Chapter 71 Northland Plateau
"Everyone be careful!"
When the first strange fish jumped out of the sewer, Shu Fu's voice rang out almost at the same time: "The big fish tail spines have a paralyzing effect, be careful to avoid them!" As she spoke, the nail gun in her hand was already raised, and with three "pu pu pu" sounds, she nailed the second strange fish that jumped out of the sewer to death.
Lu Zheng had stuffed the short stick in his hand back into his backpack and replaced it with a long knife. He took a few steps forward, stood in front of Shu Fu, and dealt with the first strange fish that jumped out.
Several fish also jumped out of the sewer opening on the other side and were quickly dealt with by Xu Tingfeng and a few others.
Even Xu Jiechu killed a strange fish. He was quite frightened at first because the fish was too ugly, especially its eyes and mouth. But now he found it was easy to kill. He was very proud: "This fish is not difficult to deal with. Look how nervous you two are. After all, you are girls. This kind of thing should be left to boys--"
Xu Jiechu's words were interrupted by a strange fish that suddenly jumped towards his face. He screamed, quickly stepped back and swung the iron rod, but missed. In the end, Xu Ting killed the strange fish.
In front, Chen Fa, who had deliberately let her take the fish, glanced back at him and said, "You're shouting loudly, boy."
Xu Jiechu: "You—you—gossip!"
"Stop it! It's already so late!" Xu Tingfeng scolded his brother, "They have dealt with this kind of fish before, so they must be more experienced than us. If they are nervous, there must be other reasons!"
As if in response to what Xu Tingfeng said, the heart-pounding clicking sounds in the rain all around became more frequent again. This time, the sounds came not only from the direction of the sewer, but also from other streets near the intersection.
Snap——
A huge strange fish jumped out from the street on the left side of the corner.
Snap, Snap——
Following behind were three or four smaller strange fish.
Snap, snap, snap——
A group of strange fish also jumped out from the street corner on the right.
They seemed to be passing by here on their way and noticed more than a dozen human creatures fighting with their own kind on another street. They stopped and looked back, half-raising their ferocious big fish heads, and their bulging inorganic fish eyes stared at them coldly.
"Fuck..." a man with braids cursed. The strange fish that attack people on sight are not scary, but the sudden appearance of a group of strange fish and their behavior of stopping and watching is a bit scary.
This makes people feel that these strange fish seem to have a certain degree of intelligence and know how to analyze the situation before attacking.
On the other side, one of the people who had followed Xu Jiechu to block Shu Fu and the others, a man with a long face, was trembling in his heart. He was not careful with his step and was bitten on the calf by a strange fish that jumped out of the sewer hole at some point.
Most of the people in Lu Zheng's team only wore waterproof jackets and no raincoats. Although this kind of clothing was convenient for movement, it was not as strong as the thick rubber of raincoats and rain pants. If a slightly larger strange fish took a bite, it could be fatal.
The man with the thin and long face screamed out in pain, and when he looked down, he saw the strange fish biting his calf tightly. He was more frightened than in pain, and he lost his pace. He backed away and swung his legs repeatedly in an attempt to shake off the strange fish, while constantly waving the kitchen knife in his hand to fend off other strange fish that wanted to kill him while he was sick.
Those strange fish seemed to know that he would be easier to deal with than the others since he was injured. Several of them had given up attacking the others and turned around to jump towards him, with their open mouths facing his face.
His attacks became more and more chaotic. His other leg was bitten by a strange fish. He lost his balance and fell backwards. The strange fish that were besieging him pounced on him at the same time.
At the critical moment, an indescribable strong fishy smell came. The girl from the other team who knew Lu Zheng sprinkled something on his legs and body. The pungent stench of decay spread instantly, but the magical thing was that the strange fish that had been biting his two legs tightly loosened their bites at the same time, fell to the ground with a plop, and jumped away a few times.
After sprinkling the red liquid, Shu Fu left and rushed into the circle where Lu Zheng and others were standing. Like a fairy scattering flowers, she sprinkled some on Lu Zheng, Lu Ce, and the other people who were traveling with them, trying to move quickly and cover a large area.
However, due to the pursuit of speed, the accuracy of the liquid was reduced, and it would occasionally splash onto their faces. Wherever it went, people would scream: "Wow - what is this! Oh my god - ugh... it stinks!"
Xu Jiechu was particularly struck head-on, with some splashing into his nose and mouth. It was so smelly that he retched several times and bent over to vomit.
Xu Tingfeng immediately turned back to look at Shu Fu, thinking that she had changed sides and stood on the side of the strange fish. It was not until he saw all the people and places where she had sprayed things retreated that he realized what was going on, and said thank you to Shu Fu with a little apology.
“What are you thanking me for… Ugh… She was just teasing me on purpose… Ugh… Look, she even put on a… Ugh… mask first…” Xu Jie was about to vomit out his yellow bile.
Shu Fu stuffed the unused bottle of liquid into Lu Ce's hand, and took out three unopened bottles of red liquid and stuffed them into Lu Zheng's hand, saying concisely: "There are more and more fish, and the sewers here are interconnected. The whole Lucheng is probably occupied. It's impossible to leave without a car! I'll find a way to get a car, and you guys use this liquid to delay time here! The strange fish are afraid of this smell, but the rain will dilute the smell, don't sprinkle too much at a time!"
Lu Zheng did not ask her how to find a solution, where to find a solution, how long it would take, why not let him go with her to help, and what they would do if they could not delay any longer.
Even though they hadn't seen each other for such a long time, he didn't feel alienated when he saw her again. It seemed that as long as she said something, he would believe it and would not doubt it at all. This sense of trust seemed to be innate.
"Be careful!" Lu Zheng held her back, and all his words could be summed up in this one sentence.
"I leave my friend to you, wait for me to come back!" She patted him, turned around and rushed back to Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen. She had just sprinkled the potion on them first. At this moment, they were back to back, killing the strange fish one by one whose attacks had become weakened due to the aversion potion.
She took out three bottles of liquid from her backpack again and stuffed them into Chen Fa's hands. This time she said more simply, "I'll go get the car! You guys hold on!"
Chen Fa looked at the three extra bottles of red liquid in his hand and raised his head and asked, "Do you need me to go with you?"
"It's okay, I can do it on my own." Shu Fu threw the travel bag hanging on her wrist at their feet, quickly refilled the nail gun, and planned to go into battle lightly. "As I said, if necessary, supplies can be thrown away, saving your life is the most important thing!"
"I understand. Go ahead. We'll wait for you to come back!" Chen Fa shoveled away a strange fish that was eager to try and responded promptly.
"Be careful, Shu girl!" Chen Yuezhen stepped forward and finished off the strange fish that Chen Fa had knocked to the ground, then turned around and nodded to Shu Fu.
The three of them have been through so much together that they have already developed a tacit understanding that is difficult for others to achieve, and unconditional trust is one of them.
Shu Fu stopped talking, turned quickly and ran to the other end of the street. That was the direction they came from. The trading station was not far from here. At this critical moment, it didn't matter where the fuel came from. What mattered was that she had enough fuel to change cars.
But she needed a big cart, and exchanging it with the trading post would take time, so she had to be quick.
There were basically no strange fish on this street towards the trading station. It seemed that the strange fish had not completely covered Lucheng. When Shu Fu ran to the end of the street and turned, he subconsciously looked back.
She just wanted to take a look at the situation over there, and to make sure that the number of strange fish had not increased to an uncontrollable level before looking away.
But the moment he withdrew his gaze, he caught a glimpse of the familiar flashing white light again from the corner of his eye, and the two thin strips of white light seemed to be moving with the movements of two people.
two? !
She looked back quickly but saw nothing.
What's going on?
Are you dazzled again?
Time was running out and Shu Fu had no time to continue his research, so he could only put the matter aside for the time being.
**
As she ran in the rain, she kept an eye on her surroundings with a nail-shooting rifle in her hand. Occasionally, she would see one or two strange fish jumping out of a nearby broken sewer with a splash, but they looked more like fish that had accidentally separated from the main group.
Shu Fu didn't waste time dealing with one or two fish unless they attacked actively and blocked her way. Occasionally, she would temporarily activate her personal protective shield when there were more than three strange fish appearing on the roadside.
She rushed all the way, and when she reached another turn, she suddenly stopped and ran back a few steps. She passed by here again, the abandoned bus station in the city, where two unwanted buses were parked against the wall in the empty space.
From her perspective, the side windows of the bus on the outside were more shattered, probably because there were trees nearby and branches broke and hit the bus during strong winds.
Shu Fu didn't know why she suddenly stopped, but at that moment, what she was thinking was that if the two buses could still drive, they would be able to accommodate all of them and their luggage.
While her mind was still calculating how likely this was, she had already run inside quickly.
The parking lot was full of mud and branches and leaves. Every step she took caused mud and rotten leaves to splash, immediately making a mess of her boots and rain pants. But Shu Fu didn't care. She was completely focused on the bus in front of her.
The first bus not only had four or five side windows broken, but also the front windshield was cracked.
The second bus was much smaller than the previous one. It was a 25-seater bus. I don’t know if it was because of the obstruction of the cars outside, but the front and rear windshields of this bus were intact. The doors were closed, and there was a broken window on each side, but the body and tires were generally intact.
She tried to pull the driver's door, but it didn't open, so she went around to the right side of the car. The passenger door of this 25-seat bus is not close to the front of the car, because there are seats on the right side of the front, so the passenger door is located on the right side, closer to the middle.
She pulled hard at the passenger door, which was probably broken and not tightly closed, so she pushed it open.
It has actually been only two months since the accident in Lucheng. Natural disasters here are not as frequent and severe as those in the plains and hilly areas. In two months, the car will not be scrapped to the point where it cannot be driven at all.
If the car had only had its fuel sucked out, then she could start it again by adding fuel. Refueling was not difficult either, all she needed was a hose, and using the siphon principle, she could directly draw fuel from the portable oil barrel into the fuel tank.
She quickly got into the car and rummaged around in the glove compartment of the driver's area. The most important thing was that she could find the car keys.
However, she searched the lockers, cup holders, and around the driver's seat, but found nothing. She sighed and decided that she would have to go to the trading station to find someone to exchange fuel for the car.
When she was about to get off the car, she suddenly saw a little silver reflection in the corner of the car steps. She immediately bent down and reached out to take out the silver stuck in the gap of the steps.
Soon, she pulled the thing out with all her strength. It turned out to be a key, but she didn't know if it was a car key! She quickly rushed to the driver's seat, found the keyhole next to the steering wheel, and inserted the key in her hand smoothly, twisting it smoothly at the same time.
It really is a car key!
Shu Fu immediately perked up, temporarily put the backpack back into the space, and began to try to start the car.
Generally speaking, even if the car has been left unused for a long time, it can be started as long as the battery has power. In addition, even if someone uses a hose to take out the fuel in the fuel tank, as long as there is a little bit of fuel left in it that can be sucked up by the fuel pump, it can also be started.
To put it simply, it is theoretically possible and technically there is no problem, and the rest depends entirely on luck.
One, two, three... When she tried for the fifth time, she finally heard the roar of the engine.
The battery still has power!
The dashboard in front of me lit up, and the fuel tank indicator light came on, indicating that the tank was empty and needed refueling.
But as long as the car can start, fuel is not a problem at all.
She turned off the engine and, using the car body as a cover, took out two portable oil barrels from the space, carried them out of the car and came to the fuel tank. She inserted one end of a rubber hose into the portable oil barrel and put the other end to her mouth and began to inhale hard. When she saw the fuel flowing out of the tube, she quickly pinched the inhalation end and then quickly inserted it into the opening of the fuel tank. The fuel automatically flowed from the portable oil barrel into the tank.
She repeated the same action twice and added 60L of fuel. This type of bus has a large fuel tank. A 25-seater like this one may have a fuel tank capacity of between 100 and 200L, but she didn't have time to fill it up, and 60L of fuel was enough for them to leave Lucheng and go to the Salt Lake.
Shu Fu closed the fuel tank cap, picked up the portable oil barrel and got back into the bus, then threw the barrel back into the space. At the same time, she took out some unwanted cardboard and transparent waterproof plastic sheets from the space, messed them up, stained them with the dirt and rain in the bus, and then stuffed them under the last few seats, pretending that they had been there for a long time.
This is intended to be used to repair broken car windows later.
She wanted to close the car door using the control key, but found that the door was completely broken and could only be closed manually, and it couldn't be closed tightly, but it didn't have much impact.
She closed the car door manually, sat back in the driver's seat and started the car.
Probably because the car started successfully once before, this time it started immediately.
She let out a long breath, took out her backpack from the space, put it at her feet next to the seat, and then calmed herself down as much as possible, reaching out to shift the gears. She had never driven a bus before, but she had learned manual driving, and they were all cars, so they were pretty much the same. As long as she didn't panic, she could drive the car smoothly.
After scraping against a nearby bus once and the rear of the car scraping against tree trunks twice, she successfully reversed the car with the front of the car accurately facing the parking lot gate.
Shu Fu's mood had completely calmed down by then. She changed gears again, stepped on the accelerator, and drove the bus out.
**
There are more and more strange fish on the streets.
Chen Fa and Lu Zheng and their men, carrying supplies, fought and retreated, and had already retreated from one end of the street to the other.
But they soon discovered that strange fish also appeared at the bend in the direction they were retreating. Not only was their number increasing, but they were also slowly spreading throughout the entire Lucheng through the sewers.
Everyone endured the nausea and splashed the red liquid on their bodies again and again, but the rain kept falling and there were no buildings on both sides of the street, so there was nowhere to hide from the rain. The liquid splashed on their bodies was quickly diluted, and not all strange fish were afraid of the smell.
Xu Jiechu's hand was attacked by a leaping giant fish, and was stabbed by its tail spine. Surprisingly, he didn't feel much pain, but his hand instantly went numb. In just a few seconds, his entire arm lost strength, and he couldn't even stand steadily, so he was immediately supported by the thin and long face next to him.
Both of the thin and long-faced man's legs were bitten, and he was already having a hard time walking. Now he was pinned down by Xu Jiechu's weight, making him even more unable to defend himself.
Two of the fighters were gone at once, while the others were still carrying bags of supplies. Xu Tingfeng was distracted and was attacked by another strange fish, which bit his calf. He quickly killed the strange fish, but before it died, the strange fish bit him hard through his pants and tore off a piece of flesh from his calf.
Blood gushed out in large quantities in an instant, diluting the fishy smell of the red liquid around him. The strange fish that were originally surrounding him nearby became restless, as if attracted by the smell of blood.
The situation became critical. The thin face who could only defend himself with one hand while supporting Xu Jiechu spoke loudly: "What are we waiting for! Why don't we go to the station ahead? Maybe we'll be lucky and get on the train now!"
Lu Zheng killed a strange fish that was eager to try with a knife, sprayed some red liquid on Xu Tingfeng's injured leg again, and threw the second empty glass bottle aside: "It's still three blocks to go there, you can't get through."
"Even if we can't get through, we should still try! What's going on now? Where's your friend? She asked us to wait, so are we going to wait here to die? If we wait until more and more strange fish appear, we won't be able to leave at all!"
"You can go." Chen Fa turned around and interrupted.
"What do you mean!" The man was furious and looked at Xu Tingfeng, "Brother Xu, say something! Are we going to sacrifice everyone's lives for that little girl? "
"Without her, you would have been bitten to death long ago. It was the medicine she brought out that temporarily saved everyone's lives." Lu Zheng opened the third bottle of red liquid and quickly sprinkled it on everyone around him, temporarily pausing the attack of the strange fish. However, he stopped in front of the person who was speaking, "How about it, do you not need it?"
"That's right. Since you've accepted someone's kindness, you should stick to it to the end! Even if you don't want to stick to it, you should have proposed to leave earlier instead of saying bad things about a little girl behind her back!" The braided man said as he opened his jacket and tore off a piece of cloth from the hem of his T-shirt. He came to Xu Ting's front and helped him tie up his injured calf to stop the bleeding. "Skinny, I didn't realize before that you're such a coward?"
The thin and long-faced man was gritting his teeth and struggling. He wanted Lu Zheng to sprinkle the liquid on him, but he felt that asking for help would make what he said before seem like fart.
He hesitated for a moment, while Xu Jiechu, who was supported by him, tried hard to open and close his mouth, and squeezed out the sound from his throat: "Stinky... sprinkle... sprinkle... stinky..." The meaning was very clear. It was not his business if the thin and long face didn't exist. He really needed this stinky thing, so don't forget to sprinkle it on him...
Lu Zheng didn't laugh, but Lu Ce next to him couldn't help laughing.
The stench arrived as expected, and the thin long face smelled the smell in the air. Even if he was reluctant, his sense of security still increased a little. But when he thought that the red liquid was taken out by that little girl, his face became anxious again, and he could only say thank you to Lu Zheng in a mosquito-like voice.
There were three wounded members in the team at this moment, and the strange fish around did not decrease. Xu Tingfeng understood that the situation was not right. He opened his mouth and wanted to suggest that everyone abandon all the supplies to lighten the burden, exit this street and find a building to shelter from the rain. He had just said a few words when he heard a horn sound coming from the street behind.
That was the sound of a car horn, being pressed quickly and hard, as if sending a signal.
"Wow, that girl really got a car? Oh my god, what did she use to exchange it with others?" The man with braids wanted to rush to the street intersection, but was blocked by the strange fish, so he could only continue to hack and kill.
"She can only drive one car. Even if the car can fit all the people, it can't fit the supply bag. Da Zhuang, Monkey, throw away all the supplies and help people get in the car." He said, looking at Chen Fa and the others, "It's the same for you. You can't carry the supply bag."
Xu Tingfeng didn't need to say much, Chen Fa and Chen Yuezhen had already let go and dropped the travel bag on the ground.
It would be a pity to throw away these supplies, but fortunately, they each had some food and water in their backpacks, and the most important medicines were also in their backpacks. As for the rest, as long as they could save their lives, they could find them later.
At this moment, everyone worked together. After all, they had all lived through troubled times, and even if they felt emotional at the critical moment, they knew what to do and what not to do.
On the other side, the anxious guy with braids had already killed several strange fish that were blocking their way with another big guy, and rushed to the intersection. The two of them just happened to see a car speeding from the other side.
The car's tires ran over several strange fish jumping on the road and stopped in front of them in time.
The two looked at the huge front of the car and said the same thing: "Oh my god! That's awesome!"
Others also rushed over at this time. They looked at the bus parked there and thought they had seen it wrong. They stretched their necks to check the driver, suspecting that the car was not here to pick them up.
Until Shu Fu's face poked out from the broken car window: "Get in the car quickly! Take everything with you!" As she said that, she pulled the car door hard again and manually opened the passenger door. The right side of the car where the door was located was facing the intersection where they were.
She didn't need to say it a second time. Everyone immediately turned around and started to hack at the strange fish while reaching for their supply bags. Just kidding, a car this big could fit ten more people, so of course none of these supply bags could be left out!
More and more strange fish came out of the sewer. Lu Zheng and Chen Fa had used up all the red liquid in their hands. The rain diluted the smell on their bodies and the supply bags. The strange fish started to attack again. Everyone worked hard and cooperated with each other. They didn't care whose supply bags on the ground they were for the time being. They just picked up all the travel bags they saw and threw them into the car.
Shu Fu was also busy, she was spraying the damaged areas of the two windows with red liquid to prevent the strange fish from jumping into the car at this moment. This liquid is much more effective when used inside the car than outside, because it will not be directly washed away by rain, the space is small, and the smell will remain longer.
After everyone carried all the supply bags onto the bus, they started getting on board. The last person to get on board was Lu Zheng. After he got on board, he kicked a strange fish that jumped onto the bus and pulled the door hard with his backhand.
But the car door was broken in the first place and could not be closed in a hurry. Several strange fish rushed over from outside the door, and three or four of them successfully jumped into the car.
"Hold on!" Shu Fu shouted without hesitation and quickly stepped on the accelerator.
Lu Zheng held on to the handrail tightly to steady his body. Outside the bus, more and more strange fish jumped and chased the bus. The fish heads collided with the body of the bus, making a popping sound.
Occasionally, one or two fish jumped particularly high and just landed on the broken car window. When the ugly fish head saw the person in the window, it immediately opened its mouth and revealed its sharp teeth, scaring the people near the car window. They hurriedly used their weapons to slap the fish that almost jumped in away.
Inside the bus, the strange fish that had jumped into the bus from the door before were jumping around randomly because they sensed the disgusting smell inside. They all jumped towards the back of the bus where the smell was faint. How could the people in the bus let them succeed, so they all attacked.
A strange fish slipped away and turned halfway, and actually pounced towards Shu Fu who was in the driver's seat.
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