The setting sun has just faded its last dark red light, and the morning mist is wrapped in a faint smell of blood, floating along the Gobi Desert on the edge of the town, and entangled in the steel frame of the abandoned gas station. The overturned car is still emitting wisps of black smoke, and the charred walls are left with Horseman of War energy marks, like pitch-black eyes, staring deathly at the empty street.
Bai Haorui squatted on the concrete floor of the gas station, picking up a bit of charred ashes with his fingertips.
There were extremely light Power of War remnants hidden in the ashes, mixed with the smell of sulfur and violence. As soon as they touched the fingertips, they drilled along the skin into the meridians, with a burning desire for destruction. He slightly moved the purple-gold True Gang with his fingertips, and the remnants were instantly refined and turned into a wisp of smoke.
He wore a black outfit today, and the mahogany sword on his back was wrapped in coarse cloth, with only a dark brown hilt exposed. His side face was clean and neat, his broken hair on his forehead was slightly blown by the morning breeze, and the light gold Lotus Seal between his eyebrows was hidden under his skin, and only shimmered when he was exercising.
The knuckles were covered with thin calluses worn out by years of holding swords, and his movements were as steady as nails nailed to the ground.
Next to him, Bobby was sitting on a chair, with an ancient Latin book with a yellowed cover spread out on his lap, and the edges of the pages were frayed.
Bobby was wearing a work jacket that had been washed white, with an unkempt beard and red bloodshot eyes. It was obvious that he had not had a good rest for a long time.
"He's right." Bai Haorui took back his hand and wiped the dust from his fingertips on his trouser legs. "It has the same source as the power in the ring. It is much stronger than the last time in the town of River Pass. This time he slaughtered the entire town and relied on human lives to feed his strength, which has increased a lot."
Bobby snorted and tapped the page with his fingers so hard that his knuckles turned white, "Damn Four Horsemen, each one is harder to find than the last, and they are so elusive."
He had just finished answering the call from Dean. The phone was still in his hand, and the screen was on, showing the news feed of Nevada.
The voice of Dean on the phone said Nevada that a large-scale swine flu broke out in the western part of the country. It spread to four towns in more than ten days and the hospitals were overcrowded. The reason was that all the patients had mild symptoms and none of them died of severe illness. The speed of spread and the course of the disease were also unusual. It was not like ordinary influenza at all.
Bai Haorui stood up, moved his shoulders, and the mahogany sword behind him made a very light sword cry, as if in response.
He turned his head to look at Bobby and said in a calm tone, "Please slow down, don't run away with us. Go back to South Dakota's house to check the ancient books and make arrangements. The records of Four Horsemen and the usage of the ring are all in your pile of old books. It is much more efficient for you to check at home than to follow us around. I will go directly to Nevada and follow Dean Sam Convergence."
"You kid, please take it easy." Bobby frowned and glared at him, with unspoken worry hidden in his eyes, "It was only a few days ago that you had internal injuries last time? Don't you have to be carried back covered in blood by then. Also, if you encounter demons, don't even believe what they say with punctuation marks."
"Don't worry." Bai Haorui smiled, picked up the mountaineering bag at his feet and walked to the off-road vehicle. The bag contained yellow charms, cinnabar, Five Emperor Coins and several bottles of refined pills. He left. After two steps, he stopped again, took out a jade pendant strung with red string from his bag, turned around and handed it to Bobby, "By the way, take this. If there is any danger, crush it. I can sense it immediately."
Bobby curled his lips and reached out to take it, muttering "Who wants this thing from you? I have an amulet myself", but he honestly put the jade pendant into his pocket and pulled the knot to make sure it wouldn't fall off. He knew in his heart that Bai Haorui was right.
I have been running continuously for almost half a month, and if I insist on keeping up, I will only hold back my brothers.
Going home and guarding the reference room, communicating information and checking ancient books is where he can be most helpful.
The off-road vehicle's engine made a low roar, its lights cut through the morning fog, and drove further west along the highway. Bobby sat on the bench, watching the car's shadow disappear at the end of the Gobi, and sighed softly.
He lowered his head and flipped through the ancient book in his hand. The ancient portrait of Four Horsemen was printed on the page, which was ferocious and strange.
Apocalypse's footsteps were getting closer and closer. He knew very well that the chips in their hands were too few.
At around ten o'clock in the morning, the hospital corridor was as crowded as the Japan subway during the morning rush hour.
The smell of the disinfectant was so strong that it hit people's ears, mixed with the sounds of coughs, the sobs of family members and the shouts of nurses.
Patients wearing blue masks were huddled against the wall, some with their faces burning red, some covering their mouths and coughing violently, their eyes full of exhaustion and panic.
Dean and Sam wore CDC white coats and disposable masks and walked along the corridor.
Dean tugged at the strap of the mask that was causing ear pain, and leaned into Sam's ear to lower his voice. "Hey, look at me like this, do I look like Michael·Jackson?... It's a bit too early, isn't it? Pretend I didn't say anything."
Sam didn't answer his joke, frowned, and glanced at the patients in the corridor.
He had drunk demon blood and was much more sensitive to evil spirits than ordinary people - he could vaguely see that there was a very faint gray air wrapped around each patient's neck, wrapped around the skin like fine gauze, looming. Ordinary influenza would never have this evil air.
The two walked to the nurse's station, Dean distracted the nurse's attention, and Sam quickly flipped through several medical records spread out on the table.
When he turned to the third book, his fingertips paused: the patient's white blood cell count was abnormally low, and his lymphocytes were almost at the bottom, but there were no signs of secondary bacterial infection, which was completely inconsistent with the course of ordinary influenza.
The two looked at each other and saw confirmation in each other's eyes.
At this time, a female doctor holding a thick stack of medical records came over. She looked to be about forty years old, with short light blond hair pulled back on her head, a few strands of broken hair stuck to her forehead with sweat, the cuffs of her white coat rolled up to her forearms, and her hands stained with faint traces of iodine.
There was a thick blue-black under his eyes, and his voice was hoarse when he spoke, obviously he had been spinning for a long time.
This is the attending doctor of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Helen.
The two of them showed their forged CDC work certificates. Helen took off his mask and wiped the sweat from his forehead. His tone was tired, but he kept his spirits up. "Don't get me wrong, we are really happy that the CDC can send people here, but what everyone needs most now is vaccines. We can no longer accept mild patients. If this continues, the whole town will fall."
"We understand this." Dean nodded, took half a step forward, and deliberately lowered his voice, "We want to confirm with you whether there is anything abnormal about this strain? For example, is there any change in the patient's behavior - for example, has he become more aggressive? Or is he experiencing hallucinations?"
Helen was stunned for a moment, frowning with confusion on his face. "What? It's just ordinary swine flu. Symptoms are relatively mild, including fever, cough, and body aches. It doesn't have any homicidal tendencies as you mentioned."
Sam and Dean exchanged glances, and Dean then asked, "What about the speed of transmission? Is there anything that does not conform to the laws of epidemiology?"
"Let's put it this way, a day and a half ago, we didn't have a single case here." Helen sighed and flipped through the top medical record in his hand, "Now there are more than seventy cases, and there are more than a dozen people who have never been in contact with patients or been to epidemic areas. The speed of infection is like a suitcase bomb, and the source of infection cannot be found at all."
"Well, this is indeed a bit unusual." Sam answered in a low voice, turning his head to look at Dean, "It happens to be a day and a half, which coincides with the time when the statue in the east church sheds tears."
Dean nodded and said "Yes". As soon as he finished speaking, Helen next to him turned his head in confusion. "I'm sorry, what did you just say? What kind of statue is crying?"
The two of them froze for a moment. Dean immediately waved his hands and pretended to be stupid, with a confused look on his face. "What? Who said that? Only madmen would say such things."
"That's right, we didn't say anything." Sam quickly agreed and added seriously, "We are not crazy."
Helen looked at them suspiciously, and was eventually called away by the nurse.
Seeing her disappear at the end of the corridor, the relief on their faces instantly disappeared, and they hurried out of the hospital.
"It's definitely Pestilence." Dean gritted his teeth, pulled off the mask and threw it in the trash can, "Their way is different from the war, they are sneaky, like rats."
Sam said nothing, feeling heavy in his heart.
He looked at the patients coming in and out of the hospital door, and the lingering thought came to his mind - if he had not opened the Hell seal, none of this would have happened. These people would not have to suffer this kind of pain, and the world would not have come to the end. If there was really no other way in the end...
The phone in my pocket vibrated. It was a text message from Bobby.
"Haorui has already left for you and will arrive in the evening. He said you should not touch things of unknown origin and do not come into contact with patients until he arrives."
Dean glanced at the text message, pouted, opened the car door and got in. "Okay, here comes another person to take care of me."
Sam twitched the corner of his mouth and did not laugh. He was actually looking forward to Bai Haorui coming.
With Bai Haorui by his side, he feels more at ease.
The black Impala was speeding on the desolate Gobi road. The roadside was barren gravel and a few dry cacti.
The sun was scorching, and the road was steaming with twisted heat waves. The endless road was like a gray-black belt, wrapped around the Gobi Desert.
Dean was holding the steering wheel, tapping his fingertips lightly on the steering wheel. Sam was sitting in the passenger seat, with a folded state map spread out on his lap. The phone was on speakerphone, and Bobby's voice came out of the receiver with electric noise.
"It's swine flu again, right?" Bobby There was the sound of flipping through books.
"Yes." Dean stared at the road ahead, his brows knitted into knots, "But it doesn't make sense, Bobby. Pestilence have already shown up, why are they only dealing with swine flu? He obviously has a big killer like Croatoan virus, and he almost destroyed a small town with ease."
"No matter what he does, that bastard has already caused trouble to four towns, and we can't even touch his tail until now." Bobby's tone was full of irritation, "Have you found his next target? Can you deduce the route?"
Sam picked up the red pen, circled the four affected towns on the map, and connected them with dotted lines. The lines extended straight to the east and south, advancing at an alarming speed.
He shook his head. "I don't see any specific pattern. What I can confirm so far is that he has been walking eastward, advancing about 80 kilometers every day. At this speed, he can reach the next big city in three days."
"To the east?" Bobby snorted, "You are in western Nevada, and heading east is basically half of United States. Drive quickly, don't let him wander into more towns. By the way, I checked ancient books. Before Pestilence appeared, there were often signs of statues weeping and well water smelling stinky. Pay more attention to the local tabloid news, maybe you can stop him in advance."
Dean was about to answer when a male voice with a British accent suddenly came from the back seat, slowly and casually as if he were talking in his own living room. "Let me tell you, I have an idea."
Dean was so frightened that his hands shook, the steering wheel tilted suddenly, and the car almost ran off the road.
Sam reacted very quickly. He instantly took out Ruby's Knife in his arms with his right hand, turned around and stabbed into the back seat - the blade of the knife stabbed into the back of the seat with a "swish", stabbing the air.
Crowley had already moved outside the car in an instant, standing on the sand on the side of the road, looking at the Impala that had stopped suddenly, and even raised his hand to wave to them.
The two brothers pushed open the car door and got out, Sam clutched the dagger, his chest heaved slightly with anger, his eyes were as cold as ice. "It's you. Do you still have the nerve to show up?"
The man standing on the roadside was wearing a crisp black three-piece suit, a burgundy tie, and his leather shoes were polished to perfection without even a trace of dust. He had his hair neatly combed back and had a professional fake smile on his lips. He was carrying an unopened bottle of Scotland whiskey in his hand, and his body smelled of cologne mixed with a faint sulfur.