Journey to another world in the subway

Chapter 57 The Plague
"You'll go a long time without knowing how to use it. If you give it to me, we'll owe each other nothing.

I have a normal subway map, if you want, I can copy all the signs from the navigation on it, and you can use it.And..." He fumbled in his bag.

"I can give you this." He took out a strangely shaped flashlight.

"It doesn't need batteries. You just press these two knobs with your fingers and they light up. Of course, it's not too bright.

But in some cases, its beam will be brighter than the mercury lamp at the Metropolitan Station... It has saved me many times, and I hope it will prove itself useful.

Take it, it's yours.Take it, take it, it's not a fair deal anyway - I owe it to you, not you to me. "

In Su Mengfan's view, this exchange is very beneficial to him.Since he doesn't know anything about these mysterious powers, what's the point of having a magical map?In the end he was sure to lose it.

"Now, let me tell you, the route you planned will only lead you to the abyss of death."

Khan picked up the interrupted conversation, carefully holding the map. "Here you are, take my old map and act on it." He handed over a small map printed on the back of a pocket-sized calendar.

"Someone told me that I can't go there alone. It's safer to go there in a group. I plan to go to Heping Avenue Station in a group first, and then leave them for a transfer—they won't follow me..." Su Mengfan replied, feeling vague Thoughts began to clutter his brain.

"There is no way to switch lines there, and the arch has been sealed. Don't you know?"

How could he have forgotten!Of course, he had heard about it, but he had forgotten about it... Hansa, afraid of the devil there, blocked the road to the Kursk station.

But I immediately thought of the time when I went back to Hayabusa Station with Cage and others, when I was blindfolded.

There is a secret passage at Heping Avenue Station.

In that case, you can quickly reach Kursk Station.

Su Mengfan moved his lips, he was counting the number of stations and tunnels to pass.

Obviously, the route suggested by Khan is shorter and less dangerous, so why didn't Su Mengfan think of it himself.

It seems there is no other option.

A little trouble: to enter the northern tunnel to the Peace Avenue station, you have to come from the north side of our little station. Khan said, pointing to the tunnel where Su Mengfan almost died.

"Let's inquire with those people, but don't say too much. There are a few criminals inside, and they are not trustworthy..." After thinking for a moment, he added, "Okay, I'll go with you to prevent you from doing it." Stupid thing."

Su Mengfan was about to put on his backpack, but Khan stopped him with a gesture: "Don't worry about your things. People are afraid of me, and no one even dares to peek at my residence. You come here, and you are under my protection. "

Su Mengfan put the backpack by the fire, but he brought his machine gun, he didn't want to part with his new possessions.

He caught up with the Khan, who was walking towards the fire in the opposite hall.

He noticed that the malnourished vagrants, wrapped in smelly rags, were genuinely intimidated by the Khan, and scattered as they passed.

Su Mengfan really wanted to know why...

After the first fire, the Khan didn't stop.It was a small fire.

Beside it, sat two people, a man and a woman leaning on each other, they were quietly talking in a language that Su Mengfan could not understand.

Then, their conversation disappeared, and Su Mengfan could no longer hear them.Out of curiosity, he turned his head and couldn't help but glance at the two men.

Now he came to a great bright fire, surrounded by a crowd of peasant-like men warming their hands.

Their ear-splitting laughter and noisy arguments almost tore through the air, Su Mengfan felt a little scared, and he slowed down his pace.

But the Khan moved calmly and confidently towards those seated, greeted them, and took a seat by the fire.

Su Mengfan had no choice but to follow his example and sit beside him.

"...He was checking himself and found the same rash on his hands, something swollen under his armpits, very uncomfortable. Imagine how horrible, damn it... Different people react differently.

Some shot themselves, others went crazy trying to hug someone, as if that way he wouldn't die alone.

Some people ran out of the No. 5 subway circle line and ran to closed areas in the tunnels so as not to infect others... There are many tricks.

Seeing these situations, a man asked his doctor: Is there any way I can stop feeling so uncomfortable?The doctor told him firmly: 'No.After the rash appeared, he only had two weeks to live. '

I saw that the battalion commander quietly drew the Makarov gun from the holster at this time, lest this man go crazy..."

The speaker was a thin old man in a padded jacket with a shaggy chin.His gray, tear-filled eyes looked at the people around him, and he spoke anxiously to them in a trembling voice.

Although Su Mengfan didn't understand what he was talking about, the situation he described and the sudden silence of the noisy crowd made him shudder.He quietly asked Khan what was going on to distract him.

"What did he say?"

"The plague." Khan replied heavily, "It has already begun."

The words made him think of rotting corpses, the burning smell of crematoriums, the ringing of death knells and the wailing of manual locomotive sirens.

Su Mengfan had just read about this deadly infectious disease in a book.

He had witnessed this disease when he was a child, and those images were deeply engraved in his memory, and even the frightening dreams related to it in his childhood were still repeated to this day.

Therefore, when he heard the word "plague", he felt a chill on his back and even felt dizzy.

He didn't ask Khan for more, but he paid special attention to the story told by this thin man in a cotton jacket.

"But Ritz wasn't that type of guy, he was sane. He stood there quietly and said, 'Give me some bullets, I'm leaving. I can't stay here with you guys anymore.' I heard the camp A long sigh of relief.

Obviously, if that person is sick, even if he is one of his own, killing him is a must.They gave him two horn bullets.

Then, he walked northeast and walked out of Awei Amoto.We never saw him again.

But the battalion commander asked the doctor how long it would take to get sick.Doctors say the incubation period is one week, and if you don’t react a week after being exposed to it, then you are not infected.

Therefore, the battalion commander decided: we leave the station and stay in the quarantine area for a week to see what happens.

We can't be in the 5th subway circle - if you infect people in the 5th subway circle, the whole subway system will be ruined.

So we left for a week.

We even stayed away from each other - because we didn't know who was infected.

There's another guy, because he loves to drink, we call him Cup.Because he used to live with Ritz, everyone stayed away from him.

Whenever he approached a person, that person would run to the other side of the station.Some even pointed him at gunpoint and told him to leave.When he ran out of water in his glass, the men gave him some—they put the water on the floor and walked away, and no one would come near him.

A week later, he disappeared.People have different accounts, some even say that he was carried away by wild animals.But the tunnel is quiet and clean.

I think maybe he found himself with a rash and pain in his armpits.

So, he's gone.Afterwards no one in our team was infected anymore, we waited longer and the Battalion Commander checked everyone himself to make sure everyone was healthy. "

Su Mengfan noticed that despite his assurance that everyone remaining in the army was healthy, the storyteller was suddenly deserted.

There wasn't much room around the fire, and everyone was huddled shoulder to shoulder, as far away from him as possible.

"Have you been here long, brother?" a man in a leather vest with a bushy beard asked him in a low but articulate voice.

The thin man who told the story looked at him cautiously and replied, "Because it took us about 30 days to come from Awei Amoto Station."

"Well, I'll tell you a piece of news. There's a plague at Awe Amoto Station. There's a plague there—did you hear that?
Lufthansa blocked it, as well as the Taganskaya and Kursk stations.They call it a quarantine period.I have acquaintances there, citizens of the Lufthansa.

On the way to the Taganskaya and Kursk stations there are flamethrowers, ready to scorch anyone who comes within range, and they say it's sterilizing.

Apparently some people have an incubation period of a week, others longer.So, you're obviously bringing the infection over. ” He concluded in a low and hostile voice.

"What? Come on, brother, I'm healthy! See for yourself!" The thin man stood up from his seat and took off his cotton-padded jacket in a panic, revealing his dirty body.He was very anxious, afraid that people would not believe him.

The atmosphere became more tense.

No one dared to stay near the thin man. They all crowded to the other side of the fire.People were discussing uneasily.

Su Mengfan heard a soft jingle somewhere, he looked at Khan suspiciously, took his gun off his shoulder, opened the safety, and was ready to fire at any time.

The Khan, though silent, stopped him with a gesture.

Then, he quickly stood up and pulled Su Mengfan quietly away from the fire.After walking about ten steps, he stopped and looked back at what was happening.

Under the light of the fire, you can see the nimble and nervous movements of the thin man who was under suspicion, as if he was dancing a primitive and barbaric dance.The crowd fell silent, but he was still fussing around in the ominous silence.

Finally, taking off his underwear, he exclaimed in triumph: "Look! Look! I'm clean! Nothing! I'm healthy!"

The bearded man in the leather vest drew a board from the fire, with the fire burning at one end.He approached the thin man cautiously and stared at him with disgust.

The skin of this overly glib fellow was dark and shiny from the dirt and the oils he secreted.

The bearded man didn't see the rash, and after carefully checking everything behind him, he ordered the thin man: "Raise your arms!"

The unfortunate man raised his arms quickly, and those on the other side of the fire could see the strong, healthy hair under his armpits.

When the bearded man approached him, he covered his nose and looked for signs of inflammatory lymphadenopathy very carefully.But he found no symptoms of the plague.

"I'm healthy! Healthy! Do you believe it now?" the thin man yelled almost hysterically.

There were unfriendly murmurs from the crowd.Considering the overall mood, and being unwilling to accept such a guy, the chunky man said, "Okay. It's useless even if you're healthy!"

"Why is it useless?" The thin man took a few steps back, showing a disappointed and decadent expression.

"Yes, you may not be sick, or you may be immune. But you may still be carrying the virus. Did you come into contact with that Riz, right? You are in the same army? Did you talk to him? Give him water? Talk to him Shake his hand, right? You must have shaken his hand. Don’t lie, brother.”

"So what, what if I shake his hand? I'm not sick..." The man replied blankly.

The attention of the crowd bothered him and made him feel powerless.

(End of this chapter)