Chapter 786: Commercial District
Commercial District
The entire house was shaking violently. Eura took the backpack from Lin Ye’s hands, and the two of them charged into the garage as fast as they could.
The keys to start the car were hanging in Lin Ye’s bedroom, and he had taken them when he went down to the basement. A massive amount of alien flesh stretched out toward the two of them from every direction, causing uneven ripples to appear on the ground.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Lin Ye used the hunting shotgun to blast apart the alien flesh blocking their path, opened the car door, and sat down in the driver’s seat.
Eura got into the back seat of the car and closed the door just before the alien flesh could reach inside.
Lin Ye stomped hard on the accelerator, and the car burst out of the garage, the rear wheels leaving a sharp arc on the road.
“Buckle up!”
Lin Ye floored the accelerator. He had looked at a map of this city, but he wasn’t sure which direction would be safer.
The car raced down the road as the ground trembled. In the rearview mirror, the two-story house tore itself out of the earth and let out an ear-piercing roar as it chased after the vehicle.
The other houses on both sides of the road also began shaking violently. From within the torn-open walls, pitch-black blood vessels and strips of alienated flesh grew out.
Several flesh-and-blood houses charged onto the road behind the car, but they couldn’t move as fast as the vehicle, and the car quickly pulled ahead, leaving a gap between them.
“…Where should we go?”
Eura looked at the blurry, flesh-covered buildings outside the window and asked in confusion.
“Who knows? We can find somewhere quieter first.”
A large-headed fly with a human face landed on the car window, and Lin Ye swiped it away with the windshield wiper.
There were plenty of these big-headed flies around. Some of them had dense clusters of compound eyes filling their eye sockets.
Fortunately, most of the flies were gathered near the houses and had no interest in a moving car. Otherwise, they would have been in trouble.
Once they left the block, the ground finally stopped shaking, and the thick, choking stench of blood began to fade.
Outside the block was the city’s commercial district. There were plenty of large shopping malls here, which probably wouldn’t mutate as easily as those two-story houses.
The streets were filled with wrecked vehicles, forcing Lin Ye to slow down and push aside the cars blocking his way.
“It looks like there’s still someone alive over there.”
Eura pointed at a window slightly ahead and to the left.
It was a second-floor window of a large supermarket, and a white piece of paper with a plea for help was taped to it.
“Who knows if there are still survivors inside. This is too close to the residential area. We’d better get farther away first.”
The car had a full tank of gas, so they could drive a bit further. Lin Ye preferred to head to the edge of the city and find a relatively safe spot, or just leave the city altogether and see if they could escape this secret realm.
“Someone over there is waving at us from the window.”
Eura looked at the man crouching at the window and felt a vague sense of unease.
“His head is on backward. And there’s no way a sternum should be bulging out that much.”
Lin Ye was almost amused by the guy’s appearance.
“…You’re right.”
Eura leaned back in her seat and sighed.
When the man saw the car pass the supermarket, he crawled out of the window and moved down the outer wall like a spider.
“What kind of monsters are these… Maybe we should speed up!”
Eura pushed against the back of Lin Ye’s seat.
The man crawled along the outer wall, connected to a long chain of humans behind him. These people were linked head to tail, forming a giant, pale-white centipede.
“It’s fine. It can’t catch us.”
Before Lin Ye even finished speaking, he saw giant centipedes crawling out from every shopping mall around them.
“Uh… that might not be so certain now.”
Lin Ye floored the accelerator again, while recalling the terrain layout of this area in his mind.
He mentally marked the positions of the major malls and plotted possible movement routes for those giant centipedes. Then, he jerked the steering wheel hard and sped straight into the mall on the right.
“Hold tight.”
The car weaved between shelves and counters, smashing through clutter that didn’t need to be avoided. As long as they made it through this mall, they could leave the commercial district as fast as possible.
“There are two survivors over there!”
Eura suddenly shouted, pointing to the side.
Lin Ye glanced over and saw Little Guardian and a young woman running toward them.
“We can’t stop! Open the door!”
Lin Ye didn’t slow down. The two women were right in the diagonal path ahead; if they timed it right, they could get into the car.
Little Guardian didn’t even need Lin Ye’s reminder. She ran diagonally ahead, and after the woman got the hint from her, she followed suit.
As the car passed them, they both jumped into the back seat.
“Thanks! You’re her friend?”
Ryan couldn’t believe someone actually came through here, just like that girl had said.
“I figured you were in the residential area, but I couldn’t get over there, so I had to hide in the mall and wait for you to come by.”
Little Guardian caught her breath before speaking.
“Do you know what’s going on here? How do we get out?”
Lin Ye smashed through the glass wall of the mall and burst out from the side.
A giant centipede closed in from the side of the car. Lin Ye shot across the road and crashed into another mall.
“No idea. Maybe escaping from the city will let us leave this secret realm.”
Little Guardian didn’t know what was up with this secret realm either.
“Huh? You came in from outside too? I thought you were citizens of the secret realm…”
Ryan felt a bit more at ease. Even in such a dangerous environment, as long as there were companions sharing the same experience nearby, it brought a lot of comfort.
“Did you suddenly end up here from the secret realm, or did you enter this place directly from the secret realm?”
The car passed between shelves, and Lin Ye rolled down the window to grab some packaged food.
“I came here from the secret realm. A lot of adventurers got dragged here too, but they all died and became part of the monsters.”
Ryan and Eura also rolled down their windows to grab supplies from the shelves.
“Too bad. I never got to visit a normal secret realm.”
Eura felt like she might never get the chance to see a normal secret realm.
“We’re about to break out. Close the windows.”
The car smashed through the glass wall and burst out from the other side of the mall. This mall was close to the edge of the commercial district; as long as they passed through a few more side streets, they could leave the commercial block entirely.
Several giant centipedes chased after the car. If Lin Ye didn’t drive fast enough, they would be surrounded by these monsters.
He had no intention of becoming part of a giant centipede.
The car smoothly turned into a narrow alley. There was no highway exit here, only a maze of complex urban streets to navigate through.
The giant centipedes followed into the alley, but as soon as they got close to each other, they became entangled, fighting over body parts among themselves.
Lin Ye had guessed this might happen, which was why he deliberately chose a narrow path.
After passing through the alley, the car left the commercial district behind.