Journey to another world in the subway

Chapter 26 Tears
Apparently the noise of the shooting had attracted the attention of flying monsters resembling something that had woven its nest into the cathedral cupola.

A large shadow suddenly passed over his head.

Su Mengfan turned around and stayed for a while. He saw that the beasts had dispersed, and only one, obviously the one he injured, remained in the middle of the street.

It continued to scream and stagger towards the building, hoping it could hide there.

But it had no chance of being saved: the monster drew a circle at a height of tens of meters, retracted its huge and tough wings, and landed on the victim.

It swooped so fast that Su Mengfan didn't even see what happened next.

The giant bird seized the beast with its final scream of agony, and effortlessly lifted its prey and carried it calmly back to the top of one of the tall buildings.

The monsters chasing him didn't jump out again immediately, but Su Mengfan couldn't waste time because he was worried that the monsters might come back.

He ran along the wall of the house to a place where, according to his deduction, the garden ring road should be there.

He ran about half a kilometer before he was out of breath, looking back to see if the beasts that had preyed on him had recovered.

The streets were empty.

Su Mengfan walked another few tens of meters and stared at one of the alleys. He was startled when he saw a familiar still shadow inside.

Now he began to understand why these monsters did not rush to the open areas, but preferred to stalk their victims in the narrow streets.

When hunting him, he was afraid of attracting the attention of bigger monsters and becoming their victim.

Now Su Mengfan has to turn around every minute to check: he remembers that those beasts can move extremely fast, and at the same time they are especially quiet, and he is worried that they will catch up to him by surprise.

The end of the street was already visible when they moved quickly from the alley and began to surround him again.

Based on experience, Su Mengfan immediately shot into the sky, hoping that it would attract the winged monsters to scare away those beasts as before.

They did stand still for a moment, standing on their hind legs and stretching their necks.

But the sky was still empty—the monster had clearly not yet disposed of its first prey.

Su Mengfan figured this out faster than his monster opponents, and ran to the left, around one of the houses, and plunged into the nearest entrance.

Although the commander had warned him that the house was already occupied, he would go crazy if he encountered such a powerful and agile enemy when the beast was chasing him.

They would tear Su Mengfan into pieces before he could pull back the machine gun's bolt.

The entrance was so dark that he had to turn on his flashlight.

Dilapidated walls appear in circular points of light, with dirty words scrawled decades ago, a dirty staircase and several ruined and burned apartments with broken doors.

Bold rats scampered around as if this was their territory, and there was a picture of ruins.

He chose the entrance wisely, the stair windows looked out onto the street, and by going up one floor he was sure the beasts hadn't decided to chase him.

They crept up to the front door, but instead of going in, surrounded it, squatting down and turning into stone statues again.

Su Mengfan didn't believe that they would retreat and let their prey go.

Soon, they will try to catch him from the outside. Of course, if they don't find something hidden in the entrance, Su Mengfan himself will be forced to escape from there.

He climbed up a level, illuminated the doors, and saw that one of them was closed.

He bumped it with his shoulder and knew it was locked.

Before thinking too much, he pointed the muzzle of the machine gun at the keyhole and fired, and kicked the door open.

When inside, he found it to be exactly the same apartment as the one he had been hiding in, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the untouched abode.

First he slammed the door and barred it with the cupboard standing in the passage.The obstacles wouldn't stand up to serious impact, but at least they couldn't pass unnoticed.

After that, Su Mengfan walked to the window and looked out carefully.

It was actually an ideal shooting position - from the height of the fourth floor he could see everything coming to the entrance.

About ten beasts were sitting there half-surrounding it.

Now he has the advantage, and he seized the opportunity just in time.

Turning on the laser sight, he aimed the little red dot at the head of the largest beast, took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

There was a rumbling sound, and the monster fell silently to the side.

Others hurried off in different directions like lightning, and in a few moments the streets were empty.To be sure, they don't want to go all out.

Su Mengfan decided to wait and see to make sure that the death of their companions had truly scared off the remaining beasts.

In the meantime, he had a little time to check out the apartment.

Although the glass here, as in the whole house, had been broken long ago, the furniture and all the utensils were surprisingly well preserved.

Small mats covered the floor, like the rat poison they used in Hayabusa Station.Maybe that's why Su Mengfan didn't see any mice in the room.

The longer he looked at the apartment, the more convinced he was that the original residents hadn't hastily abandoned it, but had maintained it and hoped to return in the future.

No food was left in the kitchen to attract mice or insects, and much of the furniture was carefully wrapped in cellophane.

Su Mengfan walked from one room to another, and Su Mengfan tried to imagine what kind of life the people living in it lived every day.

How many of them live here?
When do they wake up, when do they get home from work, when do they eat dinner?

Who sits at the end of the chair?

He knew many of the jobs, rituals, and things only from books, and now looking at the real residence, he was convinced that much of what he had previously imagined was completely wrong.

Su Mengfan carefully lifted the translucent polyethylene film to check the bookshelf.

A few colorful children's books lay among the detective novels he knew from the bookstalls in the subway.

Grabbing the spine of the book, he slowly pulled one out.

As he was flipping through decorative descriptions of happy animals, a piece of cardboard fell out of the book.

Su Mengfan bent down and picked it up from the floor: it turned out to be a faded photo of a smiling woman holding a child, and beside the woman stood a five or six-year-old boy, holding the woman tightly trousers, looking a little nervous.

He was shocked.

His heart was beating rapidly.

It was still beating slowly to send blood to his whole body, but now it suddenly accelerated and began to beat inappropriately.

If there is no poison, Su Mengfan really wants to take off the tight-fitting gas mask to breathe a small amount of fresh air.

As if worried that touching would turn the photo into dust, he carefully took it off the shelf and held it up to his eyes.

The woman in the photo is about 30 years old, and the child she is holding is no more than two years old, and it is difficult to determine whether he is a boy or a girl from the funny beanie on his head.

The child looks directly at the camera, and his expression is surprisingly mature and serious.

Su Mengfan turned the photo over, and the lenses of his gas mask became darkened.

On the other side was written in green ballpoint pen: "Hope brothers Alcorn and Artyom are happy every day." The words seemed to throw him off focus.

His legs gave way and he slipped on the floor, and the picture fell out of the window in the moonlight.

Why is that woman's smile so familiar to him, so similar to his own?

Why did he start having trouble breathing when he saw her?
More than 1000 million people lived in the city before its destruction.

Alcorn was the most common name, and even a large city with a population of a million had thousands of children named it.

Seems like that's what they call the existing residents of the subway.

The odds are so small that it really doesn't make sense to think so.

And how could the name of Artyom be exactly the same as the name of the little boy in his fantasy that appeared in the library?
And why is the smile of the woman in the photo so familiar to him?
He tried to recall fragments of his own childhood memories, which sometimes flashed into his mind.

A cozy little room, soft lighting, a woman reading a book...a wide ottoman.

He jumped to his feet and whirled through the rooms, trying to find in them similar furniture to the one he had imagined in the room.

Suddenly he noticed that one of the rooms was furnished exactly as he remembered it.

The couch looked slightly different, and there were no windows there, but perhaps the picture had left some kind of distorted imprint on the six-year-old's mind... Six?

six years old?

Shouldn't you have memories of your own childhood?
why?
Don't have those memories yourself?
There is no date in the inscription, and it could be a photograph taken at any time, not necessarily in the days before the occupants of the apartment must leave for good.

He was sure the picture had probably been taken six months, maybe even a year, before that.

Then the age of the boy standing next to the woman in the photo will match his own age...then it is possible that he himself is in the photo...and his mother...will be even greater.

When Su Mengfan came back to his senses, he suddenly found a tear from the corner of his eye sliding down his cheek.

When Su Mengfan reached out to wipe away the tears, he touched the protective shield.

At this moment, Su Mengfan seemed to remove the protective cover immediately, but he couldn't.

Tears flowed down like a collapsed dam.

Tears are salty in the mouth, but sweet in the heart.

If nothing goes wrong, this is the only thing he can rely on now.

A strange voice said coldly in his body: "But the photo may have been taken three or five years before that."

　Thanks to the book friend "The Will of the Lonely King" for the reward of 500 starting coins, and I would like to thank you very much.

　　Thank you for the support of all book friends. By the way, I would like to ask for a recommendation ticket, collection, and follow-up.

　　I hope you enjoy reading and have a happy day.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)