Chapter 32: Other People in the Subway Station?
Apart from Si Ling and Crow, whose fates remained unknown on the surface, all of us mercenary squad members who had fallen into the subway had gathered.
There wasn't much to worry about regarding Si Ling and Crow's current situation; that explosion had eliminated at least dozens of Swift Walkers, which was a significant loss for a corpse tide of that scale.
The one that could evolve into a commander would naturally know how to weigh the pros and cons; it definitely wasn't worth paying such a huge price for a few human living cells.
Besides, such a long distance was already the limit for the pheromone transmission of a Tier 1 commander, so the likelihood of continued pursuit was low.
As long as no major accidents occurred, Si Ling and Crow would be completely fine if they just retreated across the bridge according to the original plan.
The situation we now faced was more than ten times worse than that of Si Ling and Crow: the subway station ahead was occupied by a pack of Headhunter Wild Dogs.
The pack of Headhunter Wild Dogs was completely different from the corpse tide.
In terms of overall destructiveness, this group of dozens of Headhunter Wild Dogs naturally couldn't compare to a large-scale corpse tide, but for our small team of only four people with limited ammunition, they were even more lethal.
This would be entirely different from the corpse tide we had faced not long ago: those unintelligent Swift Walkers had besieged us under the unified command of a commander, whereas every single Headhunter Wild Dog here was an expert hunter.
Compared to those Swift Walkers, they knew better how to coordinate with each other and were more agile; the threat level of fighting within this confined environment would absolutely be no lower than the siege of walkers at the stadium.
Adding to that, their leader, according to Uncle Lin, had likely entered the second stage.
For us, who had just experienced a high-intensity battle and whose ammunition supply was not optimistic, it was simply a dead end.
“Let's go check it out first before deciding.”
Han Nianling, who had been silent for a while, spoke.
We had already come this far; our only glimmer of hope lay ahead.
Our ammunition was barely enough for self-defense.
If we could seize an opportunity when the Headhunter Wild Dog pack was lax and escape, it would be our victory.
“I understand. Let’s prepare first then,” Uncle Lin nodded slightly; he shared the same thought.
Understanding tacitly, I took out a spray can from my breast pocket.
Inside the transparent plastic bottle was some yellowish liquid, with some impurities settled at the bottom.
Just like the contamination alarm, this scent-masking diluent was also an essential tool for operations in the outside world.
It was especially effective when facing mutated creatures with a keen sense of smell like the ‘Headhunter Wild Dogs’.
The spray, with its slightly irritating odor, smelled very much like the polluted air of the ruined city and could conceal our own scent, providing effective help for us to quietly approach the Headhunter Wild Dog pack.
After everyone had finished concealing their scents, we proceeded forward under Uncle Lin’s guidance.
Though there was still some distance to go, everyone consciously lightened their steps.
As we continued to advance, the humidity in the air grew increasingly heavy.
Even through the thick soles of our shoes, we could seemingly feel the muddiness of the ground beneath.
The moss on the walls also confirmed that this feeling we had was not wrong.
Finally, the light of an exit appeared in the darkness ahead.
It was much stronger than the light squeezing through the cracks overhead, even casting our faint, long shadows on the ground.
Although it was only a slightly dim light, it still stung our eyes, making it difficult to open them; this was caused by fumbling in the dark for a long time.
However, no one dared to wear goggles.
Even the goggle parts on the new-type gas masks used by me and Han Nianling had been detached.
A narrow field of vision could hardly ensure observation of all aspects of the subway station, which would mean we would miss many opportunities.
“Don’t worry, the wolf pack isn’t on the platform, but in the hall above.”
Reaching the exit, Uncle Lin pressed against the wall and peered towards the platform.
The empty platform had no living creatures on it.
After confirming this, he climbed onto the platform.
“Uncle, why don’t we go to the next subway station?” Just then, Xiao Liu pointed to the subway tunnel opposite us and asked.
After such a long journey, the equally dark tunnel no longer made him feel afraid; instead, there was a kind of anticipation: perhaps in the next subway station, we wouldn't have to face the dangerous Headhunter Wild Dogs?
“Don’t even think about it. I’ve scouted all the paths to the next subway station,” Uncle Lin shook his head, shattering Xiao Liu’s anticipation.
“The roads ahead are all flooded; we can’t get through.”
“Flooded?” I cast a questioning gaze at Uncle Lin in surprise.
“Yes, I speculate it’s mostly because it’s near the JD River. The war and the long years have damaged the tunnel’s impermeability, and water from underground rivers or river channels has poured into the tunnel…” Uncle Lin said it was his speculation, but such a speculative result was likely very close to the truth.
Uncle Lin’s words made me come to a sudden realization; no wonder the air here was unusually humid.
“Let’s not dwell on that too much. Let’s first think about how to get out of here,” Uncle Lin shook his head with a bitter smile.
In all his years as a mercenary, this was the first time he had experienced something like falling into a subway.
All he could do was firmly believe that he could get out of here.
The squad, having climbed onto the platform, immediately stepped onto the stairs leading to the hall.
Compared to the previous subway station, this place seemed even more chaotic.
We didn't need to think to know that the footprints all over the ground were left by Headhunter Wild Dogs, and a foul stench permeated the air.
It wasn't the fetid smell of dampness and ruin debris, but the odor emitted by animal excrement, mixed with the strong, pungent smell characteristic of animal body odor, making us frown deeply.
At the same time, it made us realize that this place had already been used as a den by this pack of Headhunter Wild Dogs, which was very consistent with the habit of these beasts to mark their territory with scent.
Stepping up the stairs, we stared wide-eyed upwards while frequently paying attention to our feet, deeply afraid that the slightest mistake would expose our presence.
The crunching shards of broken glass were like landmines, making us dare not carelessly step down.
Finally, with difficulty, we ascended the steps.
When our gazes probed into the hall, we saw a Headhunter Wild Dog resting on the soft cushion of a seat.
Its nearly two-meter-long body was spread out on a bench formed by several chairs placed side by side.
Its fur was very messy, and patches of hair loss made its appearance look quite comical, but no one could bring themselves to laugh.
I couldn't help but clench my pocket, feeling the outline of the hard object inside.
It was the mercenary ID of a victim who had died tragically at the hands of Headhunter Wild Dogs, which I had found on that wrecked vehicle before entering the JD Ruined City.
I had originally put it in my pocket with the intention of fulfilling the duty of bringing it back for the deceased, as a survivor.
But could I, in my current state, fulfill this obligation?
Or would I, like him… become a lost soul under the claws of the Headhunter Wild Dogs, another name on the missing list, buried in the personnel records of Chu Sheng City?
“Whimper! Whimper…”
Suddenly, whimpering sounds with a touch of immaturity drew our gazes in unison.
But when we looked towards the source of the sound, everyone’s expression immediately became incredibly grim.
Those were the sounds made by seven or eight Headhunter Wild Dog pups.
Though called pups, they were actually already the size of ordinary domestic dogs.
Their ugly appearance could hardly be called cute.
At this moment, they were playing around a bitch whose udders were swollen.
The reason why I and the others felt grim was precisely this: a Headhunter Wild Dog den with pups was not something we could easily escape from.
Once discovered, we would face a frenzied attack from the entire pack.
“Two at the twelve o’clock position, three at the three o’clock position, two at the five o’clock position… and their leader is upstairs at the ten o’clock position, can’t see it now…” Uncle Lin’s gaze swept around as he reported in a low voice what he saw, one by one.
Then he concluded, “Going out from here is simply courting death for us.”
According to Uncle Lin’s observation, including the pups, there were over thirty Headhunter Wild Dogs in this subway station.
However, a pack of Headhunter Wild Dogs capable of setting up a den in such a central area of the ruined city definitely wouldn't be this small; there should be quite a few more outside, responsible for hunting and guarding.
Calculated this way, the time left for us was probably not much.
When the Headhunter Wild Dogs that were out returned to the den, the possibility of us being exposed would greatly increase.
“It’s too open around here, not a single piece of cover, and the distance to the surface exit is too far,” Han Nianling continued after Uncle Lin.
“But we can take the stairs over there; those automatic ticket machines are the best cover…”
Following Han Nianling’s direction, we all looked towards another staircase.
Although it was still some distance from the exit, just as Han Nianling had said, the cover situation there was much better than on our side.
It was even possible to sneak to the exit using the cover.
This discovery invigorated all of us, and we immediately went down the stairs and moved towards the other staircase.
Soon, we reached the designated spot, crouching down and stopping at the last few steps of the stairs.
Although there was cover, we were also closer to several Headhunter Wild Dogs, forcing us to be even more careful with our movements.
“I’ll scout ahead first. You guys stay alert.”
Uncle Lin then tied his gun to his waist.
To avoid making unnecessary noise from objects colliding with his body, he took a few steps upward to scout.
The nearest Headhunter Wild Dog, lying on the bench, was just over twenty meters away.
The cover formed by a few toppled potted plants placed haphazardly in the middle was useless given Uncle Lin’s size; its only use was perhaps a little psychological comfort.
Having made up his mind, Uncle Lin tentatively stepped onto the hall floor.
After a brief pause, he immediately got down on his stomach and crept towards the back of those ticket machines.
He moved cautiously but without any slowness in speed.
The slight noises he made were covered by the commotion of the pups.
A few seconds later, he finally crossed the distance of more than ten meters and rolled behind the automatic ticket machines.
We could clearly see the deep rise and fall of Uncle Lin’s chest; that short distance seemed to have exhausted all his strength.
“My turn.”
Han Nianling took Uncle Lin’s place.
Like Uncle Lin, Han Nianling kept her body as low as possible and moved forward quickly.
Her movements seemed lighter and more agile than Uncle Lin’s, appearing extremely relaxed in comparison to him, and she was equally successful.
“Sister Stone, you go first…” Xiao Liu yielded his position, not out of fear, but a kind of deference.
This deferential behavior and attitude made me vaguely feel it was not unrelated to my gender, or perhaps he wanted to regain some face for his panicked performance in the previous subway station.
But now was not the time to let this young man act willfully.
“Cut the crap. Can you guarantee that if I make a mistake, you can kill the nearest few Headhunter Wild Dogs at the fastest speed?”
I nudged Xiao Liu with my gun barrel.
My words left Xiao Liu unable to refute; indeed, my performance along the way had already proven that my tactical proficiency was much higher than this new mercenary’s.
He could only cautiously lean out his body and, imitating the posture of the previous two, crawl over bit by bit.
His speed was much slower, but the process was quiet enough.
“Snort—”
And just then, the nearest Headhunter Wild Dog suddenly let out a snort.
This sudden situation made our nerves tense up.
Xiao Liu, who was halfway through his crawl, froze stiff in a comical posture, his face pale, his eyes fixedly staring at every move of that Headhunter Wild Dog.
Fortunately, after this snort, there was still the sound of steady breathing.
His body relaxing after a few seconds of stiffness, Xiao Liu immediately quickened his pace and crawled into the cover.
It was a close call, but he made it without mishap.
Then it was my turn.
Also securing anything on my person that might make a sound by collision, I, having prepared, followed the route of the three others and got behind the cover.
This way, we were one step closer to the exit; at least the exit, within a hundred meters, was no longer so out of reach.
“Alright, next we…” The initial success had made us all relax involuntarily.
Just as everything was going smoothly and Uncle Lin was about to plan the next move to a different cover, suddenly, a familiar beeping sound rang out among us.
At this moment, the relaxed atmosphere that had lasted only a short while came to an abrupt end.
Our fluctuating fortunes this time plummeted straight to hell.
In an instant, different gazes fell on Xiao Liu’s shoulder among us—on the contamination alarm that was flashing red.
Han Nianling immediately reached out and pressed the button on the alarm.
However, this brief anomaly, lasting less than a second, was enough to attract the attention of those Headhunter Wild Dogs.
“Growl growl growl growl…”
It was a low growl!
Our faces turned dreadfully pale.
Peeking stealthily through the gaps in the cover, the wary gazes of the Headhunter Wild Dogs looking in our direction made us utterly despair.
It was clear these beasts had noticed us, and several were approaching step by step.
“S…sorry, I’m sorry…” Xiao Liu was on the verge of tears.
How could he have known the contamination alarm would go off at this moment?
This ill-timed alarm caused our situation to take a sharp downturn.
“Stop with the useless words. Prepare for battle…”
Han Nianling shook her head, not forgetting to take out a filter canister from her bag for Xiao Liu to replace.
The beeping sound, meant to warn of danger, had instead brought danger at this very moment.
Although this fatal accident could be attributed to Xiao Liu's negligence, he couldn't be entirely blamed for it; this old-style gas mask inherently couldn't effectively check the usage progress of the filter canister.
Even without looking, we could judge the distance of these Headhunter Wild Dogs by their increasingly close low growls.
They also seemed to have been startled by this accident, appearing much more cautious as they approached.
“Take advantage of the Headhunter Wild Dogs’ caution to repel them with strong firepower right at the beginning, and use that gap to run towards the exit…”
Uncle Lin said it easily, but everyone knew the danger behind it.
To what extent could our ammunition provide strong firepower?
How long could our two legs run?
Even if we made it to the surface, how could we shake off the Headhunter Wild Dogs behind us?
First it was Swift Walkers, and now Headhunter Wild Dogs?
Bitterness spread across my lips.
What I had experienced today was far more intense than anything I had gone through in the past two years…
However, just as we braced ourselves for a second desperate struggle, another unexpected sound shattered the current situation.
What was that?
We looked at each other, and we all saw the same question in each other’s eyes.
Too many accidents had occurred, causing us to become somewhat numb by now.
This sound wasn't from the contamination alarm again, nor was it from any of us… but from over by the stairs, more precisely, from the depths of the stairwell where we had been before.
And it immediately drew the attention of all the Headhunter Wild Dogs towards that stairwell entrance.
And this rhythmic, crisp sound seemed like… footsteps.
No, those were footsteps!
Could it be that besides us, there were other people who had fallen into this subway?