Thrive in Catastrophe - Chap 4

Chapter 4 May You Live Happily

Just as Xiao Yan closed his eyes resignedly, Heine threw him to the ground. Half a side of his body collided with the floor, causing tremendous pain in his shoulder. He pressed his hand onto his throat and coughed vigorously with tears in his eyes.

The sound of blade being unsheathed was sounded by his ears, Heine’s blade trailed along his face and pierced deeply into the ground, followed by a moment of searing pain…… he was bleeding.

“If you failed to retrieve these uranium raw materials, I will cut open your flesh and pull out your bones alive.”

Every single word that Heine said was clear and concise, as though it was a message from hell.

Xiao Yan gasped in fright and his fingers could not stop trembling. He suddenly realised, that the existence of this man was far more terrifying than zombies.

“Hey! Get up quickly, or do you wish to die so badly?”

Mark hauled Xiao Yan up from the ground, pushed him towards the pile of metal boxes and said in a lowered voice: “You’re quite bold! Even have the guts to kiss our Boss? He’s famous for being a clean freak!”

Xiao Yan could not utter a word.

This was all because of Heine not wearing a respirator mask, Xiao Yan thought. If he had worn the mask, he would not have brushed against hi-his lips……

For sure he did not wish to have his bone pulled out of his body alive by Heine, so he kept quiet.

Captain White, who had just recovered from the shock on the happening just now, rushed over to Xiao Yan’s side to help.

A few minutes passed, a first securing device was removed and Mark took out a container in the size of a vacuum flask from the metal box.

Xiao Yan and Captain White let out a sigh of relief and retrieved the remaining raw uranium with the same procedure. Mark carried them onto his back and they prepared to head out.

Xiao Yan was perturbed.

Since that little incident until now, Heine has been looking at him with murderous rage. He was seriously worried that Heine would leave him to the zombies during their way out of the power plant!

However, no matter how helpless Xiao Yan felt, he still had to leave this place with Heine.

As expected, countless zombies were sprawling across the door when Mark kicked open the vault door with full force.

Heine drew out his dual blades and several streaks of light flashed before their eyes, the zombies’ heads fell off, one after another.

All the way, Xiao Yan was stepping across the gooey carcasses of the zombies as they broke out of the encirclement. The waves of zombies were endless, and Xiao Yan had to dodge from side to side while covering his head with his arms.

There were times when the zombies got hold of Xiao Yan’s shoulder, but Heine turned a blind eye to it. Thankfully, Mark dragged him away in time or he did not dare to think what a tragic death he would have suffered.

At last, they arrived beneath the hovering aircraft. Heine activated the device on his waistband and a wire sprung towards the sky and attached onto the aircraft. He then gripped onto the wire and leaped back into the cabin effortlessly.

Xiao Yan froze……

What about him? It was Heine who brought him down here at the beginning, and now this guy had abandoned him?

Mark let out a sigh.

Seeing another wave of zombies closing in, he scooped Captain White up in one hand and gripped onto the wire in another, “Hey! Rookie! Grab hold of my arm!”

Xiao Yan acted as if he saw his only salvation. He bolted towards Mark and clung to his arm.

And then a whoosh, they shot up into the air with great speed. Xiao Yan clung tightly onto Mark because with just a slight slackening on his grip, he would end up as minced meat on the ground.

Finally back into the cabin, Xiao Yao’s arms were sore and throbbing. He kneeled on the cabin floor in exhaustion, huffing and puffing.

Reeve came out from the cockpit and helped him up with a wide grin on her face, “Hey! I heard that you did something nobody dared!”

Xiao Yan’s arms were shaking uncontrollably from the muscle strain. Feeling haggard, he lean against the chair to catch his breath.

He never thought that Reeve would had heard about the accidental kiss.

“I didn’t dare either…… It was just a coincidence……”

If possible, please stop reminding me about that incident!

“Hmm…. I see……” Reeve her eyebrows ambiguously, “Who knows… Maybe in a few days time, I’ll be hearing the news of you rolling in bed sheets with Boss! Those fellows in the base are starving for gossips, you know!”

“Wha…. What……” Xiao Yan was having difficulty in breathing. He is a man, Heine Burton is also a man, the hell he’s rolling in bed sheets with him!
“I wonder if Boss is strong and forceful when kissing. I’ve heard that once Special Force soldiers are passionate and aroused, their kiss could crush a normal human’s skull.”

“Erm…… There’s really nothing between me and Colonel Burton……” Xiao Yan tried to stop Reeve’s imagination from running wild, but to no avail.

“Surely you can’t imagine that someone as perfect as Boss had never slept with anyone ever since he joined the Special Task Forces!”

Reeve leaned closer to him with bright eyes, looking distinctly different from her previous sober and reserved demeanor, like a gossip queen who was eager to share the world’s biggest secret.

“…… That’s probably because Colonel is a stickler for hygiene……” Xiao Yan doubted that Heine Burton will accept anyone else aside from himself.

Still, Reeve’s imaginations continued to run wild, and this time, she even led Xiao Yan’s thoughts into an unrealistic notion.

“And because he had been bottling up for so many years, well, you know that the X-virus has increased the sexual desires of Special Force soldiers, so…… once he pushes you down on bed, he’s definitely gonna break your bone and crush your senses! All of your insides will burst! And blood will stream down like river from your lower body! I reckon your little chrysanthemum will wilt in the next second! Oh My God!” (*chrysanthemum is a Chinese metaphor for anus)

Xiao Yan hunched his shoulders and he felt a chill ran down his spine.

“You…… You’re kidding right…..”

“But it’s OK. Our body consist of attenuated strains of X-virus that can be easily absorbed by human body, such as saliva in the mouth or intestinal mucosa in your intestinal tract. So even if you are heavily racked out, as long as Boss gives you a deep french kiss, all your injuries could recover within thirty seconds and both of you can continue your love making process all over again!”

In Xiao Yan’s point of view, the eager look on Reeve’s face was filled with malice. He even started visualizing himself being tormented to his last breath but was recovered from his injuries with just a kiss, and the nightmare replays itself all over again.

Of course, he had completely overlooked that the possibility of this delusion coming true was close to zero.

“May you—— Live happily!”

Seeing Xiao Yan’s face that was filled with terror from his own imagination, Reeve burst into laughter.

Xiao Yan finally came back to his senses. She was making fun me!

However, Reeve’s words had undeniably triggered Xiao Yan into having persecutory delusions. Though they were definitely not delusions of him rolling in bed sheets with Heine, but deliriums of him being tortured to death in millions of ways by Heine.

The aircraft would be landing on a certain platform, preparing to unload the raw uranium, whereas Xiao Yan and others would be transiting to another aircraft on this platform.

Reeve made contact with the tower and they would be landing on the designated location.

Just when they were closing in to the platform, the aircraft elevated abruptly.

Xiao Yan gripped onto the safety handrail. Their elevating speed increased so drastically that all of the students nearly screamed out loud.

What’s happening?

Xiao Yan knew that Mark and Heine were the pilot of the aircraft. Could it be… Their aircraft was infiltrated by the interruptor again?

An interruptor is a “brain hacker” who infiltrates human’s brain through the terminal. They are skilled in disrupting people’s cognition, destroying the brain’s internal messaging system, and even creating “cognitive maze” that could entrap the host in his own subconscious and fall into deep coma.

Nearly every Special Force soldiers had gone through a strict training in defending the “interruptor” and Xiao Yan was positive that Heine is the the ace amongst all. With his strong willpower, he was certainly not someone who would be assaulted by the interruptor easily!

The aircraft was about to soar into the distant sky. And all of a sudden, Xiao Yan felt the aircraft juddering under his feet.

The aircraft did a high-speed circle, as a missile flew by Xiao Yan’s side window!

This missile was launched from the platform behind them! It was a guided missile that could steer in flight until it hits its target.

“Oh—— God! It’s a guided missile! We’re dead!”

The cabin fell into terror.

Xiao Yan leaned against the chair, feeling despairing. He did not even had the energy to force a smile.

It had just been a day. How many times does he need to go through all of these miseries?

What is this? Was he doomed to die?

“We’re gonna die! Oh god! Why don’t they eject us out from the aircraft! Perhaps we could survive…….”

Some of the apprentices even started crying.

“Morons! You want us to eject all of you out to feed the zombies?” Reeve glowered at them, “You think the one driving the aircraft is some weak and frail fellow? Or have you forgotten that is ours, the Special Task Forces’ aircraft! It’s not meant for research, it’s meant for combat!”

Xiao Yan had already lost count on the missile that had flown by their engine, and the times his face felt the heat emitting from the missile. However, the aircraft always managed to evade the missile in the moment of extreme peril.

There were cold sweats trailing down Xiao Yan’s forehead. His classmates around him closed their eyes and bit their lips, waiting silently for their last moment to come.

The cabin they were in continued to whirl and Xiao Yan felt that his neck was about to snap from the swirl.

In front of him was Reeve who had been well reserved and calm from the beginning until now. She has complete faith in Heine and Mark.

“You can close your eyes too,” Reeve looked at Xiao Yan, “Or you’ll get dizzy easily.”

“I just want to see that moment…… Colonel Burton and Mark will find the opportunity to get rid of that guided missile.”

Then it was another 720 degree turn, but this time, the apprentices didn’t even had the energy to cry out in alarm.

“What opportunity?” Reeve asked him out of curiosity. Her calmness formed a sharp contrast with the others.

“Time lag.”

Xiao Yan’s eyes lowered. He is a B-ranked student, just because he was too lazy to think. For he understands that the more a person is skilled in thinking, the more tiring life he will live. However, that did not mean that he was weak in thinking.

At that instant, the engine of their aircraft let out a blaring sound and zoomed towards a mountain peak.

Screams rang through the cabin.

Xiao Yan, however, has his eyes wide opened. The moment before they came into contact with the mountain peak, the aircraft shifted its direction instantly and shot up perpendicularly, trailing across the mountain and towards the sky. The extreme speed has created a friction between the air beneath the aircraft and the trees of the mountain, leading to a blaze.

But the guided missile wasn’t so lucky.

It hit directly onto the mountain, crushing the mountain into pieces.

That second was a magnificent sight.

Xiao Yan placed his palms on the window glass, feeling the tremor of the explosion.

Everyone took a deep breathe and some even burst into tears.

“We’re still alive! Thank god!”

“We actually escaped from the guided missile!”

Once again, they have brushed with death.

However, Reeve remained vigilant, “Boss! That platform just now, it’s been taken over by the Tides Organisation, isn’t it?”

The Tides Organisation, a mysterious organisation that conducts relentless research on the Comet virus. Their base, population, and even the leader of the group remain unknown. There was only one thing for certain—— This organisation is their enemy.

“Yes. Send out warning messages back to Charles and every other external bases.”

The stated platform was a supply station for long-flight aircraft. No research institutions were established within, but it has been a target of the Tides Organisation in recent years. They remained submerged after they seized the platform and took the opportunity to attack the aircraft that landed for resupply.

“How did Colonel Burton notice there were something wrong with that platform?” Xiao Yan asked in curiosity.

Reeve gave him an unpredictable smile, “When you’ve been passing through countless gaps between deaths, your instinct will become a weapon as well.”

And at that moment, the aircraft was gradually descending.

“What’s happening? There’s nothing nearby, isn’t it?”

“Why are we landing?”

“There are neither platform nor base here…… Maybe the Special Task Forces has another mission to complete?”

Everyone turned to Reeve with a puzzled look on their face.

Yet, Reeve questioned Xiao Yan with a smile, “Have a guess, what’s happening?”