DPM Chapter 48 Part 3
Translated by Snowfall77
Luo Guo didn’t answer. Instead, with their help, he squeezed out of the crowd, shouting towards what appeared to be the main tower: “I am City C’s government researcher Luo Guo, I have a pass!”
Now a different voice sounded from the loudspeaker.
“According to our reports, that entire area has been infected and no one is allowed passage. The scientists of City C’s government institute have already sacrificed their lives. Their passes have been revoked.”
Luo Guo yelled back: “Where are your leaders? I want to speak to someone with authority!”
There was a pause, then the voice from the loudspeaker said: “You may come forward. Come alone.”
Luo Guo slowly walked forward, the guns silent. When he got about ten meters away from the pass, a heavily armed soldier, wearing protective armor, came out to meet him.
Taking out an instrument, the soldier scanned Luo Guo.
The device immediately started beeping. The soldier gave Luo Guo an apologetic bow: “I’m sorry, you’re infected……You can’t pass.”
Trembling from head to foot, Luo Guo couldn’t believe it. He stepped forward and grabbed the soldier. “What infection?! You tell me what I’m infected with. Be clear!”
But the soldier easily shook Luo Guo off, running back to where he’d come from.
Somebody in the crowd suddenly called out: “Let’s rush them! Otherwise they’re going to drive us to our death here and now!”
Ye Fan abruptly turned his head, seeing that Wang Qiang was egging on his followers to storm the pass.
Another person promptly shouted: “Let’s go!”
“Get up there! They won’t dare open fire!”
“The elites have run away! They’re just fucking conning us!”
Wang Qiang blared the horn of his vehicle, driving towards the gateway.
As soon as he moved, more people streamed after him.
Bullets were being shot. Yet the crowd quickly discovered they weren’t being hit, only the road ahead was.
The crowd moved forward, the bullets’ aim receded.
Feeling more emboldened, the group charged at the closed iron doors. Some were hitting the doors, while others tried to ram them with their vehicles.
Wang Qiang himself was prying with an iron rod, managing to force open a crack between the one meter thick doors.
While Wu Xingyun peered up at the cliffs on either side, sensing a metallic chill in the darkness.
It was strangely straightforward. He spotted Ye Fan in the crowd trying to break through the checkpoint. Even Luo Guo was up there. Wu Xingyun sped towards them, grasped both men, then turned and ran away.
One moment later, Wu Xingyun heard the machine guns in the towers start pitapatting.
Despairing screams rose from the crowd, the heavy doors sealed back shut with great force.
Casually grabbing a human shield, Wang Qiang expeditiously retreated.
In less than a minute, the valley was filled with corpses. The only ones whose souls didn’t ascend to heaven was Wang Qiang the mutant, the especially strong, and those with combat experience.
All the dead had come through untold hardships to reach the pass, even reestablishing social order in the past month, all to be completely obliterated in one minute.
Some of the living ran off into the wilderness. Others milled around, unreconciled.
Luo Guo had lost one of his shoes, hopping instead of walking.
Finally, Ye Fan located a replacement on a dead man, giving it to Luo Guo to wear. The three men were in decent condition, but they knew they couldn’t get through the pass. Most of the survivors were already long scattered, and the supremely egotistical Wang Qiang was reduced to holding his head in dismay, refusing to deal with what little was left of his followers.
It was a dark world, seemingly permeated with malice.
Wu Xingyun found a clearing and made a fire, discussing with Ye Fan and Luo Guo what to do next.
Luo Guo and Wu Xingyun crouched by the fire, while Ye Fan struggled to make sense of what’d happened.
He couldn’t believe the military had fired on unarmed civilians.
And the speed of their death. So fast……like a massacre.
Luo Guo took a deep breath: “Yun, if it weren’t for your quick reaction, I’d be dead! I didn’t think they’d actually shoot……”
Trying to overcome his lingering fears, Ye Fan inwardly agreed with Luo Guo. Ye Fan had also been up front. If not for Wu Xingyun pulling him back, he’d be just another dead body.
Wu Xingyun lowered his head and didn’t speak. In his history textbooks at school, he’d looked at the pictures of cities ravaged by nuclear explosions and not felt much of anything.
But now, experiencing it personally, an unnamable feeling weighed in his heart.
“Uncle Luo,” Ye Fan asked, “Do you know why they said we were infected?”
Luo Guo shook his head. “No idea……Based on the way they treated us, it’s like they think it’s the zombie apocalypse. Living till now, it’s the first time I’ve experienced something so ridiculous!”
Ye Fan furrowed his brow, not really understanding. Not that the problem could be solved by thinking alone.
“Then, if we’re still set on Xi’an, there’s only one other way to go.” Ye Fan stated. “It’ll be hard. We’ll have to cross the mountain range and go through Qinling forest……Should we try it?”
Squatting by the fire, holding his gun with half-frozen hands, Wu Xingyun said: “I’ll go.”
Luo Guo pushed his glasses up. “Judging by their attitude, staying here is definitely not the right choice. Ye Fan’s right, the journey will be dangerous, but it’s better than waiting here to die!”
Fidgety, Ye Fan went, “Hmm,” then wandered around.
When he closed his eyes, all the things he’d run across this day appeared before him.
Honestly, events had broken his bottom line, throughly demolishing his previous perception of the world.
He kept inexplicably thinking of the doomsday movies he’d seen in the past. In the end, without exception, wasn’t the government’s last response usually bombing everything to kingdom come?
The valley they were currently in, it would be exploded?
Crouching back down, Ye Fan felt a wave of exhaustion.
Wu Xingyun observed Ye Fan. Traveling with the very energetic young man all this while, it was the first time Wu Xingyun had seen Ye Fan show fatigue.
Reaching out, Wu Xingyun patted Ye Fan on the back: “Tonight I’ll keep watch. You get some sleep.”
“Alright.” Ye Fan nodded, then rested his head on Wu Xingyun’s thigh. Deeply inhaling Wu Xingyun’s scent soothed Ye Fan. He couldn’t help but extend his arm around Wu Xingyun’s waist, burying his head in Wu Xingyun’s abdomen.
Wu Xingyun put an arm around Ye Fan’s back, saying softly: “Sleep.”
“You’re a soldier. If……Your superior officer ordered you to do something like today, would you do it?” Ye Fan’s voice was a little stuffy.
Not speaking for a while, Wu Xingyun eventually said: “Obeying orders is the duty of a soldier. No matter what kind of command, it will have its cause and justification. Those……I can’t control.”
Becoming even more gloomy, Ye Fan replied: “So, if I were in there, would you shot me?”
Wu Xingyun stayed silent. Ye Fan lying on his back, looked up at the soldier. He reached up to hold Wu Xingyun’s neck, yet still felt uneasy. At last he found that the metal buckle of Wu Xingyun’s belt was pressing into his head.
So Ye Fan asked: “Yun, can you loosen your belt? It hurts my head.”
Wu Xingyun was unresponsive, therefore Ye Fan unbuckled the belt himself, drew it out, and snuggled his head back in. Being much more comfortable, Ye Fan rapidly fell asleep.
But in his dream, he heard the soldier’s answer: “I won’t obey that kind of order again.”
DPM Chapter 48 Part 3
Translated by Snowfall77
Luo Guo didn’t answer. Instead, with their help, he squeezed out of the crowd, shouting towards what appeared to be the main tower: “I am City C’s government researcher Luo Guo, I have a pass!”
Now a different voice sounded from the loudspeaker.
“According to our reports, that entire area has been infected and no one is allowed passage. The scientists of City C’s government institute have already sacrificed their lives. Their passes have been revoked.”
Luo Guo yelled back: “Where are your leaders? I want to speak to someone with authority!”
There was a pause, then the voice from the loudspeaker said: “You may come forward. Come alone.”
Luo Guo slowly walked forward, the guns silent. When he got about ten meters away from the pass, a heavily armed soldier, wearing protective armor, came out to meet him.
Taking out an instrument, the soldier scanned Luo Guo.
The device immediately started beeping. The soldier gave Luo Guo an apologetic bow: “I’m sorry, you’re infected……You can’t pass.”
Trembling from head to foot, Luo Guo couldn’t believe it. He stepped forward and grabbed the soldier. “What infection?! You tell me what I’m infected with. Be clear!”
But the soldier easily shook Luo Guo off, running back to where he’d come from.
Somebody in the crowd suddenly called out: “Let’s rush them! Otherwise they’re going to drive us to our death here and now!”
Ye Fan abruptly turned his head, seeing that Wang Qiang was egging on his followers to storm the pass.
Another person promptly shouted: “Let’s go!”
“Get up there! They won’t dare open fire!”
“The elites have run away! They’re just fucking conning us!”
Wang Qiang blared the horn of his vehicle, driving towards the gateway.
As soon as he moved, more people streamed after him.
Bullets were being shot. Yet the crowd quickly discovered they weren’t being hit, only the road ahead was.
The crowd moved forward, the bullets’ aim receded.
Feeling more emboldened, the group charged at the closed iron doors. Some were hitting the doors, while others tried to ram them with their vehicles.
Wang Qiang himself was prying with an iron rod, managing to force open a crack between the one meter thick doors.
While Wu Xingyun peered up at the cliffs on either side, sensing a metallic chill in the darkness.
It was strangely straightforward. He spotted Ye Fan in the crowd trying to break through the checkpoint. Even Luo Guo was up there. Wu Xingyun sped towards them, grasped both men, then turned and ran away.
One moment later, Wu Xingyun heard the machine guns in the towers start pitapatting.
Despairing screams rose from the crowd, the heavy doors sealed back shut with great force.
Casually grabbing a human shield, Wang Qiang expeditiously retreated.
In less than a minute, the valley was filled with corpses. The only ones whose souls didn’t ascend to heaven was Wang Qiang the mutant, the especially strong, and those with combat experience.
All the dead had come through untold hardships to reach the pass, even reestablishing social order in the past month, all to be completely obliterated in one minute.
Some of the living ran off into the wilderness. Others milled around, unreconciled.
Luo Guo had lost one of his shoes, hopping instead of walking.
Finally, Ye Fan located a replacement on a dead man, giving it to Luo Guo to wear. The three men were in decent condition, but they knew they couldn’t get through the pass. Most of the survivors were already long scattered, and the supremely egotistical Wang Qiang was reduced to holding his head in dismay, refusing to deal with what little was left of his followers.
It was a dark world, seemingly permeated with malice.
Wu Xingyun found a clearing and made a fire, discussing with Ye Fan and Luo Guo what to do next.
Luo Guo and Wu Xingyun crouched by the fire, while Ye Fan struggled to make sense of what’d happened.
He couldn’t believe the military had fired on unarmed civilians.
And the speed of their death. So fast……like a massacre.
Luo Guo took a deep breath: “Yun, if it weren’t for your quick reaction, I’d be dead! I didn’t think they’d actually shoot……”
Trying to overcome his lingering fears, Ye Fan inwardly agreed with Luo Guo. Ye Fan had also been up front. If not for Wu Xingyun pulling him back, he’d be just another dead body.
Wu Xingyun lowered his head and didn’t speak. In his history textbooks at school, he’d looked at the pictures of cities ravaged by nuclear explosions and not felt much of anything.
But now, experiencing it personally, an unnamable feeling weighed in his heart.
“Uncle Luo,” Ye Fan asked, “Do you know why they said we were infected?”
Luo Guo shook his head. “No idea……Based on the way they treated us, it’s like they think it’s the zombie apocalypse. Living till now, it’s the first time I’ve experienced something so ridiculous!”
Ye Fan furrowed his brow, not really understanding. Not that the problem could be solved by thinking alone.
“Then, if we’re still set on Xi’an, there’s only one other way to go.” Ye Fan stated. “It’ll be hard. We’ll have to cross the mountain range and go through Qinling forest……Should we try it?”
Squatting by the fire, holding his gun with half-frozen hands, Wu Xingyun said: “I’ll go.”
Luo Guo pushed his glasses up. “Judging by their attitude, staying here is definitely not the right choice. Ye Fan’s right, the journey will be dangerous, but it’s better than waiting here to die!”
Fidgety, Ye Fan went, “Hmm,” then wandered around.
When he closed his eyes, all the things he’d run across this day appeared before him.
Honestly, events had broken his bottom line, throughly demolishing his previous perception of the world.
He kept inexplicably thinking of the doomsday movies he’d seen in the past. In the end, without exception, wasn’t the government’s last response usually bombing everything to kingdom come?
The valley they were currently in, it would be exploded?
Crouching back down, Ye Fan felt a wave of exhaustion.
Wu Xingyun observed Ye Fan. Traveling with the very energetic young man all this while, it was the first time Wu Xingyun had seen Ye Fan show fatigue.
Reaching out, Wu Xingyun patted Ye Fan on the back: “Tonight I’ll keep watch. You get some sleep.”
“Alright.” Ye Fan nodded, then rested his head on Wu Xingyun’s thigh. Deeply inhaling Wu Xingyun’s scent soothed Ye Fan. He couldn’t help but extend his arm around Wu Xingyun’s waist, burying his head in Wu Xingyun’s abdomen.
Wu Xingyun put an arm around Ye Fan’s back, saying softly: “Sleep.”
“You’re a soldier. If……Your superior officer ordered you to do something like today, would you do it?” Ye Fan’s voice was a little stuffy.
Not speaking for a while, Wu Xingyun eventually said: “Obeying orders is the duty of a soldier. No matter what kind of command, it will have its cause and justification. Those……I can’t control.”
Becoming even more gloomy, Ye Fan replied: “So, if I were in there, would you shot me?”
Wu Xingyun stayed silent. Ye Fan lying on his back, looked up at the soldier. He reached up to hold Wu Xingyun’s neck, yet still felt uneasy. At last he found that the metal buckle of Wu Xingyun’s belt was pressing into his head.
So Ye Fan asked: “Yun, can you loosen your belt? It hurts my head.”
Wu Xingyun was unresponsive, therefore Ye Fan unbuckled the belt himself, drew it out, and snuggled his head back in. Being much more comfortable, Ye Fan rapidly fell asleep.
But in his dream, he heard the soldier’s answer: “I won’t obey that kind of order again.”
