"Are you okay?" Someone gently patted my back—it was Edmond. His voice carried a caring tenderness. "Is this your first time seeing someone die?"
Unexpectedly, at this moment, Edmond, who had previously curled up in the corner, shouting not to eat him, appeared unusually calm. No, it was more like he wasn't surprised at all, as if in their world, they frequently encountered such situations.
"At first, it's hard to adapt, but you'll get used to it with time," Edmondsaid, patting my back gently. His seemingly gentle tone, however, revealed a kind of coldness, an indifference to life.
What does it mean to get used to it? Getting used to people dying?I took a moment to compose myself. There was no smell of death in the air, only the burnt scent of charred skin. I gritted my teeth, straightened my body—when you're running for your life, what else matters?
"Ah!" When the last thug fell by the campfire, silence descended around the fire. Campbell Russell, on guard, surveyed the surroundings, slowly rising from his half-crouched position. His face displayed a stern expression, coldly overlooking the bodies scattered on the ground. The fallen thugs deserved their fate!
I finally adapted somewhat and walked out with Edmond. However, my body still couldn't stop trembling, and I felt a lingering nausea. We stood behind Campbell Russell, who remained vigilant, looking around. He said to me, "You handle yourself well."
"Thank you." Right now, all I wanted to know was how to get back, how to return to my own world!
"It's safe now," Edmond said, examining the corpses around. Surprisingly, he was still scrutinizing them, so his previous fear was just an act, pretending to be a sheep in wolf's clothing.
Campbell Russell glanced at us and began to remove the work clothes from his body, revealing a clean shirt underneath. Then, he took off the clean shirt to expose a black tight-fitting vest underneath.
"One, two, three, four..." Edmond was counting the corpses.
I looked at Campbell Russell, who walked to the side of the campfire. Behind the flames cowered the dirty girl, her clothes already stripped off, revealing equally dirty skin with no trace of whiteness. She curled up there, shivering in fear, even losing the ability to cry, only holding onto her head tightly.
Campbell Russell gently placed his shirt over the girl. She immediately clutched the shirt, as if finally grabbing a life-saving straw. It made her feel a hint of safety and warmth, a relief from the trauma and fear brought on by the horrifying events.Campbell Russell looked down at the terrified girl, her soul seemingly absent from her body. His hands clenched into fists again, and with anger, he bit his teeth. Turning around, he kicked the nearby campfire hard, sending sparks flying.
"Two are missing! Their leader is not here!" Edmond suddenly said.
So, Edmond was counting the bodies for this purpose? This Edmond was indeed not simple.
Campbell Russell immediately turned around, skillfully tying the discarded work shirt around his waist. Once again, he pulled out his handgun and scanned the surroundings.
Edmond rummaged through one of the corpses, extracting two guns. "Here, your guns." He tossed the two guns toward Campbell Russell. Campbell Russell tossed aside his own gun, extending his hands. Two black handguns with silver lightning patterns gracefully flew through the firelight, landing in Campbell Russell's hands. He spun them confidently, a satisfied smile on his face. Holding them in his hands, his eyes flashed with excitement, like a black panther ready to hunt!
"Find the antidote!" Campbell Russell only said this sentence, and on the other side, Edmond was already searching another corpse. He blinked, his eyes glinting, as he dug out a small syringe from the corpse, containing blue liquid!
Edmond picked up the syringe, glanced at it, and casually threw it towards Campbell Russell. Campbell Russell caught it in his hand and immediately stabbed it into his own neck. I stared, dumbfounded, as he injected the liquid into himself. Was Campbell Russell also poisoned?
After administering the injection, Campbell threw away the syringe, closed his eyes, took a deep breath. To my surprise, something astonishing happened. I seemed to see a circle of lightning-like radiance around his body, but that circle of light quickly disappeared into the firelight, as if it were just an illusion caused by my eyes playing tricks on me.
Campbell opened his eyes, and a sharp gleam flashed in his black eyes.
"Be careful, their leaders usually have radiation abilities," Edmond stood up, nervously looking at Campbell Russell.
"What the hell?" I looked at him in confusion.Campbell hesitated for a moment, and a purple glow flashed in his black eyes. "Not ghosts, but people, radiation people! Aren't you also a radiation person?" He looked at me with confusion and suspicion. I finally noticed the sparkling purple light in his pupils.
"What kind of weird thing are you wearing in your eyes?" I pointed to his eyes. Campbell froze for a moment, quickly turned his face away. Suddenly, someone in a nearby cage spoke up, "They ran away! They ran outside!"
Campbell Russell and Edmond were startled. Campbell Russell looked at us and said, "Stay here, I'll go kill them!" With that, he swiftly picked up his gun and chased after them."Wait for me!" Edmond also caught up, chasing after Campbell Russell.
I glanced at the girl still cowering by the campfire, clutching the shirt Campbell Russell had given her. Slowly, I crouched down, and she tightened her posture even more. I raised my hand to comfort her, but now, with my voice sounding like a guy's, she must be very wary of men.
My bag.I immediately looked around and, indeed, found my dirty bag not far from the campfire, looking particularly filthy. I took out my bag and checked inside. Hey, everything was there. I pulled out a box of milk and approached the girl. She immediately recoiled and retreated rapidly. Right now, she resembled a frightened young animal, scared of anyone, except the person who gave her the shirt to cover herself.
I halted my steps and placed the milk about a meter away from her. "It's okay, it's safe now. This is milk."
As soon as I uttered the word "milk," she appeared surprised. Although she still clutched her body tightly, her gaze shifted towards the milk in my hand. But upon seeing the milk, she became suspicious, as if she had never seen this kind of milk. This left her on guard, as if I were offering her some dubious, poisonous liquid.
I looked at her, disassembled the straw, inserted it into the carton, and then, under her wary gaze, took a sip myself. Only then did I place the milk about a meter away from her, the firelight revealing the shining words "milk" on the carton.Without looking back at her, I turned and went after Edmond and Campbell Russell.
As a girl who had experienced something similar, I understood everything she had been through. If it were me, I would also be hugging myself in fear, afraid of anyone approaching. I might lose control and, like Campbell Russell, go after them until the last one lay dead at my feet.Her experiences were too horrifying. Those people were truly despicable!
The anger in my heart dispersed the earlier panic and fear of corpses. I ran past each prison car; on them were people quietly holding onto the railings. All I could see on their dirty faces were pairs of variously colored eyes, filled with anxiety and even fear as they stared in the same direction. Their expressions were as if they were afraid someone would come back to kill them, afraid that Campbell Russell wouldn't be able to kill the escapees, subjecting them to the terrifying events once again.
I couldn't imagine the revenge these cruel and brutal people would exact if they managed to escape.
In the dimming firelight, I reached the entrance of the warehouse, where I saw Campbell Russell and Edmond standing. Campbell Russell pushed open the warehouse door, and immediately, a huge gust of wind swept into the entire warehouse, like a sandstorm, making it impossible for the pursuing people to open their eyes. Campbell Russell stood there, the large warehouse door framing him like a giant picture frame. Although he appeared small under the warehouse door, the firelight cast upon his back made him shine so brightly that one couldn't look away.