Qi Xia never thought that he would walk along the road for an entire day, until the sun fell into the horizon, and he still didn't see the edge of the city.
The normal walking speed for a person can reach five kilometers per hour, but Qi Xia calculated that with his physical condition, his walking speed was only about three kilometers per hour.
Today, he had already walked for more than seven hours, covering a distance of about twenty kilometers.
Now he only felt dizzy and his legs were constantly trembling. The ability to continue moving forward relied almost entirely on the inertia of his legs.
"I just hope I can die a little later...
After walking for another ten minutes, Qi Xia really couldn't walk anymore. He found a dilapidated building and went in. As night was falling, being outdoors would mean encountering those weird 'bugs'. Although he didn't know what dangers those bugs posed for the time being, he chose to avoid these unnecessary troubles in advance.
Qi Xia used Officer Li's lighter to ignite a fire, then took out the map of 'Heaven's Mouth', turned it over, and used his finger dipped in his own blood to roughly record the journey he had taken before.
This city is much larger than he imagined.
He thought that by following the road, he would at least arrive at a place like the wilderness, but he didn't expect the buildings around him to gradually become taller, as if he was moving from the suburbs to the city center.
The diameter of an ordinary city rarely exceeds fifty kilometers... Qi Xia drew the map with his own blood and pondered, "In theory, I will reach the edge of the city before tomorrow afternoon, and then everything will be revealed."
Thinking of this, he leaned towards the fire, found a relatively comfortable posture to lie down, the bloodstains on his body had all dried up, emitting an unpleasant smell of rust.
Last night, Lin Qin treated his wounds with a torch. Although the bleeding stopped, the burned areas were painful and itchy, making him unable to sleep all night.
After daybreak, Qi Xia dragged his body, which was close to being scrapped, to get up.
A night's rest did not restore any of his strength; he was now completely overdrawn.
No water, no food, and no medicine.
Qi Xia even envied Han Yimo a little, who could die so simply.
He found a few relatively clean pieces of scrap paper in the room, tore them into pieces, and swallowed them.
If there was nothing in his stomach, he was afraid he would not see the edge of the city.
Facing the rising sun, Qi Xia set off again.
He was already far from the original square, where he couldn't hear the 'bell' and rarely saw the 'Chinese zodiac'.
But as he continued to delve deeper, the city's original inhabitants gradually increased.
It was as if this was a real city, except that most of the people on the street were walking corpses. They had no expressions, no aggressiveness, and did not communicate with others, just aimlessly wandering on the streets.
For a moment, Qi Xia felt like he was the same as the walking corpses on the street.
Their movements, expressions, and even walking speeds were indistinguishable.
How ironic was this?
Did these people also get stabbed and then head towards the edge of the city with a clear goal?
As the sun got higher and higher, Qi Xia felt that his condition was not right.
He touched his forehead and neck, which seemed to be getting hot.
It seems that burning the wound was too risky. Even if it could temporarily stop the bleeding, it could not avoid infection and fever.
Qi Xia felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier as he walked, and he might fall to the ground at any time. If he fell this time, he was afraid he would never be able to get up again.
After nearly another half an hour, Qi Xia slowly stopped by the roadside.
He couldn't take a step further.
At this moment, he put his hand on an old taxi by the road, gasping heavily.
"What a pity..." Qi Xia looked into the distance, and there was still a long way to go, but he was about to fall here. It seems that at the last moment of his life, he still couldn't see the final secret of this place.
Qi Xia, leaning against the old taxi, lowered his head in frustration, and as he was about to sit down on the spot, he suddenly found that there was someone in the car.
The person didn't look like a corpse, but rather a woman who was awake.
"An 'inhabitant'?"
Qi Xia looked at the stiff ground and then at the soft seats in the car, revealing a wry smile.
If he really had to die here, he at least wanted to choose a soft place.
Thinking of this, Qi Xia opened the car door as if bewitched and sat directly in the passenger seat.
The car smelled good, like a girl's car.
It might not be good news, but Qi Xia could get rid of the stench that permeated the entire city at the last moment.
"I never thought the car seat would be so comfortable..." Qi Xia muttered to himself, "Now I can die in peace."
"Where to?" The woman next to him asked indifferently.
"Where to?" Qi Xia shook his head with a wry smile, "Where can I go now?"
He slapped his thigh with his hand and slowly recited the lyrics: "Drive, drive to the edge of the city, roll down all the windows, exchange speed for a little pleasure...
"The edge of the city?" The woman thought for a moment, "I don't know where that place is, you guide me."
After speaking, the woman pressed the meter display in the car, then turned the key.
As Qi Xia expected, the car made an old sound and didn't start.
The woman didn't give up, turning the key several times in a row, and finally, after five hard turns of the key, the whole car shuddered.
Qi Xia was stunned, turned his head, and looked at the woman in disbelief. She really didn't look like an 'inhabitant'. At least her complexion was rosy, and her figure was well-proportioned. Could she be a 'good person'?
A 'good person' with her own car...
"Fasten your seatbelt, let's go." The woman reached out to shift gears, start the car, release the clutch, and give gas in one go.
Qi Xia felt a bit at a loss to touch the seatbelt, only to find a loose rope next to his hand, and the metal buckle on it was already rusted.
He didn't have time to think about it, he could only try to talk to the woman: "You..."
Are you... a taxi driver?
"The guest is really joking." The woman shook her head, then shifted from second gear to third, "Am I not a driver, but a car thief?"
Seeing the woman in front of him communicating smoothly, answering fluently, and even making a small joke, Qi Xia couldn't understand it even more.
A woman with such a normal mind is obviously not an 'inhabitant', so she should be a 'participant', but why would a 'participant' drive a taxi?