Snap, snap, snap.
Along with the piercing warning bell, a series of rhythmic ticking sounds echoed in Erica's ears.
Erica opened her eyes suddenly and raised her upper body as if awakening from a nightmare.
It was pitch black all around, and the only light source was the fluorescent stick that fell at hand. The weak light blue cold light spread out, but the light only advanced a meter or two before being swallowed by darkness.
At this time, a drop of water fell on Erica's head, startling her. This finally woke her up from her hazy sleep.
The events of the recent past were like a fast-playing movie, and blurry images continued to slide through my mind. Finally, it was frozen in the last scene. A black-haired boy with a girlish face flew towards him. He twisted his face and desperately protected her in his arms. In the end, the two fell down the stairs together, and the memory was interrupted at this point.
"senior--!"
Erica subconsciously called out, but no one responded to her. Only the warning bell of the old train station that was blocked by layers of sound was left in her ears. The sound was a bit harsh and kept echoing.
Erica felt that this was not going to work. At the end of her memory, Senior An Ming was seriously injured trying to protect her and needed to receive treatment as soon as possible!
She quickly picked up the glow stick on the ground, trying to use the light to search for her senior. But then she realized that the palm she stretched out was covered in dark red blood.
"ah!"
He was so frightened by the blood that he screamed out in fear. But she soon discovered that she didn't have any serious injuries and didn't feel any pain.
This is not her blood.
Snap, another drop of water fell on her head. The liquid flowed from her hair and seeped into her eyes, and the world was instantly dyed red.
That's blood, what's been dripping from your head is blood!
She quickly raised the light stick, and the cold light illuminated the ceiling. The ceiling of this space is not high, and the ceiling is dotted with thick pipes. One of the vents was opened, and half of the person was slumped there, with blood dripping down.
That's Senior An Ming!
Erica quickly found a stepping stone from nearby and rescued An Ming from the vent.
He had a severe penetrating wound to his abdomen, and there was a large stain of darker blood on his dark clothes. Erica carefully took off his clothes and opened the inner layer.
Erica was frightened, the wound was so terrible.
An Ming got industrial tape from nowhere and tied his wound several times to barely stop the blood loss. He also stuffed a piece of dirty cloth under the tape to absorb water.
Looking at the shocking wounds and the extremely rough wound treatment, Erica felt very distressed. She raised her head and looked at the pipe above her head. Every other section of the entire pipe, some blood would seep out from the seams.
Erica could imagine that An Ming simply treated the wound and then hid in the vent to escape the pursuit of the mysterious enemy. He crawled with Erica for an unknown amount of time, and blood was leaking out from the originally sealed wound.
I am so useless! Erica bit her lip and felt unwilling.
She quickly took out a small bottle from her waist bag. This is another result of her work at the Institute of Biology. It is a product of artificial synthesis of its tissue components by studying the amazing recovery ability of chalk animal cells.
Erica calls it "healing gel." But because of the high cost of synthesis, the FBI felt it was worthless. Because they feel that the life of an ordinary operator is not worth three million rands.
So the research was eventually stopped, and Erica only kept a small number of undestroyed samples.
She unscrewed the bottle cap and put it aside, then peeled off the tape on An Ming's stomach bit by bit. The tape and skin were tightly adhered together. Erica pressed An Ming's abdomen and slowly moved the tape.
"Well--"
A look of pain immediately appeared on An Ming's face.
"I'm sorry, senior, please bear with me!"
At the end, she quickly tore off the entire tape. Long-term pain is worse than short-term pain.
The rag blocking the wound fell off, and the wound began to ooze blood again.
Erica quickly picked up the clothes she tore off to pad the wound, and at the same time used a metal hook to get the projectiles and fragments out of the senior's wound bit by bit.
After the treatment was almost completed, she put on transparent gloves and applied gel to An Ming wound.
After this gel fuses with blood, it will deceive human tissues and transform itself into mimic cells. It will use the self-healing ability of the chalk beast to proliferate at a high speed, and finally use its own cells to glue the wound.
The whole process was like surgery. The gel in Erica's hand was a suture needle. She needed to carefully suture the damaged parts without letting the different parts fit together. The treatment process is extremely slow and energy-consuming.
The operation took Erica about ten minutes, but when she raised her head, it felt as if a year had passed. He took off the surgical gloves on his hands, stuffed all the surgical items back into the small iron box, and put them back into his pocket.
She gently wiped the cold sweat off her head and looked at An Ming sleeping face gradually calming down. Erica took a long breath and felt relieved.
However, at this time, a huge terrifying sound came from above the ceiling. It seemed like something huge was tearing the world apart.
Erica couldn't help but tremble, instinctively afraid of something above her head. She immediately carried An Ming onto her back and walked quickly away from the sound under the cold light.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
Angelus wandered through the forest dragging a lame leg.
Not long ago, the Sirol monster tore away the special car's chassis and used it to smash through the entire train. Angelus was also injured in that attack.
Fortunately, he only sacrificed one leg and saved his life.
Angelus kept running away. There is darkness behind and the city in front of you. In the dark night, the lights of the distant city seem so far away, as if they will never end. Angelus thought of the River Styx in the Holy Scriptures. When a creature reaches the other side of the River Styx, it can never return to this shore. The lights of the human world on the other side are out of reach for him. This distance is death.
There were heavy footsteps behind him. The footsteps seemed to be deliberately keeping a certain distance from him, neither far away nor too close.
Ta-ta, tap-ta, tap-ta...
The sound sounded to Angelus like the footsteps of hell.
Angelus took a deep breath, alerting the pursuer behind him. All his nerves were mobilized to feel the slightest fluctuation in the air, and his heart rate soared to one hundred and eighty beats per minute.
How much longer? Angelus didn't know how long he would have to run away. He lost his mechanical watch the first time he fell and lost track of time.
The voice came from all directions. Angelus turned around suddenly, but there was nothing where the voice originally came from. Then a new voice came from behind him, and the voice came closer.
Angelus felt like he was being played, and the voice knew he couldn't find himself to be so bold.
One step closer, one step closer...
Angelus knew that the monster had reached behind him, and some kind of sharp metal scratched his neck.
He knew he was going to die.
But suddenly, the footsteps disappeared.
Angelus stayed where he was, unable to move, and even held his breath involuntarily, his own heartbeat could be heard clearly.
Where did he go? Did that monster let him go?
Just when he was wondering, three iron birds with neon lights flew across the sky, and their bright white search lights shone in the forest.
Ten minutes passed, and Angelus' reinforcements arrived.
Angelus suddenly went limp. He was saved, but he felt defeated. The monster could clearly kill him at the end with just one stroke and it wouldn't take much time, but he let Angelus go and disappeared without a trace.
Angelus sat on the ground and laughed dryly.
Although he survived, he neither killed the person who picked up the car as expected, nor did he protect the cargo of the Agreement Bureau.
A raging flame ignited in the forest not far away, lighting up everything around it.
"The goods are probably gone..."
Angelus muttered as he fell to the ground.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
Erica walked through the darkness, breathing heavily.
She was carrying An Ming on her back and holding a fluorescent stick in her hand. The light blue cold light could only dispel the darkness within half a meter.
Not long ago, there was a violent sound on the ground, and she was driven by that fear to run deeper. She didn't know how long she had been running away. She didn't hear the terrible sound and didn't know where she was. It was quiet all around, without any sound.
Erica raised the light stick in her hand and illuminated the road.
There is endless darkness both in front and behind. Erica was a little timid. She felt that there seemed to be something hidden in the darkness. If the light source went out at the next moment, the strange thing would suddenly pounce out and bite her neck off.
As she walked, she came across the first corner. The light blue cold light in his hand illuminated the wall. There was an old pictorial on the wall. In the corner of the pictorial was written in artistic style: July 1852.
This is a pictorial made a hundred years ago.
The troops and weapons depicted in the posters, the soldiers wearing dark black military uniforms had cold faces, and one after another they clenched the swords in their hands and walked forward. In addition to the army, the pictorial also showed long tunnels and trains transporting supplies.
Erica knew where this place was.
She once heard that during the Second Empire, the military dug long tunnels throughout the territory of Lan Kingdom. They were used as subway lines for civilian and commercial purposes during normal times, and as emergency distribution routes for military supplies in the event of war.
This enclosed space was a military subway station that is now abandoned. The old train station on the ground must also be part of this military subway, as the two share a station.
But now even if we know that this is an old subway, what's the use? This place had been abandoned for a long time and could not be of much help. There was also a mysterious killer of unknown identity and terrifying noises above their heads.
A slight cold wind blew, and Erica shivered, rubbed her arms with her hands, and then exhaled bursts of white air. It's getting colder here.
Erica felt like she was freezing. Originally, patients with elven disease didn't develop much, and Erica, who had only a few pieces of flesh on her body, couldn't withstand the temperature here. My hands and feet were trembling constantly, and my mind seemed to be about to freeze and I couldn't think anymore.
Erica, who was about to find a way to move forward again, lost her balance, tripped over something under her feet, and the cold light rod in her hand slipped. Erica still wanted to reach out and grab it, but she was still a little slower. After the blue light bounced on the ground a few times, it immediately sank into the ground. It fell into the subway drain. The blue light disappeared and darkness enveloped the entire area.
An Ming also lost his balance and fell to the ground. He rolled twice and hit the wall with a muffled sound.
"I'm sorry, senior!"
Erica quickly went over to help An Ming and let him lean against the wall steadily. With the faint light from the sewer opening, she saw that the wound on An Ming's waist had opened again. Red trickles slowly flowed from the clothes.
That does not work. Erica gritted her teeth and thought.
She rubbed her arms and sat next to An Ming tremblingly, quietly raising her ears on alert. The person who attacked them didn't know why he didn't chase them. Was he deliberately stalling for time or something happened? An Ming was seriously injured now and she had no strength, so there was no way she could escape. Besides, it's hard to tell whether this subway station from a hundred years ago has an exit now. It's lucky if it doesn't collapse.
Waiting to die here is not an option, but there is no way to escape. The dilemma made Erica a little anxious.
Suddenly there was a cold and soft touch on my hand. Erica turned her head and saw An Ming holding her hand tightly.
An Ming did not wake up, he just uttered a series of painful sleep babbles. He had a nightmare.
He didn't know what he was dreaming about, but there were expressions of panic, terror, and pain on his face that Erica had never seen before.
Erica grabbed An Ming's hand and pulled him to her side, then she leaned over and sat shoulder to shoulder with him. She lifted up her coat and put it on both of them at the same time, using her sleeves as scarves to gently wrap them around their necks. Erica stretched out one hand and put it around An Ming neck, letting him lean on her shoulder, so that the contact area between the two would be maximized.
She heard that people who have nightmares will feel relieved when they encounter the warmth of a human body and escape from the nightmare. Erica hoped that her body temperature would also give him peace of mind and dispel his nightmares.
"Senior, I said I would give you a hug. I'm just fulfilling my promise."
Erica whispered to herself as if she was making excuses.
At this moment, her eyes suddenly fell on the hands of her seniors. Lying there was a square scarf with a crooked line of blood written on it.
It must be something belonging to a senior, probably lost when he fell down. Erica thought and picked up the square scarf.
"Erica, leave me alone, run away..."
The handwriting is a bit blurry, and even has a long tail behind it, like an exhausted snake. That was probably what An Ming left before he lost consciousness.
Seeing this line of words, Erica couldn't help but stir in her heart, and there was still a slight sting in her heart, as if a warm seed had taken root and grown slowly with blood as nutrients.
Erica let out a breath and glared at An Ming.
"Senior, you are such an idiot! How could I have the heart to run away when you leave something like a death message?"
Erica said, hugging An Ming tighter.
"So, I refuse. Senior, I have to go back with you."
She said seriously, with determination in her eyes.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
An Ming woke up in a hazy space.
"Erica, are you there?"
An Ming walked around the area, but didn't see Erica.
Could that girl be caught? But he still remembered that he took her to a relatively safe place before he fell into coma and left a message for her to escape on her own. She would have left if she had done so.
If so, where is this place?
An Ming searched his memory, but he couldn't find a hazy space full of light.
Is this the kingdom of heaven mentioned in the Saint Rosetta Church? Could it be that he is already dead? An Ming was surprised to find that he had no resistance to death.
Then a wry smile appeared on his face. He always believed that he should have died eight years ago, and that his life so far was just a reward from God.
An Ming came up with the answer on his own and stepped forward further. But after taking a few steps, I heard a familiar voice.
"Doctor, how is he doing?"
An Ming was stunned and slowly turned his head. Those familiar figures came into view one after another.
They were two adults, a man and a woman. They were very close to each other and must have been a couple, and there was a girl hiding behind them.
"I know you are worried, but please don't panic. His life is not in danger, but because he received a direct blow to the head, he will not be able to remember some things. And his leg bones also need some recovery time."
Hear the doctor's comfort with a wry smile. The woman covered her mouth and slowly sat on the stool.
"Great, he's fine."
An Ming knew this scene. It was a scene he would never forget.
The moment he got his first family.
"Mom, mom, can I go talk to my brother?"
The girl pulled at the woman's sleeve.
"Go, go. If he wakes up, talk to him. He can't remember anything now, and he must feel strange about everything. Just stay next to him and make him feel at ease."
The woman said to the girl with a kind smile.
The girl jumped to the bedside.
"Who are you?"
Looking at the girl approaching quickly, the boy asked timidly.
"I, hehe, of course I am your sister!" The girl smiled.
"Sister, my sister? I'm sorry, I really can't remember."
The boy lowered his head in sadness.
The girl took another step closer and held the boy in her arms.
"It's okay. My sister is here, don't be afraid. It doesn't matter if you can't remember it. Even if you lose your memory, I'm still your family, right?"
"Family? What is family?"
"Family is the most closely connected people in the world. Some people are family members from birth, while others become family members the day after tomorrow."
"what about me?"
"You were originally our family, but God took you away from us. You forgot everything about us. You turned from family to a stranger."
The girl's eyes dimmed as she said this.
"sorry."
The boy didn't know why he was apologizing. He just felt that the girl was very sad. If he apologized, would the girl become happy?
"It's okay! This is not your fault! Although you are no longer our family for a moment, you will still have a long life in the future, right? You can become our family again the day after tomorrow!"
The boy looked at the girl, then at the man and woman not far away. The woman noticed that the boy was looking at her, waved to him, and smiled shyly.
The boy felt that the smile was very warm and made him want to get closer.
"Then it's settled! You will become my brother again from today on! My name is Hua Ling. And your name is An Ming. Come on, call me sister!"
"...Sister, sister."
The boy was frightened by the girl's aura, but he still called out "sister" for the first time with a rosy face.
For An Ming now, it was the first time he met sister Hualing and the first time he met his family. But at that moment he felt as if he was very happy.
"I see."
An Ming, floating in the corner of the room, watched all this. The people in the room were like actors, replaying past memories. They couldn't see An Ming, and An Ming couldn't touch them.
"This is my dream," he murmured.