water droplets

The northern wall is retreating step by step, and a sandstorm is engulfing the base of human survivors.

It took Liu Niannian some time to meet An Chi, who was a teammate and part-time driver arranged by Zhu Ning for her. The world was about to end, and all bounty hunters were trying to find ways to return to the wall. No one wanted to go against the current and leave the wall. Only An Chi was willing to take this job.

An Chi's ability is gigantism. Her nickname is Maine, and some people call her the gentle giant.

She knew that if the world was destroyed, hiding anywhere would be useless. When she returned to the North Wall, the army was recruiting volunteers, using living mutants as weapons, to either resist the dust storm or go deep into the dust storm to collect information.

An Chi had already signed up, but at this time, Zhu Ning contacted her and asked her if she was willing to accept a dangerous mission.

An Chi was ready to live and die with the world. This mission was not difficult for her. It was nothing more than contacting someone and escorting a man named Liu Niannian to the nearest stop of the Homecoming Train.

Most of the rules of the Homecoming Express have been cracked. After exploration, Zhu Ning came up with the rules for the highest survival rate on the Homecoming Express train. After getting on the train, immediately rush to the first car to safely deliver people to their destination.

As far as An Chi knew, some people outside the wall were too far away from the North Wall. For example, the Raven Team who were exploring outside the wall could not evacuate because it was too far away, and the flying cars could not successfully cross the sandstorm. They had to rush home to see their relatives for the last time, and the best chance was to take the Homecoming.

The Homecoming Train can actually take people back home.

An Chi's radio was on all the time, and intermittent battle reports from the front came from it.

"When the Volunteer Army retreated a hundred meters, humanity lost another hundred meters of land."

"The military has sent out psychic weapons. They've penetrated deep into the dust, but there's been no response so far."

"The supply of hot weapons is insufficient, and thousands of people die every minute..."

An Chi listened expressionlessly, her car waiting quietly, as if she had been abandoned by the whole world.

Suddenly, one side of the car door was opened and a person sat in the passenger seat. After she sat down, she took off her protective helmet, revealing her true face.

An Chi was stunned for a moment, his eyes involuntarily stopped at her temples. It was in the shape of a spider web, extending from the temples to the ends of the eyes, and the black mucus was even wriggling, as if it were a living thing.

"Hello, I'm Liu Niannian." She held out her hand to him. An Chi took it hesitantly and asked, "Is Zhu Ning here?"

Liu Niannian pointed at his solar plexus and said, "She's here."

Zhu Ning originally wanted to find some bodies to recruit to have an affair with Liu Niannian, but he was stopped by something.

Liu Niannian connected with Zhu Ning and could see Zhu Ning's real body in her mind. Her eyes became colder and colder, gradually losing the warmth of a human being. Her lowered hands were clenched into fists, as if she was fighting against something.

A resurgence meeting? Liu Niannian was trying to guess what Zhu Ning was thinking.

Liu Niannian saw that the shadow of the giant behind Zhu Ning was getting bigger and bigger. Zhu Ning was not only fighting against the Revival Society, but might also be fighting against himself.

There is not much time left for Liu Niannian.

She quickly headed to the agreed location and had to board the Homecoming immediately.

An Chi breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Zhu Ning was present. The last time she met Zhu Ning was also on a dusty day. At that time, she had never thought that the sandstorm would last until now. With Zhu Ning's attention, it proved that this matter had a chance of success.

An Chi didn’t know why Liu Niannian wanted to board the Guixiang. Was there something inside?

"I'm only responsible for driving, but I can't solve the problem of crossing the dust storm." An Chi has been observing Liu Niannian, wanting to know what's so special about her.

Liu Niannian nodded. Her every move was very generous. She looked like a rich lady, not an experienced soldier at all.

An Chi doubted Liu Niannian's ability in his heart. Suddenly, Liu Niannian lowered her long eyelashes, as if she was counting silently in her heart, or as if she was praying for God's blessing.

An Chi couldn't understand what she was doing and just felt like a charlatan.

Bang--

Suddenly, there was a strange noise coming from under the car. An Chi immediately became alert and touched the weapon at his waist.

But only the first sound was a collision, followed by a sound of running water. The temperature in the car suddenly dropped two degrees, and the pointer of the thermometer was shifting.

The sound of rushing water grew louder and louder. Something climbed onto the car. She could clearly feel it shaken thoroughly, and then the windshield wipers began to move.

An Chi unconsciously opened her mouth slightly, and was so shocked that she was almost speechless. The water flow wrapped around the entire flying car in the blink of an eye, and they were basically in a water ball.

An Chi thought for a while and finally realized what had just happened. There was a secret river underground. Zhu Ning was washed out of the wall by the groundwater in Area 103. The first sound was caused by the surging groundwater. Liu Niannian was able to mobilize such a large amount of water flow.

A water-based mutant?

"You can drive now." Liu Niannian's voice was gentle and polite. He still kept his eyes lowered and didn't even look up at her.

An Chi reacted this time. She immediately stepped on the accelerator and sped out. An Chi did not activate the flight mode, thinking that the closer they were to the groundwater, the safer they would be. If they were suspended in the air, they would easily be blown off course by the strong wind.

The flying cars stopped near the north wall. Everyone was racing against the sandstorm, except An Chi's car, which was heading into the sandstorm. Some people couldn't help but take a second look at them when they passed by, and honked their horns to warn them, thinking they were lunatics seeking death in the apocalypse.

In the current state of emergency, the number of people going crazy is almost the same as the number of people dying, and someone is going crazy at any time.

An Chi stepped on the accelerator to the bottom and held the steering wheel to avoid oncoming vehicles. She certainly knew what she was doing. It was not a rational behavior to rush into the contaminated area.

What happens when the water system encounters sandstorms?

An Chi's heart beat faster and he glanced at Liu Niannian in the passenger seat. Her body was tense and her back was hunched. Liu Niannian was probably not yet skilled in using her superpowers and thought she needed to use all her strength. Top superpower users knew how to use them effortlessly, but Liu Niannian obviously hadn't reached that level.

Is it really useful?

An Chi hoped that it would either be useful or useless, and not fail suddenly, otherwise they would end up being buried in the contaminated area.

The water ball wrapped around the flying car and moved towards the dust at an increasingly faster speed. From a God's perspective, it looked like a bullet burst out and hit the inside of the behemoth.

At the moment of contact, An Chi subconsciously wanted to turn her head away and dared not look, suppressing her first reaction. Her greatest advantage was not her gigantism but her emotional stability.

The driver couldn't turn her head, so she saw the monster deep in the dust completely. It was a sand-shaped pollutant, densely packed with human heads. The intelligence from the front claimed that it was an undead army made of sand, but only when she saw it in person did she realize how terrifying it was.

They entered another world, a world where sand was king and they were no different from bugs.

A two-meter-tall pollutant roared towards the flying car and immediately softened into a pool of mud when it hit the water flow on the car. The part of the flying car that was in contact with the sand and dust continued to flow down the mud.

Cold sweat broke out on Liu Niannian's forehead. They were like travelers entering the desert with only water. How long they could survive depended on how much water they had left.

Liu Niannian knew that he had entered the first battlefield. The road was littered with corpses. The dead volunteers and demon hunters piled up into mountains and were turning into sand bit by bit. It would not be long before they would become part of the undead army and turn from guarding the human battlefield to attacking the survivors' base.

Liu Niannian said that she had no interest in saving the world, but she was inevitably moved when she saw the corpses. That was part of the community of shared future for mankind at work.

She has a human appearance and grew up with a civilized education, so she had the most natural reaction when she saw the corpse.

"Is that... our people?" An Chi couldn't help but ask.

Liu Niannian followed An Chi's gaze and saw that there was more than one flying car going upstream. There was a ball of fire in the dust, and it was impossible to tell with the naked eye what kind of monster hunters with special powers they were. They formed a team of three, with ropes tied around their waists, and moved forward like a scientific expedition team.

Due to low visibility, Liu Niannian only saw this group of people and didn’t know if there were any others.

It was her first time entering the battlefield, her first time facing corpses, and her first time seeing struggling friendly soldiers.

"The death squads sent from the front line are trying to find the source of the pollution at the cost of their lives." Zhu Ning's voice rang out.

The sandstorm was caused by an urn brought down from the Homecoming train. This monster, released by humans on their own initiative, may be a core source of pollution.

To be more precise, that team is not just a suicide squad. Those three people are all non-natural humans. Not all non-natural humans join the Resuscitation Society. Some of them stand on the side of humans.

Someone was sacrificing himself every moment, and Zhu Ning continued to watch.

Zhu Ning could sense that she was changing, or rather, that the giantess was changing. Her body was infinitely enlarged, becoming the land under people's feet, and the other parts of her body were connecting or devouring each other.

The contaminated areas buried in various places are connected to each other, and the neural network composed of black mucus is stretched out, and all this happens extremely smoothly, without even the need for deliberate guidance and control.

To her, the whole world has become black, and the survivor base is the only white.

In her eyes, human walls are extremely fragile, like a playing card that will fall down with just the slightest touch.

Zhu Ning has been fighting against his own instincts. When Unit 03 was confronting Su He, Zhu Ning was weighing the interests.

As Su He said, as long as Zhu Ning pollutes the world one step ahead, she can save those who are still on the battlefield and end it all.

The giant's shadow behind her grew larger and larger. She knew that if she just let go, she could do it, as easy as sliding into the abyss.

The car moved forward aimlessly in the dust. Only An Chi, as a veteran bounty hunter, could recognize the road. The buildings outside the wall changed very quickly. An Chi followed the direction of the railway tracks so that he could completely lock onto the Homecoming.

Liu Niannian silently recited Zhu Ning's instructions in his heart: no talking is allowed on the Homecoming Train, the pollutants are apple snails, and the passengers are water ghosts from past generations. Do not touch the water, or you will die immediately if you touch it.

All passengers must board the train according to the seats specified on their tickets. The closer to the rear of the train, the more dangerous it is. The safest carriage is the first carriage. If you want to use the characteristics of the Homecoming Train to go home, you should hide at the front of the train.

But Liu Niannian had to buy time to get to the back of the car, where there was the information that Zhu Ning wanted.

Suddenly, An Chi turned the steering wheel sharply. At this time, they were already far away from the north wall. Under the inertia of the car, Liu Niannian's body tilted suddenly and she almost lost control of the water system.

"What's wrong?" Liu Niannian asked.

An Chi's face turned pale, she was even more terrified than when she saw the Dust Undead Army. She saw mercury-colored droplets floating in the air.

For An Chi, sandstorms are a new threat, but swarms of water drops are a taboo ingrained in their bones. Everyone who survives outside the wall knows a rule: don't get close to swarms of water drops, or you will die immediately.

This is a death dividing line. The power of water in nature is extremely terrifying. Water pollution spores are more active than ordinary ones, and water pollutants in nature are also more dangerous.

Although An Chi didn't know exactly where she was, she knew she was still some distance away from the water droplet swarm she'd imagined. Since she hadn't seen the landmarks she'd imagined, were the water droplets also heading south? Or had a new death zone been created?

There are definitely earth-shaking changes happening outside the wall, and An Chi is not sure whether he can find the Homecoming Train.

Zhu Ning's team also came to the water drop group. Pei Shu explained that it was the remnants of nuclear weapons.

Bai Cheng and Pei Shu exchanged information with each other, proving that the water droplet group had not grown for many years. Zhu Ning could be sure that this was not the same area as at that time. The strange and dangerous pollutants in the world seemed to be expanding their territory.

An Chi only saw one drop and turned back immediately, even forgetting the trajectory of the Homecoming for a moment. As the car was speeding, the water on the car seemed to touch the steaming hot air, and Liu Niannian saw the group of water droplets she mentioned.

It was like drops of mercury floating in an orderly manner, and wherever they passed, it was like a nuclear weapon plunder, leaving behind a wasteland of scorching heat.

Liu Niannian's eyes were filled with mercury. She had studied painting, and her first reaction was that it was beautiful.

The mercury pattern is displayed with a strange geometric beauty, while the background is a steaming ruin.

Liu Niannian stared for a long time, and even had the urge to reach out and touch her, as if they could feel each other, which was her origin.

Liu Niannian didn't come back to his senses until An Chi drove the car far away and the group of water drops could no longer be seen. He had even forgotten Zhu Ning on the neural network.

Woo——

Liu Niannian's immersed imagination was broken, as if she suddenly woke up from a dream, and she heard the whistling of a train.

…

Huo Wenxi listened to the battle report expressionlessly without saying a word.

The people in charge of the front line now are Xuan Qing and the volunteer army leaders from other areas. They invited Huo Wenxi to join, but Huo Wenxi refused on the grounds that he was not in good condition.

The rebels tried desperately to rescue Huo Wenxi, thinking that they would invite a professional commander, hoping that she could use her own abilities to find a way out, just like she did in Area 103.

Or maybe not be a commander, just be an excellent actor and give an inspiring speech.

But after Huo Wenxi came back, he remained silent, like a stone sculpture most of the time. Some people mocked the so-called commander for being frightened, but Huo Wenxi never explained.

"Can you make a prediction?" asked the rebel. He was very patient at first, but in the end he wanted to grab Huo Wenxi's collar and ask her to say a few constructive words.

Huo Wenxi said nothing until they were unable to do anything to him. A silent prophet is useless no matter how powerful he is.

They were certain Huo Wenxi had glimpsed the course of history, a vision far beyond anything they could see, yet they refused to reveal a single word. Why? Was it because humanity was doomed, or was it because they simply couldn't afford the price of victory?

Huo Wenxi sat quietly, the tentacles in her eyes expanding, as if they wanted to devour her entire brain.

Huo Wenxi recalled a moment countless times when she wanted to connect to the human-machine joint device, and the mycelium man controlled by Zhu Ning grabbed her hand.

She remembered Zhu Ning's eyes and guessed the meaning behind them: Zhu Ning would not be able to resist eating her.

They will blend into one.

In front of Huo Wenxi was a flat box with a human-machine joint device lying quietly inside. The mycelium climbing out of it made people think at first glance that there was a black spider hidden in the box.

Huo Wenxi's hands were on the table, and no one could know what she was thinking. The assistant in charge of her was always observing her. His job was to serve Huo Wenxi, execute her orders and convey her will.

But at this critical juncture, Huo Wenxi refused to give any extra advice.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard outside the door, and someone approached the door of her room, and the news was passed on bit by bit.

The assistant was the last step. He nodded and said to Huo Wenxi, "Team Leader Huo, someone wants to see you. Recovery will escape. It is said that they have very important information."

Huo Wenxi raised his head. This assistant looked similar to Zhuang Lin. They had chosen him among several candidates, which made Huo Wenxi feel disgusted.

"who?"

The assistant said, "It's said his name is Qin Yun."

He didn't know who Qin Yun was. He heard from people outside that he was an undercover agent sent by the resistance to the Resuscitation Society, and he didn't know how he escaped.

Huo Wenxi knew that it was impossible for anyone to defect under Su He's nose, which meant that it was not an envoy, but a messenger who was delivering the message to Su He.

Su He has something to say to Huo Wenxi.

The sound of waves came to Huo Wenxi's ears, and the waves of consciousness were surging in his brain. The prophecy could be completed in the blink of an eye.

The assistant looked at her inexplicably. Huo Wenxi's expression darkened. She closed the box of the human-machine joint device, pushed it further away, and said, "Let her in."