Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor-Abo Dammen, Proofreader-adjective
The staircase’s door panel was an extremely thick fire-proof door that most people could not break through.
But Brother Jie didn’t intend to let them go just like that.
From the other side of the door, Ji Dong and others could hear Brother Jie cursing at them while kicking the door. The force he used was so strong as if he could never be reconciled until he tore them to shreds.
Mo Tiangen looked around for anything that could be used to block the entrance, but it was a shame that this Walmart’s administration was so good. There were no sundries, not even a garbage can, on the stairs.
Teacher Dagen turned forcefully, and separated the two individuals who were still hugging. He reminded them not to waste time, and that it was critical to escape swiftly.
So the three headed straight downstairs to the second floor of the underground parking lot.
In such a vast parking lot, the majority of the slots were unoccupied. Only a dozen cars were parked haphazardly. All of the doors and windows were shut. They were unable to open the doors at all. Furthermore, they didn’t have keys. Even if they broke in, they wouldn’t be able to start the car.
Fortunately, they found a pickup truck near the freight elevator.
The pickup truck was used for loading and unloading cartons. The entrance of the back compartment was slightly ajar and several boxes were stacked on the walls. The door to the driver’s seat was unlocked, and the key dangled on a little hook placed on the driver’s seat.
Mo Tiangen and Ji Dong showed a surprised expression, then quickly dragged Ren Jianmo to climb up.
As the only one who seemed to be capable of driving in the group of three, Teacher Dagen sat down in the driver’s seat, grabbed the key, and pressed the automatic ignition device.
However, the truck didn’t start.
Mo Tiangen cursed in a hoarse voice, “What the fuck!”
Then he turned back and said to Ji Dong, “The car’s got no battery!”
He was so angry, how could such a strange thing occur——did someone only pull out the battery without locking the door and taking the key?!
Ji Dong froze for two seconds.
His first reaction was to simply take a battery from another car, but he quickly found a better solution when his eyes landed in a specific direction.
“Look over there!”
Ji Dong pointed at a corner of the parking lot and shouted, “There’s a battery station!”
More than half of all cars on the road today were running on electricity rather than gasoline, and the car battery had been separated into various types based on the model.
If the car ran out of power outside and you had enough time to spend, you could plug in a charging pile and it would only take ten to twenty minutes to fill up. If you were in a hurry to continue on the road, you could buy a recyclable rechargeable battery at the battery station and replace it to continue driving.
Ji Dong jumped out of the car and ran straight to the battery station.
The battery station looked like a vending machine.
Ji Dong took a brief glance at the panel.
The words “Please Pay” were inscribed in red letters on a blue backdrop, followed by a right arrow pointing to a coin hole. A gold coin pattern was placed at the bottom of the label.
His eyes widened in astonishment.
Because the design engraved on the gold coins looked exactly like a peach blossom, the same design as the gold coin he’d picked up at the supermarket door.
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.
Lf gfjmtfv lcab tlr qbmxfa.
Fcfzqfmafvis, joafg j oluta pera cbk, atf ubiv mblc tjv cba ojiifc bea jcv kjr ralii lc tlr qbmxfa.
Al Gbcu abbx bea atf ubiv mblc jcv raeoofv la vlgfmais lcab atf riba, atfc qgfrrfv atf yjaafgs rfiilcu yeaabc “Cqqilmjyif ab Kgemxr jcv Derfr” yfibk.
With a click, the flip of the shipping port opened, and something rolled down.
Ji Dong quickly bent down and picked it up.
“Eh?”
He blinked in a daze.
The thing in his hand was flat, about the size of a business card box. It didn’t look like a car battery, but more like a rechargeable treasure.
“Student Ji Dong, why are you acting stupid!!”
Teacher Dagen, who was one step behind Ji Dong, watched the child slot in a coin and pick up a power bank, so he arrived at this conclusion.
He shoved Ji Dong away, grabbed the fire extinguisher on the side, broke the glass of the battery station vending machine, and pulled out two brand-new batteries from it.
They went back to the vehicle.
Mo Tiangen had just replaced the battery. When he turned around, he saw that Brother Jie had raced out of the stairs with a fire axe in his hand, his gaze searching around, before quickly noticing them. He smiled and dashed towards them.
“Holy fuck!!”
Teacher Dagen’s face changed drastically and hurried into the driver’s seat.
He started the car with trembling hands and shouted, “Sit down!”
He stepped on the accelerator, drove the truck out as if in Formula 4, drifted around a corner, hit dozens of traffic cones, broke the parking lot’s barrier gate, and roared out of the Walmart parking lot.
————————-
After they left Walmart, the sky outside was almost completely dark.
But the strange thing was that the red clouds in the sky that resembled the afterglow of the sunset had never faded, which made the streets appear less dark.
Mo Tiangen didn’t dare turn on the lights in a casual manner. He was concerned that the light might attract some little creatures and cause them problems. He could only drive the car as fast as walking speed, moving slowly and in little steps on the road.
Naturally, they wouldn’t be able to go very far in this manner.
After discussion, everyone decided to settle down in an Express Hotel a street away.
They felt that even if Brother Jie wanted to kill them, he wouldn’t dare to wander around the ominous city at night. Moreover, the most dangerous place was also the safest place. It would never cross his mind that they would dare to hide carelessly near Walmart.
Everything would be alright as long as they get through tonight, get on the road, and leave the city by daybreak tomorrow morning.
The ashes that kept falling from the sky would take care of the rut marks on the road from the Walmart parking lot to the Express Hotel.
After about ten minutes, the truck gently pulled into the Express Hotel’s underground parking lot.
They parked the car and proceeded upstairs in the dark, using a flashlight to guide them.
“Hey.”
While climbing the stairs, Ji Dong thought of one thing, “Do you think there will be that kind of red lizard here?”
Mo Tiangen also felt that this would be a terrible problem.
Less than half an hour ago, he watched the office worker who had been bitten on the neck by a lizard; his flesh and blood melted away, leaving only white bones all over his body. He didn’t want any of them to repeat the mistakes and die so horribly and cowardly.
“This…”
“Let’s find a smaller room, empty all the stuff inside, and seal the gaps in the door,” he reasoned.
Ji Dong agreed that this was a viable technique.
It’d be difficult to sleep on the hard floor all night, but at least your life would be protected.
As they spoke, they arrived at the lobby on the first floor.
“Look!”
Ji Dong grabbed Ren Jianmo, patted Mo Tiangen on the shoulder, raised his phone, and shook the light towards the corridor on the right. “There are several shops there.”
They had lost their mountaineering backpack and the supplies inside during their battle with Brother Jie a while ago. In addition to Ji Dong’s baby bow bag, the three were empty-handed and had nothing to eat or drink or any other necessities.
Mo Tiangen immediately smiled, flexing his hands.
“Your big brother’s favorite thing is to sweep shops.”
With that, he skillfully smashed open the glass door of the convenience store.
Ji Dong expressed surprise at Mr. Mo’s behavior, which seemed like a devil entering a village. He liked it and hurriedly followed in.
The lighting was insufficient, and they were afraid of meeting lizards, so they were more careful than before.
Ji Dong packed some food, drinking water, and daily necessities. He felt almost finished. When he looked back, he saw that Mo Tiangen was standing in front of a local specialty shelf and took down two bottles of wine.
“Hey!”
Speechless, he said, “What time is it, old man? You’re still in the mood to drink?”
Teacher Dagen didn’t answer, but quickly tucked two bottles of wine into his bag.
After sweeping the supermarket, Ji Dong and others went to the second floor, found a single room at the end of the corridor, and decided to spend the night there tonight.
“Don’t get busy yet.”
Seeing that Ji Dong opened the door to clean the room, Mo Tiangen stopped him.
“Let’s try this thing first.”
With that, he took out the two bottles of wine from his bag with a smile.
Holding his mobile phone, Ji Dong looked over and found that the label of the bottle said “Pu Gen realgar wine”.
Ji Dong: “??”
“Idiot, sports children aren’t really good at cultural knowledge!”
Mr. Dagen showed an expression of to hate iron for not becoming steel, “Do you know about the Dragon Boat Festival? The ancients used to burn wormwood and drink realgar wine to avoid the five poisons on this day. You should know that!”
“……”
Ji Dong, a sports student and unaware of such festivities, answered blankly, “So what?”
“Therefore, the gecko is also among the five poisons!”
Teacher Mo continued to explain, “That kind of lizard is similar to the gecko. Anyway, it’s all reptiles. They should be afraid of realgar!”
Ji Dong was apprehensive, “Really?”
“Anyway, it doesn’t hurt to try to give medicine to a dead horse!”
Mr. Mo shrugged his head and suddenly pulled an incense burner, several tiny candles, and a lighter from his bag. These were likewise grabbed by him at the supermarket’s souvenir cabinet just now. Then he crouched in the corridor, improvised a basic fumigant, filled it with realgar wine, and carefully placed it in the room.
Soon, the realgar wine on the burner began to boil, and the vapor packed with strong alcohol and realgar fragrance quickly masked the mild sulfur smell that had permeated the room.
They waited a little longer.
A red light flashed in the aperture reflected by Ji Dong’s cell phone flashlight—it was a little lizard, which emerged from behind the small closet beside the door, twisting his body to escape through the opening in the door panel.
Ji Dong grabbed a bottle of mineral water, smashed it on the ground, struck the target, and smashed it into a pile of muddy flesh on the spot.
Then the second little lizard climbed out along the door frame.
Mo Tiangen then ended its weak, poor, and helpless life with a plastic slipper.
In this way, they steamed three lizards from the room.
He waited another quarter of an hour until the realgar wine on the fumigant was dry, and the realgar smell in the room was so strong that even people couldn’t stand it.
“See!”
Mo Tiangen proudly raised his chin to Ji Dong.
His voice was a little hoarse, but his tone was complacent. “Didn’t I say this method must work!”
Ji Dong responded perfunctorily, “Yes, yes, Brother Dagen, you’re so awesome!”
Then Ji Dong and Mo Tiangen began to empty the furniture in the room.
They had no intention of letting Ren Jianmo get involved in such heavy manual work.
After all, based on Ren Jianmo’s pale face and coughing out of breath after a few steps, they estimated that lifting a cabinet would result in Ren Jianmo collapsing on the ground.
This low-cost hotel’s room was sparsely furnished. They worked hard for a while and eventually had the entire room cleared out.
They went back to the empty room, closed the doors and windows, and sealed some small gaps with tape to prevent the lizards from sneaking in from the outside in the middle of the night.
But at this time, Ji Dong didn’t know that it was too early to feel at ease.
Because the most dangerous long night in this city had just begun.
★Editor’s Corner
Hi, I’m Abo Dammen, the new editor for Screaming Cycle. I know, I’m surprised I’m here too (*´ڡ`●) you’ll be seeing me around so pls be nice to me 🧨🎉
helo new editor, nice to see you!
The last 2 sentences are giving me the chills
Thank you for the chapter!
Hi!!
Thank you for the chapter!! ❤️❤️
Hi!👋 it’s nice to have you here ☺️
Thank you for the chapter ❤️
I’m guessing that little box must be the kind of prop the bad guy wanted