binnovel Chapter 322 Unknown Location
Chapter 322 Unknown Location
As evening fell, a torrential downpour filled the cracked highway with stagnant water. Surprisingly, less than five kilometers away, the sky was clear, and the setting sun cast a desolate glow on the ruins. A bolt of lightning struck, illuminating a tall but very thin figure. His tattered clothes were soaked through, with countless water droplets trickling down his hems.
The man's clothes were tattered, as if he'd found them somewhere. His head was completely wrapped in gauze and bandages, only his right eye was visible, and blood was seeping out. His upper body was also wrapped in layers of bandages; unless you looked closely, you could hardly see his chest rising and falling. Regardless of how heavy the rain was, he continued walking forward, his steps uneven, not knowing where he was going.
He walked on for an unknown amount of time, until the setting sun disappeared and the rain gradually stopped, but the man continued walking along the dilapidated road. Only the toads and crickets that had stopped chirping because of him noticed his presence.
Suddenly, the sound of someone running broke the rare silence. A girl with disheveled hair and dressed in coarse linen clothes rushed towards the man. Whether it was because it was dark or because the man was so silent, the girl threw herself into the man's arms with such force that the man was pushed to the ground.
The girl looked up and saw the "bandaged monster" beneath her. She instinctively tried to scream, but the man's bandaged right hand covered her mouth, and he pulled her tightly into a nearby ditch. Less than five seconds later, several fishmen carrying guns and dogs came running. The hunting dogs sniffed around for a long time but found nothing. Seeing that their dogs hadn't found anything, the fishmen went back inside.
The girl struggled to break free from the man, stood up, and angrily whispered to him, "You freak, how dare you take advantage of me! I'll beat you up!" She then kicked him with all her might. However, her seemingly light kick sent the man flying several meters. The girl, surprised that the man was so easily defeated, quickly ran over to check on him: "Hey, are you dead?"
As she examined him, the girl frowned. The man's breathing was extremely weak, almost lifeless, like a living dead. "Ah!" She cried out in surprise as she unwrapped a bandage. Beneath the bandage, the man seemed to have no skin, only flesh and blood, a truly horrifying sight. She quickly rewrapped the already soiled bandage, biting her lip, and made up her mind.
She took out a capsule about the size of a thumb, pressed it gently, and then twisted it. Suddenly, a motorcycle popped out of the capsule. The girl first used all her strength to lift the man onto the motorcycle, then sat in front of him, and tied herself to the man with a rope before speeding away on the motorcycle. The motorcycle, powered by some unknown energy source, made almost no noise while driving, and it was very fast.
The girl rode her motorcycle for at least two hours, finally arriving in a large mountain area. As soon as she entered a valley, several children of similar age excitedly emerged from their hiding place, chattering and asking her questions. The girl didn't get impatient and answered them one by one. One of the boys, seemingly the leader, came over and asked, "Zhao Ruolan, did the operation go smoothly? Weren't we discovered by those despicable Dane aliens?"
The girl shook her head: "Luckily, I was accidentally discovered when I left, and I almost got caught, but I managed to shake them off. I even took a longer route, so I shouldn't be discovered." At this moment, an even younger girl saw the man behind the girl, was startled, and said tremblingly: "Sister Ruolan, is this bandaged strange man dead or alive?"
Zhao Ruolan said somewhat seriously, "He's still alive, but he's just one breath away from death. Li Fei, set up the automatic monitoring device, let's go in together. I've collected a lot of supplies this time, distribute them to everyone, I'll take him to Grandma Yunqian's place, she should be able to save him."
A group of seven or eight people walked quickly through an iron gate that appeared at the entrance of the valley after Li Fei activated several buttons. Zhao Ruolan took out many capsules and handed them to Li Fei. Li Fei solemnly nodded, counted the capsules one by one, and then walked away with the others. The mountain had been almost completely hollowed out, with many buildings constructed along its slopes, at least seven or eight stories high. Fortunately, there was still electricity, so it wasn't very dark.
Zhao Ruolan rode her bicycle deep inside, and then, together with a young man named Wu Chou, carried the man up the stairs to the fifth floor before reaching their destination. As soon as they reached the top, Zhao Ruolan called out loudly, "Grandma Yunqian, Grandma Yunqian, I've brought back an injured person this time. Please take a look at him."
After four or five seconds, the door slowly opened, and the woman whom Zhao Ruolan called Grandma Yunqian came out. Although she was called Grandma Yunqian, this woman looked to be no more than twenty-five or twenty-six years old, though her pretty face looked somewhat haggard. When the woman saw Zhao Ruolan, she smiled and said, "The adults have all gone out, and the house can't be without adults. This time, I had to let you children go on this adventure. I was very worried. I'm so glad you came back safely, otherwise, how could I face your deceased parents?"
Zhao Ruolan smiled and said, "It's alright, it's alright, I'm back safely now. By the way, Grandma, please take a look quickly, I feel like he won't last much longer." Yun Qian then turned her attention to the man, and frowned at just one glance. She quickly said, "Bring him in first, I'll check him over."
Zhao Ruolan said, "Grandma, his whole body is wrapped in bandages, and the gauze and bandages are very dirty. Should we just carry him in?" Yun Qian stared intently at the "bandaged man," seemingly not listening to Zhao Ruolan. Zhao Ruolan said again, and only then did Yun Qian say, "Yes, yes, carry him in quickly."
As soon as the two men lifted the man onto the bed, Yun Qian walked over shakily, her hands trembling as she began to unwrap the bandages. After only two turns, tears streamed down her face like broken pearls. Sobbing and somewhat agitated, she said to Wu Ruolan, "Go quickly and invite your Grandma Chu Kexin over. Tell her I have urgent business. Wu Chou, use our crystal communicator to contact Grandma Zhao Liying with encrypted communication. Just say five words: 'Found, return immediately.'"
After the two left, Yun Qian cried for a while, then immediately began examining the man again. Soon, a large amount of stained gauze and bandages were thrown aside. Even Yun Qian, with her extensive experience, was shocked by what she saw. The man's skin had almost completely disappeared, especially on his left cheek, where the bone was visible. Only his abdomen was relatively intact, and his chest was riddled with deep, ravine-like wounds, as if it had been split open. His legs were mostly muscle, with hardly any skin covering them.
The slight rise and fall of his chest indicated that the man was still alive, but his severe injuries meant that his life was hanging by a thread. Yun Qian looked at the dragon ring on the man's left hand, and tears welled up in her eyes again. She quickly wiped away her tears and began to use her water-based healing abilities to treat the man.
With Zhao Ruolan's support, Chu Kexin, leaning on her cane, slowly made her way towards Yun Qian's fifth-floor apartment. She was still as beautiful as ever, but her right trouser leg was empty, and she only had two fingers left on her right hand. As she leaned on her cane, she smiled and asked, "Ruolan, you said you brought back a strange man with bandages, and then Grandma Yun Qian quickly sent you to find me. Do you know what features that man had? What did he look like?"
Zhao Ruolan shook her head: "His whole body was covered in gauze and bandages, so you really couldn't see his appearance, but he had a dragon-shaped ring on his left hand." As she spoke, Zhao Ruolan described the appearance of the dragon ring. Chu Kexin's expression changed, and she immediately said: "Ruolan, let's go quickly, let's go quickly."
Chu Kexin pushed open the door and exchanged a glance with Yun Qian. Yun Qian nodded, and Chu Kexin immediately burst into tears. Leaning on her cane, she came to the man's side and said in a trembling voice, "Captain Li, you're finally back."