Chapter 20: The False Midtown
The fog in the sky was a little lighter than just now, Zhou Qi held the long knife tightly, he couldn't feel the cold gaze after seeing the monster calling himself Wang Hongwen explode, but in this environment, Zhou Qi didn't dare to take it lightly.
Zhou Qi groped along the edge of the wall, in fact, he always had a feeling that this was not the second basement floor, but an unknown space. The wall next to him was no longer steel but ordinary bluestone, but polished and smooth. Through the fading fog, he could faintly see some separate rooms, not separated by walls and doors, but with four separate walls, doors and windows. It is decorated with blue and red patterns.
The decoration style seen at the eye is completely different from what you saw on the basement floor, and according to the information, the basement floor is already the core area of the research institute. Even if the damage is more severe after years of geological changes and groundwater intrusion, it should not be the way it is now. This is not so much a research institute as it is more like the Midtown where Zhou Qi lives.
Zhou Qi didn't know how long he had been gone, and his already not-so-sharp sense of time was completely useless in this fog, but it was about three hours according to his feelings. Anyway, he had walked around the wall and returned to the starting point where White's body was.
Zhou Qi carefully investigated the situation of the corpse again, and White was undoubtedly killed by a fingernail, and the captain had too few remaining parts to deduce. Although he is not very familiar with the two, but in this situation, Zhou Qi still can't help but feel sad about the death of a rabbit and a fox.
Faintly, a sparse rustle sounded, like the wind blowing through the woods. Zhou Qi stopped remembering and clenched the long knife in his hand vigilantly. The mist faded, and the bright moonlight shone through, shining on Zhou Qi's body, making his breathing become rapid.
There shouldn't be moonshine here!
The fog quickly dissipated, and the scenery in front of him made Zhou Qi dumbfounded, familiar streets, familiar houses, familiar moonlight and wind. Aside from the unfamiliar walls that leaned against it, it was the same as the memory, and this was Midtown.
Zhou Qi frowned, everything he saw tonight was so strange, he cautiously took a few steps forward and kicked open the door of a neighbor's house.
The faint moonlight shines through the window, and through this faint light, Zhou Qi can see the decoration of the house clearly, and compare it with his memory, whether it is the cabinet, the placement of clothes or furniture, they are all exactly the same as in his memory, and even on the table where the room communicates, there is only a bite of bread and unfinished milk.
Out of caution, Zhou Qi did not fully enter the room, nor did he dare to go too deep, although everything he saw in his eyes did not have the slightest problem, but everything here revealed a trace of disobedience.
Zhou Qi retreated to the wall and looked around, only to find the most discordant. White's body, which had been lying nearby, was gone, replaced by a dilapidated cart with a broken barrel standing on it.
I touched the cart cautiously, there was no problem with the feel, and the wooden handle was cold and rough. But this made Zhou Qi more alert, he carefully jumped on the cart, kicked out, and with a clattering sound, the barrel rolled out, and some liquid splashed out of the barrel and poured all over the ground.
Zhou Qi leaned down and lightly dipped his fingers in the liquid on the ground. Wine? He sniffed uncertainly, the reddish-brown liquid tinged with a faint smell of wine and earth. The next moment, the hunger that had not appeared for a long time filled his body again, Zhou Qi fell to the ground, breathing heavily, the hunger transmitted from his stomach took away all the strength in his body, simply, this time he still retained a trace of reason.
Zhou Qi opened his eyes with difficulty, but the next moment, the great fear and confusion made him crush him again, the vision in his left eye was covered with a faint layer of blood, and the eyes were no longer neat streets, familiar houses and wooden barrels flying out. Rather, it was ruins of steel, crumbling corridors, and a withered human head. The completely different sights in his eyes on both sides made him lose his mind in an instant.
What is real and what is unreal?
Zhou Qi didn't know, he only knew that he was hungry now, hunger stimulated his body, he could feel the squirming of the stomach, the throat that swallowed unconsciously, the weak limbs and the constant secretion of saliva. Little by little, his reason was lost, and at the end of the day, his left eye was on the withered head.
The shriveled head was facing Zhou Qi, his eyes were closed, the sparse hair was fluttering in the breeze of unknown origin, and the skin was as rough as tree bark so that Zhou Qi could barely distinguish its original appearance, and could only judge that this was not the head of the captain he had seen before. A faint shadow trembled directly below the skull, terrifying him at all.
Shade? As soon as this overly familiar and sensitive thing appeared, Zhou Qi's consciousness that was almost dissipating gathered again. This is the same shadow as the previous monster's feet, and it seems to be a shadow that houses consciousness and seems to be able to think.
It's delicious! Unlike the flesh and blood that was once devoured, and unlike the food that I had eaten in Midtown, the shadow was textureless and shapeless, and it obviously didn't taste too much, but it was too attractive to itself.
Looking blankly at his raised right hand, Zhou Qi recalled what he had just done the moment he regained consciousness, he pounced on the shadow like a madman, somehow pulled it out, and then ate it.
The hunger subsided a little, Zhou Qi solemnly looked at the withered human head with the perspective of his left eye, and the moment the shadow dissipated, the human head began to rot, and quickly dissipated into flying ashes.
Zhou Qi stood up and rubbed his face vigorously, sobering up the consciousness that had not yet fully returned. The blood in the field of vision of the left eye faded somewhat, and with it came the same mysterious, meaningless fragments of memory as before.
"This is the kingdom of God."
"I am a member of God."
"Kill them? No, that's my wife. ”
"God, I have received your gift."
In the dark night, a man dressed in linen was prostrate on the ground praying, Zhou Qi's eyes seemed to fall from the sky, he looked at this pious man, and there was no sorrow or joy in his heart.
The devout believer lay on the ground praying, Zhou Qi didn't know who he was, and he didn't know how long ago it was, but he could see what the man had done, and even feel the man's mood, and the shattered memory showed that the man had completed the murder not long ago, he had killed his wife and children.
But there was no sorrow in the man's heart, no fear, perhaps there was, but now there was only a feverish flame burning, serving the gods, and the man whispered of his piety and respect for the gods.
An indescribable disgust appeared in his heart, and the next moment, the flame in the man's heart was extinguished, and he died.