CHAPTER 30

Everyone else was dead, except for the three of them.

He Ran couldn't accept this fact. She wondered, why was it her who discovered this? She wished she didn't know anything at all.

After the director calmly spoke to her about mental values, He Ran, out of habit, followed the director's advice. Wei Huaiyi's wisdom and demeanor were convincing, so she said, "I will do normal things."

The director smiled and asked, "What is normal?"

He Ran couldn't come up with an answer. She obeyed the command, stood up straight, and pondered the meaning of normal. However, she sensed some intuitive danger in that statement.

In the field hospital, she often witnessed such danger, seemingly intuitive or instinctual. She always narrowly missed these subtle beginnings and escaped the fate of being bombed.

The director was no longer normal, she thought. But she had no evidence, and she didn't want to assume a position to probe.

She could only casually reply, "Normal is just doing the things I usually do."

The director didn't say anything, and they separated. He Ran turned around and saw bl*od behind the director.

He Ran was locked in her own room, but there were no measures preventing her from leaving. She still went out. She remembered the clock that stopped at twelve, the expressions on everyone's faces, the inexplicable voting. Although the director sneered at the commander, aside from the three people remaining at the outpost, everyone else had the same expression on their faces, as if they had all become the same person.

She felt responsible and obliged to see what had happened to them. If there was a collective mental disorder, she didn't mind tying everyone up in a room and examining each one individually. But she was mentally tense, and anyone being accused as a monster by all their teammates wouldn't feel relaxed, especially someone as serious as He Ran.

But when she pushed open the door, she only saw that almost all the doors were open, and everyone was heading out, except for Zhao Xinyan and Lin Buxiu, who seemed oblivious. He Ran took a deep breath and quietly walked behind the team.

The group went downstairs, with Wei Huaiyi at the forefront. Her short hair was pushed behind her ears, and she was covered in bl*od, constantly pushing her hair back in exhaustion, looking at the people on the notice board.

He Ran's gaze followed to the notice board and saw that apart from the three remaining at the outpost, the faces of everyone else seemed to melt like butter. She saw Wei Huaiyi in a state of shock, tears streaming down her face, using a protective suit to cover the notice board.

Wei Huaiyi was no longer normal, but aside from the bl*od she shed, there was nothing peculiar about her. The team suddenly started moving forward, and He Ran could only follow along. Including the commander, everyone formed a circle, holding hands and bowing their heads to look at Wei Huaiyi.

Wei Huaiyi was only crying. He Ran had never seen the director with such a helpless expression. In her understanding, the director would either argue with the commander or point with a pen, assigning tasks or answering questions. The director would never cry so helplessly.

After crying for a while, Wei Huaiyi stood up.

Everyone seemed to be heading back, and He Ran followed the team back.

Since she was at the end of the line, when everyone went upstairs and returned to their rooms, she stood on the stairs and turned her head, seeing Wei Huaiyi opening the door and walking out without wearing protective clothing.

He Ran held onto the railing, hesitated for a moment, turned back, and grabbed Wei Huaiyi's arm. "Don't go out, it's dangerous outside."

The arm in her hand was so weak, almost boneless. Research Director was one of the creators of this outpost. Without the Research Director, He Ran didn't know where to go after returning from the field hospital.

The director was the soul of the outpost, the most important person there. How could she leave the outpost?

But the director had to leave. He Ran was already standing there, and the director, supporting her own clarity, said to her, "I've been polluted. We encountered... the Daomiao base... they're all dead."

"But you came back, and they came back too."

"They're already dead. They're just my pollution," the director wiped her face, breaking free from He Ran's grip. "I have to go. You three are still alive... I will pollute all of you. Take care of them, okay? Your mental value is higher than theirs..."

He Ran paused for a moment. "Director, you started talking about mental values after the Daomiao base."

"I have to leave."

"What happened at the Daomiao base?"

"I have to go..." Ignoring He Ran's persuasion, the director desperately ran outside.

He Ran stood in place, silent for a long time, so long that she didn't even know how she thought of turning around and going upstairs. It was just in that moment of turning around that she seemed to catch a glimpse of Lin Buxiu's braid. Lin Buxiu was looking at her, and the fear in Lin Buxiu's eyes was genuine.

She pretended not to see it. Before dawn, she woke up the pretending-to-sleep Lin Buxiu and Zhao Xinyan, who didn't know if they had slept or not, and made them look at the open door, at the bodies of their comrades.

They all seemed to have suddenly died in their sleep. Lin Buxiu looked at He Ran with extreme terror, but they could only reluctantly support each other and bury the bodies of their companions.

It was during the burial that they realized one body was missing—the Research Director had disappeared.

Lin Buxiu told Zhao Xinyan that the Research Director knew something was wrong with He Ran and ran away. He Ran tried to chase her but couldn't catch up. She stood at the doorway for a long time.

He Ran wanted to explain to her that it wasn't like that, but the words were on the tip of her tongue, and she didn't know what to say. Those words were meant to be said in private, thinking they were hidden well, but He Ran deliberately sought to understand their movements, and she heard everything.

How could something said in the dark respond in the light? He Ran was never good with words, and in the end, she remained silent, often pulling out her gun, forcing them to go back and do their normal duties.

Until the day they died.

After sealing the bodies of the two individuals in the cold storage room instead of burying them with the other comrades, He Ran decided to leave the outpost.

In truth, she herself felt that her state when k!lling Lin Buxiu was highly abnormal. She thought she might have been polluted as well, but her consciousness remained clear. She just felt that her emotions were uncontrollable, easily losing control, like a tightly stretched rubber band producing a bitter sound when plucked.

They all isolated her.

When she left the outpost, she had a thought in her mind: should she set a fire to burn everything here to ashes? But as she was about to leave, she saw the director. The director was lingering in the yard, k!lling a mutant bat that flew towards her, throwing it against the wall and continuing to walk slowly.

Even if polluted, one could still persist in doing normal things. He Ran felt something in her heart, but... she thought, let this place be left to the pollutants and the bodies. She was leaving.

As the treads rolled over the road, memories of the outpost emerged one by one. She deliberately tried to forget and conceal them, until she reached the ruins near the Daomiao base. The memories were magnified countless times, leaving only the memories of everyone making dumpling wrappers with baseball bats, conducting research together, and carrying out missions.

Leaving the outpost alone, where would she go?

What was the point of going to Daomiao City? It was just a pile of ruins. She had nowhere to go.

And then, in the wilderness, she saw a naked young girl.

The fallen city of Daomiao was her backdrop. No protective clothing, nothing at all.

Only pure fear surrounded her.

He Ran took off her protective suit and walked towards the eerie, split-tongued girl.

In that moment, she decided to show this strange girl all the beauty she had experienced at the outpost.

If the girl was willing, she wanted to raise or take care of her.

She felt she needed someone or something to accompany her.

She returned to the outpost.

At first, everything seemed normal.

Until the day Li Haohao grew a wind-up key. Li Haohao lay on the quilt, drying clothes, drying herself.

He Ran patrolled the outpost and saw scattered insect corpses. There was no need to clean them up because someone had already taken care of it for her.

That day, she didn't close the door tightly, and she didn't remember if she had recalled the pollution. But she did loosen the valve...

And Wei Huaiyi returned.

From that day on, the others in the outpost reappeared.

Li Haohao ate Wei Huaiyi, and memories of the outpost naturally resurfaced. He Ran's mental state hit rock bottom, and at the moment she encountered Li Haohao, she completely abandoned her sanity and approached her as a monster.

But even so, at that moment, He Ran did not become a pollutant. He Ran could have successfully escaped from the outpost if she wanted to.

But He Ran came back.

Li Haohao witnessed He Ran willingly returning to a polluted area that had nothing to do with her, gradually becoming a true pollutant.

Even though He Ran became a pollutant, she had only one obsession: to live a normal life, just like before.

Rather, it could be said that she became a pollutant in order to become normal.

Li Haohao couldn't understand the logic behind it, and He Ran herself didn't quite understand it either.

In the confrontation, the pitiful supply officer let out a painful gasp.

Li Haohao refused to back down and spoke in her usual unreasonable tone, "My normalcy is not like this."

"Hmm?"

"Normalcy... is when anyone who encounters me gets eaten." She spoke confidently.

He Ran said, "She didn't encounter you. When she arrived, you were sleeping, and she was about to leave when daylight came... Do you remember the previous supply officer? You didn't show up, and he could leave."

"I'm hungry." Li Haohao rubbed her stomach.

"You have already eaten so many people in the outpost, look, Zhan Yicheng and the others..."

"They... were already eaten by me a long time ago."

Li Haohao raised her head quietly. "Before I met you."

He Ran didn't continue that sentence. It was also her usual, clumsy way of changing the subject. "I still have comic books for you to read."

"I'm hungry."

"When you encountered Zhan Yicheng before, you didn't eat him, and your light bulb was broken." He Ran returned to the topic.

"This place wasn't my territory before, Zhan Yicheng... not Zhan Yicheng, it was... Wei—"

"Li Haohao, you can't eat this person, I'm only saying it once, no matter what you say, you can't eat this person."

"I'm hungry."

"Eat me."

"No."

He Ran couldn't continue the conversation with the stubborn child any further, but the entire car was covered with densely packed hands. Those people seemed to crawl out from somewhere, swinging their arms with lifeless eyes.

She turned around and drove the outpost's car, with the dawn right behind her.

At first, the control lever turned into a human hand, but when He Ran looked at Li Haohao, the control lever returned to normal.

Li Haohao looked at He Ran with resentment and finally squeezed out a voice from between her teeth, "Let her leave alive. Boom, blow this place up."

"So you know about that too."

Li Haohao covered her head, "I'm not eating you."

"If you're hungry, just eat. It's not a big deal." He Ran searched for medicine and bandages from Xiang Chenxi's body as much as possible, wrapping Xiang Chenxi up tightly and letting her hold the control lever. They quickly left.

"I won't."

Li Haohao shook her head stubbornly, but her instincts finally took control of her. She was extremely hungry, her lips cracked, and her tongue split in half, with two Li Haohao's speaking at the same time.

"I'm so hungry, so hungry..."

The ground sank, and the sky suddenly changed color, with a bl*od-red sky descending like a curtain.

Before it completely collapsed, He Ran grabbed the unconscious Xiang Chenxi and tied her to her back.

"It hurts... it hurts..."

Hurts?

He Ran snapped out of it, and Li Haohao turned into a poster hanging on the wall.

The golden bead string shimmered, and her naturally curly hair was adorned with pearls and gemstones. Li Haohao smiled and lifted her foot, with the tip of her toes holding a glass of brightly colored red wine. The wine resembled bl*od, overflowing from the cup, wetting her ankles, flowing against gravity over her knees, staining her skirt red.

Grand Opening. The Night of Wild Dance.

Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy to your heart's content.

Outside the window, the giant sign of Daomiao City flashed, flames rising from the rice fields. Tall buildings stood in clusters, lights never ceased, and luxury cars with dazzling colors traversed the roads between the buildings, rushing towards the building where He Ran was.

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