Volume 3 Chapter 43 (1/2)
Book 3 Chapter 43 – To h.e.l.l Together
”What's your take on this?” Li Yiming asked as he met up with his teammates in the parking lot beneath the TV station building.
”It's some kind infectious disease. Look.” Eyegla.s.ses handed his tablet to Li Yiming. A gruesome scene was shown on screen. Whether it was on the sidewalks, in the stores, or in the security room, not a single person was left standing. The people who were on the ground were already dead, and thick fluids were seeping out of the corpses. Li Yiming could almost smell the pungent odor despite it being only a video feed.
”When did this start?” Li Yiming tried his best to contain his repulsion and asked.
”Just now. It's been less than 10 minutes since I found the first victim. It was in the neighborhood that you were driving into when we called you. It's rapidly spreading. I'd think that there are more than 5000 victims by now, and the rate of infection is only increasing. ” Qing Linglong glanced at Liu Meng and spoke as she looked at another tablet Eyegla.s.ses gave her.
”Could this be the work of a beast?” Li Yiming asked.
”There's no way that it's a normal virus.” Qing Qiaoqiao's head popped out of the car. She scrutinized Liu Meng and tried to find a change between now and before she left with Li Yiming.
”I wouldn't think that this is a beast either. The beasts' only natural enemies are guardians. They wouldn't do anything to the normal people inside this domain. If the rules within the domain itself were disturbed, it would be bad for guardians and beasts alike,” Qing Linglong explained.
”So we can be sure that's it's not the work of a camouflager either?” Li Yiming asked; he had a bad feeling and an ever more terrible hypothesis.
Both Qing Linglong and Eyegla.s.ses nodded with grave countenances.
”Zeng Qian?” The last possible person occurred to Li Yiming.
”It would be the only explanation that would make sense.” Qing Linglong had already discussed the matter with Eyegla.s.ses on their way here.
”What? You're saying that Zeng Qian is behind all of this?” Liu Meng paled when she thought of the ma.s.sacre in Ning Village, which was also orchestrated by Zeng Qian.
”Li Yiming killed her lover, and she wants revenge for that. But she's too weak to fight Li Yiming directly, so…”
”Surely that's no reason to just kill everyone in the domain? I understand that the people in here are all fake, but… Is she doing that just to vent out her anger?” Liu Meng interrupted Qing Linglong before she could finish. Being as kind-hearted as she was, she had difficulty accepting the implications of Qing Linglong's guess.
”She's trying to disrupt the domain. Consequences will come, and their magnitude will be proportional to the havoc she wreaks.” Eyegla.s.ses forced himself to complete his explanation despite an overwhelming feeling of dread. He knew just how much damage Zeng Qian's talent could cause in a big city such as this fictional Shangbei.
”She's not thinking about…” Liu Meng found the answer to her question in her friends' eyes.
”Is she crazy?” Li Yiming smashed a lamp post nearby. The post fell to the ground and the light bulb protector shattered into a thousand pieces.
”I tried looking for her, but I couldn't find her. Also, it's going to be hard since she doesn't even need to release the virus herself.” Eyegla.s.ses looked at the debris that resulted from Li Yiming's rage; he could somewhat understand his fury.
”Do we have a way to stop the disease from spreading?” Liu Meng glanced at the surveillance feed shown on Qing Linglong's tablet. It was hard to keep one eyes' fixated onto the screen.
”Unless we find Zeng Qian, there's no other way.” Qing Linglong looked at Li Yiming. It was hard for her to say who is right and who is wrong in all of this.
”Officer w.a.n.g?” Li Yiming took out his phone and dialed a number.
”Agent Li?” A drowsy voice came. It was the officer who came to arrest Li Yiming at the hotel earlier.
”It's me. Listen to me. My mission was a failure. The virus has been leaked, and it's spreading.” Li Yiming tried his best to explain the emergency of the situation as concisely as possible.
”Wait, what? Mission? Virus?” Officer w.a.n.g sounded like he was still asleep and did not understand the meaning behind Li Yiming's words.
”Yes, remember the case I told you about earlier? I'm working on tracking down a deadly virus, but I failed my mission. The virus is spreading and already caused at least 5000 deaths.”
”What? In Shangbei?” Officer w.a.n.g's professional mannerism kicked in and he woke up instantly.
”Yes, in the Fuyuan neighborhood. It's spreading out as we speak, and much faster than I'd hope. Listen, there's no cure for this virus. Those who are exposed will rot to their bones almost instantly. You need to contact your superiors and plan a city-wide emergency evacuation.”
”Emergency evacuation? That's impossible! Do you know what kind of consequences that would bring? Shangbei is one of the world's financial centers! Even if we could, it would require many procedures and approvals. Is it really bad as you say it is?” Officer w.a.n.g questioned Li Yiming's a.s.sertion. 'Even back for the SARS epidemic, it was only a quarantine…' 1
”Then you should run. Bring your family along with you.” Li Yiming hung up the call in frustration. He put his cell phone back into his storage s.p.a.ce. 'Well, at least I tried. That is the only thing I can think of right now.'
”Eyegla.s.ses, continue the search for Zeng Qian. Actually, include both Fang Shui'er and Big Beard in your search as well. Tell me if you find anything. Linglong, can you find a shelter to protect us from the virus? Liu Meng, stay with the others, okay?” Li Yiming put one of Eyegla.s.ses' transmitter into his ear and made his order.
”You're going alone?” Liu Meng was the first to understand Li Yiming's intent.
”This happened because of me. I have to do this.” Li Yiming put his hands on Liu Meng's shoulders and implored her.
”No way. We're going together,” Liu Meng insisted.
”Liu Meng is right. We move as a team. We should do this together. We already let you face Bai Xi alone, we won't repeat the mistake again.” Eyegla.s.ses supported Liu Meng's request.
Li Yiming looked back at Eyagla.s.ses with grat.i.tude and then s.h.i.+fted his attention to Qing Linglong, who seemed to be hesitating. ”It's going to be dawn soon,” Li Yiming said slowly. He could feel Eyegla.s.ses' sincerity and understood Qing Linglong's hesitation.
Eyegla.s.ses turned his head toward the sky, in apparent irritation at his physical limitations; the sky was starting to whiten, and the light from the moon and the stars had already become nearly imperceptible.
”I don't care. I'll stay with you no matter what.” Liu Meng's s.n.a.t.c.hed a corner of Li Yiming's s.h.i.+rt and firmly maintained her demand.
”I just found you. I can't let you face off against danger and risk losing you again.” Li Yiming whispered gently into Liu Meng's ears. He moved his hand slowly from Liu Meng's shoulder to her face. He slid his fingers across the smooth skin on Liu Meng's cheeks.
”I can't risk losing you either!” Liu Meng burst out. Her eyes were watered with tears.
”I don't think that the virus has much of an impact on us at all, does it?” Qing Qiaoqiao had come off of the car and sank into a low mood when she witnessed the embrace between Li Yiming and Liu Meng. She also did not want Li Yiming to risk his life again.