Act. 20: Roads to Ride · On the Road
Foreword:
The highest form of friendship is one soul residing in two bodies.
[Part 1: Boarding and Jumping]
Boarding action, also known as boarding combat.
This refers to a highly effective yet dangerous combat tactic employed by the Guangling Zhixi Rapid Reaction Force to deal with zombie trains.
When the armed train is unable to stop the Madness Butterfly Sect's zombie train with artillery fire, lacks heavy firepower support, or needs to capture a target and confirm the target's death at close range, it will adopt a boarding action—jumping from the armed train into the zombie train to engage in close combat with the enemy, defeat the enemy's manpower, and seize control of the zombie train.
Just as Xue Ming jumped onto the zombie train through the shack on Zero Platform—
Mr. Lawrence finally resigned himself to his fate and stopped running away.
He quickly gathered the last seven defense personnel on the train, put on gas masks, and retrieved adrenaline and H16T from the chemical reserves, preparing for a desperate last stand.
Glory's soul power is formidable, comparable to the enemies she encountered in District 18. Although she cannot catch bullets, her hard iron armor is almost impervious to blades and spears. As long as she retains her fighting spirit and does not let her soul power leave her body, conventional weapons will find it difficult to leave wounds on her.
The H16T can steal the psychic power of the Morpho Butterfly. If Lawrence uses it to deal with Glory, he will still have a glimmer of hope.
The seven men present simultaneously injected drugs into their thighs. The strong and muscular man's neck immediately swelled and his muscles became congested with blood. His arms also grew thicker. As his strength increased dramatically, he almost lost his mind and fell into a state of euphoria.
Screams echoed from the stoker's room; it was the Night Demon under Ming De's command coming to claim lives.
Lawrence had just put on the mask when he splashed H16T powder into the car. The pale blue dust crystals were scattered throughout the car by the gust of wind sweeping in from outside the window.
Listen to the sound of the car window shattering--
--The fragile window frame cracked along with the window, and the Big Sister shrunk over half of the carriage, killing the stoker and the conductor. Then, like a nimble and cunning fox, she delivered a selfless kick, sending one of Lawrence's henchmen flying out of the carriage.
The soldier, following the immense force of the kick, had his neck broken in two, smashed through the vehicle door, and fell into the rubble of the mountainside. His abdomen was ripped open by the sharp rocks, his intestines ripped out, and he was beyond dead.
The Big Sister's legs hooked onto the unfortunate man's QD ring, and with a gentle lift, she retrieved the gun back into her hand.
The group hesitated for only a moment due to the sudden turn of events. The enemy had arrived so quickly and fiercely that even the adrenaline couldn't suppress their fear.
That blood-soaked female war maniac descended from the sky, killing and seizing the gun in less than a second.
A terrifying burst of gunfire erupted inside the train carriage!
In the instant the firefight began, Xue Ming let out a long, sharp hiss, like that of a lynx.
She smelled the H16T hallucinogen in the air, and her heart and lungs, which were on the verge of exploding after repeated extreme sports, were under pressure that was incomprehensible to ordinary people.
One shot against six, a heavy thunderous roar emanating from the expensive SCAR-H rifle.
Her right arm was shot and blood gushed out. The bullet tore her cheekbones, leaving almost no unscathed flesh on half of her face. Two clouds of blood erupted from her back, the bullet tumbling through her flesh before exiting from her lower back.
But her stance for firing the gun remained unchanged.
--Like a cast iron statue.
The moment the "Expelliarmus Spell" took effect, the six warriors were already lambs to the slaughter. With just a slight shift of the gun barrel, Xue Ming took turns firing at their heads, which were of varying heights, and his KDA increased by six points.
Even as his legs went weak with fear, Lawrence's tears could still be seen streaming down his face through the goggles of his gas mask. He was so shocked that he couldn't control himself and wet his pants.
The Big Sister quickly pulled out the SCAR-H magazine to check the remaining bullets, then put it back in the receiver. She then swiftly tore off her suit jacket and ripped open the Kevlar prison uniform on her back. She had already lost nearly 1,100 milliliters of blood, and the dizziness and the inexplicable sedative effect of the hallucinogen were poisoning her brain.
She injected the Universal Elixir into his neck at a speed that Lawrence could hardly comprehend, causing him to sway and feel dizzy.
At that moment, Lawrence felt a renewed sense of hope and vitality.
"Yes, yes! Fall down! No matter how strong-willed the Morpho butterfly is, it can't withstand this packet of poison! Fall down! Fall down!"
The Big Sister, leaning against the tattered chair back, gagging and swaying precariously, could still hear Lawrence's fierce shouts even as her gunshot wounds healed.
"Face the gush, Glory! Face the gush! I'm going to rape you! I'm going to humiliate you to the fullest to vent my anger!"
The Big Sister's eyes were bloodshot as she finally awoke from her daze. A sudden surge of rage brought her back to herself, and with that fury alone, her short hair, which reeked of burnt fumes, stood on end.
She pulled a syringe from her tattered shirt and then injected it into her arm.
"Kid! Serotonin! Ever seen it before!?"
"No! No no no no! No no no no! No no no no no no!" How could Lawrence have never seen serotonin before?
Including Fire Fox, most of the new-era drugs in his chemical plant are various variants developed and modified around tryptamine-based products.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that protects neurons from damage caused by excitatory neurotoxins.
At this moment, even though the Big Sister has regained consciousness through medication, she still cannot invoke the power of the soul. Under the influence of H16T, this territory belongs to God, and Lawrence Madison, hiding in her gas mask, is unaffected by it.
However, the Big Sister had regained some of her mobility and did not lose consciousness on the spot like Professor Victor.
Night Demon stepped forward, spear in hand, his body shrouded in a bloody mist. His excessively high body temperature created a terrifying red haze in the early spring air.
With the gun pointed at Lawrence's head, the Heaven's Gate immediately stood guard in front of the demon, gesturing a circular gate to send the deadly bullets elsewhere.
There are five bullets left in the magazine.
--They transformed into a torrent of scorching iron, the rifling cutting through the bullet, striking the sturdy yet flexible iron plate, bouncing and reflecting off the strong beams of the train car, the fragments almost brushing against the side of the Heaven's Gate, before striking Lawrence's body at an incredible angle!
"Whoa! How is this possible!" Besides the horrible scar left by the axe on Lawrence's back, several large red flowers bloomed on his newly healed ribs.
He was knocked off balance by the War King's ricocheting bullets, his holy blood flowing out of his body. As he crawled toward the door, he threw things behind him in an attempt to stop Glory!
Throw the cups and saucers out, and immediately shards of glass will splatter back!
She threw the knife, and the Big Sister stretched her waist, throwing it with all her might at the metal roof of the car. After bouncing several times, the knife landed directly in Lawrence's butt crack!
"No, no, no! Don't kill me! Don't kill me! Glory! You and I are both Blood-giving Monster! We are siblings!"
Xue Ming didn't reply. She was almost at the finish line. The hallucinogen in the air was too potent, and she only had about ten seconds left to move freely. She had to kill the Cult Leader before losing consciousness!
"Ah!!------"
She roared, trying to reactivate her gradually calming heart with her powerful shouts, and raised the table high to smash it down on the crawling Lawrence!
The Heaven's Gate's furious fist shattered the projectile into pieces; the cracked wood splinters transformed into cruel needles that pierced Lawrence 'Lawrence chest, gas mask, and face, yet miraculously failed to completely destroy the mask.
Lawrence, his face covered in blood, finally saw the terrifying Night Demon stop moving, its eyes lifeless, seemingly frozen in place, not even collapsing in the moment of losing consciousness.
He was terrified and didn't even dare to finish the job!
Should I get close to her? Or finish her off?!
I'm afraid I don't even have the strength to stand up! The Heaven's Gate's range is capable of doing this! But this woman is so strange! So ferocious!
If my soul power were shattered by her at this moment, I would die on the spot due to the Gate of Death effect!
She must be feigning weakness, trying to lure me to her side!
Don't fall for this! Lawrence Madison! Wake up!
You?! How could you possibly be a match for this guy!
Door! Door! Find the door!
The armed train in the distance has sounded its whistle, a final warning.
--That was the intimidation and coercion used by the warriors of Guangling Zhixi before they were about to board the enemy for battle.
In less than a minute, the Bullfrog Squad warriors will be jumping onto the zombie train to clean up the mess.
Lawrence, barely alive, crawled through the blood and mud, looking at the gun shrapnel scattered everywhere. With no weapons at hand, he crawled to the end of the carriage, traversing the most difficult stretch of his life, and returned to the multi-purpose room.
The several doors in the room were now permanently closed. Lawrence had given up the wealth in the Hedland Museum, the friendship with the Frost Peak and the Madness Butterfly, and the power and land of Zero Platform.
The remaining two doors, one belongs to the Rare People Mansion, the hometown of Duran and Flavia, a fantastic talent market.
But Duran and Flavia had probably betrayed him, and he dared not seek refuge in that place.
So the final destination was an unnamed town on the outskirts of Sweet Lake City, his nightmare, his other hometown.
He was in a terrible state. After thinking for a long time, he finally took off his gas mask and breathed in the fresh air. Only then did his brain begin to function smoothly again. He had experienced symptoms of excessive blood loss countless times that day. This was the most dangerous and difficult day of his life.
The so-called other hometown--
--This was the new home that Lawrence had marked in his heart after raping Sunny.
He would never forget this place, the well behind the infirmary, where he and Milik were rescued by Sunny, embarking on a completely different and extraordinary path.
His parents' education or his upbringing during his youth were insignificant; it was the death of Milik and the Sunny —these separations and deaths, along with the twisted love and hatred—that shaped Lawrence Madison.
Even if all other doors were closed, Lawrence would not close this one.
Aside from his agents, he had never revealed his true face to outsiders, but Sunny remained a source of deep concern for him.
To this day, he still keeps a warm back door open, and often visits Milik's grave to peek at Ms. Sunny from afar, to secretly admire his beloved wife.
Sunny Booker continued working at the medical center, rising from a junior nurse to a part-time head nurse specializing in auscultation. Hasben grew up day by day, eventually becoming a terrifying shadow in Lawrence's heart.
Mr. Lawrence once said that he would not kill his own flesh and blood, and that is indeed true.
Because a house needs a door as an entrance to become a family home. If that door is closed, the last shred of goodness in his heart will be lost, and the friendship with his godchildren will also cease to exist. How can he then talk about building a large and powerful family, or about a family gang?
He crawled through the back door of the infirmary into the cold corridor, where he could still hear the sound of rain.
It seems like it's always raining in this small village.
--Forever, forever, is so awful.
When the child was born, he was accompanied only by condensate water used to treat environmental pollution. When he was very young, Hasben suffered from many illnesses. Lawrence only hoped that he would die young and be spared the suffering of the endless cycle of life. But he also hoped that he could live a long life—after all, it was his strong and special blood.
As people grow old, they are no longer willing to live in this nameless village. The damp and cold air will cause many age-related diseases, and after the age of sixty, they will not live long and will become a tombstone on the low hill.
With that thought in mind, he continued climbing toward the ward, hoping to find some first-aid supplies to treat his injuries.
When they reached the pharmacy, it was still dark. The King of Cinder seemed to have forgotten this land, remaining steadfast in the sky above the Blackland Royal Hotel.
The resilient blood-bearing monster felt both fortunate and unfortunate.
Fortunately, as long as the sun hadn't risen, no one knew he had arrived at the absolutely safe and warm medical facility.
Unfortunately, this godforsaken place still has no Universal Elixir. Just like twenty years ago, apart from aspirin and penicillin, there aren't even many rolls of hemostatic bandages.
He finally managed to stand up, leaning on the operating table, and limped as he tried to stop the bleeding and treat his wounds. Feeling thirsty from blood loss, he went back to the ward to get water. He slowly slumped down on the edge of the bed, looking at the place where Milik had once slept, and suddenly started crying for no reason. He pressed his palms, which he had just disinfected with alcohol, to his eyes, and the intense pain caused more and more tears to flow.
At first, there was only a faint sound, like sobbing and wailing.
Then came heart-wrenching sobs, snot and tears mingling together.
[Part ②: The Burden of Flesh and Blood]
This commotion attracted the attention of the veteran staff at the nurses' station.
--Sunny Booker stood motionless in front of the door, just as she had twenty years ago.
Her eyes were filled with worry and surprise.
Lawrence Madison looked up and saw the shadow of a middle-aged woman illuminated by the dim orange safety light.
She's old, as if Fire Fox has emptied her of her youth. Just one time—
Even a tiny amount of this neurotransmitter drug can cause irreversible damage to the human brain, causing rapid aging and loss of all happiness.
My hair is no longer as shiny as it used to be; it has now turned a dry, dark reddish-brown.
My eyes aren't as bright as they were when I was younger; they're now slightly astigmatic and have difficulty focusing clearly.
Sunny's mother. "Hasben?"
"Yes," Lawrence stared at the victim in surprise, almost instinctively wanting to hurt the woman again, to tell a lie that even he found hard to believe, "It was me. It was my mother. It was me."
Sunny panicked and rushed to check on the child's injuries.
"You didn't come back for Christmas, and you didn't come back for New Year's—I knew something bad was going to happen."
"Mommy... Mommy, save me!" Lawrence stammered, like an awkward child showing the wounds on his front and back. "Save me... please, am I going to die? I..."
Sunny didn't say much. She unwrapped Lawrence's bandage, carried the strong child onto the hospital bed, just like when she first helped Lawrence.
"It hurts a little, just bear with it."
"Okay," Lawrence said, lying down as he followed Sunny's movements, thinking to himself—she's still so strong, she can carry me on her back with ease.
Sunny pushed in the toiletries and turned on the bedside lamp. The bright light made Lawrence unable to open his eyes.
She brushed Lawrence's hand away, as if scolding a child. "Don't block my view, let me see clearly."
Lawrence: "Okay"
Sunny immediately began treating the wound, and her eyes reddened when she saw the extent of the child's injuries.
"How did you get yourself into this state!"
Despite saying that, Sunny's mother didn't stop. She cleaned the Kevlar fibers from her chest, pried apart the thick leather of the Universal Elixir and the metal pieces in the clothing, and used tweezers to carefully remove these foreign objects one by one.
Lawrence gritted his teeth in pain.
"Don't cry out in pain!" Sunny snapped. "If you don't get it out, you'll be waiting for all sorts of complications to kill you, you little idiot."
Lawrence: "Okay"
After tending to the wounds on his torso, Sunny asked Lawrence to take off his pants.
Lawrence: "I... I..."
"What? You won't let me see?" Sunny gave her a disdainful look. "Take it off! Your legs are practically overflowing with heavy metals!"
Lawrence: "Can I wear underwear?"
Without saying a word, Sunny picked up the scissors and cut open Lawrence's pants, picking out the shrapnel stuck in his thigh—but what she saw made her mother burst into tears.
"My God! What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into Hasben?!"
Sunny carefully cut open the skin on the side of her thigh, gently avoiding major blood vessels, her expression contorted as if she had aged several years.
"Damn it! What kind of leg is that?!"
Sixteen pieces of shrapnel of varying sizes were found in Lawrence's right leg, while thirty-three pieces of debris containing fragments of steel plates remained in his left abdomen, thigh, and calf.
It's no exaggeration to describe Lawrence Madison's body as having excessive levels of heavy metals; if he had waited a few more hours, these deadly weapons that hindered nerve activity and impaired blood circulation would have killed this Blood-giving Monster.
The old mother's grumbling and swearing sounded somewhat endearing.
Lawrence didn't dare to retort, and a strange sense of happiness welled up inside him.
While treating the wound, Sunny and Lawrence chatted casually.
"Hasben, don't go to the Rangers anymore. You can't do that job."
"Why?"
"You're kind-hearted, a little naive, and always willing to risk your life. I've already lost my husband, lost him forever, but I don't want to lose my son."
"."
"Why aren't you saying anything? I understand, I understand, you have lofty ambitions."
"No, Mom, what you just said about losing your husband means..."
"It means exactly what it says, don't you understand?"
"Could it be..." Lawrence hesitated, then finally asked, "Do you consider that rapist your husband?"
Sunny laughed heartily and gave her son's bottom a hard slap, making Lawrence grit his teeth in pain.
"How could that be! Did your fever start because of a wound infection? Did it damage your brain?"
Lawrence: "That's... what does that mean?"
Sunny, hands on her hips, gripping the blood-stained knife, said, "It means exactly what it says. Who would marry a woman who has been raped? Especially since I have a child like you to raise!"
Lawrence seemed lost in thought.
Sunny continued, "Oh, don't look at me like that! We don't owe each other anything! Hasben! You're the little life that came out of my belly! Unlike your blood-related father!"
Lawrence, troubled and saddened, asked, "Different?"
"You are innocent, my son." Sunny continued to soothe Lawrence's wounds, "When I found out I was pregnant, I knew I might never find a good husband again in this life—no matter how magnanimous he was, he would probably look down on me and care a lot about a woman who had suffered such a great humiliation."
Lawrence: "No, no."
Sunny raised her eyebrows, just as energetic as she was twenty years ago.
"What don't you know? Do you just say you don't know, or do you really not know? Wake up! We live in the real world, not in a fairy tale, Hasben!"
Lawrence fell silent.
Sunny continued, "Otherwise, why would I name you this? And keep this surname? You think it's to commemorate the Ultimate Insult I've ever suffered? This is a trial, baby!"
Lawrence heard the familiar words but couldn't grasp their unfamiliar meaning. "Trial?"
"I can hide it from you, I can lie to you, I can keep this deep in my heart." Sunny earnestly and firmly cupped Lawrence's face. "But a person can't be without a father, Hasben, and a family can't be without a husband. [Hasben] simply means [Hasbun with bread], I don't want love, I just want bread. It sounds a lot like [Husband] – if you get married someday, change your name to that."
Ms. Sunny washed the knives and looked at her son, who was bound like a mummy.
"Have you been seducing any young girls outside? They say the highest form of friendship is when one soul resides in two bodies. I haven't experienced that, but I hope you can!"
Lawrence appeared quite stunned at that moment.
He had no lover or marriage partner, and for the past twenty years he had devoted all his energy to his career, treating everything as a bargaining chip for profit, without even considering a political or business marriage.
Sunny slapped her son on the head, giving Lawrence a severe scolding.
"Useless trash!"
Sunny started laughing halfway through her sentence.
"Hahahaha! Your father once yelled something like that at a city road planning employee."
Without hesitation, Lawrence asked, "You remember him?"
Sunny said impatiently, "Isn't that obvious? Hate is something stronger than any other emotion."
Lawrence didn't understand. "Then why are you still laughing?"
Sunny shrugged dismissively. "Twenty years, kid. Do you know what twenty years means? That's over seven thousand days and months. Everything fades, everything changes beyond recognition. Unwavering love turns to bland water, and even the deepest hatred becomes tasteless—calling you 'Little Madison' just reminds me of that scumbag all the time. Don't forget this story."
As she said this, Sunny's mother poured water for her child and picked up a glass.
He just lifted his wrist slightly and then lowered it—I, like this little water glass, fell to the ground, shattered into pieces, and can never be mended. I can't go back to the way I was. I can't lie to myself, and I can't lie to you.
Lawrence Madison had never chatted so intimately with Sunny Booker.
He suddenly realized his own weakness.
He sensed an incredibly powerful life force blossoming and bearing fruit before him.
Sunny continued, "He shaped our lives, he's an unforgettable part of us—and he wants you to carry on that family name instead of Hasben Booker. Because I'm not reconciled, I don't want to give up!"
The mother gritted her teeth, grinned crookedly, and said, "He has hair, a face, a physique, and blood—but I think, if I let Madison live and grow up happily, the child I raise will be completely different from him. Wouldn't that be a terrible insult to this monster?"
Lawrence felt an unbearable itch all over his body; the blood-soaked flesh began to wreak havoc, and he felt parched and hungry, wanting to reveal his cannibalistic nature. After the surgery, White Lady and the Holy Blood helped him quickly recover his bodily functions.
Sunny squinted, looking somewhat sleepy.
"I've exceeded my workload tonight -- honey, I'm going to take a nap, just a little while."
Without hesitation, Lawrence replied, "Okay."
Then he saw Sunny leaning against the bedside, her hands supporting her chin, and falling asleep.
Mr. Madison, suppressing his hunger, slowly climbed out of bed to search for food.
His mind was in complete turmoil, more chaotic than ever before.
For a fleeting moment, he was just like he was twenty years ago, contemplating whether or not to stay in this nameless village and continue living there.
The real Hasben Madison is dead.
As long as we avoid the station's investigation, perhaps
Before this could be fully thought out--
Hungry Lawrence took a few emergency blood bags from the refrigerator and gulped them down.
His muscles, like wild grass inflating in the spring sunshine, instantly became round and plump, regaining their strength in that instant! He also regained his ambition and desire! The burden of flesh and blood pulled him back to the real world!
"You foolish woman, your sermons are pathetic and pathetic—victory? Raising my child? Turning him into another Mr. Madison? What a pipe dream! What a joke! I'm going to be God!"
He pointed to the sky with one hand and covered his face with the other. His flowing red hair was the source of his confidence. He had already separated from Homo sapiens into two races, and the bloodline of creation was a path of no return.
But what the confident Lawrence failed to notice was—
Outside the infirmary gates, the real Hasben Madison was hidden in the night, quietly watching his biological father.
Unlike the Bullfrog Squad, which excels at boarding maneuvers.
The Rangers need soldiers skilled in forced marches, as the distance from Forty-Eight District to Eleventh District is over 1,300 kilometers.
At this moment, Hasben, having gone through countless hardships, followed his Big Sister's instructions and rushed back to his hometown in time. He had no guns or armor. In order to get back to his hometown as quickly as possible by passing through various trade transit stations and the different safety regulations of the transportation department, he disarmed himself and handed over his guns.
Besides wealth, power, and friendship—
The Big Sister believes that the Cult Leader definitely left a back door next to Sunny's mother, and set up the highest position of Swordholder for the Little Brotherhood, also in memory of Milik. Even when visiting Milik's grave, the Cult Leader would leave a secret passage through the Heaven's Gate.
This shameless scum will one day, in order to erase the last remaining evidence of his existence in the world and remove his real name, Lawrence Madison, he will choose to turn his knife against Sunny's mother.
Hasben Madison summoned a spirit, a phantasmal form of the Spark Queen, crackling with lightning—
--A golden, humanoid form emerged from the body and coalesced into a woman with a jeweled crown, a tattered cloth dress, and a fit but barely clothed figure. Strangely enough, the name [Hasben] is usually used for girls. Raised by her mother and without a father's guidance, Madison lacked courage and decisiveness during her upbringing, and her spirit was more like a woman.
"Bring it on, Lawrence!"