Doomsday city

The boots stepped on a piece of ice that had not completely melted, tearing up the reflection of the gloomy sky.

Mabel slowed down her walking speed. When they came out of the tunnel, they saw a depressed city. The high-rise buildings that once symbolized prosperity were still erected, but the deadly atmosphere made them look like rusty swords stuck in the ground. Every street corner was scattered. With the cars, some overturned, some were burned and only skeletons remained, and the devoured 'human beings' lay down everywhere like garbage. The incomplete corpses were covered with frost, and their expressions could be clearly detected under the frozen purple withered muscles. It was extremely painful and shocking.

Purgatory on earth is probably like this.

Red Scorpion walked in the front. She silently led everyone up the Heti ramp and stopped in front of a certain community for several hours.The broken pure copper notice board was buried in the snow, and there was a building with a black roof exposed in front of it. It was wrapped in a fence of gray bricks and a five-meter-high double-layer iron net.

──It's like an iron cage.

Frieda couldn't help blowing a whistle of admiration.

"Wow, your house is really 'safe'." She adjusted her posture and carried the sleeping Vinoa on her back.

Red Scorpion shrugged and pressed the electric bell next to the gate—a courtesy before the end of the world.

"Will we be accepted?" Benny said uneasily as we waited.

Under the gray sky, a well-protected villa stands in front of you. Within a few feet, there is only this luxurious house, which enjoys the privilege of being isolated from the world in the rich community.It might look normal in the civilized world, but in an apocalyptic world it smells like an abandoned mental hospital.

Charlotte rubbed Benny's short, disheveled hair reassuringly, when there was a noise from the intercom.

"Look who's back," the voice was low and serious, "Where's the stuff?"

"Don't embarrass me in front of my new friends, butler Harris, if possible, let us go in and rest, okay?" Red Scorpion knocked on the iron door, making a thumping sound, "For the sake of our exhausted journey, I Always brings good news, you know."

"Come in," Harris said in a deep voice, "Mr. Lehman has been waiting for you for a long time."

As soon as he finished speaking, the deeply locked iron door opened slowly. At the same time, four soldiers with submachine guns appeared behind the door. They were wearing camouflage military uniforms and stared at the 'guests' solemnly. When it is aligned, it will be too scared to move.

"Red Scorpion! Oh! Thank God!" The woman who ran from the gate of the villa said excitedly. She picked up the cross necklace around her neck and put it on her lips, kissed it, and then gave Red Scorpion a warm hug. "Since you left I pray to God every night that those demons don't hurt you, it's good that you're back safe and sound!"

"Yes, ma'am," Red Scorpion glanced sideways at the soldiers with guns, and they moved the barrels away with sullen faces, "Please forgive me for being rude, my friends need some help, they were injured while fleeing, and one of them Got a fever."

"God! It's so unfortunate." The old woman looked at Frieda and the others with a worried face, and finally her eyes fell on the young Benny, "There is still a child? Oh, you must eat it. Don't suffer, hurry up! Go into the house first, I will let Sally prepare lunch in advance, and you can take a hot bath in this spare time."

"Thank you very much, ma'am." Red Scorpion gratefully held the old lady's hand.

"This is what I should do, dear, we always try our best to make everything better." The old woman said kindly, she beckoned Frieda and the others into the house, and offered to take Benny's Hand, let the poor little boy stop fear and trembling.

Esther walked at the end of the line. She watched everyone stepping on the cobblestone road and crossing the neatly manicured turf. When Benny and his wife disappeared behind the door, the red scorpion grabbed her right arm like a ghost, At the same time, the soldiers who were monitoring them aimed their gun barrels at their heads again.

This time it was not the lady who came out of the door, but a middle-aged man in a suit.

He straightened his back, raised his chin like a well-trained soldier, and his trimmed goatee looked a little arrogant. The man squinted his dark brown eyes, and the corners of his mouth covered with fine lines were tightly pursed, staring at the red scorpion It took a long time for Esses and Esther to start walking, and their polished black leather shoes stepped across the turf and came to the two of them.

"I have to say, you are a dereliction of duty mother, Red Scorpion," the old butler Harris wrinkled his nose, "Christine tears every day, that child is afraid that you will abandon her, just like you once abandoned her." Just like my elderly father." His voice was low and suppressed, and it was hard to hear any emotion from it.

"Are you sure that Christine cried because she was afraid that I would abandon her, or because of what you did?" Red Scorpion snorted a few times in disdain, "Tie up a poor girl with an iron chain and threaten to use it all day long." If she was electrocuted to death, I would cry in fright."

"Really?" Harris raised his left eyebrow slightly.

"To be honest, I don't want to talk nonsense with you. I have good news for Mr. Lehman, if you don't mind?" Red Scorpion saluted with one hand, like a nobleman with complicated etiquette and customs in the Middle Ages. Strong disgust, but the old butler still motioned the soldier to put down the gun.

The two did not enter the villa through the gate, but walked around an orange orchard to the backyard.

It looked like it was going to rain, and Esses could even smell the wetness.On the neatly manicured green turf, a bloated old man is holding a golf club and is concentrating on checking the distance between the small white ball and the hole. The maid standing next to the old man, wearing a straight uniform, compares to them A mute gesture.

After 10 minutes, the old man decided to putt lightly, and the silver club gently collided with the small white ball. After receiving a force, the ball rolled naturally, and then fell into the hole with a "boom" sound as measured.

"Ha!" the old man laughed heartily. "Hole in one! Write this in your diary, Gina, it will be the best start to the end of winter."

"Of course, sir." Red Scorpion took half a step forward and said.

The old man was taken aback when he heard the sound, he slowly turned his snow-white head, and when he saw the red scorpion, he stepped forward excitedly like a lady, he held the hand of the red scorpion with a bright smile, although he was bloated, he didn't look like a beer belly An old man, but a handsome upper-class nobleman.

By kid standards, he looks like a Santa Claus who gives away toys.

"Red Scorpion! Oh, God, you've been away for a long time! You must know that Rosa is worried about your safety every day. Although I always reassure her that everything will be fine, I am also very worried in my heart. Those monsters outside are not easy to deal with. , After all, they are not beasts like lions or tigers, but... In short, I am very pleased to see you come back safely, really." The old man──Jason Lehman said with emotion.

"Thank you very much for your concern, sir," Red Scorpion smiled like a professional liar, "A lot of things happened on this journey, and I'm sorry that I couldn't bring the goat back. He sacrificed for me, just like the real As selfless as a soldier."

Esther clenched her hands behind her back, the goat that Red Scorpion was talking about was the poor guy whose head was blown off by her gun.

"God..." Lehman withdrew his smile, his sad expression made the gloomy sky even darker, "He is a true soldier, I believe his bravery will lead the soul to a better place," he took out the cross necklace and kissed , Said: "Death is not to be feared, my child, what should be feared is that the polluted soul will never be redeemed."

Red Scorpion pursed the corners of his twitching mouth, changed his tone, and said, "But I also brought you good news."

Jason Lehman raised his eyebrows that were as white as snow, then looked back at the dull Essex along Red Scorpion's shoulder, and turned his gaze back to Red Scorpion's face, as if he wanted to guess this' Good news' was what, but he conceded after a few minutes that it was no match for the mystery of the Red Scorpion.

"My dear child, the most loyal subordinate, you always make me feel that life is full of hope," Lehman asked cheerfully as if reciting a hymn: "Tell me, what have you brought to me, a poor man?" Good news?" Despite his age, his eyes were as bright as a child's.

"Let me introduce you," Red Scorpion pushed Esses forward and said with a smile, "This is Esses Eli, she is the good news I brought you." The cold wind passed by Esses. Above Circe's head, she stood awkwardly between Lehman and Red Scorpion, and was swept up and down by the philanthropist with a strange look.

"Isers...Eli...?" Lehman narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he was thinking about something.

She is not considered a well-known figure in the world. Although the Gifford kidnapping case made a lot of noise, it was just a boring topic after dinner. When she was sentenced to prison, various newspapers and magazines did write large-scale reports. The world has forgotten, and she also served her sentence in prison in a law-abiding manner.

"I believe you have a lot of doubts about the good news being a stranger, not what you expected," Red Scorpion patted Esther on the shoulder, and said to Lehman: "But sir, Esther Yi Lai will be the best 'gift' you've ever received, without a doubt."

"Wait!" The word "gift" made Esses's scalp tingle, she resisted and shook off Red Scorpion's hand, only to be blocked by Lehman in an instant.The kind-looking old man raised a smile, just like politicians begging for votes on TV shows, they 'smile' but people don't feel the 'smile'.

"It seems that our guest is exhausted, Red Scorpion. Please forgive my negligence, Miss Eli," Lehman put his arm around Esther's shoulders, and led her to the villa, saying like a hospitable host: "No Need to feel stressed, my friend, you can just relax and nothing will hurt you, and of course your friends, Rosa is a great friend and she's good at it."

When Lehman led Esses away, Red Scorpion casually glanced at the window on the fourth floor.