Vol 6: Chapter 4-1.
The mini bus crossed ten meters over the river to the ship. The people on the ship seemed like normal people. They stared in shock as the bus charged into the cargos on the ship… a stack of cardboard boxes, this was the age before cargo containers. The bus slid for some distance after it landed on the boxes. There was no explosion after the bus came to a stop.
The people inside the bus and Zheng and Yinkong are all in terrible conditions. Several of them were bleeding from the collision. The veterans quickly recovered consciousness. Their bodies were much stronger than normal people’s after all. Zero and Jie ran out from the bus with their weapons.
Jie picked up Zheng and Yinkong. The two of them struck the tail of the bus during the collision. The damage they received were higher than those inside the bus. Fortunately both of them were physically strong, especially Zheng. He shielded Yinkong with his body during the collision and due to his enhancements, they were actually at better shape despite receiving more damage.
Jie helped them sit down then ran straight toward the bridge. Zero put down his handgun and set up his rifle by the gunwale. He put in a magical Gaus sniper rifle bullet and pointed the gun at the port. The zombies were walking into the water whereas the mummies stopped. They seemed to be scared of the water and thus posed no threat in contrast to the zombies that were jumping in the river.
Zheng opened his eyes with difficulty. He tried to get up but the pain originating from his spine when he moved scared him. They were going to Hamunaptra for the final fight. If his spine broke right now, he would be useless until the end of the movie. And as the most powerful of the team, losing him meant death for the whole team.
Sweat streamed down his face as he thought of this. He tried even harder to get up.
“Don’t move! Your spine is dislocated. Do you want to become paralyzed?” Yinkong said with a faint voice but sharp words. She made great efforts to reach out her hand to Zheng’s back. Then pah! The pain disappeared and he could move freely.
Zheng looked at her gratefully. That was when he noticed the wound on her shoulder had tore open. She was carrying him on her wounded shoulder so she could use her other hand to throw the hooked rope.
Lan and the others had came out of the bus by now. Jonathan and the American were in terrible conditions, with a large wound on their heads. The others were all wounded to various degrees. Then they heard a whistle and the ship began to speed up. Seemed like Jie had succeeded.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly Zero yelled. “Be careful! Zheng, if the rifle is not effective against him, then it’s all up to you!” Everyone looked toward the port and aside from the sea of zombies and several thousand mummies, they saw a sandstorm flying toward them. The sandstorm formed a face attempting to swallow the ship.
Bang!
The recoil from the Gaus rifle bent the gunwale. No wonder Zero used the gunwale for support. A large area of the face collapsed immediately then more and more of the face collapsed. The face looked like it was in pain and finally it disappeared. A humanoid figure engulfed in flame dropped into the river.
It wasn’t until the ship sailed far enough that they couldn’t see Cairo anymore before they felt relieved. Everyone dropped to the floor, whether they were veterans or newbies, players or characters. They all felt like they just danced on the edge of hell.
Zheng was exhausted both physically and mentally. His blood energy was drained empty twice. His Qi was emptied when he was fighting the mummies. Then his stamina was emptied after he got knocked off the bus by the werewolf. If it wasn’t for Yinkong, he would have been killed in Cairo. Now that he let himself relax, he couldn’t hold it anymore and felt into sleep.
Some time passed. Zheng tasted a slightly sweet liquid in his mouth and opened his eyes. He saw Lan feeding him water tenderly. She was pleasantly surprised when she saw Zheng opened his eyes. She opened her arms and seemed like she wanted to embrace him but she controlled herself and sat in place. Lan smiled and said. “Finally awake. How are you feeling? Do your wounds still hurt?”
Zheng nodded with a smile. He felt a little bit disappointed but that was quickly replaced by feeling of relief. He looked around the surrounding. This was a small room. Judging by the steel walls, this should be a cabin inside the ship. The bright sunlight through the window meant that he had slept for a night.
“What time is it?” Zheng touched his chest. The injury on his chest and stomach had been bandaged up and was giving him an itchy sensation. Lan smiled. “It’s morning already. O’Connell said we will get to land by noon. Lets have breakfast first?”
Zheng nodded and got up. He suddenly saw a wooden bowl on the side and several wet towels. “What happened to me last night? You took care of me the whole time?”
Lan had obvious dark circles under her eyes. “You had a fever. We didn’t have the medicine for it so we took turns to wipe your body with a wet towel until 3am when your body temperature returned normal. How is your body feeling?”
Zheng stared at her dark circles and sighed. “Thanks… I am feeling much better, just a little itchy on my chest. Hoho, did you apply some ointment on me? I don’t feel a bit of pain. It’s quite effective.”
Lan looked as he yawned. “Your self recovery is strong. You don’t even know it yourself but the injury on your chest began to heal up by itself. Yinkong only did some simple sewing. Judging by the rate you healed, your body should be fully recovered by now.”
Zheng pushed the door open but turned around in shock when he heard this. Lan nodded at him seriously. That was when he remembered the werewolf penetrated his back with his scalpels during the fight in the museum also. He didn’t have the time to think about it but that injury also healed by itself. Zheng reached for his back and felt a scar. Then the scar layer fell off revealing fresh skin underneath. Such recovery rate wasn’t what a normal human should have.
The only possibilities were either due to the vampire bloodline or reaching the second stage of the unlocked mode. Vampires had naturally high recovery rate. He never noticed it but he was also wounded all over the body during The Grudge.
Of course it might also be the second stage of the unlocked mode. If recovery rate was also included from having absolute control the body at will.
Anyway, the extra recovery speed wasn’t bad. It was just that he felt he was becoming less human like… In fact, after being in this world for so long, and getting numb to killings, perhaps even his mentality wasn’t human like anymore…
“Shit, whatever. A higher recovery is a good thing after all.” Zheng cursed then looked at Lan with a smile. “I am starving. You haven’t have breakfast either right? Lets go.”
Lan returned a smile to him and followed behind Zheng out to the deck.
The golden sun rose from afar. Sunlight and the reflections over water painted the deck in gold. They followed this golden path and suddenly felt a sense of peacefulness. Zero, Jie and the others were standing in this light in front of them. For a moment, all that was left in their hearts was tranquility…