The underground escape passage is built on the second or third underground floor of each building. It will only be opened by the base commander in an emergency.
The numerous escape passages converge underground, and people's final destination is to reach the long-silent underground city.
The underground city area covers a large area, with houses arranged in neat rows and columns. There are no more than five floors, and numbers are written on the walls of each building, dividing the living areas for the people who come here according to the order of the city areas that have been divided long ago.
Zheng Yuanyuan and Qi Mi were junior purification officers in office, and they did not divide the house for the time being, so the seven children could only be registered under Liao Yang's name.
The room was very spacious, with a living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, etc. However, it was covered in dust after being unoccupied for a long time. There were no beds in the three bedrooms, only a thin mattress.
The joy of the past few days suddenly vanished. The emergence of this crisis was a good wake-up call for them, telling them—
This is still the end of the world.
It seemed that they had vented all their emotions just now. The children did not make any noise when they came to this new environment. They all looked around quietly.
Di Yuntong lay on Zheng Yuanyuan's shoulder silently, drowsy.
After coaxing the children, Qi Mi and Zheng Yuanyuan hurried off to complete their mission. Half an hour later, they followed the underground city's signposts and arrived at the institution's plaza.
Dozens of junior purification officers, as if being lectured, stared ahead with their heads held high. Leaning on He Kele's eye-catching "sign," the two hurried back to their positions.
Because Lao Wei had requested leave for the two of them, the senior purification officers standing in front all turned a blind eye and continued to assign tasks: "Let me repeat your next mission. Until the base returns to normal, your mission is to stay in the underground city and ensure the safety of the residents. Form teams of two to guard the various passageways and fortresses. Report any suspicious individuals immediately. Do you understand?!"
"Understood!" Everyone stood at attention and saluted with great momentum.
A few minutes later, the junior purification officers each performed their duties and headed for the underground passage.
Qi Mi and Ye Shiliu met at an intersection. Not long after they entered, they were called out by Old Wei, who was worried about his wife. He repeatedly told them to take good care of Liao Yang.
The two agreed immediately.
After watching the two leave, Lao Wei's face turned serious in an instant, and he returned to his senior team, waiting for the base commander's lecture.
Loki faced them, his staff in hand. "Finally, another crisis has arrived, my subordinates. Now is your turn. Arrange yourselves in groups of two, from left to right. With our base as the reference, search the four directions thoroughly. If you see any saboteurs, execute them on the spot without mercy!"
"Yes!" everyone said in unison.
Li Xu glanced at Old Wei beside him and said with disdain, "You really are haunting me."
Perhaps it was fate that these two people were assigned to the same group.
Old Wei felt a little grateful because he had saved Qi Mi before, so he didn't get angry when he heard him say that. Instead, he thanked him with a smile: "I heard that you saved my sister last time. Thank you."
Li Xu inexplicably felt a hint of nausea and snorted coldly: "I didn't intend to save her. I just wanted to test the humanoid weapons under my command."
When it comes to Song Chun, Old Wei hates him as much as he can, frowning: "How can you accept your companion becoming a weapon?"
Li Xu's fox eyes twitched slightly, and he turned around calmly: "Because that is their choice, I respect it... Commander Wei is not so naive as to put loyalty first, right? In the face of life and death, I only care about myself and cannot care about so many people."
Unexpectedly, they both had this in common. Old Wei took a few quick steps and asked, "So you're not a Purification Officer to protect humanity?"
"Protect humanity?" Li Xu looked as if he had heard some ridiculous joke, his expression even more disdainful. "I became a Purification Officer just to survive. You don't need to flatter me."
After saying that, he jumped into the car, completely unwilling to continue communicating with Lao Wei.
Lao Wei returned to the car.
Perhaps it was the faint bloody energy condensing inside the car that made Old Wei feel as if he could hear the sound of blood flowing slowly in his ears. He glanced at the black armor in the rearview mirror and turned his head away irritably: "The next job is just a search. You don't need to wear this."
He knew that as long as Shu Li wore this armor, this cold thing would suck her blood like a wolf and drain her body madly.
Shu Li held the helmet in both hands and looked out the window with an indifferent expression. When she heard these words, she shifted her gaze slightly.
She had lost her former radiance, and her face was as pale as paper, forming a sharp contrast with the heavy black armor she was wearing.
"Wear it, just in case," she said.
Old Wei wanted to say something, but when he saw Shu Li, who looked lifeless in the rearview mirror, his throat suddenly tightened. He swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth, sighed, and started the car.
Ten minutes later, before reaching the designated location, Lao Wei saw Li Xu's white SUV parked in the night from a distance.
The SUV flashed its hazard lights, signaling him to stop immediately.
Old Wei knew that Li Xu would not give such instructions for no reason, so he slammed on the brakes and stopped the car a few meters away from the white off-road vehicle.
It was dead silent.
In the dim light ahead, Old Wei spotted several puppets hanging from the roof. They were tethered by something, but they moved their limbs merrily, hanging on both sides of the street as if to express a welcome.
Very weird.
He raised his eyes calmly and looked at Shu Li in the rearview mirror. He didn't know when, she had put on the helmet on her head, looking as if she was ready to go.
Those puppets were the exclusive weapons of the Destroyer Puppeteer. Combined with binocular cameras, these contaminated puppets served as mobile surveillance cameras. Similar to the fixed camera in the abandoned hospital, anyone caught by this camera moving within its field of view with exposed skin would be instantly drawn into the strange barrier.
Just like Zheng Yuanyuan and others, although they were wearing clothes, their faces were exposed and they were in the middle of an activity. The moment they were captured by the field of vision, they were pulled into the flat world.
It can attack humans from a distance without any contact, which is very tricky.
Li Xu knew how powerful he was, so he kept his hands on the steering wheel without moving, and only used his eyes to secretly observe his surroundings.
Strictly speaking, even the eyes cannot move.
This puppet was both terrifying and cunning. If it targeted him, even blinking could drag him into the barrier. Now, because the car was some distance away from the puppet, and there was a layer of glass in front of it, he dared to observe it.
Ten meters away, a puppeteer wearing overalls and exaggerated bunny ears sat on the roof, dangling his legs leisurely and singing a nursery rhyme quietly: "One, two, three, wooden man, don't talk or move."
The puppeteer was a teenage boy with the distinctive black spots of a vandal on his neck. He turned his head to glance at the two cars parked nearby and spoke to the little puppet sitting quietly beside him: "Qiqi, do you think we will win this game, or will they?"
Pinocchio is dressed like him, wearing overalls and bunny ears, like a boy puppet version of his alter ego, except he can't speak.
But the puppeteer was talking seriously to Qiqi and clapped his hands excitedly: "Really? I think we can win too!"
Hehehaha, hahahaha.
In the dark night, the laughter came and went, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, giving off a chilling feeling.
As the two faced each other, there was a knock and Shu Li pressed the door lock.
"Where are you going?" Lao Wei hurriedly stopped him because they were still far away.
Shu Li seemed not to hear and opened the car door on her own. An unclear voice came from her armor: "Old Wei, you should understand my temper."
"Shu Li! Come back!"
"Don't worry, I have armor."
Bang! Shu Li closed the car door.
Old Wei: “…”
Lao Wei knew that she was going to take revenge.
It was thanks to this puppeteer that Shu Li's SAN value dropped to the moderately chaotic area, which not only ruined her career as a purification officer, but also reduced her to a humanoid weapon that was neither human nor ghost.
The armor nourished by blood, even though it looks heavy, is much lighter to use. After Shu Li stretched it for a while, he quickly ran towards the puppet formation in front.
After asking Li Xu for instructions, Song Chun also opened the door and joined the team.
The puppeteer looked at the two armored men running over, his expression changed slightly, and he picked up the puppet: "Qiqi, what are those two weird things?"
After fighting with humans for a long time, this was the first time he saw this thing.
Being pulled into the enchantment by the strange puppets required two things: movement and exposure. The two armored figures, though deliberately moving within the puppets' field of vision, were well concealed from head to toe by their black armor, making them completely invulnerable to the puppets.
Shu Li and Song Chun cooperated with each other and attacked the puppets hanging on both sides of the roof respectively. With one punch, the puppets were shattered into pieces.
Seeing the two getting closer, the puppeteer slowly sat up and raised his hands with a sinister look on his face: "Now we can have some fun, Qiqi."
He moved his fingers flexibly, manipulating the puppet Kiki to stand up happily. Then, the puppet seemed to come alive, jumped from the roof, and bowed to the two ladies very gentlemanly.
The puppeteer's voice, deliberately altered, made the puppets come alive: "Hello, both of you. Would you like to see a wonderful puppet show?"
Shu Li snorted coldly, not wanting to waste time, and rushed forward with fists raised.
Pinocchio stepped back quickly: "Are you so impatient? Then the show is about to begin."
"three."
"two."
"one!"
In an instant, Shu Li's legs and raised fist were bound. Upon closer inspection, she discovered that there was a net woven with imperceptible silk threads. If it weren't for the sturdy armor on their bodies, they would have been torn to pieces.
However, it was precisely because of this armor that Shu Li frowned, exerted a little strength, broke free from the restraints, and continued to move forward.
"Next, let's welcome the actors to the stage!"
As soon as the words fell, puppets flew out of nowhere, swiftly cutting through the night sky and rushing in front of Shu Li and Song Chun. The two raised their fists to attack, but the puppets were unexpectedly numerous, constantly flying out of the darkness.
As if they had discovered their weaknesses, the puppets kept spinning in front of their eyes.
Immediately afterwards, a pair of wooden eyes equipped with cameras stared straight at Song Chun.
Song Chun: “!”
In a flash, these eyes suddenly shattered.
She managed to escape.
Looking closely, she saw that Lao Wei had run out at some point and smashed the puppet in front of her with one punch.
Song Chun's pupils suddenly constricted: "Boss?!"
They are now wearing armor and can't escape the predicament. If he exposes himself like that, isn't he seeking death?
Thinking of this, Song Chun hurriedly used his body to block him.
"Old Wei, you're crazy!" Shu Li also scolded.
But when he turned around, he saw that the man behind the car's windshield was none other than Lao Wei.
It's like this again, how come there are two Lao Wei?
Shu Li didn't have time to think. Seeing a puppet coming towards her, she quickly raised her hands to cover her eyes, crushing it non-stop.
For a moment, the three of them were trapped in the puppet formation and the fight was in chaos.
Li Xu sat in the car, watching the scene quietly, his eyes raised with disdain. While the atmosphere was bustling, he calmly pulled out his silver-white gun, put on the safety, and slowly moved the gun out the window.
The next second, bang! Like a blue lotus blossoming, or a dragon soaring freely in the water, the gunshot rang out and suddenly rushed forward.
With a momentum that didn't care about the life and death of their companions, the blue flames enveloped them all.
"I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose." The puppeteer widened his eyes in fear and quickly turned around and ran away.
They didn't even bother to take Pinocchio away.
The flames burned away all the grass and all the cheerful puppets were burned to ashes.
Although she was wearing armor, the extremely high temperature still made Shu Li feel uncomfortable. She woke up, and after the blue light dissipated, she found that she was the only one left around.
Song Chun was young and energetic. When he saw the puppeteer fleeing, he chased after him without stopping, wanting to take the opportunity to get rid of this big threat.
When Shu Li looked over, she only saw Song Chun's back flashing around the corner.
"Song Chun, come back here!" Old Wei hurriedly got out of the car and chased after him.
Shu Li followed.
Li Xu looked at them coldly as they acted foolishly, blew away the smoke from the muzzle of the gun gently, and put the gun back to his waist.
However, by the time Lao Wei and Shu Li arrived, the intersection had already been completely entangled with the cunning plots of various newspapers. A man, tall and seemingly a miniature giant, was carrying Song Chun to meet the puppeteer. Next to him was a man in a striped shirt, holding a green flute.
The two sides faced each other across the trap.
"Sorry for bothering you all today. We have obtained the information we wanted and will take our leave now." The man was polite and smiled as he glanced at Song Chun on the little giant's shoulder. He raised his flute and played a strange melody.
Lao Wei quickly covered his ears.
Seeing that several people were about to leave, Shu Li quickly rushed over, but was bound by those barely noticeable silk threads. Her eyes suddenly became fierce, and she tore at the silk threads with all her strength.
The man put down the flute and chuckled softly: "Don't worry, we will meet again soon."
Seeing the other party so arrogant, Lao Wei cursed inwardly and immediately turned around and ran back to the car.
Just as he was about to drive after him, he was stopped by the white SUV in front of him.
"Li Xu, get out of my way!" Old Wei leaned over and shouted.
As if thinking that opening the window to curse at each other was indecent, Li Xu's calm voice came from the communicator: "Subordinates really follow their superiors. If she makes a fool, you make a fool too. Do you want to die for her? I remember you still have a wife. Are you ready to leave her alone?"
Old Wei: “…”
The sarcastic remark made Lao Wei sober up a little. His eyes flashed, and after thinking for a moment, he released the accelerator.
At this time, Shu Li came over and knocked on Li Xu's car window, taking off his helmet and asking: "Did you modify this gun?"
As a former senior purification officer, she knew that the guns issued by the agency would not be so powerful.
Li Xu nodded and had no intention of hiding it.
Old Wei knew that Li Xu had been renovated at a repair shop. The fire was so powerful that it could burn down most of the house, but he didn't hesitate at all when he fired the gun just now, which made it clear that he didn't care about the lives of the three of them.
He shouted again: "Hey, weren't you afraid of accidentally killing us just now?"
"They're both protected by armor, so they're sure they'll be fine. As for you..." Li Xu snorted coldly, "One moment you were in front of the car, and the next moment you just got out of it. Who knows what kind of magic you used? If you die, you die."
Shu Li didn't understand this either, so she asked, "Old Wei, what happened to you just now? Why are there two of you?"
"Well……"
Old Wei was speechless for a moment.
This is his special skill as a doomsday player. He can create clones based on his consciousness. Within a hundred meters, he only needs to rely on remote control to make the clones perform powerful punches and kicks like him. Moreover, the clones have no consciousness and can remain safe even if exposed to the sight of the strange puppet.
When there was no crisis, he had been deliberately hiding it, and only showed it today out of necessity.
Using the excuse of hurrying up to complete his task, he changed the subject with a smile. Fortunately, Li Xu and Shu Li were not the type to ask questions, so seeing that he didn't want to talk, they stopped asking.
After reporting Song Chun's arrest to their superiors, the two drove on to the mission location.
On the other side, Ye Shiliu, who was responsible for guarding the hospital's escape route, stood straight, staring straight ahead with a sharp gaze.
Qi Mi was in charge of the area on the other side. The two stood back to back at a distance of two or three meters, which was equivalent to leaving their backs to each other.
The communicators on their waists were all dialed to the public channel.
After hearing the news that Song Chun was captured by the saboteurs, the two turned around and looked at each other silently.
"The destroyers are here again..." Ye Shiliu said with a worried look on his face. "That's not right. They've never taken away purification officers before. They were always killed on the spot. Why did they take Song Chun away?"
Qi Mi didn't understand, but he believed that the other party would never do something for no reason: "They must have their own purpose for doing this."
Taking Song Chun away, is he trying to get something?
She remembered that the last time she saw Song Chun, Song Chun had a strange expression on his face, as if he had something to say about her taking the exam to become a purification officer, but he didn't say it out loud.
After Song Chun resumes his job, will he learn some inside stories that he never knew before?
She was just thinking about this when she was suddenly interrupted by Ye Shiliu's voice.
"Do you think we can win this battle?" he asked in a deep voice.
Qi Mi glanced sideways slightly and stared at Ye Shiliu's back.
Seeing that she hadn't answered yet, Ye Shiliu looked straight ahead and asked again: "Do you think we can win?"
"What do you think?" She looked away and asked.
Ye Shiliu's eyes moved slightly: "I'm asking you."
"Want to hear the truth?"
"certainly."
"I think it's pretty bad."
“…”
Such a frank statement made Ye Shiliu's heart sink. In fact, he had some bad premonitions, so he asked Qi Mi for hope, but he didn't expect to get such a straightforward answer.
"Don't think my words are harsh. From what I understand so far, the destroyers are indeed superior. They rely on their powerful pollution system to turn any object containing data into a strange object. Even a small piece of card or even a sound can pose a threat to us. And although we have armored men on our side, humans still need to breathe. Those two small holes in the armor could become a fatal weakness—"
Having said this, Qi Mi paused and his mind suddenly became clear.
At present, the armored man should be regarded as the trump card of the organization. Because he is wearing armor, he cannot be touched by ordinary tricks, which greatly improves his combat capability.
If the opponent wants to attack, as long as they can defeat this most powerful trump card, sweeping the base will not be a problem.
Could it be that Song Chun... is the armored man taken back by the other party for research?
She felt a buzzing in her head.
At that time, she was in a bad mood after suffering a defeat, and her brain seemed to be unable to work. Now she thought about it, that armored man was with Li Xu, who else could it be but Song Chun?
After confirming with Lao Wei over the phone, her guess was proven.
Song Chun was the armored man who saved her.
"Girl, remember not to tell your sister Liao Yang about this. She's pregnant and prone to overthinking things. I have something else to tell you..."
"Wait a minute, Old Wei." Qi Mi called him.
"What else?"
Qi Mi was silent for two seconds: "...We'll talk about it when you come back. Be careful."
After a brief silence, two chuckles came from the other side: "Don't worry, I know."
Beep, the phone was hung up.
At the same time, in the living room, Liao Yang sat alone in front of the window, with his hands clasped together against his forehead, praying for peace.
After Zheng Yuanyuan and Qi Mi went out to carry out the mission, only she and the seven cubs were left here.
A small eye peeked out from the tiny crack in the door. Yu Jiaojiao held her breath and tiptoed back onto the mat. "Teacher Liao is still in the same position, she hasn't moved at all."
The seven kids were not sleeping. They were sitting in a circle and having a meeting in a low voice.
Wu Muchen folded his arms and nodded like a little adult: "Everyone should have felt it. The teachers are very hard-working, so we must be good and not cause them any trouble, okay?"
Several people nodded.
The youngest, Di Yuntong, spoke in a hoarse voice, his eyes suddenly reddening: "But what should I do if I miss my mother?"
"Shh..." Fang Xinyue quickly covered his mouth, "Don't cry, or Teacher Liao will come in."
Ye Shuci took the opportunity to touch Di Yuntong's head and comforted him, "We all miss our parents very much. Don't cry, or you will treat us as your mothers?"
Several girls agreed.
Di Yuntong was startled and pushed Fang Xinyue's hand away, sniffing and saying, "I don't think this is a good idea. You don't look like my mother at all."
Fang Xinyue reached out to wipe his tears: "Then you can treat us as your new mothers." As he said that, he held Di Yuntong in his arms, "Be good, Yuntong baby, don't cry, oh~~~"
"Be good, don't cry."
"Come on, wipe your tears."
In order to comfort the youngest cub, several "new mothers" took turns and finally calmed him down.
The two boys, Peng Yichen and Wu Muchen, sat on the side, looking out of place.
Peng Yichen looked at them and suddenly lowered his head. "I don't know where Teacher Du and Wang Xiaohu have gone. Without Teacher Qi, what if they encounter a monster?"
"No," Wu Muchen said seriously, "My uncle always says, 'Good fortune will come to those who are lucky.' They will be fine."
"I also think that Teacher Du and the others are fine." Ye Shuci said confidently.
At this time, Ye Shushi asked a question: "Where are we now? Why are we encountering so many bad guys and monsters?"
Several people looked at each other in confusion: "I don't know."
As if the conversation was opened, the children started chatting one after another:
"It feels so dangerous."
"Yes, Teacher Qi and Teacher Zheng are always injured and look like they are in pain."
"Do you remember those big monsters from before? It felt like one of their teeth was as big as my head!"
"Peng Yichen, stop talking, it's scary!"
“…”
The children grew increasingly excited, and it felt like the group was about to disband. Wu Muchen frowned and continued to preside over the situation, "Alright, alright, everyone. We must believe that justice will triumph over evil. The teachers are all female warriors. They will definitely drive away the bad guys and monsters. Look, aren't we all doing fine now?"
"That's right, we are all fine now, and we have toys to play with."
"The teachers will definitely drive away the bad guys!"
"right!"
"Aren't you going to sleep yet?" A helpless voice came from the door. Liao Yang heard the noise and gently pushed open the door. He saw these children sitting together and having a secret discussion.
“!!!”
Seven little heads looked over at the same time.
I don't know who shouted, "Teacher Liao is here, go to bed!", and the seven little ones were busy running and crawling. After finding a place, they fell on the bed and slept in a row like a row of little white radishes.
Liao Yang smiled and closed the door.
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