Chapter 145: War |
It had been a long time since Bai Mu witnessed such a scene. Corpses, still warm, were piled up like garbage. Thin red trickles flowed across the rough ground, converging into pools of blood.
Among the group of wounded soldiers, there were only seven Doppelgangers. They were the only ones left standing in the illuminated area. After gunning down all the soldiers, those seven faces reverted to the exact same look of apathy, acting almost like machines.
Bai Mu hid in the shadows, holding his breath and remaining perfectly still.
If it were seven unarmed Doppelgangers, he felt he could still challenge them. However, they were armed with guns. Even a child with a firearm could easily kill a full-grown adult with a single bullet.
All are equal before the barrel of a gun. That was no joke.
Bai Mu's goal was not to fight these Doppelgangers to the death. Even if he managed to kill them, he would gain absolutely nothing. It was far more likely that he would just make himself a target and invite even greater trouble.
After bathing the Gas Station in blood, the seven Doppelgangers crouched down to scavenge ammunition and weapons from the corpses.
They took the guns and bullets without uttering a single word throughout the entire process. It was as if their consciousnesses were linked, or like ants communicating through some sort of pheromone.
They gave off a feeling of being far more orderly than even a well-trained army.
Bai Mu gripped a Molotov cocktail, his focus sharpening to an extreme degree.
He summoned the Hand of Walrider, commanding the invisible entity to grip his revolver. It flew out to its maximum limit of fifteen meters, firing a shot into the darkness. Bang!
The gunshot echoed through the gloom, instantly drawing the attention of all the Doppelgangers, including the one who was just about to discover Bai Mu.
The Doppelganger stopped its approach. It turned its head, returning to regroup with its kind. They quickly commandeered a military vehicle and sped off toward the direction of the gunshot.
Bai Mu remained hidden in the corner, waiting a while longer. Once he was sure the only sound left was the faint trickling of blood, he stowed the Molotov away and stepped out from the darkness.
He swiftly retrieved a set of keys for a military vehicle from a soldier's corpse. During his search, he was surprised to discover that one person's heart was actually still beating.
One of the soldiers had survived. He had taken several bullets, suffering hits to his thighs and arms. He even took a shot to the chest, but the bullet had narrowly missed his heart. Although these Doppelgangers had learned how to use firearms, their marksmanship was not entirely accurate.
Bai Mu found this sole survivor a bit familiar. It was the same sentry he had smoked a cigarette with earlier that night.
When the shootout began, he had been standing at his guard post, away from the center of the crossfire, which luckily spared his life.
However, if left alone, he would soon die from severe blood loss.
Bai Mu fed him a Health Potion, then used a medic's tweezers to extract the bullets from his wounds.
He didn't save this sentry simply out of the goodness of his heart. He needed someone who understood the military's internal regulations. Having an insider around might make his journey out of the city much smoother.
His food and water supplies were more than sufficient, even bordering on a surplus, so saving this man wouldn't be a burden.
After using bandages to bind the sentry's wounds and stop the bleeding, Bai Mu headed back to the warehouse. He stuffed as many of the remaining military rations as possible into the trunk. He had no time to count them; he just packed whatever would fit.
Next, he started the engine and drove straight out of the pool of blood.
The tires left red tracks rolling across the asphalt. Disguised as a soldier, he drove the military vehicle right up to the front door of his house.
The surviving sentry had been placed in the backseat, securely strapped in with a seatbelt.
On the way back, he chewed a few coffee beans. The bitter taste swirled in his mouth, keeping him sharply awake.
Arriving at his door, Bai Mu first parked the vehicle and popped the trunk open, allowing the Witch to hide inside.
Then he unlocked the front door and called the children out.
"Hurry, hurry! Load all our things into the car!"
The children were used to following his orders, so they obediently pitched in to help.
Bai Mu had them carry the lighter supplies, piling everything into the backseat.
Leon hugged the radio, Sam and Katie carried a storage bin together, while Bai Mu hoisted the water jugs and shoved them into the trunk.
It only took two trips to load everything into the vehicle. The trunk was packed to the brim, and aside from the spot where the soldier was strapped in, the backseat had absolutely no room left to step.
"Uncle, who is that person?"
"I'll take care of him, you don't need to worry about it." Bai Mu opened the passenger side door. "Get in first, we'll talk on the way." The three children squeezed together and climbed into the passenger seat.
The passenger seat of this military vehicle was fairly large, barely enough to squeeze in the three children.
Just as Bai Mu was about to shut the door, a faint red glow appeared over the rooftops.
He froze for a moment. He watched as the red glow grew brighter and brighter. The dark sky first shifted into a hue of pale pink, before deepening into an ominous crimson.
In the direction of the Quarantine Zone, a massive tongue of fire leapt high into the air.
That entire city block was ablaze. Whether it was the work of the Doppelgangers or the military, someone had deliberately set off a massive inferno.
The flames ignited all the surrounding houses and lawns, rapidly expanding into a sprawling expanse of brilliant red.
A gust of scorching wind swept past them. The already lingering scent of burning ash in the air became overwhelmingly thick. Artillery shells detonated across the area, and Bai Mu watched an apartment building collapse under the bombardment.
Massive plumes of swirling black smoke rose into the sky, forming a turbulent sea of clouds that churned above the roaring flames.
In the passenger seat, the children's faces instantly drained of color. The youngest, Katie, bit her lower lip, squeezed her eyes shut, and shrank into her brother's embrace. The fire likely triggered a traumatic memory for her; the night a vagrant had held a knife to her throat, there had been a similarly massive blaze.
This inferno looked as though it wanted to swallow the entire city whole.
All three children went rigid with terror. The military's artillery units seemed to have reached the warzone, as a relentless series of deafening explosions assaulted their eardrums.
Leon tightly clutched the pocket knife, gripping it so hard that his knuckles turned a mottled white and purple.
The skyward flames tore through the night sky, and the earth trembled beneath them. That chain of explosions shattered window panes, sending dust showering down from the rooftops.
The world had seemingly transformed into a purgatory of thunderous roars and quaking earth. In the face of such devastation, humanity could do nothing but pray and tremble. Even Bai Mu could sense the distinct stench of death radiating from this theater of war.
Sparks erupted into the air like a blazing firework sun, piercing through the massive, blood-red clouds of smoke before gently drifting down.
He knew he absolutely could not linger here any longer. Without hesitation, he hopped into the driver's seat, revved the engine, and sped eastward, driving as far away from the warzone as possible.