CH 94.2

Chapter 94.2 – The Mole People

At the same time, inside the church.

Shi Yuan followed Lu Tinghan up the stairs. The church door was slammed “bang bang bang”, and a small pile of yellow sand accumulated at the door. Every time the wind blew, the stained glass of the dome would tremble.

After a blow from the whale, it looked like the church’s days were numbered.

Lu Tinghan said: “The communication is unstable and there is no way to contact them. The aircraft should be right where we came down.”

“Okay,” Shi Yuan said, “Then let’s go find them.”

He forgot the power of the sandstorm, swallowed the sand with his mouth, and coughed softly.

Lu Tinghan patted him on the back, took off his military coat, and wrapped his black sleeves around Shi Yuan’s face, covering his nose and mouth.

Shi Yuan’s voice was muffled: “Wow!”

Then he was covered in a black coat and was embraced by Lu Tinghan, and the two walked towards the city under the sandstorm together.

The wind was too strong, and it was difficult to walk. Fortunately, Lu Tinghan was strong enough to block the wind and sand, and took Shi Yuan through the streets step by step.

The field of vision was very poor, Shi Yuan tightly covered his mouth and nose, unable to see the surroundings clearly.

They just saw the fairy-tale underground town, castle, carousel, zoo, and aquarium, as well as a large sea of pink and purple flowers, extravagance and luxury seeped out from every corner, and then seeing this yellow-brown dim world, the contrast was clear, as if the Empire had suddenly entered its doomsday from its prosperity.

The sky was getting darker, the majesty of the monarch could not stop the sun from sinking to the west, and the father’s doting love could not withstand the fate of the collapse. Whether it was the Gleaning City, Fengyang City, the main city or the Empire city, they were just a small epitome of the times.

The sand swirled and howled, a hundred billion of them swept through the buildings, eating the city little by little.

Shi Yuan held Lu Tinghan’s hand tightly.

Lu Tinghan leaned into his ear – only then could they hear each other clearly. He asked, “Are you scared?”

“…I’m not afraid now,” Shi Yuan replied, “This is also our journey.”

Walking forward, it seemed that there were only two of them left in the world.

After walking like this for more than ten minutes, they saw the city wall not far away.

Lu Tinghan suddenly said, “Shi Yuan, there is something around here. Don’t make any moves yet.”

He gripped his gun.

Shi Yuan had never discovered the so-called enemy, but he knew that Lu Tinghan was definitely right. He asked in a low voice, “Do you want me to scare them away?”

“No,” Lu Tinghan said, “Wait a minute, I feel a little strange, not quite like a monster.” He paused, “If something happens, you will immediately turn back into black mist.”

“Okay,” Shi Yuan agreed.

Lu Tinghan’s hawk-like gaze swept around.

Everything seemed ordinary, houses, streets, intersections, and endless yellow sand. But with amazing insight, he saw those hidden figures.

They lowered their bodies and jumped through the ruins, and then flashed by the street, moving as fast as a phantom.

It was the same existence seen by the two people on the aircraft.

Lu Tinghan remained calm, as if he didn’t notice.

He took Shi Yuan in his arms and continued walking.

At the next intersection, two more figures flashed into the fork in the road. There was a red-painted door at the fork in the road. Reacting quickly, Lu Tinghan suddenly jumped up, stepped forward, and kicked the door open!

The strong light of the flashlight shot into the house, and a group of black human figures screamed! They gathered together and scrambled to avoid the lights. One of them was quite close to Lu Tinghan, it turned around and pounced on him!

The five-centimeter nails gleamed with cold light, they could open their stomachs and break their intestines in just one slap. But the gun was faster than it, Lu Tinghan’s black muzzle pointed precisely at the center of its eyebrows. He never missed; he could always hit the target as long as he pulled the trigger—

However—

At this moment, Lu Tinghan and the figure looked at each other.

He saw a distorted, terrified face covered with black hair.

He saw a pair of cloudy but rational eyes.

Shooting at this moment was the absolute guarantee. They were too close, and the smelly breath of the other party was sprayed over, however, Lu Tinghan, a master of art, was so bold that he changed his attack at the critical moment. He didn’t pull the trigger, and when he lowered his head, the nail was 3 cm above his head. “Swish” it missed him! Lu Tinghan turned his body around, and the elbow of his left arm slammed the man’s neck hard!

Elbow strike, a weapon given to mankind by heaven.

There was no soft tissue in the elbow, and the hardness of the bone was second only to the skull. The big and small arms formed a triangle to support and exert force, giving it terrifying lethality. Elbow strikes were once banned in many fighting competitions. Lu Tinghan hit the opponent’s collarbone solidly.

The person was thrown against the wall by him, and the sound of bones cracking could be heard!

Lu Tinghan restrained himself, if this blow landed on his neck, it would be enough to kill him. The person screamed and wanted to attack Lu Tinghan. Lu Tinghan stopped him in time and kicked him in the chest, sending him away.

The other party rolled into the corner in disgrace and raised his head abruptly.

His face was ugly and his eyes were frightened.

It was not clear at the moment whether he was a man or a monster.

The others were still scrambling with their hands and feet. They were too afraid of the light. They wanted to escape but they were blocked by Lu Tinghan, so they could only squeeze together.

Lu Tinghan took the gun and looked at them: “Are you humans?”

No one had ever been infected like this and survived.

No one answered.

They stretched out their hands, desperately trying to block the light of the flashlight, their nails stuffed with mud.

Lu Tinghan took two steps forward, and his tone became stronger: “Are you humans?!”

His voice tightened, with uncontrollable tension, vigilance and… subtle expectations. Slender fingers held the trigger, not relaxing at all, turning the knuckles slightly white.

“Answer me!” he said.

“…enough!” There was a hoarse voice.

At the sound, the group let out a scream of unknown meaning, and there was a burst of restlessness.

An old hand slowly stretched out from the solid ground, thin and bony. It grasped the ground, and then a second hand stretched out, both hands worked together, and an extremely ugly face appeared.

It was a person.

A haggard skeleton-like person slowly crawled out of the ground – the limbs were covered with black hair, the facial features were wrinkled together, the eyeballs were as cloudy as a blind man, and the skin was more like it had been burned and covered with scars.

The group crawling on the ground shouted indistinctly: “Di Wen! Di Wen!”

The person known as “Di Wen” stood in front of Lu Tinghan and Shi Yuan, with a hunched back and gray hair.

The other person’s appearance was too amazing. It took Lu Tinghan a while to barely recognize that this should be a woman.

“Enough!” Di Wen looked at Lu Tinghan, her voice was hoarse, as if it had been ground by sandpaper, “You scared them!”

Lu Tinghan looked at her steadily: “Are you humans?”

“Turn off the light and then we’ll talk,” Di Wen said hoarsely, “And the person behind you, keep him away.”

She was referring to Shi Yuan.

“I can turn off the flashlight, but he and I must be together,” Lu Tinghan said.

Di Wen said slowly: “He is very dangerous. I don’t like him.”

It seemed that she, like those who had just mutated, could perceive something wrong with Shi Yuan.

Lu Tinghan said, “We won’t be separated.”

Di Wen looked straight at Shi Yuan, and then judged the two of them.

Her eyes were so cloudy and dull that neither Lu Tinghan nor Shi Yuan could tell whether she was blind or not.

After an unknown amount of time, she spoke again: “…Okay. You stand where you are and don’t move a single step.”

Lu Tinghan turned off the flashlight as promised.

The sandstorm outside the house was still blowing, but the restlessness in the house finally stopped, and the group of people regained their calm.

In the dark, Lu Tinghan paused and said, “Answer my question, what are you?”

“What are we?” Di Wen giggled, “We are whatever you think we are. We’re all infected, called ‘mole people’, and can’t see the light of day for the rest of our lives.”

The weird people in the house lowered their bodies, still crawling with their hands and feet, their limbs entangled, like a group of weird snakes or mice that are mating, she said, “Do you think we are human beings? Do you think we still count as humans?”

“…” Lu Tinghan slowly exhaled, “Yes. We can still communicate, we have the same civilization, of course, it counts.” He lowered his muzzle, his expression relaxed, and said sincerely, “I don’t know your past, but I’m glad to meet you.”

He smiled, relieved.

Spanning decades and thousands of miles, there were still people alive in the Empire. They were disgraced, they were strange and ugly, but they were still humans.

There was nothing better than this.

Joy spread through every heartbeat, and his fingertips trembled slightly as he spoke, “I… we have waited too many years for this day.”

Di Wen let out a sharp and piercing laugh.

She laughed and said, “You’re the first Alliance person I don’t hate. Welcome to the Empire, welcome to Hell!”