Chapter 185: "Red Lotus" Appears
This planet is twice as large as her native world, and the birth rate is low and the population is declining. Even though humans were born later, they still failed to catch up with the average. Therefore, compared with the previous "vampire" world, it is more sparsely populated.
Between urban areas are large mountains and empty plains.
Here, the land prices vary greatly.
Buildings in the prosperous commercial areas in the center of the city are very expensive, while the marginal areas - such as the halfway up the mountain where Youxi built a villa, that large piece of land is not even a quarter of the price of her urban apartment.
After leaving the city, the land is even less valuable, so generally large companies will set up warehouses outside the city.
The same is true for the group company where "Youxi" is located. The warehouse area occupies a very large area.
It was past midnight when the low-altitude floating vehicle arrived. Most of the warehouse area was dark and silent, with tall walls and strict security guards outside, but no matter how tall the walls and how strict the security were, they could not stop the low-altitude floating vehicle.
Ordinary helicopters would make a huge noise and movement, but the low-altitude floating vehicle could pass directly over their heads silently.
The people below probably didn't expect that the vice president of the group who drove a low-altitude floating vehicle that could not be bought with money would "surveillance and self-stealing".
The warehouse area was really too large, and "Youxi" had only been there once before, and only visited a few areas. Jian Shou took her around in the air, but she still couldn't determine where the fuel depot was. Finally, she decided to let Jian Shou go down and grab someone to "ask".
There were servants and natural humans on duty in the warehouse at night, but Jian Shou only took orders from You Xi, and he would "ask" even natural humans.
He parked the low-altitude suspended vehicle on the top of a warehouse, and then jumped out of the car with a swift movement.
After a moment, he returned to the car and had determined the direction of the fuel depot.
The low-altitude suspended vehicle started silently again, passing over large areas of warehouses below, and finally stopped on a flat-roofed rectangular warehouse. Because it was her own company's warehouse, she had some information advantages.
For example, at this time, there will be no one guarding the warehouse, but there are surveillance cameras at the entrance and inside the warehouse.
For another example, the surveillance outside the door is real-time, and the central control room will switch in turn, so she can be seen at any time. But the surveillance inside the warehouse only records the images, and even if she is discovered, it will be at least the next day.
She took out a black mask, a baseball cap, a men's black down jacket, and a double hat from the luggage layer of the car (Xingwu Warehouse), wrapped herself from head to toe.
Now, let alone her appearance, even if she is a man or a woman, others can't tell.
"You stay here, I'll go down by myself." She gave Jian Shou the next order.
"You..." He was about to speak, but changed his words when he reached his lips: "Master, are you sure?"
He only asked her if she was sure, without questioning her decision.
"Sure." After You Xi finished speaking, the other party stopped talking and helped her find the stairs leading down from the top of the warehouse. He half-crouched in the shadow and waited.
You Xi stood at the door of the warehouse to monitor the angle that could not be photographed. A piece of ice brick appeared in her hand, and then turned into tiny ice crystals. She controlled it to fly towards the camera, and then covered the lens, forming a thick layer of opaque ice.
This is better than cutting off the power line directly. Even if the camera in the central control room happens to cut here, it will think that there is a malfunction.
After confirming that all the real-time cameras at the door were resolved, she quickly took out the [High Temperature Perfume], melted the door lock, and slipped into the warehouse.
The warehouse is divided into two floors, each very high.
This is not the center of the warehouse area. The drones on the upper floor are still working, transforming the special ore piled in a warehouse into the fuel extract needed by the low-altitude suspended vehicle through high-temperature combustion, cooling, extraction and other processes.
When the automatic loading and unloading boxes are full, they will be automatically packed and transferred to the warehouse on the lower floor by the conveyor belt for neat stacking.
Since the raw ore is much cheaper than the ore extract, the company directly purchased two automatic extraction machines for easy use.
After the fuel extract condenses, it still looks like an ore, a crystal. It is placed in the fuel tank at the bottom of the car and heated again to provide twelve hours of power.
Youxi opened a box of fuel extract, which was neatly stacked with amber fist-sized crystals. Each box contained a fixed number: one hundred.
In other words, assuming that the low-altitude suspension vehicle was used for twelve hours every day, one box could be used for one hundred days, about three months.
According to this calculation, about four boxes are needed a year, and one layer of fuel extract has about thirty-five boxes, which means it can be used for about nine years. But this is just a rough calculation. In fact, she can't use the low-altitude suspension vehicle to fly for twelve hours every day.
Thirty-five boxes are almost enough.
In order to save space, she collected twenty boxes and went directly into the Star House warehouse. For the other fifteen boxes, she directly put the crystals inside the boxes into the second fuel space.
The second fuel space is also ten cubic meters in size, and it also has no time flow, but it can only store fuel items, which is just right for use here.
Afterwards, she went upstairs and saw two more boxes of fuel extracts that were being filled. She collected all the crystals that were already inside, making about thirty-six boxes in total.
You Xi was satisfied and was about to leave the warehouse when she suddenly felt an earthquake all around her. The warehouse floor beneath her feet made crackling sounds, and the walls and ceiling creaked.
Of course she knew what it was, it was an earthquake, or a ground fissure!
In an instant, her body was faster than her brain, and she quickly ran down the warehouse building and rushed towards the exit.
She drove at full speed, dodging the debris falling from the ceiling all the way, while calling Jian Shou on the roof, asking him to drive the low-altitude hovercraft into the air first.
Only if they kept the car could they leave safely.
The waiting tone of the phone had just sounded when she had already run to the door of the warehouse. Outside the door was also a chaotic scene. A tall lamppost was about to fall and was about to fall down in her direction.
You Xi was about to dodge, but someone discovered it earlier than her, so he was one step faster than her and hugged her tightly and dodged to the side.
The other party's speed and strength were far inferior to hers, so he protected herself but failed to completely avoid the lamppost.
She heard the crisp sound of a broken bone, and then his dull groan. He gritted his teeth to hold back the cry of pain, and when he spoke again, his voice was still trying to remain calm: "Master, are you injured?"
"I'm fine." You Xi answered while leading him back to an open space on the side.
The tremors around them seemed weaker than before. The buildings made cracking sounds as they shook, but the ground they were on did not crack.
Her eyes swept across his arm. He was clearly in great pain, but he deliberately turned his body to the side to hide his injuries and pretend that nothing had happened. The situation was urgent now, and she could not care about these for the time being. "Where's the car?"
"Before I came down, I had already started the automatic launch. You can control it on your phone later." The other party pointed to the top of the warehouse, and sure enough, their low-altitude car was quietly suspended in the air.
There were still sounds of collapse and rubble coming from nearby. The wall on one side of the warehouse area collapsed, and voices were heard from other places. Some people were timid and cautious, and were calling on others to hide in another direction.
But there were also people who stood in place and saw the scene outside through the completely collapsed wall.
Outside the warehouse area wall was a large area of wasteland. There were no buildings or trees nearby, and the view was very clear. A big hole had cracked in the ground of the wasteland, and rocks and soil were still continuing to fall downwards, making a swish sound.
I don't know if it was their illusion, but under the moonlight, the broken ground appeared a terrifying blood-red color.
The blood-red color seemed to be alive. At first it was just a small spot located in the center of the sinkhole, but soon the blood-red color slowly spread outward.
No, it's better to say that it appeared than to spread. From under the cracked ground, facing the falling rubble and soil, it rose and appeared little by little.
The larger the area of the crack, the larger the strange blood-red color, so that it is impossible to see the whole picture of that thing from the side angle.
"Pah--" A strange sound came from the blood-red area, like the sound of something unfolding and hitting the ground. The first sound was too far away, and the people in the warehouse area couldn't see it clearly.
The second sound was also a bit far away. When it came to the third sound, they felt the ground shaking slightly and the oncoming wind and sand. A huge blood-red soft object hit the wall of the warehouse heavily, and beat the remaining fragments of the collapsed wall into finer sand and gravel.
"What... is that?" Jian Shou looked at the blood-red soft object squirming in the collapsed wall, and his face was full of shock, just like everyone else who saw it.
Youxi was manipulating the low-altitude hovercraft to land on the stretched screen of her mobile phone. She tried her best to keep herself calm, but her fingertips were still shaking.
She hadn't felt this nervous for a long time. The images in "Youxi's" memory told her that even with her current physical fitness and strength, she still couldn't resist the first "bloom" after the "Red Lotus" appeared.
They were too close and couldn't hide at all.
"Jian Shou!" Her movements were not skilled, but she finally moved the low-altitude vehicle that was originally suspended in the air above their heads. She called him, jumped vertically, stretched out her hand to reach the elliptical base of the low-altitude hovercraft, and then did a pull-up and raised her legs, and flipped up neatly.
After she climbed up, she immediately opened the car door, grabbed the anti-skid step inside the door with one hand for leverage, and then leaned over and stretched out her hand to Jian Shou.
The car was suspended at a height that was far beyond the ability of a normal person to bounce up. Jian Shou was surprised for only a second, and immediately jumped up. The two grabbed each other's wrists. His other hand was broken, and he originally wanted to lift his legs and climb up by holding on to the base.
But the next second, he was dragged up by the other party.
"It's dangerous here! Hurry up! You sit in the passenger seat and tell me how to drive!"
"Mr. You, I can drive with one hand, and I can drive faster than you!"
"Okay." You Xi got in the passenger seat without saying a word and gave up the driver's seat.
Where the ground collapsed, the slapping sounds became increasingly frequent, and the surrounding land was hit by the blood-red soft body, and the dust flew up. The people in the warehouse area who stayed in place to watch because of surprise were blinded by the dust.
On the low-altitude suspended car, You Xi pointed in the direction away from Hong Lian and asked him to drive at full speed.
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a huge roar from below, as if something huge had sighed, and the wind around them suddenly became fierce.
You Xi's eyebrows jumped, and the next second Jian Shou had pushed the car to the highest speed according to her instructions.
Outside the glass car body, a strange and violent hurricane arose, heading towards the direction behind them, as if to push them back to the area where the ground cracked.
"Higher!" You Xi shouted.
Following orders, the car began to rise rapidly into the air. As the altitude rose, the hurricane that was blocking their progress gradually weakened.
After a while, the low-altitude suspension vehicle rose to half of the maximum altitude - 200 meters. The wind speed pushing them was originally much smaller, but soon became fierce again, as if it was sucking them back.
"Not high enough! Raise it again! Drive forward at full speed at the same time!"
"250 meters! The speed has increased!... 350 meters! The speed has basically returned to normal!"
"Maintain the altitude! Slow down!" After giving the order, You Xi immediately stood up and went to the back of the car, looking in the direction they were escaping.
Three hundred and fifty meters in the air, the view was very clear, and she finally saw the whole picture of the "Red Lotus" - in the center were two circles of khaki "teeth", which were stirring at the moment, emitting a huge suction force, cutting and crushing all objects sucked into the range of the "teeth", including people, cars, steel bars and cement.
Around the "teeth", there were thirty or forty blood-red soft bodies, which were in the form of flakes, shaped like petals, but much longer than petals, and were constantly beating the surrounding land, smashing the buildings that were originally firmly rooted in the soil, and then swallowing them one by one with suction.
One month after the apocalypse, no one still knows what this thing is, what is under those two circles of earthy yellow "teeth", why it is never satisfied no matter how much it swallows, and even missiles cannot destroy "it".
If it weren't for the limited time of each "bloom", she estimated that with this thing's strange and powerful suction, it could "suck up" the entire city!
The diameter of this sinkhole area is much larger than the several in the city, and the initial estimate is about 350 meters. Therefore, the "Red Lotus" that appeared is also extremely huge, and the suction is also increased geometrically. If they don't have a low-altitude suspended vehicle, it will be too late to escape on the ground.
This may be the reason why the "Red Lotus" here appeared not long after the ground subsidence. In my memory, the "Red Lotus" in the city were only about half the size of this one, and they appeared two to five days after the ground cracked. The later the "Red Lotus" appeared after the ground cracked, the smaller its size.
The warehouse area was not within the scope of the ground subsidence, but at this moment, the warehouse buildings near the periphery of the "Red Lotus" had been smashed. Some places had small-scale explosions due to short circuits in the wires, and flames were scattered, but all the broken parts, whether there were flames or not, were sucked into the "sharp teeth" by the suction force and shattered, and then disappeared into the black cave between the "sharp teeth".
It was like a bottomless abyss.
Youxi looked at the "Red Lotus" and tried to sense it, but he could not sense it at all.
Whatever it is, it is definitely not a plant!
"Mr. You?" Jian Shou also caught a glimpse of the huge blood-red object on the ground through the rear camera of the car, "Do you know what that is?"
You Xi looked at the "sharp teeth" that slowly stopped stirring, knowing that its first "blooming" after its appearance was about to end. When the "sharp teeth" are resting, the blood-red "petals" on the outside will still be in a defensive state, smashing everything that approaches the "red lotus".
Even, some of the "petals" will close inward, as if guarding the center. When they open next time, the "sharp teeth" will start to stir and produce a terrible and huge suction.
Because when the "petals" open, it looks especially like a flower blooming, so people call this process "blooming."
Human weapons have no effect on it, and the only way is to avoid and escape.
You Xi slowly frowned: "I don't know what it is either. If you want a name, you can call it 'Red Lotus'. Next time, when you see the 'petals' of the 'Red Lotus' open, remember to run as fast as you can!"
**
Two hours later, they lowered their altitude and entered the city.
Because of the long distance, the people in the city were still unaware of the changes that had taken place outside the city.
It was almost four o'clock in the morning, the darkest time of the day, but the city was still full of neon lights. People who had been drunk all night were still trapped in a world of bliss, and rescue work in several collapsed areas was still going on tensely.
This world presents an extremely ironic polarization, just like the natural human beings and the slaves.
You Xi originally wanted to take Jian Shou to the hospital to treat his broken arm, but all the hospitals in the city were busy, so she finally found a private clinic for the nobility to treat Jian Shou.
The other party was reluctant at first because Jian Shou was a servant - until You Xi raised the price tenfold, but even so, he did not take the treatment seriously, and even held a cigarette in his mouth when he took the medical tools.
"Connect the bones more accurately. If he has any sequelae, you don't have to open this clinic anymore in the future." You Xi stood aside with her arms folded, her eyes cold, and reminded him in a faint voice.
The other party met her gaze and was startled. He thought of the low-altitude suspended vehicle that the visitor had just parked outside, and knew in his heart that she was telling the truth, so he didn't dare to be perfunctory.
The bone was set quickly, and Jian Shou was very patient, making no sound during the whole process.
After it was over, Youxi drove the car himself and took him to the apartment.
The low-altitude suspended vehicle flew over the sinkhole that was closer to Youxi's apartment. Jian Shou stared at the sinkhole area below with some vigilance, where the lights were on and the rubble screening was still being carried out.
From the afternoon when the ground fissure occurred to this moment, it is still in the golden rescue time, and the rescue work will not stop while people are still missing.
The sinkhole area here is normal for the time being, without huge "teeth" or petal-shaped blood-red tentacles.
But he now knows that the "Red Lotus" will definitely appear, the only difference is the time.
Fortunately, the building where the apartment is located is some distance away from the sinkhole area, and the diameter of the sinkhole is not very large. Even if the "Red Lotus" suddenly appears, it will not affect the apartment, and they have enough time to escape.
He got all the information from Youxi. As for where Youxi got the information, he didn't know, but he didn't ask much.
The rear camera of the low-altitude suspension vehicle clearly captured the devastating scene of the surrounding area when the "Red Lotus Bloomed". Youxi asked Jian Shou to cut out a section of the video and added some text descriptions. Then she wrapped herself in the mask and down jacket she had worn before, found a self-service Internet cafe on the edge of the city, and posted the video data on various platforms.
This matter was mainly done for the rescuers. They worked so hard and stayed up late just to save more people in the golden time. They shouldn't be caught off guard and become the first victims of the appearance of "Red Lotus".
Because of the ground fissure phenomenon before the appearance of "Red Lotus", a large number of rescue workers on the scene in various regions of the planet died, causing the medical system and rescue system to collapse too quickly afterwards.
She didn't know if there were any survivors at the warehouse area, and no one among the survivors would take this video and post it on the Internet.
She is not only spreading it now, but also pointing out some of the characteristics of "Red Lotus". As long as someone sees it, someone downloads it, and someone believes it, such important news will spread quickly, and as many people as possible will be saved.
You Xi has always believed that man proposes, God disposes. She just needs to do her part and have a clear conscience, and the rest is up to others.
The low-altitude suspended vehicle stopped at the aerial platform outside the balcony of the apartment. The balcony door was not closed, and the lights were still on inside, so the indoor scene could be seen at a glance.
You Xi did not return home all night, and the three servants in the house did not return to their rooms. They each occupied a corner of the living room.
Hei Mu was leaning back in a recliner, reading a book.
Yan Shang changed into a round-neck long-sleeved home outfit and wore headphones on her ears, but I don’t know if she was tired, she seemed to have fallen asleep leaning against a corner of the sofa.
Xiyuan was sitting cross-legged on the carpet next to the coffee table, playing games on the stretched-out computer screen on the coffee table. However, he was not concentrating on the game. He turned back to look at Yan Shang from time to time, and no one knew what he was thinking.
After the low-altitude hovercraft came to a steady stop, Hei Mu, who was closest to the balcony, was the first to notice it. He put down the book, stood up and walked onto the balcony: "Master, you're back. The sheets and bedspreads in the room have been replaced. The hot water in the bathtub is always warm. Add your favorite essential oils. Go take a bath first."
"Thank you, Jian Shou is injured. Remember that his hands cannot get wet for the time being."
"Yes, master."
Yan Shang followed closely behind her. Seeing that she was holding a lunch box and coffee in her hands, she immediately stepped forward to take them: "There have been landslides in many places outside. I'm very worried about you..."
Xi Yuan also stood up, but he did not move or speak. His eyes were fixed on her, as if waiting for her to walk in by herself.
Youxi: ...
After a sleepless night, crazy shopping and a thrilling escape, Youxi didn't feel tired, but now she suddenly feels a little tired...
She pressed her forehead, entered the living room, and went straight past Xiyuan and walked towards the room in the corridor.
Before getting off the car, she had already instructed Jian Shou to tell Jian about the ground fissure and the "Red Lotus" to the other three people, mainly to let them avoid the ground fissure and not be involved in the sudden appearance of the "Red Lotus".
Without her instructions, the four men outside did not dare to follow her into the room.
Youxi took a comfortable bath, found a new pure cotton long T-shirt from the closet as pajamas, and went to bed directly.
**
It was already noon when Youxi woke up, and the sky outside the window was gloomy.
Half an hour later, Youxi finished washing up and sat on the sofa in the living room, drinking the rock sugar bird's nest prepared by Hei Mu while watching the current affairs news.
This current affairs news is 24 hours a day, and adopts a live broadcast mode. As long as there is an emergency, the reporter will immediately rush to the front line with the cameraman and broadcast the first-hand information directly to the audience.
Of course, not all news is suitable for live broadcast. There are many reporters running on the front line at the same time, but the final decision on whether to use a certain live camera is still on the TV station.
After more than ten hours of fermentation, the video she posted online yesterday has been viewed and downloaded by many people. Several official pages have been flooded with comments from the public. Everyone is asking about the sinkholes in the warehouse area outside the city and the strange creatures that emerged from the ground.
People are now worried about several ground fissures in the city, and are afraid that blood-red things will suddenly appear. At the same time, some people are puzzled. Why did the current news not broadcast the major changes that happened after midnight in the first place?
Instead, the video of the scene was posted online by an unknown person, and a text description was added. It is not known whether it is true
or false. Probably because of this, knowing that it could not be concealed, the live broadcast of the warehouse area finally appeared in the current news after noon.
At this point, Youxi roughly guessed why there was no news of the warehouse area sinkhole and the appearance of "red lotus" in "Youxi's" memory.
Because this was the first time that "red lotus" appeared in several nearby urban areas. Such an abrupt and terrible event, the appearance of a huge unknown creature, was impossible to report in the initial stage.
Now, it can't be hidden anymore. Instead of letting everyone panic and guess, it's better to make it public.
The live broadcast was shot from mid-air. The pilot carefully drove a low-altitude suspended vehicle along the outer edge of the ground crack in the air at a high altitude, as if he was afraid of being photographed by the huge blood-red tentacles below, and at the same time he was always alert to the "sharp teeth" in the center that were partially wrapped by the tentacles.
The strange creature in the picture is exactly the same as the video on the Internet yesterday. The light is better in the daytime, making this blood-red creature look even more creepy.
What on earth is this! ?
Except for Jian Shou, the other three people also saw the full appearance of the "Red Lotus" for the first time.
Looking down from mid-air, this thing really looks like a lotus, but the lotus has always been a symbol of holiness, while the one in the picture looks like a visitor from hell.
After a moment, You Xi turned down the volume of the TV, indicating that he had something to say.
"It's like this. You've seen the situation outside, and it will only get worse. In this situation, it doesn't matter whether you're a natural human or a servant. Once you encounter that thing, you'll all die. So, if you need it, I can sign a warrant now to set you free, and at the same time I'll take out your injury-free devices. From now on, you'll all be free people..."
It's not that she couldn't drag them away. The supplies she bought in large quantities at the mall yesterday, plus those in the floating villa, were more than enough to carry them.
She just wanted to give the other party the right to choose freely.
In her opinion, if someone has the right to choose freely, no one would be willing to be inferior to others.
Hei Mu's expression was indifferent, Jian Shou frowned, and the four men looked at her, and no one spoke.
After a moment, Yan Shang slowly spoke, her voice trembling with restraint: "Are you going to... chase us away?"
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