Boundless – Chapter 44

Brothers got your back?

Who?

Got whose back?

Even 2333 was a bit stunned. It saw Gao Bai turn around, squat down, and say to her, “I’ll carry you. Let Captain Shang tie the knot.”

This was also the reason Lou Jiu had gone out to lure the zombies away. They were now with two people who had limited mobility. No matter how agile Lou Jiu was, her strength was still less than Gao Bai’s. If she had to carry someone, it would likely be dangerous.

Wen Qianshu paused for a moment, then leaned over and lay on his back. Shang Ci fastened a slipknot for her. “Yours is different from hers. Yours can be undone.”

Shang Ci: “If something happens to Gao Bai, undo it and run on your own.”

Gao Bai: “?”

“Boss, why are you jinxing me?”

But it was the truth, and they did need to inform Qin Shu of some of Search Team 5’s customs in advance. Generally, when carrying a conscious person alone, they used a slipknot to prevent the person being carried from being unable to escape if something happened to the carrier. For an unconscious person, they used a hidden knot that required some effort and finding the exact spot to undo, which was to prevent the unconscious person from bumping into something and knocking the knot open.

Despite the talk, Gao Bai still punched Shang Ci’s shoulder. “Good luck.”

Shang Ci had Gao Bai go out first, while he brought up the rear.

Gao Bai climbed out using the ladder and stood on top of the temporary stop. Seeing that most of the zombies had been lured away by Lou Jiu, he immediately leaped in the opposite direction, preparing to find the vehicle.

However, the moment he landed, he suddenly felt something was wrong. He looked up to see pairs of dull eyes staring at him motionlessly.

The next second, Gao Bai turned and ran. “Boss! Don’t come out!”

The zombies behind him gave chase with a great clamor, making Gao Bai curse. “What’s going on? Why weren’t they making any noise?”

Wen Qianshu, of course, knew why they hadn’t made any noise. It was because the villain in this book ultimately wanted to control zombies, and their research was currently halfway through, at a stage where it was sometimes effective and sometimes not.

She just hadn’t expected that the first batch of commanded zombies they had developed would be used on Jiang Yao. In the original book, Jiang Yao was unconscious at this time, completely unaware that she had just had another brush with death.

Gao Bai ran very fast, but carrying Wen Qianshu, his speed couldn’t compare to his usual pace. Wen Qianshu said, “Get on that frame.”

Gao Bai: “My high-altitude frame scores are bad!”

High-altitude frame, short for high-altitude man-made refuge frame.

His skills on the high-altitude frame could lure zombies away, but carrying another person would definitely make him less agile than usual. Gao Bai wanted to circle around and break through to go back, but Wen Qianshu said, “Run up. The ones from before have turned back.”

Gao Bai’s hair stood on end.

He had only been looking back just now. At this moment, he glanced forward and saw that the few zombies chasing Lou Jiu had also turned around and were coming for him.

Gao Bai steeled himself, kicked away two zombies by the high frame, and scrambled up using his hands and feet. The zombie above him saw him and, overjoyed, turned and pounced. Gao Bai, of course, was going to let it be happy for nothing. Gripping the frame with one hand, he abruptly sidestepped, and the pouncing zombie fell like a dumpling, taking the ones behind it down with it.

However, the strap securing Wen Qianshu tightened. With his swift swing and recovery, he almost failed to pull back, nearly getting thrown down along with her.

Gao Bai gripped tightly. Before he could recover, he felt his body suddenly lighten—Wen Qianshu had undone the slipknot.

Gao Bai’s face paled in shock. “What are you doing!”

He looked down sharply and saw Wen Qianshu fall, her hands gripping the pole tightly. She wasn’t wearing anti-bite straps, nor had she used anti-slip powder. Her palms slid down the pole before stopping, scraping the skin raw.

Instantly, the zombies below went even crazier.

Wen Qianshu: “You climb up!”

Gao Bai knew that if he got stuck here, Wen Qianshu would definitely not be able to get up, so he gritted his teeth and climbed upward. Wen Qianshu kicked her leg, knocking down a zombie, and climbed after Gao Bai. Before long, Gao Bai reached the topmost bar, which was like a horizontal bar, only to be shocked to find that Wen Qianshu’s speed was almost the same as his.

Gao Bai was astonished. “You’re not afraid of heights either?”

Wen Qianshu stepped onto it, panting. “Not afraid.”

Being on Gao Bai’s back was even more terrifying; she felt like they would both fall the next second. Gao Bai was truly unsteady on the high-altitude frame, a real waste of his surname.

Qin Shu’s body was still somewhat weak. This short distance had nearly exhausted her. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her clothes were soaked through.

The sky had completely brightened. The sunlight soaked the rows of zombies below, soaked their drooling eyes, their wide-open mouths, and the dark flesh between their teeth.

Thus, even the sunlight became cold and reeked of blood.

Wen Qianshu caught her breath and said to Gao Bai, “You go get the car first. I’ll go find Lou Jiu.”

She raised her hand, revealing the fresh blood on her palm. “They will follow me.”

The zombies in this world mainly relied on their sense of smell and hearing to find food. Therefore, the search teams rarely fired their guns, and silenced guns could easily cause friendly fire. Thus, they were mostly responsible for searching, rescuing, and luring zombies for the Cleanup Team, who would then carry out the final zombie elimination.

Gao Bai glanced at her and said heartlessly, “Sorry.”

Wen Qianshu: “Not at all. You saved me.”

With that, Wen Qianshu turned sideways, dodged, and walked forward step by step on the single bar. She walked steadily and carefully. Though not as agile as Lou Jiu, for someone untrained, it was already quite impressive.

To fit the identity of “Qin Shu,” Wen Qianshu hadn’t practiced the search team’s set of skills. In the Main God’s space, she mostly relied on her own self-taught, unconventional methods.

Lou Jiu also noticed the commotion and headed this way.

Gao Bai cleared the zombies climbing up behind her, but soon it was no longer necessary. Unlike Lou Jiu’s blood-stained jacket, Wen Qianshu carried the scent of fresh blood. As her blood dripped to the ground, the zombies quickly lost interest in climbing and instead swarmed in another direction, following her blood.

The fresh blood was too stimulating. They couldn’t be bothered to climb anymore, piling one on top of another, stepping on other zombies to get higher. Gao Bai saw that Shang Ci had come out and driven the car underneath. He didn’t stop at all. Gao Bai quickly climbed down, and as the car passed, he vaulted into the back seat, dragged out a cotton cloth reeking of corpses, then vaulted out again, hooked three corners, and secured it to the roof of the car.

Gao Bai: “Done.”

Shang Ci observed the surroundings and called out, “Xiao Lou!”

Lou Jiu: “Yeah.”

She sidestepped, dodging a pouncing zombie, and let it fall, unable to stop its momentum.

Lou Jiu turned to Wen Qianshu and started taking off her gloves. “Come here.”

Her gloves were worn black, and the exposed fingertips were wrapped with anti-bite straps. As soon as Wen Qianshu walked over, Lou Jiu handed her a pair of gloves. “Put them on.”

Wen Qianshu obediently put on the gloves. She saw more zombies below climbing up the pile of bodies, reaching out to grab them. Lou Jiu kicked one, sending it tumbling down to be crushed by those behind it. But the pile of zombies grew higher and higher, one stepping on another, one stacking on another, until several were almost high enough to touch them.

The stench of saliva mixed with rotting flesh spread out, right below their feet.

Countless hands reached up, countless mouths opened upward.

Under the morning sun, it was like a scene from hell.

Lou Jiu took a breath and tugged at her collar.

Her body was tense, her eyes fixed on the car circling below. She clenched her jaw, concentrating strength into every inch of her body.

But she said to Wen Qianshu, “Don’t be afraid.”

Just as the car completed another circle and sped over, the zombies below finally piled up high enough. One opened its mouth and bit at Lou Jiu’s ankle—

At that critical moment, Lou Jiu raised her arm, wrapped it around Wen Qianshu’s waist, pressed a hand to the back of her head, and leaped with her.

The wind howled past their ears, and the scenery blurred.

Although it wasn’t meant as an embrace, it was indeed the posture of one. With her head held, Wen Qianshu was pressed against the side of Lou Jiu’s neck. The rough jacket scraped against her cheek, the cold zipper brushed the corner of her eye, and her forehead touched Lou Jiu’s neck. Above that was the metal restraint device, but Wen Qianshu could still feel the beating pulse.

Their sweat mingled, their lives pressed together.

The sky receded as they fell to the earth.

“Bang.”

The two of them slammed heavily onto the roof of the car. Lou Jiu rolled to absorb as much of the impact as possible, reaching out to grab the knot securing the cotton cloth on the car. After confirming that Wen Qianshu hadn’t hit her head, she pressed her body down firmly to prevent Wen Qianshu from being thrown off by the momentum.

One of them, in Qin Shu’s body, was on the verge of collapse from exhaustion; the other had stayed up all night taking care of Jiang Yao and had just gone through this ordeal, so she was also a bit out of breath.

For a moment, neither of them moved, lying prone on the car roof.

Wen Qianshu lay pinned under Lou Jiu, hearing a heartbeat—she didn’t know whose—pounding violently in her ears, like the beating of gongs and drums.

Wen Qianshu had always had keen senses and liked to unconsciously observe the details of her surroundings to extract information. She naturally noticed the heart that was beating as if it would burst, and she listened intently for a while.

Then, Wen Qianshu concluded with a deadpan expression, oh, it’s mine.

It wasn’t until they had shaken off the zombies and Shang Ci stopped the car that Gao Bai hurriedly asked, “How is it?”

Lou Jiu got up, leaped off the roof, and then reached up to help Wen Qianshu down. “We’re fine.”

She could see that Wen Qianshu was not in good shape. She supported her by the waist, helped her into the car, and then got in herself. “What happened?”

Gao Bai explained, feeling a little unnerved. “Luckily, the little girl isn’t afraid of heights. Otherwise, I’m afraid I really would have fallen while carrying her.”

Lou Jiu glanced at him, and Gao Bai immediately sat up straight, not daring to speak again.

The members of Team 5 were all more or less intimidated by Lou Jiu. Although this field doctor was good-looking, very patient with her patients, and had a gentle tone, when she wasn’t dealing with patients, she was truly cold and taciturn. She was also highly skilled, ranking in the top three of the search teams in several events. A single glance from her emotionless, light-colored eyes could scare an intern to tears.

In contrast, their captain was always grinning and seemed rather unreliable. Previously, people used to joke about their team, saying the field doctor was the team’s heartthrob and the captain was the team’s beauty. But the members of Team 5 vehemently disagreed—the toughest fighter and strongest person in the team was Shang Ci. If he became the ‘beauty,’ what would that make the rest of the big guys? The team’s clinging vines?

So, this group happily bestowed the title of ‘team beauty’ upon Lou Jiu and concluded that outsiders were just jealous that their team had a girl.

When Shang Ci found out, he bit his chopsticks and nearly laughed himself breathless. He then asked Gao Bai, “Hey, in that case, doesn’t that mean our whole team is afraid of the team beauty? A whole team of clinging vines?”

Gao Bai: “Bullshit! When have we ever been afraid of the team beauty! We—”

Coincidentally, Lou Jiu was passing by at that moment, having just gotten her food and looking for a seat in the cafeteria.

Gao Bai shot to his feet. “Hey—”

He had intended to politely and respectfully call her Doctor Lou, but his mind was full of the ‘team beauty’ from just now, and he was terrified of misspeaking. So, he really did misspeak: “Doctor-Beauty Lou, there’s a seat here. Please, sit, sit—”

Lou Jiu was baffled, and Shang Ci laughed even more unrestrainedly.

Back in the present, the nearly 1.9-meter-tall Captain Shang, who had narrowly escaped being named the team beauty, spoke up. While driving, he tried to genuinely recruit a ‘little flower’ back with them. “Girl, since you like our Xiao Lou so much, how about signing up when we get back to the base? After training, you can join Team 5 too.”

Lou Jiu: “Drive.”

Shang Ci: “Sigh, why does Captain Shang get no respect?”

But he quickly dropped the joking tone. “By the way, check on Captain Jiang. She has a fever.”

Lou Jiu agreed, removed her anti-bite straps, disinfected her hands, and continued to check on Jiang Yao’s condition. After confirming it was a normal rejection reaction, she said to Wen Qianshu, “Let me see your hand.”

Wen Qianshu held out her hand, took off the gloves, and put them away with the other medical waste. Lou Jiu treated the wound on her hand and bandaged it.

Wen Qianshu had wanted to watch her bandage it, but she was too tired, and her head nodded until she fell asleep.

Lou Jiu had her lie down flat, covered her with a blanket, and reached out to pat Gao Bai.

Gao Bai tacitly moved aside, and Lou Jiu stepped over him to sit in the front passenger seat.

Shang Ci: “What do you think?”

Lou Jiu: “She has a lot of talent.”

Shang Ci: “I can see that.”

Quick reflexes, good hearing, decisive in making decisions. Without formal training, her performance on the high-altitude frame was unpracticed but good.

Agile, decisive, and courageous.

She’s a promising recruit that any search team would covet.

Shang Ci grew serious and said in a low voice, “We’ll investigate her again when we get back. If there are no issues, we’ll ask her if she wants to join Team 5.”

He quickly started laughing again. “If there are really no issues, we might not even get a chance to recruit her for Team 5. Xiao Lou, the heavy responsibility rests on your shoulders. You must trick the little girl into joining.”

Shang Ci was used to joking around, so Lou Jiu paid him no mind. She just updated him on Jiang Yao’s condition and confirmed their route.

As Shang Ci turned a corner, he caught sight of the bloodshot veins in her eyes. “Go get some sleep. Have Gao Bai sit up here.”

Shang Ci had also been working nonstop and hadn’t gotten much good sleep. But he had at least taken a short nap for half the night at the temporary stop, so he was in better shape than Lou Jiu.

Lou Jiu thought for a moment, grunted in agreement, and switched places with Gao Bai again.

She gave Jiang Yao’s condition one last check, shifted Wen Qianshu slightly, sat down beside her, and fell asleep with her head tilted to the side.

Their heads rested against each other, their breaths escaping their restraint devices and mingling together.

No one saw that in the corner, Jiang Yao’s fingers twitched.

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Author’s Notes:

Lou Jiu’s actions are dangerous, please do not imitate!

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