The Decaying Dream of America: I Assemble Corpses and Confront Madness

The metal groaned.

Lin Zheng's muscles groaned in pain, the burning sensation spreading from his shoulder all the way to his calloused fingertips.

The pipe, that massive pipe soaked in decades of solidified grease and rusted iron slag, suddenly detached with a deafening tearing sound.

In an instant, a deafening roar revealed its immense size; it was not caused by an explosion, but by tons of viscous urban filth that shattered the balance they had maintained for many years.

The foundation supporting half of the "fat mountain" was removed, and the massive mass above lost its support.

Solidified grease, mountains of garbage, and years of rubble and soil—a flash flood, carrying immense force, poured downwards.

In the darkness, it was a torrent of white, yellow, and grayish-brown colors.

Just before he was about to be swallowed up, Lin Zheng dodged to the side.

Without the slightest hesitation, he got up and forced his body into the pipe behind him.

The world behind them was instantly swallowed up by the violent sounds of collapse and the overwhelming filth.

He could only hear behind him the deafening roar of countless objects colliding, squeezing, and shattering, a sound that shook the earth and made the entire city howl in agony.

The pipes vibrated around him, and stones and mud fell from above, hitting the metal pipe walls with a series of ping-pong sounds.

The clearing squad members, those well-trained and well-equipped hunters, are currently deep within the canyon.

Their searchlights went out instantly in the torrent of mud and grease, and the sharp alarms and brief cries for help were completely drowned out by the deafening roar of the collapse.

Their prized tactics and equipment proved insignificant in the face of the forces of nature and the fury of inhuman beings.

They were swallowed up instantly, buried in the deepest decay of the city, without even having time to put up a final resistance.

Those "filthy wombs" lured by the smell of blood were also swept up in this massive catastrophe.

They open their ugly bodies, greedy tentacles, and hungry mouthparts, emitting inhuman shrieks as they devour everything.

Lin Zheng slid down the pipe in the darkness.

The narrow pipe prevented him from turning around, and he could only let gravity push him into the unknown depths.

With each turn, his body rubbed against the cold pipe walls, sending dull pain through his ribs and arms.

After sliding for about several tens of meters, the slope of the pipe began to flatten, and finally, he rolled out from a low exit and landed in a wider abandoned space.

This place is far from the collapse area of ​​"Fat Mountain". Only a faint muffled sound can be heard in the distance, and a low tremor can be heard from deep underground.

He tried to prop himself up, but his arms were too weak to support him.

He lay in the cold, wet mud, breathing heavily.

He looked up, and in the darkness, only a faint light shone through the gaps in a few pipes overhead, the light seeming so distant.

He knew he had survived.

But those who died, the purge squad, they all ultimately returned to this corruption.

What is Lin Zheng, anyway? He avenged the mole people, but the suffering of the dead and their silent wails did not diminish as a result.

He simply covered up the previous destruction with an even greater one.

He slowly got up.

The clothes clung to my body, feeling heavy and cumbersome.

The baseball cap was missing sometime during the day, and wet hair clung to his forehead.

He leaned against the cold wall, dragging his exhausted body, as he made his final journey through the maze-like pipes.

Behind him lies a secret that will be buried forever.

The underground world of Emerald Dream City is far more real and ancient than the city above ground.

It not only bears the city's excrement, but also its morbidity and evil.

Countless forgotten lives lingered here, only to eventually turn into a pile of mud.

Lin Zheng finally arrived at a passageway.

In a corner of the passage that was sealed off by cement, there was an inconspicuous manual winch.

The winch was wrapped with rusty steel cables that connected to a heavy, round iron fence.

Mayor Oakes marked this road on his homemade map, calling it "the city's forgotten exit," and saying that only true "mouse men" would know of its existence.

This is their last resort.

With his last ounce of strength, he gripped the cold metal handle of the winch.

The wound on his palm was torn open again, and blood mixed with sweat and dirt soaked the handle.

He gritted his teeth and slowly turned the winch, the steel cable groaning in pain.

The iron fence slowly and laboriously opened upwards.

He didn't know what was outside, but he knew he had to go out.

This decaying underground world had drained him of his last shred of pity and fear.

He was no longer afraid, and he couldn't even feel anger.

All that remained was a numb and purely instinctive will to survive.

A cool breeze blew down from above, carrying the damp scent of earth and grass, instantly washing away the lingering stench of decay in the sewers.

The air was cold and fresh, and when it first entered Lin Zheng's lungs, it caused him to cough violently.

That was a world I had been away from for so long, real and chilling.

He saw a faint glimmer of light, the light of dawn.

With one last effort, he pushed the iron fence open wide enough, and then, with his last ounce of strength, climbed out.

He stumbled and scrambled up the soft, muddy slope, kneeling on the grassy ground.

The damp grass brushed against his bare arm, bringing a cold, itchy sensation.

He took a deep breath, his lungs were cleansed, feeling refreshed yet with a strange stinging sensation.

Above, the leaden sky slowly faded from the depths of night, revealing a faint pale dawn.

The moon hung in the sky just before dawn, its remaining light intertwining with the gradually emerging orange and purple hues on the horizon.

He felt dizzy, not only because of physical exhaustion, but also because of the huge contrast of being reborn.

The stench of the sewers, the roar of the collapse, the mixed smell of blood and filth—all of it was left behind.

At this moment, only the wind howls and the wild grass sways in the morning light, making a soft rustling sound.

The city's outline emerges hazily in the distance, a vast jungle of reinforced concrete appearing and disappearing in the morning mist.

He knew he had left hell, but he wasn't sure if he had entered another kind of cage.

The silence in the air was not true calm, but rather an eerie stillness before a storm.

free?

The word rolled through his mind, but it didn't bring him any real feeling.

In the distance, the faint sound of police sirens reminded him that his escape was not over.

Lin Zheng looked around blankly, trying to figure out the direction.

This abandoned drain is located on the edge of the city, surrounded by a desolate industrial wasteland and some residential areas that have been partially demolished.

As far as the eye can see, there are only ruins and broken walls, with exposed steel bars like the skeleton of the city, piercing the sky.

The air is filled with cement dust and the smell of rust washed by rain – a sign of cancer in the city's body.

He saw several abandoned railway tracks, rusted and winding into the distance, eventually disappearing into the morning mist.

They are the veins of this city, carrying countless hopes and despairs, heading towards the unknown.

Now, these hopes and despairs, along with the wronged souls trapped deep within the pipes, are buried in the mire of history.

He had just woken up from a long nightmare.

He, a filthy and wretched survivor, stood between dreams and reality.

The sound of sirens. No longer a faint echo, but a clear and piercing wail, came from the depths of the city.

Lin Zheng's body tensed instinctively, and his eyes scanned the surroundings warily once again, searching for a new hiding place.

His brain began to work at lightning speed, calculating escape routes and assessing every detail of his surroundings.

Suddenly, an extremely dazzling beam of light descended from the sky and locked onto him.

The beam of light was so bright that it pierced through the thin mist of dawn, pinning him to the mound, leaving him nowhere to hide.

The deafening roar of the helicopter rotors came from overhead, shattering the tranquility of dawn.

It hovered dozens of meters above his head, the metallic behemoth spinning in the air, the vibrations of its engine sending shivers down Lin Zheng's spine.

The beam of the searchlight, carrying the will of the state apparatus, completely exposed him in the empty wasteland.

Numerous police cars and special vehicles rushed to the scene.

He looked up and squinted at the steel behemoth.

Haha, is this the level of pursuit required in GTA with a full star rating?

He raised his middle finger to all around.

A bunch of beach bums, damn it!