Chapter 89: The Strange Locals
Qi Xia never expected that he would walk along the road for an entire day, from sunrise until the sun dipped below the horizon, without ever reaching the edge of this city.
A normal person can walk at a speed of about five kilometers per hour, but Qi Xia estimated that given his physical condition, he was only managing about three kilometers per hour.
Today, he had already walked for over seven hours, covering more than twenty kilometers.
Now he felt dizzy and lightheaded, his legs trembling uncontrollably. The only reason he could keep moving forward was the sheer inertia of his limbs.
"I just hope I can die a little later..."
After another ten minutes or so, Qi Xia truly couldn't go on. He found a dilapidated building and walked inside. Night was about to fall, and if he stayed outside, he would encounter those eerie "bugs." Though he still didn't know what danger those bugs posed, he chose to avoid unnecessary trouble in advance.
Using Officer Li's lighter, Qi Xia lit a fire. Then he pulled out the map of "Heaven's Gate," flipped it over, and used his finger dipped in his own blood to roughly mark the path he had traveled so far.
This city was far larger than he had imagined.
He had thought that by following the road, he would eventually reach something like the wilderness, but instead, the buildings around him grew taller and more imposing, as if he were walking from the suburbs into the city center.
"The diameter of an ordinary city rarely exceeds fifty kilometers..." Qi Xia muttered to himself as he drew with his blood, planning his next move. "In theory, I should reach the city limits by tomorrow afternoon. Then everything will become clear."
With that thought, he moved closer to the fire and found a relatively comfortable spot to lie down. The bloodstains on his body had all dried, giving off a foul smell of rust.
Last night, Lin Qin had used a torch to treat his wounds. Though the bleeding had stopped, the burned areas both hurt and itched, making it nearly impossible for him to sleep all night.
When dawn came, Qi Xia dragged his nearly broken body to his feet.
A night's rest hadn't restored any of his strength. He was completely spent.
No water, no food, no medicine.
Qi Xia even felt a twinge of envy for Han Yimo, who had died so cleanly.
He found a few relatively clean scraps of paper in the room, tore them into pieces, and swallowed them.
If there was nothing in his stomach, he probably wouldn't make it to the edge of the city.
As the morning sun rose, Qi Xia set off again.
He was now far from the original plaza. Here, he couldn't hear the "clock chimes," and he rarely saw any "Zodiacs."
But as he ventured deeper, the number of locals in the city gradually increased.
It was almost like a real city, except most of the people on the streets were walking corpses. They had no expressions, no aggression, and didn't interact with anyone else. They simply wandered aimlessly through the streets.
For a moment, Qi Xia felt that he was no different from these walking corpses on the street.
Their movements, their demeanor, their expressions—even the speed at which they walked—were identical.
How ironic was that?
Had all these people also been stabbed by someone and then walked with a clear purpose toward the edge of the city?
As the sun climbed higher, Qi Xia sensed something was wrong with his condition.
He touched his forehead and neck; they seemed to be burning up already.
Using fire to cauterize the wound had been too risky. Even if it stopped the bleeding temporarily, it couldn't prevent infection and fever.
Qi Xia felt that with every step, his eyelids grew heavier. At any moment, he might collapse face-first onto the ground. If he fell this time, he probably wouldn't get up again.
About half an hour later, Qi Xia slowly stopped by the roadside.
He couldn't take another step.
He rested his hand on an old taxi parked by the curb, panting heavily.
"What a shame..." Qi Xia gazed down the road ahead. There was still so much distance to cover, but unfortunately, he was about to fall here. It seemed that in his final moments, he still wouldn't get to see the ultimate secret of this place.
Leaning on the old taxi, Qi Xia lowered his head in frustration. Just as he was about to sit down on the ground, he suddenly noticed someone inside the car.
It wasn't a corpse—it was a woman, blinking.
"A 'local'...?"
Qi Xia looked at the hard, rigid ground, then at the soft seats inside the car, and let out a bitter smile.
If he was really going to die here, he should at least choose a comfortable spot.
With that thought, acting on a strange impulse, Qi Xia opened the car door and sat down directly in the passenger seat.
The car smelled nice—like a girl's car, from what he remembered.
Whether it was good news or not, at least in his final moments, he could escape the foul stench that permeated the entire city.
"I never thought a car seat could be this comfortable..." Qi Xia murmured to himself. "Now I can die in peace."
"Where to?" the woman beside him asked calmly.
"Where to?" Qi Xia shook his head with a bitter smile. "Where can I go now?"
He slapped his thigh and slowly recited the lyrics of a song: "Drive, drive to the edge of the city, roll down the windows, trade speed for a little relief..."
"The edge of the city?" The woman thought for a moment. "I don't know where that is. You'll have to give me directions."
With that, she pressed the meter display on the dashboard and turned the key.
As Qi Xia expected, the car made an old, rattling sound but didn't start.
The woman didn't give up. She turned the key several more times, and after the fifth forceful twist, the entire car shuddered to life.
Qi Xia was stunned. He turned to look at the woman in disbelief. She really didn't seem like a "local." At least her complexion was rosy and her figure was well-proportioned. Could she actually be a "Liangren"?
A "Liangren" who owned her own car...
"Please fasten your seatbelt. We're leaving." The woman shifted into first gear, released the clutch, and pressed the gas in one smooth motion.
Somewhat bewildered, Qi Xia fumbled for the seatbelt, only to find a piece of elastic cord where the buckle should be. The metal clasp had long rusted away.
He didn't have time to dwell on that. Instead, he tried to strike up a conversation: "You... you're a taxi driver?"
"You sure know how to joke, customer." The woman shook her head as she shifted from second to third gear. "If I weren't a driver, would I be stealing this car?"
Seeing that the woman communicated smoothly, answered readily, and even made a little joke, Qi Xia became even more confused.
A woman with such a clear mind was obviously not a "local." So she must be a "participant." But why would a "participant" be driving a taxi?
"Haven't you noticed... that this place is very strange?" Qi Xia pointed at the scene outside the window, trying to figure out where this ordinary-looking woman stood.
"Is it?" The woman glanced out the window and said calmly, "It is a bit strange. It's getting cloudy."
Qi Xia sighed helplessly. It seemed the woman was indeed a "local" after all—but maybe she had only recently turned into one, so her thoughts were still relatively clear.
"What's your name?" Qi Xia asked again.
The woman didn't answer. She pointed to a spot in front of Qi Xia, where her professional driver's license was displayed. It had her photo and name.
She had a very nice name: Xu Liunian.