"AM107.7, this is Linjiang City Radio Station!"
"Attention, all citizens: stay away from schools and avoid unnecessary travel! Please trust us. We can resolve this crisis!"
Yong'an Prison.
"Ye Lin, male, eighteen years old, family connections unknown. Arrested in April on three felony charges, including manslaughter and illegal possession of a firearm."
"Pursuant to the final judgment, sentenced to death on June 16 of the same year, with lifelong deprivation of civil rights."
Inside the maximum-security cell, the incandescent light was dim.
As the judgment was read out, Ye Lin idly played with his handcuffs, as though someone else was about to be shot.
Long deprived of sunlight, he was pale, with delicate features that made him look like a girl.
Only after a sharp reprimand did he slowly lift his head and tilt it toward the doorway.
"Hey, old man, there's no need to threaten me with a firing squad."
"Under the rules, the most I could get is life."
Ye Lin looked utterly unconcerned as he discreetly scanned the man's shoulder insignia.
The dark green Great Wall insignia usually identified someone from the Security Bureau.
Three minutes earlier, the man had opened his cell with six soldiers in tow and announced that he would be executed.
At Ye Lin's faintly provocative tone, the middle-aged man's gaze turned cold. He lowered the document in his hand.
"Kid, do you think I'm joking?"
"Eighteen years old, four lives taken, three felony charges. Why shouldn't we shoot you?"
Ye Lin's fingers abruptly stopped.
"Old man, that's not fair. I killed those people in self-defense."
"Even if I were going to be executed, that would be the execution division's job. Since when does the Security Bureau handle that? At least make your act convincing."
"An act?! Kid, you'd better watch your mouth! Your case is special. Once you're sentenced, you're under our jurisdiction!"
Behind the middle-aged man, a young officer couldn't hold back an angry reprimand.
Ye Lin couldn't be bothered with him. His gaze settled on the document in the middle-aged man's hand.
"Sentenced?"
"I don't think you're holding a judgment. That's my file."
"If it really were a judgment, it would've been opened three times at most since it was issued. But the corners of yours are already frayed."
"The paper's thickness is wrong, too. Official documents have sharp edges and fairly stiff paper. Yours is clearly much softer. It can only be the paper used for files that need frequent handling."
At those words, their expressions froze, and they instinctively tightened their grips on the "document."
Seeing that, Ye Lin chuckled.
"You threatened to shoot me, and you've gone through my file plenty of times. Looks like you need something from me?"
"Something happened outside, didn't it? I'm guessing a week ago? But I'm curious. What do you want with a grave robber like me?"
Ye Lin held out both hands with a clatter, signaling for them to unlock his cuffs first.
Whatever they wanted, all that mattered was whether he could get something out of it.
He didn't want to rot here for the rest of his life, either.
"You...?!"
"What do we want with you?"
The middle-aged man raised an eyebrow and lifted a hand to cut off the young officer.
Now that he had been exposed, he couldn't be bothered to keep up the act. Still, he hadn't expected Ye Lin to be so observant.
"First, tell me why you think something happened outside. And why a week ago?"
Ye Lin's words seemed to have struck a nerve. Even the soldiers beside them grew tense.
Catching those subtle changes in their expressions, Ye Lin simply withdrew his hands and spoke with a soft laugh.
"It's simple."
"Six days ago, they stopped playing the news in the corridor. That thing used to run every day without fail. Three days ago, the food got worse, too, and the vegetables weren't as fresh."
"If we're not allowed to hear the news, something must be happening outside that the prisoners can't know about, in case it causes unrest."
"And the prison's food comes through a dedicated supply route. They've been using stock from cold storage, and fresh supplies still haven't arrived after three days. That can only mean something happened nearby and disrupted procurement."
"Of course, none of that proves much. The television could be broken, and the cooks could be slacking off."
"But."
Ye Lin paused briefly and sniffed.
"You smell of two kinds of tobacco: Rugao's harsh tobacco and Shifang's cigars. One comes from Sujiang, the other from Western Sichuan, and they're both favorites of the older generation. As far as I know, they're special-supply products. Ordinary people can hardly get their hands on them."
"If I remember correctly, Security Bureau personnel only smoke common brands, even when they do smoke, to avoid giving themselves away."
"For the smell to be that strong and linger all the way here, you must have spent at least eight hours in the same room as those smokers."
"An information blackout, disrupted supplies, a meeting that lasted that long, with high-ranking attendees from multiple provinces..."
"The answer is obvious."
The smokers couldn't have been the middle-aged man's subordinates. Ye Lin's gaze fell on his index finger.
A habitual smoker's index finger would be yellowed. The middle-aged man didn't smoke, yet he had tolerated someone smoking harsh tobacco around him. Clearly, even someone of his rank hadn't carried much weight in that room.
"Honestly, I'm pretty curious about what happened outside. If it's particularly dangerous, you should at least reduce my-"
Before Ye Lin could probe any further, the middle-aged man gave him a long look, then pointed directly at a young noncommissioned officer.
"Kid, you're smart. We do need you. But stop guessing. You'll understand when you get there!"
"His name is Huang Liang. He's the finest trainee in our Security Bureau! He'll be going with you. No bargaining. If you can send back even a scrap of information, it'll count as a major contribution!"
"If you make it out alive, we'll not only give you your freedom, we'll give you whatever else you want!"
"Take him away!"
The order rang out sharply.
Giving Ye Lin practically no chance to refuse, the middle-aged man waved a large hand, and two soldiers walked straight over and hauled him up.
The next second, Ye Lin's vision went black as a hood was forcibly pulled over his head.
!?
Bang!!
The cell door slammed shut behind him, and Ye Lin's heart abruptly sank.
It wasn't the promise that shocked him, but what that promise implied.
Even a major contribution would normally shave only eight or ten years off a sentence. If the man dared offer this much, wherever they were sending him had to be extremely dangerous.
Damn it, what the hell happened outside?!
Inside the armored vehicle, the smell of diesel was pungent.
Leaning against the window, Ye Lin silently counted the fourth bump, then turned his head, unable to resist addressing Huang Liang beside him.
"Hey, Little Crewcut, don't tell me there really are undead corpses in the city? Let me make this clear: I'm just a grave robber! If there really are undead corpses, I can't handle them."
"Give me one of those two guns you're carrying, too. If anything happens, at least I can put a bullet in myself."
Huang Liang whipped his head around, his right hand instinctively pressing toward his waist.
"You can see outside? How did you know I have two guns?!"
"Relax. I can't see."
Ye Lin curled his lip. Even with his eyes closed, he could guess that Little Crewcut was probably pointing a gun at him.
"Take it easy. We're teammates now."
"I know we're heading downtown because we've crossed four speed bumps, turned left three times, and right six times. At an average speed of seventy-five kilometers an hour, there's only one route that fits: southern Linjiang City."
"When we got in, I heard you loading magazines. Twenty-seven rounds in total, which means two different guns."
Ye Lin tilted his head and held out a hand.
"Just give me the seven-round Type 77, so you don't have to worry."
"Seriously, what happened outside?"
After speaking, Ye Lin frowned, puzzled and uneasy.
The remark about undead corpses had been nothing but a joke.
But along the way, he had heard plenty of distant screams and cries.
Sirens, gunshots, shouted curses-just from the sounds alone, he could imagine how chaotic it was outside.
The armored vehicle had entered the city without obstruction. Clearly, the main roads were all under control.
Honestly, he couldn't imagine what could force the military to lock down an entire city.
Especially since...
It definitely wasn't limited to Linjiang City.
Yet at his question, Huang Liang's expression shifted repeatedly inside the vehicle. In the end, he only forced a single word through clenched teeth.
"Exams!"
Screech!
The armored vehicle braked hard. The four escort soldiers leaped out as though facing a formidable enemy, then sprinted away at full speed as soon as the door opened.
"Pull back! Pull back!! Pull back!! Everyone evacuate!!"
Fear lurked beneath the furious shouts. At the same time, a dense barrage of heavy impacts sounded outside.
In an instant, gusts of icy wind rushed in from outside. Inside the vehicle, Ye Lin was still stunned by Huang Liang's answer. A second later, an indescribable, oppressive force crashed down on him!
Exams?! What exams?
The light was blinding. The moment he pulled off his hood, Ye Lin struggled to open his eyes. When he saw what lay before him, his body abruptly froze.
All the escort soldiers had already withdrawn.
Beneath a sky as dark as ink, corpses in school uniforms fell from above like a torrential downpour, smashing apart.
Above a school building smeared red with blood and flesh, a black vortex six stories tall writhed like the entrance to hell, distorting the surrounding reality without restraint.
White exam papers whirled wildly in the wind like funeral offerings.
A mechanical notification rang coldly from within the vortex, as though it had spotted prey.
"Eligible examinee detected. Initiating capture." "Teleporting to examination site in 3 seconds." "Countdown:" "3!" "2!" "1!"
"Fuck...!!"
In the last second before darkness engulfed him, Ye Lin's expression changed, and he instinctively lunged toward the frozen Huang Liang.
He didn't know whether the man had been so overwhelmed that he had forgotten what he was supposed to do! He only knew that the vortex before them was extremely dangerous!
"Little Crewcut!! Give me the gun!!"
Before you continue