"I don't believe it either," Healy admitted, "but after five or six people told the same story, I believed a little bit that they couldn't have hallucinations at the same time, until I saw something and I started trying to force myself to face the truth, which is hard, but you should see," she said, as she led Tianxia to the supermarket door.

Today, there are about 20 people in front of the supermarket, half of them are young students, the other half are white-collar workers and workers, and a few police officers. With the exception of the first ones, the next dozen strangers gathered around, and they seemed to be watching over something.

Tianxia was pulled forward by Ciri, and through the gap between the crowd, she saw two patients lying on the ground....... A middle-aged woman in her thirties was lying on a stretcher and moaning, she was wearing loose maternity clothes, her big belly was slightly bulging, but she could still see the obvious outline, this was a pregnant woman, her face was covered with some kind of flesh-red scar, and the rotting flesh was multiplying on her face, replacing the original intact skin, this small snake-like scar spread all the way to the shoulder, as for what part it penetrated, Tianxia did not dare to guess.

A six-year-old boy next to the pregnant woman suffers from the same symptoms.

"They ......" the pregnant woman and the little boy murmured in oppression and pain, especially the pregnant woman, who was more bitter and screamed more bitterly.

"The root-like sarcoma struck both of them, and although the others helped them, it was too late, and a finger-thick root wrapped around her face, infecting part of her body."

Listening to Ciri's slightly sad understatement, Tianxia couldn't help but feel chills in her hands and feet, and she was suddenly glad that she didn't go to the shelter.

"They don't live long......." spoke a young man, who came after him, probably with the pregnant woman, "I saw with my own eyes how the man entangled in the roots of the tree turned into a shriveled corpse in ten minutes, and the most terrible thing was not the sight of death like the withering leaves, but the scene after death, a terrible creature hatching on the corpse, the most cruel monster I have ever seen." ”

"It has three eyes, two on its head and one on its back, and it's big and bulging, almost as big as a volleyball," added another young man in a federal police uniform, "Only the eyes are its vital point, but be careful, its claws are very sharp, its teeth are even more terrifying, the wounds of those who are bitten by it will rot quickly, the body will be like those sarcomas, emitting a strange smell of rot, and the tissues of the body will quickly ulcerate and turn into bloody pustules, at that time, as long as you are not careful, The pustule will burst and a large amount of toxic juice will flow out of it. ”

"Amin," the middle-aged woman on the side glanced at the young policeman reproachfully, "You have the potential to be a writer, and you can write novels to scare children." "The young policeman, probably the son of a middle-aged woman, kept his mouth shut under the woman's gaze.

More than one person spoke of the monster, and no one present denied it, and Tianxia had to force himself to believe everything they said. But if the truth is as they say, then it will be extremely difficult to face it.

"If such a monster were to attack us, would we still be able to survive?"

"Of course," the schoolgirl named Liu Liu walked behind her, she was extremely confident, "the Second Fleet of the Empire is unbeatable, it will sweep everything. ”

Is it just as it did when the nations of the earth were swept away? Tianxia looked at the confident female high achiever, and couldn't help but have a ridiculous feeling in her heart. Decades ago, it was the second fleet that conquered the territories of all countries on the earth, banned governments, unified Chinese, and changed the cultures and even national inheritances of various countries.

Its emergence has brought to naught the long-disputed issue of territorial sovereignty, the competition for resources in the sea and space has also turned into a bubble, and the countries that have had countless wars, massacres, antagonisms, and blockades have caused the people of these countries to begin to love each other, and the national heroes who have fought against hostile countries have suddenly become sinners who have divided the federation, and the boundary between dictatorship and democracy has disappeared, because there is only one form of government in the world; Let the world powers on both sides of the ocean become brothers who support the harmony of the Federation, because they are all members of the Federation.

As for the racists and nationalists who once believed that the two sides of the ocean should confront each other, the good men and women who were hurt by the confrontation and the war of aggression, the "wise and wise" politicians of the Second Fleet and the nascent Federation did not need them, they were naturally relegated to the dustbin of history.

It's only been fifty years since all this, and some people have begun to see the Second Fleet as the savior of the Earth Federation, how can this not make her feel wrong?

"Maybe," she couldn't agree with the young girl, but she could only agree, "I hope so." ”

"We should get rid of her," said a younger boy, "or she'll kill us." ”

Next to the patient, an elderly woman in her forties stared at the young boy with hateful eyes, "What nonsense are you talking about? ”

"I've seen with my own eyes how quickly their corpses rot and how the monsters burst out of their corpses, and I bet those monsters will come out of her stomach too." "He's talking about the pregnant woman.

His words made those present subtle.

A middle-aged man covered in gold chains and with two large flower arms exposed glared at him viciously, "Boy, keep your mouth clean." ”

The old woman screamed, "There is no evidence that a person who has only been entangled for a moment will become that kind of monster, don't open your mouth and come." ”

"How do you know that the monster won't be infected," he pointed excitedly at the pregnant woman, "look at her, she's no different from those who have been caught by sarcoma, she must have something hidden in her belly, it's a monster's cub, it must be, she's going to kill us." ”

The middle-aged bald man couldn't hold back any longer, grabbed the boy and pressed him against the wall and beat him, while the boy's mother scolded him for being uneducated and a wild seed playing with mud.......

It was just a small episode, even so, some people were silent and thought calmly, the first to speak was a middle-aged policeman, he coughed, attracted everyone's attention, and spent a long time brewing his words, soon, he cleared his throat, and said to the bald husband of the pregnant woman, "Sir, your wife is in a very bad condition now, for her good, and for our good, I suggest that she be placed in the lounge, which is relatively quiet and clean, unlike this hall that is congested and noisy, Helps to heal injuries. ”

Another elderly man who seems to be a doctor also interjected, "A quiet environment can help patients recover, and it can also isolate possible sources of infection, and we can't yet find out whether the disease can be transmitted through contact." ”

The others echoed in unison like chirping hens, and the bald middle-aged man and the child's mother looked around with a very bad face, but no one spoke for them, just as no one spoke for the beaten little boy.

The first to offer to help carry the patient was also the policeman, who was accompanied by a little girl with black hair, who was only ten years old, and it was supposed to be his daughter. He whispered something to his young daughter, and the little girl in the long pleated skirt sat down in a chair at the cash register with her head down. The middle-aged policeman called a doctor and a few male students, and they found a wooden board in the supermarket to make a simple stretcher, and followed the doctor's advice to do some protection, and then violently carried the two infected people into the lounge.

The middle-aged man with the bald gold chain and flower arms chose to follow without hesitation, and as for the mother, she hesitated for a moment to let the boy rest inside, but she still didn't dare to go in after all.

"Why didn't she go in?" Tianxia, who had been watching this head on the other side, couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor boy, "Look at that little boy, he is frightened, and he has to stay with two strangers for at least one night. "At least, he didn't think about it tonight, just in case, Mr. Police and a few middle-aged people discussed guarding the door, if there was any change in the other party, they could react as soon as possible.

"Why did she go in?" Ciri asked rhetorically, "For the sake of the child?" ”

"Hey," Tianxia sighed, "then cry for the child." ”

At about ten o'clock in the evening, several more survivors who had escaped from the capital came in one after another, and they brought the latest news that a large army was planning to attack the pillar of light near the capital, and wanted to find out, but as for the outcome, these exiles did not know. At this moment, the people were even more noisy, and Tianxia had to extinguish the good idea of wanting to sleep, and instead leaned against the wall and stared out the window. She sat bored for ten minutes, and group after group escaped, including many uniformed students, boarding students at the Federal High School, and she saw several familiar teachers.

In fact, Ciri also noticed the familiar commotion at the door, she wanted to stand up, but when she thought of her face, she suddenly hesitated, she was afraid that those who knew her well would ask about her face, and at this moment, when someone dared to ask about her face, especially those who knew her well, there would undoubtedly be many questions.

"Don't let them notice me." She lowered her voice and pleaded with Tianxia, "If they find out about my problem, others will think that I am infected, and I don't want to be quarantined." ”

Tianxia hesitated for a moment and agreed.

As soon as a few teachers and about 20 boarding students walked into the supermarket, the police uncle, who had been guarding the door of the lounge with his young daughter, stepped forward.

"Several, you're from Federal High School on Scholars Avenue? Have you ever passed Emperor Street? What is the situation today? The army has recaptured the capital? ”

"Brother Policeman," one of the teachers hurriedly told him to stop, "you're asking too much, let's take a break." ”

".......I don't know," a fifty-year-old teacher walked up, he hurriedly picked up a bottle of water from the supermarket shelf, swallowed it heavily, and exhaled deeply, "There were gunshots everywhere, and the sound of missile bombardment, all we knew was that there was a war, a stray bullet broke the head of a poor child, the school was on fire, and then I left the school with the other students." ”

The middle-aged policeman stirred his fingers anxiously, he was disappointed that he did not get an accurate answer, and he was also disappointed that the good news had not arrived, what the hell was the army doing? Why didn't anyone announce that the monsters in the capital had been cleared? And the damn Second Fleet, whose main fleet is entrenched in the core system of the western part of the empire, should move its massive body, at least....... The policeman looked up at the sky, the thirteenth team stationed near the earth, their shadows, most of the members of the ships were natives of the earth, most of the homes of those elite soldiers were near the federal capital, could it be that they had been in space for a long time, and had forgotten that their hometown was shrouded in an unknown terrible disaster?

Not only him, but everyone was overwhelmed by one bad news after another, and they were silent in the corner of the supermarket, occasionally whispering to each other, and soon fell into some kind of unspeakable silence. Some people cried out, they were completely lost contact with their loved ones in this inexplicable disaster, and no one knows if they are still alive or not.

Few people could fall asleep this night, several middle-aged men were smoking anxiously outside the supermarket, from time to time looking at the capital city in the distance, some young boys and girls were snuggling up to their friends to seek comfort, the children were also crying all night because of the occasional explosion in the distance, the same was true of Tianxia, the disappearance of her brother, and this sudden catastrophe, she only felt that the future was wandering, on the earth, she had completely become a kitten who had lost her home, she was lost, I was struggling to find a way out, but I couldn't.

Tianxia lay on the brand new mattress she got from the supermarket, looking at Ciri, who was occasionally panting and sniffing her nose next to her, tears unconsciously running down her cheeks and wetting the cushion under her.

I wonder if my brother will be in the same situation, and will he miss her so much? Or is he already dead, leaving only a lonely ghost to roam the world? "What a goddamn bastard," she muttered, then sighed and fell asleep.