Heat waves surged like caged beasts unleashed, crashing into them from behind. The air thickened with the acrid stench of melting plastic and burning wood. Thick smoke rolled like a churning black tide, rapidly devouring the space above the warehouse, visibility plummeting. Lu Zhao bent over, choking on the pungent fumes, coughing violently as tears streamed uncontrollably down his face.
"This way!" Gu Xun's voice cut through the crackling flames with unnerving calm, like a rope tossed into a raging torrent. He seized Lu Zhao's wrist, not dashing blindly but sprinting purposefully toward the warehouse's depths—the corner where they'd found water earlier. His gaze swept like a searchlight through the smoke-filled maze of shelves, hunting for any glimmer of escape.
Sure enough, embedded in the damp corner's side was an inconspicuous, gray-painted metal door, painted gray and nearly blending into the wall. The handle was rusty, thick with dust and cobwebs, as if forgotten for years.
Gu Xun pressed his palm against the ancient lock without hesitation. An extremely faint, almost imperceptible white light flickered at his fingertips. He pressed his lips tightly together, beads of sweat forming on his temples. Clearly, each activation of his ability was draining what little energy he had left. Click. A faint sound signaled the lock's internal mechanism being forcibly breached. He pushed hard, and the rusted hinges emitted a bone-chilling, "creak—" A relatively cool breeze, carrying the night's dampness and the scent of wild grass, rushed in, instantly dispelling some of the suffocating heat. Beyond the door lay a narrow passageway, cluttered with discarded tires and debris, leading into the endless darkness beyond.
"Hurry!" Gu Xun stepped aside to clear the passage, his voice urgent.
But Lu Zhao suddenly wrenched his hand free, turning without hesitation to charge back into the death zone—a realm shrouded in thick smoke and flickering flames!
"Lu Zhao!" Gu Xun's cry was drowned out by the roar of flames. He reached out to grab him, but only grasped scorching air.
Like a shadow, Lu Zhao deftly dodged burning obstacles on the ground, charging purposefully toward the cracked water pipe still dripping water with a steady "drip, drip." He snatched up the bottle lying on the floor, barely a third full, and shoved it into his backpack without a second glance. Simultaneously, his gaze swept like a hawk over the nearby delivery packages, torn open and scattered by previous intruders. Most were useless, but his eyes suddenly locked onto a deep blue, thick-walled, waterproof-coated map case! Half-hidden beneath a torn cardboard box, the case showed signs of wear—clearly not brand new, but rather the carefully prepared supplies of some experienced survivor.
There was no time to think! He lunged forward, snatched the hefty tube, clutched it tightly to his chest, and spun back toward the small door symbolizing life. Scorching air seared his back as sparks flew past his hair, carrying a whiff of singed flesh.
The instant his front foot crossed the threshold—
From the direction of the warehouse's main entrance, illuminated by towering flames, a frenzied figure emerged at the doorway. It looked as though it had crawled out of hell's molten depths, its presence clear and carrying an aura of utter destruction!
Jiang Jin!
He stood before the churning sea of flames, the dancing fire distorting his already towering form into something demonic. He did not charge in immediately. Instead, like a tyrant reigning over purgatory, his eyes—red as if dripping blood—pierced through the smoke and distance. With a chill that froze souls, they locked onto Lu Zhao, who had just reached the doorway clutching the map cylinder, and Gu Xun, standing guard at the entrance, his face as pale as paper.
His gaze lingered greedily and painfully on Gu Xun's face for an instant, churning with the madness of unrequited love and the despair of utter betrayal. Ultimately, all those complex emotions converged and ignited into a pure, bone-deep murderous intent directed solely at Lu Zhao.
"Give—him—back—to—me—!"
Jiang Jin's roar mingled with the thunderous crack of splintering wood, like the wail of a wounded beast or the declaration of a vengeful demon god, shaking the entire warehouse to its foundations. He didn't even glance at the unfamiliar survivors scrambling frantically toward the main exit. All his attention, all his fury, was focused on that tiny, closing door—the last chance for survival.
Lu Zhao's heart nearly stopped at the sight of Jiang Jin's eyes, pure madness in their intensity. Driven by sheer survival instinct, he scrambled and rolled into the relatively safe passageway. Gu Xun mustered every ounce of strength, yanking the heavy iron door back with a thunderous slam! Without pausing to catch his breath, he and Lu Zhao scrambled on all fours, rolling the heavy, oil-stained scrap tires from the passageway to wedge them firmly against the door.
"Go! Quick!" Gu Xun's voice was hoarse from exertion, his urgency unquestionable.
The two men scrambled desperately along the narrow, obstacle-strewn passageway, stumbling over uneven ground. Behind them, the iron door was being pounded by terrifying force, thudding like a funeral bell—thud! thud! thud! The entire doorframe shook violently, sending dust cascading down from the walls. Jiang Jin's roar, filled with rage and agony, clung to their footsteps like flesh-eating maggots.
They burst out of the passageway, plunging back into the cold night. Before them lay a vast, desolate wasteland overgrown with weeds and littered with abandoned machinery, while the city's shadowy, indistinct silhouette loomed in the distance. With no time to discern direction, they relied solely on the instinct to flee from the light and sound. Running with their last ounce of strength in the opposite direction of the warehouse, they pushed until their lungs burned as if torn apart, until their legs felt as heavy as lead, until the bone-chilling thuds and roars behind them were finally swallowed by the wilderness's deathly silence.
"Hah... hah..."
Exhausted, the two finally collapsed behind a thicket of thorny bushes, gasping like dying fish. Their gaping mouths drew in air greedily yet painfully, the cold stinging their scorched airways. Sweat, mud, and soot mingled, sliding down their battered faces.
In the distance, the glow from the warehouse set the sky an ominous, flickering crimson—like a vast, still-burning wound.
Only after his nerves settled did Lu Zhao feel the hard object in his embrace. He released the map tube he'd clutched like a lifeline. By the faint glow of the distant flames, he unscrewed the tight lid and poured out two folded sheets. One was a detailed city traffic map. The other was a broader provincial map—clearly marked with several circles in different colored pens and handwritten notes.
Gu Xun forced himself to sit up and leaned closer. He took the provincial map, his fingers trembling yet moving with surprising precision as he traced a blue circle marked "West Hills" in neat handwriting.
"Xishan... Right at the start of the apocalypse, before the internet completely shut down, amid the chaotic posts on some local forums, someone vaguely mentioned there might be a temporary gathering point here," he murmured, his voice hoarse from exhaustion and smoke. His finger slowly moved to another point marked in black ink: "Linhe." "There's a mark here too, but the information is sparse and the source unclear." Finally, his fingertip settled on the third and largest location, circled in bright red. There, in bolder, more forceful handwriting, were two characters: "Hope."
Hope Base? The name was entirely unfamiliar, never mentioned in any circulating intelligence.
"The West City Gymnasium requires crossing the entire city center. The danger level there... Plus, Jiang Jin will likely anticipate us heading that way." Gu Xun lifted his head to look at Lu Zhao. Though his expression remained grim, his deep eyes reignited with the light of calculation and strategy, like stars reigniting in the night sky. "This map gives us an unexpected option. Perhaps... we can completely bypass the city center and Jiang Jin's pursuit route, attempt a detour, and try our luck at these marked locations."
Especially that heavily marked, unknown "Hope" base.
Lu Zhao studied the map in his hands, a vessel of information and uncertainty, then lifted his gaze to Gu Xun's profile, illuminated by flickering flames, appearing unusually resolute and focused. He realized that what he had risked his life to retrieve was not merely a scroll of blueprints, but a strategic opportunity that could turn the tide—a possibility leading to an unknown path of survival.
This faint glimmer, snatched from the flames and madness, now lay quietly in his hands and reflected in both their eyes.