novelbin 29: Black Forest
29: Black Forest
Upon arriving at the property management office, Su Chen stopped and hid to keep watch.
After the temporary management team members came out and walked away, he raised an eyebrow, looked around to make sure no one was paying attention, and then quickly walked in with his head down.
As soon as I approached the door, I heard wailing coming from inside.
"Oh... I'm so hungry... Please, have mercy and give me some food..."
"Hehehe! Hehehe!"
"Wenfei! Hang in there! You were speaking gibberish again! The more gibberish we speak, the weaker our will becomes. If we can't even maintain this little bit of clarity, then we're really finished!"
Lin Xinru in Chengdu was wailing weakly, while Wen Fei slowly regained consciousness and sobbed softly.
Huang Mao cried and shouted that he was hungry.
Weak willpower? It doesn't matter, I'm going to die anyway. Seeing that the residents wouldn't even give him a bite to eat, he trembled with hunger, feeling as if his very soul was shaking.
Whether or not it transforms into a monster is no longer important.
As long as I can eat my fill, as long as I can eat my fill...
Just then, a sudden voice broke in. The three of them changed their expressions and looked up sharply at the doorway.
"Who said you guys are doomed?"
Hearing the commotion inside, Su Chen pushed open the door and entered.
"Su...Su Chen? It's you!"
The three men became excited upon recognizing who it was. The blond-haired man lunged at the iron bars, banging his head against them repeatedly, shouting:
"Give me something to eat! Just a tiny bite! Anything will do!"
His eyes were full of pleading as he kept banging his head against the railing, crying, "Please! Please!" His pitiful appearance was heartbreaking to witness.
In an instant, the three men's wails filled the air once again.
Looking at them now, Su Chen was actually having second thoughts – they had clearly become almost completely “owl-like”, only their faces still barely retained their original features.
But remembering the purpose of his visit, Su Chen suppressed his negative emotions and forced a smile:
"I will grant all your requests. I swear to God, I will definitely help you—"
"Really?" Wenfei rushed up and slammed his head heavily against the railing with a dull thud. He was so excited that he didn't hold back, and the sound sent a chill down one's spine, but he himself seemed completely unfazed, his face full of excitement.
"Of course it's true... as long as you answer one question honestly." Su Chen said calmly.
Then, he reasoned with them and appealed to their emotions, asking them to stand separately and then approaching them one by one to ask questions.
"On the day we went exploring, did you see anyone kick me?"
I asked until the very last person, and they all said they hadn't seen it.
Wen Fei looked at Su Chen with a complicated expression: "Su Chen, although I'm a bit mentally unstable right now, I remember... didn't you run into the fog by yourself that day?"
Upon hearing this, Su Chen's expression darkened. This was truly bizarre!
He was filled with doubt and turned to leave, but was immediately stopped by the three men.
"Hey! Su Chen! You can't just use us and run away! You promised to help us!"
Yup!
Su Chen quickly turned around, his face earnest: "I'll help you right away!"
Then, he put his hands together in a prayerful gesture towards the sky, muttering incantations. He then touched his forehead and both shoulders once each, and said "Amen."
After they finished performing this set of movements, Wenfei and the other two were dumbfounded.
"Su Chen, what are you doing?"
Su Chen said solemnly, "The three of you, I have already prayed sincerely for you! Rest assured, the gods will surely protect you in secret! Don't forget, this is the extraordinary world; you must believe in the light!"
Having said that, he strode out, letting the sunlight stream in through the crack in the door, leaving behind only one sentence:
"Alright, you should also pray sincerely, and you will surely be blessed."
Wenfei and the other two looked at each other in bewilderment.
"?"
……
Wen Fei and his group are not worth pitying.
A cannibalistic creature...and he must have killed people!
Su Chen disdained associating with cannibals!
He had originally planned to raid the "Baseball Bat Trio's" house, but since he wasn't sure who had taken their bodies, he changed his mind and headed towards the underground parking garage.
There's no shortage of supplies for now, so there's no need to take any risks... but we can start driving first.
Just then, he suddenly noticed that the temporary management team was lined up next to the garage, as if they were having a meeting.
"Following a committee meeting, it has been decided that we will soon be closing off the community's parking garage! Vehicles must also be subject to unified allocation and management. Now, begin registering vehicle information..."
Upon hearing this, Su Chen's heart tightened, and he quickly quickened his pace, disappearing into the underground parking garage of the residential complex!
We need to move the car quickly, or we won't be able to leave!
He took out his car keys and kept pressing the unlock button.
No car rang. Su Chen had no other choice but to keep pressing the button as he walked.
The key was taken from the trio from before. Although we had the key, we had no idea where the car was parked, so we had to resort to this clumsy method, hoping to find it.
As he passed the parking area below Building 6, he saw a group of people busily modifying a campervan using welding equipment. They were so engrossed in their work that they didn't notice Su Chen passing by.
In the parking area near Building 16, someone was also modifying an off-road vehicle. This person had an even wilder idea: they simply nailed wooden boards onto the car's exterior to create a layer of protection.
"Beep beep, beep beep!"
Just then, the remote control in Su Chen's hand finally made the car ring!
It's a silver-gray SUV, a very ordinary family car.
Su Chen opened the car door, tossed the backpack he had brought to the passenger seat, and placed the red-tasseled spear on the seat as well. He touched his bulletproof vest to make sure the pistol was still on his waist. Everything was ready.
"Buzz—"
Su Chen stepped on the gas, started the car, and headed straight for the exit of the residential area.
"Huh? Who's driving?" As the car approached the parking lot exit, a member of the temporary management team saw Su Chen drive over. They were all stunned, looking at each other, unable to utter a complete sentence.
As Su Chen drove straight to the gate of the residential area, many residents on the road stared at him.
They even held their breath, staring intently at Su Chen's car. Seeing him actually drive out of the residential area, they all ran to the gate to look around.
Although it was impossible to see who was driving, the car quickly disappeared into the gray fog and vanished without a trace.
……
The Black Forest we're heading to is consistently indicated by both community bulletin boards and rescue intelligence.
Heading north, 3,600 meters.
It's not far by car; you can get there in just a few minutes if you drive fast.
However, Su Chen still felt a little uneasy as he drove into the gray fog again.
He turned on the headlights, but found that the lights were useless against the fog, so he simply turned them off to save electricity.
The vehicle slowly moved forward, and Su Chen's expression gradually became serious. The surrounding scenery began to distort and change.
In the mist, the world becomes strange and eerie.
What lay ahead was no longer pure gray fog, but...
A forest.
The Black Forest.
It appeared abruptly in the mist, as if it had been forcibly "stuffed" into this world. There was no transition at the boundary; the gray mist abruptly stopped at a certain moment, replaced by dark, damp soil and tangled tree roots.
There was a narrow path in front of us, barely wide enough for a person to walk on, but definitely not a vehicle—the trees were too dense, there was no way to get through.
Helpless, Su Chen had no choice but to put on his backpack, pick up his red-tasseled spear, and cautiously get off the bus.
Click.
The moment his feet touched the soil, he felt the entire forest come alive.
Those strangely shaped plants and twisted shadows seemed to have opened their eyes and were staring at him intently.
Su Chen didn't recognize any of these plants; they just seemed to grow crookedly, as if they were trembling as they grew. He didn't see many animals, but the feeling of being stared at made his scalp tingle.
Su Chen felt immense pressure, and his breathing became heavier.
He composed himself, held the red-tasseled spear horizontally in front of him, and walked step by step into the dark forest.
The light dimmed instantly.
The canopy of trees blocked out the sun. The trees here grew in a twisted and strange way, their branches reaching towards the sky like arms struggling desperately, and the patterns on the bark, when looked at closely, resembled painful human faces.
The strangest thing was those plants.
Su Chen saw a cluster of mushrooms, their colors as vibrant as a rainbow, with fluorescent spots on their caps, so beautiful they were captivating. But he remembered the intelligence report: beauty is danger.
Su Chen made a decision: Take him away.
He carefully cut off a few flowers with a knife and put them in a plastic bag—although they were inedible, he thought he might be able to extract toxins from them.
Not far away, a patch of grayish-brown, uneven mushrooms grew on the ground, looking utterly unappetizing. Su Chen picked some as well. The intelligence said, "The ugly ones might be edible," but he didn't intend to be the first to test them.
Continuing on, he found a low tree with fist-sized fruits hanging on it. The fruit skins were smooth as a mirror, and their colors were vibrant and eye-catching. On another tree nearby, several shriveled, blackened fruits covered in bumps hung, looking like rotten potatoes.
All sampling points.
Su Chen has a hamster-like personality and likes to hoard things. He collected all sorts of samples he came across, and his backpack's side pocket was soon filled with sealed plastic bags.
Although the intelligence said "the pretty ones shouldn't be eaten," it didn't say they couldn't be used for other purposes—poison, bait, or even potential medicinal value. In the apocalypse, any resource can be a lifesaver.
The further you go, the stronger the feeling of being watched becomes. It's not coming from a specific direction, but rather the entire forest seems to have "awakened." The twisted branches, the strange leaves, even the shadows on the ground, all seem like some kind of gaze.
Su Chen stopped and leaned against a thick tree trunk, straining his ears to listen carefully.
Dead silence.
It's too quiet.
There were no insect chirps, no small animal sounds, and even the rustling of leaves was rare.
This silence is more nerve-wracking than any sound.
Just then—
A faint, human-like wail echoed from the depths of the forest.