They reached the hidden door of the air-raid shelter.
Wu Hen deliberately moved close to the thick door and listened for anyone—or anything foul—on the other side.
After confirming there was no danger, Wu Hen opened the heavy door and entered the shelter.
Once he shut the door, Wu Hen realized it was concealed, too.
He stared hard at it, hoping to memorize its appearance.
His younger sister, Yu Yu, looked utterly exasperated. She patted Wu Hen on the shoulder, signaling that he could stop trying—she'd already memorized it.
"When you're memorizing routes and doors, don't just stare at the road and the door. Look at what's around them!" Yu Yu said, sounding a little scornful.
"I know! Why are you shouting?" Wu Hen grumbled.
Did he really need a little girl telling him what to do?
Yu Yu's bright eyes widened, and her hand signs grew frantic.
"This way." Yu Yu pointed, signaling for Wu Hen to follow.
"Your little dog nose is as sharp as ever. Smelled the exit?" Wu Hen asked.
Yu Yu rolled her eyes and pointed at a sign on the wall. In big glowing letters, it said: EXIT!
"You're shouting again. Have some respect!" Wu Hen strode ahead.
The storm outside had probably died down.
Wu Hen could no longer hear the wind howling.
There weren't many people in the shelter. With no food or water, staying here was little better than waiting to die.
Wu Hen passed through the shelter's corridor beneath the school and entered the Shangxia area beside the shopping mall.
The Shangxia area was complicated, with roads branching in every direction. There were also subway evacuation tunnels and floodgates nearby. It was pitch-black, and if Wu Hen had been alone, it would have been no different from a maze.
"Is this the place?" Wu Hen asked.
Yu Yu nodded.
"I'll go up first. Get your weapon ready, too," Wu Hen reminded her.
Yu Yu nodded again and took out her Compound Bow.
Yu Yu might have looked delicate enough to squeeze water from her cheeks, but she was no ordinary archer. She'd competed in professional youth tournaments.
Wu Hen was a decent archer, too, but he wasn't as accurate as his sister.
It didn't matter now, anyway. He'd already unlocked it, so a little lockpicking didn't count as cheating.
They had entered the mall's underground level. The elevators were out of order, so they climbed the stairs into the building. The sixth through ninth floors were occupied by the private hospital.
Quite a few people had taken shelter in the mall. After several days of unrest, some people with a head for organizing had stepped up. With no official Order Maintenance Personnel around, they'd formed their own factions and established basic rules for their areas.
The mall's lobby was especially noisy. Two groups seemed to be facing off, with the same feel as rival gangs fighting over turf in the last century.
Wu Hen came out of the stairwell and looked down from the upper floor. One group was dressed in matching black shirts. Each member held a weapon, some carrying controlled knives and others homemade Molotov cocktails.
Most of the other group wore business attire. They were probably local residents and mall employees. They huddled together, showing no fear of the Black Shirt Organization's invasion. They looked ready to fight to the death if the other side tried anything.
"Those Black Shirt parasites again!" Wu Hen cursed.
He wished he could find a Gatling gun and mow down the Black Shirt Organization from up here!
"The people in power don't care if ordinary people live or die. The rich and powerful moved into the Silver Dome long ago. If we abandoned civilians don't band together, we'll all end up dead..." said a man with an eye tattoo on his forehead, one of the Black Shirt Organization.
"Banding together is fine, but why should you get to call the shots?" asked a man in a retro Tang suit from among the office workers.
"Some of you have fallen into the Otherworld, haven't you? Unconscious, and still not awake. Don't you want to know how to escape the Otherworld Desolate Dust? Can you guarantee you won't fall in, too? And if you do, do you know how to survive? Our Black Shirt Organization can share information and make sure you and your families can survive there if you fall in," the Eye-Patterned Man said.
"We..." The man in the Tang suit hesitated.
The truth was, many of their companions had fallen into the Otherworld Desolate Dust, and not one had returned alive.
"Awakened—do you know what Awakened are?" The Eye-Patterned Man smiled, the corners of his mouth lifting.
The office workers shook their heads.
"See? The authorities won't tell you that Awakened exist in our world. They have exceptional perception and combat abilities in the Otherworld, and following them is the only way to greatly improve your group's chances of survival. Unfortunately, the authorities have recruited most of them."
"I'll tell you this: our Black Shirt Organization has Awakened of our own!"
Awakened??
Some of the office workers had relatives who'd been recruited as pioneers, and those relatives had shared bits and pieces of information.
So when the Black Shirt leader said that, the office workers immediately grew restless.
"Right! Without Awakened, we'll all die in the end!"
"We know nothing about the real world. We're fine for now, but who knows when it'll be our turn?"
"Maybe we should just listen to them?"
The Eye-Patterned Man's smile grew more confident. His gaze swept over the office workers, who were already beginning to waver, and his expression took on an air of superiority.
"Could you give us some time to think it over?" The man in the Tang suit's tone had clearly changed.
"Sure. But we need medicine right now. A leader in our organization is injured," the Eye-Patterned Man said.
"There's some upstairs. You could send a few people up to get it first," the man in the Tang suit suggested.
"All right, but think carefully. If you make an enemy of the Black Shirt Organization, we won't be so polite next time!" The Eye-Patterned Man nodded.
The office workers outnumbered them, so a direct assault would mean heavy casualties.
The Eye-Patterned Man agreed to this compromise.
Useless!
That man in the Tang suit—I thought you were made of iron, but you're just spineless.
After hearing their conversation, Wu Hen immediately realized he didn't have much time.
He grabbed Yu Yu's hand and hurried toward the sixth floor.
They had to find the medicine before the Black Shirt Organization cleared it out!
"This way!"
Yu Yu pointed them in the right direction.
They reached the sixth floor, but the medicine was in the cold storage on the ninth. The stairs and elevators leading up were inside the hospital, so the mall's main elevators and stairs couldn't take them directly to the ninth floor.
"What a ridiculous design. Once we've got the medicine and come back down, we're bound to run into the Black Shirt Organization."
"Forget it. Let's gather all the medicine first."
"If we have to, I'll split the heavens with my sword!"
Xiao Yi?
Foster Father?
Holy Father, are you there?
Wu Hen knew a fierce fight was unavoidable, so he made sure Xiao Yi was on standby instead of shut down and dormant.
Wu Hen's right hand soon reacted, but what appeared before him wasn't the Black Miracle Death Sword. It was the Compound Bow he'd devoured not long ago!
What was going on?
Did the ultimate move have a cooldown or something??
Why couldn't he sense the Black Miracle Death Sword at all? Back in the Desolate Dust, he hadn't known how to use it, but he'd always felt a faint connection to it in his soul...
Now, Wu Hen felt as though his connection to the Black Miracle Death Sword had been blocked.
"Could it be the Nuwa Divine Terminal?"
"Does it indiscriminately block all overly powerful forces?"
"That must be it. Otherwise, if an existence like Zai Wu managed to slip into the Nuwa Divine Terminal, humanity would be wiped out!"
That made sense. It really did.
Well, there was nothing he could do. He'd have to rely on his extraordinary intelligence. Wasn't that how he'd survived this long, anyway?
"Big brother, it's through that door." Yu Yu patted Wu Hen.
Yu Yu hurried on ahead.
Wu Hen glanced around. The ninth floor was actually quite large. After noting the locations of the elevator shaft and emergency stairs, he immediately followed Yu Yu.
"Be quick. I'll keep watch here," Wu Hen said.
Yu Yu deftly entered the cold storage, where large quantities of medicine were kept.
Antibiotics were the most important supplies these days. All kinds of bacteria, viruses, and livestock diseases were everywhere. Getting sick had become terrifying, and without antibiotics, most people wouldn't make it.
Antibiotics, antihistamines, antiparasitics, as well as painkillers, blood-clotting agents, universal blood packs, saline, glucose...
The two backpacks were already full. The heavy weight made Yu Yu's petite body bend forward.
Wu Hen came over and immediately slung the backpacks over his shoulders.
"They're here. Let's hide and stay quiet," Wu Hen said. He used his Auditory Sense, intending to avoid the Black Shirt Organization completely.
Yu Yu nodded, and the two of them carefully hid in the storage room opposite the cold storage.
The sound of hurried footsteps rang out. Soon, five people appeared in the medicine room.
Three of them wore black shirts. The leader was the Eye-Patterned Man.
The other two were the man in the Tang suit and a nurse, who had probably worked here before.
Yu Yu clearly recognized the nurse and remembered her name: Feng Dong.
"There's only one hospital nearby. There might be some supplies at the school, but this is all the medicine in the area," said the head nurse, Feng Dong.
"Then that's great. Very good," the Eye-Patterned Man said with a wide grin.
"Take what you need," the man in the Tang suit said.
"I never said I wanted to take anything. I just wanted you to bring me to this storeroom..." The Eye-Patterned Man's voice suddenly changed, turning sinister.
As soon as he finished speaking, a white, fungus-like substance began seeping from the Eye-Patterned Man's palm. It grew in dense clusters.
In an instant, the white growths intertwined, spiraled, and hardened, transforming his hand into a white spike!
"Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!"
The next moment, the Eye-Patterned Man attacked at superhuman speed. In an instant, he pierced the necks of everyone beside him!!
It happened in a flash. Two members of the Black Shirt Organization and the man in the Tang suit died on the spot, without a chance to fight back.
Blood sprayed like mist. The pools from the three victims ran together, forming one enormous, vivid-red puddle.
"Ah!!!!" The head nurse, Feng Dong, who stood a little farther away, screamed.
But the Eye-Patterned Man was already on her like a ghost. He drew the white spike hard across her neck.
The young head nurse met the same fate, crumpling to the floor.
Blood continued to gush from the nurse's neck, but the Eye-Patterned Man didn't even bother to look at her. He simply lowered his head and spoke coldly into the communicator on his lapel pin:
"Fanshan District. The medicine supply has been destroyed. Only the school remains."
With that, the Eye-Patterned Man piled up all the medical cotton and set it on fire, reducing the entire medicine storeroom to ashes!
Recommended: the new book by the great urban fiction author Lao Shi.
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