Starting from South America, speeding through the world

Chapter 251 Hankou
late at night.

The corridor was unusually quiet.

The air was filled with the smell of rotting old wood.

Water seeped through the walls, the tiles bulged, and the faint dripping sound from deep within the pipes could be heard.

Katelyl walked ahead, her fingers gripping the rusty key tightly.

Zhou Yi followed not far behind her, keeping a low profile but ready to fight at any moment.

This is an old residential building with severely eroded brick walls.

There were red characters painted on the corner, which could still be roughly identified as some kind of wartime epidemic prevention notice.

Upon reaching the second floor, a very faint chalk line was drawn on the door to the target building.

“That means someone has been here in the last five days,” Katelyl explained in a low voice.

Zhou Yi nodded without saying anything more.

The sound of the key turning was especially jarring in the deathly silence.

The lock popped open, and the room was pitch black.

Ketterle turned and closed the door, carefully sealing any gaps that might let in light.

The room suddenly became even darker.

It was about forty square meters, and a broken bed was placed near the window.

In the corner sat a stove and unopened cans.

Katelyl took off her coat, placed it on the back of the chair, and walked toward the stove.

She knelt on the ground, feeling her way along, her fingertips brushing against the dust on the interlayer.

After a while, there was a "click".

“This is it,” said Katelyl, pulling out what was hidden inside.

Zhou Yi took the package covered with wax paper, tore open the seal, and poured out the contents.

He picked up the top document.

The edges of the paper are yellowed, and the ink has slightly smudged.

The Russian text, mixed with various regional variations, and poorly formatted, resembles some kind of underground publication.

Zhou Yi turned page after page.

East of the Ural Mountains

"Reconstruction is necessary."

"Workers will no longer obey"

Only at the very end did he find the half-newspaper that Ketterle had mentioned in the crevice.

It was only about the size of a palm, and half of it was torn.

At the very top, you can see the date.

From six months ago.

Zhou Yi carefully unfolded it, placed it on the table, and began to examine it closely.

This time, the layout is noticeably more standardized, and the font is smaller, but the content is still legible.
—The Joint Provisional National Assembly convened in Han*.

— Reaffirming that South China, the Central Plains, and the areas outside the Great Wall are the united front zones.

—Accelerate the reorganization.

“Han*” he murmured.

Turning to the back reveals even more incomplete news summaries.

— Deployment along the northern border of Vietnam

—*The mission arrived* for preliminary contact
After a full half minute, Zhou Yi finally raised his head, his doubts growing even stronger.

"Where did this piece of paper come from?"

Cattel hesitated for a moment. "It was given to me by someone."

"name."

"He calls himself Marcel."

"how did you guys meet?"

"He's the one who brought me into these things."

Are you still in contact with him?

"Three weeks before the operation, he sent several documents in a disposable mailbox."

"after?"

“No.” Cattel shook her head.

"Because according to the plan, I should have been on standby in the mountains for three months until I was transferred to the rear."

"rear?"

"There is a rendezvous point, and there is an evacuation route every October."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of a car driving by came from outside, and the floor shook slightly.

Katelyl stared nervously at the curtains.

It was as if some monstrous flood or beast was lurking there.

“Tell me his location,” Zhou Yi said. “Then you’ll be free.”

Before Ketterle could react, he heard the engine downstairs stop.

Immediately following was a series of heavy, disordered footsteps.

The command rang out, clear, direct, and undisguised, at an extremely loud volume. Katelyl's face instantly turned deathly pale.

"They've come looking for us! This can't be!" Amidst the panic, there was disbelief.

Zhou Yi quickly chambered the rifle.

He went to the window, pressed himself against the wall, and looked through the crack.

Four military vehicles were parked across the street corner; they were all standard light armored vehicles with black backgrounds and white insignia.

One of them was equipped with a rotary light machine gun on its roof.

The archer did not get out of the vehicle; he was organizing the supply tape.

Closer in, the gate was blocked by three fully armed soldiers.

“Your location has been exposed,” Zhou Yi said. “Your freedom will be delayed again.”

In the corridor, the sound of iron-soled military boots pounding on the wood was dense, continuous, and getting closer and closer.

Ketterle suddenly realized that fear was useless at this moment.

She took two steps back, bumped into a chair, and almost fell over.

Zhou Yi gently pried open the latches on both sides of the window and extended the gun barrel outwards slightly.

"Get ready to jump," he said.

Then, short bursts of fire.

Three shots.

The soldiers below immediately collapsed to the ground.

At the same time, a loud bang was heard outside the door.

The enemy had clearly arrived and was preparing to break in.

Zhou Yi immediately turned to the side to adjust his angle and began anticipating and suppressing the enemy with fire.

Five shots were fired, sweeping towards the most likely location of the target.

In an instant, sawdust scattered everywhere, dust erupted, and a cry of pain filled the air.

The next second—

"Jump!" Zhou Yi shouted the command.

Cattel gritted her teeth, endured the excruciating pain, rushed to the windowsill, and jumped down.

There was a muffled sound.

She fell at the bottom of the alley, landing awkwardly and barely able to stand up.

Zhou Yi then jumped down, rolled upon landing to dissipate the force, and then turned halfway around.

Soldiers on the military vehicle rushed to provide support, charging in from the right front.

Unfortunately, they were carrying old-fashioned bolt-action rifles.

Generational gaps make confrontation pointless.

They didn't even have time to fire before they collapsed.

Without pausing, Zhou Yi quickly moved forward along the wall, getting closer to Katelyl's direction.

During the process, check the remaining magazine with one hand, and always keep the muzzle pointed at possible entry angles.

The woman was still kneeling on the ground.

She was breathing rapidly, her injured left leg lost its support, and blood seeped from under the bandage.

Zhou Yi glanced at it only once before turning around and running towards the location of the military vehicle.

There was no one in the cockpit.

The corpse in the back seat had its brains splattered and its neck twisted to one side.

The person upstairs finally realized what was happening and tried to lock onto him, which was followed by a barrage of shots.

The hood was instantly punched into several fist-sized dents, and debris flew everywhere.

Zhou Yi's body sank down, his left hand shifted into reverse, and his right hand quickly turned the steering wheel.

The wheels rolled over the road surface and sped backward through the alley.

He arrived at Cattel's side almost instantly.

Before he could even say "get in the car," the woman had already climbed onto the back seat and pressed herself against the corpse.

Seeing this, Zhou Yi simply floored the accelerator.

The engine roared and instantly revved to full speed.

Military vehicles roared, their rubber wheels crushing through gravel and pools of blood on the ground.

Bullets rained down.

The firepower was not precise, but its density was extremely high.

They swept their guns along their path, leaving streaks of fire in the night.

Almost simultaneously, two loud bangs, one from the left and one from the right, struck the windshield directly.

Fortunately, it didn't penetrate, but the cracks spread rapidly like a spider web.

Ketterle kept her body low to the ground, afraid of being hit by another stray bullet.

With trembling hands, she tried to pull up her coat, only to find that the hem was covered in blood.

Hot, wet, a large patch, spreading from the shoulder to the elbow.

Blood flowing from the corpse.

"Do you know the way?" she heard the man in front of her ask.

(End of this chapter)