319 Toad Man (I)
◎Dududu——◎
Zhu Ning closed his eyes and wondered why he closed his eyes because of this scene. In fact, he just felt a little disgusted.
She turned on the God's perspective again to see more clearly, but the man was gone, and the entire tent seemed to have never existed. The place was empty.
How could it be possible? Zhu Ning searched and confirmed that there was really nothing. Was she hallucinating?
Drug addicts lick toads to induce hallucinations, but hallucinations are difficult to judge. It is difficult to determine when they started, and it is also impossible to judge whether the companions around you are still your original companions. For example, is Bai Cheng outside really Bai Cheng?
Hallucinations are not scary, but suspicion is scary. After all, fake things cannot hurt people, only yourself can hurt others.
So try not to move if possible. Zhu Ning still sat cross-legged. Soon, two hours later, Bai Cheng finished his guard duty and it was Zhu Ning's turn next.
Lin Xiaofeng did not participate in this night watch. Zhu Ning crawled out of the tent and wanted to see if there was anything wrong with Bai Cheng, but Bai Cheng was full of strangeness, so it was actually difficult to see.
Zhu Ning asked, "Did you hear any sound just now?"
Bai Cheng: "It's all quite normal."
Was I the only one who heard the toad sound? Zhu Ning said nothing more. Bai Cheng closed the tent and went to sleep.
Zhu Ning chose to keep watch outside the tent. She found a mat and sat on the ground because she felt that this place was weird and everything she saw was wrong.
The dust storm outside the shelter continued. The nearby tents were crowded together like white buns in a steamer. There were snoring sounds, people talking quietly, and some people crying.
The pilgrims seeking utopia were crying. One man was shaking uncontrollably. Someone next to him kicked him impatiently and threatened him in a low voice, "Why are you crying? Shut up! I want to sleep!"
The pilgrim was the weakest to begin with, and now he was shaking even more violently. He covered his mouth and dared not make a sound, but tears still streamed down his face.
Zhu Ning was actually very curious about the pilgrims. These people did not have strong spiritual values, at most they were slightly stronger than ordinary people. It was quite amazing that they could walk all the way from the wall to here.
Pei Shu said that Utopia is a country without oppression and where everyone is equal. Is it the base organized by the perfect evolutionists?
Is equality for all a perfect evolutionary state? Is the so-called utopia where Liu Yu came from?
The more I think about it, the more possible it seems. Where is Liu Yu's hometown?
"You're still crying!" The man couldn't stand it anymore. He was probably a little irritated and tossed and turned, unable to sleep. "Get out."
The pilgrim wiped his tears and stood up tremblingly. His companions were too frightened to help him. He looked around and found that there was nowhere to go.
Suddenly, he was stunned. There was a woman standing against the wall not far away. She looked very ordinary, but her figure and physique were different from ordinary people. Her temperament was also very special. Her posture was loose, which made people feel inexplicably safe.
Zhu Ning mouthed, "Come over here?"
He hesitated for a moment, feeling that the man had no ill intentions, so he walked over. Seeing that the man had short hair, half tied up at the back, he asked softly, "Would you like to stay here with me for a while?"
He looked around and saw that the team had three tents, so there shouldn't be many people. They weren't a powerful investigation organization, which made him feel relieved.
He sat down carefully. After a while, his two companions seemed unable to sit still. Seeing that Zhu Ning was not in danger, they came over and sat down together.
"Thank you, thank you." The four of them expressed their gratitude while holding their backpacks.
Zhu Ning took a look and saw that there were two men and two women. The oldest one looked only twenty years old, and the others were around sixteen or seventeen years old. How on earth did these people survive to this day?
Zhu Ning chatted with them, "Where are you from?"
"North, north wall, Exit F-03." said a man.
When they met outside the wall, they usually said which wall they started from. These people were actually smart. The north wall was very big, and they and Zhu Ning didn't start from the same point.
Zhu Ning stretched out his hand and said, "My name is Bai Cheng."
"Ah?" The man was startled. They had all heard of Bai Cheng's name but had never seen her. It turned out that this person was the genius girl, Bai Cheng, who killed three employers. No wonder she had such a special temperament and felt so safe.
He was suddenly not afraid anymore. Evil organizations were scary. In his eyes, bounty hunters who killed their employers were warriors fighting against capitalist oppression. No wonder they were so nice and willing to give them a place.
It turns out they are the same kind.
"My name is Guo Zilin." The man introduced his companions, "This is Qin Yali, Wang Wei, and Jin Shan."
Zhu Ning nodded and said, "You guys are pretty amazing."
"No, no, no," Guo Zilin looked at her with admiration, "You are the best."
Zhu Ning chatted with them for a few more words, and when he had almost gotten enough of them, he asked, "Are you going to Utopia?"
Guo Zilin's expression of fear and cowardice changed, and when he spoke of his faith, he straightened his back and said, "Yes, we are going."
Zhu Ning: "Does utopia really exist?"
Wang Wei next to them snorted. They may have met too many people like this on the road. They all looked down on them and thought they were just naive young people dreaming.
Zhu Ning: "I'm just asking, out of curiosity."
Guo Zilin hesitated for a moment, probably thinking Zhu Ning was a very kind person. "It really exists. I didn't lie to you. Otherwise, do you think we are stupid? We have been…" He choked up, "One hundred and eighty-nine people have died along the way."
Zhu Ning didn't expect to hear such casualty figures. After all, a small team transferred north had only a dozen people. She understood how these four survived. The victory in numbers was purely due to luck.
Zhu Ning: "Why?"
She really didn't understand how they knew there were people outside. If they were just going to die like this, there must be some definite evidence, right?
Guo Zilin paused here and changed the subject, "If you want to go, you can come with us. We won't harm you."
Zhu Ning knew that he had asked about core secrets. The four people were obviously alert and refused to say anything more. Zhu Ning changed the subject, took out a medical kit and gave it to them, asked them to apply medicine, and also gave them a can of Coke.
Guo Zilin had never met such a good person when he was out. He was suspicious of her at first. She was so nice to them for no reason and must have some ulterior motive.
It wasn't until Zhu Ning took out a can of Coke that Guo Zilin was stunned for a moment. He opened it and took a sip carefully, then passed it to the other partners. The four of them took turns drinking a bottle.
The Coke was sweet, with bubbles bursting on their tongues. They savored it carefully. This was the life within the wall and the mark of industrial maturity, completely different from the barbaric cruelty of the wasteland.
They hunched their knees, a complex wave of emotions welling up in their hearts. They felt wronged. They had a good life to live, drinking as much Coke as they wanted. They had come so far, and had been outside the wall for a month. Did utopia really exist? Was all their efforts worth it?
Guo Zilin was thinking too deeply, or his consciousness was a little dazed, and he didn't even react when Zhu Ning's hand approached. Zhu Ning gently touched his forehead with a finger, and he looked over in a daze.
Zhu Ning released mental pollution on the four people. She had this special ability and wanted to persuade them step by step, but it was not as convenient as directly looking at the memories in the other person's mind. Anyway, she could receive it by just touching the forehead.
At that moment, his memories were all mixed up. Zhu Ning's brain was like a computer, and he would go through a period of confusion every time he read other people's memories.
As if rewinding the tape, she saw Guo Zi escaping death, shouting the names of his dead companions, carrying his companions on his back, with the flames of the explosion behind him.
Sixty of them were walking on the street when they came across a can. At first, they didn't take it seriously, until the can followed them all the way, and then danger struck...
The memory is in reverse order, with the number of people increasing until the night before leaving the wall.
Zhu Ning saw the top of the north wall. When they passed by, they saw several houses. Pei Shu explained that they were guard posts and shelters where people would rest.
Zhu Ning and his companions were just passing through without taking a break, but this group of people had a strong sense of ceremony. They celebrated up there as if they were holding some kind of ceremony, shouting, "This is our first stop outside the wall."
"We will be outsiders tomorrow!" Someone threw his chip card and pass, which symbolized his federal identity, out of the wall.
Just like after the college entrance examination, a large number of people will tear up their books and throw away their papers. Everyone is infected by a certain atmosphere and throws things down like stones.
"We are free!"
"Utopia! Utopia!" they shouted. "Utopia! Here we come!"
Zhu Ning always felt that there was a totem on the ground, which was burned out by fire, leaving black charcoal marks. However, because he was looking at his memory from his own perspective, without a God's perspective, he could not see the whole picture, like looking at a leopard through a tube.
Suddenly, Zhu Ning saw a person in the crowd. The person looked very much like the dean in Zhu Ning's impression. He was a bit old-fashioned and looked like the abbot of a monastery. He was wearing a full black suit and had a necklace around his neck.
She smiled with great satisfaction and looked at the children almost dotingly.
There was a man next to her who was dressed similarly to her and might be a colleague.
Someone called her: "Teacher Qi, thank you for taking care of me. If it weren't for you, I..."
He was like a little lamb that had found its way and was very grateful. Guo Zilin was too far away from him, and Zhu Ning could not see what he was saying.
Guo Zilin was drunk that day and was very high the whole time. His perspective was disorganized and he could only hear a few fragments of other people's conversations.
Zhu Ning had no choice but to focus her attention on Teacher Qi. She read Guo Zilin's memories backwards and knew that this person was not in their adventure outside the wall, so this person did not go out with them. It should be that the mentor was seeing him off.
The pilgrims did have an organization. Zhu Ning wanted to see the necklace on Teacher Qi's neck clearly, but he could only see a ring and could not make out the specific pattern on it.
Zhu Ning wanted Guo Zilin to come closer, but Guo Zilin stumbled and was pushed. His companion shouted, "Hah, hah, hah, hah!"
Zhu Ning felt that they were particularly annoying, and his perspective became increasingly distant.
Beep beep beep——
Zhu Ning suddenly withdrew her hand, and her memory was instantly cut off. She heard the toad's cry.
Here they are again, where is that toad? It's closer, the calls louder, as if thousands of them are crouching right beside them, their goosebump-like skin oozing a slime that drives them crazy.
Zhu Ning felt that sensation on her tongue again, as if she was licking a toad. She had never licked one in her life, but the feeling was unusually clear.
Reading and memorizing were quite fast, and under the influence of mental suggestion, Guo Zilin only felt Zhu Ning quickly touch his head and then withdraw his hand. Zhu Ning said: "You have an injury here."
Guo Zilin touched his forehead. The man had just kicked him, and one of his kicks had hit him on the head. There was indeed an injury, and the skin on his forehead was scraped off.
Guo Zilin scratched the broken skin with his fingers and said, "Thank you."
Zhu Ning didn't read his memory completely. She guessed that this was not an accident. It seemed that something in his mind was stopping her. The same was true for her other companions. She wouldn't be able to see much if she read it again.
Could it be that something was planted in these people's brains before they set out?
The noise in Zhu Ning's ears was getting louder and louder, a ceaseless beeping sound, as if a toad had jumped on her and no matter how hard she tried to shake it off, it couldn't get rid of her. The toad lay on her face, its cold skin pressed against her, and it was yelling at her frantically:
Beep beep beep——
The cry made her feel a little irritated, and even she wanted to go crazy after hearing it. It was definitely mental pollution.
Zhu Ning asked, "Did you hear the screams?"
"What's that noise?"
Zhu Ning: "The toad is calling."
Guo Zilin scratched his forehead, as if Zhu Ning had just touched him and made him dirty, or as if that place was extremely itchy. He scratched it continuously until his head was broken and bleeding, revealing his white skull.
Zhu Ning frowned and looked at him. Guo Zilin's companion might have been frightened and did not even try to stop him. Guo Zilin dug as if he was possessed. She thought he would stop when he dug into the skull, but he didn't. He kept pushing in and finally got his index finger in.
Guo Zilin heaved a sigh of relief after inserting his index finger into the gap between his scalp and skull. He stirred it around for a bit and it seemed that the itch was finally gone. He felt relaxed all over.
So comfortable.
He suddenly realized that everything around him was very quiet. Zhu Ning frowned and looked at him. He was unfamiliar with that kind of look. It was as if he was looking at a monster. He asked, "What, what's wrong?"
His mouth and neck were swollen with blood, as if there was a balloon filled with water inside, or more accurately, a toad's eardrum, which expanded and contracted when he spoke. There were some olive green bumps on his cheeks, like a toad's skin.
He was clearly asking what was going on, but what Zhu Ning heard was not the sound of human voices, but the sound of toads.
Beep beep beep——
The author has something to say:
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or provided me with nutrient solution between 2023-08-16 16:31:15 and 2023-08-17 18:02:53~
Thanks to the little angel who cast the rocket launcher: 1 for three Mao tickets;
Thanks to the little angels who cast mines: 68855041, Daily Home Girl, Chen Heng, 33130042, Tiantian Carrot Head, Da Diao Diao Feixiang, and Wuwei 1;
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