These missed calls on his father’s phone should have been made before the phone ran out of battery. It’s likely that after the anomaly occurred, his mother tried to contact his father but found no response. Besides the calls, there were also numerous unread text messages, all from his mother, constantly inquiring about his father’s well-being and urging him to call back as soon as possible.
Just as he was about to call back, he suddenly noticed something confusing in one of the messages.
“B City? Mom went to B City?”
Yue Zheng looked at him, recalling that Xu Song had mentioned earlier that his mother should also be in Y City. Could something have happened that made her temporarily leave?
Suppressing his confusion, Xu Song quickly dialed the number. The signal seemed to be weak, and the music on the other end of the line kept cutting in and out.
As soon as the ringtone sounded, the person on the other end couldn’t wait to answer.
“Husband?!” The phone signal was indeed poor, but Xu Song could still hear the voice clearly. Apart from his mother’s voice, there was chaos all around, as if she was in a crowded place.
“Mom!” Hearing his mother’s voice and confirming that she was still alive, Xu Song felt a wave of relief wash over him, and tears almost welled up in his eyes.
“Xiao Song?! Are you okay? Where’s your father?” This was her husband’s phone number. After arriving in B City yesterday, the anomaly occurred, and she had been calling her husband and son non-stop, but couldn’t reach either of them! She had almost gone crazy with worry throughout the night.
“Mom, I’m okay… Dad…” His gaze involuntarily fell on his father’s urn. How could he bring up this matter? He could barely accept the outcome himself, let alone his mother.
Having witnessed so many people around her explode and die, Xu Song’s mother, He Shuhua, had already suffered considerable trauma yesterday. Added to that was a whole day of being unable to reach her husband and son. She had already formed the worst possible prediction in her mind.
There were many people nearby, almost everyone had relatives they couldn’t contact. In this desperate state, she almost thought that both her husband and son had died. When the phone rang just now, she almost didn’t dare to answer.
“It’s okay… You’re… okay.” He Shuhua’s mind was blank, and she instinctively comforted her son. “Where are you now? How’s the situation in Y City?”
“I’m at home, everything is fine… Mom, why did you go to B City?” He had just returned from B City on vacation, and his mother hadn’t mentioned any plans to go there. Fortunately, she wasn’t in Y City when he returned; otherwise, who knows what he would have seen when he came home…
Thinking of his father’s corpse being controlled by the black aura, if his mother didn’t know in advance that the body could be manipulated, he might have come home to see two lifeless bodies…
“…Business… picking up goods in B City… I’m at the airport in B City and can’t leave right now…”
The airport should be mostly empty, with probably fewer plants around than in Y City, so it might be safer. The voice on the phone was intermittent, and Xu Song worried that the signal might cut off at any moment.
Looking at the ashes on the ground, a determined look appeared in his eyes as he instructed through the phone, “Mom, you’re at the airport. Be careful at night! Stay in crowded places and avoid areas with corpses. I’m heading to B City now, so please don’t wander around!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Xiao Song! Don’t come… Take care of yourself… Mom will figure something out…”
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Not to mention that B City was the capital, and if any city in the country had a higher level of post-disaster rescue efforts, it would likely be there.
“Don’t worry, Mom. I have a plan. Just stay at the airport. The journey may be difficult, and it might take longer, but please don’t travel alone…”
Before he could finish his instructions, his mother’s anxious voice was interrupted. Xu Song looked at the phone screen, and there was no signal again.
“You’re going to B City?” Yue Zheng asked as Xu Song put down the phone.
He nodded silently, “My mom is there.” He looked at the scattered ashes on the ground, rubbed his face, and sighed deeply. “I’m taking my dad with me.”
“The journey might be very dangerous,” Yue Zheng said after a moment of silence.
“Yes, I know.” Xu Song smiled at him, looking up. “But my mom is alone in B City. I can’t rest easy… I have to go and see. What about you?”
“I need to go and inform the boss about this matter first.” Yue Zheng stood up. “I’ll help you pack.”
Seeing Yue Zheng walking toward his father’s ashes, Xu Song also stood up quickly. The two of them rummaged through the Xu family’s belongings and found a jar that had been used for pickling vegetables. There was still a little pickled pepper and pickled beans inside. Xu Song emptied it and cleaned it with a cloth, using it to hold his father’s ashes.
After helping Xu Song pack the ashes, Yue Zheng said, “Don’t be too eager to leave the city. See if there are any caravans planning to leave as well. It’s safer to travel together with others, considering you need to conserve your abilities.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll go and check if there’s anything happening with the team.”
“Okay, I probably won’t leave the city until the day after tomorrow at the earliest. I need a few days to pack the things I want to bring.”
Yue Zheng pondered for a moment. “I’ll go back now and see if there’s any news. I’ll bring the car back later. In the evening, you shouldn’t stay in the residential area. Go to the shelter instead. It’s more open there.”
Xu Song was contemplating how to get to B City. It would be convenient to have a car, but if he had to rely on his own two legs, he didn’t know how long it would take him to get there.
“If you give me the car, then what about you?”
“I can find another one easily. There are plenty of cars in the city.” Not to mention the cars abandoned all over the roads, anyone could find one if they needed one.
“Yeah, take care too. I’ll head to the shelter area after 5 o’clock. If you need to find me, go there.”
After saying that, they went their separate ways. Xu Song rummaged through the cabinet and found bedsheets and covers, wrapping his father’s ashes jar inside. He wondered if he should search around the city these next few days to see if he could find a more sturdy urn. Using this ceramic jar, there would be a mess if it happened to fall and break.
On the other side, Yue Zheng went downstairs. Most of the people in the hallway had already left, and there were only a few residents in the community busy moving things up and down.
Since the incident occurred on a weekday afternoon when fewer people were at home, more people were trapped in several office buildings in the Dongcheng District.
Yue Zheng drove around, taking detours to avoid the road sections overtaken by plants. Finally, after much difficulty, he arrived at the Dongcheng District.
Some members of the armed police force were rescuing trapped individuals with the assistance of the criminal police team. Some police officers and traffic police were nearby, helping ambulance personnel transport the injured. There were also ordinary people who had managed to escape the disaster and were assisting in any way they could because they themselves were relatively unharmed.
Yue Zheng parked the car by the roadside and locked it. Not seeing any familiar colleagues, he took out his phone but realized there was no signal again. He had to approach a traffic police officer wearing a wide-brimmed hat and asked, “Do you know where the criminal police team is?”
The traffic police officer wiped off some sweat and pointed towards a tall building where various plants were entwined and stretching out from the windows. “Most of them, along with the armed police, went into that building. By the way, who are you?”
“I’m from the criminal police team.” Yue Zheng replied and quickly ran into the building.
The entrance to the office building was squeezed and cracked by the roots of unknown plants, leaving only a few gaps to enter and exit. After squeezing through one of the gaps, Yue Zheng saw his superior using a walkie-talkie to coordinate the operations. There were also several other team captains from the criminal police team discussing and assigning tasks.
Feeling relieved, Yue Zheng walked over, “Chief Li.”
“Yue Zheng, you made it?” Chief Li saw Yue Zheng and patted his shoulder.
“We don’t have time for other matters right now. You can’t rest yet. Help us handle things here first.”
After speaking, he pointed towards the entrance of the emergency staircase. “Xiao Wang, take Yue Zheng to the fourteenth floor. Get the trapped people out first.”
Yue Zheng had to take out the slate that he had already placed separately in his backpack, along with some crystal fragments. He explained in a low voice to Chief Li, who he had pulled aside, “These are things we found inside that ancient tomb. The tomb exploded after those grave robbers went in, and I passed out. When I woke up, there were strange phenomena in the surrounding mountains and forests.”
“Oh, okay, we’ll talk about it later… Wait, what did you say?” In the previous phone call, Yue Zheng didn’t provide many details due to poor signal quality. He mentioned the explosion in the mountain tomb and not seeing his colleagues who were supposed to meet him. So the implication of his words now seemed to be…
“While it’s just a guess because the explosion and the anomalies occurred at such close times, I’m worried that this incident might be related to the explosion in the ancient tomb.”
Li Zhengzhong looked at Yue Zheng in astonishment, who had a serious expression on his face, indicating that he wasn’t joking. If this incident was really caused by the things brought out of that ancient tomb… My goodness! This problem is too serious!
“Yue Zheng, come with me upstairs.” Xiao Wang, seeing that Yue Zheng didn’t follow, walked over and called him.
“Wait!” Li Zhengzhong waved his hand to Xiao Wang and called over a person at the entrance.
“Come here! Take these things to…” Only then did he realize that he hadn’t clearly seen what was inside the bag. After taking a closer look, he found the shiny objects resembling shards of glass, while the slate had some historical features. “Are these things from the ancient tomb?”
“Yes, there’s also a stone platform that I couldn’t bring. I only took some samples.”
“What about the others?”
“The grave robbers were all inside the tomb at the time and were blown to death… Boss, have there been reports of dead people coming back to life in the city?”
Li Zhengzhong immediately turned serious, asking in a low voice, “You’ve encountered it too?”
“Yes, one of the grave robbers was blown to bits, but could still get up and attack me.”
“We’ve encountered it the night before yesterday and last night as well, but we’ve suffered some losses.” Li Zhengzhong sighed, his expression growing even grimmer.
“Fortunately, it seems like these things only come out at night, so we must intensify our rescue efforts during the day. Our province’s stationed military forces are already fewer than the surrounding provinces, and now the entire province is affected by the disaster. After dispersing, the city’s military forces are also limited, so we can only rely on ourselves. The infantry and artillery units are in the other buildings and the shelter area.”
He pulled out a cigarette, placed it in his mouth, lit it, and took a deep drag. Frowning deeply, Li Zhengzhong turned to the person waiting nearby and said, “Take this to the Mineral Research Institute and invite a few history professors over.”
“Chief Li, weren’t several archaeologists from our city with the team that went to Helu Mountain? We still haven’t received any news from them.”
“In that case, take it there and let them see what these things are made of.”
Yue Zheng asked in confusion, “The team that was sent out hasn’t returned yet?” He hadn’t encountered anyone during his journey, thinking that they might be trapped at the foot of the mountain, but there should have been some news by now.
Li Zhengzhong shook his head and said, “No, they had a considerable number of people. They might be stuck somewhere without a signal.”
Suddenly, Yue Zheng remembered something and quickly asked, “Where were they stationed before heading up the mountain?”
“It was somewhere on the west side… No, the southwest entrance. They were concerned about being seen by the villagers and affecting their operation, so they chose the southwest entrance to enter the mountain.”
“The southwest entrance… Is it close to Zhao Village’s graveyard?!”
ouch they’re screwed
Toast…they’re toast…
Oh noo….
Oh boy that’s bad news
Yup they are gone. RIP.