Qingran didn’t move imdiately. She studied the scene ahead, her mind working through every possibility.
No bodies. No movent. Just an overturned truck and blood sared across the road.
Her system should have alerted her. Should have given her a probability assessnt, a risk factor—sothing. Anything.
But there was nothing.
Feng Yizhou exhaled slowly, his gaze locked on the wreckage. "It’s too quiet."
"I know."
Qingran reached for the door handle but paused. No sudden moves. If sothing was watching, she didn’t want to tip them off.
She glanced at the GPS again. Still frozen. Which ant soone—or sothing—didn’t want them navigating this road.
Feng Yizhou opened his door first, Qingran following, stepping onto the cracked pavent, boots crunching against debris.
The air slled...off. Not just of blood, but sothing tallic and sharp.
They approached the truck cautiously. Qingran swept her gaze over the cargo—scattered crates, broken tal containers.
Military-grade!.
Then she saw the insignia on one of the crates.
A faded emblem. Probably Governnt-issued.
Her stomach tightened. This wasn’t just a supply truck. This was a transport for classified materials.
Feng Yizhou crouched near a dark stain on the ground, running his fingers lightly over it.
It was still wet and slightly warm.
Fresh blood.
"Whoever was here," he said, voice low, "this happened recently."
Qingran pulled out a pocket knife—not much, but better than nothing—and moved toward the driver’s side. The door hung open, the insides torn apart. Blood sared across the seat, the steering wheel.
But no physical body.
She scanned the ground. Looking at the traces of blood. They had been dragged away.
Her throat tightened.
Feng Yizhou stood, his expression unreadable. "They weren’t just killed. They were also taken."
The wind picked up, carrying a faint sound.
A whisper. A shuffle. Whatever it was, it made Qingran tense up, her muscles coiling.
Then—
A shadow moved in the trees.
Too fast to see at first.
She barely had ti to react before the first figure lunged.
Qingran pivoted sharply, body moving on instinct. She barely caught a glimpse of the thing lunging at her before she threw herself backward, narrowly avoiding its claws.
Claws...yes.
Her breath hitched. Not hands but claws.
The creature hit the pavent, crouched unnaturally low, its head snapping toward her in a jerky, unnatural movent.
Qingran took a step back, her heart pounding.
It was humanoid, but only barely. Its skin was mottled, stretched tight over bones that looked...wrong.
Its eyes—black, hollow—locked onto her, and a low, guttural sound rattled from its throat.
It wasn’t a zombie neither was it a mutant.
This was sothing else.
Behind her, Feng Yizhou was already moving. She heard the sharp slide of tal as he unsheathed a knife.
No hesitation. No wasted movent. He was light on his feet.
The creature twitched—then bolted.
Not toward her but towards Feng Yizhou.
He didn’t flinch as he prepared his stance.
Qingran barely had ti to call his na before he t the creature mid-charge. His blade flashed, a clean, practiced arc—
And then the thing dodged.
Too fast. Faster than it should have been.
Her stomach twisted.This wasn’t normal. This wasn’t anything like the early-stage infected she rembered from her past life.
The creature lashed out, claws swiping for Feng Yizhou’s throat. He ducked, pivoted, and drove the knife toward its ribs.
It twisted—bones cracking—and avoided the blow entirely.
Qingran didn’t wait. She lunged forward, pocket knife gripped tight, and slashed at its exposed side.
The blade connected—briefly.
Its skin was like leather, tougher than it should have been.
The wound barely bled.
The creature whirled on her. And then it opened its mouth.
A distorted screech tore through the air—high-pitched, unnatural, like tal scraping against tal.
Qingran’s vision swam. Her pulse stuttered.
Sothing was wrong. Her head pounded. Her limbs felt sluggish, heavy even
Feng Yizhou was shouting sothing, but the sound was warped and distant as she staggered.
The creature lunged again.
Move!
Her body wouldn’t respond fast enough and the creature was drawing closer.
Then, the sound of gunfire was heard.
A sharp, deafening crack split the air. The creature jerked—black blood spraying—then collapsed to the pavent, twitching violently.
Qingran gasped, forcing herself to move. She turned, looking dazed.
Feng Yizhou stood behind her, gun smoking, with an unreadable expression.
"You alright?" he asked, eyes scanning her face.
Qingran swallowed hard. "I—"
The creature twitched and her blood ran cold.
It was still alive. Its body convulsed, limbs jerking in unnatural angles. Its skin...was shifting and changing.
Feng Yizhou didn’t hesitate. He raised the gun again—
Then the creature’s head snapped up—
And then it moved. Not toward them. But towards the tree line.
It bolted—faster than before—straight into the tree line, disappearing into the dark.
A heavy silence followed. Qingran’s heart pounded against her ribs. Her breath ca fast, uneven breaths.
Feng Yizhou lowered the gun, eyes narrowing. "It got away."
She exhaled sharply, forcing herself to focus. "That thing is still out there, no one is safe."
They both knew what that ant. It wasn’t just so mindless monster.
It could think.
And worse—
It would co back.
Qingran exhaled sharply, pushing down the lingering unease curling in her chest. The thing had retreated, but that didn’t an they were safe.
Not by a long shot.
She turned, striding toward the back of the truck. Whatever the hell they had just fought wasn’t a normal infected. And if this transport was carrying sothing related to that, she needed to know.
Feng Yizhou followed silently as she wrenched open the truck’s cargo door.
Her stomach tensed.
Inside, tal crates were stacked neatly, secured with reinforced straps. No markings, no labels—except for one in the far corner, bearing a faded governnt insignia.
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Weapons. She could tell by the design of the cases. But there was sothing else—
A large, reinforced container bolted to the floor. It looked like a portable containnt unit, thick steel walls lined with faint warning symbols.
Qingran stepped inside, brushing her fingers against the cold surface. The edges were reinforced with an unfamiliar alloy.
This wasn’t just for storage. It was ant to hold sothing.
Her system flickered to life.
[Cargo Detected: High-Security Anomalous Storage Unit]
Her fingers curled. Anomalous. The sa word from before.
Then, unexpectedly—
[Host. You shouldn’t be touching that.]
Her breath caught.
Her system’s voice. That was Lingquan’s usual voice.
Not the cold, chanical tone it had taken on since the regression. This was different—closer to its old self.
Qingran’s pulse quickened. "You’re back to talking like this now?"
[I never left. The change was necessary. But... this? This is dangerous.]
She frowned. "Define ’dangerous.’"
The system hesitated.
[I don’t have full access to this cargo’s data.]
Her eyes narrowed. "You don’t know what’s inside?"
Another pause.
[...I know enough to tell you not to open it.]
That only made her want to open it more.
Feng Yizhou was watching her. "What’s wrong?"
Qingran took a slow breath. "The system’s warning . Says this container is dangerous."
His gaze flickered toward the reinforced unit. "Can it tell what’s inside?"
She shook her head. "Only that it’s sothing anomalous. And that it doesn’t want touching it."
Feng Yizhou’s expression darkened. "That thing we just fought—do you think it’s connected?"
Qingran’s gut told her yes.
But before she could answer, the system spoke again—its voice sharper, urgent.
[Host. Soone is coming.]
Qingran tensed.
Then she heard it—
The faint, crunching sound of footsteps approaching.
She and Feng Yizhou locked eyes as he told her to wait behind while he walked out.
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