plastic
Is An Chi dead?
Until Liu Niannian's right hand was bitten off, she was still immersed in this question. The Homecoming Train was the shell of an apple snail, and the tail of the train was the bottom of the snail. Liu Niannian subconsciously grabbed the edge of the snail shell. Now the snail shell opened a narrow hole, and pink snail meat overflowed from the edge and bit Liu Niannian's arm.
The bones snapped and blood gushed out. It all happened so suddenly that even her brain was slow to react. The pain lagged behind reality, making her forget An Chi's whereabouts for a moment, and even forget Zhu Ning in her mind.
All the nerves in Liu Niannian's body were stretched at the same time, her pupils shrank slightly, and the bones in her forearm were broken in half. Only the weak muscle tissue connected her and prevented her from falling off the car.
Liu Niannian's first reaction was surprise. She had also entered the contaminated area inside the wall, mostly under Pei Shu's protection. On the few occasions when she was alone, Zhu Ning also protected her, just like in that cannibalistic hot pot restaurant. She had never suffered a serious injury that could threaten her life.
This is her first adventure in life, and the current progress is to lose an arm.
She recalled An Chi's meaningful look and said, "It's like a fairy tale."
She remembered Pei Shu, cigarette in hand, leaning against the railing of the training ground, watching her train with a dejected look on his face. Pei Shu shook his head, "That's not enough. You have to actually kill someone."
Pei Shu: "What I meant is, kill the other party at the cost of his own life."
The little princess in the safe area will not grow up, she needs to face danger like Zhu Ning.
There was Anchi in the first half of the journey, but now the real adventure begins.
A chilling chill seeped out from the back of the iron carriage. She saw the snail meat up close. It was different from the last time Zhu Ning came. Foul-smelling mucus was flowing around the edges like sewage, and eyes were opening on the surface of the snail meat.
There was a chewing sound coming from deep inside the train, and the last connection of skin and flesh to Liu Niannian's right arm was completely severed, as if the safety rope was broken while rock climbing, and he experienced a moment of weightlessness.
She clung to the car door with her left hand. The door was not a smooth iron plate, but had an iron staircase on it. She stepped on the rear door and used the force to throw herself out. The meat of the apple snail popped out at the same time, and Liu Niannian looked into the eyeballs on the surface of the snail meat.
It was as if I was looking into countless eyes and countless souls.
boom--
Liu Niannian's body hit the roof of the car and was rushed several meters away due to inertia. There are 22 carriages in total, and she is currently in car 20.
The flesh of the golden apple snail behind her had fully opened, and its huge shadow submerged her. Wet mucus poured over her body and slid down her protective suit.
Liu Niannian didn't even get up, but lowered her body's center of gravity. Pei Shu's years of training had at least had some effect. She flipped her body flexibly, from the roof to the left side of the train.
She grabbed the roof of the car with one hand and kicked the window hard with both feet, trying to get into the car immediately before being swallowed by the apple snail.
As soon as she landed, she saw the interior of car 19. Half of the car was filled with cold, stagnant water. Water ghosts who had died many years ago were standing in knee-deep water. They were wearing long gowns from the old world. They noticed an intruder outside the window and glanced at them coldly.
Liu Niannian was frightened by the eyes of the water ghost. It was a pollutant that had been dead for at least a hundred years. Zhu Ning had been killed by this thing eight times before he fled to the front of the car.
The apple snail was already behind her, almost able to swallow her in one bite. Liu Niannian saw the shadow of the snail meat on the glass window. It was a glass window, with a water ghost inside and the apple snail outside.
Bang--!
The blood dripping from the cracks on Liu Niannian's broken hand condensed into blood blades in mid-air. This was the nearest source of water at hand. The flesh and blood suddenly shot back, and the apple snail's body paused for a moment.
With a click, the glass window cracked under his feet, and transparent glass splashed everywhere. Liu Niannian was like a young leopard, moving quickly but unskilled, and jumped into the Homecoming a little clumsily.
She squinted her eyes when she landed, like a stone hitting a pool, the water in the carriage caused ripples. When Liu Niannian landed, the water scattered, leaving a dry space of one and a half meters wide.
Liu Niannian was half-kneeling among the water ghosts, and the water ghosts around her were looking down at her, while the apple snails outside the window did not go away, and the snail meat was sticking to the window.
It was not because the snail meat could not enter the car, but because it was intimidated by a force. Liu Niannian controlled the water source, and the surface of the snail meat was covered with wet mucus, so it was equivalent to her having to do an extremely complicated process the moment she landed. She had to control the apple snail behind her, break the car window, and control the accumulated water in the car to ensure that she would not be killed by the water ghost.
If any one of these steps was executed incorrectly, Liu Niannian would die on the spot.
Inside the helmet, she felt dizzy and dazed due to excessive use of her superpowers. Warm liquid flowed from her eyes, as if two lines of blood and tears were flowing.
She is constantly pushing her limits and is in a stalemate with the Homecoming Train. Any relaxation will put her in danger.
What Liu Niannian felt was not pain, but extreme pressure. She was a little fuzzy, the water ghost in front of her seemed to have a double image, and Zhu Ning in her mind became so distant.
But that was not Liu Niannian's illusion. Zhu Ning in the Far North could feel that his control over Liu Niannian was weakening. This was an obvious truth. Mycelium controlled humans by controlling nerves and established communication. Liu Niannian could easily suffer a mental breakdown if she overused her supernatural powers. Zhu Ning's mycelium attached to her nerves was slipping.
"That's enough. Go to the front of the car and don't go any further." Zhu Ning said.
Liu Niannian was losing blood. It was enough for her to walk out of the wall and here for the first time. She could go to the front of the car to repair it first, or just give up the mission. It would not be a big deal. Zhu Ning did not need to sacrifice Liu Niannian's life.
In Liu Niannian's consciousness, Zhu Ning's shadow became more and more abstract, as if a human-shaped ice sculpture was slowly melting, leaving only a thick black shadow.
Zhu Ning opened his mouth and said something to himself, but Liu Niannian couldn't hear clearly. Everything seemed unreal.
"The mission is stopped, go back."
"Be good, go quickly."
Liu Niannian shook her head and could only understand a few words. Zhu Ning seemed to ask her to give up.
She covered her arm to prevent the blood from spilling out. Zhu Ning said that water ghosts would live in stagnant water, but she didn't know if water ghosts would live in blood.
She activated the healing agent built into her protective suit, but it didn't have much effect.
Liu Niannian raised his head and saw that the water stains outside the isolation circle were moving very actively, twitching and stretching.
Liu Niannian's eyes were stinging, but he could vaguely identify the direction and was about to reach the rear of the car.
She immediately entered car 19. Zhu Ning had stopped in this car that year, and she walked to Zhu Ning's destination at that time.
Behind her was car No. 18, which had no water accumulated. As long as she insisted on walking to the front of the car, the apple snails outside the window would no longer threaten her.
Liu Niannian seemed to be standing at a node, with the danger of losing her life ahead and a safe path behind.
A sensible person would choose to back off.
Zhu Ning saw Liu Niannian's face on the big screen in the far north. From her perspective, Liu Niannian was in a very dangerous situation. There was an apple snail outside the window, a water ghost inside the window, and she had a broken hand.
Her mental strength was fighting against the Homecoming, and giving it her all could only maintain the status quo.
Zhu Ning tried to control Liu Niannian's body to let her evacuate first, but Liu Niannian probably broke free from her control, and the control of her limbs failed, so Zhu Ning continued to exert subconscious influence.
Suddenly, Liu Niannian moved and took a step towards the rear of the Homecoming train.
As she moved, the water in the car also moved. She took a step forward, and the water ghost closest to her took a step back.
Liu Niannian seemed to be climbing rocks against a strong wind, or swimming against a current, with greater resistance with every step.
She lowered her right hand. The wound was not even broken neatly, with bloody pieces of flesh, sharp bone spurs, and unsightly muscle tissue.
Liu Niannian lowered her arm, and the blood naturally flowed downwards. A drop of blood dripped from the broken arm. Zhu Ning's exploration of the Homecoming was not comprehensive, and she could not guarantee whether this drop of blood would attract water ghosts if it fell on the ground.
But the blood did not fall to the ground. Instead, it expanded and grew at the broken arm. The blood quickly outlined the forearm and the outline of the skeleton. Liu Niannian moved subconsciously. Many people will have hallucinations after losing an arm, as if they can still control their fingers.
Now she also felt it. The blood condensed into a new hand. Liu Niannian moved her five fingers, and the blood reconstructed a sophisticated limb. The blood-red fingers responded to her.
She is a new human, a new human bred by her godmother to adapt to the polluted world, she said to herself. Liu Niannian ignored Zhu Ning's warning and walked towards the dark crowd of water ghosts.
…
The sound of plastic was getting louder.
In the underground cave, the Bobcat flashlight turned on, like a striking spear piercing the darkness.
The circular spot of light illuminated the old red color. The plastic buried deep underground had faded, as if a piece of red cloth had been washed countless times.
Then came blue, yellow and white, the four most common colors of plastic products, making rustling sounds underground. Before the end of the world, humans had a very old solution for dealing with garbage, namely centralized landfills. Now the federation rarely uses this outdated method.
Bobcat couldn't help but hold his breath. The instinct embedded in the blood of the investigator outside the wall made him move the flashlight, and the flashlight unfolded the scene in front of him inch by inch, as if he was carefully gazing at a significant oil painting in the dark.
The bobcat's movements were very small, and his brain was recording everything he saw. At that moment, he was no longer a human being, but just a camera extending from the collective human race.
His hand stopped, and the spot of light hit a plastic face. Her skin was pale, her features were delicate, and her hair was neatly cut short, making her look not like a human at all. She looked like a plastic model used to display clothes in a shopping mall.
Her body was embedded in a mountain of garbage, her neck was pierced by an iron rod, her hair was tangled with garbage, and her body was buried. Bobcat could only imagine her posture by the outline, probably twisted, with her chin against her knees, her waist twisted 180 degrees, and her body completely dislocated.
This looks too much like a discarded plastic mannequin.
But when the Bobcat flashlight fell on her face, her plastic eyeballs suddenly trembled, just like a human's most direct reaction to the sudden light, either raising their hands to cover it or subconsciously squinting.
The mountain cat had been outside the wall for so long and had seen countless strange creatures, but just this tiny squint made his hair stand on end.
That's not a plastic model, it's a living person.
Bobcat's hands couldn't help but tremble, the light betrayed his fear, and the edge of the halo began to tremble.
And this revealed a second face, a third face, a fourth face...
The more frightened the bobcat was, the more plastic people the flashlight swept across, and countless plastic people squinted at the same time because of the glaring light.
Their expressions were not uniform, as if each of them had their own consciousness. Some looked confused, while others looked impatient, as if they had been woken up from a deep sleep.
Plastic people are connected to each other in some way, like bamboo shoots hanging on bamboo rhizomes in a bamboo forest. There is a saying that if bamboo grows in an area, other plants will find it difficult to survive in this land because the underground has been invaded by bamboo.
Bobcat has a strange premonition that plastic people are buried all over the world, and every piece of land where there is plastic has soil for their survival.
Sometimes they are easy to find, perhaps buried in a cemetery or garbage dump, and sometimes their presence is more subtle and needs to be activated or given time to grow.
The world has been invaded by plastic, and it has long been inseparable from it. Even bobcats have no doubt that there is plastic in their bodies.
If the energy of the plastic is great enough, the microplastics in the bobcat's flesh and blood will expand and replace his internal organs and bones.
Bobcat's hands were clenched too tightly because of nervousness. He took a deep breath, not daring to disturb what was happening in front of him. It took him three breaths to regain his composure. The information recorder was still on, but it was meaningless to just record it. He needed to pass on the news, even though he had no idea what the news was for.
Bobcat remembered the thin black box in his thigh pocket, which contained a personal-machine joint device. The captain said that if necessary, he needed to contact Prometheus, who could transmit the information to the whole world.
Bobcat carefully searched his pockets, and time seemed extremely long. His fingers touched the thin black box. With a very slight sound, his fingertips felt for the switch of the box, as if he touched something soft, and black mycelium was wrapping around his fingers.
At this moment, the plastic people suddenly started to move. They raised their necks in the garbage mountain, as if they didn't care about the ants in front of them at all, but looked up in unison.
They share the same brain and do not need to speak to communicate consciously.
As they moved, the interior of the cave was wriggling, as if the cards on the table were being shuffled and spinning wildly.
Bobcat also looked up and saw a pale human face. It looked exactly like the others, but for some reason, it looked more like a living person than plastic.
If Zhu Ning was present, she would be able to recognize that this was Bai Cheng's face. The others were just differentiated shadows, and only this one was Bai Cheng's real self.
Bai Cheng looked down at the mountain cat. The other plastic figures moved, their movements mechanical and simple, as if the dolls at home all tilted their heads in unison.
They looked at the bobcat as if it were a deer caught in a trap, "Long time no see."
She spoke as if she were talking to an old acquaintance, but Bobcat didn't know her at all.
The bobcat felt the hyphae wrapped around his fingers, growing bigger after sucking blood and flesh. The black mucus covered him like a net, his nerves were pierced, and a tingling sensation surged upward from his fingers. The bobcat had never been connected to a human-machine joint device. He had seen others connect it by sticking it to the temples. His first experience started from his fingers.
It was as if another creature was caressing his body inch by inch, starting from the fingers to seize control of him, growing through his flesh and blood, and finally becoming his complete master.
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