Chapter 297: Luring the Culprit (I) (1/2)
Chapter 297: Luring the Culprit (I)
Translator: InsigniaEditor: Svjohn
The magnitude of the earthquake this time was at least seven on the Richter Scale!
A lot of people fell on the floor and were injured after the strong force impacted them and they were clearly panicked except for a few unlucky ones who were now buried under the collapsed walls. The rest of the people were basically safe and sound.
Here in this post-apocalyptic sanctuary, the framework of the building itself was quite strong but the loose sand underneath it was its downfall that led to its collapse during the earthquake. It would most likely only suffer a few cracks if it were not for the weak foundation.
”There is someone underneath this collapsed wall! Please, come and help to dig the rubble!” One person in the crowd screamed. Due to the cruelness and harshness at the end of the world, the whole society was always in a state of war. Thus, people here were more united than before the start of the apocalypse. They were also more disciplined. The people nearby, regardless whether injured or not, came forward to help. Luo Yuan also quickly went to help lift the stones away!
The earthquake had just stopped but there were still aftershocks that could be felt. Rubbles were still falling through the cracks and although everyone could not stand firmly, no one backed off from the aftershock.
Luo Yuan was strong enough to carry a few hundred kilograms of concrete himself, thus with his help, the efficiency was improved several times. It should be noted that the walls of the refuge were much thicker than the normal ones you would see in houses as these were built for defense purposes. It was approximately one meter thick and there was a layer of 10cm thick steel plates in the middle so it could withstand damage even from heavy artillery. The weight of the collapsed wall was far more than 10 tons so even Luo Yuan, who is such a powerful evolutionary human, would be completely crushed and unlikely to survive if he suffered the same fate. When the giant rocks were removed, several corpses that had been deformed were quickly exposed.
”Quickly, she's still alive!” A man shouted.
The crowd quickly gathered around and cautiously moved the rocks away. She was very fortunate as the collapsed wall had space in between that was sufficient for her to move around. Thus, she was not injured at all. From her appearance, the girl seemed only 18 years old and looked rather pale. Her lips were clearly trembling and she could not speak a single word. When she was rescued, she kept on bowing to show her appreciation but remained tight-lipped.
After the rescue, Luo Yuan wandered around the second floor of the refuge. He found that there was not only one collapse but in fact three! One of the most serious ones created a pit which had a radius of about 30 - 40 meters. A lot of concrete boulders tightly blocked the whole space and only a few rays of light could leak through from the slit at the top.
...
Luo Yuan went back to the sewer with a heavy heart and soon realized that the situation in the sewer was even worse. A lot of the pipelines were broken and large amounts of sewage leaked everywhere. Several mutated beasts were scurrying around like headless flies to feast on the sewage. Luo Yuan had to utilize his aura to block these highly toxic mutated beasts from coming near to him.
He returned to his temporary residence and saw that everyone was in a horrid state. Tong Jianliang, the long-bearded silent man, was lying on the floor with a black face and ferocious expression as if a devil had inhabited his body. Luo Yuan did not care much but when he went nearer to check on him, there was no longer any breath coming out of his body. A hint of black blood mixed with saliva dripped from his mouth which exuded a fishy smell. It looked like he was poisoned! Luo Yuan checked his body and found no obvious wounds and no bite marks on his clothes.
”What happened?” Luo Yuan asked with a solemn face.
”We don’t know. He went hunting and when he came back he started to cough. We did not really care about it until he kept on coughing nonstop and suddenly vomited blood. After a while, he fainted and stopped breathing.” Xu Zhiqiang said in a muffled tone.
The mutated beasts in the sewer were not of high rank and should not be a threat to the evolutionary humans here. No one would ever expect a dead case among these strong people.
”Ahem!” Wen Yujie suddenly coughed a bit.
Everyone’s face changed as they looked at her. Wen Yujie was confused at first but when she thought of the symptoms faced by Tong Jianliang, her face turned serious and she said, ”Why… why do you all look at me like this? I did not go out, it is just a little itch in my throat.”
Before she completed her sentence, she experienced a few heavy coughs which made it look like she almost coughed her lungs out. The group subconsciously took a few quick steps back and stared at her worriedly.
Wen Yujie coughed until her face was flushed. She tried to speak and said, ”I ... I ... How could I…” However, every time she uttered a few words she was interrupted by coughing again. Luo Yuan found that a hint of black gas began to cover her neck. He did not dare to delay and quickly walked over to grab Wen Yujie.
”Luo Yuan, don’t touch me!” Wen Yujie quickly said. Her eyes were all red. She finally realized that she was also infected and might not be alive for long.