Monster - Chapter 101
Chapter 101: Thriller Paradise - Love Rival
Different goals meant different paths.
Lin Sandie's objective was simply to assist Lou in killing Enzo and earning points. Lou's objective was to kill Enzo while also waiting for these so-called hunters to "fatten up" so she could kill some time by taking their lives. Xing Meilu's objective was to find Saya McConaughey and bring her back to Center City for interrogation.
Therefore, they didn't actively seek out zombies to kill. They just drove onward. However, after passing through the straight, wide road that led into Varosha Town, the path ahead became much more difficult.
At the end of the main road, they entered a square. The square was divided into two sides. The buildings on one side were older but full of character, looking like the original houses of Varosha Town. The buildings on the other side were new, with high walls, but utterly featureless. Each was about four or five stories tall. The walls facing the square were filled with numerous floor-to-ceiling windows. From these large windows, dense clusters of red plastic tubes extended, stretching all the way to the ground like the fleshy tentacles of some enormous, terrifying monster. A viscous, grayish-brown liquid dripped from the tubes, and countless flies swarmed around them and the puddles they formed.
Soon, they understood the purpose of these plastic tubes.
Lin Sandie saw an old man who had lost both his legs crawl out from a nearby corner. He crept along the ground, his eyes blank and white, but his nostrils flared from time to time as if sniffing the scent of the viscous substance. Then, he began crawling determinedly in that direction.
Where the old man's legs had been severed, one could see blackened bones and maggots squirming in his flesh. Combined with his tattered, filthy clothes and his hair matted with dust and grime, this old man could no longer be called human.
He supported himself with his knuckles, dragging his body forward. As he neared the plastic tubes dangling on the ground, he immediately grabbed one and put it in his mouth. His soft, toothless lips began to suck forcefully.
Bang! A gunshot echoed across the square, and the elderly zombie, who had been swallowing the viscous liquid from the tube, was shot dead.
"I knew it. This kind of trash is only worth 1 point," Lin Sandie heard someone complain from behind.
"Don't waste bullets. For these old, weak, sick, and disabled ones, just go up and stab them."
"Why do zombies need food?" Lou muttered.
All three of them knew the reason. These so-called zombies were created by Enzo using the Living Thing. Aside from being difficult to kill and becoming Enzo's puppets, they were just like living people. They felt hunger if they didn't eat, pain when they bled, and fear when they were about to be killed…
"This is their 'canteen.' Enzo's people must clean it up regularly," Lin Sandie said, pointing to the area beneath the plastic tubes where a large number of bodies should have accumulated. If hunters were staking out this spot, it would surely be littered with corpses from all the zombies that came to feed.
The slowly moving car suddenly stopped. Xing Meilu, her face pale green, got out and began to vomit by the side of the road.
Even after she had thrown up until only bile was left, she continued to dry heave for a while before stopping. It was unclear whether it was a physical reaction or despair from witnessing such a horrific scene for the first time, but her eyes were filled with tears.
Lin Sandie also got out of the car, walked over, and handed Xing Meilu a tissue. Miu, the crow perched on the car roof, hopped slightly, shifting its position to fix its beady black eyes on Lin Sandie.
Living people were turned into zombies, forced to exist in a living hell for others' amusement and slaughter. The old were left without support, the young without care. Lou had probably seen many such things while traveling between worlds, so it was normal for her to be accustomed to it. And Xing Meilu, who often encountered tragic cases due to her profession, was still so shocked by the sight that she couldn't stop vomiting. So why was Lin Sandie so unfazed?
She could even calmly refer to the place as a "canteen."
When Miu first met Lin Sandie in Center City, it had thought she was a person with a very high moral baseline. She would rather endure Yan Ting's comprehensive mental torment than stoop to her level or let others help her, choosing instead to quietly find a way to eliminate Yan Ting on her own.
Lin Sandie was proud and protective of her reputation to an extreme degree. Her current indifference seemed more like her emotions had been forcibly ripped away.
"We still need to find a way to get that 'Scorpion' off Lin Sandie's back. Have you noticed she's getting colder and colder?" Miu said to Lou in the "squad channel."
"She's pretty nice to me," Lou replied, sounding completely carefree.
"That's because you're a freak!"
"Hahaha, just kidding. Of course I'll help her get the 'Scorpion' off. The current her is nice to me too, but… how should I put it… she's lost some of her shyness. Before, she'd get angrier when I provoked her, and she'd get embarrassed. It was actually pretty cute, thinking back on it."
"I never realized you had such a lovesick side…"
"Lin Sandie is different from others," Lou replied with a smile. But as for how Lin Sandie was different, she probably couldn't explain it. After all, she was a Sentinel who relied on instinct for everything.
After replying to Miu, Lou hummed a tune and glanced around from beside the car, sending a warning look to anyone who was staring at them.
"Why are you so unfazed, Lin Sandie?" Xing Meilu asked, her eyes red as she looked at Lin Sandie beside her.
"You'll get used to it," Lin Sandie said, gently tucking a stray strand of hair behind Xing Meilu's ear.
"Don't tell me Lin Sandie wants to play house with Xing Meilu too?" Seeing this, Lou muttered to Miu in the "squad channel" with a hint of alarm.
"Do you think everyone is like you?"
After Xing Meilu rested for a short while, the three of them set off again, this time with Lin Sandie driving.
Past the square, the car continued to move slowly forward. The road began to narrow, and the buildings grew denser. Miu followed the car from the air, keeping its released "Island" centered around the vehicle while it flew high above, observing the surroundings.
As they passed through a messy residential area, Lou suddenly issued a warning to Miu in the "squad channel." "I feel an ambush here."
Sentinels possessed a somewhat beast-like intuition. Miu pulled itself higher, trying to fly in a sniper's blind spot. But just then, its body tilted. The "Line" Lou had kept on it gave a tug, allowing Miu to dodge a sniper's bullet.
Lou's expression became unprecedentedly serious.
"Enemies. Lin Sandie, drive faster, get out of this area," she said as she pulled a gun from her space bag, opened the sunroof, and stood up, poking her upper body out.
"Two o'clock, gray building, second window from the left." Miu began to do its part, pointing out the sniper's location for Lou.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Without the slightest hesitation, the black muzzle of the gun in Lou's hand sprayed bullets in that direction.
At the same time, hundreds of zombies appeared on the road ahead, swarming them from all directions.
"Hell yeah!!"
"Everyone, over here! There are tons of zombies!"
The hunters following behind were overjoyed at the sudden appearance of so many zombies, calling for their teammates to get out of their cars and start killing.
"We can't drive anymore."
The zombie horde that appeared ahead was mostly composed of elderly people, with a few half-grown children scattered among them.
Although it was already summer, they were still wearing unseasonable winter clothes. The clothes were tattered and filthy, stained with blood in many places. They emanated a strange odor, a mixture of blood and the viscous liquid from the plastic tubes.
They appeared in a sudden swarm, surging like a tide to surround the hunters trying to pass through. These zombies had no weapons, but their hands, as withered as chicken claws, clamped down like iron talons the moment they grabbed a hunter. Then, they would bite any part of the hunter they could reach with incredible speed before immediately letting go to find another hunter who had entered the park for the pleasure of killing zombies.
Although their attacks weren't strong, their sheer numbers gave them an absolute advantage. Many hunters who underestimated them were quickly surrounded by the horde. After being bitten a few times, they would lose their ability to move, standing rigidly with dazed expressions.
This was what Xu Lan had told Lin Sandie and the others before: the zombies' saliva was somewhat toxic. Being bitten five times within three hours would lead to assimilation. During this process, a person's mind would gradually become sluggish, and only an antidote serum from the points mall could restore them.
"Let's get out of the car," Lou said, sounding a bit helpless. She sat back down in her seat and, while opening the car door, revealed something the others didn't know. "I told you before that Sentinels and Guides came to Leviathan on missions before me. They failed, and their bodies were never transported back to the Main World."
"There are your colleagues among the attackers?" Lin Sandie asked, stunned.
"Yeah." Lou closed the car door. "And they're not low-level."
Hearing the conversation between Lou and Lin Sandie, Xing Meilu clicked the safety off her gun and scanned her surroundings. Her expression had returned to its usual composure. "How many of your companions are there?"
"Hard to say. Of the explorers before us, a total of three teams came here, so that's six people," Lou said, pointing in a direction. She walked while explaining to Lin Sandie and Xing Meilu. Though she held a gun, she made no special effort to kill the zombies that hadn't yet rushed them. "One has already been cremated. You know her, Bai Xuan, the one stabbed to death by Yan Ting. She was your subordinate, Lin Sandie. She was a Guide. Her partner was named Enya, an angel."
Lin Sandie followed behind Lou, listening to her talk about the other Sentinels and Guides who had come to Leviathan. She had thought Lou would lead them to hide in a building, but instead, she followed the other hunters and blended into the zombie horde.
Following the flow of zombies, Lin Sandie's gaze was soon drawn to Mike and his group, who had entered with them.
She was particularly captivated by Wei, who stood nearly 1.9 meters tall. The woman was like a god of slaughter descended upon the world. She swung her katana with one hand, and wherever she went, blood sprayed. One of her shoulders was stained with blood. As she swung her blade, the shotgun she held would occasionally press precisely against the forehead of any zombie that got too close for a headshot.
On what should have been a quiet, clear morning, the flesh and blood of zombies splattered everywhere, mixed with their painful and desperate cries.
"What is it?" Lou asked, leaning closer when she noticed Lin Sandie staring intently at the woman killing monsters.
"That lady is so cool." Lin Sandie's eyes held an indescribable light as she watched Wei's figure. Wei's expression was cold as she fought amidst the horde. Even in such an intense battle, not a single strand of her coiled black hair was out of place. It was the kind of posture Lin Sandie yearned for.
If she could become such a sharp weapon, would she feel less inferior when standing beside Lou?
"…You want to play house with her?"
"What are you talking about?" Lin Sandie said, bewildered.
"Let's go." Lou shrugged.
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