Chapter 146: The Doppelganger in Human Skin |
Bai Mu drove the green military vehicle off the wide asphalt road and into an alley riddled with potholes.
The outlines of houses were faintly visible on both sides. These empty, silent buildings, surrounded by dimly discernible white picket fences, truly resembled tombstones.
The terrifying red glow in the sky cast a hazy light over the ground, and the acrid stench of thick smoke grew increasingly intense. Bai Mu turned on the vehicle's radio. A chaotic stream of transmissions flooded the military broadcast channel; everything had descended into complete pandemonium, with the constant sound of explosions crackling through the speakers. Another massive blast erupted from behind them. The flames roaring above the buildings illuminated the streets and houses brighter than day, casting startling shadows that twisted and danced wildly in the wind like phantoms.
The three children huddled together. The youngest, Katie, was already paralyzed with fear, her hands covering her ears and her eyes squeezed shut. Sam and Leon were not faring much better. Their legs trembled violently; the explosions sounded so close it felt as if they were detonating right beside them.
Bai Mu had no time to comfort the children; he needed to focus entirely on driving. He perked his ears, listening intently to the noises echoing from all directions, and did his best to avoid any area where the commotion was loudest. Stepping on the gas and gripping the steering wheel, he drove straight east.
The military vehicle sped out of the yellow-designated zone on the map and entered a red zone.
Bai Mu did not want to take a detour. Every second was precious right now, and he had to escape before the military completely sealed their encirclement.
This once-silent city had erupted into a chaotic clamor. Figures emerged from the various houses, though they looked more like ghosts than people. They stood rigidly along the sides of the streets with stiff, expressionless faces, remaining completely unbothered even as overwhelming flames engulfed the sky.
They were all Doppelgangers. The Doppelgangers were no longer hiding; they were pouring out from every dark corner.
"We are going to crash!" Leon exclaimed, his voice trembling.
Bai Mu did not need Leon's warning to know a collision was imminent.
He tossed a Hand Grenade out the edge of the window. The Hand Grenade detonated just ahead of the hood, blowing a gaping hole through the barricade. Bai Mu floored the accelerator, rolling ruthlessly over the corpses of the Doppelgangers, driving onward without a single glance back.
The military vehicle rampaged down the road. Bai Mu had experienced scenes like this countless times. He had once driven his own war chariot, crushing his way through swarms of Zombies, so he knew perfectly well that escaping a heavy siege required absolute decisiveness without a shred of hesitation.
He unleashed all his molotov cocktails and Hand Grenades. Glass beer bottles filled with gasoline shattered against the curbs on both sides, and tongues of flame roared to life with a loud whoosh, instantly forming a wall of fire.
The Doppelgangers that had been closing in to surround them were forced to stop behind the inferno. Through the rearview mirror, he could see their apathetic faces staring blankly at the receding military vehicle. Fire truly was an effective deterrent against the Doppelgangers; they did not take a single step past the wall of flames.
Bai Mu successfully drove out of the red zone. He was not the only one fleeing for his life tonight; many people had abandoned their homes and taken to the streets. The swarming Doppelgangers smashed down doors, no longer adhering to the rule of "only killing those who live alone." Whether a person lived by themselves or with a family of two or three, the Doppelgangers no longer cared.
If anything, the strange questioning that had occurred before today felt more like a method of "targeting."
The Doppelgangers knew exactly which houses were occupied and which were empty. The Doppelgangers who had infiltrated the human populace actively opened doors for their kin. Those who tried to flee on foot had their ankles seized by Doppelgangers and were dragged mercilessly back inside, leaving long, desperate gouges in the dirt where their fingers had clawed at the ground. Someone screamed for help, but Bai Mu could not save them, nor did he have the power to do so.
The soldiers driving the armored land tanks had no intention of saving anyone either.
After Bai Mu drove away from that area, he checked his rearview mirror and saw a tank and several military vehicles arriving at the scene.
However, the soldiers simply opened fire. The tank's cannon shuddered violently, spewing a blinding flash of sparks. The house was instantly leveled by the artillery shell, a slender tongue of fire piercing through what was left of the roof, and flames of all sizes rose hungrily from the ruins.
In a scenario like this, a human life was as cheap and fragile as a piece of straw. Death was merely a matter of an instant.
Fortunately, Bai Mu's decision-making had been fast enough. He seized the opportunity to escape the most dangerous downtown area.
He tossed a handful of coffee beans into his mouth and chewed. He drove for half an hour, encountering several Doppelganger ambushes along the way, but he managed to escape successfully every time. After all, those monsters could never outrun a motorized vehicle.
But the citizens in the city center suffered a terrible fate. The chaotic battle spanned a massive area, and the closer one got to the Quarantine Zone and the military-controlled districts, the fiercer the fighting became. There was no telling how many people would meet a tragic end tonight. If he had stayed in that house, all Bai Mu could have done was pray that an artillery shell would not land on his roof. An hour later, Bai Mu was finally far away from the city center.
Looking back, he could still see billowing black smoke and flashes of fire rising into the sky. Even the skyscrapers, dozens of stories high, were engulfed in raging infernos. The artillery bombardment was still ongoing. He had fled to the outskirts of the city. According to the map, he had driven about twenty kilometers. Just ten more kilometers, and he would completely escape the city limits.
Suddenly, he felt a violent yank on the car door, causing the entire chassis to shudder.
A pale hand had somehow, at some unknown point, grabbed hold of the driver's side door handle.
Bai Mu had not even noticed when that hand appeared. When he turned his head to look at the window, a wrinkled layer of human skin suddenly filled his vision. It was a pale Doppelganger wearing a suit of human skin. A bizarre, eerie smile was plastered across its face as it peered through the glass into the vehicle. It lay sprawled across the hood, contorting its body in an extremely unnatural manner to press itself against the window.
Utter terror washed over the faces of the three children; the creature looked exactly like a malevolent spirit.
But Bai Mu knew this thing was no ghost. It was just a Doppelganger, specifically a combat unit among them—one of those monsters responsible for massacring people and spreading panic everywhere.
It seemed intent on ripping the car door clean off its hinges. The piercing screech of grinding metal assaulted their ears. Its strength was horrifyingly immense; even the solid steel door could not withstand its forceful tugging.
Before the creature could tear the door away, Bai Mu proactively rolled down the window and pulled out "Dave's Shotgun." The two thick barrels aimed directly at the Doppelganger's head, and with a deafening boom, a bright muzzle flash erupted.
Bang!
The Doppelganger's head burst open like a smashed watermelon. A mess of fluid, identical to human blood, splattered across the pavement and the car window. Yet, even so, it refused to let go. Losing its head was clearly not a fatal wound for this creature.
Its hand continued to apply pressure, acting like a can opener, relentlessly trying to peel the door off.
The sight was incredibly horrifying—a bloody, headless corpse clinging to the window, acting as though it were entirely unkillable.
The three children squeezed together against the opposite door in fright. At such close range, Bai Mu could not use another molotov cocktail; the gasoline would ignite both the military vehicle and the Doppelganger. Instead, he simply continued firing at the creature's body. He pressed the muzzle directly against the Doppelganger's knee and elbow joints and pulled the trigger.
After Bai Mu fired four more shots, the monstrosity finally tumbled off the hood. However, its severed hand remained hooked onto the car door, its grip still clamped tightly around the handle.