RotA – Chapter 4

As the giant beast and the horde gradually receded into the distance, silence returned to the surroundings.

The evening wind, carrying a hint of cool dampness, blew across the ruins of the old world.

In the dense fog, the flowers and leaves of the black vines swayed gently, and the air was thick with the salty, metallic smell of blood.

After confirming the beast pack had completely departed, Chai Yuening slowly stood up. She glanced at the mangled limbs and shattered bones not far away, and a lingering fear made her involuntarily suck in a sharp breath.

That pack of mutated beasts had bypassed them to chase after the cockpit.

Even now, she couldn’t believe she had actually survived.

Chai Yuening looked around, then turned back to the young girl with a bit of a headache and extended her right hand.

The girl took her hand and used the support to stand up.

It was clear she couldn’t put much weight on her injured right leg.

But regardless, they couldn’t rest here forever.

“We have to find a way out of here on our own,” she said. “Judging by the density of the black vines, this should still be a level-five risk zone. If we head south, we should reach a level-four risk zone by dawn. If we’re lucky, we might run into another mercenary team…”

In truth, not many mercenary teams dared to come to the surface during the growth season.

Let alone venture past the level-one and -two risk zones, deep into level-three and -four territory.

She knew full well that even if they made it to a level-three risk zone, the probability of encountering humans was far lower than encountering a pack of beasts. Moreover, human legs were too slow, and the girl beside her was injured. At this pace, even walking for an entire night, they would at most only be able to leave the level-five risk zone.

But Chai Yuening didn’t want to say such things to the young girl.

So she let out a heavy breath, pulled a flashlight from her small pouch, and used its meager light in the dense fog to rally her spirits. Then, she helped the girl to her side.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

“If you feel like you can’t walk, you can tell me. I’ll rest with you for a bit.”

“Okay.”

In the dense fog, the two figures supported each other as they forged ahead in the dark, their staggering steps, deep and shallow, treading upon the city ruins overrun with black vines.

The night was so quiet, so quiet that even the sound of each other’s breathing and footsteps was incredibly clear.

“I heard the old folks in the Base say that the surface used to be bustling. As soon as night fell, the city would light up with so many lights, and the roads would be full of cars coming and going.”

“Back then, the Fog Zone didn’t exist. You didn’t have to pick a spot; at night, you could just look up and see the stars and the moon in the sky.”

“And when the night grew deeper and the city quieted down, you could hear what the books described as ‘the chirping of insects and birds in the dead of night’…”

Chai Yuening spoke between gasps for air.

A night this quiet, she thought, if she didn’t say something, she would start to suspect she was already dead, that this journey together was just a hallucination.

But as it turned out, it was better not to say these things. When her words were met with no response, it all felt even more like a hallucination than the previous silence.

“Are you listening?”

“Yes.”

Chai Yuening said, “I’ve met a lot of people, but I’ve never met anyone like you.”

The girl lowered her eyelashes slightly. After a few seconds of silence, she asked softly, “What am I like?”

“You’re too quiet,” Chai Yuening said after a moment’s thought. “So quiet it’s like you’re not in the Fog Zone. So quiet it’s like you don’t see other people die, and all the danger has nothing to do with you.”

At this, she gave a somewhat helpless smile and joked, “I’m not already dead, am I? Finding a wrecked vehicle, saving you, running into Luo Kun—it’s all just a hallucination.”

“No.” The girl quickly shook her head, a trace of guilt flashing in her eyes as she looked at Chai Yuening.

“I’m just kidding.” Chai Yuening changed the subject casually. “Which mercenary team were you out with? Is it okay to ask that?”

“I don’t mean anything by it. It’s just that a lot of people don’t know, if the team you’re with is on a military mission and most of your teammates die, the survivors can apply to the Base for a period of financial assistance. The process is just a bit of a hassle. I can help you!”

The girl opened her mouth, seeming to want to say something but holding back.

Chai Yuening remembered what she had heard Luo Kun say outside the rest cabin. After a few seconds of silence, she changed the subject again. “Anyway, if you need help in the future, you can find me. My name is Chai Yuening, captain of the Thirteenth Mercenary Team. My place is C9 Building, D1207, in the Sixth District… What about you? I’ll take you home when we get back to the Base.”

As Chai Yuening spoke, she saw the girl purse her lips and lower her eyes again, so she felt it was best not to ask any more questions.

The two continued onward in silence.

After an unknown amount of time, the girl’s soft whisper reached Chai Yuening’s ear.

“I… can’t remember anything.”

The voice was as light as a gentle breeze. If the night hadn’t been so quiet, she would have certainly missed it.

“Can’t remember?”

“No.”

Chai Yuening took a long, deep breath and fell into a brief silence.

After the silence, Chai Yuening asked, “You can’t remember who brought you out, can’t remember where you live… can you remember anything at all?”

The girl shook her head.

Chai Yuening: “What about your name?”

The girl still shook her head.

Seeing this, Chai Yuening could only offer hurried reassurance. “It’s okay, take your time. You might just be in shock. You’ll probably remember in a while. If you really can’t remember, the Base has backup identity information. We can look it up; we’ll definitely be able to find you.”

As she spoke, she once again observed the girl’s expression.

The girl stared at her quietly, a hint of confusion in her eyes, as if she hadn’t quite understood the question.

Chai Yuening pondered for a moment, then emphasized once more, “It’s okay, don’t worry.”

The girl nodded.

Her grip on Chai Yuening’s hand tightened for a moment.

They walked for a very, very long time.

The flashlight beam began to flicker. Fearing she’d be left without any light source in a real emergency, Chai Yuening turned it off beforehand to save the battery.

The slowly arriving light of dawn filtered through the layers of dense fog, scattering across the desolate land.

Having walked from night until daybreak, they spotted the distant yellow fog lights that could only belong to a human vehicle. In that moment, it was as if a lost sailor had spotted a lighthouse.

Overjoyed, Chai Yuening supported the girl and quickened her pace, pulling out the flashlight from her bag and shouting as she shone its beam toward the vehicle in the distance.

In the thick fog, the heavy vehicle turned and drove toward them.

The joy in Chai Yuening’s eyes gradually turned to astonishment. After the astonishment, she couldn’t help her eyes from welling up.

---

On the return trip, the vehicle was not only slow but also jolted them from side to side. Yet to Chai Yuening, it was far more comfortable than Luo Kun’s high-end car.

“Lao Xiang, didn’t you promise this trip would be fast, smooth, and steady?” a young man with black hair yelled toward the driver’s seat. “This shaking is killing me! It’s even worse than before!”

“The chassis was installed in a hurry, that’s all. We’ll fix it up properly when we get back,” Lao Xiang said, as if coaxing a child. “Next time, I guarantee next time it’ll be fast and smooth.”

“I don’t believe you anymore! We’ll have a professional fix it when we get back!”

“It doesn’t matter where you take this vehicle to get it fixed, it’s old, you get it?” Lao Xiang said with a simple and somewhat proud smile. “Lu Qi, let me tell you, kid, before the Captain was even born, when your brother-in-law was still just a baby, I was with the former captain, driving this thing out on search and rescue missions in the Fog Zone every day. I know this old fellow inside and out. No one in the Base knows it better than I do.”

“Tch… old piece of junk. Should’ve been replaced long ago,” Lu Qi said with a look of disdain.

“Hey, that costs money,” Lao Xiang said leisurely.

“We’ll definitely get a better one when we have the money,” Chai Yuening chimed in from the side.

Lu Qi instantly jumped up, complaining, “Captain, you’ve got some nerve! Going out alone with that bastard Luo to find the giant beast, and you didn’t even take us with you!”

Chai Yuening shook her head. “Take you for what? This trip wasn’t profitable. There was nothing but danger.”

“If you knew it was dangerous, you had even less reason to go out alone,” Lao Xiang lectured sternly from the side. “You’re a grown woman. If anything had happened to you before I died, I wouldn’t have the face to see your parents when I go down there.”

“Yes, yes, I know I was wrong. I’ll never do it again. Besides, I wasn’t exactly alone. I was hitching a ride in their luxury car. You’ve seen Luo Kun’s vehicle, right? Its safety rating is way higher than this old wreck of ours.”

With that clever retort, Chai Yuening blocked all the lectures Lao Xiang had been about to deliver.

A brief silence fell inside the armored vehicle.

The woman in the passenger seat, holding a sniper rifle, suddenly spoke.

“On our way here, we saw Luo Kun’s vehicle.”

“Oh?” Chai Yuening’s attention was immediately captured.

“Only the front of the vehicle was left. It had flipped over, the glass was all shattered, but the lights were still on.” The woman frowned as she spoke. “There was blood all over the inside and outside of the vehicle. Only a few severed limbs, not even a complete corpse.”

“…” Chai Yuening couldn’t help but let out a heavy sigh.

To stay alive, some people abandoned their companions, but in the end, it was all for naught.

Chai Yuening suddenly felt a wave of retroactive fear. If she had chosen to abandon the injured girl like Luo Kun had, she might have already become a meal for the mutated beasts by now.

As she thought this, her gaze unconsciously drifted to the girl curled up in the corner.

Whether in Luo Kun’s vehicle or hers, this young girl always liked to shrink into a corner.

She looked just like…

Like an injured kitten, her eyes filled with vigilance, constantly resisting any stranger who tried to approach.

Her brief lapse in concentration caused her to miss some of what her teammates were saying.

When she came to, she only heard the end of a sentence: “We searched around there for half a day, we almost thought you…”

“Du Xia, don’t talk about that,” Chai Yuening interrupted, smiling nonchalantly. “Look at me, I’m perfectly fine, aren’t I? I’m tough as nails.”

“…”

“Let me tell you, I really saw something this time,” Chai Yuening said, closing her eyes and leaning against the vehicle wall. She took three deep breaths in a row and exclaimed, “You guys didn’t see it, just how big that thing was.”

“The giant worm from the broadcast?” Lu Qi asked curiously.

“It was something even scarier than that giant worm… Its legs were thicker than the elephants in the history books, its forelimbs were like two giant blades, and when it stood up, it was taller than a one-story building. Its mouth was on its belly, a huge one, full of tentacle-like mouthparts!” Chai Yuening said with a grimace, her hands gesturing vividly, her dramatic flair undeterred by the lurching of the vehicle.

Hearing this, Lu Qi couldn’t help but ask in astonishment, “Have the mutated beasts in the Fog Zone really evolved to that extent? Captain, you’re not pulling our leg, are you?”

“Why would I pull your leg? I wasn’t the only one who saw it.” As she spoke, Chai Yuening’s gaze once again fell on the girl in the corner. “She saw it too.”

The girl looked up at the sound of her voice, her eyes staring blankly at Chai Yuening.

Chai Yuening stood up, staggered a few steps, and sat down beside her. “You have to be my witness. I’m telling the truth, right?”

She smiled at the girl, her eyebrows curving.

The girl blinked and nodded obediently.

Beside them, Lu Qi asked curiously.

“So, Captain, is this little girl one of Luo Kun’s people?”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

“Then where did she come from?”

“She got separated from her teammates. I happened to run into her and took her with me.”

“Hah, and here I thought she had some connection to Luo Kun. Looks like there’s no benefit to be gained from saving her.”

“What kind of benefit do you want for saving someone along the way?”

Chai Yuening said lightly, turning her head to look out the window beside her.

The vehicle swayed and bumped through the morning fog, the familiar sound of her teammates’ bickering in her ears.

Another spring rain began to fall, a soft drizzle.

As the fog gradually thinned and they finally, truly left the high-risk zone, she let her tense heart relax completely.

Now, they were really going home.

The moment that thought arose, a wave of exhaustion instantly surged up from the depths of her suppressed heart.

Chai Yuening squeezed her already weak legs, closed her eyes, and leaned against the window, drowsily drifting off to sleep.

In a daze, her head drooped heavily to the side.

A hand gently supported the side of her face, its touch somewhat cool, somewhat soft.

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Author’s Notes:

Time to bring a strange creature into the city.