen Ti’s shoulder and said, “Let’s get some water and food.”
“Ouch.”
An Wujiu had lost count of how many times Shen Ti had complained about the pain. He smiled and watched Shen Ti park the car, then got out with him.
“I’ll bandage it for you.” An Wujiu held a gun in one hand and gently applied a bandage to Shen Ti’s wound with the other.
Shen Ti finally looked satisfied.
The supermarket’s rolling shutter door was half-open, so they had to bend down to enter. An Wujiu led the way, and Wu You almost got stuck at the entrance. Zhong Yirou had to pull him in.
Inside was quieter than the street outside. There was some lighting, but the light was dim. Many products were scattered on the floor, and several shelves were toppled, showing signs of a fight.
An Wujiu cautiously suggested they stick together, but the place was larger than expected, with two floors. Zhong Yirou suggested splitting up; she and Wu You would get medicine and medical supplies, while Shen Ti and An Wujiu would handle water and food.
“Alright.” An Wujiu checked the bullets in her gun.
“But you can’t communicate with Wu You,” Shen Ti said.
“No problem.” Zhong Yirou patted Wu You’s tentacle, “If he sees danger, he won’t need me to communicate; he’ll act on his own.”
That was indeed the case.
“Let’s hurry. Gather here after we’re done and leave together.”
Watching Zhong Yirou and Wu You head in another direction, An Wujiu turned and went with Shen Ti towards the food section.
It was clear that the place had been scavenged before, so canned foods, the easiest to store, were already gone. The shelves were almost empty, and there was little instant food. An Wujiu could only pack whatever edible items he found.
Suddenly, Shen Ti heard a sound, not from the nearby shelves, but at a distance. It sounded like a living creature, accompanied by the familiar breathing of a pollutant.
“Wujiu.” He grabbed An Wujiu’s wrist and said, “Follow me.”
Shen Ti followed the sound, walking through rows of shelves until they reached the fresh food section. Many fresh meats were gone from the freezer, but fresh meat wasn’t a good choice for people fleeing.
An Wujiu also sensed something was wrong.
The sound was getting closer.
Shen Ti led An Wujiu step by step towards a door in the fresh food section, labeled [Freezer Room].
The door was barricaded with heavy objects, as if to prevent something inside from getting out.
“Step back.” Shen Ti moved those objects and prepared to open the door.
His instinct was accurate.
After opening the door, chilling air poured out, revealing a scene that shocked An Wujiu.
It was a pollutant, bound and trapped in the freezer. Its tentacles were pathetically spread on the cold ground, and a needle was inserted into its neck.
Unlike Wu You, this pollutant no longer had a human face, but it still had long human hair.
It was a female.
Her consciousness was scattered, seemingly due to the needle, rendering her non-aggressive.
An Wujiu moved closer because he saw a miniature communicator on the ground, one used by supermarket staff. But when he tried to pick it up, he found it fixed to the ground.
Everything was strange. Why would someone trap a pollutant in the freezer and seem to be monitoring her?
Who was this pollutant?
No, rather than being trapped, it seemed more like this pollutant was being kept.
Shen Ti stared at the pollutant in front of him, feeling a bizarre sense of familiarity. It was very familiar, but that was impossible.
Suddenly, the communicator rang, and a voice came through.
At that moment, An Wujiu felt his blood freeze.
Because it was a voice he knew very, very well.
“Who?”
Meanwhile, Zhong Yirou and Wu You, searching for medicine, went up to the second floor of the supermarket. They moved through the rows of shelves, with Wu You using his tentacles to almost entirely wrap around Zhong Yirou, protecting her as they walked.
“Ah, found it.” Zhong Yirou pointed ahead. She suddenly remembered that Wu You couldn’t hear, so she tugged on his tentacle, leading him to the medical supplies section.
It was similar to downstairs, mostly looted, but Zhong Yirou was delighted to find some hemostatic medicine. She hurriedly stuffed all the medicine into a bundle made from her jacket.
“Can your tentacles carry these?” Zhong Yirou asked without looking up, “Help me carry some.”
Suddenly, she froze for a second, having heard a silenced gunshot.
Zhong Yirou thought it was her imagination, but in the next moment, Wu You collapsed onto a shelf with a head injury, his tentacles reaching towards his head, trying to extract the bullet.
“Wu You? Wu You?” Zhong Yirou wanted to help him.
But the next second, a gun was pressed to the back of her head.
Zhong Yirou’s heart was pounding. The shelves were knocked over by Wu You, collapsing in a chain reaction. She then saw that not only had Wu You been shot, but there was also a needle in his back.
The falling shelves shattered the medicine cabinet, and the broken glass reflected her face and the person standing behind her.
Zhong Yirou frowned, and for some reason, tears suddenly streamed down her cheeks.
A chill climbed from her tailbone to the back of her neck, making her whole body tremble.
Was she dreaming?
“…Erci?”
The person holding the gun looked at her expressionlessly. The hand that once gently caressed her cheek now held the trigger.
This must be a nightmare.
