So he placed both guns on the ground and said, "One is my sidearm, and the other one they took from you, both are here."
Liu Ge was finally satisfied. As soon as Hai Baihe and Liang Xiao entered the mine tunnel, he pointed the gun at Mu Ge and said, "Go and fetch the rope."
Mu Ge trembled and hobbled over, bringing the rope. Liu Ge gestured for her to tie Ni Xuanxuan's hands and feet. "No tricks," he warned.
Mu Ge didn't dare to play any tricks. She was just too nervous, and her fingers were stiff. She struggled to tie the knots several times, tears welling up from her anxiety.
After finally tying Ni Xuanxuan securely, Liu Ge impatiently pushed her into the car and quickly bound Mu Ge as well.
With the hostages secured, he sat in the driver's seat and lit a cigarette—thankfully, the zombies seemed completely unaffected by the smell of smoke.
How can we escape from this cursed place?
This question occupied the minds of Hai Baihe and Liang Xiao simultaneously. It wasn't just the zombies that were terrifying; they could be killed. What was truly frightening was being trapped here by an invisible force. Even if they had enough food and water, it would eventually run out.
Especially now, as they were running out of ammunition and supplies.
If they didn't find any clues this time, they would face not only Liu Ge's threats but also a complete psychological breakdown.
Liang Xiao pondered, "It would be best if we could find some clues. If not, you'll have to find a way to lure him in."
"Say you're dead, and then I'll discover an important clue?" Hai Baihe didn't see any problem with that. The key question was, "But will he fall for it?"
"Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't." Among all the criminals, perhaps drug dealers were the most paranoid, preferring to kill a thousand people rather than let one go. But the current situation was different.
Liang Xiao said, "He may also know that there's no way to leave here through normal means, so he came here searching for clues. He's not stupid, but like us, even if there's a glimmer of hope, he won't let it slip away."
Having said that, he quickly changed the subject, "Duck!"
It was too late.
Hai Baihe was hit hard by the elevator, leaving a large bruise on her forehead. It hurt so much that tears welled up in her eyes. "Ouch!"
"Let me see." Liang Xiao used his phone to take a look. Her forehead was swollen. "It hit you pretty hard."
Hai Baihe blinked at him. "Is that it?"
Liang Xiao thought for a moment and reassured her, "Hang in there, we don't have any ointment."
"Brother, can I ask you something?" Hai Baihe asked seriously, "Did you have any romantic encounters when you used to go to bars or something?"
"Why are you asking about that?" Liang Xiao was surprised.
"If you did, you should understand what I mean," Hai Baihe tilted her head and looked at him. "You're not interested in me, are you?"
Liang Xiao: "... " He sincerely said, "In this situation, I haven't thought about it that much."
It was just a joke. It's better to liven up the atmosphere occasionally than to be in a state of despair. But it didn't mean he was interested in pursuing romance. Not to mention that he had just broken up with his girlfriend. In this life-or-death situation, he didn't have
the mental capacity for romance. Survival was already a challenge.
But thinking about it, maybe it was his fault. So he apologized to her very carefully, "Baihe, if my behavior in the car caused any misunderstanding, I apologize. It's easy to arouse suspicion when I'm alone in the car, so I approached you. I'm really sorry."
"I know, it has nothing to do with that," Hai Baihe made a face. "I just thought you looked good, so..."
The thought of romantic feelings can arise so unexpectedly, and it has nothing to do with whether there are zombies around or not.
Liang Xiao: "Um..." He could only blame his mixed heritage. His mother was from Hong Kong, and his father was American, a model with a handsome and charismatic appearance that was truly deadly.
He had never lacked admirers since he was young. Liang Xiao couldn't argue against what Hai Baihe said.
To conceal the awkwardness, he lowered his head and directed the light from his phone to the ground, where several headlamps were scattered. He tried them one by one and found that the batteries had corroded, rendering them useless.
His phone battery was down to ten percent, while everyone else had brought power banks. But with limited usage to conserve battery, even their power banks were running low.
However, the faint light from the phone was simply not enough. Lighting a fire was out of the question, not to mention the lack of oxygen underground would be disastrous.
If this ordeal could be dealt with using a phone, then the other problem was even more troublesome.
The elevator was manually operated. Going down would be more dangerous, and Hai Baihe was still thinking about how to go down together with Liang Xiao when he took a step forward and embraced her.
His chest was broad, his arms strong, and the warmth seeped through their thin clothes. Hai Baihe's legs went weak. She only heard him say in her ear, "You're still a college student, you have family. Don't take risks with me. I'm different from you. Listen to me." He gently patted her back.
Hai Baihe: "Hey..."
Before she could say anything, Liang Xiao let go and jumped into the elevator. The gears clanked as the elevator descended, quickly disappearing into the darkness.
Hai Baihe squatted down, covering her face. The most embarrassing thing in her life just happened. She was too dazed to hear what he said, and she had been struggling to keep her clumsy hands from touching his chest.
Using seduction as a joke was really going too far!
Could it be more intense!
No, at this time, Mu Ge and the others were still outside in danger. How could she think of such things? It was completely inappropriate!
Sigh, as the saying goes, even under a peony, one dies a ghost with style. It's not illegal to think about it, and it's a way to find some humor in adversity.
She squatted by the side of the elevator, amusing herself, not knowing how much time had passed. Suddenly, the bell rang. It was probably a mechanism set up by the miners. When they pulled the rope below, the bell would ring, and the people above could pull them up.
Hai Baihe pulled the lever to lift them up. As soon as Liang Xiao stepped on solid ground, he was hugged tightly. He raised his hands in surrender. "I was wrong."
"Let me tell you, this won't work." Hai Baihe said very seriously, although her actions were anything but serious. With this hug, she successfully went from touching his chest muscles to his back muscles. The sensation was so good that it was
hard for her to let go. Finally, she thought that this wasn't right, bit her lip, and withdrew her hand from his waist, but then she felt something else, and she said, "If you do this again, I won't be polite."
After letting go, she had a righteous look on her face.
Liang Xiao didn't feel anything special from this brief two-second hug. He nodded casually, "Uh-huh." There would be a next time to discuss it, anyway. It wasn't the first or second time he had benefited from his looks. Otherwise, why would he always be the one sent to attend meetings or gather information?
After sorting out their emotions, it was time to talk about business.
"What's down there?"
"Just a few zombies." The underground was pitch black. Liang Xiao quickly checked with the remaining battery on his phone and found only a few dormant zombies. In this world devoid of light and sound, they remained still, like corpses. Even when they saw the light from the phone, their movements were much slower than the zombies on the surface.
Hai Baihe blinked. "Slower?"
"Yes, even with light, their movements are very sluggish. It's completely different from the zombies we encountered before," Liang Xiao tried to find the logic behind it. "Zombies don't need to eat, so how do they sustain their lives?"
Using the word "life" to describe zombies was strange. All their life activities had already stopped; they were dead. But how could the dead move?
Movies and novels about zombies had popularized the concept, but at the same time, once people accepted the existence of zombies, they rarely questioned the origins. It seemed like a natural setting, and the appearance of zombies directly threatened people's survival.
In a survival crisis, few people would contemplate the origins of zombies.
But they were different. Even if they managed to leave Huyang Township smoothly, even if they found out that the whole world had fallen, their primary concern would still be survival and how to survive better.
However, they were trapped here by a mysterious force, and finding the cause of the zombie outbreak seemed to be the key to escaping. They had no choice but to consider this question.
Especially since this was the real world, and the zombies here weren't exaggerated to the point of being magical. There were even faint clues pointing to the truth.
"Are you suggesting that the zombies are actually plants?" Hai Baihe's train of thought took a strange turn. "The zombies on the surface can undergo photosynthesis, so they can move. They have transformed their life form, so the underground zombies have a problem. Your idea is quite unique. I don't think anyone has ever thought of that."
Liang Xiao shook his head. "That's not what I mean. I think this whole situation doesn't seem like 'existence justifies reason.' There must be clues we haven't found yet."
"Alright, let's put that aside for now. How do you think we can rescue the people?"
"These people are very cautious. We must have a target that's worth risking for..." Liang Xiao turned around, his eyebrows furrowing. "What's that sound?"
Hai Baihe pointed to the mine tunnel. "It sounds like a rock falling... Oh my god!" It's no wonder she swore. She hadn't even finished her sentence when the entire mine tunnel began shaking violently.
This situation doesn't seem right! They were supposed to deceive Liu Ge, kill him, find the clues, and leave here smoothly. That was the plan!
"Run!" Liang Xiao pulled her and tried to move towards the tunnel, but the ground was shaking so violently that they couldn't resist gravity and fell down one after another.
In the darkness, they couldn't see anything. Hai Baihe only felt a sharp pain on her back, and something hit her head and arms. The pain came from multiple places, and strangely enough, she even saw golden stars.
So the saying that one sees stars when they hit their head is true... That was her last thought before she passed out.
When she regained consciousness, Hai Baihe thought she was buried underground. She reached out and realized that it was warm, a human body.
She pulled out her phone from her pocket and used the light to check. They were incredibly lucky. They weren't completely buried; only the exit was blocked.
The body she touched was Liang Xiao's. When they fell, he instinctively protected her, which resulted in his face covered in dirt and blood.
The light from the phone woke Liang Xiao up. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. "Are we trapped underground?" It was a question, but there was no trace of doubt in his tone.
"I don't know if the mine tunnel collapsed or if there was an earthquake," Hai Baihe ran her fingers through her hair and felt the soil on her hand. "Spit!" Damn it, this was the real deal—eating dirt.
She tried moving her hands and feet within the limited space. Aside from superficial injuries, she didn't break any bones. It truly lived up to her status as the protagonist.
Liang Xiao wasn't so lucky. His limbs were intact, but he had broken several ribs. Just pressing on the wound caused excruciating pain. He could even hear the sound of bones rubbing against each other. He had to sit against the wall and forced a bitter smile. "This is really bad."
Hai Baihe agreed wholeheartedly, "This situation is truly unscientific. I thought it was a biohazard or maybe Silent Hill. Now I realize I was wrong. This is a freaking burial." She felt thoroughly exhausted. Heights and the deep sea wouldn't cause her much fear, but being underground was different.