pdf-ebookys Chapter 24 Anomaly
Chapter 24 Anomaly
Ron put down the basin and ran outside at top speed, and strangely enough, he was not stopped by the guards.
Ron felt something was amiss, so he glanced back and saw that the guards behind him had blank, numb expressions, as if their souls had been ripped out. But he didn't have time to think about it anymore; he had to go and inform Su Zixu and the others.
With a muffled thud, Sissan, who had gone out to get salt, collided head-on with Ron, who was running at full speed.
Knowing that Sissan had difficulty walking, Ron quickly explained to him how to use the salt and disinfectant.
He also told him to be very careful and not to be curious about the things in the storage room. After saying that, Ron ran wildly towards the direction of District 3.
Let's go back to noon, at the restaurant entrance.
After a long wait, Edwin and his group slowly walked out of the restaurant. They all looked like they had eaten and drunk their fill, and it seemed that, as usual, they were about to go to District 3 for a nap.
Without saying hello, Su Zixu and Lao Zeng silently followed at the back of the group. After passing through two heavily guarded sentry posts, they finally saw the mysterious execution zone three.
However, unlike yesterday, everyone's expression was not quite right the moment they stepped inside, especially Edwin and his group.
The expressions on these people's faces told Su Zixu that something was very wrong with this place.
Edwin sniffed. "It smells so musty." He then gestured for the others to retreat to the doorway.
Su Zixu keenly noticed that some mold spots had seeped out from the pale white corner of the hall, and they were spreading outwards, slowly but noticeably.
Just as Su Zixu was intently observing, a sudden change occurred.
Heavy, rapid breathing came from behind Su Zixu. Turning around, a terrified face was reflected in Su Zixu's pupils.
"I...I remember now," came the voice of the dark-skinned man. "They're all dead! They're all dead! They're all dead..." The man repeated himself as if possessed.
Immediately afterwards, the exposed skin began to crack, and Su Zixu saw that what was revealed inside the cracked skin was not bright red flesh and blood, but pitch-black charcoal.
The man's body began to decompose little by little, gradually turning into black ash that drifted in the air like a blanket of snow.
Su Zixu stared blankly as the man disappeared little by little. In his last moments, the man stared at him with terrified and bewildered eyes.
Su Zixu was stunned for a long time, as was Old Zeng. Everything had happened too suddenly and was very strange.
As the man died, the others around him followed suit, and two more of Edwin's group also turned to ashes like the dark-skinned man.
The scent of death began to permeate the air. Su Zixu and Lao Zeng followed the ashes as they drifted out from inside the door, and in the distance came the screams of the guards that sounded like those of the living.
Looking back, the two saw that Edwin, who had lost his composure, was turning pale. He clutched his head in pain, his color draining away, his skin losing its elasticity, and lividity beginning to appear.
Their hearts began to race.
"Run!" Not daring to look any longer, Su Zixu and Lao Zeng exchanged a glance and began to run back the way they came. After running for a while, they ran into Ron, who had come looking for them.
Ron was panting heavily and didn't say anything. He turned his head and glanced in the direction of District 3, then gestured with his hands. The two understood what he meant.
The three ran toward the laundry room, and along the way they saw many prisoners starting to act strangely, with some of the crazed prisoners attacking them when they saw them.
The three men ran and dodged, shaking off several prisoners before Old Zeng intercepted them at a corner.
"For some reason, the people in the prison have changed. We had previously suspected that these people were already dead, and now they are probably not human anymore," Old Zeng said, panting, as he shared his thoughts with the two men.
Both of them understood what Lao Zeng meant: the people in the prison had probably all turned into ghosts, which was their original appearance, so they had to be extra careful if they wanted to move around.
Moreover, we need to find a way to solve this problem, otherwise, let alone escape this dream, we might not even survive today.
"Playing dead," Old Zeng said, pointing to a dazed prison guard not far away.
The two understood that they were living people, and if they wanted to do things under the noses of these dead people, they first had to get their hands on the smell of the dead.
After exchanging glances, the three of them quietly crept towards the prison guard.
After getting close to the prison guard, Lao Zeng grabbed him from behind, locked him in a lock, snapped his neck, and then quickly dragged him to a deserted corner.
The movements were quick and precise, without making a sound.
"I'm sorry, brother," Old Zeng said, pulling a small knife from his waist.
Su Zixu's eyes widened the moment he saw the knife.
"I took it from the prison guard when I ran out," Old Zeng said, but his hands didn't stop. After cutting open the flesh, he smeared the blood and flesh on himself.
Su Zixu and Luo En followed suit and also smeared their bodies with blood and flesh.
After finishing their tinkering, the three first tested the equipment with a few lone prisoners and guards. Only after confirming they wouldn't be attacked did they head back to the laundry room.
Inside the laundry room, Xisang stared at the mold on the wall, a strange emotion rising in his heart—a negative, dismissive feeling that made him want to give up on cleaning.
Xisang pinched himself hard, shook his head a few times to force himself to wake up, and continued to do what Ron had told him to do.
After an unknown amount of time, Xisang realized that he had only wanted to give up a little while before, but now a sense of panic had risen in his heart.
Suddenly, a strange feeling of palpitation rose from the bottom of his heart, his head began to throb violently, some blurry and scattered images flashed through his mind, followed by tinnitus.
The basin of water in his hands crashed to the ground. He clutched his head in agony, crouching on the ground, his jaw clenched, and large beads of cold sweat instantly seeped from his skin.
His vision became a little dizzy. He looked up at the mottled wall in front of him, his eyes gradually changing from confusion to terror, a terror that revealed despair.
After several twists and turns, Lao Zeng and his two companions finally returned to the laundry room, only to find it empty.
Apart from the rustling sound of mold bursting and the faint wriggling sound of something moving inside, there was no other sound of living people.
Ron's heart leaped as he stared at the basin of water lying on the ground. He stepped inside first.
Ron heard the sound of the washing machine on his left. He went around to it and found Sissan slumped against the wall.
Xisang took off his coat and tied his arms to the pipe behind him, making a "cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck" sound as he did so.