Chapter 177: Escape from the Slums
"You guys are really something. Our Gray Gang probably hasn't killed as many people as you have."
Yellow Hair sighed in amazement.
"Enough chatter. It's getting dark. I need to go to the gang hideout to rest. Are you coming with us, or going your separate ways?"
Lin Ye looked at Shao Yang and asked.
"Of course we're coming with you, but why go to the hideout?"
In this situation, Shao Yang certainly didn't want to separate from the trump card fighter Lin Ye, but with night approaching, he didn't want to wander around outside.
"The hideout has a stash of weapons and equipment. Once we get that gear, we'll be safe. Plus, I plan to take a small path out of the slums tomorrow, and the hideout is close to that route."
Lin Ye didn't explain further, simply leading Yellow Hair out of the abandoned building. As for the others, he had no obligation to protect them.
Shao Yang thought for a moment, then finally brought the two women along to follow Lin Ye.
They had only managed to escape earlier through sheer luck. Without Lin Ye, they'd have little chance of surviving this place. Lin Ye quickly jogged toward the hideout, this time not taking the narrow paths. Though this route wasn't exactly wide, at least they could move freely.
Occasionally, some smiling-face monsters would emerge from the side paths. Lin Ye stabbed each of them to death with his short blade, afraid that gunfire would attract large numbers of the creatures.
The smiling-face monsters reacted quickly, making them difficult for Lin Ye to kill. If he encountered large numbers of them, his only option would be to run.
Fighting and running alternately, they reached the Gray Gang hideout before complete darkness fell.
Inside the hideout were several more smiling-face monsters that had transformed from former gang members. Lin Ye quickly dealt with them.
Lin Ye opened a hidden passage leading underground where the weapons were stored in boxes deep within the tunnel.
"This place... isn't bad. We could... hide in here... for the night..."
Wu Xiaoling knelt on the ground, gasping for breath. She rarely exercised normally, and if Shao Yang hadn't carried her for part of the run, she would have been left behind long ago.
"This is for storage. I don't know if there's oxygen once it's sealed, and the space down there is too small. If we get trapped inside, we're dead."
Lin Ye dragged two large boxes back to the surface and opened them to reveal various weapons and equipment.
"Could we borrow some?"
Seeing Lin Ye beginning to equip himself, Shao Yang couldn't help but ask.
"Sure, but if you dare point those guns at us, you'll regret it."
Fully equipped, Lin Ye finally felt somewhat secure.
"Of course. If you die, we won't escape either."
Shao Yang wasn't familiar with the complex slums. Without a guide, they had no hope of leaving this place.
As they organized their equipment, night finally fell completely.
Lin Ye sat by the window eating canned meat. He and the female management bureau officer would take the first watch, while Shao Yang and Yellow Hair would take the second.
As for Wu Xiaoling, she couldn't even get up anymore.
He Jia leaned against the corner, staring blankly out the window. She was a rookie, and this was her first mission. Two teams had come from the management bureau, but only she and Shao Yang had survived.
Everything had happened too suddenly.
She had been chatting with her friend one moment, then turned to see her friend's head chewed to pieces.
Then Shao Yang had dragged her away, running until they reached the abandoned building, and then here.
It all felt like some bizarre nightmare, completely unreal to her.
Only now was she beginning to grasp what had actually happened.
"Eat something. You might not get the chance tomorrow."
Lin Ye tossed a canned meat to He Jia.
"I'm not hungry."
He Jia's lips trembled as she forced out the words.
Her chapped lips made it difficult to open her mouth.
"Suit yourself. If you fall behind tomorrow, it'll be Shao Yang who has to save you."
Lin Ye looked out the window, feeling like something was watching them from the darkness, though he couldn't see anything.
"...I'll eat. Thank you."
He Jia peeled off her chapped lip skin, put a piece of fatty meat in her mouth, then suddenly covered her face and began crying.
"...Is it really that bad?"
Lin Ye muttered curiously.
He quite liked these canned meats.
Lin Ye looked out the window again. Whatever had been out there seemed to be gone now.
The next morning, Lin Ye climbed out of the hard plank bed, having barely slept through the night.
"Let's go."
After stretching for a while, Lin Ye led his equally sleep-deprived teammates out of the gang hideout.
"I'll handle the monsters ahead. You deal with anything coming from behind. I'll clear the path forward. If you don't want to die, don't fall behind."
Lin Ye stood at the entrance of a narrow path, addressing his teammates behind him.
He would definitely need to use his gun soon, which would attract large numbers of smiling-face monsters. They couldn't afford to stop—the moment they did, they'd be surrounded.
"I'll cover the rear. Xiao He, you take care of Researcher Wu."
Shao Yang gave his rifle one final check. This was his first time using this workshop-assembled weapon.
Seeing that everyone was ready, Lin Ye entered the path first.
The slums were full of these narrow paths that could only accommodate one person at a time. Every year, people got lost or disappeared in them.
Lin Ye quickly navigated path after path. As the Gray Gang's trump card fighter, he knew this area intimately.
Today, Lin Ye's luck seemed better. He passed seven intersections before encountering the first smiling-face monster.
Lin Ye didn't draw his gun, instead stabbing the creature with his short blade. However, gunfire erupted from behind them.
After the shots rang out, the ground vibrated slightly as large numbers of smiling-face monsters converged on their position.
Ignoring the rear, Lin Ye drew his rifle and charged forward. Any smiling-face monster that appeared had its head blown off at close range. He was starting to get used to these creatures' rhythms.
Thus, the entire team gradually accelerated under Lin Ye's leadership. They stepped over the corpses of smiling-face monsters, carving a bloody path through the maze-like alleys.
Before long, Lin Ye had exhausted his ammunition, but fortunately his teammates carried spare rounds.
He Jia and Yellow Hair would pass reloaded weapons to Lin Ye and Shao Yang. They had tried shooting earlier, but most of their bullets missed the monsters' vital points.
After killing countless smiling-face monsters, Lin Ye finally led the team into an alley. At its end stood a stone wall, behind which lay a garbage dump that would take them out of the slums.
The stone wall stood two meters high, but they could scale it using the adjacent walls.
"You go first. I'll cover the rear."
These teammates had proven decent enough that Lin Ye decided to help them. If he abandoned them here, one or two would probably die.
Yellow Hair was the first to climb the wall, but he didn't immediately go over.
Shao Yang pushed Wu Xiaoling up, and Yellow Hair pulled her over.
Hordes of smiling-face monsters crowded into the alley. A two-meter-tall smiling-face monster peered over the opposite side of the stone wall, grabbed Yellow Hair, and yanked him down from the wall.