The Eleven Silly Birds of the Sewers
Beside the sewer corpse, eleven men stood imposingly, practically dressed in black suits, ready with a coffin and some music.
Thinking of the little monsters in the sewers, something with flesh still attached and unable to move would never survive.
But this corpse was too 'fresh,' as if it had just died, and there was no sewer entrance in this place, ruling out the possibility of someone accidentally falling in and dying.
The longer you looked at the corpse, the less it seemed like a corpse, but male corpses weren't much to look at anyway.
Bai Mu looked down at the axe in his hand, ready to chop down the corpse if it suddenly jumped up.
"Are we just going to wait like this?" the strong gambler asked uneasily.
"If it's a Dreamer, we can wait a little while." The gunman observed the corpse; there were no wounds on the surface, no signs of decay—it was a strong corpse.
Those sewer rats, with their tentacles, certainly wouldn't miss such a good piece of meat.
Even if the corpse wasn't a Dreamer, there were other special features.
Another cleaner whispered, "I heard that dreams can easily get out of control."
"That's just propaganda. If dreams weren't dangerous, everyone would be looking for them." The gunman glanced at the man, and at that moment, everyone felt a slight dizziness.
Bai Mu quickly asked, "How do we wake up from this dream?"
"I don't know!" Matt roared. Even if there was a way to wake up, it wasn't public knowledge. He only knew that there were indeed some lucky people in Rota City who had become wealthy because of dreams!
"Hahahaha! We're like a bunch of idiots now!" At the last moment, Bai Mu stopped pretending and immediately cursed. If he could take on ten people…
…
"Very good, you're the most well-mannered among this group!"
? ?
Wait, what era is this?
Bai Mu opened his eyes, his head spinning. He glanced around. This wasn't a train carriage, but a stopped and modified bus.
A fully armed man looked at Matt with a serious expression.
…Isn't he the most well-mannered one?
Bai Mu continued looking elsewhere. There were eight people on the bus, including the driver. Outside the window was a desolate scene, the kind of highway scene often seen in disaster movies.
Was this the alternate dream? Looking at the other people on the bus, everything here gave Bai Mu a strong sense of déjà vu. If nothing unexpected happened… where was his wristwatch?
Looking at his empty wrist, Bai Mu was stunned, then felt a pang of disappointment.
Looking elsewhere, he saw all eleven of the sewer thugs were there. They looked somewhat dazed, as if they hadn't yet regained their senses. Their clothes had changed; they were similar to those worn by mental patients, and even had numbers on them.
Mine was 017.
"Now that you're all awake, I'll explain the situation! Listen carefully, this concerns your lives!" The fully armed man patted the bus door. "My name is Thorne Reiss! I know you have many questions, but listen to me.
This city has fallen. The reason for the fall is a virus leak. Those damn bastards researched an extremely terrifying virus, and that's not enough. They want to use the virus to create even more terrifying individuals!
And you are the experimental subjects suitable for modification. Now I will find a way to send you out."
Bai Mu wanted to ask if this was Raccoon City.
But the current situation didn't seem like it at all.
"Anyone else have questions?"
"How did we get here?"
Matt asked, subtly moving his wrist as he did so; he had recovered from his daze.
Thorn explained without any surprise, "You are experimental subjects I rescued from the research institute. Without me, you would have been transformed into zombie monsters long ago!"
"What are zombies?"
"Moving corpses. If they grab or bite you, you'll become one of them. They're very dangerous."
A roar suddenly rang out from the driver's seat. The driver, now a zombie, howled and charged forward, only to be kicked over by Thorn.
"Quick!!"
A gunshot rang out. The zombie driver, shot in the head, twitched and went still. Thorn, his face grim, threw the corpse out of the car.
"We don't have time. Who among you can drive?"
The remaining people in the car looked at each other, bewildered. Among the eleven brutes of the sewers, there were some who could drive, but this car was different from the ones they knew. How were they supposed to drive it?
"I know a little, but I'm not very good at it."
Bai Mu stepped forward. The driver's sudden transformation into a zombie and Thor's shooting of the zombie gave him a strong sense of being taught a lesson on the spot. If no one else could drive, would this man named Thorn give them another lesson?
And the other's appearance... wasn't he just that strong corpse from the sewers? "It's okay if you're not skilled, as long as it gets moving. Ask me if you don't know how."
Thorn pointed to the weapons inside the bus: "Find the weapons you're comfortable with. Whether you can escape this city depends on your efforts!"
Among the weapons, he saw the axe he was getting more and more comfortable with. The gunman immediately took his gun and compared it with the weapons on Thorn's person. He found the first 'treasure' in the dream.
After quickly arranging these things, Thorn walked towards Bai Mu: "What's your name?"
"Bai Mu."
"I know, go drive."
What's the difference between driving a bus and a private car?
Bai Mu put his hands on the steering wheel. There must be a difference, but he just needed to get the bus moving.
The road was still quite wide, except for the increasing number of zombies.
"Hahahaha! Ignore those zombies, just ram them!!" Seeing that the bus was actually moving, Thorn laughed and cleared the zombies on the roadside through the shooting port in the window.
The journey went smoothly; the zombies couldn't catch the modified bus. With Thor's directions, Bai Mu drove the bus to a safe house in the city.
The Sewer Eleven were cautious, worried about the 'infection,' and Thor's fighting prowess was impressive, especially with the powerful firearms they'd never seen before.
The non-threatening zombies were dealt with by the bus's assault rifle, while the threatening ones were handled by Thor.
In areas where they couldn't make too much noise, Thor would even use a machete to fight them off.
Along the way, Thor shared a lot of information about the city: a city ravaged by a virus, filled with standard zombie cannon fodder and a terrorist organization researching the virus using normal people. Thor
was a soldier in the army who refused to abandon survivors; even after the army retreated, he continued searching for any remaining survivors. Quake, who had turned into a zombie, was one of the people he rescued.
Unfortunately, the better driver was unlucky, being sacrificed at the very beginning—a truly unfortunate start!
Bai Mu wondered if they'd been dragged into some terrible movie.
"You're safe, though only temporarily."
Inside the safe house, Thorn took a few cans of beer from the refrigerator and drank some himself. "Help yourselves with whatever you want."
Then he picked up a pen and marked some places on the map on the table. Bai Mu leaned over to look at the map; there were quite a few circled areas.
"Where are these places?"
Thorn glanced at Bai Mu and explained, "The lab. I learned from some researchers that there's a vaccine for the virus, and I'm looking for it."
The radio on the table crackled: "Buzz—Announcement: Great Bear City has been confirmed completely overrun. To prevent further spread of the virus, nuclear weapons will be dropped on June 16th. If any survivors receive this message, please arrive at the rendezvous point before the 15th—repeated—"
Holy crap! Is the martial spirit in this world really that strong? Nuclear weapons are used without warning, and announced on the radio?!
Bai Mu was shocked. He looked at Thorn, wanting to ask about the time, but Thorn's face was grim: "Today is the 10th, I don't have much time left! Those idiots want to destroy hope!!"
Thorn stared at the map on the table, circling several places based on the announcement on the radio: "These are the rendezvous points. If you want to leave this city, go here. I still need to find the vaccine."
What was a nuclear bomb again? Matt and the others didn't know that kind of weapon, but judging from Thorn's grim expression, they could tell that it was very dangerous...right?
"The virus has already leaked once, so there will definitely be a second time. And as the test subject, even if I escape, I'll be targeted, right? I'll help you!"
Bai Mu understood that this was the 'main plot,' or rather, two main plots. The first was to escape the city, and the second was to follow the 'corpse protagonist' to find the so-called vaccine.
Although he was quite disappointed that he didn't have a wristwatch, Bai Mu still understood the process!
"You're wise." Thorn opened the wardrobe, which was filled with firearms. "These are the weapons I've collected. Arm yourselves first. Those who want to leave, wait until dawn."
Thorn then sat back down, continuing to drink his beer and pondering his next move while staring at the map.
"Sunken treasure…" the gunman muttered, picking up a pistol to examine it. The weapon was unloaded, but its intricate design captivated him.
Taking this weapon out would surely attract wealthy collectors, and even rich scholars would find it expensive.
The burly gambler's eyes darted around; he had another idea. On the way to the safe house, he had seen many unusual shops, including a gold shop!
Since the city had fallen, taking something from those places wouldn't be considered robbery, right? He had witnessed the power of the weapons in the wardrobe on the road.
With such weapons in hand, and with a little caution… he could pull it off!
Matt stared at the weapons in the cabinet. Since they'd been drawn into the alternate dream world, and it all revolved around 'Corpse Thorn,' splitting up with him wasn't a good option.
He glanced at the others; the eleven of them were already at odds.
"Make a choice," Matt said, picking up a submachine gun and examining it.
The weapon looked familiar to Bai Mu; he often saw it in video games—the MP5, the MP4's older brother…
(End of Chapter)