abcnovels
Chapter 341: 339: Gathering place? Who are you kidding?
Chapter 341: 339: Gathering place? Who are you kidding?
Chapter 341: Chapter 339: Gathering place? Who are you kidding?
The sound of footsteps echoed in the vast space, slowly closing in.
Perhaps right below.
There were two of them.
Bi Fang felt a shock in his heart as he was trying to discern their position and numbers when suddenly a beam of a flashlight swept over, and he swiftly leaned back, narrowly missing the light.
Only then did the audience, who had just come to their senses from the thrill of Bi Fang’s near fall, realize what had happened.
[Holy shit, someone’s there!]
[Who’s there? Show yourself!]
[Why are people still coming here? Were they attracted by the explosion during the day?]
“Keep the light steady. What are you shaking for?”
Below, a man dressed in a dark green light cotton jacket pressed down on the right hand of the man in black beside him, bringing the beam’s focus forward.
The man in black wasn’t angry but simply frowned, “I thought I heard something just now.”
“Heard something?” The man in the green jacket moved visibly but didn’t show it, instead shouting loudly, “You’re thinking too much, must be rats, right?”
“Rats?”
The man in black was about to object when he suddenly saw a unique contact hand signal coming from the right hand beside the man in green. He immediately understood and, instead of objecting, nodded in agreement while secretly pointing upstairs.
“Yeah, rats.”
The man in the green jacket narrowed his eyes and spoke in a voice slightly louder than normal conversation, “Let’s hurry up. I’ve been hungry all day. Let’s see if there’s anything to eat here. Lots of people are waiting for us to bring food back to the camp. I don’t know if we’ll have another chance to go out. Yesterday, Charlene even questioned me if I was hiding food, damn it, I emptied my pockets and she still didn’t believe me.”
“Haha, can’t help it. She is a mother after all. It’s quite normal for her to ask for more food. If we find some today, let’s give her a bit more.”
“If we give her more, what about the others? She’s not the only one with a child.”
Having said that, the two walked together toward the depths of the factory as if they truly believed the sound they had heard was just a rat.
After the two had walked away, the man in black suddenly turned off the flashlight, and the man in green asked in a low voice.
“What exactly did you hear?”
“Sounded like a door being hit.”
“Hit the door? Someone there?”
“Probably.”
“Could it be another organization? The entrance…” The man in green suddenly remembered the huge blast marks at the entrance, very shocking, as ordinary bombs could not produce such marks.
“Doesn’t seem like it. A bomb couldn’t have that effect. Might be a steel cylinder exploding in the factory. Anyway, we need to go check it out. The more ‘goods’ we have, the better.”
“Should we call for help?”
“Call!”
…
A camp?
Children?
Food?
Several key pieces of information appeared in Bi Fang’s mind.
From the conversation between the two, it seemed there was a survivors’ camp and they were out collecting food?
[Damn, have they found their organization?]
[Refugees?]
[Should Old Fang go and help them out? (Dog’s head)]
[I think Master Fang can contact the authorities to evacuate everyone, it feels pitiful to just leave them here to die, doesn’t it? Old Fang even struggles to find food, let alone ordinary people.]
Bi Fang slowly leaned against the wall, smelling the burnt scent, yet his expression didn’t relax at all. He saw the barrage of comments and responded, at the same time lowering his voice as much as possible.
The space in the factory was too large; even the faintest of sounds could echo for a long time.
“Do you guys think what they’re saying is true?”
Uh…
The audience firing off the barrage froze, startled by Bi Fang’s question.
What did he mean by that?
Could it be… fake?
No way, right?
Cao Lifeng, who had been just about to tip and ask Bi Fang to help them, suddenly stopped, somewhat unwilling to accept the implications of Bi Fang’s words.
“I can’t be sure either.”
Bi Fang shook his head, not completely denying the audience’s suggestions. In fact, he had been close to the ground earlier, and had neither heard the rest of the two people’s conversation nor seen any secret signals. Otherwise, he could have confirmed his suspicions.
The other party seemed to intentionally leak so much information. Their words were crafted in such a way that one could subconsciously feel that this settlement was a safe zone.
There were women and children there, and because they were so pitiful, they even got extra food. Just by hearing this, an image seemed to form in one’s mind of vulnerable individuals supporting each other, stubbornly surviving in a war-torn city.
It confirmed that the gathering area the two people spoke of was a “humane” place to go to.
But the nerves honed from constantly skirting the edge of danger told him that things weren’t so simple.
“Let’s just be careful, and not trust anyone too easily.”
The calm of the factory standing in the night was shattered by the sudden intrusion of several people, and Bi Fang, trapped on the balcony, suddenly felt a sense of urgency.
The place was too cramped; if a confrontation happened, it would be very disadvantageous for him.
Bi Fang went to the wooden door; beneath his feet lay a yawning abyss. He looked all around, but it was pitch black, and he couldn’t make out the path ahead.
“Right now, I must find an exit, but the way up here is too dangerous. Plus, if I were discovered while crossing the rails, it would be completely over.”
“But we can’t afford to turn on a light now; that would undoubtedly expose our position, and then we would lose the initiative. I’m not sure of the identity of the people opposite, and they can’t be certain of my existence either. We’re both still in a probing phase, so I mustn’t reveal my position at all costs.”
Stepping on the edge of the wall, Bi Fang carefully shifted, assuring it was safe before moving along the narrow wall outside the wooden door.
Bi Fang had glimpsed a pipe in the corner of the wall earlier. He wasn’t sure if it really existed, but he had to go and check it out.
“This place is as high as six or seven stories, and the room’s completely hollowed out; no floors, no stairs, just beams left. I have to find a way down. I can only hope there really is a water pipe there; maybe we can slide down it directly.”
Bi Fang held onto the wall, inching his way carefully. As he got closer, the shadow of the steel pipe became gradually clearer in the moonlight.
This scene undoubtedly stirred excitement among the viewers, and Bi Fang’s pace quickened considerably.
He looked at the edge of the wall beneath his feet, just the width of a beam, not too wide but not too narrow either.
“This is actually quite interesting. If this were on the ground, I wouldn’t think twice about such a width and would just hop right across, but when there’s such a high drop next to you, even moving your feet slightly can seem difficult, making your heart race with panic. We have to calm ourselves down, breathe deeply, and try not to think about other things.”
Bi Fang focused all his attention on his feet and tested each step before taking it, ensuring there was no loose debris.
For the same reason, with such great heights, even a small falling pebble could make a loud noise.