After a vague scream, only the rumbling sound of collapse from afar was left in the darkness.

Ruan Xian did not put on his backpack immediately. The wreckage of a certain lounge was lying at his feet, and the metal wardrobe was crushed and deformed. He bent down, pulled a white coat from the inside and draped it over his body, without tying the buttons.

The vague white reassured him, and the wide white gown perfectly concealed the holster under his arm. Ruan Xian believed that it would make him look a lot more harmless.

Then he put on his backpack and led Tang Yibu into the darker darkness. The smell of blood and the special smell of fresh meat came from the air, and the torrent of smell poured down from the diagonally above. Those three should be on the third or fourth floor, somewhere to the southeast of them.

Tang Yibu followed him lightly, the beverage bottles that were easily bumped in the bag were all wrapped in waste cloth or towels, and there was no sound at all. With an elegant gait, he silently rolled over broken glass and rotten wood chips, sticking behind Ruan Xian like a shadow.

There was no elevator in the stairwell two meters away, and a dark doorway was wide open. Tang Yibu swept over with the light, and there was a web of some kind of creature densely packed inside, as compact as a loofah. Ruan Xian followed, and was quite sure that there was a sticky climbing sound coming from the depths of the elevator shaft. He tended to shoot unnecessary curiosity and stay away from them as far as possible.

Taking a few steps back, Ruan Xian led Tang Yibu to the dark stairwell.

The sign of the emergency exit was slanted to one side, and it was still conscientiously emitting fluorescence. Upstairs there was intermittent crying and conversation, but no footsteps. The three strangers were still there.

"The stench of a corpse, but it's not human. I smell the smell of cockroach." After opening the decayed door in the stairwell, Ruan Xian suddenly stopped. "There are also cockroaches here"

"There are cockroaches everywhere, they eat everything." Tang Yibu whispered, "They will even eat the corpses of mechanical life, even if artificial tissue has no nutritional value for it."

"I think it's the side that was bitten this time." Ruan Xian lowered his voice even lower.

The faint sound of sucking and chewing came from the stairwell, the sound was small and soft, like a lady enjoying foie gras in small bites. Tang Yibu turned off the lights, walked in front of Ruan Xian, and the two moved forward cautiously.

Ruan Xian saw something in the dark first, and unlike what he imagined, there was no monster blocking the stairwell.

Seeing them approaching, the swallowed cockroach corpse slid down the wall.

The originally smooth and smooth wall is now as uneven as the lunar surface, with a black hole the size of a washbasin embedded in the middle, and fine fangs embedded in the edge. With the huge mouth as the center, strands of blue light flickered on the wall, rushing towards the mouth along the radial trajectory. A beautiful but deadly invitation.

However, neither of the two invited is stupid.

"This is the sea of ​​ruins, can this thing count as a deep-sea animal?" Ruan Xian snorted. "New Species Still"

"Mechanical life." Tang Yibu said, carefully stepping over the cockroach that fell under his feet. "It's ingesting artificial tissue in the stomach of the cockroach."

Seeing that the two were not fooled, the strange mouth opened and closed twice, and the blue light dimmed. It stretched its mouth hard and sucked the cockroach's carcass again.

The stairwell was empty and quiet, and the rest of the way was unobstructed. Ruan Xian didn't go to the second and third floors, which were full of medicinal smells, and led Tang Yibu directly to the fourth floor of the ruined hospital.

The sobs and whispers were less than ten meters away.

I don't know if it was because of the drug leak, the fourth floor was overgrown with plants. As soon as he opened the stairwell, Ruan Xian almost slipped on the sticky moss. The translucent mushrooms emit a milky white fluorescence that makes people dizzy in the dark, and everything in front of them is like a dream.

Ruan Xian nodded to Tang Yibu, who turned on the lights knowingly.

As the lights came on, the whispers and sobbings not far away ceased instantly, and the clacking sound of metal friction sounded, and the other party must have pulled out a gun.

Ruan Xian held the attacking blood gun tightly in his hand, and leaned against the corner, "Don't be nervous, we're just here to find something."

"People from the east." The people not far away lowered their voices, "What should I do? Lu Ming can't get out of this situation. We can't fight with them."

"They could have swept us directly without saying hello. Maybe it's not malicious," the female voice replied. "Either talk about it and try, the gang in the east won't send important people to such a dangerous place."

The rest of the man just grunted in pain.

Ruan Xian pursed his lips and stepped out of the corner first. He raised his hands high, "We just arrived at the sea of ​​ruins, and were thrown down by the people from the Stone Walker to find something. I thought there was no one else here except us. I didn't expect to hear the screams halfway, so I came to take a look."

Tang Yibu walked out immediately, holding only the locator for lighting in his hand, and his whole person had a gentle, harmless and pleasing appearance, and the credibility of Ruan Xian's statement suddenly increased a bit.

Although they tried hard to cover up, the people on the opposite side were still visibly relaxed.

They were separated by a large slender grass resembling reeds, and on the tips of the grass were clusters of green fruits the size of gooseberries, emitting a gleaming green light. One of them on the opposite side inserted his left leg into the grass and was sitting on the edge of the grass moaning in pain.

"This is" Tang Yibu tried to prompt.

"I know." Ruan Xian interrupted him. He had seen this thing in the "treasure" illustrated book given by the market robbers. The market robbers called them Mingshuicao, and they were almost as valuable as medicines. The reason for its preciousness is not detailed, only that its stems and leaves can be used as raw materials for various props after processing.

A blood-red warning "extremely dangerous, flash with caution" was added to the description.

The purpose of the group of people on the opposite side is obviously not the stems and leaves. A cloth bag was opening beside the wounded, filled with the fruit of Minestrone, and the fresh green shimmer illuminated the cloth pleats at the mouth of the bag.

"They've been doing this all the time, throwing innocent people down casually." The woman stood up. She looked in her twenties or thirties, her cheeks were sunken, and she looked a little listless. "They didn't give you a map, did they?"

"Yes." Ruan Xian carefully looked at her expression.

"Since you are also looking for something in the hospital, you can't find any hemostatic spray and bone saw." The woman wiped the sweat from her face. "We don't have enough hemostatic spray. Listen, we can give you a basic digital map in exchange. Do you have 3 bottles of spray on you, and the bone saw will be refunded."

There was indeed a bone saw in the backpack, and he had also glimpsed Tang Yibu putting five or six bottles of hemostatic spray into the backpack.

"Do you mind?" Ruan Xian turned to look at Tang Yibu.

"Listen to you." Tang Yibu had obviously entered the observation mode.

"Yes, but you have to pass the map over first." Ruan Xian cleared his throat.

"Then you throw the bone saw first." The thin woman bit her lip. She didn't wear an electronic wristband, but just picked up the pendant hanging on her chest. A blurry screen of light appeared in front of her. "I received the bone saw, and I immediately passed the map."

Ruan Xian took out the bone saw from his backpack, and threw it to the other side neatly. The metal fell to the ground with a crisp sound. Almost in the next second, his wristband beeped the data received.

"Quick, quick" After sending the map, the woman immediately turned her attention. "Old Hu, hold him down, we have to amputate his leg."

"No anesthesia"

"Prepare blood supplements first, then let's talk about anesthesia"

The woman bit her teeth, and the saw that had been sterilized by the medicament directly broke the flesh. The creaking sound made the scalp tingle, and the man whose legs were sawn let out a whine that was not human.

"Old Hu, press it and he will cause an accident"

"Why don't we give him a firefly, I still have one left today."

"No, Mr. Fan said, at most three fireflies a day. Lu Ming has eaten three today."

"His name will attract the cockroach," the man said anxiously, "don't you want to give back so many materials this time, Mr. Fan won't care that we consume such an extra piece. There are also those two boys staring at the side. Come on, the sooner this happens, the better."

"But"

Ruan Xian listened to the conversation between the two quietly. Since he threw the bone saw over, the man still looked nervously from time to time, and the woman had completely focused on her injured companion.

Strangely, there were no traces of animals around, and no falling beams. If he fell into an ordinary trap, he didn't need to use the extreme technique of amputation as soon as he got up. Ruan Xian couldn't think of the reason for the other party's injury.

Just when he was puzzled, the bright and extinct grass in front of him flickered.

It felt very strange. The grass that was still real just now was like a broken projection. After twisting for a while, it disappeared in place, and then flashed back half a second later. In just half a second, Ruan Xian saw the man's legs clearly.

He took a step back and bumped his back into Tang Yibu's chest.

That leg was bloated, three times as thick as the other. Compared with the normal swelling and congestion, it was more like the scarecrow's legs that had been stuffed into too much grass. Countless blades of grass emerged from the cracks in his skin, stained with blood, green and dripping green, and were still growing. And the woman was trying to saw off the injured person's thigh, trying to saw off the rapidly mutated leg.

As the whole piece of grass flashed back, the wounded shouted even more heartbreakingly. The man next to the injured man moved quickly, and took out a pea-sized pill from his pocket.

It rolled slightly in his palm, emitting a dazzling green halo, and it really looked like a firefly. Ruan Xian could smell a sweet, creamy aroma from above. For some reason, he instinctively hated the smell.

The man let out a breath, hesitated for a few seconds, and finally put the pill into the wounded's mouth.

"Hu Jian" screamed the woman holding the bone saw.

The injured person fell silent immediately. Through the gap between the grass, Ruan Xian even saw the intoxicated expression on the man's face.

However, the intoxication was short-lived.

In less than half a minute, the man who was still screaming just now opened his mouth wide, and blades of grass emerged from his mouth and nose at a speed visible to the naked eye, filling his eyes and ears. Grass also grew on the wound section where the woman was about to finish sawing, followed by the torso, arms, and the injured person bulging softly.

The woman was still kneeling on the ground, holding a blood-stained bone saw, her face in a trance. "Lu, Lu Ming"

As if hearing a call, the wounded stood up on his own. His posture was eerily soft, wading through his own blood. But instead of walking towards his companion, he threw himself into the grass behind him.

The sound of the landing was almost negligible, and soon, the grass became denser again.

"He, he is infected. Linlin, he is infected, because we are too slow." The man known as "Hu Jian" muttered, "If I knew earlier, I would bring Lao Pan down with me, dammit, at a critical time. can't find anyone"

The bone saw slipped from the woman's hands, and she buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking violently.

"I'm sorry." Ruan Xian said softly, "Do you still need hemostatic spray?"

"No need." The woman shivered and stood up, sniffing hard. She picked up the blood-stained cloth bag full of fruit at her feet and held it tightly in her arms. "You, you see, this is such a dangerous place, and newcomers should not be allowed to come down. If it weren't for our limited equipment this time, I could have taken you all."

"Thank you, but we have collected enough." Ruan Xian smiled reassuringly, he could guess what she wanted to hear.

Sure enough, the woman's expression softened, her eyes were still red, "You are a good person, not suitable for the bandit den in the east."

"If you and your friends have a bad time there, and there is information on the map, you two can defect to the Bliss." She added two more sentences after operating the equipment that seemed to be a positioning device in her hand. "The captain of the Walking Stone is a bastard who doesn't treat people like people. You'll know it when you see it. Our living conditions are much better here, and you are welcome to come over at any time."

Two suits of metal clothes hang from the ceiling. After stuffing the loot and bone saw into the backpack, the only remaining pair of men and women stepped into the metal clothes and quickly sank into the ceiling with the cable.

"Bliss." Ruan Xian turned his attention back to the lawn in front of him and muttered softly.

"Interesting, she has no sign of lying." Tang Yibu was taking the knife out of his backpack, his eyes aimed at the root of Mingzaicao.

"That's because she believes what she said is true." Ruan Xian snorted, "Humans occasionally do this."

According to the man, the other party was supposed to be a team of four, and there were only two sets of metal clothes just put down. The person connected above can adjust the number of metal clothing according to the content of the communication, and there is no such thing as limited equipment. Her tone was sincere and sincere, and she was unequivocal when she took the bone saw away. The whole person is full of contradictions.

He didn't like the two of them just now.

Seeing that Tang Yibu was eager to try the pile of grass, Ruan Xian also took out the knife in his backpack and decided to put the woman's proposal on hold for the time being. "Tang Yibu, I just observed it, these grasses will flash before"

"It will shake three times." Tang Yibu shrugged and mowed the grass. "I found it too. Judging from the situation just now, that flash may be the way they prey on animals and flash into the flesh tissue, and then take root and grow."

Ruan Xian was a little surprised, "its fruit"

"It's slightly creamy, with a psychedelic component. It doesn't look like it's ripe yet. There are still petals at the bottom of the fruit. But since they can bloom and bear fruit in this kind of place, we have to be careful about pollinators." Tang Yibu said as he spoke. Bale the hay. "You want to say this"

Ruan Xian put away the momentary surprise, and when he realized it again, a smile had been put on the corner of his mouth without authorization.

Tang Yibu stopped pressing the straw bale into his backpack, "This is the first time I see you smiling like this, Mr. Ruan, is there anything wrong with what I just said?"

"No, let's go." It seemed that he didn't need to slow down for the opponent this time, which was a good feeling.

But after returning to the ruins of the thieves, Ruan Xian's subtle good mood quickly disappeared.

"Oh, Lao Tu is right, they are really two little white faces, and they are rare."

Across the glass curtain of the small room, a muscular middle-aged man was slumped on a chair not far away.He trimmed his head, his beard was rough, and his features were tough and straight.It can be combined with the slickness and ruffianness in the expression, and that bit of possible righteousness is gone.

The man stretched out, picked up the wine bottle on the table, and walked towards them crookedly.Then he lowered his head, his frivolous gaze swept through the thick bulletproof glass and swept across the faces of the two of them.After observing, he whistled and even tapped the glass in front of Ruan Xian with his knuckles a few times.

"It's the first time I regret that I don't like men, alas, it's a waste."