Rotting Land: Survive

Chapter 831: Chapter 816: Retrial of Yao Ruyi (6)

"Then tell us how you escaped." Old Xu felt there was no need to spell out that the army was abducting people; he could basically conclude it was done by people inside the unit.

Although he very much wanted to figure out what the army’s purpose was in taking these people away, looking at Yao Ruyi in front of him, he believed that even if he interrogated this man, he would not get any substantial answer. But the fact that he managed to escape alive from a heavily guarded arena was worth finding out about.

"Hmph! Escape? Easier said than done. Back then it was nothing more than a wish shared by a few of us brothers."

What Yao Ruyi said left Old Xu rather puzzled. If there was no way to escape, then how did you get out? It couldn’t be that the army willingly let you go, right?

Old Xu’s doubts only lasted a few seconds before Yao Ruyi quickly gave his explanation:

"After that, I think about a week passed, the exact time is a bit fuzzy to me. Anyway, the people from the army suddenly issued an emergency notice saying signs of a large horde of Zombies had been found nearby, and to avoid being besieged they had decided to evacuate early and told us all to get ready. About that, I already told you before, I didn’t lie to you."

"But you did hide the destination after the evacuation, didn’t you?" Tang Xiaoquan’s mind was in turmoil at this moment. The mysterious disappearance of the arena made him have to doubt the unit guarding this place, so figuring out where they had transferred to was extremely important. This was the key to whether he could quickly find his parents and take them away from that place of trouble.

Yao Ruyi had no intention of dodging the question and answered quite frankly: "Tang, I didn’t deliberately hide the destination of the evacuation from you. It’s just that the managers of the arena never told us Survivors at all."

Yao Ruyi’s explanation was reasonable enough. In an emergency, things are handled urgently; those in power not telling the common folk the details has existed since ancient times and is nothing surprising. But the reason they announced for the sudden evacuation of the arena was obviously a huge lie.

"We evacuated extremely fast, completely thorough. A thousand people, all gathered onto the trucks within one hour, and all the supplies had long been loaded. Even the scattered trash in the arena was cleaned out. I felt like the army had already made arrangements in advance, and they seemed intent on erasing every trace that we had ever stayed here."

Just as Yao Ruyi described, when Old Xu and the others went to Juli Sports Arena to scout a month ago, their first impression upon entering was how clean it was, so clean it was hard to imagine anyone had ever lived there.

What exactly was this unit trying to hide? Tang Xiaoquan started to regret not carefully checking the inside of the arena back then.

Yao Ruyi’s account continued: "From the moment we got word that the main force was going to move out, the five of us who were left began to think about how to find a chance to run and get away from this group. Fortunately, we were assigned to the same truck. All the way, we all acted very proper, didn’t show anything different from the others, but we never gave up looking for a chance to escape. After half a day of observing, we found that the only time to run was when they stopped to rest. And about us using the excuse of relieving ourselves at night and killing the Guard, I’m sure, Tang, you haven’t forgotten that, right?"

How could Tang Xiaoquan forget that? But he clearly remembered that Yao Ruyi’s story back then wasn’t like what he was saying now: "Yao, you did tell me about killing the Guard, but it wasn’t you. You told me at the time that some bandits hijacked your truck!"

"Oh, that’s my fault. I don’t remember clearly; I must’ve been talking nonsense. The real situation is, after we killed the Guard, the five of us brothers fled straight into the night. What we didn’t expect was that the soldiers soon noticed something wrong and started chasing us."

"Hmph!" Old Xu grunted in his heart. It would be strange if the army didn’t pursue you. Killing a soldier for no reason—just on that alone, the fact you’re alive now is already a miracle.

"We ran for our lives, but the roads were unfamiliar to us. We were like headless flies, darting around everywhere. It didn’t take long for the soldiers behind us to catch up. The gap in stamina meant we had no way to shake off their pursuit."

"So were you caught?" Old Xu didn’t find this outcome surprising at all; on the contrary, if the few of them had gotten away, that would be a disgrace to that combat unit.

"One of our brothers was shot dead on the spot. The rest of us took advantage of the chaos and escaped."

"Then there should’ve been four of you left. How is it that in the end only you survived?"

To Tang Xiaoquan, Old Lin’s question was not hard to answer. People like them, fleeing aimlessly— even if they avoided the army’s pursuit, they probably couldn’t escape an attack by Zombies.

Yao Ruyi raised his head and let out a long sigh: "When heaven wants you dead, you can’t help but die."

"Huh?" Old Xu’s brows twisted up like a knot: "What do you mean? What did you run into?"

"Heh." There was a hint of bleakness in Yao Ruyi’s smile. "We thought that being safe for two days meant we’d gotten through this crisis. Who would’ve thought we’d run straight into a gang of foreign robbers. Compared to them, that army unit we met before was nothing. You asked why I’m the only one left alive? It’s thanks to them. On the very first day we ran into them, I got separated from my brothers."

"Foreigners?"

"Three of them?"

"Got separated?"

"Tang, what’s wrong?" Seeing Tang Xiaoquan bow his head, tugging at his hair and muttering nonstop, Liu Muhua asked in confusion. But Tang seemed to have seized on some important clue. He suddenly raised his head and said, "Yao, let me ask you, among your companions, was there a skinny guy with glasses?"

"Yes! How do you know?" Yao Ruyi stared at him in surprise.

"In that foreign team you mentioned, was there a Black Ghost? Very muscular?"

"I think so. I was focused on running for my life at the time, I didn’t really see clearly what they looked like." Yao Ruyi didn’t really understand what Tang Xiaoquan was getting at and stared straight at him.

"Quan, don’t tell me you think they’re the same group we ran into last time..."

"Yes, Old Xu, unless something very unexpected is going on, it’s them." Tang Xiaoquan went on to explain, "Think about it, Old Xu. In a small city like ours, would it really be such a coincidence to have another foreign squad so well-armed show up? And judging from Yao’s description, those few dead people we saw that night are ninety percent likely to have been his brothers!"

Now Yao Ruyi was completely lost. "What, you’ve seen my brothers? What... what are you talking about?" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)