Apocalyptic Island - Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Bai Mi flashed a meaningful smile, one that made Wen Yishu feel a bit of a chill down her spine.

Yishu lightly tapped Bai Mi’s face, her soft fingertips brushing against her cheek. “Alright, stop playing around. Who taught you these bad habits? Do you have a plan? How exactly are we getting in?”

The smile on Bai Mi’s face faded slightly as she cracked an ill-timed joke: “Well, we certainly can’t do what you do—entering by hanging onto a helicopter.”

Wen Yishu could pull off life-threatening stunts, but Bai Mi couldn’t, even if she wanted to. The gap between people was just that large. Ultimately, she turned her gaze back to the sewer. She lightly adjusted her goggles, letting Aix calculate the feasibility and safety coefficient of entering through there.

Aix’s gentle voice came through the earpiece, laced with a hint of mockery: “You two really are the ‘Heaven-Soaring and Earth-Burrowing’ duo.”

Bai Mi ignored Aix’s sarcasm entirely. With a composed demeanor, she signaled Wen Yishu to wait in place while she moved forward to inspect the sewer entrance. This trench was a new addition, built as a matching facility after the high walls were erected.

The towering metal city walls gleamed with a cold light in the twilight, their surfaces covered in thick, crawling vines. Bai Mi moved forward like an ant. The bottom of the trench was covered in a dense layer of non-aggressive moss. Since this lush green moss posed no threat to humans, the internal squads hadn’t cleared it, allowing it to grow freely.

Bai Mi grabbed a particularly large and sturdy patch of moss, stepping onto the slope and carefully making her way down. This green ravine would soon be filled with water discharged from the city to serve as a defense. Stepping on the moss felt like treading into a pile of moisture-laden mud—soft and surprisingly comfortable.

Crouching at the edge of the trench outside the city wall, Bai Mi pushed aside the wild ferns, revealing the pitch-black sewer entrance beneath. The vertical metal bars were mostly exposed. This was a half-height drainage outlet, designed with a circular arch at the top and a flat bottom that sat perfectly against the base.

Small trickles of water occasionally flowed from the outlet. According to Aix’s analysis, this was the most suitable entry point into the city. The sound of flowing water was dull, muffled by the scuttling sounds of some rodent-like creatures.

She frowned and looked up at the nearby tree canopy. Wen Yishu’s figure was hidden among the dense foliage; her optical camouflage cloak made her blend almost perfectly with the shadows of the trees. Yishu raised her hand slightly and quickly tapped out a string of characters on her communicator: Patrol just passed. 30-second window.

Bai Mi nodded, took a deep breath, and signaled for her to come down quickly.

The pitch-black sewer entrance had no lights. Wen Yishu descended rapidly from above. While the city was still in chaos, it was best for them to enter during this gap. Wen Yishu glanced inside, hoisted her luggage, and slid into the drainage channel.

The stone walls of the sewer were covered in a thick layer of fluorescent moss, emitting a sickly green glow in the darkness. The air was more humid and stifling than outside, carrying a scent of rotting metal and biological musk. Her boots sank into the slick muck; every step produced a sticky, squelching sound.

Wen Yishu put on a simple gas mask and walked forward with a flashlight. “This place… feels wrong.”

“That much is obvious,” Bai Mi replied calmly.

When the beam of the flashlight hit the fluorescent moss above, it reverted to a normal appearance. As Wen Yishu’s fingertips lightly grazed the wall, the moss actually contracted like a living thing, as if it were breathing.

Suddenly, a faint gnawing sound echoed from ahead. Wen Yishu stopped abruptly, her hand resting on the short blade at her waist. In the darkness, two crimson points of light flickered, followed by ten, then a hundred—lighting up in dense clusters.

These are… Wen Yishu narrowed her eyes. The mutated rats rampant in the city. They were twice the size of normal rats, their fur patchy and falling off to reveal pointed, monkey-like faces and two long incisors.

“Team Leader, something’s ahead.” Wen Yishu turned to look at Bai Mi. She was somewhat speechless regarding Aix; even though her impression of the AI was already poor, she didn’t expect to be set up right as they entered. But looking at it from another perspective: if this was already the “easiest” way in, were the other entrances even more dangerous?

Bai Mi tapped her earpiece and quickly used her goggles to scan the visible areas in the dark. “Count?”

“Incalculable.” Wen Yishu backed away slowly. The rat swarm had sensed their presence; low-pitched hisses echoed through the pipe.

Soon, the first rat lunged. Wen Yishu’s short blade left its sheath in an instant, the snow-white edge flashing under the flashlight as it precisely cleaved through the swarm’s vanguard. Blood splattered before them. Wen Yishu retracted her blade without blinking, but more rats swarmed up, their claws scraping against the ground with an ear-piercing friction.

“Get back!” Bai Mi’s voice exploded in her ear.

The next second, a flare illuminated the area ahead. Scattered blue liquid ignited instantly. Wen Yishu saw the dense rat swarm, and a large gap opened up. The two seized the opportunity, sprinting toward the depths of the sewer. The rats were briefly suppressed, but soon, rustling sounds came from the darkness further away—they were calling their kin.

“Move!” Bai Mi gritted her teeth in the chaos, and the two firmly gripped each other’s hands. “Left turn ahead! There’s an abandoned pump room, we can avoid them there!”

Wen Yishu didn’t answer; she only accelerated. her boots stepped into stagnant water, splashing up foul-smelling liquid, but she couldn’t care about that now. The rat swarm behind them had regrouped, their eyes trailing crimson streaks of light in the dark like some sort of death signal.

This place hadn’t been used in years and was in total disrepair. The iron door of the pump room was long rusted through. Wen Yishu kicked it open, ducked inside, and threw her weight against the door to hold it shut. Outside, the rats slammed frantically against the door, the metal panel groaning under the strain.

Panting, she surveyed the surroundings. The interior of the pump room was cramped, walls covered in vines, and several skeletons lay in the corner. Clearly, others had tried to sneak in through here before and failed. Judging by the freshness of the bones, these people had likely been eaten by the rats.

Wen Yishu and Bai Mi locked eyes. Yishu laughed. “No wonder this place doesn’t need guards. These rats can take care of anyone trying to sneak in. It’s a killing-two-birds-with-one-stone plan.”

As long as the rats didn’t go up and stayed here, anything that entered would be devoured. If the Federation just periodically controlled the number of rats, this was the sturdiest city wall imaginable.

Bai Mi didn’t reply, instead staring at the ventilation pipe on the other side of the pump room—the only path into the city. But the pipe opening… was wrapped in something. It wasn’t vines or moss, but metal roots, writhing slowly like a living creature, as if waiting for prey to walk into the trap.

“Do you think there’s someone guarding the top, letting these rats come out from below to catch intruders?” Wen Yishu raised an eyebrow, leaning against the door as the rats continued to ram it. “Of course. Even though the environment here is ‘nice,’ there are always rats wanting to explore new places.”

Bai Mi asked, “Do we need to find another way?”

Wen Yishu shook her head resolutely and pulled the blue reagent from her pocket. The rats outside were hitting the door even harder, their hearts full of a craving for food, oblivious to the danger hidden within. “The most dangerous place is the safest place. A location that is clearly guarded is actually more lax than others.”

The city was currently at its most chaotic; now was the best time to go up. Wen Yishu was always very lucky in these matters; she trusted her intuition.

A pool of blue fluorescent liquid flowed out from under the pump room door. The previously agitated rat swarm gradually grew quiet. Their long noses sniffed at the liquid, which diffused an unprecedented fragrance. Finally, a rat took a cautious lick, and immediately, all the rats crowded around the liquid, licking frantically.

A few seconds later, the rats outside lay on the ground in a trance. The rickety old pump door creaked open from the inside. The two carefully stepped around the liquid and walked out.

Bai Mi’s steps were a bit staggered; her constitution wasn’t as strong as Wen Yishu’s. When Yishu tried to feed her the antidote, she refused. The reagent Wen Yishu had brought back wasn’t much, and she wanted to use it sparingly—after all, it was a non-renewable resource. Zhao Kangcheng was dead, and they didn’t want such things to remain in the world; they had destroyed all the data, leaving only evidence of his crimes.

Bai Mi tried to slow her breathing. The potency of the drug was simply too great. Of course, the effects would lessen once it metabolized. She just needed to endure this period and she would be fine. Wen Yishu didn’t press her; she was by Bai Mi’s side and wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

Once all the rats had converged, the two cleaned up their tracks and continued deeper. The positioning function provided by Aix was still very useful; at least they knew where they were. The “Long Alley” of the city wasn’t far from where they entered, but the sewer pipes here were older and narrower; they had to walk hunched over. The air here seemed even more foul, and they occasionally saw stray rat bones.

Finally, they reached the location of their residence. Aix’s broadcast in the earpiece stopped. Wen Yishu climbed the steel ladder of the manhole, stopping before the cover. She looked up. The sky was gray and it was nearly dark. The colored glow of neon lights entered her vision. This seemed to be behind some barbecue shop; the shops in front were long closed.

This place seemed to have been forgotten by the Federation. After confirming multiple times that there were no lurking security officers or patrol teams, Wen Yishu carefully pushed the manhole cover aside. She poked her head out and looked around. The turbid air of the city entered her nostrils—far better than the disgusting smell of the sewers.

They were in a narrow alley. The barbecue shop next to them was closed, leaving only one glowing neon sign. The colored light reflected on the asphalt. Everything was familiar; the scent of human habitation washed over her. It was much safer here than outside. The past two days felt like an unreal dream—she was truly back in the city.

Wen Yishu gestured to Bai Mi below and pulled her up. Under the slanted, tangled power lines, the two crept along the wall toward the villa.

Suddenly, a car coming toward them switched on its siren. Their bodies went rigid instantly as they were exposed in the glare of the headlights.

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