Chapter 632: Red Tentacles
More importantly, the soldiers could see their comrades wearing different hazmat suits, all tied up in the air by some sort of tentacles.
"Wait, everyone, hold your fire."
As the soldier in charge took one step closer, the flesh on the ground suddenly started shaking.
Tenacles started coming out all around them in a circle, forcing them to step closer and closer to each other as they rose from the ground.
"Wait! Don’t fire!"
The order confused the four of them, but they followed it as the tentacle surprisingly didn’t attack them.
It just remains, its bottom attached to the ground as it wiggles left and right. It almost felt like they were conscious and looking at them with curiosity.
"Put your rifles away and take out your shovels... We might need to cut our way out."
"Major Wu, we should really do something right about now..."
One of the soldiers impatiently asked, feeling a little cramped as the sounds of their air canisters hitting each other could be heard.
"Everyone, get ready... We’re going to all attack it at once and make a run for the hostages."
As the soldiers stood there in silence, the tentacle just kept swinging back and forth aimlessly until it finally started inching closer.
"Go!"
Within seconds, the five of them all slashed forward with the sharper edges of their shovel, which surprisingly cut through the tentacle like butter.
The flesh instantly fell onto the floor as they all ran out of the circle, freeing themsleve from the trap before the ground suddenly started shaking once again.
"Carry whoever you can! Don’t carry more than you can hold."
More and more tentacles started emerging from the floor as the five of them finally reached their comrades.
They easily once again cut through the tentacle ties, freeing them. But none of them were responsive to their voice telling them to wake up.
All of them were just lying on the floor, unconscious, no matter how hard they tried to wake them up.
"Go go go! Don’t stand here."
As the soldier in charge carried two in both arms, the other four quickly took one or two men in their arms before making a run for it as well.
Not a single one of them dared to turn around as they could feel the ground shaking more and more as if they had triggered something within the death zone.
"Don’t stop! Keep running! We’re going to make it out alive!"
---
After running for who knows how long, they finally made it out of the fog as they all collasped onto the floor.
"Shit, that was way too fucking close... Everyone okay?"
The soldier in charge asked as she panted for breath, opening the air valve as the air canister had just run out.
"Yeah..."
None of them stood up from the ground as their legs all felt a little numb, but they slowly sat up as they looked to each other with a smile.
"We made it out alive." One of the soldiers said out, his voice filled with excitement as he turned off the air valve.
"We made it out for now... Major Wu, what do we do now?"
The second in charge asked as he turned to the hostages he had rescued, who were still unconscious with no signs of waking up.
"Let’s go back to the base for now——"
"Hey! Who are you guys? Raise your hand til we can see them!"
As a soldier across the street yelled out loud, all five of them let out a small sigh as they all raised their hand into the air.
"We’re friendly!"
---
Back at the base...
"Commander! The soldiers in hazmat suits are back!"
As a soldier barged into the HQ tent and said the news, everyone inside let out a sigh of relief at the same time.
"Which ones?" Xiaoyun asked.
"The bulky ones and the one with Colonel Lingang in it. They are being driven back to the base right now."
"Finally, some good news... Are they all fine, right now?"
"Um... Colonel Lingang is unconscious... And his troops are also unconscious." The soldier answered.
"Where did they find them?" Yiming asked.
"The patrol soldiers found them near the western entrances of the fog. They were carrying seven people when they found them."
"I see... Thank you."
As the soldier exited the tent, all of the Colonels finally had a smile on their faces, except for Yan Lin, whose face seemed a little disappointed by the news.
"What’s wrong, Colonel Yan Lin?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Lingang went in with ten people... Only seven of them are rescued."
Everyone in the tent immediately understood what he was trying to imply, but both Yiming and Xiaoyun kept up a positive look.
"Better than losing everyone. Let’s go welcome our heroes and ask what they saw inside the death zone."
Yan Lin didn’t speak up any further as they all followed Yiming and Xiaoyun out of the tent.
---
Walking down the dirt roads, they could all notice the soldiers’ faces were no longer as gloomy as earlier.
There was hope. Just a glimmer of hope in what seems to be an endless rotation of soldiers to the front line.
"Here they are... Welcome back, everyone! Wait a moment... What the hell?"
As cars parked themselves right outside the base, Xiaoyun was shocked when he saw the first person who came out through the rear door.
It was no one other than Wuli, her face filled with sweat and her hazmat suit in hand, bloody shovel strapped around her back.
"Surprise! Did you expect to see me here?" Wuli asked as she casually waved her hand in front of Xiaoyun.
"How did you——"
"Ahem. Congratulations on completing the mission. Yan Lin, bring them to the break area first. We can talk about the details later."
Yiming quickly chimed in, taking in Xiaoyun’s place as more and more soldiers exited the car with their own hazmat suits and air canisters.
"Yes, sir!"
As Yan Lin guided Wuli and her troops into the base, Xiaoyun’s mind finally snapped back to reality as he watched medics rush down with stretchers.
Out of the cars were soldiers, all lying unconscious. Their faces and their skin were all covered in what seemed to be dried blood.
"Out of the way, please!"
Xiaoyun and Yiming quickly moved aside, letting the medic pass as they quickly followed them towards the medic tent.
"What did they go through inside the fog?"
Han Bang murmured as he looked a little spooked out by the sheer amount of blood on their skin.
"You all wait out here. We’ll go inside to check."
As Xiaoyun and Yiming both entered the medic tent, they were a little surprised when they saw the medics all just standing there.
"What’s wrong?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"We... We aren’t sure how to treat this. There are no injuries anywhere on their body."
The two of them quickly walked closer to one of the soldiers to check for themselves, only to see zero wounds.
Not a single cut or anything. It was almost as if all the blood on their skin was from someone else’s.
"Wait... Are these real blood?"
As Xiaoyun brushed his finger over the red taint, it left no mark. Grabbing a nearby water bottle and pouring some water, it still didn’t wash away.
"How did you guys treat soldiers who stayed in the fog for too long in the past?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"We just waited it out... They usually wake up on their own." One of the medics answered.
After standing there for a minute, Xiaoyun noticed the redness on the patient’s skin rapidly disappearing on its own.
"Feed them some water and take good care of them... Tell me when they wake up."
"Yes, sir!"
As Xiaoyun signalled Yiming to follow him out of the tent, his mind already started developing a little idea.
"Hey, Yiming, do you want to know what Tianci told me earlier this afternoon?"
"What?"
"Those fog in the city... They are actually alive."
"Alive?"
"Yeah, alive... A bunch of living particles that hang around in the air. I think I have an idea on how to tackle the death zone."
"Really?" Yiming asked, looking a little surprised.
"Mhm. But I need to talk to... those soldiers first to understand what they had witnessed inside the fog."
---
As nighttime arrived, Wuli and her four soldiers were standing in front of the sandbox map, right in the HQ tent.
Across from the sandbox map was Xiaoyun and Yiming, with Han Bang and Li Qing on either side.
"Can you guys elaborate on what you had witnessed inside the fog?" Xiaoyun asked, looking towards Wuli with seriousness.
"We saw hell... Everything was red. All of the buildings and the floor were made out of flesh that pulsated every few seconds."
"Did you encounter any zombies?" Yiming curiously asked.
"No. There were no zombies. The only thing we encountered alive was... red tentacles."