Chapter 14: The Filthy Underground Sewerage System
Translator: xujin-t-t, _Min_Editor: xujin-e-x, Lis_
"It’s quite dark in here, who knows what will pop up." With boots covered in stain, Jiang Chen looked around the sewerage system. It was his first time in here, and although the pungent smell made it uncomfortable, he got used to it.
"Scared?" Sun Jiao jokingly asked.
"No way." Jiang Chen raised his PK200 assault rifle. "I wasn’t even afraid of those guys up there."
The beam of flashlight spotted a couple of half-human sized rats but made them immediately fleet into darkness.
In the apocalypse, the most terrifying things were not zombies, nor mutants, but were humans.
In the explosion, they were certain that all the mercenaries died. The ten-meter tall building made it almost impossible to escape the concrete debris. Nobody expected that in this desolated-looking building, a trap like that was hidden.
The primary support structure of the building was strapped with wireless explosives. With a touch of a button, the entire building would blow up in explosions.
Initially, Jiang Chen was quite worried about the integrity of the sewage system after the blast, but it looked like he considered too much. Other than scaring the creatures in the vicinity, the sewerage was completely fine. It was evident that the government built the infrastructure with fortitude and integrity. He would probably be buried if this happened in the modern world.
"What do you think Huizhong Mercenaries’ leader would do if he heard that his entire raid team was completely gone?"
"I would imagine that the second we appeared on Sixth Street, he would come and haunt us." Sun Jiao brought Jiang Chen back into reality.
"Hmm, well this is going to problematic." Jiang Chen didn’t even think about this consequence.
"But it is okay. A lot of things can be purchased elsewhere anyways. Also, this is an opportunity to get rid of the Huizhong Mercenaries as a whole." Sun Jiao naturally created a plan of massacre without even thinking.
Jiang Chen was a firm believer of risk and reward. Even if Huizhong Mercenaries was filled with completely filthy humans, he considered himself to be a merchant. So he didn’t believe in the need to serve justice.
Yao Yao trailed the two of them in silence; she looked around uneasily.
"What’s wrong? Don’t be afraid; big brother will protect you." Shamelessly, Jiang Chen patted his chest. Since he took care of the mercenaries, he was in a pleasant mood. Yao Yao’s idolized look clearly foretold that she believed in his words.
"Ok!"
"How many mercenaries did you kill?" Sun Jiao pointed out his lie immediately.
"Haha, at least one or two." Jiang Chen replied with an awkward smile as soon as he met Sun Jiao’s look of disbelief. "Wounded."
Jiang Chen admits that his accuracy was questionable at best. After all, shooting in games was a lot different from shooting in real life. But with practice, it will only take time before he became a qualified soldier.
"Haha," Yao Yao grinned with a light laughter. But she soon realized that she probably shouldn’t mock the master, and she carefully closed her mouth. The expression on her face was quite comical.
In this relaxed atmosphere, the three of them headed towards "home."
"How much longer?"
"Should be pretty close now. There is an exit that can take us to the top." Sun Jiao checked the full-sensory map.
Suddenly, Jiang Chen sensed a ghastly danger. His heart started to pound profusely.
Sun Jiao also felt something and stopped moving.
Bang! Bang!
Gun shots were fired all of a suddenly.
The bullets from the shadow aimed directly at them. Sun Jiao pushed Jiang Chen to the back with full force and knocked Yao Yao who was behind him over. But she had no more energy to dodge herself.
"Hmm…"
She groaned as she covered her arm in pain. She slammed onto the ground and dropped the laser rifle.
"NO!" Jiang Chen’s felt his body overwhelmed with raging blood. He roared, and within half a second, he dragged Sun Jiao behind cover.
Bullets shattered the ground and created a debris of rocks. An obscure howl resonated from not far away. In a closed environment, the echoing sound spread terrifyingly.
However, Jiang Chen couldn’t hear anything. He watched Sun Jiao’s closed eyelids. A painful tremble spread from his head to his toe and incapacitated his entire body.
The time they spent together suddenly all flashed in front of his eyes. The brave girl, the gorgeous girl, and the girl that loves me.
She pushed me away. But she...
He stared emptily at the blood stain. In a matter of a second, Sun Jiao went from being incredibly lively to being on the verge of death. Jiang Chen’s heart was being chopped into pieces as the pain consumed him.
Flames engulfed his eyes.
"Do you know how to bandage?"
"Yes!" Yao Yao was also frightened by the blood pouring out of Sun Jiao’s body. This was also the first time she saw some a terrifying look on an always smiling face.
"I don’t know how. Please take care of Sun Jiao." Jiang Chen shoved the medical kit into Yao Yao’s hands as he took out the assault rifle.
Bang Bang Bang!
The gunfire unveiled the ugly but happy faces in the shadow. They looked like indigenous people that lived in the sewerage system. So they were used to the seeing in the dark.
Any trespasser would become food for them. Rats, or humans.
"Haha, you fuckers!" Jiang Chen let out a furious roar as he stepped out of the cover.
Bullets flew inches beside his face, but he didn’t sense any fear. As if fear was completely removed from his body, and only vigilance remained. He searched for the flashing flares as he opened fire.
It was a remarkable feeling. Every cell within Jiang Chen was screaming, but it didn’t make Jiang Chen lose his mind. He was as calm and collected as he has ever been, with his only objective being to kill.
But what he didn’t realize was that the EP on his arm flashed a faint yellow light.
He busted an empty clip and snapped on a new one. With force, he continued to fire into the darkness.
Slowly, his vision began to glare. It felt as if everything he saw was submerged in water. The odd disturbance only made Jiang Chen more furious, but his anger only made the disturbance worse.
He tried to recollect his vision and focus on the target. However, his vision completely changed. Flashing red dots jumped in his line of sight; it was as if small hearts pounded in the darkness.
Or they were hearts beating after all.
With a furious roar, Jiang Chen fired towards those red dots.
The unknown moans and screams made Jiang Chen more zealous. He left the cover and moved to the red dots.
The blinding flashlight was obviously a nightmare for the indigenous who were used to the darkness. Flashing white lights filled their field of vision. They couldn’t see anything as they shot blindly into space.
Those bullets had no effects on Jiang Chen. However, PK200’s strong penetration power made the thin cover futile. Even if they hid behind cover, they couldn’t protect the pumping heart.
Heart exploded one by one as silence ensued. Countless bullets penetrated the bodies of the indigenous people; he wanted to destroy every single one of those red dots.
Slowly, the gunfire from the other side stopped.
Jiang Chen’s vigilance and cruelty made the indigenous taste their fear. This man was a devil.
A mentally shattered man dropped his old assault rifle and dashed out of his cover. At the frightened looks of his friends, a bullet penetrated his heart, and the wound bloomed like a bloody flower. The indigenous people were completely terrified; they fled the battle running for their lives. However, Jiang Chen kept shooting.
"You f*ckers. Stand still. Today is the end for all of you!" With a mental laugh, Jiang Chen continued to roar in the sewerage.
Suddenly, he saw a heart still beating with the glimpse of an eye.
A dark-skinned boy looked at the vicious Jiang Chen with fearful eyes. The pistol in his hand was unable to shoot because of the jammed bullets.
Tatata! The assault rifle breathed the deathly flame as it completely shattered the beating heart that irritated him.
"Who’s next?" A corrupted door blocked Jiang Chen’s path of advancement; Jiang Chen kicked open the door.
An offensive odor whiffed directly at him. Livers, arms, blood and bones scattered across the room. In the middle of the cave was a giant pot, and a limbless person barely alive.
Even in his furious state, Jiang Chen almost threw up in disgust. But immediately, he started shooting the trembling females and the limbless person.
The sharp scream of the creatures immediately echoed inside the cave. The limbless person left a relieved smile as the bullet penetrated his heart. The gunfire flared at Jiang Chen’s twisted face. He was angry, but he didn’t know why he was angry. He couldn’t even remember his name.
He only wanted to kill, and only knew how to kill. Only death could extinguish the flashing red dots in front of him.
Kang!
The bullet jammed. Jiang Chen brutally slapped the side of the gun. But he didn’t notice that there was still someone alive buried among the bodies. Vigilante flashed out of his eyes.
"AHHHHH!" A bloodstained person howled an obscure noise and pushed Jiang Chen onto the ground. Under the scattered hair was a pair of tiny eyes. He sat on top of Jiang Chen, with full force, he pushed the dagger directly onto Jiang Chen’s throat. The dagger had previously dissected a countless number of survivors.
"Hahaha, you bastard! Go die." Jiang Chen roared with a hysteric laugh as he guarded the arm with the dagger. Despite how hard the person tried, the dagger could not move a single inch.
That disgusting color… roared! Jiang Chen was so frivolous that he wanted to rip the person’s heart into pieces, by hand.
But all of a sudden, a wave of tiredness overwhelmed his body’s muscles. He was completely powerless.
The person’s looked surprised. With a couple of weird sounds, he pushed the dagger down and almost penetrated Jiang Chen’s throat.
Bang!
Blood…
The person was stunned as he looked at the massive hole in his stomach. He raised his head slowly.
It was a crying face, filled with agony and fear.
It was so "ugly," he wanted to rip it apart.
But he was too slow.
Bang, another bullet penetrated his head.
Yao Yao was crying as the gun slid through her hand. She picked up the gun from the boy as she knew how to fix jammed weapons. After she finished treating Sun Jiao, the first word from Sun Jiao, after she coughed up blood, was telling her to follow Jiang Chen. She said he was in a dangerous state
She saw the plea in Sun Jiao’s eyes, Yao Yao also was worried about Jiang Chen. Despite terrified, it took something magical she didn’t know to overcome the fear, she followed Jiang Chen’s trail.
When she saw Jiang Chen fall, her heart almost stopped pumping. She picked up the gun and fixed it. With her fear suppressed, she pulled the trigger.
This was her first time she killed a person. Although the thing she killed could not be described as a person, it was a human-shaped monster.
Faintly, Jiang Chen felt something warm and soft surrounding his head and hugging him tightly. He also heard a girl’s crying voice.
Droplets of water fell beside his cracked lips.
It was salty.
It didn’t taste like blood?