The Midnight Owl

At 11:30 in the evening, the four of them, who had fully slept, carried the same small backpacks they bought in the afternoon neatly, and took a taxi to the Yellow River Estuary Scenic Area with what they thought were useful and would not violate the rules.Naturally, the scenic spot has closed its business long ago, strangers are not allowed to enter, the front of the ticket office is empty, only the dead leaves on the ground rustling in the night wind.

The four of them found a hidden corner and waited for twelve o'clock to arrive.

The location of the coordinate point is at the ticket office of the scenic spot, so they stepped on it seriously this time.

But it was precisely because this was a coordinate point that the four of them couldn't help but murmur when they didn't see any "colleagues" show up until [-]:[-].

"Could it be that we found the wrong place?" Qian Ai looked around to himself, "Or are the other teams hiding in the dark?"

"Don't waste your time. If you really want to hide, you can still find it?" Xu Wang rubbed his sore eyes, and after he came down from hibernation, he looked around vigilantly. It's been 10 minutes, except for the darkness under the moonlight There are no flowers, plants and trees, not even a shadow of a person.

Kuang Jinxin thought for a moment, and speculated: "Could it be that when we were in the endless sea yesterday, other qualified teams had already come to pass this level, and then failed, and moved forward after handing in the papers, so today is left us?"

Qian Ai looked at his teammates: "I found out, you don't think about the best in everything, you think about the best in everything..."

Wu Sheng raised his eyes and looked into the depths of the scenic spot: "The submission point for this level is at the hospital. If the coordinates are the hospital, then there is no need to work hard to get out of the encirclement..."

Xu Wang heard the voice of his words: "You mean, other teams probably went to a place closer to the hospital to wait for the zero o'clock? For example, in the scenic area?"

"Or a place that'they think' is closer to the hospital." Wu Sheng said rigorously.

Xu Wang understood.Mao Qiping said that the city map in 3/23 is fixed, but the actual coordinates corresponding to this map are fine-tuned every day, which may be translation, or clockwise or counterclockwise rotation, so even if it is Teams that have passed this level before, can't be 100% accurate according to their memory.

But if you have experience, you have to use it. Only stunned young people like them, who don't have any 3/23 experience to refer to, will take the coordinates of <cheat sheet> for granted.

and many more.

If there are really no other teams around... Could it be that all the veterans broke through tonight, and they are the only rookies? !

"Cuckoo-"

At midnight, the sound of owls is desolate.

The four of them seemed to be on a jumping machine, and after their hearts were about to fly out of their bodies, they fell with a "boom" on the cold ceramic floor tiles.

The dim light shone down, reflecting cold light on the floor tiles, the air was filled with the smell of disinfectant, and there was a chilling and depressing feeling.

The high vigilance brought by the "Scud Zombie" made the four of them dare not delay. They bounced up almost as soon as they landed, looking nervously at the surrounding environment.

Fortunately, this is a place that can be seen at a glance.

Men's restroom.

"This refresh point is really..." Qian Ai looked at the urinal, but couldn't find a suitable description.

"Don't pick and choose," Xu Wang comforted his teammates, "At least there are no zombies here, and the environment is friendly."

"Didn't you say there were weapons?" Wu Sheng didn't mind the location of the stage, and there were no audiences anyway. In contrast, he cared more about practical things.

"Could it be..." Kuang Jinxin pointed to the door of the innermost compartment, "Who are they?"

The three looked up and immediately understood why Kuang Jinxin hesitated.

In front of the door of the innermost compartment, which is also the deepest part of the bathroom, there are four square metal boxes from bottom to top. The silver-white boxes are carved with retro patterns, each of which has about seven Eighty centimeters high, so the one on top almost reaches the ceiling.

"Is this a weapon or a holy garment..." Xu Wang looked up, feeling quite stressed.

However, as the captain, he still walked up to the box first, squatted down like picking watermelons, and knocked on the wall of the box twice.In fact, I couldn’t hear any clues. I just wanted to comfort myself. Seeing that the knocking sound had dissipated and nothing strange happened, I stretched out my hand and gently touched the vertical metal plate on the side of the box facing him. horizontal.

It is said to be the box wall, but it is actually the box door, the hinge is at the bottom, and the remaining three sides are not connected to the box body, so when the metal plate blocking the top is pushed aside, the box door will fall towards Xu Wang. , revealing the true content of the objects inside.

An electric shaver.

"..." Xu Wang stretched out his hands to support the ground, lest he could not squat.

A half-meter-high box, just give him a razor? !

Do you know that the packaging should be environmentally friendly? ! !

"Captain?" The mouth of the box was blocked by Xu Wang's figure, and the three partners couldn't see what was inside, only seeing that he suddenly stopped moving, and Kuang Jinxin uttered a little worried.

"It's okay," Captain Xu waved to his companions with his back turned, then picked up the razor, got up and went into the open compartment next to him, "You guys continue to unpack, I'll calm down."

The three teammates stopped talking.They all saw the razor in the captain's hand, and knew that what the captain needed most at this time was not "chat", but "quietness".

Checking each other's eyes, Qian Ai set off second.

Tall and with long arms, he simply climbed onto the compartment door and opened the top metal box.

pat.

The wall of the box fell in response, and the scene inside was exactly the same as Captain Xu's - a screwdriver.

Qian Ai was already mentally prepared, took the screwdriver calmly, and jumped off the compartment door.

I don't know if he had reached the limit of his endurance, but as he fell to the ground, the compartment door suddenly slanted down with a "click".Qian Ai stood in a daze for two seconds, comprehending the meaning of this weapon.

Turn around, straighten the door, and re-tighten the screws.

The picture was so beautiful that the only two remaining teammates couldn't bear to look at it, and turned their attention to the box again.

"Brother Sheng, you go first." Kuang Jinxin doesn't like to make choices, it's best to leave one for him after all his teammates have been selected.

Wu Sheng shrugged, walked over to pick up the second box from the top, stretched out his hand on tiptoe, just touched the upper edge of the box, and with a slight flick, the box wall fell down.

A... machete?

Wu Sheng stretched out his hand to touch it out, only to see clearly that it was not a machete, but a sickle, but the shape of the head was very exaggerated, the wooden handle was only thirty or forty centimeters long, but the head was almost eighty centimeters long, and curved. The arc is extremely large, from the wide part where it connects to the wooden handle, it narrows down a little bit in an arc, until it reaches the end, it is sharp and sharp.

This kind of top-heavy sickle is not easy to hold, and what's even more incredible is that there are circles of protrusions on the wooden handle that people hold, like bamboo knots.

Wu Sheng frowned, took two steps back, opened up the space, and swung the sickle forward vigorously.

He intended to try to see how it felt in the hand, but unexpectedly, when he swung the knife, the tip of the knife stuck firmly to the bottom of the box he had just opened.

"Boom—" there was a metallic sound.

The arms, which could no longer be swung down due to the obstruction of the bottom of the box, were numb from the shock.

Wu Sheng maintained the posture of waving the sickle, and stood there in astonishment.

He had opened up enough space, theoretically it was impossible to cut the box, but the moment he swung it hard, the wooden handle became longer.

Qian Ai, who hid in the toilet cubicle in an emergency, leaned on the door frame and poked his head out, his heart beating loudly, but he didn't dare to shout loudly, so he could only grit his teeth: "Can you give me a warning next time you make dangerous moves?" -"

The complaint from his teammates brought Wu Sheng back to his senses. He retracted the foreign-style "telescopic sickle" and tried to retract the wooden handle back to its original shape, but he couldn't push it back.

Now the knife head and the handle are balanced, and the knotted protrusions on the wooden handle have disappeared and smoothed, but it is even more inconvenient to hold, neither can it be held horizontally like a spear - because it is top-heavy, nor can it be held like a knife Pinned or carried like that - too big.

No way, Wu Sheng could only carry the wooden handle on his shoulder and let the knife head hang behind his back.

It is carried, but this weapon is simply synonymous with "extremely inconvenient to use", right? !

"It looks good..." In the other compartment, Captain Xu peeked out a pair of star-studded eyes.

Wu Junshi, who was carrying a sickle, was stunned: "Huh?"

"Like the scythe of the god of death, it is very cool." The last part of the sentence "the god of death is also beautiful", was held in the bottom of my heart by Captain Xu, and he recollected it by himself.

"Are you sure?" Wu Junshi said with disgust, but the body carrying the sickle turned around lightly, showing the shape in a 360° all-round way.

"Okay, don't scratch us anymore." Qian Ai's scalp felt numb looking at the scythe, and he still felt unsafe a meter away, "Little Kuang, take your weapon——"

Time was precious, so Junshi Wu had to hastily end the circle and turn sideways to make room for his teammates.

There was only one box left, and Kuang Jinxin stepped forward and opened it directly.

A bulging white plastic bag, like a takeaway.

Kuang Jinxin untied the plastic bag tied into a slipknot.

A bag of colorful, candy-like translucent balls, about the size of a ping-pong ball, with a smooth and translucent surface. When pinched by hand, it is moderately soft and hard, similar to the touch of rubber leather.

The three partners came over to watch, pinch and smell together.

Qian Ai: "Bouncy ball?"

Wu Sheng: "You'd better give up the idea of ​​throwing it on the ground."

Xu Wang looked at his military adviser: "Did you find anything?"

Wu Sheng said firmly: "The smell of gunpowder."

Qian Ai quickly put the ball back into the plastic bag, fearing that it would explode if it was a second late.

Xu Wang smelled the ball again, and with Wu Sheng's reminder, he seemed to really smell a little bit of firecrackers.But usually the firecrackers are about to explode, so the smell is strong. Wu Sheng can also distinguish such a light smell. How did he do it?

Seeing his question, Wu Sheng took the initiative to answer the question: "When I was a child, I dismantled fireworks, and that's the smell inside."

"The fireworks are set off, right?" Xu Wang looked at him inexplicably, "Why are they demolished?"

Wu Sheng said: "Study the structure inside."

Xu Wang: "..."

"So this is a bag of miniature bomb balls?!" Qian Ai looked at his teammate's bag of "heavy gunpowder", and then at his "screwdriver". The sadness came from it. They were all teammates who fought together. Do you want to treat them differently? ! ! !

"Shave your beard and calm down," Captain Xu handed the electric razor to his teammates, holding each other tightly, "I just tried it, and it works."

In the face of the injustice of fate, one must have a peaceful state of mind of Buddhism, and not just focus on one's own Buddha, but lead the team to Buddha together. ——"Captain Xu's Team Building Manual"

Beijing time 00:13

After coming out of the bathroom, the four of them finally understood why they hadn't met any zombies.

This is a fully enclosed shopping mall, the entrances and exits are locked, and security guards are patrolling nervously and orderly on all floors.Customers or refugees gathered on the first floor of the shopping mall. Judging from the messy bedding on the ground, they have been hiding here for a long time.

The four of them passed the refugees who were sitting and lying on the ground, and came to the revolving door.

The tall revolving door has been blocked, and it cannot be pushed no matter whether it is inside or outside. The side doors on both sides are tightly closed. The locks themselves should be locked, but the door handle is still tied with a double-safety chain lock.

The clock in the mall showed that it was 18:13 in the afternoon.

Outside the shopping mall is a pedestrian street. Through the glass, you can see the shops on the opposite side of the street. The facades have different styles, some are fresh and elegant, some are trendy, or clear and pragmatic. There are flower shops, gourmet food, coffee houses, and clothing. One family, one by one, it is not difficult to imagine the excitement and hustle and bustle of the past.

But now, it's all messed up.

The store door was knocked open, the glass was smashed, the benches were slanted, the awning collapsed, the walls were splattered with blood, and there were stumps lying on the ground.There were no living people, no zombies, and the entire street was empty.

It was a clear evening without any clouds, and the setting sun radiated its light to its heart's content, giving this end-of-the-world street scene a warm filter.