Mutants - Chapter 7
Chapter 7: Gray Mist
Knox, fiddling with a rabbit-themed eye mask, had a massive question mark on his huge face. "You're still going to sleep? What if there's danger later?"
Sui Xin looked a little dazed, her soft, fair face naturally wearing an innocent expression. "I can't fight anyway. What else can I do besides sleep? Besides, if another terrifying creature like a Bruce shows up, I'll just die with dark circles under my eyes. Wouldn't that be pathetic?"
"However, I've already slept, so you all can't sleep now."
Knox and the others, all sporting dark circles: "…"
They had previously felt they'd misunderstood her, that they shouldn't have treated her as a useless, combat-inept burden, and had even apologized. Now, it seemed they had apologized too soon.
Forget having no combat ability; she didn't even have a damn shred of a combat-ready attitude.
Still, she could think on her feet in a crisis.
Everyone recalled how this quiet person had decisively activated the device during a deadly crisis, and they had to admit there was a reason she was in the company's middle management.
However, even with her, they felt a profound sense of dread about this operation.
Somehow, they all felt like they were going to die.
In his M City office, Ian Carroll, Head of the Analysis Department, had already dismissed the beautiful woman he'd summoned from Public Relations. Rubbing his lower back, he walked over to the bar and put fresh tricolor kale into a juicer, followed by tomatoes, a few drops of a maintenance essential oil developed internally by the Tianxi Group, and finally, fresh doe's milk. The machine whirred to life, and soon a full glass of vegetable juice was ready. He also opened the monitoring split-screen for the current operation, using his leadership authority over all analysts to access Sui Xin's account. He'd heard the equipment she was carrying could monitor their every move.
The appearance of a Bruce had surprised even him.
When he was at headquarters, his projects hadn't included the Deep Red Sector B05 Ruins Zone, so he had no idea the changes within it were so drastic.
Bruces were known to appear in the Deep Blue Sector, but sightings in the Deep Red Sector were rare. Had some unknown change occurred over there?
However, upon hearing Sui Xin's words, Ian grew thoughtful, and soon, he smiled.
Ah, so the quiet little thing he'd sent to her death was trying to persuade these frontline operatives to desert. If they ran, she, a non-combatant, would be unable to complete the mission and would naturally no longer have to go die.
Not as docile as she appeared; she had a bit of a cunning streak.
He hoped she would be a little more obedient upon her return. In fact, if her analyst status wasn't such an inconvenience, he could have just made his move. She would have been powerless to refuse.
These damn rules and regulations.
Ian picked up his phone and started browsing M City's love hotels, but quickly grew impatient.
It was true he'd been parachuted in, but only because he'd been demoted due to family infighting.
How could M City possibly compare to Nurweis, the Federation's Divine Glory Capital, home to the Tianxi Group headquarters?
"This is just a place where a bunch of lowly people grind for seniority. How dare they demote me here, and as a mere department head at that."
Resentful, Ian picked up his phone again and summoned another woman to vent his frustrations. Only after calming down did he begin his work.
But he failed to notice that the upper echelon of Tianxi's M City Think Tank and the other core executives were currently meeting in the main conference room, and that the advanced technology divisions of the Technology Department were also on duty.
He was unaware, but it was happening, which could only mean something major was about to occur within the Tianxi Group.
Three hours later, the team watched their energy reserves dwindle, anxiously waiting for the light radiation to weaken and finally disappear. The world grew dark again, but the white frost on the ground reflected some light, making it slightly brighter than a normal night.
"Let's go!"
Ye Chen let out a sigh of relief and gave the order to move out.
Lin Dan and the others woke Sui Xin.
She was still groggy, rubbing her eyes. As she watched the vehicle start up and leave the desert cave, she remarked softly, "Couldn't even get a good sleep. This is so hard."
Seeing everyone's straight backs and fully armed, alert posture, she must have felt very secure, for she added, "I really envy you all. You haven't slept all night and you're still so full of energy."
The team, none of whom had gotten much sleep, turned in unison to stare at her, their eyes menacingly bloodshot.
Whoa!
Sui Xin jumped.
Looking at Consultant Sui, who had slept for several hours straight and still felt it wasn't enough, the others were suddenly unsure whether she was being persecuted for refusing to play by certain "unspoken rules," or if she had simply been sent away by her boss and colleagues for having a big mouth.
Seven vehicles sped through the dark desert. Likely terrified by the Frostfall, the seven drivers floored the accelerators, afraid that moving too slowly would get them caught in the next day's event.
The Tianxi Group's intelligence department was useless; they hadn't obtained such crucial information.
"Faster. Our counter-strike against Red Eye should have scared plenty of people off. With the Frostfall on top of that, those other organizations won't dare take the risk—their vehicles lack heat circulation systems and can't handle the low temperatures outside. They won't dare emerge even if we drive right past their hiding spots."
Ye Chen reminded the drivers, having made a very bold decision.
A journey that should have taken five more hours was forcefully cut down to three as the drivers sped maniacally.
Lin Dan and the others figured they must be close to the outpost. Whatever secrets it held, at least they could replenish their energy. It had fixed energy pylons that only personnel from the Tianxi Group could activate with a password. Even invaders wouldn't be able to move the energy pillars,
Sui Xin silently watched the route on the GPS, her gaze lowered, feeling a little relieved.
The GPS of today wasn't as precise as it was centuries ago. With global infrastructure in ruins, coverage was poor. The GPS could only show a general route and direction, providing automated guidance that couldn't be pinpointed for every region. But Sui Xin had an excellent memory, and she recalled precisely that the correct route map deviated slightly from the one they were currently following.
A single degree of deviation on the map could mean being thousands of miles away from the correct destination.
Just as she thought, Ye Chen and Jenny were planning to desert. This must have been what their private conversation was about.
They had secretly overwritten the correct GPS route, intending to escape elsewhere. They probably had an excuse ready: they'd take a detour, run into some small, scattered organizations at the desert's edge, get into a chaotic skirmish, and the team would scatter. Then they would fake their deaths… It was a possible way to escape the Tianxi Group's punishment. Though they would lose the corporation's protection and their stable jobs, at least they'd keep their lives.
Excellent, just excellent.
Sui Xin felt much more relaxed, thinking she had finally escaped this ordeal.
The moment she relaxed, she inevitably started to feel drowsy. It was a part of her constitution, something she couldn't resist unless she used physical means to fight it.
Slap, slap, slap.
She slapped her own face.
Jenny asked, "Consultant, what are you doing?"
Sui Xin replied, "Trying to stay awake. I can't hold everyone back."
Although the pair's actions aligned with her expectations, she couldn't be sure she wouldn't get dragged down with them. She had to be careful, which meant she had to stay alert.
The others: "…"
Knox said, "That's strange. Watching you do that is making me sleepy, too."
Lin Dan added, "None of us have slept much, but it's never been like this before."
Ye Chen suggested, "It's probably the cold. We've never seen temperatures this low. Plus, being cooped up in the vehicle, the oxygen supply is probably a bit insufficient. That can make you drowsy."
"Maybe so."
But why did it seem to be getting darker outside?
Sui Xin stopped slapping her cheeks. Cradling her helmet, she looked out the window. The others noticed it too.
"It's five in the morning. Dawn should be breaking soon."
"Maybe it's the climate. It's different from the outside world, so dawn is probably delayed."
"No, something's wrong with the air outside."
At Chucks's warning, everyone pressed against the windows to look. The world outside was pitch-black. When they shone a flashlight, a beam that would normally illuminate at least seven or eight meters ahead seemed to dissolve into the air, penetrating only half a meter.
Then, they saw it: a soft, hazy mist. It was gray and murky, like floating cotton, enveloping the vehicle and all the surrounding space. It only swirled with the vehicle's passage, the currents rolling backward in its wake.
Ye Chen's expression changed.
How could this be?
He immediately yelled, "All vehicles, slow down! Find a place to stop! Something's wrong here!"
"What's going on out there!?"
"It's a cliff below!"
Chucks, who had already put on his goggles and adjusted his vision, screamed. The driver up front reacted instantly, wrenching the steering wheel and narrowly scraping past the treacherous, mist-shrouded road.
Sui Xin was startled. She shot a subtle, quick glance at Jenny and saw that she was just as shocked, her face pale.
Clearly, she hadn't known about this.
Was this an accident? Was the gray mist outside, like the Frostfall, a remnant of some mutated climate phenomenon in this area?
The S501 Desert Crawler screeched to a halt, trying to warn the vehicles behind it. But the information was delayed, and the other crews weren't as packed with talent as theirs. They didn't react in time. A loud crash echoed from behind.
One vehicle, caught off guard by the mist's interference, slammed head-on into a narrow cliff face. An old white-rock cypress had been rooted there, which should have held the vehicle. But they had been going too fast, and an armored vehicle like the S501 was inherently ferocious and heavy. The resulting impact force was terrifying. The ancient tree, so thick it would take two people to encircle, was ripped out by the roots.
With it uprooted.
After years of high-temperature sun exposure, the local geology had likely become brittle. With a sharp crack, the very rock of the road began to fracture.
CRACK!
The roadbed collapsed.
Sui Xin looked back. Aided by the hazy illumination from all the vehicles' headlights, she could see that truck tumbling off the cliff as the road gave way.
But she also saw the collapsing roadbed spreading like a line of dominoes.
It was over.
"Go!!!"
Chucks's voice cracked as he screamed. The driver floored the accelerator. Behind them, vehicle after vehicle tumbled into the abyss as the road collapsed. The tires of their S501 Desert Crawler were practically smoking as it raced forward in a frenzy.
At that point, Sui Xin had entered a state of zen-like resignation. Amidst the vehicle's violent jolting, she numbly watched the trucks behind them vanish one by one, then watched the collapsing roadbed nipping at their heels. She solemnly made a gesture.
"Heavens protect us, things have to get better from here, send us a miracle, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it… Ami—"
The words had barely left her mouth when the driver and Ye Chen saw the road ahead of them crack and collapse, with rocks sliding violently down from above.
Most importantly, the two up front clearly felt something was wrong with the tires. The driver, especially, knew the vehicle inside and out. He said only one thing: "Something's wrong with the tires! Check the pressure!"
Ye Chen had already seen it.
By the time he looked, the tire pressure indicator was already flashing red.
The tires were being corroded.
The gray mist was the problem.
The two of them: "…"
BOOM!
The tire blowout came as no surprise.
The vehicle shook violently, its body lurching as if drunk, just as it was swallowed by the collapsing roadbed from behind.
As the entire vehicle began to tumble, the first syllable of the ancient prayer "Amitabha" was still caught in Sui Xin's throat. Her body went airborne, followed by the thump-thump-thump of the vehicle rolling end over end.
After a moment, a dull thud echoed from below, followed by silence.
A dead silence.
It was like a valley of death. Only the gray mist remained.
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