Chapter 156: “If you ever meet him, please return this to him for me.”
Time was running out.
Zhong Yirou, Wu You, and Nan Shan carefully followed the instructions to plant the explosives in the designated positions, only to unexpectedly come face-to-face with a pollutant that was searching for them. To avoid the sound of firearms attracting attention, Nan Shan drew his sword to handle it, but Zhong Yirou snatched the sword from his hand and stepped forward without hesitation.
“Yirou!”
Nan Shan wanted to stop her, but he was met with Zhong Yirou’s determined gaze.
“I have to go.” Zhong Yirou’s voice trembled slightly, “If I get polluted, Wujiu can control me. That way, I won’t be someone you all need to protect anymore.”
“But Wujiu is not here now…”
“It’ll be fine.” Zhong Yirou faced the pollutant, her sanity value continuously dropping, “Didn’t we succeed last time, even from a distance?”
“If it doesn’t work,” she said, raising the sword, her eyes filled with courage and determination, “you’ll have to kill me.”
She felt her sanity gradually being crushed, and even the pollutant in front of her became blurred and shaky. The world seemed to malfunction, with everything turning chaotic. She saw her father’s death, the great fire, and the painful fragments of her memory being picked out, stabbing her heart once more.
Until this intense sense of chaos reached its peak.
She seemed to see Yang Erci’s smile, interwoven with the image of her death.
Finally.
Wu You once again saw Zhong Yirou’s body swell and deform, transforming from a human into a gigantic pollutant.
He instinctively grabbed Nan Shan’s wrist.
There must be awareness.
Nan Shan glanced at Wu You’s hand, paused, and told him, “Don’t worry, it should succeed.”
The next second, they saw Zhong Yirou knock down the pollutant that was about to launch an attack, using the serrated mouthparts like a sharp blade to penetrate and tear the opponent’s body apart.
After this fierce battle, she turned around, her massive body pivoting, and gave the two of them a distant glance.
Wu You’s eyes stung slightly. He clearly couldn’t understand her language now, but one look seemed to make everything clear.
Usually so fond of looking beautiful, always changing her Cheongsam dresses, how could she so easily turn herself into a monster for their sake?
If this really was the last chance, would she return to her former self?
These painful questions swirled in his mind like a heavy stone, making it hard for Wu You to breathe.
Maybe they don’t really have a future.
Thinking of this, Wu You exhaled a slightly labored breath and forced a somewhat ugly smile at Zhong Yirou.
Nan Shan, however, gave Zhong Yirou a thumbs-up.
They stood where they were, thinking Zhong Yirou would come back, but she turned and left instead, her footsteps heavy on the ground.
“Where is she going?” Wu You wanted to follow but was stopped by Nan Shan.
“She’s probably going to help.” Nan Shan said softly, “Just Wujiu and Miss Toudou, they probably aren’t enough.”
Hearing this, Wu You also lowered his head, silently continuing to set up the ambush with Nan Shan.
Nan Shan was much quieter than usual. He was always full of jokes, often muttering self-deprecating comments that Wu You found unreliable.
Just like someone else who was unreliable.
Thinking of this, Wu You suddenly raised his head, feeling something was off.
“What’s wrong?” Nan Shan, crouching beside him, looked at him.
Wu You shook his head, “I don’t know why, but I feel like someone is missing.”
“Are you talking about Erci?” Nan Shan asked.
Wu You shook his head, “No, I mean, I just thought of someone, right on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t remember…”
Nan Shan looked at his frowning face and suddenly laughed.
“Must not be someone important.”
Wu You frowned deeper, “No, I feel like it’s someone a bit important…”
But why can’t he remember? His memory shouldn’t be this bad.
This feeling was a bit strange. Nan Shan smiled, lowered his head, and covered the explosives with grass and dry branches, “More important than me?”
Hearing this question, Wu You was momentarily stunned.
Nan Shan clapped his hands, looked up, and smiled at Wu You, “Just kidding. Don’t be so serious, kid.”
He didn’t know why he suddenly became serious about this. Nan Shan had never taken anything too seriously in his life; otherwise, he couldn’t have survived.
He couldn’t take it seriously with the people who abandoned him, with those who didn’t believe in his faith, or with the unfair fate. Better to be muddled, he originally planned to remain muddled forever, at least appearing as a carefree smiling Buddha, offending no one, and not giving his true heart.
After all, he was a lucky one who survived from birth and couldn’t ask for too much.
But after experiencing so many trials and dangers with these people, Nan Shan felt he had changed a lot.
His jokey exterior gradually couldn’t hide his true self, and for once, he had desires, though he knew they were ill-timed.
But after all, it was almost the end of the world. Not saying it felt like a waste.
But really saying it out loud…
Burying the explosives, he suddenly heard Wu You’s voice in the silence, not too loud, with a bit of the nasal tone he had when embarrassed, like a child with a bad cold.
“I thought about it, and you’re still… more important.”
Nan Shan was a bit surprised. He turned his head, but at the same time, Wu You also turned his head to look elsewhere, saying, “Don’t look at me. Hurry up and finish the work, or the other two will have to come help us…”
Nan Shan smiled, “Can I speak now?”
Wu You stiffly turned his head, grabbed a handful of branches and leaves, and muttered, “Go ahead.”
Nan Shan’s tone suddenly became very serious, something he almost never used.
“Actually, I didn’t want to say it, but there might not be another chance.”
Wu You’s hand paused, and his heartbeat skipped a beat.
He turned his face instinctively to look at Nan Shan.
Unexpectedly, Nan Shan smiled, clapped his hands, and looked at the whitening sky, “It’s 6:10 AM on the 24th.”
“How about this? If we can still see the sunrise on October 25th, I’ll tell you then.”
“Tch.” Wu You rolled his eyes, lowered his head, and continued working alone.
The unserious smile on Nan Shan’s face gradually faded, and he once again buried the words that almost slipped out deep in his heart.
You are the most important to me; there’s no comparison and no need for comparison.
Toudou Sakura held the heavy machine gun, but she could no longer feel the soreness in her shoulders, focusing solely on observing the surroundings, on high alert.
“Um, Wujiu…” she spoke awkwardly, glancing around and lowering her voice, “Hey, why does it feel like there’s no one here?”
Just after she spoke, a rustling sound came from the front. Toudou Sakura immediately raised her gun, aiming at the source, only to see a massive pollutant.
Her finger was already on the trigger, but the next second, the person beside her raised a hand and pressed her arm down.
Toudou Sakura also realized something was off. The pollutant not far away had no intention of attacking them. Instead, it was walking towards them peacefully.
Toudou Sakura suddenly noticed that the tattered clothing on the pollutant looked familiar.
“Miss Zhong…”
She lowered her gun and walked towards the pollutant, “Is that you?”
Zhong Yirou couldn’t hear her voice, only stopping in her tracks. All the eyes on her skin simultaneously turned, looking at them.
An Wujiu stood beside Toudou Sakura, wearing a mechanical Guanyin mask.
She felt inexplicably familiar, but couldn’t recall why. As a pollutant, her thoughts were chaotic, requiring great effort to find the correct thought path.
[Wujiu, why are you wearing a mask?]
Strangely, this time An Wujiu remained silent for a long time, as if their internal connection were broken.
After a while, Zhong Yirou finally heard An Wujiu’s inner voice.
[You’ve been polluted?]
Zhong Yirou did not deny it.
As their silence gradually turned pessimistic, An Wujiu spoke again.
[I’ll do my best.]
Two humans and one pollutant, an incongruous group, walked through this forest where they could lose their lives at any moment.
“We agreed on a ten-minute countdown before.” Toudou Sakura checked the time on the inside of her wrist, “Thirty seconds left.”
The masked An Wujiu nodded and picked up a gun.
“By the way, you’re wearing a bulletproof vest, right?” She looked at An Wujiu and said, “There’s only one; it would be wasted if it weren’t on you.”
An Wujiu nodded, tilted his head, and fired a shot forward. The gunshot echoed through the silent, deathly forest, creating a long resonance.
This shot was their agreed signal. Firing the first shot meant telling those preparing that the final battle was about to begin.
“Five seconds left.”
Toudou Sakura counted down.
Sounds of movement gradually came from all around. The sudden gunshot had revealed their location, attracting both the pollutants and other enemies, all closing in on them.
“…Two, one.”
Just as she finished, the second gunshot rang out.
The polluting Zhong Yirou let out a roar.
The ground before them shook violently, coming closer and closer. The earth seemed to crack open. Amidst the tremors, Zhong Yirou scooped up An Wujiu and slung him over her shoulder.
“Run back, Yirou!” Toudou Sakura shouted while holding up her gun and looking back. She saw numerous pollutants charging at them from all directions in the forest, the ground splitting open, and a giant tentacle, as thick as a giant python, emerging from the earth.
Toudou Sakura fired a few shots but was suddenly grabbed by one of Zhong Yirou’s tentacles.
“Th-thank you.”
With Zhong Yirou carrying them, their escape speed increased significantly. Toudou Sakura continued to fire at the pollutants behind them, taking down many, but the giant tentacle remained unaffected and moved even faster, unstoppable.
“Hurry! We’re about to be caught!”
Though Zhong Yirou couldn’t hear her voice, half of her eyes were looking forward, and the other half were locked on the rear, naturally aware of the current situation.
Almost there.
She saw a wisp of blue smoke in the distance—their agreed signal.
There were only a few meters left. Zhong Yirou’s tentacles stretched out, wrapping around the tree trunks to block the path behind them. The two jumped off her and ran forward.
Almost there, just ahead was their ambush circle!
In Toudou Sakura’s field of vision, she didn’t see anyone else, guessing they had already hidden. She suddenly braked, turned to the side with An Wujiu as agreed, and did not enter the ambush circle.
But as she reached the safe zone, she realized An Wujiu had entered the ambush circle!
“Wujiu, what are you doing?!”
She couldn’t see An Wujiu’s expression through the mask. He didn’t even look at her, staring straight at the approaching tentacle and raising his gun.
Under the attack, Zhong Yirou was severely injured, her body directly torn apart, but she continued to delay as much as she could until their goal was achieved.
“So overconfident.”
In her crimson vision, a blue light appeared on the massive tentacle, looking like a deformed lump of flesh to her, from which a human shape emerged—Russell.
It’s now.
She knew that if she didn’t attack with all her might, Russell wouldn’t be provoked, so she decided to give it her all.
[Wujiu, I…]
She felt there were so many things she wanted to say, to ask An Wujiu to do for her, but there was no time, and she couldn’t say it.
[Goodbye.]
“Yirou!!”
Toudou Sakura witnessed Zhong Yirou being torn apart by countless tentacles, the giant tentacle opening its maw and its bloody mouth consuming her.
Her whole body trembled. The countless eyes on Zhong Yirou’s skin froze, turning gray and lifeless, gradually being swallowed by the tentacle.
An Wujiu still stood in the center, continuously shooting at the monster, making a futile effort.
The giant tentacle carried Russell, approaching An Wujiu bit by bit. The mocking voice seemed not to come from Russell’s body but from the sky, from far away, perhaps from countless moons or distant stars.
“If not for regaining omniscient power, I wouldn’t know that a worm like you dares to aspire to a god’s position.”
An Wujiu coldly stared at him and fired another shot.
The bullet penetrated Russell, but he didn’t stop his mockery.
“Abandon futile resistance. You’re no match for me. If I wish, I could appear at every point in your timeline. Killing you at any point would be as easy as erasing a dot.”
After hearing this, An Wujiu retreated step by step, finally turning around and running away.
Seeing him try to escape completely enraged Russell. He manipulated the giant tentacle forward like a drawn blade.
Toudou Sakura fired, but it was useless. The tentacle pierced straight through An Wujiu’s chest!
“Wujiu!”
Other tentacles quickly attacked every part of his body, including his head, which was protected by the mask.
The assaulted An Wujiu fell heavily to the ground, his hands covered in blood but still clawing at the ground, crawling forward with great difficulty.
“So pathetic.”
The tentacle brought Russell to An Wujiu’s side. Wearing spotless leather shoes, he stepped on An Wujiu’s curled fingers, grinding them.
“Keep resisting, An Wujiu. Don’t you love playing the savior?”
Russell’s hand lifted, transforming into a sharp, drill-like tentacle, aiming to pierce An Wujiu’s head.
But as he raised his foot, his gaze fell on those dirty hands, suddenly noticing something was wrong. He looked at the other hand.
Neither hand had the number 99!
Rustling sounds began to emerge around them.
The mask cracked from the attack, and Russell lifted it, revealing a young, blood-covered face with a grinning smile.
“I’m not An Wujiu… This is probably my last self-introduction, so let’s be formal.”
With that, the severely injured man spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto those shiny leather shoes.
“My name is Zhou Yijue.”
As his weak voice faded, massive explosions erupted all around, with the sound of aircraft engines roaring. Russell looked up sharply, seeing two aircraft almost blocking out the sky above them, dropping powerful SDB bombs.
These bombs had a small range but terrifying power, capable of leveling the area.
The moment they were released, the once-quiet clearing exploded with a force that shook the entire valley.
Not far away, the real An Wujiu was locked in a reserve warehouse in the Sha Wen District, not yet detonated by Zhou Yijue. He had tried every means to open the lock and escape, but ultimately didn’t make it in time.
Through the earphones hanging around his neck, he heard Gabriel’s commanding voice. He had never been this serious. Death was so close that no one could face it with a smile.
The explosion’s black cloud rose into the sky, and An Wujiu’s chest ached painfully.
He weakly spread his hand, revealing a dog tag necklace in his palm.
[My idea is not a bad one; don’t worry. It might actually work.]
Zhou Yijue proposed a risky plan, based on the assumption that Russell would certainly kill No. 0, considering how to deal with Russell.
[The human collective sacrifice isn’t complete yet, so Russell at this time is in an incomplete state. Only by using the strongest firepower to destroy his physical body now can we possibly cause him some damage. With luck, it could seriously wound him; if we’re less lucky, it’ll still weaken him somewhat.]
[We just need to concentrate all the firepower Gabriel brought here for an ambush. We’ll split up: we go to lure them here, and you stay here in ambush. Use two gunshots as a signal; upon hearing the second shot, everyone in ambush must evacuate, and we will also withdraw.]
An Wujiu’s mind conjured up Zhou Yijue’s cunning fox-like eyes.
[You’re barely hanging on now. If you go in person, you’ll be gone before the explosions even start, and we’ll all be doomed. Among everyone, only I have a similar height and build to you. If we swap clothes, we can at least fool them for a while.]
He coaxed An Wujiu into changing clothes with a smile and even asked if he had a mask or something to make the disguise more convincing.
[I do.]
An Wujiu handed the mask Shen Ti gave him to Zhou Yijue.
[Are you going to give it to me or not?]
Zhou Yijue looked up at An Wujiu, who was holding onto the mask.
[You must retreat to the safe zone. I will come to help you.]
[Got it. I’ll lose to you just this once. I’m not inferior to you. What you can do, I can only do better.]
Zhou Yijue put on the mask, tightened the clasps, and walked out of the small warehouse without looking back. He closed the door with a flourish, also locking it behind him.
He didn’t need An Wujiu to appear; any assistance could lead to disaster.
[Just stay here quietly. You’re hanging on by a thread, so don’t run anywhere.]
An Wujiu realized what was happening and pounded on the door from inside.
[Zhou Yijue, what are you doing? Let me out.]
An Wujiu suddenly heard the sound of metal scraping across the floor. He looked down and saw Zhou Yijue pushing something through the gap under the door.
Picking it up, he realized it was a necklace.
[This is my boyfriend’s. He gave it to me when he was in the army. Oh, I also sent you his photo. Not sure if you’ll receive it. If not, never mind.]
[An Wujiu, I’m not a good person. Sacrificing myself to give you a chance to live is because we have no other options.]
Through the metal door, he heard Zhou Yijue’s voice trembling slightly.
[If you ever meet him someday, give this back to him.
Tell him… I don’t like him anymore, and I don’t want this thing.]
So many sacrifices 😭🤧 every single one of them sksksks
I cried all my tears