"Is there another way out of this mountain? Even if it's dangerous, we have to try it. Staying here is just waiting for death."
Cui Hao watched as several of his classmates disappeared around the corner of the corridor, then turned to look at Yun Hai.
"Liu Ming didn't lie to you. There really is no way out behind the mountain, just steep cliffs. Unless there's a professional climber who's incredibly skilled and has a lot of professional equipment to get down, and that equipment isn't on this mountain top."
One sentence from Yun Hai completely extinguished the last hope in Cui Hao's heart.
"Hopefully only a small number of animals have mutated, and most will die like the people yesterday." Another college student said in a trembling voice.
"Take a look at this."
Yun Hai said as he got up and walked to the window, then pointed outside.
"The top of the mountain is cleaned every day, there isn't a single weed on the ground or in the cracks of the lower cliff walls. Now look closely, in just one night, the grass in those cracks is already an inch long."
"It's not just animals that have mutated, but also plants. I grew up in Yangshan, I wouldn't dare say I know every plant here, but in general I'm not wrong. Most living things are mutating."
"Besides the mutated bamboo rats we've seen, there are also green snakes, including some plants, the most obvious sign of mutation is that they're becoming gigantic and bigger."
"Not everything has successfully mutated, at least when I was behind the mountain earlier, like you said before, some animals and humans died for no reason, and there were also some trees, weeds, wildflowers, etc., that withered."
Yun Hai said, then lowered the window blinds and went back to sit down. The more Cui Hao and the people around him listened, the more despairing everyone's expression became.
The round-faced college student spoke, Yun Hai already knew her name was Tian Yuanyuan, she said in a trembling voice: "The virus has just broken out, it's bound to be chaotic, wait a few more days and it'll definitely get better, didn't you hear what they said on the radio, I think the army will definitely come to rescue us!"
Cui Hao gave a bitter smile and said: "If the situation is as we suspect, this disaster is happening in a very wide area, the military definitely won't stand idly by. However, the first target they protect will definitely be the big cities. As for the countryside or even mountainous areas with the most animals or living things, the military won't ignore them, but it'll definitely be put on the back burner."
"What you're saying isn't right, we have to have faith in the country, the country won't abandon us, there will definitely be help soon."
Liu Ming habitually spoke in a bureaucratic tone, even though his expression wasn't firm.
"How long do we have to wait? He said there are so many animals behind the mountain, including in the wilderness, if they all mutate..."
A young woman said, then remembered the earth-shattering roar from the wilderness before the arrival of the rat tide, and couldn't help but sob.
"I regret it so much, I should have just stayed home on the weekend, why did I come traveling instead."
"Yeah, I miss my mom and dad so much."
The men among the survivors were still better off, many female tourists including the college students were crying very sadly.
Yun Hai didn't say anything, took out his cell phone and looked at it, the screen showed only one bar of power left and still no signal, his younger sister who was in college more than fifteen hundred kilometers away flashed through his mind, he felt lost.
Just figuring out how to leave Yangshan was already a problem, even if he could get down the mountain, the distance of fifteen hundred kilometers was hopeless. If Qin Province was experiencing the same thing as here, Yun Hai didn't know if his younger sister, Yun Duo, was still alive or not.
"Or, she's like the people last night, already..."
The thought flashed through his mind, Yun Hai clenched his fist, his heart felt cold.
"How was it?" Several college students who had been following Si Yan returned, Cui Hao's voice broke Yun Hai's reverie.
"Those thugs went into room 115 when they saw us coming, not far from the kitchen. Some security guards went into the hotel rooms across from them." A burly young man whispered in Cui Hao's ear.
"Guan Da, you guys stay in the rooms across from or next to them, take turns resting. We all have to be in high spirits, this world is already very different, you yourselves don't believe that this isn't the end of the world, first think about how to live longer."
"Okay, Brother Hao, then we'll go first." The burly young man named Guan Da replied, then took several college students away.
Yun Hai didn't feel like listening to these words full of intrigue anymore, even though Yun Hai knew what Cui Hao was doing was right, he just felt bored.
The hotel, it's completely impossible to hold out for long.
From the current trend, Yun Hai believes that the mutation of living things requires a process, and that time won't be too long. If they complete their mutation and evolution, let alone tempered glass doors, even brick walls won't be able to stop them.
But most of the survivors don't think so, maybe it's also because there's no other choice on the top of the mountain, the Xuri Hotel is the last line of defense in their hearts, and the limited food and water inside, if not handled properly, could trigger a bloody conflict at any time.
Twelve college students, with Cui Hao as the leader, formed their own group.
Five security guards, plus the hotel's waiters and cooks, there were about fourteen people, led by Qi Xiangyu.
Liu Ming and the surviving scenic area managers, as well as some people who opened shops and did business on the top of the mountain, including Si Yan and the others, their own numbers were the smallest, but more tourists clearly wanted to approach the official organization, so their numbers weren't small either, there were seventeen people.
The seemingly quiet hotel lobby was actually filled with anxiety, undercurrents were surging, and a bloody conflict could erupt at any time.
This was only in the mountains, Yun Hai believed that the world outside was probably the same.
The collapsed world led to the collapse of order, limited food, limited water sources, ferocious mutant creatures...
The chaotic end of the world could freely release the demons in people's hearts, human life was the most worthless thing in an environment like this.
In places that the police and army couldn't reach, Yun Hai estimated that there had probably been a huge change and it had completely become a chaotic world.
The more he thought about it, the more chaotic his heart became, Yun Hai didn't dare to imagine what kind of nightmare his younger sister, who had always been gentle, was experiencing right now, if she was still alive.
Don't you have parents?
The day had already begun to darken, many living things had phototaxis, afraid of attracting more mutant creatures, the lobby only had one dim light on, the glass doors and floor-to-ceiling windows were covered with thick blankets.
All the hotel windows had been closed tightly, no one wanted to risk their lives, even though they had been closed as tightly as possible, at the strong request of most people, Qi Xiangyu turned off the power switch for the hotel rooms, everyone was only active with the help of the dim light from the emergency lights.
Walking to the front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the side of the hotel door, Yun Hai squinted his eyes through a small gap, quietly observing the outside.
The top of the mountain was quiet and silent, if it weren't for the stone ground outside being full of dried blood stains, including many giant rat skeletons left over from being eaten by birds, people would think that this evening in Yangshan had a rare tranquility.
The lights in the square had been turned off, maybe the cables of the light poles had been bitten by giant rats, at least the hotel still had electricity, clearly the cables leading to the top of the mountain were still okay.
Under the moonlight, there were occasional black shadows flashing by, Yun Hai, who had extraordinary eyesight, could see clearly that the giant rats that had been frightened away by the mutated swift flocks during the day hadn't all left, there were still some active on this part of the mountaintop.
Yun Hai felt that these giant rats were getting bigger, at this time they looked like fat cats.
Maybe because they were full, the scattered giant rats weren't ramming the glass doors as violently as during the day, Yun Hai estimated that they were also afraid that their movements would be too loud and attract natural predators, after all, it wasn't just the bamboo rats that had mutated, they, who were ferocious and cunning, also knew this.
"Hey handsome, can we talk?"
A strong scent of perfume assaulted his nose, Yun Hai pressed the gap in the blanket on the window, frowned, then turned to look at the woman who had quietly walked up beside him.
He couldn't tell how old the woman who appeared beside him was, mainly because her makeup was too heavy, a pointy face with heavy makeup, Yun Hai estimated that even this woman's family wouldn't be able to recognize her if they were here.
Her face was still fairly smooth and delicate, slanted and slender eyebrows, iridescent eyeshadow like thick ink, purple lips, the woman was wearing a gaudy performance outfit underneath, and a suit jacket she had found from somewhere on top.
Seeing Yun Hai's gaze wandering over her body, the woman subconsciously puffed out her chest, her eyes swirled with a charming smile, and whispered: "My name is Wu Yingying, from the Wild Rose Art Troupe of the city..."
"If you're looking for someone to team up with, you'd be better off looking for them."
Yun Hai bluntly cut her off, while looking towards the lobby.