Chapter 225: Eagle, It's Your Time to Shine
"Eagle is truly amazing!" Meng Ci whispered in awe, his tone filled with reverence.
No wonder it's a military dog—truly impressive.
The Eagle clamped down hard on the snake's throat, where the black snake's tail was wildly twisting, attempting to wrap around the Eagle's leg, only to be stomped down by the Eagle's claw.
The Eagle let out a low snarl as its sharp teeth sank deeply into the snake's skin.
The black snake's tail continued to twitch, with an unclear liquid oozing from its mouth—whether it was saliva or venom, it was hard to tell.
In a rush to move on, Shen Que drew his long blade and, despite the discomfort, hacked the black snake into several pieces.
The severed pieces continued to twitch on the ground, as if the snake wasn't ready to give up.
Meng Ci and Shen Que didn't pay much attention and hurriedly left.
Along the way, Meng Ci became extra cautious, keeping an eye out for any dangerous animals.
What he saw was shocking—either a twenty-centimeter-long centipede or a fist-sized spider, and even lines of ants that were twice as big as before the apocalypse.
These creatures looked like grotesque, oversized versions of their pre-apocalypse counterparts and were terrifying to look at.
Thinking about the zombie era, Meng Ci felt a headache coming on. Besides zombies, there were all sorts of mutated plants and animals.
It seemed that after returning to the West Mountain Wilderness Base, he would need to start working out more to avoid becoming zombie food.
But that was a concern for half a year later, so Meng Ci quickly adjusted and even had the mood to joke with Shen Que.
"Shen Que, do you think these spiders and centipedes near the West Mountain Wilderness Base might have already become food for humans?"
After serious consideration, Shen Que replied, "Very possible."
After all, those people dared to eat even ugly toads.
He then mentioned that in their previous life, if they could dig up earthworms, they would devour them raw like hungry wolves.
"Of course, I didn't eat them," Shen Que added, not wanting to be disgusted by Meng Ci.
Shen Que's understanding of Meng Ci was indeed thorough.
Meng Ci had indeed felt a wave of nausea when Shen Que mentioned the earthworms, especially when he thought about Shen Que kissing him.
Even though Shen Que had been reborn, Meng Ci made it clear he still couldn't stomach it.
Thanks to Shen Que's quick follow-up, Meng Ci managed to hold back the urge to say 'let's sleep in separate rooms.'
Half an hour later, Meng Ci and Shen Que spotted the tunnel from afar.
They immediately hid and looked around, confirming there were no patrolling people and no one at the tunnel entrance. The two hurriedly moved forward.
They then reached below the broken bridge.
Now, they only needed to go another two hundred meters up the opposite mountain to reach the tunnel entrance.
Meng Ci patted the Eagle's back, signaling it to notify Eggplant to start the operation.
The eagle was highly alert and immediately headed to the opposite mountain to find Qiezi.
As for how the eagle found Qiezi, it was naturally because this fellow had marked the area by urinating everywhere.
The eagle was annoyed by the overwhelming scent. Why couldn't this guy have just marked one spot?
However, it soon caught a whiff of blood in the air and immediately became cautious.
Could it be that Qiezi was in trouble?
But it continued to focus on searching for Qiezi's scent in the air.
"Awoo, awoo!"
Qiezi was hiding when he caught the scent of his mate. Like he'd been zapped, he dropped the rifle from his mouth and started howling.
Hearing the sound, the eagle rushed up at lightning speed and saw that Qiezi's fur was stained with quite a bit of blood.
"Woof, woof, woof!"
To avoid being discovered, the eagle's call was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
The eagle circled around Qiezi and, finding no wounds on him, prepared to leave.
"Awoo!"
Not caring if the people in the tunnel heard him, Qiezi howled twice to signal his mate to come back, as he had something important to hand over.
The eagle returned, and Qiezi handed over two hunting rifles, indicating that he would definitely complete the mission, then howled and dashed away like an arrow loosed from a bow.
The eagle paused, struck by Qiezi's simple, endearing nature.
The eagle, entirely black, moved like a ghost through the mountains, blending into the darkness and remaining unseen.
Like a phantom, it took the two rifles. Meng Ci and Shen Que were astonished.
However, before they could recover from their shock, they heard Qiezi's howling from above.
Meng Ci and Shen Que slowly headed upwards. At the same time, Meng Ci released bees for surveillance.
"Quick, there's a wolf!" someone shouted.
"Kill it, and we'll have fresh meat for dinner tonight," another added.
A few people lunged forward like hungry tigers, their eyes locked on Qiezi. The air crackled with anticipation as they gave chase.
Qiezi only howled three times, signaling that three people were chasing him.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
Meng Ci and Shen Que suddenly heard several gunshots, and their hearts raced with worry. What if Qiezi was in trouble?
But Qiezi's howls were no different from before, and Meng Ci and Shen Que breathed a sigh of relief.
From their earlier observations, Meng Ci and Shen Que knew that there were at least twenty-eight people in the tunnel.
Today, five had gone out for patrol, and six for a trade. The two hunting rifles suggested that Eggplant had likely dealt with two of them, while three others had gone after him.
This meant there were at least twelve people remaining in the tunnel now.
While the others were chasing after Eggplant, Meng Ci and Shen Que climbed another fifty meters or so, and now they were only a little more than a hundred meters away from the tunnel entrance.
The drone scanned the area but found no one else, so Meng Ci and Shen Que quickened their pace.
Uncertain if there was any light inside the tunnel, Meng Ci and Shen Que each took a night vision device, and Shen Que put a pistol and a hunting rifle into his space, quickly moving upward.
There were no people at the tunnel entrance, and Meng Ci and Shen Que entered, one on the left and one on the right.
The tunnel had probably only been half-dug before the apocalypse halted the work.
There were still piles of sand and cement at the entrance, and as they walked inside, they found the ground covered with sand.
These people sure knew how to make themselves comfortable.
However, the smell of urine at the entrance was quite unpleasant.
Meng Ci took out two masks from his space and put them on.
The people living here were incredibly lazy, just peeing right there without caring if the smell wafted into the tunnel.
The tunnel seemed to be designed for two-way traffic, making the interior spacious.
Initially, it was pretty dark, but thanks to their night vision goggles, they moved silently.
After walking more than a hundred meters, they encountered a bend.
Walking another thirty meters or so further inside, they saw a high wall built with bricks, with an iron gate installed in the middle.
The iron gate had chains and a big lock on it. Forcing it open would definitely attract attention, so they had to think of another way.
An idea struck Meng Ci.
He patted Eagle's back, signaling for it to bark and draw the people out, while he and Shen Que hid behind the iron gate.
"Woof woof woof!"
"Woof!"
Moments later, voices echoed from deeper inside the tunnel.
"Damn, why is there a dog barking?"
"Who's on duty outside today? How can they be so irresponsible?"
"Relax, we've been here for over four months, and no one's shown up. It's probably just a stray dog."
"That's true."
"Let's go grab that dog and turn it into dinner."
As they talked, the two men inside opened the iron gate.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!," the dog took a couple of steps back, then continued barking toward the two people inside the iron gate.
"Hey, dog, check this out!"
One of them waved a bone in front of the dog.
"You want this? Come get it if you do."
Meng Ci and Shen Que held their breath and waited until the other guy came out before making their move.