Chapter 21 The Gray Dome 21 Humanity is doomed!
With He Ting's skills, he wouldn't fall. Nanmen Jue looked down and saw that He Ting had landed safely while holding onto the steel cable.
It wasn't as dark here as other places. She was smiling as she peered down, but the head that suddenly popped out from behind her terrified the people below.
"careful!"
Nanmen Jue flipped down, and the monster behind her bit into empty air.
As she landed on the next floor, Qin Yehan, still catching his breath, blurted out, "Do you really enjoy the feeling of courting death?"
“Occasionally,” Nanmen Jue said.
"Don't jump to conclusions!" Zhang Chuxi said. "They're catching up!"
Without a moment to catch her breath, Nanmen Jue quickly retracted the hook and hooked it onto the railing. This time, she was the second to jump down, and the crane, perched on it, killed several more monsters.
"No, there are more and more of them!" He Ting was already covered in sweat. "Damn it, just how many people has that bastard Xu Yang harmed..."
How many people did he harm? Where can we find any data? Nanmen Jue looked up and saw monsters surrounding them from all directions, roaring and howling at them.
As the crane stopped to slide down to the next level, a monster followed him down the steel cable. He looked up and gasped, the gun he was holding trembling slightly.
Nanmen Jue immediately noticed something amiss. "Did you see someone you know again?"
He Ting looked at her; her face was covered in blood and was dark and unclear. Her once bright and innocent eyes were now bloodshot, and beneath the resentment and sorrow, there was more confusion.
"My former captain, he was having dinner with me just a week ago..."
Nanmen Jue remembered that at the beginning, He Ting was yelling that he wanted to kill her in the elevator, but a young man stopped him.
Nanmen Jue silently raised his scalpel and plunged it into the monster's neck.
Her arms were starting to ache. The long fight, combined with the steel cable climbing that required upper body strength, was taking a toll on her stamina, and her breathing was becoming heavy.
He Ting noticed her difficulty and bent down in front of her, saying, "I'll carry you on my back!"
"Wake up, you're more badly injured than I am," Nanmen Jue said hoarsely.
They had already descended twenty-one floors, with only nine more to go, but everyone was in a sorry state. Except for Qin Yehan, who was in slightly better condition, Nanmen Jue and He Ting were soaked as if they had just been pulled out of the water.
"I said, did your resistance only send you to infiltrate here alone?" Nanmen Jue's head throbbed with pain, but he still smiled as he spoke to Qin Yehan. "If we had a few more healthy thugs, we wouldn't be in such a miserable state now."
“The Gray Tower doesn’t have a good chance of getting in,” Qin Yehan said briefly. “We live outside, where the radiation levels are very high.”
Nanmen Jue understood. Apart from Qin Yehan, the others probably wouldn't even be able to get through the initial inspection at the entrance of the Gray Tower.
"If it's so difficult, how did they create that path on the ninety-fifth floor?" He Ting asked.
Qin Yehan glanced at him but didn't say anything.
Nanmen Jue realized that Qin Yehan had mentioned Lin Suwen several times, so he probably wasn't a true member of the resistance who had been expelled from the tower. The establishment of this secret passage was likely due to Lin Suwen's support.
"Let's go, we'll talk about this once we get out of here," Nanmen Jue said.
At this moment, she realized that Zhang Chuxi had not made a sound for a long time. She quickly turned her head to look and saw that her eyes were closed. She immediately leaned closer.
"Zhang Chuxi!"
Zhang Chuxi's face was deathly pale. She struggled to open her eyes a crack. "I'm fine... no need, don't worry about me..."
"how?"
"Too much blood loss," Nanmen Jue said. "Damn it."
"Don't you have anything in your magic pocket to stop bleeding?"
In fact, Nanmen Jue did manage to put it in his coat, but the coat, which was used to wrap Zhao Huai Ren's body, had long since disappeared.
The smile on Nanmen Jue's face disappeared. Without saying a word, she re-hooked the steel cable and was about to descend when the lights in the corridor suddenly turned on.
Xu Yang's voice rang out from the surrounding loudspeakers.
"Nanmen Jue, do you really think you can escape from here? What a pity. Look at this tower, such a large enclosed space. Is it humanity's salvation or humanity's grave?"
Perhaps every reincarnator from modern society has this thought, Nanmen Jue chuckled and spat out a mouthful of blood.
“From today onwards, it doesn’t feel like a tomb anymore,” she said. “Having the same views as this kind of person would damage my own class.”
"Keep going, what are you looking at?" She pushed the crane that had turned to look at her forward, then turned and killed another monster.
Her vision was spinning, and she was now moving mainly by muscle memory. She shook her head to stay awake and followed He Ting's movements closely.
"Don't struggle anymore. Even if you escape, how long do you think you can survive in the radiation-filled winter? Come see me, and maybe after we clear up the misunderstanding, I can spare your life."
"Bullshit!"
Such irritable words did not come from Nanmen Jue, but from He Ting's cursing.
"Misunderstanding? You misunderstand that he turned the people of Gray Tower into monsters? You deserve to die for doing such a heinous thing!"
His father's face appeared before his eyes again. He Ting's eyes were bloodshot, and his hands gripped the railing tightly. He felt grief and anger burning him to death.
Nanmen Jue pinched his fingers and slowly opened them.
“This is the last floor,” she said.
He Ting's eyes were full of tears, but he showed no sign of crying. He nodded vigorously and rolled over and slid down.
Qin Yehan was always at the front, responsible for leading the way and clearing out the first wave of monsters that had gathered. As for Nanmen Jue and He Ting, it depended on the situation. Nanmen Jue was responsible for bringing up the rear on the ninety-sixth floor. After seeing that the others had already gone down, she took out a miniature gun from her trouser pocket on her knee, threw it behind her, and then, without the strength to use the steel cable, simply jumped down.
A blinding flame erupted behind her, as if she had leaped out of the fire. Qin Yehan and He Ting looked up at her, momentarily stunned, before reacting and rushing to catch her with drastically changed expressions.
Of course, it was too late. Before falling, Nanmen Jue grabbed the steel cable, used the force to roll a few times on the ground, and then pulled the cable back.
When she got up, her legs were weak and she almost collapsed. She grabbed He Ting, who was rushing towards her, and ran forward frantically, shouting, "Quick! Lead the way!"
The fire broke out on the 96th floor. Most of the residents of the Gray Tower were concentrated on the 80th floor and below. The floors above the 80th floor were all public facilities. After the evacuation, the entire corridor was empty. Nanmen Jue burned without any psychological pressure.
The monster's painful roars, mixed with the smell of roasted meat, filled the air, and the group's expressions were not good.
Just a few days ago, these unconscious monsters were all ordinary humans, their companions.
Perhaps realizing they were about to escape, Xu Yang's exasperated voice came over the loudspeaker.
"Catch them!"
More monsters gathered, densely packed in every corridor. He Ting glanced back and let out a hoarse gasp.
"This is the most terrifying sight I've ever seen in my life."
"I won't look," Nanmen Jue said decisively.
Her physical strength was approaching its limit, or rather, the fact that she had managed to hold on until now was already beyond her limit, but her adrenaline was still unwilling to give in.
She stared at Qin Yehan running ahead of her, recalling a time during physical fitness tests at school when a girl always liked to trail behind her, running while watching her back. She said that this made her feel that her goal wasn't the distant finish line, but rather her, who was right in front of her. Nanmen Jue now understood that feeling.
But their movements became slower and slower. A monster pounced from behind and bit Nanmen Jue's shoulder. She staggered and just as she raised her knife, the monster was elbowed down by He Ting.
"Nanmen, how are you!" He Ting shouted anxiously.
"What happened at the South Gate?" Qin Yehan shouted.
"I'm fine." Nanmen Jue clutched his wound, his eyes fixed on Qin Yehan's back. "How much longer, you son of a bitch?!"
"Right here!"
Qin Yehan turned into a dark alley between two buildings, and the two people behind him rushed in, their blood instantly freezing.
This turned out to be a dead end.
He Ting grabbed Qin Yehan by the collar, "You deliberately wanted us to die?"
"He Ting!" Nanmen Jue pulled his hand away and looked directly into Qin Yehan's eyes. "Where is the exit?"
"If you hadn't stopped me, we would be out by now," Qin Yehan said coldly.
He quickly and gently put Zhang Chuxi down from his back. Just as Nanmen Jue was about to take her, He Ting took her first.
Nanmen Jue didn't try to be brave. Compared to these warriors who had grown up in the post-apocalyptic era, her physical strength was far inferior. She panted as she watched Qin Yehan squat down, move aside the pile of garbage in the corner, and reveal a sewer entrance.
At this moment, the monster came chasing after them. Nanmen Jue shielded He Ting, who was protecting Zhang Chuxi, behind him and drew his gun to fire.
But she didn't have many bullets left, so she quickly fired them all and then took out a scalpel.
This scalpel, specially sharpened by her, was far sharper than an ordinary scalpel, allowing her to take the monster's life even when her strength was almost completely exhausted, but it also left her with many new wounds.
"Hurry up!" Crane shouted anxiously, stopping the fight with only one hand.
"alright!"
The sewer cover was finally opened, and Qin Yehan rushed over to shield Nanmen Jue from another attack. "I'll cover the rear, let's go!"
Nanmen Jue was too weak to speak, so she simply turned around and left. Looking at the dark cave entrance, she tentatively stepped onto the ladder leading down.
Qin Yehan shouted, "Jump!"
Nanmen Jue closed his eyes, loosened his grip, and sent himself into darkness.
The pain she had imagined didn't happen. It was like jumping into a smooth water slide and sliding down. However, the slide smelled terrible, and she didn't want to find out what the water was.
With a splash, He Ting and Qin Yehan jumped in one after another. They slid down at great speed, with turns along the way, making it even more thrilling than a roller coaster.
"Whoa!" Crane cried out shrilly, "What is this... ugh! What is this thing?!"
"I advise you not to know!" Qin Yehan said.
The sounds of gagging and screaming came one after another. Nanmen Jue closed his eyes and calmed down for a while before bursting into loud laughter.
The sounds behind clearly stopped for a moment, and only Nanmen Jue's laughter remained in the dark pipe. Her laughter trembled and was full of madness, while He Ting's voice became clearly filled with fear.
"Nanmen, are you alright?"
"I'm so happy!"
Nanmen Jue spat twice and loudly replied to his nervous companion, "It's probably a 300-meter-long water slide. How many people in their lifetime have the chance to ride it? I've hit the jackpot!"
If Zhang Chuxi were awake right now, she would definitely have a lot to say, but unfortunately, the only people listening to her were two natives who didn't know what a water slide was, so Nanmen Jue had no choice but to shut his mouth in regret.
When the long slide came to an end, Nanmenjue felt as if she had been thrown out by something like a washing machine. After a dizzying spin, she plunged headfirst into a thick snowdrift.
The icy snow water seeped into every crevice of his bones, and Nanmen Jue realized he was only wearing a vest, so he immediately started climbing upwards.
Three heads emerged from the snowdrift. He Ting dug around a bit and revealed Zhang Chuxi's face as well. The three of them stared blankly at the snowflakes falling in the night.
"We really made it out?" He Ting's voice rang out as if in a dream, filled with disbelief. "We really... escaped from that encirclement and pursuit?"
Qin Yehan climbed out of the snowdrift first. He looked around and saw a flash of red light in the northwest.
“Over there,” he said.
Nanmen Jue tried to climb out, but the light snowflakes seemed to weigh a ton, and she was like a radish buried in the soil, unable to get out.
Qin Yehan grabbed her hand and pulled her out forcefully. He didn't let go, supporting Nanmen Jue's waist with one hand, letting her put her weight on him, and carrying her forward.
Noticing that Nanmen Jue's breathing was becoming increasingly trembling, Qin Yehan's expression grew increasingly serious. "Hang in there, we'll be there soon."
"Don't worry, I won't die." Nanmen Jue's voice was hoarse, but still clear.
Qin Yehan felt slightly relieved and quickened his pace. Soon, an unfamiliar voice rang out from the direction of the red light.
"Boss, over here!"
Upon reaching the car, Nanmen Jue was the first to be shoved into the back seat, followed by the unconscious Zhang Chuxi. As He Ting got in, the car sped off with a whoosh.
Nanmen Jue's vision went black, and she almost collapsed in her seat, gasping for breath. Her body couldn't hold on any longer, but she was still conscious and could hear the people in the car talking.
"My God, you guys actually survived! I thought you were all going to die inside!"
"Quickly, put these on them," Qin Yehan said.
Of the three people in the back seat, the only one who could still move was He Ting. He took the oxygen mask and put it on Nanmen Jue first.
Once outside, what's more terrifying than the monsters is the constant radiation. They're all injured now, and it won't be long before their radiation levels exceed the limit.
As Nanmen Jue breathed in the oxygen, her dull, aching brain gradually regained its clarity, and she heard the two people in the front seat talking.
"Grey Tower has issued its highest alert. Have you been discovered?"
"We were discovered, and we almost couldn't get out."
The driver gasped, and Nanmen Jue felt his gaze sweep over them.
"Didn't you say you were bringing Dr. Nanmen along? Why... are there so many people? Which one of them is Dr. Nanmen?"
Qin Yehan did not answer immediately. Nanmen Jue slowly sat up and stared back at him in the rearview mirror.
“I am Nanmen Jue,” she said.
The driver was startled and immediately looked away, then glanced at her again with a slightly embarrassed expression, "...Wasn't it said that Dr. Nanmen is a girl?"
Nanmen Jue squinted, his uninjured hand touching his messy short hair.
"When I first met her, her hair was still very long." Qin Yehan glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "It was indeed her."
“Oh…” The young rebel glanced at her again, his eyes filled with a mixture of curiosity and awe.
Nanmen Jue asked, "Is there a first-aid kit in the car?"
"Yes!" The young man said impatiently before Qin Yehan could answer.
Qin Yehan said, "It's in that pile of junk behind you."
Nanmen Jue had injured his shoulder, making it difficult for him to turn around. He Ting reached out and hooked the first-aid kit over.
Nanmen Jue breathed in clean oxygen, his fingers trembling slightly, as he rummaged through the first-aid kit. Inside, there were indeed only some emergency supplies: disinfectant, bandages, antibiotics, and some miscellaneous tools and medicines.
Apart from Qin Yehan, who was relatively unharmed, the three people in the back seat were covered in blood. Nanmen Jue took out a bottle of disinfectant, bit off the cap with his teeth with one hand, and poured it on his shoulder without saying a word.
The young man in the front seat let out a startled cry, and all the eyes of those who were awake turned to Nanmen Jue.
The disinfectant of that era was particularly strong, perhaps because it was easy to suffer fatal wounds. If the wounds were not disinfected and the bleeding stopped in time, one would die. After pouring this bottle down, you could hear the sizzling sound of flesh and blood.
With a snap, Nanmen Jue bit the bottle cap off her mouth, and cold sweat instantly soaked her entire body.
After a few seconds of excruciating pain, she looked up at the quiet others, spat out the bottle cap from her mouth, and calmly said, "What's wrong? Haven't you ever seen how to stop bleeding before?"
"...Such brutal hemostasis is truly rare." The young man swallowed hard. "You, aren't you a researcher? How can you be more ruthless than someone who licks blood off a knife's edge?"
"Does one's status matter when it comes to survival?"
Nanmen Jue tossed another bottle of disinfectant to He Ting and told him to handle it himself. He then bit open another bottle and poured it all over Zhang Chuxi's arm in the same way.
"ah!!"
Zhang Chuxi was jolted awake by the pain; her scream made He Ting and the young man shrink back.
Nanmen Jue seemed not to hear, picked up the bandage and held it up to his shoulder, frowning, "The wound is too big, I need hemostats, the bandage alone won't stop the bleeding."
"Isn't it here?" He Ting asked anxiously.
Nanmen Jue glanced around the car and asked, "Do you have a lighter?"
A hush fell over the room, and even Qin Yehan's gaze towards her was filled with shock.
"Do you have anything that can start a fire?" Nanmen Jue asked again.
Qin Yehan said, "Are you sure? Can you hold on for a few more hours? Once we get back to base, we'll get proper treatment."
"If the bleeding doesn't stop soon, I won't last another hour," Nanmen Jue clearly judged. "Pain or life, you don't need to think about choosing, right? Give it to me."
She stretched out her blood-soaked hand. Qin Yehan licked his lips, a rare look of anxiety on his face. Then he nodded to the young man, "Give it to her."
The young man took out a lighter and placed it in Nanmen Jue's hand; his fingers were trembling.
Everyone, including Zhang Chuxi who had just woken up and was too weak to speak, stared intently at Nanmen Jue as she created a flame.
The flames were trembling slightly, and the car doors and windows were tightly closed. What was trembling was not the wind, but Nanmen Jue's hands.
Nanmen Jue stared at the flickering flames, her mind in turmoil. How could she not imagine that what she was about to do might exceed her limits of endurance, that she might be tortured to death? But there was no other way now; she was still bleeding.
Whether she will die from the pain is unknown, but if she does nothing, she definitely won't last an hour.
Nanmen Jue knew she was ruthless and cruel, even to herself, but this was an action she had to take herself…
Qin Yehan saw through her intention and hesitated before reaching out, unsure whether he wanted to help her or snatch the lighter to stop this absurd behavior.
Before he touched Nanmen Jue, Nanmen Jue turned his head to the side, closed his eyes, and placed the flames on her bloodied and mangled shoulder.
The smell of barbecue quickly spread, and everyone in the car gagged in unison.
This is roasting a person alive!
"Hmm..."
Nanmen Jue clenched her teeth and instantly tasted the blood from her broken gums. She unconsciously opened her lips, wanting to bite down on something, but when she bit down hard, she tasted unfamiliar flesh and blood.
He put his arm into her mouth to prevent her from biting her tongue.
The bite was extremely fierce, but He Ting didn't utter a sound. The sizzling sound continued, and the atmosphere in the car fell into an eerie silence.
A moment later, Nanmen Juesong opened her mouth and slumped back in her seat, exhausted. Zhang Chuxi raised her uninjured hand and put her oxygen mask back on.
Nanmen Jue tried to calm down, but his vision was still blurry and cold sweat was pouring out.
She seemed to have walked through hell, or perhaps she was already dead? It was hard to tell.
The car was quiet, or rather, no one knew what to say in this situation. Nanmen Jue slowly regained his senses and somewhat sluggishly wrapped bandages around himself. After finishing, he wrapped bandages around Zhang Chuxi's as well. Zhang Chuxi was lucky; even though her entire arm was about to fall off, she managed to avoid the most critical areas, so her bleeding was less than Nanmen Jue's.
Then she looked up at He Ting, and He Ting met her gaze, revealing a somewhat weak smile.
“I’m fine,” he said.
Nanmen Jue still bandaged his wound.
“Your chest and neck are bleeding. These are areas that I can’t treat so roughly. We’ll deal with them when we get to the base,” Nanmenjue said. “Stop shouting.”
He Ting nodded obediently.
The young man in the front seat looked away in awe. He remained silent for a long time before saying, "Brother Qin, now I understand why you were so determined to bring Dr. Nanmen out of the country."
“I’m afraid I can’t do what you want me to do,” Nanmen Jue said, drawing everyone’s attention once again.
Qin Yehan said, "Do you know what we want you to do?"
“Isn’t it too obvious? What could possibly make the rebel leader and the Gray Tower president cooperate? Besides regressive substances.” Nanmen Jue didn’t look at anyone; she gazed out the window at the rapidly passing scenery, the world desolate and vast. “I can’t do it,” she emphasized.
"Have you tried?" Qin Yehan said. "President Lin said you've never tried to solve the problem, neither she nor your teacher... I'm sorry."
He saw Nanmen Jue's gaze suddenly turn back.
“Yes,” Nanmen Jue said softly, “Even the teacher who raised me couldn’t get me to agree to this. Do you think you can convince me?”
Qin Yehan silently looked at her in the rearview mirror, and the atmosphere became oppressive. Everyone else dared not breathe.
This standoff lasted only a few seconds before Nanmen Jue looked away first. "It's not that I want to be the bad guy and play you, it's that I can't, understand? Even the teacher couldn't solve the problem, and you expect me to solve it? I'm not that talented."
“No, you are a genius that the entire world will acknowledge.” Unexpectedly, it was He Ting who spoke, looking earnestly at Nanmen Jue. “I heard Chief Zhao say that if there is only one person in the world who can solve the problem of retrograde hormone, then that person is you, not him.”
"..." Nanmen Jue had no way to express his bitterness.
The main god could have just given her the identity of a spoiled rich kid, why did he have to raise her status so high? His own setting can do it, but Nanmen Jue can't!
She glanced at Zhang Chuxi, who clearly understood her pain, and the two exchanged a bitter look.
In the silence, Qin Yehan spoke slowly: "Nanmen Jue, I don't know what you, who everyone knows is a genius and has always considered yourself a genius, have gone through that made you suddenly lose confidence in yourself. But the current situation is that, regardless of whether you can do it or not, we hope you will give it a try."
"Because the next wave of radiation is coming, and humanity can't hold out much longer."
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